Biography
Mike Sheehan was an Irish-born union worker and IWW member jailed after the November 11, 1919 Centralia violence. Ralph Chaplin’s defense booklet identifies him in an individual portrait caption and quotes his account of ten days without blankets while confined in the Centralia jail. The final March 13, 1920 verdict acquitted him and Elmer Smith. Ben Hur Lampman’s opposing American Legion account reports that both men were immediately rearrested as they left court on an accusation involving Arthur McElfresh, and later were free on bail with no trial date fixed. These sources do not establish the final disposition of that second accusation or an exact discharge day.
Mike Sheehan was an Irish-born union worker and IWW member jailed after the November 11, 1919 Centralia violence. Ralph Chaplin’s defense booklet identifies him in an individual portrait caption and quotes his account of ten days without blankets while confined in the Centralia jail. The final March 13, 1920 verdict acquitted him and Elmer Smith. Ben Hur Lampman’s opposing American Legion account reports that both men were immediately rearrested as they left court on an accusation involving Arthur McElfresh, and later were free on bail with no trial date fixed. These sources do not establish the final disposition of that second accusation or an exact discharge day. No imposed prison sentence in the Grimm prosecution: acquitted. Ten days of actual Centralia jail confinement are individually described, not the complete custody total. Rearrest on the McElfresh accusation and subsequent bail are reported without final disposition or exact release day. Arrest and initial confinement are stored only at November 1919 month precision; November 1 is a storage placeholder. The accounts link the individual capture to the Centralia episode but an exact admission-day record has not been established. The documented ten days are an expressly described minimum/subtotal, not the completed custody duration.
The May 1920 issue individually identifies him in a photograph of eleven Centralia defendants outside the Montesano jail. The caption’s Roy Becker refers to Centralia defendant Ray Becker, not the separate Omaha prisoner Roy Becker. The accompanying March 15 Not Guilty verdict was issued by six labor observers acting as an independent labor jury; it was not the official court verdict and does not acquit all eleven defendants. The official seven convictions and individual dismissals/acquittals remain distinct.
The One Big Union Monthly, May 1920, vol. 2 no. 5, PDF page 11.
