Wesley Everest, IWW Martyr Author(S): Tom Copeland Reviewed Work(S): Source: the Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol

University of Washington

Wesley Everest, IWW Martyr Author(s): Tom Copeland Reviewed work(s): Source: The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 122-129 Published by: University of Washington Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40490296 . Accessed: 17/11/2011 15:19

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http://www.jstor.org 122

Wesley Everest, IWW Martyr

TomCopeland

Wesley Everest, 1890-1919. (Hand-tinted photo, 1. Books that mention the lynchingof Everest Special Collections Division, Universityof include: Ralph Chaplin, The Centralia Washington Libraries, neg. 5754) Conspiracy ([Seattle?], 1920), 63-64; Upton Sinclair, 100%: The Storyof a Patriot (Pasadena, Calif., 1920), 287; Walker C. A loggerand union organizerfor the In- Smith, Was It Murder? The Truthabout William D. dustrialWorkers of the World (IWW), Centralia (Seattle, 1922), 39-40; Haywood, Bill Hay wood' s Book: The WesleyEverest played a small but dra- Autobiographyof William D. Haywood (New matic role in the historyof the Pacific York,1929), 354-56; Louis Adamic, Dynamite: Northwestlabor movementin the The Story of Class Violence in America (New early and of this He died on Novem- York,1931), 302; CharlotteTodes, Labor part century. Lumber (New York,1931), 170; JohnDos ber 11, 1919, in Centralia,Washington, Passos, 1919 (New York,1932), 458-60; following a violent confrontationin JohnS. Gambs, The Decline of the l.W.W. which Wobblieskilled fourmembers of (New York,1932), 31; ArthurGarfield Hays, TriaJby Prejudice (New York,1933), 265-66; theAmerican Legion. A mobseized Ever- StewartH. Holbrook, HoJyOld Mackinaw est in retribution;seven of his comrades (New York,1938), 216; Eldridge Foster werelater convicted of the murder of one Dowell, A Historyof Criminal Syndicalism Legislation in the United States (Baltimore, legionnaire.The Centraliamassacre, as 1939), 43n.76; Vernon H. Jensen,Lumber and thistragedy is known,and its aftermath Labor (New York,1945), 139-40; Nard Jones, representthe high-water mark of the sup- EvergreenLand (New York,1947), 158; of domestic labor radicalism Richard Lillard, The Great Forest (New York, pression 1947), 298; Oscar Osburn Winther,The Great duringthe WorldWar I era. At least 45 Northwest(New York,1947), 337-38; Ralph books- novels,plays, and nonfiction- Chaplin, Wobbly(Chicago, 1948), 300; Archie and countlessarticles, pamphlets, and Binns, Sea in the Forest (New York,1953), 163; Lowell S. Hawley and Ralph Bushnell poemshave dealt in someway with Ever- Potts,Counsel for the Damned (New York, est's death.1 1953), 278; Elizabeth GurleyFlynn, Í Speak OCTOBER 1986 123

Unfortunately,most of these accounts are vious paragraphthat is accurateis that of the have-nots- migrants,loggers, im- inaccurate.In fact,in the seven books Everestparticipated in thedefense of the migrants,miners, women, and blacks.5 publishedsince 1980 thattreat the Cen- Wobblies'hall in Centralia,killed a war traliatragedy and Everest'sinvolvement veteran,and was hangedby a mob. The recorddoes not tell when Everest in it, virtuallyeverything said about joinedthe IWW, but by May 1913, he was Everestis false.This essay attempts to as- His great-grandparentssettled in New- semble forthe firsttime the best evi- berg,Oregon (not in Washington),on 640 denceabout his lifeand deathand to dis- acres in the WillametteValley, 40 miles MyOwn Piece: Autobiographyof "The Rebel provethe misinformationthat previous southof Portland. They had emigratedto Giri"(New York,1955), rev. ed. The Rebel accounts have Everest's Americafrom Kent, in 1835and Girl:An Autobiography(New York,1973), perpetuated. England, ArthurS. American the withtheir nine chil- 263-64; Link, Epoch storyis a case historyof how historical crossed plains (New York,1955), 242; MurrayMorgan, The mythsare createdand how theygrow drenin fourwagons pulled by ox teams. LastWilderness (New York, 1955), 151; overthe years.2 WesleyEverest's father, Joseph, inherited RobertK. Murray,Red Scare (Minneapolis, 40 acres of the land. He married 1955),183-84; Fred Thompson, comp., The family I.W.W.:Us FirstFifty Years (Chicago, 1955), The Centraliatragedy grew out of a cli- Dora Westfall,whose ancestorscame to 132-33;David Lavender,Land ofGiants (New mateof a weakeningeconomy, a rising Americafrom Germany in the 1700sand York,1958), 422; JosephG. Rayback,A of and miners over in the RevolutionaryWar and the Historyof American Labor (New York,1959), militancy loggers fought 289; MaryW. Avery,History and Government workingconditions, a resistanceamong Warof 1812.After their marriage, Joseph ofthe State of Washington (Seattle, 1961), 219; employersto any changes in the eco- leftfarming and becamea schoolteacher JoyceKornbluh, Rebel Voices: An I.W.W. nomicorder, and a widelyheld fearthat and postmaster.3 Anthology(Ann Arbor, Mich., 1964), 256; HarveyO'Connor, Revolution in Seattle(New radicalism,foreign and domestic,threat- York,1964), 177-78; Philip Taft, Organized ened Americanvalues. As membersof Wesleywas born in 1890 on the family Laborin AmericanHistory (New York, 1964), the IWW attemptedto organizeworkers farm,the thirdoldest of the seven chil- 336-37;Patrick Renshaw, The Wobblies:The in local businessmen dren- all - who survived Storyof Syndicalism in theUnited