Part 9 (1/2)
”Decent Labor”--Hands Off!
A short time after the shooting a virulent leaflet was issued by the Mayor's office stating that the ”plot to kill had been laid two or three weeks before the tragedy,” and that ”the attack (of the loggers) was without justification or excuse.” Both statements are bare faced lies. The meeting was held the 6th and the line of march made public of the 7th. The loggers could not possibly have planned a week and a half previously to shoot into a parade they knew nothing about and whose line of march had not yet been disclosed. It was proved in court that the union men armed themselves at the very last moment, after everything else had failed and they had been left helpless to face the alternative of being driven out of town or being lynched.
About this time eyewitnesses declare coils of rope were being purchased in a local hardware store. This rope is all cut up into little pieces now and most of it is dirty and stained. But many of Centralia's best families prize their souvenir highly. They say it brings good luck to a family.
A few days after the meeting just described William Dunning, vice president of the Lewis County Trades and Labor a.s.sembly, met Warren Grimm on the street. Having fresh in his mind a recent talk about the raid in the Labor Council meetings, and being well aware of Grimm's standing and influence, Dunning broached the subject.
”We've been discussing the threatened raid on the I.W.W. hall,” he said.
”Who are you, an I.W.W.?” asked Grimm.
Dunning replied stating that he was vice president of the Labor a.s.sembly and proceeded to tell Grimm the feeling of his organization on the subject.
”Decent labor ought to keep its hands off,” was Grimm's laconic reply.
The Sunday before the raid a public meeting was held in the union hall.
About a hundred and fifty persons were in the audience, mostly working men and women of Centralia. A number of loggers were present, dressed in the invariable mackinaw, stagged overalls and caulked shoes. John Foss, an I.W.W. s.h.i.+p builder from Seattle, was the speaker. Secretary Britt Smith was chairman. Walking up and down the isle, selling the union's pamphlets and papers was a muscular and sun-burned young man with a rough, honest face and a pair of clear hazel eyes in which a smile was always twinkling.
He wore a khaki army coat above stagged overalls of a slightly darker shade,--Wesley Everest, the ex-soldier who was shortly to be mutilated and lynched by the mob.
”I Hope to Jesus Nothing Happens”
The atmosphere of the meeting was already tainted with the Terror. Nerves were on edge. Every time any newcomer would enter the door the audience would look over their shoulders with apprehensive glances. At the conclusion of the meeting the loggers gathered around the secretary and asked him the latest news about the contemplated raid. For reply Britt Smith handed them copies of the leaflet ”We Must Appeal” and told of the efforts that had been made and were being made to secure legal protection and to let the public know the real facts in the case.
”If they raid the hall again as they did in 1918 the boys won't stand for it,” said a logger.
”If the law won't protect us we've got a right to protect ourselves,”
ventured another.
”I hope to Jesus nothing happens,” replied the secretary.
Wesley Everest laid down his few unsold papers, rolled a brown paper cigarette and smiled enigmatically over the empty seats in the general direction of the new One Big Union label on the front window. His closest friends say he was never afraid of anything in all his life.
None of these men knew that loggers from nearby camps, having heard of the purchase of the coils of rope, were watching the hall night and day to see that ”nothing happens.”
The next day, after talking things over with Britt Smith, Mrs. McAllister, wife of the proprietor of the Roderick hotel from whom the loggers rented the hall, went to see Chief of Police Hughes. This is how she told of the interview:
”I got worried and I went to the Chief. I says to him 'Are you going to protect my property?' Hughes says, 'We'll do the best we can for you, but as far as the wobblies are concerned they wouldn't last fifteen minutes if the business men start after them. The business men don't want any wobblies in this town.'”
The day before the tragedy Elmer Smith dropped in at the Union hall to warn his clients that nothing could now stop the raid. ”Defend it if you choose to do so,” he told them. ”The law gives you that right.”