There are only two real issues in this case. One is the question: Who was
the aggressor in the Armistice Day affray? The other is: Was Eugene
Barnett in the Avalon hotel window when that affray occurred?
We have proven by unimpeachable witnesses that there was a raid on the
I.W.W. hall in Centralia on November 11--a raid, in which the business
interests of the city used members of the American Legion as catspaws. We
have shown that Warren O. Grimm, for the killing of whom these defendants
are on trial, actually took park in that raid, and was in the very doorway
of the hall when the attack was made, despite the attempts of the
prosecution to place Grimm 100 feet away when he was shot.
We have proven a complete alibi for Eugene Barnett through unshaken and
undisputable witnesses. He was not in the Avalon hotel during the riot; he
was in the Roderick hotel lobby; he had no gun and he took no part in the
shooting.
In my opening statement, I said I would stand or fall on the issue of: Who
was the aggressor on Armistice Day? I have stood by that promise, and
stand by it now.
Mr. Abel, specially hired prosecutor in this trial, made the same promise.
So did Herman Allen, the official Lewis county prosecutor, who has been so
ingloriously shoved aside by Mr. Abel and his colleague, Mr. Cunningham,
ever since the beginning here. But a few days ago, when the defense was
piling up evidence showing that there was a raid on the I.W.W. hall by the
paraders, Mr. Abel backed down.
Why Were the Shots Fired?
I was careful in the beginning to put him on record on that point; all
along I knew that he and Mr. Allen would back down on the issue of who was
the aggressor; they could not uphold their contention that the Armistice
Day paraders were fired upon in cold blood while engaged in lawful and
peaceful action.
What possible motive could these boys have had for firing upon innocent
marching soldiers? It is true that the marchers were fired upon; that
shots were fired by some of these defendants; but why were the shots
fired?
[Illustration: John Lamb
Logger. American. Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917. Lamb
was in the Arnold Hotel with O.C. Bland during the raid on the hall.
Neither of them did any shooting. John Lamb has lived for years in
Centralia. He is married and has five children who are left dependent
since the conviction.]
There is only one reason why--they were defending their own legal property
against unlawful invasion and attack; they were defending the dwelling
place of Britt Smith, their secretary.
And they had full right to defend their lives and that property and that
home against violence or destruction; they had a right to use force, if
necessary, to effect that defense. The law gives them that right; and it
accrues to them also from all of the wells of elementary justice.
The law says that when a man or group of men have reason to fear attack
from superior numbers, they may provide whatever protection they may deem
necessary to repel such an attack. And it says also that if a man who is
in bad company when such an attack is made happens to be killed by the
defenders, those defenders are not to be considered guilty of that man's
death.
So they had the troops come, to blow bugles and drill in the streets where
the jury could see; their power, however wielded, was great enough to
cause Governor Hart to send the soldiers here without consulting the trial
judge or the sheriff, whose function it was to preserve law and order
here--and you know, I am sure, that law and order were adequately
preserved here before the troops came.
"Fearful of the Truth"
They tried the moth-eaten device of arresting our witnesses for alleged
perjury, hoping to discredit those witnesses thus in your eyes because
they knew they couldn't discredit them in any regular nor legitimate way.
Fearful of the truth, the guilty ones at Centralia deliberately framed up
evidence to save themselves from blame--to throw the responsibility for
the Armistice Day horror onto other men. But they bungled the frame-up
badly. No bolder nor cruder fabrication has ever been attempted than the
ridiculous effort to fasten the killing of Warren Grimm upon Eugene
Barnett.
[Illustration: Court Room in which the Farcical "Trial" Took Place
This garish room in the court house at Montesano was the scene of the
attempted "judicial murder" that followed the lynching. The judge always
entered his chambers through the door under the word "Transgression": the
jury always left through the door over which "Instruction" appears. In
this room the lumber trust attorneys attempted to build a gallows of
perjured testimony on which to break the necks of innocent men.]
These conspirators were clumsy enough in their planning to drive the
I.W.W. out of town; their intent was to stampede the marching soldiers
into raiding the I.W.W. hall. But how much more clumsy was the frame-up
afterward--the elaborate fixing of many witnesses to make it appear that
Grimm was shot at Tower avenue and Second street when he actually was shot
in front of the hall; and to make it appear that Ben Casagranda and Earl
Watts were shot around the corner on Second street, when they were
actually shot on Tower avenue, close to the front of the hall.
These conspirators were clumsy enough in their planning to drive the
I.W.W. out of town; their intent was to stampede the marching soldiers
into raiding the I.W.W. hall. But how much more clumsy was the frame-up
afterward--the elaborate fixing of many witnesses to make it appear that
Grimm was shot at Tower avenue and Second street when he actually was shot
in front of the hall; and to make it appear that Ben Casagranda and Earl
Watts were shot around the corner on Second street, when they were
actually shot on Tower avenue, close to the front of the hall.
