Month: April 2017

Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They came, that none should trample Labor’s right
To speak, and voice her centuries of pain.
Bare hands against the master’s armored might!-
A dream to match the tolls of sordid gain!
-Charles Ashleigh

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 18, 1917
From The Tacoma Times: An Interview with Charles Ashleigh

POET-TRAMP-JOURNALIST A CLOSE OBSERVER
OF BIG SEATTLE TRIAL

By Mabel Abbott

Charles Ashleigh, IWW, Tacoma Tx, Apr 17, 1917

SEATTLE, Wash, April 17.-A poet, a tramp, a newspaper man and an I. W. W. sit each day at the press table in Judge Ronald’s courtroom, where a great class struggle is being fought around the stocky figure of Tom Tracy, I. W. W.

They are Charles Ashleigh.

He is in charge of publicity for the Everett Prisoners’ Defense league, and he is a radical of the radicals; so revolutionary that he even dares to defy the tradition that a revolutionist shall be a sinister and mysterious-looking person.

He is young, small, mild-mannered, and speaks literary English with a fine British accent.

He was born in London. As a boy he was for a time an assistant secretary in the Fabian society of socialists and free-thinkers, and saw and heard Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and other famous members.

A little later, he tramped through England with the army of the unemployed, haranguing the crowds and stirring the miners of South Wales to organization.

Loves Adventure.

Ordinary life was tame, naturally, after that, and Ashleigh, went to South America.

In Buenos Ayres he was for a little while in the accounting department of a railway; then he took a contract to string telegraph wires along the right of way.

He had never strung a wire in his life, or seen it done, but he hired a foreman who did know how, assembled a gang of Guarani Indians, and started out.

It was a colorful experience. “The Indians aren’t really a bad sort at all, you know,” Ashleigh explains, “but they do drink. One night the cook shot his brother, in my tent. They were all rioting around so it was hard to tell anything about it, and the authorities got hold of me, as being the handiest person, I suppose, and put me in jail, until the British consul came and cleared things up.” Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh” →

Hellraisers Journal: Ralph Chaplin’s “When the Leaves Come Out” Announced for Sale in International Socialist Review

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They’ve got us down-their martial lines enfold us;
They’ve thrown us out to feel the winter’s sting,
And yet, by God, those curs can never hold us,
Nor could the dogs of hell do such a thing!
-Paint Creek Miner
Paint Creek, W. Va., 1913

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 17, 1917
International Socialist Review: “A New Revolutionary Song Book”

“When the Leaves Come Out” by Ralph Chaplin is now available for sale from the Review or from The Industrial Workers of the World, Chicago.

A New Revolutionary Song Book— The most popular poem ever published in the REVIEW was, beyond any question, Ralph Chaplin’s famous “When the Leaves Come Out,” written at the time when the mine guards in West Virginia had been guilty of killing and injuring scores of striking miners. Many letters came to this office asking the name of the “Paint Creek Miner.”

These friends will be delighted to learn that the I. W. W. has brought out a book of poems and new songs by Ralph Chaplin, songs and poems as rhythmical with rebellion as the pulse of that splendid organization itself.

“When the Leaves Come Out” is a beautiful book with a cover, about which the I. W. W. has a right to boast, and the sketches within, by the author, are full of strength, revolutionary symbolism and artistic charm. The sign of Black Cat is everywhere.

Next month we hope to quote one or two of our favorite poems from this book. But in the meantime send in 50 cents and get it. We understand the I. W. W. sells this new book in quantities at 35 cents a copy. Address I. W. W., 164 W. Washington street, Chicago, Ill.

The cover of FW Chaplin’s new book features the drawing, “The Miner” by Charles A. Winter, published in the June 1913 edition of The Masses:

Chaplin, When Leaves, Cover-fr Masses by CA Winter, 1917

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Ralph Chaplin’s “When the Leaves Come Out” Announced for Sale in International Socialist Review” →

Hellraisers Journal: Tracy Defense Presents Its Case: Louis Skaroff Testifies to Brutality at Everett Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 16, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Charles Ashleigh Reports on Tracy Trial

Everett Defense News #20, Apr 14, 1917

Everett Massacre, Snohomish County Jail, WCS p116 w text

SEATTLE, Wash., April 14th.-During the last week the Defense, in the case of Thomas H. Tracy, one of the 73 men charged with murder of a deputy on Nov. 5th in Everett, has been bringing its big guns to bear upon the edifice of lies and falsity which the Prosecution had erected. The covering has been torn away from Everett and the city has been exposed in all its native reek.


EVERETT MAYOR’S BRUTALITY REVEALED.

Last Monday, Louis Skaroff, a young Russian boy, gave his testimony which the Defense announced was intended to impeach the evidence of Mayor Merrill. Skaroff was in Everett on Bloody Sunday, Nov. 5th. He had the courage to get up on the street corner, after the massacre at the dock, and begin to speak. Of course, he was immediately arrested. Following is his account, under examination, of the treatment he received in jail:

On Monday evening following my arrest I was lying on a table in the tank, asleep, when the jailer called for me. Somebody woke me and told me to put on my clothes as the Mayor wanted to speak to me.

