Biography
James McInerney was an Irish-born logger and I.W.W. member, actively working to organize among Pacific Northwest lumber workers. In 1916 he was wounded aboard the steamer Verona in the Everett Massacre, when I.W.W. members were fired upon by police and vigilantes while trying to depart a steamship to support local striking shingle weavers. After the massacre he was held in jail for months before charges were dropped. In 1919, he was arrested along with 65 other I.W.W. members after a mob of American Legionnaires stormed the Centralia I.W.W. union hall, leading to seven deaths. While jailed he was tortured in attempts to extract a confession that would blame the violence on the I.W.W., but he refused to give one. McInerney was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to 40 years in the Walla Walla State Penitentiary. He died in prison in 1930; 2,000 people attended his funeral.