States Centralia, prepared boys infancy. (NewYork, 1967), 210; Robert L. Tyler,Rebels to oppose them. When the American Josephdied in 1903 at the age of 46. In ofthe Woods: The I.W.W.in thePacific Legionannounced an ArmisticeDay pa- thesummer of 1904, Dora, while hitching Northwest(Eugene, Oreg., 1967), 161; Cecil rade that would march the IWW a horse to a one-seatbuggy, was killed Dryden,Dryden's History of Washington past (Portland,Oreg., 1968), 264; JosephRobert headquarters,the businessmenplanned when the horse became frightenedand Conlin,Bread and Roses Too (Westport, to attackthe hall and drivethe Wobblies threwher to theground. After the funeral Conn.,1969), 78; MelvynDubofsky, We Shall out of town.Some of the Wobbliesde- the childrenwere scattered,no two to- Be All: A Historyof the industrial Workers of the relatives. Everest theWorld (New York,1969), 455; Irving cided to defendthe place withguns and gether, among Werstein,Pie in theSky (New York, 1969), stationedthemselves inside, at a hotel stayedon the farmof his grandmother's 111-17;Barry Pritchard, Centralia, 1919: A across the street,and on a nearbyhill. sister near Portland,where he milked Play ([Seattle?],1975), rpt. Minnesota Review, 8 NormanH. The was setfor a showdown. cows and did farmchores. At 17,he grew Vol. (1977),109; Clark, stage tragic Washington(New York,1976), 125; Len De restless and went off to work in the Caux,The LivingSpirit of the Wobblies (New woods cuttingtrees. It was 1907. He was York,1978), 137; Thomas Churchill, Centralia and writers on 5 feet7 inches with darkred hair, Dead March(Willimantic, Conn., 1980); .Historians popular agree tall, A the build. HowardZinn, People'sHistory of thebasic detailsof Everest's life: he was blue eyes,and a medium During UnitedStates (New York,1980), 370; Virginia descendedfrom pioneers who settledthe subsequent years, he also worked in Gardner,"Friend and Lover":The Lifeof state of A noted sawmillsand helped build theNorthern Louise Bryant(New York,1982), 337-38; Peter Washington. sharp- The and Times he won medals forvalor while Pacific betweenVancouver and Carlson,Roughneck: Life of shooter, Railway Big Bill Haywood(New York, 1983), 300-301; servingin the United States Armyin Tacoma.4 JerryLembcke and WilliamTattam, One Franceduring World War I. Upon moving Unionin Wood(New York,1984), 15; Stewart His as a laborer Everestin Bird,Dan Georgakas,and DeborahShaffer, to Centralia,he helped defendthe IWW manyjobs put An Oral the in SolidarityForever: Historyof hall in 1919when marchers in an Armi- contactwith the Wobblies. Organized IWW(Chicago, 1985), 14; ChaimPotok, sticeDay paradeattacked it. In resisting 1905, the IWW was a militantlabor Davita'sHarp (New York,1985), 189-90, capture,he killeda formersoldier. That unionthat was justbeginning to makeits 199-200. nighthe was takenfrom his jail cell by a markin thewestern lumber industry. Be- 2. Two ofthe seven books are novels mob, castrated,and lynched.The mob tween 1907 and 1912,IWW strikesmet (Churchilland Potok),but they repeat the then firedmany bullets into his body, with heavy resistance.In almost every mythsabout Everest as historicalfacts. in a un- confrontation,local authoritiesused fire which was laterburied secret, 3. CharlesS. Everestto TomCopeland, markedgrave. hoses, beatings,or mass arrestsagainst Sept. 21, 1978.Information about Everest's the Wobblies.The IWW oftensuffered familyand earlylife comes from a younger of the historical the bruntof officialviolence because of brother,Charles, who correspondedwith the Such is the substance authorin thelate 1970s. recordabout Everest.Little else about its uncompromising,revolutionary rhet- himhas beenpublished. Sympathetic la- oric and its effortsat organizingthe 4. ibid.;Police report, Nov. 12,1919, Box 1.2, bor historianshave him as an class to takecontrol of industry, LukeMay Papers, University of Washington glorified working Libraries. IWW martyr,but the details of his life and becauseof management's determina- and death remainheavily shrouded in tion to concede nothingto the workers. 5. See Dubofskyand Tylerfor IWW history myth.The only informationin the pre- Wobbliescame primarilyfrom the ranks in thePacific Northwest. 124 PACIFIC NORTHWEST QUARTERLY

an activeorganizer for the union. That time equipment.Sending soldiers into movedinto the Queen apartmenthouse, month,the Forestand LumberWorkers thewoods to cuttimber had becomenec- a hotel frequentedby migrantworkers, Unionin theCoos Bay regionof Oregon essarybecause two years earlier the IWW and beganto organizefor the IWW.10 walkedoff the job to protesta lockoutof had called a strikethat had shutdown a Wobblies,who demandedhigher wages, substantialportion of lumber produc- Local lumberowners and townofficials shorterhours, and betterliving condition.The industryhad notrecovered, so were violentlyhostile toward this mili- tionsin the camps. Duringthe summer the spruce division would grow to tantunion. In 1914 and 1915 the police the strikerswere beaten,arrested, and 25,000 men beforethe end of the war. and a groupof deputizedcitizens drove their meetinghalls destroyed.Everest Everest,however, cut littlespruce, for he IWW organizersout of town. Wartime and anotherorganizer were arrested for spentmost of his timein the Vancouver fervorincreased the antipathy,and the vagrancyin Marshfield,Oregon. A mob stockadefor refusing to salutethe Ameri- 