[Illustration:  The Burial of the Mob’s Victim

No undertaker would handle Everest’s body.  The autopsy was performed by a man from Portland, who hung the body up by the heels and played a hose on it.  The men lowering the plank casket into the grave are Union loggers who had been caught in the police drag net and taken from jail for this purpose.]

No undertaker could be found to bury Everest’s body, so after two days it was dropped into a hole in the ground by four union loggers who had been arrested on suspicion and were released from jail for this purpose.  The “burial” is supposed to have taken place in the new cemetery; the body being carried thither in an auto truck.  The union loggers who really dug the grave declare, however, that the interment took place at a desolate spot “somewhere along a railroad track.”  Another body was seen, covered with ashes in a cart, being taken away for burial on the morning of the twelfth.  There are persistent rumors that more than one man was lynched on the eve of Armistice day.  A guard of heavily armed soldiers had charge of the funeral.  The grave has since been obliterated.  Rumor has it that the body has since been removed to Camp Lewis.  No one seems to know why or when.

“As Comical as a Corner”

An informal inquest was held in the city jail.  A man from Portland performed the autopsy, that is, he hung the body up by the heels and played a water hose on it.  Everest was reported by the corner’s jury to have met his death at the hands of parties unknown.  It was here that Dr. Bickford let slip the statement about the hall being raided before the shooting started.  This was the first inkling of truth to reach the public.  Coroner Livingstone, in a jocular mood, reported the inquest to a meeting of gentlemen at the Elks’ Club.  In explaining the death of the union logger, Dr. Livingstone stated that Wesley Everest had broken out of jail, gone to the Chehalis river bridge and jumped off with a rope around his neck.  Finding the rope too short he climbed back and fastened on a longer one; jumped off again, broke his neck and then shot himself full of holes.  Livingstone’s audience, appreciative of his tact and levity, laughed long and hearty.  Business men still chuckle over the joke in Centralia.  “As funny as a funeral” is no longer the stock saying in this humorous little town; “as comical as a coroner” is now the approved form.

The Man-Hunt

Acting on the theory that “a strong offensive is the best defense,” the terrorists took immediate steps to conceal all traces of their crime and to shift the blame onto the shoulders of their victims.  The capitalist press did yeoman service in this cause by deluging the nation with a veritable avalanche of lies.