Biography
One of the eight IWW defendants tried at Montesano (Grays Harbor County), WA from January 26 to March 13, 1920 for the deaths of four American Legionnaires (Warren Grimm, Arthur McElfresh, Ben Casagranda, Dale Hubbard) during the Armistice Day, November 11, 1919 attack on the Centralia, WA IWW union hall. Convicted of 2nd-degree murder despite the IWW's defense that they were defending the union hall from an armed mob. Sentenced to 25-40 years at the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla. The case became a long-running cause célèbre of the IWW and the labor left, with the Centralia Publicity Committee and later the Free Ray Becker Committee organizing for parole and pardon over two decades.
His life dates, corrected per the curator: the University of Washington archival finding aid for his papers identifies Eugene Barnett as 1892-1973, and combined with the February 21 birthday on the contemporary prisoner birthday list his probable complete date of birth is February 21, 1892 — replacing earlier recorded dates of 1888 and a 1948 death that do not fit the finding aid. Convicted of second-degree murder after the November 11, 1919 Centralia confrontation, he received a 25-to-40-year sentence at Walla Walla (prisoner 9414) and was released in the early 1930s.