1917-18lumber strikehad bitterlydi- of600 armedcitizens took the men from can flag.According to one who served videdtownspeople. As a result,in 1918,a jail and draggedthem through the streets withhim in thedivision: mob raided the IWW hall duringa Red of town,forcing them to kneeland kiss Cross parade,destroyed union property, an American When reachedthe Everymorning they'd let Everestout of the flag. they stockade or at reveille. and deported the Wobblies fromthe the their just beforeformation dock, vigilantespushed victims Thenwe'd fall in and salutethe flag as they'd county.Tensions were high when Everest intoa boat,transported them eight miles run up the colors. Everymorning Everest arrivedon thescene. The SeattleGeneral up thecoast, and dumpedthem with the would refuseto salute and they'dhaul him Strike of early 1919 raised Centralia's out and throwhim hack in the warningnever to return.The strikewas offormation fearsof an IWW-inspiredrevolution. In crushed.(i stockade.When it rained, they didn't raise the eventually flag,so Everestwas outwhen the weather was June1919, a blindnews vendor who sold bad or whenwe wereout in thewoods. When IWW paperswas kidnappedand thrown we wereout in thewoods, or whenhe wasn't out ofthe county.11 Jliverest'sexperience in Oregonproba- in the"jug," he was constantlytrying to orga- nize thesoldiers.8 blystrengthened his growingradicalism. In September,the local IWW secretary, Littleis knownof his activitiesfrom 1913 BrittSmith, leased space in theRoderick to all to 1916,although it is likelythat he con- Contrary virtually published ac- Hotelon TowerAvenue to open an IWW tinuedto workin thewoods. In 1916he counts,Everest never served in France hall. The union hall was a second home and was neversent visitedan uncle, who recalled thathe overseas.The Spruce to manymigratory loggers and miners. was "an apt scholarand honest,but that ProductionDivision remainedin Wash- Nextto Smith,Everest was the mostac- and ... he was so filledup withthe I.W.W. ington Oregonthroughout the war; tive IWW organizerin town; he often teachingsthat he could talk of little its expresspurpose was harvestingtim- else." Everestcarried a Colt45 revolverat ber and neutralizinglabor unrest.Nor thistime, a habitno doubtacquired after did he ever receivemedals forbeing a 6. PortlandOregonian, June 26, 1913; his Oregonexperiences; he was deter- crackshot. That he was "an overseasvet- Philip S. Foner,History of the Labor mined not to be humiliated a mob eran"first appeared in printin December Movementin theUnited States, Vol. 4 (New by York,1965), 225. again.Later that year he visiteda brother 1919when the IWW leader William Hay- in Vader,Washington, where he worked wood publisheda fund-raisingcircular 7. CentraliaChronicle, Dec. 4, 1919 for a week buckinglogs for a small in behalfof the Wobbliesjailed fortheir (quotation);Everest to Copeland. sawmilloutfit.7 part in the Centralia tragedy.Ralph 8. CharlesSidney Everest testimony, Chaplin,a well-knownIWW organizer, March6, 1920,in trialtranscript, State of In Aprilof 1917 America entered the war poet,and songwriter,repeated the story Washingtonv. BrittSmith et al, p. 2964 American against Germany.Although the IWW ("returnedsoldier") in his bookThe Cen- (microfilm), LegionRecords, tralia Universityof Washington Libraries; Everest to tookno officialstand against the war, its Conspiracy.John Dos Passos em- Copeland;Harold M. Hyman,Soldiers and publicationsdenounced the capitalist- bellished the tale in his popular novel Spruce: Origins of the Loyal Legion of Loggers created and membersto 1919, published in 1932: "In the and Lumbermen,Monographs of the Institute struggle urged army ofIndustrial No. 10 hometo the"class war"in their Everestwas a sharpshooter,won a medal Relations, (Los Angeles, stay fight 1963),2; quotationfrom logger interviewed by own towns.For its antimilitariststand, fora crackshot." Subsequent accounts of Don Capron,February 1981. the IWW was accused of anti- Everest'smythical war record can be being 9. Everest American,and the tracedback to Chaplinor Dos Passos.Un- testimony,2965; Everestto governmentstepped Copeland;William Haywood, "Will You Help up itsrepression of the organization. fortunately,Everest's army records were Now?"(letter), Dec. 6, 1919,General Defense destroyedin a firein 1973at theNational Committee,I.W.W. Papers, Wayne State Everestwas draftedinto the PersonnelRecords Center in St. Louis.9 University,Detroit; Chaplin, CentraJia apparently Conspiracy,32; Dos Passos,456; U.S. General army in November1917. His militant ServicesAdministration, St. Louis,to union backgroundmade him a highly Copeland,Dec. 29, 1980. unlikelyvolunteer. Because of his work /'lthough the Armisticewas on signed 10. Everesttestimony, 2964; Everestto experience,he was stationedat theVan- November11, 1918,Everest was not dis- Copeland. couverBarracks in Washington,assigned chargeduntil the followingMarch. He to the Spruce Production Division, thentraveled north to settlein Centralia, 11. LaborDefender, Vol. 1 (November1926), which timberfor air- a small but 191;Centralia Daily Hub,Feb. 4, 1915; supplied building Washington, importantlum- Chronicle,April 6, 1918;Seattle Union planes,railroad cars, and othervital war- ber, mining,and railroad center. He Record,Sept. 23, 1919. OCTOBER1986 125

