Tag: Elmer Smith

Hellraisers Journal: The Story of Wobbly Newsboy Blind Tom Lassiter at the Hands of Centralia’s Super-Patriots

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 5, 1920
Centralia, Washington – The Story of Blind Tom Lassiter

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 28, 1920:

BLIND NEWSBOY VICTIM SECOND CENTRALIA MOB
—–

Because Tom Lassiter Sold Union Records and Butte Bulletins
Super-Patriots of Lumber Town Maltreated Him.
—–

(By JOHN NICHOLAS BEFFEL.)
(Staff Correspondent,
the Federated Press.)

IWW Centralia, Blind Tom Lassiter, RC p104, 1924 ed

Centralia, Wash., (By Mail).-It was the second of the three Centralia mobs that got Blind Tom Lassiter, newsboy. His crime was that he sold the Seattle Union Record, workers’ newspaper, and was a wobbly. Twice the mob burned all his possessions, then kidnaped him on the open street, and sped with him to another county.

Gov. Louis F. Hart knows the facts of this flagrant case. They were presented to him, substantiated by affidavits of reputable eye-witnesses. But the men who abused and exiled Lassiter, a law-abiding American citizen, have never been prosecuted.

Prosecuting Attorney Herman Allen of Lewis county knows the facts. They were presented to him with similar affidavits. But Allen has never taken any steps to punish the guilty men.

Judge John M. Wilson, who tried the ten I. W. W. in the Centralia labor case at Montesano, knows the facts about the Lassiter episode. They were offered to him in detail by Defense Counsel George F. Vanderveer. Those facts ought, by every tenet of justice, have been given to the jury. But the court said no.

So the story of what happened to Blind Tom Lassiter is little known outside of Centralia. Mention of it crept occasionally into the news stories published in perhaps four newspapers across the country; but its real significance needs to be made clear.

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Hellraisers Journal: Centralia Defendants Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith, Found Not Guilty, Now Back in Chehalis Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 28, 1920
Chehalis, Washington – Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith Back Behind Bars

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 23, 1920:

CHEHALIS JAILOR CHARY ABOUT RECEIVING VISITS
———-
Correspondent Tells of Conditions in Prison Where
Victims of Centralia Lumber Barons Were Confined
—–

(By John Nicholas Beffel.)

IWW Centralia, Sheehan n Smith, Stt Str p11, Jan 24, 1920

Centralia, Wash.-It’s difficult to get into the decrepit old jail at Chehalis unless you are a Wobbly. I wanted to get inside, but Sheriff John Berry wouldn’t let me. He was firm about it, and a bit peevish. Sanitary conditions within were a delicate subject, a cause for official sensitiveness.

That jail has an important relation to the Centralia tragedy story. Some of the I. W. W. defendants consented to make statements while confined there. Mrs. Mary McAllister, one of the vital witnesses for the defense, who testified that Eugene Barnett was in the Roderick hotel during the rioting and not in the Avalon hotel, was held in the Chehalis jail twenty days without warrant or charge, and then released.

And now Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith, acquitted at Montesano, were back at Chehalis, imprisoned in a little cell, suffering for lack of proper ventilation, fighting live rats and enduring the odor of dead ones. Sheehan and Smith had been found innocent of connection with the death of Warren O. Grim, and then were immediately rearrested charged with conspiring to murder Arthur McElfresh, another slain Armistice Day parader.

I asked Sheriff Berry if I could see the interior of the jail.

“Who are you investigatin’ jails for?” he demanded suspiciously.

“For the labor press,” I said.

“It won’t be necessary for you to see the inside of this jail,” he decreed. “It ain’t the kind of place it ought to be, but I can’t help that. I’ve tried to get the county commissioners to fix things, but they won’t loosen up.”

Already I knew that Berry would not permit the prisoners to receive any copies of the Seattle Union Record or any other labor paper.

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Hellraisers Journal: IWWs Get Heavy Sentences; “Centralia: An Unfinished Story” by Anna Louise Strong

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 21, 1920
Centralia Defendants Get Heavy Sentences; Anna Louise Strong Reports on Trial

From the Washington Standard of April 6, 1920:

HEAVY SENTENCES GIVEN I. I. W.’S
———-

TWENTY-FIVE TO FORY YEARS GIVEN MEN CONVICTED OF
SECOND DEGREE MURDER; PRACTICALLY MEANS LIFE
TO MOST OF THEM; CASE TO BE APPEALED.
———-

Centralia Trial, IWW Defendants Names, Spk Chc p1, Feb 7, 1920—–

The seven men convicted at Montesano March 13 of second degree murder for the slaying of Warren O. Grimm, Centralia Armistice Day parade victim, were sentenced to not less than 25 years in state’s prison and not more than 40 years, by Judge John M. Wilson Monday afternoon.

Defense Attorney Vanderveer took exception to the sentences and gave notice of appeal.

Judge Wilson said that he could not pay any attention to the jury’s plea for leniency in the case of John Lamb and Ray Becker in the light of the evidence submitted. He said he regarded the case against all of the men as identical. Loren Roberts, whom the jury found insane, was ordered sent to the criminal insane ward at Walla Walla penitentiary.

The seven men sentenced to 25 to 40 years were O. C. Bland, Bert Bland, John Lamb, Eugene Barnett, James McInerney, Ray Becker and Britt Smith.

