nine o’clock
Of course they saw to it that the newspaper stories which went out from Centralia that night were the right kind of stories ; and next morning all America read how a group of `` wobblies '' had armed themselves with rifles , and concealed themselves on the roof of the I. W. W. headquarters , and deliberately and in cold blood had opened fire upon a peaceful parade of unarmed war veterans . Of course the country went wild , and the Guffeys and McGivneys and Gudges all over the United States realized that their chance had come . Peter instructed the secretary of the I. W. W. local of American City to call a meeting for that evening , to adopt a resolution declaring the press stories from Centralia to be lies . At the same time another of Guffey 's men , an ex-army officer still wearing his , uniform , caused a meeting of the American Legion to be summoned ; he made a furious address to the boys , and at nine o'clock that night some two-score of them set out , armed with big monkey-wrenches from their automobiles , and raided the I. W. W. headquarters , and battered the members over the head with the monkey-wrenches , causing several to leap from the window and break their legs . Next morning the incident was reported in the American City `` Times '' with shouts of glee , and District-attorney Burchard issued a public statement to the effect that no effort would be made to punish the soldier boys ; the `` wobblies '' had wanted `` direct action , '' and they had got it , and it would be assumed that they were satisfied . Then the members of the American Legion , encouraged by this applause , and instigated by Guffey 's ex-army officer , proceeded to invade and wreck every radical meeting-place in the city . They smashed the `` Clarion '' office and the Socialist Party headquarters again , and confiscated more tons of literature .