came to the hall to talk about the union. blies escaped in the confusion, but six Everest was probably too disabled to When his brotherCharles visited him in were captured while hiding in the back speak clearly. The lyncherstied the rope Centralia at this time, Everest showed of the hall. Everest did not surrenderso to a crossbeam girder and pushed him him a set of law books thathe said he was easily. He ran out the back door and fled over the side. But the fall was too shortto reading. Charles was skeptical, since down a street. Someone saw him and snap his neck, so theypulled him back to Everesthad neverattended high school.12 mistakenly identified him as the IWW the bridge deck and substituteda longer secretary, Britt Smith. A group of rope. The second fall was successful. As soon as the IWW hall opened, rumors marchers gave chase. His escape cut off Headlights from the cars shone on the of an attackbeing planned on it began to when he was unable to cross the dangling body, and mob members fired circulate. During an October 20 meeting Skookumchuck River,Everest exchanged about 30 shots at it.17 at the Elks Club, town officials talked gunfirewith his pursuers and yelled that openly about a raid. Everestmay have at- he would surrender only to the police. The next day unknown persons cut down tended this meeting,his presence proba- As the mob closed in, he firedagain, fa- Everest's body and left it on the shallow bly passing unnoticed because he wore tally wounding Dale Hubbard, who died river bottom. At sunset the sheriffand his old army jacket. Worried about the later that night.15 deputies retrievedit, throwingit in with threat, Britt Smith had prepared and, the Wobbly prisoners. The rope was still probablyassisted by Everest,distributed around the neck. On November13 a coro- handbills asking for support from the Hiverest's captors overpowered him, put ner's jury brieflyexamined the body, by townspeople in the event of a raid. None- a belt around his neck, and dragged him then identified as that of Everest, at an theless, the local police refused to offer back into town. Along the way, the grow- inquest in the jail. The New York Times protection.13 ing crowd punched and kicked him. His reportedthe jury's findings,that the "de- head was "badly beaten," and blood ceased came to his death by gunshot When the Wobblies learned that the Ar- flowed down his mouth and nose, re- mistice Day parade would pass by their ported a local newspaper. According to 12. [Washington]State v. Smithet al. (No. headquarters,they determinedto defend eyewitness accounts gatheredyears later, 16354],197 Pacific770 (1921);Everest to it against attack. In meetings to discuss the mob drove a spike throughEverest's Copeland. their Everest was an cheek, broke his jaw, and knocked out strategy, outspoken 13. LorenRoberts Nov. of armed resistance. He be- several of his teeth. Behind the town's confession, 17,1919, proponent p. 349 (suggeststhat the prosecutor knew of lieved thata man's life was worthlittle if jail, several men threw a rope over the Everest'sattendance at themeeting), and Britt they didn't defend the hall in a raid: crossbeam of a telephone pole and at- Smithtestimony, Feb. 26, 1920,p. 1603,in trial Don "The Centralia "When those fellows come will to him, but the in- transcript; Capron, they tempted lynch police Riotof 1919: A Studyof Pre New Deal Labor come prepared to clean us[,] and this tervened and got him inside. "You fel- Relations,"M.A. thesis(San FranciscoState building will be honeycombed with bul- lows can't hang me," Everest told the University,1981), 136. lets inside of ten minutes." Not all IWW mob, according to the New York Times; 14. Smith 1635;Everest in this "I was sent to do and I did it." testimony, quoted memberssupported position. Many my duty LorenRoberts supplemental statement, were opposed to carryingguns, so the However, it seems unlikely that Everest Nov. 24, 1919,p. 358; Robertsconfession, 343 Wobblies could reach no general con- was in any condition to speak. He was (secondquotation), all in trialtranscript. As a resultof the terror he in sensus on how to to the antici- thrown onto the cell floor where he experienced jail respond jail followingthe November 11 shootings,Roberts pated trouble.Everest, with a few others, lay in silence. When the county pros- was foundby the jury to be criminally made plans to arm. Evidently a fearless ecutor attemptedto question him, he re- insane,and he served11 yearsin a mental individual, he was ready to meet vio- fused to talk. By nightfall,22 Wobblies hospital. lence with violence. As one union man had been arrestedby rovingbands of for- 15. Statev. Smithet al., 773; Chronicle, later recalled, Everest"didn't give a God mer servicemen.16 Nov. 12,1919. damn for nothing.... He was really a 16. Chehalis Nov. 14, characterand he didn't a At 7:30 the in Centralia went (Wash.)Bee-Nugget, desperate give p.m. lights 1919(first quotation). In 1936,the defense God-damn what happened to him or out forabout 15 minutes. A mob entered committeefor the last Centralia prisoner, Ray what he done."14 the jail without resistance fromthe po- Becker,gathered a seriesof affidavits in his release.Several men who lice and seized Everest, who alone supportof signedaffidavits claimed to havewitnessed On November 11, parade marchers in among the Wobblies defending the hall Everest'scapture. The passingof the years army uniformdid attack the IWW hall. had shot his victim in frontof many wit- and thepartisan nature