Joe Hill and the Wobblies of the Everett Massacre lie in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery

Among my favorite places in Mt Pleasant Cemetery is the memorial to the three union stalwarts killed in the Everett Massacre of November 5, 1916. The local chapter of the Russian Colony purchased the memorial to honor Wobblies (International Workers of the World or the I.W.W.) Felix Buran, John Looney, and Hugo Gerlot. Lacking the pompous frills that often mark Mr. Pleasant’s upright tombstones, the stark stone faces away from the Puget Sound where the heroes died and looks eastward toward the beautiful view of the Cascade Mountains.

The Everett Massacre Memorial looking west. Joe’s ashes are mixed in the soil at the photographer’s feet. Courtesy Queen Anne Historical Society.

Rich in union history, the site shares the ashes of Joe Hill which were spread there. Joe, a Swedish laborer, poet, and songwriter, was executed by the State of Utah on November 19, 1915, for a murder he did not commit. Lobbying by President Woodrow Wilson and the celebrated Helen Keller to spare Joe did no good.  

Among his last wishes was a fervent desire not to be buried in Utah. Following his cremation, the Wobblies divided his ashes up and sent little packets to I.W.W chapters everywhere except to chapters in Utah, where Joe didn’t want to be caught dead. The Seattle chapter scattered Joe’s ashes in front of this memorial stone. 

Before he died, Joe wrote “Joe’s Last Will:” 

My Will is easy to decide 

For there is nothing to divide 

My kin don’t need to fuss and moan 

“Moss does not cling to rolling stone” 

My body? Oh. If I could choose 

I would to ashes it reduce 

And let the merry breezes blow 

My dust to where some flowers grow 

Perhaps some fading flower then 

Would come to life and bloom again 

This is my Last and Final Will 

Good Luck to All of you.