Motion for a new trial was made by Vanderveer, and argued at length but was denied by Judge Wilson before the sentence was passed.

The minimum sentence for second degree murder is 10 years, the maximum life imprisonment. The defense has 90 days in which, to carry the case to the supreme court.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

From The Nation of April 17, 1920:

Centralia: An Unfinished Story

By ANNA LOUISE STRONG

Anna Louise Strong, Stt Str p 5, Mar 4, 1918

NEITHER side was satisfied with the compromise verdict rendered by the jury at Montesano in the trial of the eleven members of the I. W. W. charged with the murder of Warren 0. Grimm in connection with the Centralia tragedy on Armistice Day. The prosecution asked that all eleven be convicted of murder in the first degree, as having conspired to commit murder. The defense asked that all be acquitted, as men who had planned only to defend themselves and their hall against a threatened raid. One of the defendants was freed on a directed verdict. Of the ten considered by the jury, two were acquitted, one adjudged insane, and seven convicted of murder in the second degree. Even to the jury itself this verdict was not satisfactory. It brought in first a verdict of murder in the third degree for two of the defendants, but was informed by the judge that this was inadmissible, and upon further consideration changed the verdict to that of murder in the second degree. It is generally conceded that three of the jurors held out for some time for absolute acquittal of all defendants.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: “Seven of Centralia Defendants Found Guilty in Second Degree”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 16, 1920
Montesano, Washington – Seven Centralia I. W. W. Defendants Found Guilty

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of March 15, 1920:

BDB, in Interest of WC, p1, Mar 15, 1920IWW Centralia Trial, Seven Found Guilty, BDB p1, Mar 15, 1920

(Special to the Bulletin.)

Montesano, Wash., March 15.-Ignoring Judge Wilson’s instructions that their verdict must be either acquittal or first degree murder, the jurors in the trials of the 10 I. W. W. charged with killing Warren O. Grimm during the rioting which resulted from the attack of a group of legionnaire paraders on the I. W. W. hall at Centralia last Armistice day, late Saturday night brought in verdicts of acquittal for Elmer Smith, Mike Sheehan and Loren Roberts and second degree murder in the cases of Britt Smith, Ray Becker, James McInerney, Bert Bland, Eugene Barnett, John Lamb and O. C. Bland. Robert’s acquittal was based on the grounds of insanity.

Centralia Trial, IWW Defendants Names, Spk Chc p1, Feb 7, 1920

The verdict was the second returned by the jury in the case, the jurors having come in earlier in the evening with the announcement that they had found McInerney, Becker, O. C. Bland and Bert Bland and Britt Smith guilty of second degree murder, and Eugene Barnett and John Lamb guilty of third degree murder. On this occasion Judge Wilson refused to accept the verdict and ordered them to return and deliberate in accordance with his instructions, holding that a verdict of third degree murder was not permissable under his instructions.

Immediately after the last verdict was read to the prisoners and the court, Sheriff John Berry of Lewis county immediately rearrested all of them on charges of having murdered Arthur McElfresh, who also was killed during the Armistice day rioting.

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Hellraisers Journal: Centralia IWW Defendants Forced to Stand Trial in Montesano Where Lynching Is Threatened

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 27, 1920
Montesano, Washington – Centralia I. W. W. Defendants Threatened

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of January 26, 1920:

Centralia, Montesano Trial Armed Camp BDB p1, Jan 26, 1920———-

CENTRALIA I. W W. FORCED TO TRIAL IN TOWN
WHERE LYNCHING IS THREATENED
—–

(Special United Press Wire.)

Montesano, Wash, Jan. 26.-An attempt by George Vanderveer, chief counsel for the defense, to introduce articles and editorials printed in a Gray’s Harbor newspaper during November and December, as the basis of his request for a change of venue for the I. W. W. defendants accused of the Centralia Armistice day killings, met defeat when the trial began this morning. Judge Wilson ruled that only new matter arising since his previous ruling denying a change of venue can be considered now.

The accused were freshly shaven when they entered the courtroom this morning. For the most part their faces were expressionless.

Montesano, lying in a valley between wooded hills, doesn’t seem unduly excited. There is, however, a rather grim determination to mete out “justice” apparent in the faces of the citizens who thronged the corridors of the courthouse.

Elaborate precautions have been taken by the authorities to prevent any trouble during the trial. Twenty-four deputy sheriffs are constantly patrolling the streets. Sheriff Barten announced he had deputized 100 members of the American Legion at Centralia, 300 at Hoquiam and 100 at Elma, who will be called if trouble arises.

The hundreds of witnesses who will be called during the trial will be fed in a huge dining room established at the city hall.

The defense’s application for a change of venue was denied by Judge Wilson at the end of the morning session. The court held that the showing of the defense was insufficient to cause the trial to be shifted from Montesano and that the law does not permit a second change of venue in a case of this kind.

All doubt that self-defense will be the keynote of the defense was swept away by Attorney Vanderveer in his argument on a motion for a change of venue.

[He declared:]

That the legionaires attacked the I. W. W. hall will not even be disputed before we finish this trial. Even from the prosecution’s own witnesses we will prove the attack was made before a shot was fired.

—–

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