of the affidavits ofthis evidence. the exact of events nesses. Believing that they had Britt dilutethe trustworthiness Although sequence See affidavitsof M. Eubanks,Nov. 5, 1936, the men Everest in an auto- J. cannot be determined from the record, Smith, put and GlennLeBoron, n.d., Ray Becker Papers, union men, believing their hall was un- mobile flanked by six othercars and hur- OregonHistorical Society, Portland; New der siege, opened firefrom the building ried toward the Chehalis River bridge YorkTimes, Nov. 13,1919; Spokane Nov. 13,1919; C. D. and from two other locations. Three outside town. There, hauled him out Spokesman-Review, they Cunninghamto GovernorRoland H. Hartley, legionnaireswere killed and several oth- of the car and put a noose around his Feb. 18,1927 (microfilm),American Legion ers wounded in the briefgunfire. Everest neck. According to a newspaper reporter Records;Centralia Chronicle, Nov. 12,1919. and at least two men inside had fired at the scene, Everest's last words were, "I 17. New YorkTimes, Nov. 12, 1919; Morning theirguns; the other 4 to 15 men within got my man and done my duty.String me Olympian,Nov. 13,1919 (quotation); had no firearms.A numberof these Wob- up now if you want to, damn you!" Yet, Oregonian,Nov. 12,1919. 126 PACIFIC NORTHWEST QUARTERLY

wounds and by strangulationcaused by continued withoutstop until the last neglectedand then "lost." Chaplin also persons unknown."Town undertakers manwas setfree in 1939.20 spreadthe rumorthat another man was refusedto buryEverest, so shortlyafter lynchedthe nightEverest died. No evi- the inquest,the body was put into a The picturethat we havetoday of Wesley dence has everbeen uncoveredto sup- wooden box and loaded onto a moving Everest comes from Ralph Chaplin's portthis tale.23 van ownedby James Lynch. On the side book,The CentraliaConspiracy. Chaplin ofthe vehicle was a paintedsign reading coveredthe trial of the CentraliaWob- Chaplin'sbook, by his own admissionin "Lynch,for quick workcall us." Seven- blies for the FederatedPress, a labor his autobiography,WobbJy, was not un- teen armed national guardsmen(who press service.After the trialhad ended, biased. "I triedto be fairin myreporting had been broughtin by the governorto in March1920, he wentto Seattle,where of the Centraliatrial," he wrote."But restoreorder and to end the vigilante he wrotehis pamphletin a skid-road havingbeen so close to the pictureof activity),four of the Wobblyprisoners, hotel.Published in May 1920,it was the I.W.W.persecution, I found it almostim- and a handfulof newspapermen escorted firstand most completeaccount of the possibleto be objective."His accountis thevan to thepaupers' section of a local Centraliacase, and it became the stan- anythingbut objectiveand cannotbe re- cemetery,where the union men dug a dard IWW interpretationof the raid and lied upon as a historicalrecord. After all, grave and buried Everest without shootings.The firstedition of 40,000 Chaplin was using one of the principal ceremony.18 copies sold out withina month.Three weapons the IWW employedin its fight revisedreprints closely followed.21 againsthostile authorities and themedia: propaganda.Although he attendedthe Uutside working-classcircles, few How Chaplinportrayed Everest is critical trialand presumablyinterviewed some mournedEverest's death. "It was rough to thegrowth of the myth. The pamphlet ofthe defendants and defensewitnesses, and readyjustice of the old-timeVig- is a colorfulpolemic, written in a melo- he clearlycalled on his imaginationin ilance Committee,"said the FourL Bul- dramaticgood-vs.-evil style. It presents preparinghis remarksabout Everest.24 letin,an anti-IWWPortland labor jour- Everestas an "earnest,sincere, quiet" nal. His lynchingwas "thenatural result loggerwho bravelydied a hero's death. of a red-handedrevolutionist getting his Chaplin apparentlyfabricated the story /'mong the mythsspawned in Chap- just desertswithout loss of timeor the thatEverest was from"old Washington lin's book,however, the most outrageous painfullyslow processof law," wrote the pioneer stock." Chaplin also falsely was thatof Everest'scastration: "In the CentraliaChronicle. In Centralia,Ever- claimed that Everestdid most of the automobile,on the wayto the lynching, est's deathhad becomea joke: the coro- shootingin thehall. In fact,the trial tran- he was unsexed by a human fiend- a nerreportedly told a meetingat theElks scriptreveals that a numberof union well known Centraliabusiness man- Club thatEverest "had brokenout ofjail, menfired their guns on the marchersat- gone to the Chehalis riverbridge and tackingthe hall and thatit was impossi- jumpedoff with a ropearound his neck. ble to say who firedthe most.Chaplin 18. Cunningham to Hartley;New York Times, the too shorthe climbed that believedEverest had Nov. 13 (quotation), 14, 1919; police report; Finding rope reported many Oregonian, Nov. 16, 1919 (Lynch). back and fastenedon a longer one; killed not only Dale Hubbardbut also jumped offagain, broke his neck and ArthurMcElfresh, one of the legion- 19. Four L Bulletin,Vol. 1 (December 1919 thenshot himself full of holes."19 naires who brokeinto the At extra),2; Chronicle, Nov. 12, 1919; Chaplin, building. CentraJiaConspiracy, 66 (quotation). the trial,however, the bulletthat killed In thenation's press, Everest's death was McElfreshwas nottraced to any specific 20. "CuttingDown the Corpse," Review, Vol. only