Montana labor news., 1936-03-05
RAY BECKER DENIED
HEARING
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had expected to get hurt And one
by one the jurors came forward in
behalf Of the men they had sent tc
prison. But still the courts and the
governor refused to act.
Finally the parole board freed SIX
OF the defendants. Death freed anoth-
er. Only Ray Becker was left behind
the bars. He has refused to accept a
parole, stating that to do so would be
an admission Of guilt. The petition
which he presented in court on Feb
3 is his own work, the result Of sew
eral years study OF law. It is l44 pages
long and is entirely hand-printed in
pen and ink. IL He listened stoically to
the decision which sent him back inside
the grim walls. Pm used to disap-
pointments,' he said with has winning
smile. You see I've tried to get my
case into the courts before
The jurors, who were prevented by
judical ruling from taking the stand
in his behalf, were less philosophical
It's a damned outrage; that's what
it isl' said w f. Inmon, fiery farm
er from the Chealis River valley. I've
prayed for the day when 1 could right
the wrong | done them fellows back in
1920. I'D be the %happiest Irishman in
the world if they'd let me tell my story
and get that boy out. - The judge
says we weren't 'i%ntimidated' because
we brought in a verdict of guilty
What would he say if he knew one
of us had a gun because he feared for
his life? - AS for me, no man can
call me a coward even today, and get
away with it; but | amt no fool
neither. l reckon when l looked out
the window at them brown tents and
stacked~rifles and the sunlight shining
on them big six-shooters, l was more'n
a mite uneasy. I've seen many a trial,
but never a one where they had sold
iers before. And I've seer vigilante
hangings down in Texas in the old
days where they had a heap more JUS
tice than there was to Montesano."
Yes, it was a strange trial" agreed
J. A. Ball, sawnill employee of Mont
esano. There was a bailiff who told
us stories about bands OF l.. w. WIS
hiding in the woods to deliver the
prisoners from jail He showed us
newspaper headlines, too At first
we went out for meals, but finally some
of the jurors became so alarmed that
they refused to leave the jury quart
ers, and we had Il meals sent up. -
You can't imagine the feeling that ex-
listed in the town Of Montesano, both
before and after the trial. Why, | was
threatened on the street for not hang
ing the defendants People had gone
mad"
1T wasn't the /. w. WIS in the
woods l was afraid Of spoke up
another juror. 81 didn't believe that
story, although there we're some who
did. II It was the legionnaires in uni
form that had me worried. The cor
ridors were full Of them. Il l learned
afterward that they we're paid four
dollars a day for landing around and
staring at US"
Why are the courts reluctant to hear
the jurors story? Does the State OF
Washington fear expose Of the meth
DDS used to frame innocent men and
send them to prison? Or is there
something still more dark and sinister
back of the efforts Of the Lumber
Trust to hush up the Centralia case?
In 1919, the coroner of Lewis County
held an inquest into the deaths OF
Warren o. Grimm, Ben Casgranda,
Arthur McElfresh, and Dale Hubbard.
the DICTIONARIES who we're killed in the
raid on the hall But no inquest was
ever held into the mutilation and murd-
er of Wesley Everest and his body lies
today in an unknown grave. In 1919
several hundred persons suspected Of
being members OF the l.. w. w. were
thrown into Jail in Lewis County anc
held for weeks in foul cells, some
times without written charge. But nc
effort was ever made to arrest or ever
to question the well-known public Of
fetal who was seer washing blood from
his hands on the night Of the lynchins
The frame-up methods and mob
rule SO successful in 1919 in railroad
ing /. w. w. members to prison may
well be used, again, against %innocen.
workers, unless the Centralia case /.
resurrected from the obscurity where
it has mouldered for sixteen dark years
and unless an aroused public opinion
demands Ray Becker's release from pri
son and the placing there in his steaC
Of the known murderers of Wesley
Everest.