08/13/2026
Local IWW History here in Washington state
Today in Labor History August 13, 1930: IWW member James McInerney died in prison. McInerney was one of the eight IWW and UMW union members who were convicted for the 1919 Centralia Massacre, when they tried to defend their union hall against an attack by vigilantes from the American Legion, who were acting on behalf of local business leaders. 4 vigilantes died in the attack. Fellow Worker Westly Everest was yoinked from jail by the vigilantes and murdered. The IWW trial was marred by witness tampering, jury intimidation, judicial prejudice and withheld evidence from the Bureau of Investigation (predecessor of the FBI). Five jury members later recanted their guilty verdicts after seeing some of the evidence that had been withheld from them during the trial. IWW lawyer Elmer Smith argued that the men had the legal right to defend themselves and their union hall, which had also been attacked the year before. He was also charged with murder, but that charge was later dropped. Yet he was, nonetheless, disbarred for representing them. No evidence was presented during the trial that any of the IWW men had killed anyone. The jury recommended leniency. A “Labor Jury” organized by Labor Councils from Seattle, Portland, Everett and Tacoma sat through the trial and returned a ‘not guilty’ verdict. Despite all this, the judge handed down sentences ranging from 25-40 years. The guilty verdict was also condemned by a number of church councils. As recently as 2025, Washington Governor Jay Inslee continued to refuse to pardon the IWW men.