occasionallymentioned. "Too bad gun.22 1 (Nov. 22, 1919), 596; Albert F. Gunns, "Ray Becker, the Last Centralia Prisoner,"PNQ, to swingthere, Wesley, for being a fool," Vol. 59 (1968), 88-99. The prosecution had wrotethe Review, a weeklyjournal pub- Chaplin furtherenhanced Everest'she- charged the defendantswith the murderof lished in New York.In a shorttime the roicimage by putting words in his mouth only one of the fourlegionnaires, Warren incidentwas No one as he was from to be Grimm,for several reasons. Hubbard's slayer, largelyforgotten. being dragged jail Everest,was dead. Anotherlegionnaire had was evercharged with his murder.But lynched:"Tell the boys I died for my been killed in close proximityto the hall and theIWW and thelabor press hailed Ever- class." Itwas Chaplinwho said thatEver- thus could not be portrayedas an innocent a a fallen to thework- est's was buriedin a desolate bystander.Of the two otherdead men, estas hero, martyr body spot Grimmwas the betterknown and more ing class. They kept his name alive in thathad sincebeen obliterated. He wrote, popular. His wounds also indicated thathe numerous pamphlets, articles, and "Rumorhas it thatthe body has since had been shot by Wobblies firingfrom either poems thatwere published as partof a been removedto Camp Lewis. No one the Avalon Hotel or Seminary Hill, which to therelease of seems to know or when." The strengthenedthe prosecution's case foran growingcampaign urge why Yet, IWW conspiracy to fireon the parade. Everest'scomrades, seven of whom had CentraliaConspiracy includes a photo been sentencedto 25- to 40-yearprison showing Everest being buried in the 21. Chaplin, Wobbly,300-301. terms for the murderof one of the In fact,on Memorial paupers'cemetery. 22. Idem, CentraJiaConspiracy, 32, 58. marchers.The IWWoften used Everest's Day in 1921,while a militaryparade was lynchingas a powerfulsymbol of the beingheld in downtownCentralia, IWW 23. Ibid., 60, 65; Dos Passos, 461, repeated suppressionof and injusticeto loggers membersgathered at thesite of Everest's the myththat no one knows where Everest was buried; Union Record, June 13, 1921. and their imprisonedfellow workers. graveand plantedAmerican flags in his The campaignto release the prisoners honor.Not until years later was thegrave 24. Chaplin, WobbJy,301. OCTOBER1986 127

who used a razor on his helpless victim." for the men on trial and helped raise the newspaper and magazine stories pro- Over the years, dozens of historical and much-needed money for their defense. vided his inspiration.28 popular writershave picked up and re- Their lawyer, George Vanderveer,spoke peated this assertion. Of 45 books that at length about Everest's death in the After Chaplin's book appeared, several mention Everest's lynching, 36 also as- courtroomduring the course of the three- other accounts of the Everest castration sertthat the victimwas castrated.Each of month trial, which began in January surfaced. An undated pamphlet by Frank those cites Chaplin or some other book 1920. He had close contact with the pris- Walklin titled A Fair Trial? which was thatuses Chaplin as the source.25 oners and conducted his own investiga- advertised along with the second edition tion of the case, but he never said any- of The CentraJiaConspiracy, probablyin The castrationstory first reached a broad thing about castration at a time when it June, notes that Everest had been "bru- audience in 1932 with the publication of might have done his clients some good. tally unsexed." But Walklin was not an John Dos Passos's novel 1919. Closely None of the defendants, some of whom eyewitness; by his own admission, he weaving historical headlines and scenes saw Everest's dead body in jail, testified did not arriveon the WestCoast until late into his fiction,Dos Passos likened Ever- that the corpse was castrated.27 December 1919. In July 1921, a man est to the mythical Paul Bunyan. He signed an affidavit, claiming to have wrote of the castration episode: "As The firstpublished reportof a castration talked to a witness to the lynching who WesleyEverest lay stunned in the bottom appeared in the Seattle Union Record on said Everesthad been castrated.This sec- of the car a Centralia business man cut March 15, 1920, four months after the ondhand account carries little weight. his penis and testicles offwith a razor." lynching and on the same day that the Obtained as part of a campaign to freethe The book was a major influence in shap- verdict was announced. Frank Walklin, Centralia prisoners, it was signed by the ing the public's belief in the mythsabout the reporter,covered the trial forthe pro- brotherof one of the defendants.In 1930 Everest.Half a centurylater, Chaim Potok labor paper. Hearing the testimony of the Council of Churches conducted an quoted extensivelyfrom 1919 in his novel more than 300 witnesses, he said, gave extensive investigation of the Centralia Davita's Harp, presenting Dos Passos's him "the whole wretched picture" of the case to evaluate whether the defendants account as historical fact. The fatherof night the mob dragged Wesley Everest received justice. The reportis a relatively Potok's heroine, having witnessed Ever- fromthe jail: "Then out of this howling, objective account of the Centralia events. est's lynching,becomes a radical forthe demoniacial [sic] mass of debased intel- As for the treatmentof Everest, it con- restof his life.26 