Wesley Everest
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Nathan Wesley Everest (December 29, 1890 – November 11, 1919) was an American member of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW) and a
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
era
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...
. He was lynched during the Centralia Tragedy after killing Dale Hubbard in what the union called
self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...
, though the
American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...
called it
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
. His burial plot, the Wesley Everest Gravesite, has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
since 1991.


Military service

Everest was drafted into the army in November 1917 and was a member of the Spruce Production Division in Vancouver, Washington, which supplied timber for building airplanes, railroad cars, and other vital wartime equipment. Everest spent much of his time in the Vancouver stockade for refusing to salute the American flag. When he was out of the stockade and working he spent most of his time trying to organize his fellow soldiers. Contrary to virtually all published accounts, Everest never served in France and was never sent overseas. After serving during World War I, Everest worked in
Centralia, Washington Centralia () is a city in Lewis County, Washington, Lewis County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is located along Interstate 5 in Washington, Interstate 5 near the midpoint between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The city had a ...
as a
lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...
. He also was a member of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
.


The Centralia Affair

During the celebration of Armistice Day in 1919, members of the
American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...
stormed the IWW Union Hall, although it is debated who initiated the incident. The American Legion claimed that they were fired upon before they attacked the hall. The IWW claimed that the Legion attacked before they fired. The result was a fight that resulted in the deaths of six men, while others were wounded. One participant in the parade, John Earl Watts, was shot and wounded in the side by Everest and fell within a few feet of the mortally wounded Ben Cassagranda. Ironically. Watts was not a member of the American Legion but a IWW member. He had been invited to join the parade because he had served in the U.S. ArmyEugene Register-Guard Nove 8, 1970
/ref> Everest escaped out the rear of the Roderick Hotel, firing at his pursuers and reloading as he ran. Legionnaire Alva Coleman grabbed a non-functioning revolver from a captured Wobbly or a nearby house and began to chase Everest. Shot and wounded by Everest, he passed the revolver to Legionnaire Dale Hubbard, a noted athlete, who caught up with Everest as the Wobbly was trying to ford the Skookumchuck River. Pointing the useless revolver at Everest, Hubbard ordered Everest to drop his gun and surrender. It is not known whether Hubbard knew his revolver was useless. Everest most certainly would have assumed it was not. Everest, unable to cross the river, turned and shot Hubbard before he was overpowered, beaten, and dragged to the town's jail. It was said that during the incident, Everest uttered, "I fought for democracy in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and I'm going to fight for it here. The first man that comes in this hall, why, he's going to get it." During the evening of November 11, Everest was turned over to the lynch mob by jail guards, taken to a bridge over the Chehalis River, lynched and then shot. The next day his body was cut down and lay in the river bottom until sunset when his body was returned to the jail. There it lay with the rope still around his neck, in full view of the IWW members rounded up after the shootings. Later his body was buried in a pauper's graveyard in Centralia and the burial plot, the Wesley Everest Gravesite, was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. With No one was charged with the crime even if those involved in the lynching were well-known to townsfolk in Centralia. As a result of the shootings, seven IWW members were sentenced to prison terms of 25 to 40 years. The last prisoner was released in 1939.


Castration controversy

Many books about the Centralia case state that Everest was castrated while being driven to his lynching. The first published account of castration appeared four months later in Ralph Chaplin's sensational publication, ''The Centralia Conspiracy''. The IWW members who saw Everest's body in the jail after the lynching said nothing about mutilation in interviews with the press at the time. The coroner's jury, who met on November 13 without County Coroner Dr. David Livingstone, was likewise silent. The IWW defense lawyers said nothing about castration during the three-month trial. Those who placed his body in the coffin said nothing about castration at the time. A 1930 account of the Centralia case, published by the Council of Churches, concluded that the castration story "has not been clearly established." After Everest's body was returned to the jail following his lynching, a man, presumably a police officer, examined his body and filed a police report dated November 12. The report includes a set of fingerprints and a description of the body, including the color of his eyes and hair. It estimates Everest's height and weight. Then, it notes: "No scars that could be located on the body outside where rope cut neck hole that looked like bullet hole Prints taken in the Jail at Centralia, Wash. room very dark to see any thing on the body in line fscars: rope was still around the neck of the man." There were no further injuries reported.
John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...
treated the castration as a proven fact in his account of Wesley Everest's life and death included in his ''
U.S.A. Trilogy The ''U.S.A.'' trilogy is a series of three novels by American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels ''The 42nd Parallel'' (1930 in literature, 1930), ''Nineteen Nineteen'' (1932 in literature, 1932) and ''The Big Money'' (1936 in liter ...
'', which reflects the author's sympathy at the time of writing for the IWW and his outrage at its suppression.


See also

*
First Red Scare The first Red Scare was a period during History of the United States (1918–1945), the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of Far-left politics, far-left movements, including Bolsheviks, Bolshevism a ...
* Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States * Joe Hill (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915) was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW, familiarly called the "Wobblies") who was executed on November 19, 1915.


References

* * - Total pages: 196 * * *John Dos Passos, "Paul Bunyan", in: U.S.A.: 1919, New York 1932, ed. 1996, pp. 747–750 * - Total pages: 533 *


Archives


American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Records, circa 1942-1996
136.66 cubic feet (including 13 microfilm reels and 1 videocassette) plus 62 cartons and 2 rolled posters.
American Legion, Department of Washington Records, 1919-1920
.5 linear feet (4 microfilm reels : positive; 4 microfilm reels : negative).
E. Raymond Attebery Papers, 1913-1979
1.55 cubic ft.
Rayfield Becker Papers, 1919-1939
.28 cubic foot.
Industrial Workers of the World, Seattle Joint Branches Records, 1905-1950
3.31 cubic feet.
Eugene Barnett Oral History Collection 1940-1961.
.21 cubic feet (1 box). {{DEFAULTSORT:Everest, Wesley 1890 births 1919 deaths People murdered in 1919 Anti-communist terrorism Anti-union violence in the United States People from Newberg, Oregon People from Centralia, Washington American murder victims Industrial Workers of the World members People murdered in Washington (state) Lynching deaths in Washington (state) Murdered trade unionists United States Army personnel of World War I 1919 in Washington (state) November 1919 in the United States