Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by MarnetteD (talk | contribs) at 21:43, 19 August 2019 (there is more info there than just a pic of the grave). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Wesley Everest" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Nathan Wesley Everest (December 29, 1890 in Newberg, Oregon — November 11, 1919 in Centralia, Washington) was an American member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a World War I era veteran. He was lynched during the Centralia Massacre after killing Dale Hubbard in what the union called self-defense, though the American Legion called it murder.

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. 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 as a lumberjack. He also was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.

The Centralia Affair

During the celebration of Armistice Day in 1919, members of the American Legion 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 deaths of six men, while others were wounded. After firing from inside the IWW hall, Everest ran out the back door and was pursued by a mob. He killed Dale Hubbard before he was overpowered, beaten, and dragged to the town's jail. It was said that, during the incident, Everest uttered the words, "I fought for democracy in France 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 the paupers graveyard. 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 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 scars: rope was still around the neck of the man."

• Wesley Everest in US Army uniform

See also

• First Red Scare
• Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States

References

1. "View Media - Washington State Digital Archives". www.digitalarchives.wa.gov. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
2. John Simkin. "Biography of Wesley Everest". USA History. Spartacus educational web site (UK). Retrieved 2007-12-12.

Sources

• "1919: The murder of Wesley Everest". libcom group (Libertarian Communism), London. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
• "Wesley Everest, IWW Martyr, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, October 1986, pages 122-129, by Tom Copeland: http://libcom.org/files/Wesley%20Everest,%20IWW%20martyr.pdf
• John Dos Passos, "Paul Bunyan", in: U.S.A.: 1919, New York 1932, ed. 1996, pp. 747–750

External links

• Wesley Everest at Find a Grave

• 1890 births
• 1919 deaths
• 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)