lects there came the idea of the rope and cludes: "The story, widely circulated, the razor and I saw a mob rush that little that on the way to the bridge where he Close examination of the historical evi- jail and take Wesley Everest out and tor- was hanged Everest was atrociously mu- dence, however,fails to justifythe con- ture him in the most brutal manner tilated, while it had a tremendous emo- clusion that Wesley Everest was castrat- known to the civilization of respectable tional effect, has not been clearly ed. A carefulreview of the facts strongly business man." Walklin, a union sup- established."29 suggests that the castration never took porter,was not at the lynching.His story place. There was no published account is unbelievable because it implies that In 1936 members of a committee orga- of it at the time of the lynching.Numer- Everest was castrated in the streets of ous newspaper articles described how Centralia in full view of the crowd that was and then surrounded the at the time. No other Everest beaten, hanged, jail 25. idem,Centralia Conspiracy, 32. shot, but none of them- not even in the account of any kind supports this story. IWW publications- mentioned castra- 26. Dos Passos,460, 456; Dubofskyand havecited Dos Passosas a sourceon tion. The Wobblies who saw the Renshaw jailed Everestin theirhistorical books; Potok, body said nothingabout mutilationin in- uomeone identifiedonly as E. M. wrote 189-90. terviewswith the press at the time. The the next published versions of the castra- 27. "Will You coroner's which examined the body tion story.His article of April 3, 1920, for Haywood, Help Now?"; jury, FrederickBlossom, The Truthabout 13 and filed its was the a national on November report, Survey, weekly magazine, CentraJia(n.p., January1920), I.W.W. Papers. likewise silent. and another in the New Republic for April 14 say thatEverest was "abused" or 28. E. M., "Centralia beforethe Court: A First Hand fromMontesano," Vol. Beforethe trial of the Centralia Wobblies abused" beforehe was lynched. Report Survey, "cruelly 44 (April 3, 1920), 14; idem, "Centralia," New began, the national IWW organization This could referto Everest's having been Republic, Vol. 22 (April 14, 1920), 218. sent out lettersand flyersappealing for severelybeaten beforebeing jailed. If the and forthe defendants.A writermeant that Everest was castrated, 29. Frank Walklin, A Fair TriaJ?(n.p., money support 6 in Box 1.2, his assertion lacks evidence. [1920?]), (copy May Papers); circular letter by William Haywood supporting HarrySmith affidavit,July 16, 1921, Becker dated December 6, 1919, described Ever- Although E. M.'s whereabouts during Papers; The CentraJiaCase, A JointReport on est and shot, but nothing those three days in November 1919 are the Armistice Day Tragedyat CentraJia, being lynched November 11, 1919, Issued the more. A FrederickBlossom unknown, he based his writ- Washington, by pamphlet by apparently Departmentof Research and Education of the called The Truth about CentraJia,pub- ing on the trial (the Survey piece is sub- Federal Council of the Churches of Christin lished a month later,gives similar infor- titled "A First Hand Report from Mon- America, the Social Action Departmentof the National Catholic WelfareConference and the mation. Yet, the IWW had the most to tesano"), and it seems unlikely that he Social JusticeCommission of the Central gain fromthe storythat Everestwas cas- ever saw Everest. The next month Chap- Conference of American Rabbis (New York, trated.It would have generatedsympathy lin launched the castrationstory. Perhaps 1930), 18. 128 PACIFIC NORTHWEST QUARTERLY

Figure.Police report,Nov. 12, 1919. The official where its lights shone upon him, and Í was Livingston'sCentralia office.Another recordnotes onlya bullethole and rope marks abJe to get a full view of him. The frontof his said thatLivingston repeatedly washed on the body.(Luke May Papers, UW Libraries) clothes had been tornoff and his privateshad his hands in a Macbeth-likeeffort to rid been cut off; Dr. David Livingstone [Liv- ingston] had said privates in his hand and themof Everest'sblood yearsafter the laughinglysaid he would pickJethem in a jar. event.None can be takenseriously.31 Livingstone's hands were bloody and Í saw nized to work for the release of that he had his doctor's instrumentcase with IfEverest had been his Ray him.30 castrated, mutila- Becker,the last remaining Centralia pris- tionwould have been noticed by the doz- oner, obtained statementsfrom three ens ofmen at the the Clifford'sstory, the only firsthandac- lynching,by depu- who said had witnessedthe ties who broughtthe back to the people they count,has no support.That it was given body Two of them,Charley Eagles jail,by the prisoners in jail, the lynching. 17 yearsafter the event,and in response by jailers, and Bob Burrows,made no mentionof by the coroner's and thosewho to defenseefforts, seriously reduces its jury, by castration.The third,Claude Clifford, placed thebody in thecoffin. Too credibility.According to Clifford,he was many whose affidavithas recentlybeen used called to testifyfor the defenseduring somewriters as proofof the castration by the trialbut denied permissionto speak have 30. story,claimed to about the his Charley Eagles, July11, 1936, and Claude castration;however, name Clifford,Dec. 30, 1936, affidavits;and Bob out not jumped into the taxi of curiosity, does notappear on the listof witnesses. Burrows statement(1936; notes taken by Julia knowingthat Everestwas in it; it was in a line Ruuttila),all in Becker Papers. cars headed the Chehalis River of for bridge. Everest'sdeath generated other wild sto- Justafter the cab crossed the railroad tracks, 31. Julia Ruuttila interviewwith Copeland, Everesthollered and screamed,and at the ries.According to one,Everest's testicles Sept. 7, 1972; Edward Coll interviewwith bridge he was taken to the front of the car were put in a jar and displayedin Dr. Copeland, Nov. 6, 1974. OCTOBER1986 129

