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Centralia massacre (Washington)

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The Centralia Massacre was an infamous incident of labor unrest in the Pacific Northwest of the United States that occurred in November 11, 1919 in Centralia, Washington. The incident, which erupted during a celebration marking the one year anniversary of Armistice Day, resulted in a gunfight between local members of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, also called the "Wobblies") and the American Legion. The clash resulted in the shooting deaths of four Legionairres, followed the lynching of a prominent local labor leader. The incident has remained controversial to the present day, with differing accounts of the action and responsibility for the violence.

History

The incident was the culmination of several years of labor strife in Western Washington. The IWW had tried during the previous decade to establish a presence in the area, and had met with resistance on several occasions, in particular in keeping open a Labor Hall in Centralia. The first Labor Hall had been closed after the building's owner discovered he was renting to Wobblies, and the second had been destroyed by vigilantes during a parade in 1917 to support the Red Cross. The anniversary of Armistice Day in 1919 was to commemorated locally by a parade that was to pass directly in front of the third Labor Hall. Fearing violence from the marchers, who were largely anti-Labor veterans, the Wobblies secretly stationed armed men on the rooftops and in the windows of the surrounding buildings.

When the parade passed in front of the Labor Hall, Legionnaire marched forced the doors to the building. Gunfire soon broke out, the origin of which has long been disputed. In the ensuing battle, two Legionnares were killed and several were wounded in the ensuing battle. A number of Wobblies were immediately captured and held in the city jail, along with local lawyer, Elmer Smith, who had previously provided counsel to the Wobblies, and was known locally for his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I. One of the captured Wobblies, Wesley Everest, had been apprehended by pursuing Legionnaires near the Skookumchuck River, but not before killing two of his pursuers. Later that night the city's electricity was shut down, and a crowd invaded the jail, took Everest to a local bridge crossing the Chehalis River and lynched him. In the subsequent trial, moved to nearby Montesano, several Wobblies were convicted of second degree murder and sent to prison. Ultimately all were released due to a public campaign spear-headed by Elmer Smith, the Centralia attorney who had initially been jailed with the Wobblies. A bronze statue of a doughboy, erected to honor the four Legionnaires killed in the Massacre, still stands in Centralia's George Washington Park. In 1999 the owner of the nearby former Elks building organized the commission of a mural to memorialize Wesley Everest.

Literature on the subject of the massacre includes Wobbly Wars, the Centralia Story by John McCleland, as well as The Centralia Tragedy of 1919: Elmer Smith and the Wobblies.

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