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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 17, 1920
Tacoma, Washington – Labor Jury Finds Centralia Defendants Not Guilty
From The Butte Daily Bulletin of March 16, 1920:
ASSERT EVIDENCE SHOWS GRIMM HAD CONSPIRED
TO ATTACK CENTRALIA HALL
———-(Special to The Bulletin.)
Tacoma, Wash., March 16.-The “labor jury” composed of six representatives of various labor organizations on the coast who attended the trial of the 10 I. W. W. W. charged with the Centralia Armistice day killings, today announced the result of their deliberation. The “jury” found that:
There had been a conspiracy on the part of Centralia business men to raid the I. W. W. hall at Centralia.
That Warren O. Grimm was a party to the conspiracy.
That the defendants failed to get an impartial trial.
The members of the labor jury were appointed by labor organizations to sit at the trial as spectators and to place themselves in the attitude of fair and impartial jurors and to return a verdict of their findings as the result of the testimony offered at the trial. The jurors, now that they have made their decision, will report to their respective bodies. It can be stated the decision of the “labor jury” represents the official attitude of organized labor, whose accredited representatives the jurors were.
———-
TRIAL JUDGE WAS EULOGIST
FOR W. O. GRIMM
—–(By JOHN NICHOLAS BEFFEL.)
Montesano, Wash., March 16.-In the final week of the Centralia labor trial, it became known that Judge John N. Wilson, who tried the case, delivered in December, a eulogy of three of the men killed in the Armistice day rioting. The occasion was a memorial service at the Elks’ club in Centralia-and the men eulogized were Warren O. Grimm, Arthur McElfresh and Dale Hubbard.
George F. Vanderveer, counsel for the defense, offered in court, as the case neared a close, to prove this statement as evidence that the trial was being heard before a prejudiced judge. But the court overruled the offer. Vanderveer cited the appointment of Judge Wilson as improper and irregular. There was no reason, he declared, why Governor Hart should not have chosen Judge Ben Shecks of Grays Harbor county to hear the case.
[Photograph added.]
From the Report of the Labor Jury, Tacoma, March 15, 1920:
LABOR’s VERDICT
Labor Temple, Tacoma, March 15, 1920.
The Labor Jury met in the rooms of the Labor Temple and organized, electing P. K. Mohr as foreman.
1. Were the defendants guilty or not guilty? Verdict, “Not guilty.”
2. Shall we give our report to the press? Verdict, “Yes.”
3. Was there a conspiracy to raid the I. W. W. on the part of the business interests of Centralia? Verdict, “Yes.”…
4. Was the I. W. W. hall unlawfully raided? Verdict, “Yes.” The evidence introduced convinces us that an attack was made before a shot was fired.
5. Had the defendants a right to defend their hall? Verdict, “Yes.”…
6. Was Warren O. Grimm a party to the conspiracy of raiding the I. W. W. hall? Verdict, “Yes.” The evidence introduced convinces us that Warren O. Grimm participated in the raid of the H. W. W. hall.
7. To our minds the most convincing evidence that Grimm was in front of and raiding the I. W. W. hall with others, is the evidence of State Witness Van Gilder, who testified that he stood at the side of Grimm at the intersection of Second street and Tower avenue, where, according to his testimony, Grimm was shot. This testimony was refuted by five witnesses who testified that they saw Grimm coming wounded from the direction of the I. W. W. hall. It is not credible that Van Gilder, a personal and intimate friend of Grimm, would leave him when he was mortally wounded, to walk half a block alone and unaided.
8. Did the defendants get a fair and impartial trial? Verdict, “No.” The most damaging evidence of a conspiracy by the business men of Centralia, of a raid on the I. W. W. hall, was ruled out by the court and not permitted to go to the jury. This was one of the principal issues that the defense sought to establish…..[Signed by entire Labor Jury:]
Theodore Meyer, Everett Central Labor Council;
John O. Craft, Seattle Metal Trades Council;
E. W. Thrall, Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, Centralia;
W. J. Beard, Tacoma Central Labor Council;
Otto Newman, Portland Central Labor Council;
P. K. Mohr, Seattle Central Labor Council.
Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15
https://www.iww.org/history/library/Chaplin/centralia-conspiracy/15
The Butte Daily Bulletin
(Butte, Montana)
-Mar 16, 1920
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045085/1920-03-16/ed-1/seq-1/
For Report of the Labor Jury, see:
The Centralia Conspiracy
-by Ralph Chaplin
Part 22-The Lumber Trust Wins the Jury
https://www.iww.org/history/library/Chaplin/centralia-conspiracy/22
And 1924 Edition, pages 135-138:
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=llVSAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA135
IMAGE
IWW Centralia, Labor Jury, Chaplin p79, 1920
https://www.iww.org/PDF/history/library/Chaplin/Centralia.pdf
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 16, 1920
Montesano, Washington – Seven Centralia I. W. W. Defendants Found Guilty
Tag: Centralia Armistice Day Conspiracy of 1919
https://weneverforget.org/tag/centralia-armistice-day-conspiracy-of-1919/
re John Nicholas Beffel, see:
https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w65t3mww#biography
Revolution in Seattle: A Memoir
-by Harvey O’Connor
Haymarket Books, 2009
(search: “labor jury”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=ayj5zs40WtoC
The Centralia Tragedy of 1919: Elmer Smith and the Wobblies
-by Tom Copeland
University of Washington Press, Jul 1, 2011
(search: “labor jury”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=K8cKidBft4cC
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One Big Industrial Union – Asheville May Day Chorus
Lyrics: “Paint ‘er Red” by Ralph Chaplin
https://digital.wolfsonian.org/WOLF045327/00001/pageturner#page/43