page_title: Centralia massacre (Washington)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Centralia massacre (Washington) / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: A mural in Centralia, Washington sponsored by local businessmen, history buffs and unions to memorialize Wesley Everest and the IWW side of the 1919 Centralia Massacre. By Mike Alewitz, completed December 12, 1997
context_page_description: The Centralia Tragedy, also known as the Centralia Conspiracy and the Armistice Day Riot, was a violent and bloody incident that occurred in Centralia, Washington, on November 11, 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day. This conflict between the American Legion and workers who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World resulted in six deaths, additional wounded, multiple prison terms, and an ongoing and especially bitter dispute over the motivations and events that precipitated the event. It was the culmination of years of bad blood between members of the local Legion and members of the IWW. Both Centralia and the neighboring town of Chehalis had a large number of World War I veterans, with robust chapters of the Legion, as well as a large number of IWW members, some also war veterans.
  The ramifications of this event included a trial that attracted national media attention, notoriety that contributed to the Red Scare of 1919–20, the creation of a powerful martyr for the IWW, a monument to one side of the battle and a mural for the other and a formal tribute to the fallen Legionnaires by President Warren G. Harding.
context_section_description: The captured Wobblies were charged with murder and the resulting trial was held in Montesano, in nearby Grays Harbor County. After a trial that received national coverage, two Wobblies were acquitted (including Elmer Smith), one was found not guilty by reason of insanity, two were found guilty of third-degree murder, and the other five were convicted of second-degree murder. Judge John Wilson refused to accept the verdict since Washington state law did not recognize a charge of third-degree murder.  After a few more hours of deliberation the jury changed its verdict for those two prisoners. Those convicted were sentenced to prison terms of 25–40 years, a sentence which, as author Tom Copeland said, "shocked both the jury and the prisoners."  The seven convicted IWW members appealed their lengthy sentences to the Washington Supreme Court, which unanimously affirmed Wilson's judgement in April 1921.
  As time passed and passions cooled, a public campaign was spearheaded by Elmer Smith. In 1930 one prisoner died in jail and another was released. In 1931 three prisoners were paroled. 1933, the newly elected Democratic governor, Clarence D. Martin (1884–1955), commuted or pardoned the sentences of three of the prisoners. The last prisoner, Ray Becker, continued to maintain his innocence, and refused to be paroled. In 1939 his sentence was commuted to time served.
  A bronze statue of a doughboy, erected to honor the four Legionnaires killed in the tragedy, was erected in Centralia's George Washington Park. Although E. M. Viquesney received a letter in 1921 from the American Legion informing him his statue, Spirit of the American Doughboy, had won the organization's design award competition and was to be the monument placed at Centralia, in 1924, Alonzo Victor Lewis's statue The Sentinel was placed there instead.
  In 1996 the Centralia Union Mural Project commissioned a mural on the north side of a former Elk's Lodge facing The Sentinel to memorialize Wesley Everest and the Wobblies, telling the union side of the history of the Massacre. The mural is titled "The Resurrection of Wesley Everest" and was completed in 1997 by mural painter Mike Alewitz despite controversy and opposition from the American Legion.   
  A brief scene of the massacre is also featured in the 2011 film J. Edgar.
  The gravesite of Wesley Everest, the home of Dale Hubbard, and the statue of the doughboy are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
caption: "The Resurrection of Wesley Everest," mural depicting IWW figures from the Centralia Massacre.
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