people would have seen evidence of the son to hide his castration, if it had rumors firstappeared months afterEver- castrationfor it to have stayed hidden. happened. est's death but that none of them is sup- ported by enough evidence to be Another piece of evidence suggests how believable. LJne significant piece of evidence, the castrationstory might have begun. In never before published, appears to dis- February 1937, the chief prosecuting at- Laying to restthe mythsabout his castra- provethe castrationstory conclusively. It torney for the case, Charles D. Cun- tion and his war record does not change is a police reporton Everest,filled out on ningham, wrote to Stewart Holbrook to the fact that Everest was a hardworking November12, afterhis body was returned refuteparts of the latter's recent article IWW organizer who was hanged by a to the jail followingthe lynching(see fig- about the Centralia tragedy.In his letter, mob. Nor does it weaken the view of ure). The unsigned document includes a Cunningham said that a man who most historians that the Wobblies suf- set of fingerprintsand a description of worked for the publisher of a Portland fered a terribleinjustice in the aftermath the body. It correctlyidentifies the dead magazine, Pacific Legion, had been of the Centralia shootings: eight men man as "Everest (Man Lynched at Cen- broughtinto the jail to identifythe body. spent up to 20 years in prison largelybe- tralia)." It estimates the height and This unnamed man apparently knew cause they belonged to a radical labor weight. Then it notes: "No scars that Everest. He took a knife and cut away union that refused to back away froma could be located on the body outside part of Everest's clothingto look foriden- violent assault upon its headquarters. where rope cut neck hole that looked tifyingscars. According to Cunningham, The truth about the Centralia tragedy like bullet hole Printstaken in the Jail he joked with the jail guards about cut- need not be embellished to make a point at Centralia Wash, room very dark to see ting offall the clothing and then castrat- about injustice. Wesley Everest's death any thing on the body in line [of] scars; ing Everest. It is a good possibility that need not be sensationalized in order to rope was still around the neck of the this man filled out the police report.Per- insure his place in labor movement man." haps one of the prisoners, overhearing history. D this man's talk, unwittingly or inten- Ifthe police took fingerprintsand looked tionally planted the seed of the story.33 Tom Copeland is preparing a biography for scars, they could hardly miss evi- of Elmer Smith, the lawyer forthe IWW in dence of castration.The room was dark, Cunningham claimed to have watched Centralia and one of those charged with the murder of the He yet the color of Everest's hair and eyes fromthe sidelines when parade marchers legionnaire. works forResources forChild as- was noticed and is recorded. (Only one raided the IWW hall and when the mob Caring, sisting businesses in providing child bullet hole is mentioned. Many histor- captured Everest. He had tried to ques- care services. He has a law degree and ical accounts report that Everest's body tion Everest in jail and was among the lives in St. Paul. was "riddled" with bullets while it hung spectatorswho saw the mob abduct Ever- below the bridge.) Nor does the police est that night. Cunningham insisted that report mention Everest's broken jaw, no castration took place. The story,he missingteeth, or a hole in his cheek, thus said, was spread forthe purpose of excit- doubt on the statementsof those for the casting ing sympathy imprisoned men. 32. For example, see Chaplin, Centralia who claimed to have seen these injuries His view is a biased one, of course, in Conspiracy, 64; Zinn, 370; Werstein,117; inflictedduring Everest's capture.32 light of his personal involvement, and Carlson, 301; O'Connor, 178; and Renshaw, 210. his letterto Holbrook is suspect because The only argumentthat could be made to it was written so many years after the 33. Cunningham to Holbrook, Feb. 9, 1937 support the castration theoryin light of event.34 (microfilm),American Legion Records. Holbrook's article was "The this police document is that the police Wobblies," Oregonian, Feb. 7, 1937. deliberatelyhid the fact.But why would This review of the evidence clearly indi- officerscover this up? The police and cates that historians are in error when 34. Cunningham to Hartley,and to Clarence E. 1960 town leaders hated the IWW, and those they continue to assert that Everest was Spencer, April 12, (microfilm),American Legion Records; J.M. who had lynched Everest were being castrated on November 11, 1919. What Eubanks affidavit,June 10, 1936, Becker publicly praised. There seems little rea- can accurately be said is that castration Papers.