A Tragedy in Centralia
This week marks the centennial of the Centralia Tragedy -- also known as the Centralia Massacre -- when the city's first Armistice Day parade on November 11, 1919, erupted into a bloody altercation between members of the American Legion and the Industrial Workers of the World.
Founded in 1905, the IWW gained strength in Washington in 1908, beginning in Spokane, where its members soon became involved in a free-speech fight. As they organized in lumber towns throughout the state, the Wobblies sometimes encountered violent opposition from self-proclaimed patriots , local authorities, and vigilantes. In 1916 citizen deputies beat 41 Wobblies in Everett days before a gun battle at the city dock left at least five Wobblies and two deputies dead.
In 1917 the IWW opened a meeting hall in Centralia, but during a Red Cross parade in 1918 the hall was raided and the Wobblies were forced out of town. They soon returned and opened a new meeting hall in the Roderick Hotel. Fearing that they would be raided again, they distributed leaflets asking the local citizenry not to take the law into their own hands. (Image courtesy UW Special Collections) But when an Armistice Day parade was announced in 1919, the Wobblies planned for the worst, placing armed members inside the hall and rifle marksmen in buildings across the street.
As they expected, the hall was attacked and three Legionnaires -- including Post Commander Warren O. Grimm -- died in the shootout. Wobblies were rounded up and arrested, and later that evening a mob stormed the jail and lynched Wesley Everest, hanging him from a bridge and mutilating his body with gunshots. In a miscarriage of justice, seven Wobblies were later found guilty of Grimm's murder, and although the jury asked for leniency, the judge sentenced each of the men to 25 to 40 years in prison. After tempers had cooled and the realization grew that an injustice had been done, Governor Clarence D. Martin commuted their sentences ... 13 years later. Five men walked free, but one had died while in prison, and another refused to be released without a full pardon. Sadly, Elmer Smith, an IWW lawyer who fought hard for their release, did not live to see the long-delayed victory.
The Founding of Seattle
On November 13, 1851, the Denny Party landed near Alki Point after a grueling trek over the Oregon Trail from their old home in Cherry Grove, Illinois. They might not have survived that harsh first winter without the aid of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes led by Chief Seattle. As later recounted by Nancy Russell Thomas, life didn't get much easier in the town's early years.
By 1900 Seattle was a burgeoning metropolis, and its population would triple to 240,000 by 1910. On November 13, 1905, Carson Boren and two other surviving members of the Denny Party gathered again on Alki Beach to dedicate a modest obelisk commemorating the city's birth.
The 1951 centennial saw the opening of the Museum of History & Industry, while the late Murray Morgan redefined the art of local history with his seminal book Skid Road. Fifty years later, in 2001, the state senate adopted a resolution honoring the sesquicentennial of that momentous landing.
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