[LABOR MOVEMENT - International Workers of the World] (IWW)

"Tell the Boys I Did My Best" [Wesley Everest Martyr Card/Fundraising Promotion for Centralia Victims Defense]

Seattle: Centralia Victims Washington Branch General Defense, ND. First Printing. Loose Cardstock. Loose photo-illustrated card measuring just over 3 by 5.25 inches. On recto, a photo of Wesley Everest in his WWI US Army uniform; on recto, printed information regarding fundraising effort, with a Seattle post office box address. Very slight age-toning, with corners fairly sharp. Near Fine. Item #5985

Below the photo portrait of Everest is "'Tell the Boys I Did My Best'/Wesley Everest/Victim of the Mob Centralia, WASH./Armistice Day, 1919." On verso, "Proceeds go to help free Centralia Victims/Washington Branch General Defense"/followed by their Seattle post office box.

On the first celebration of Armistice Day the American Legion chapter in Centralia held a patriotic parade that featured a nefarious ulterior motive: Destroy the local hall of the IWW. Acting on legal advice, Wobblies in the hall met the Legionnaires’ forceful entry with resistance and gunfire, killing three legionnaires. Wobbly Wesley Everest, a WWI veteran, was chased by the mob. When cornered he shot and killed the first of his attackers. Everest was arrested and jailed; that night the mob rushed the jail and captured the Everest, purportedly mutilating the prisoner, and lynched him - twice - hanging him from a bridge over the Chehalis River. Although his corpse was riddled with bullets, the local coroner declared his death a suicide. The card is undated, but an image of this card is reproduced in Was It Murder? The Truth About Centralia by Walker Smith, published in 1922; we've assigned the same year of publication to the card. Not in MILES. Now protected in a removable, clear archival sleeve with acid-free backing.

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Price: $125.00