Part 8 (1/2)
”I'm not in favor of raiding the hall myself,” said Scales. ”But I'm certain that if anybody else wants to raid the I.W.W. Hall there is no jury in the land will ever convict them.”
After considerable discussion the meeting started to elect a committee to deal with the situation. First of all an effort was made to get a workingman elected as a member to help camouflage its very evident character and make people believe that ”honest labor” was also desirous of ridding the town of the hated I.W.W. Hall. A switchman named Henry, a member of the Railway Brotherhood, was nominated. When he indignantly declined, Hubbard, red in the face with rage, called him a ”d.a.m.ned skunk.”
The Inner Circle
Scales then proceeded to tell the audience in general and the city officials in particular that he would himself appoint a committee ”whose inner workings were secret,” and see if he could not get around the matter that way. The officers of the League were then elected. The President was County Coroner David Livingstone, who afterwards helped to lynch Wesley Everest. Dr. Livingstone made his money from union miners. William Scales was vice president and Hubbard was treasurer. The secret committee was then appointed by Hubbard. As its name implies it was an underground affair, similar to the Black Hundreds of Old Russia. No record of any of its proceedings has ever come to light, but according to best available knowledge, Warren O. Grimm, Arthur McElfresh, B.S. Cromier and one or two others who figured prominently in the raid, were members. At all events on November 6th, five days before the shooting, Grimm was elected Commander of the Centralia Post of the American Legion, taking the place of Scales, who resigned in his favor. Scales evidently was of the opinion that a Siberian veteran and athlete was better fitted to lead the ”shock troops”
than a mere counter-jumper like himself. There is no doubt but the secret committee had its members well placed in positions of strategic importance for the coming event.
The following day the Tacoma News Tribune carried a significant editorial on the subject of the new organization:
”At Centralia a committee of citizens has been formed that takes the mind back to the old days of vigilance committees of the West, which did so much to force law-abiding citizens.h.i.+p upon certain lawless elements. It is called the Centralia Protective a.s.sociation, and its object is to combat I.W.W. activities in that city and the surrounding country. It invites to members.h.i.+p all citizens who favor the enforcement of law and order ... It is high time for the people who do believe in the lawful and orderly conduct of affairs to take the upper hand ... Every city and town might, with profit, follow Centralia's example.”
The reference to ”law and orderly conduct of affairs” has taken a somewhat ironical twist, now that Centralia has shown the world what she considers such processes to be.
No less significant was an editorial appearing on the same Date in the Centralia Hub:
”If the city is left open to this menace, we will soon find ourselves at the mercy of an organized band of outlaws bent on destruction. What are we going to do about it?” And, referring to the organization of the ”secret committee,” the editorial stated: ”It was decided that the inner workings of the organization were to be kept secret, to more effectively combat a body using similar tactics.” The editorial reeks with lies; but it was necessary that the mob spirit should be kept at white heat at all times.
Newspaper incitation has never been punished by law, yet it is directly responsible for more murders, lynching and raids than any other one force in America.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Stool Pigeon
Tom Morgan, who turned state's evidence. There is an historical precedent for Morgan. Judas acted similarly, but Judas later had the manhood to go out and hang himself. Morgan left for ”parts unknown.”]
The Plot Leaks Out
By degrees the story of the infamous secret committee and its diabolical plan leaked out, adding positive confirmation to the many already credited rumors in circulation. Some of the newspapers quite openly hinted that the I.W.W. Hall was to be the object of the brewing storm. Chief of Police Hughes told a member of the Lewis County Trades Council, William T.
Merriman by name, that the business men were organizing to raid the hall and drive its members out of town. Merriman, in turn carried the statement to many of his friends and brother unionists. Soon the prospective raid was the subject of open discussion,--over the breakfast toast, on the street corners, in the camps and mills--every place.
So common was the knowledge in fact that many of the craft organizations in Centralia began to discuss openly what they should do about it. They realized that the matter was one which concerned labor and many members wanted to protest and were urging their unions to try to do something. At the Lewis County Trades Council the subject was brought up for discussion by its president, L. F. d.i.c.kson. No way of helping the loggers was found, however, if they would so stubbornly try to keep open their headquarters in the face of such opposition. Harry Smith, a brother of Elmer Smith, the attorney, was a delegate at this meeting and reported to his brother the discussion that took place.
Secretary Britt Smith and the loggers at the Union hall were not by any means ignorant of the conspiracy being hatched against them. Day by day they had followed the development of the plot with breathless interest and not a little anxiety. They knew from bitter experience how union men were handled when they were trapped in their halls. But they would not entertain the idea of abandoning their principles and seeking personal safety. Every logging camp for miles around knew of the danger also. The loggers there had gone through the h.e.l.l of the organization period and had felt the wrath of the lumber barons. Some of them felt that the statement of Secretary of Labor Wilson as to the att.i.tude of the Industrial Workers of the World towards ”overthrowing the government,” and ”violence and destruction” would discourage the terrorists from attempting such a flagrant and brutal injustice as the one contemplated.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Oily” Abel
Suave and slimy as a snake; without any of the kindlier traits of nature, W.H. Abel, sounded the gamut of rottenness in his efforts to convict the accused men without the semblance of a fair trial. Abel is notorious throughout Was.h.i.+ngton as the hireling of the lumber interests. In 1917 he prosecuted ”without fee” all laboring men on strike and is attorney for the Cosmopolis ”penitentiary” so called on account of the brutality with which it treats employes. Located in one of the small towns of the state Abel has made a fortune prosecuting labor cases for the special interests.]
Regarding the deportation of I.W.W.'s for belonging to an organization which advocates such things, Secretary of Labor Wilson had stated a short time previously: ”An exhaustive study into the by-laws and practices of the I.W.W. has thus far failed to disclose anything that brings it within the cla.s.s of organizations referred to.”