Then, you will remember, I compelled Elsie Hornbeck to admit that she had
been shown photographs of Barnett by the prosecution. She would not have
told this fact, had I not trapped her into admitting it; that was obvious
to everybody in this courtroom that day.
You have heard the gentlemen of the prosecution assert that this is a
murder trial, and not a labor trial. But they have been careful to ask all
our witnesses whether they were I.W.W. members, whether they belonged to
any labor union, and whether they were sympathetic towards workers on
trial for their lives. And when the answer to any of these questions was
yes, they tried to brand the witness as one not worthy of belief. Their
policy and thus browbeating working people who were called as witnesses is
in keeping with the tactics of the mob during the days when it held
Centralia in its grasp.
You know, even if the detailed story has been barred from the record, of
the part F.R. Hubbard, lumber baron, played in this horror at Centralia.
You have heard from various witnesses that the lumber mill owned by
Hubbard's corporation, the Eastern Railway and Lumber Company, is a
notorious non-union concern. And you have heard it said that W.A. Abel,
the special prosecutor here, has been an ardent and active labor-baiter
for years.
Hubbard wanted to drive the I.W.W. out of Centralia. Why did he want to
drive them out? He said they were a menace. And it is true that they were
a menace, and are a menace--to those who exploit the workers who produce
the wealth for the few to enjoy.
Why Were Ropes Carried?
Was there a raid on the hall before the shooting? Dr. Frank Bickford, a
reputable physician, appeared here and repeated under oath what he had
sworn to at the coroner's inquest--that when the parade stopped, he
offered to lead a raid on the hall if enough would follow,--but that
others pushed ahead of him, forced open the door, and then the shots came
from inside.
And why did the Rev. H.W. Thompson have a rope? Thompson believes in
hanging men by the neck until they are dead. When the state Employers'
Association and others wanted the hanging law in Washington revived not
long ago, the Reverend Thompson lectured in many cities and towns in
behalf of that law. And he has since lectured widely against the I.W.W.
Did he carry a rope in the parade because he owned a cow and a calf? Or
what?
Why did the prosecution need so many attorneys here, if it had the facts
straight? Why were scores of American Legion members imported here to sit
at the trial at a wage of $4 per day and expenses?
They have told you this was a murder trial, and not a labor trial. But
vastly more than the lives of ten men are the stakes in the big gamble
here; for the right of workers to organize for the bettering of their own
condition is on trial; the right of free assemblage is on trial; democracy
and Americanism are on trial.
In our opening statement, we promised to prove various facts; and we have
proven them, in the main; if there are any contentions about which the
evidence remains vague, this circumstance exists only because His Honor
has seen fit to rule out certain testimony which is vital to the case, and
we believed, and still believe, was entirely material and properly
admissible.
But is there any doubt in your minds that there was a conspiracy to raid
the I.W.W. hall, and to run the Industrial Workers of the World out of
town? Even if the court will not allow you to read the handbill issued by
the I.W.W., asking protection from the citizens of Centralia have you any
doubt that the I.W.W. had reason to fear an attack from Warren Grimm and
his fellow marchers? And have you any doubt that there was a raid on the
hall?
When I came into this case I knew that we were up against tremendous odds.
Terror was loose in Centralia; prejudice and hatred against the I.W.W. was
being systematically and sweepingly spread in Grays Harbor county and
throughout the whole Northwest; and intimidation or influence of some sort
was being employed against every possible witness and talesman.
[Illustration: George Vanderveer
This man single handed opposed six high priced lumber trust prosecutors in
the famous trial at Montesano. Vanderveer is a man of wide experience and
deep social vision. He was at one time prosecuting attorney for King
County, Washington. The lumber trust has made countless threats to "get
him." "A lawyer with a heart is as dangerous as a workingman with
brains."]
Not only were unlimited money and other resources of the Lewis County
commercial interests banded against us, but practically all the attorneys
up and down the Pacific coast had pledged themselves not to defend any
I.W.W., no matter how great nor how small the charge he faced. Our
investigators were arrested without warrant; solicitors for our defense
fund met with the same fate.
And when the trial date approached, the judge before whom this case is
being heard admitted that a fair trial could not be had here, because of
the surging prejudice existent in this community. Then, five days later,
the court announced that the law would not permit a second change of
venue, and that the trial must go ahead in Montesano.
In the face of these things, and in the face of all the atmosphere of
violence and bloodthirstiness which the prosecution has sought to throw
around these defendants, I am placing our case in your hands; I am
intrusting to you gentlemen to decide upon the fate of ten human
beings--whether they shall live or die or be shut away from their fellows
for months or years.
But I am asking you much more than that--I am asking you to decide the
fate of organized labor in the Northwest; whether its fundamental rights
are to survive or be trampled underfoot.