Biography
O.C. Bland was a member of the Centralia, Washington IWW local and one of the seven Wobblies convicted following the Centralia Tragedy of November 11, 1919. Convicted of second-degree murder, he was sentenced to 25 to 40 years at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and was paroled in the early 1930s following the long Centralia defense campaign.
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.
