Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-12

that building and the roof of n
building across the street bullets
came. Persons in the crowds that
lined the street to honor the re-
and began firing.
Grimm, leading company of
men. dropped mortally wounded.
McElfresh marching in the ranks,
was killed instantly. Ben casa
granda died later from his wounds.
John Earl Watt, George stevens,
Jacob Phitzler and E. Eubanks also
fell wounded, the first named prob
ably fatally. Stevens was shot when
he attempted to disarm an /. w. w.
standing on the street.
The fourth death of n parader was
added when Dale Hubbard, recently
returned overseas man, gathered
small band and started after the 1.
w. w. secretary. Hubbard and the
fugitive grappled after chase, IN
which Smith fired repeatedly at ms
pursuers. AS they clinched, Hubbard
received four wounds in the body.
Body Riddled
Another pursuer overpowered
Smith and he was taken to Jail,
later to be removed and hanged aft
er citizens learned that four of the
former soldiers had died. An at
tempt to lynch Smith was made be-
fore he was lodged in Jail.
You fellows can't hang me- he
said II was sent to do my duty and
/ did it,"
Smith was tossed from n bridge
over the Chelafs river after rope
was tied about his neck and a vol
ley of bullets sent into his body.
The lynching party worked silently
and in darkness while taking him
from the Jail. At 7.30 o'clock all
the city's electric lights were cut
off and eight men easily overcame
the one man on guard inside the
iaiI. Smith was placed in one of
about six darkened automobiles that
stood about the Jail and rushed to
the bridge.
Little was known of Smith. He
came here q short time ago.
Two undertakers refused to ham
die Smiths body. and what disposal
of il would be made was unknown.
Burned Furniture Previously
Clashes between the I. W. w. and
Centralia citizens have occurred at
intervals during the last two years.
The first trouble occurred when a
radical spoke against a Red Cross
baZar. At that time crowd re-
moved all furniture from |. w. w.
hall and burned it in the street.
Governor Hart to-day was en-
route to the capital from the eastern
part of the State. He started imme-
diately on receipt of news of the
disorders here.
From Yakima to-day came a re-
port that members of the American
Legion there were discussing forma-
ton of a secret order within the
Legion designed to combat radical
ism.
The Centralia police force con-
sists of only five paid members and
they were powerless in the face of
the great odds against them, both in
combating the /. w. w. and in de-
Tending Smith before he was
hanged. Members of the Legion as
sisted them in patroling and in
guarding the jail,
Served Overseas
Warren Grimm was commander
of the local post of the American
Legion. He returned recently from
Siberia and had been practicing law
with his brother. During his college
days at the University of Washing
tOH. he dCQulIcu tlo dli hbhiCIS.
He was 81 years old and is survived
by a widow and baby daughter.
McElfresh was "a years old. He
returned from France last May after
sixteen months overseas.
Hubbard served with the Twen-
tieth Engineers in France. He was
married only two weeks ago.
Casagranda served with the Nine
v-first Division in France,
One eye witness account of the
attack on the marchers was that 1t
came just as the head of the line
slowed down to mark time" in
front of the |. w. w. headquarters
to permit the rest of the column to
make up distance. From the root
and windows of the l. w. w. head
quarters and buildings across the
street and from pedestrians volleys
of bullets sprayed the halted ranks.
Men came running from different
exits of the I. w. w. hall.
Secretary Smith fled from rear
entrance, firing an automatic. His
weapon damned" but he restored
it to working condition and con-
tinued to fire until he was overtaken
and disarmed.