THE MODERN INQUISITION.

[Continued Skaroff:]

I was taken into a room in the jail where there was an iron bed. It appeared to be an officer’s rest-room. There were three men in there: the night officer, a man who posed as an Immigration Officer and Mayor Merrill. They sat me in a chair and started asking questions. Then they talked some more; and then the night officer began to beat me up. When he got tired, the Mayor started in on me. He beat me terribly and then threw me on the floor and walked on me. Then they put my fingers under the leg of the bed and the Mayor and another jumped on the bed. Then they took me back to the cell and on the way knocked me down four times.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Tracy Defense Presents Its Case: Louis Skaroff Testifies to Brutality at Everett Jail” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: “The Patriot”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Should I ever be a soldier
‘Neath the Red Flag I would fight;
Should the gun I ever shoulder
It’s to crush the tyrant’s might
-Joe Hill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 15, 1917
From the Industrial Workers: A Poem From a Patriot

IWW, WWI, Patriot, Love My Flag, IW Apr14, 1917

 

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Hellraisers Journal: The Industrial Union Bulletin on Roosevelt’s Square Dealings with Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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The labor giant has slept long,
but is now awakening.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 14, 1907
From The Industrial Union Bulletin: Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”

IUB, Official Publication, IWW, April 13, 1907

The official publication of the Industrial Workers of the World yesterday discussed the remarks of President Roosevelt regarding the citizenship qualities of Comrades Debs, Moyer and Haywood, and included the statement of Bill Haywood, made in response to being termed an “undesirable citizen” by the President of the United States on the eve of his trial.

IS THIS A “SQUARE DEAL”?

HMP, Def Fund, IUB Apr 13, 1907

Nothing has happened in Theodore Roosevelt’s career as president of the United States that so entirely discredits his fitness for that position as the recent reference by him to Debs, Moyer and Haywood, as being “undesirable citizens.” The two latter are soon to appear in court and stand trial for their lives, yet the “chief magistrate” of the nation, oblivious to the ordinary rule that anyone charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proven, has made public an opinion that must be prejudicial to their interests. It is an outrage that ranks with the unlawful acts of the mine owners and McParlands of Colorado. Neither of these men has ever been convicted of any crime, yet their case is prejudged in advance of their appearance in court. It is a shameful and brutal spectacle.

IWW, Gen Sec Trautmann, Ex Brd St J, IUB, Apr 13,1907

The facts are these: The president addressed a letter to Congressman James S. Sherman in which certain matters in dispute between himself and the railway magnate, E. H. Harriman; entirely without warrant and apparently with the sole purpose of creating prejudice against Moyer and Haywood, he denounced the conduct of Harriman in the following terms:

It shows a cynicism and deep-seated corruption which make the man uttering such statements, and boasting, no matter how falsely, of his power to perform such crime, at least as undesirable a citizen as Debs, or Moyer or Haywood.

Fellow-worker Haywood, awaiting his trial in Idaho, gave out the following statement:

 

I do not desire to make an extended statement with regard to President Roosevelt’s reference to me in his letter to Congressman Sherman.

The president says that I am an “undesirable citizen,” the inference being that, as such, I should be put out of the way. His influence is all-powerful, and his statement, coming as it does, on the eve of my trial for my life, will work me irreparable injury, and do more to prevent a fair trial than everything that has been said and done against me in the past.

President Roosevelt is the leading exponent of the doctrine of “fair play and a square deal,” but his reference to me in his letter to Sherman demonstrates that he does not practice what he preaches.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Industrial Union Bulletin on Roosevelt’s Square Dealings with Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Pleads with Organized Workers of America to Stand Up and Save Life of Tom Mooney

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Comrades, the red blood in you
must now prove itself.
I pledge myself to you
in this fight to its finish.
-Eugene Victor Debs

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 13, 1917
From the International Socialist Review: Debs Fights for Life of Tom Mooney

Eugene Victor Debs, ISR, Oct 1916

TOM MOONEY SENTENCED TO DEATH

An Appeal to the Organized Workers of America!
By EUGENE V. DEBS

Tom and Rena Mooney, ISR, Dec 1916

A TELEGRAM just received from San Francisco announces the sentence of Tom Mooney. He is to hang by the neck until he is dead. The day set for his murder is May 17th. The capitalist jury and judge have done their foul work, and it is now up to us to do ours.

Tom Mooney is an absolutely innocent man and his conviction an infamous crime. We, the workers of America, are duty bound to challenge the verdict of the capitalists’ jury and set aside the sentence of the capitalist judge. We constitute a court, a jury and a judge of our own.

We sat thru this case from the hour the vile conspiracy was concocted and we knew beyond doubt that Mooney was framed and that he is to be murdered for no other reason than that the corporation criminals, the big capitalist thieves and their official highbinders could not buy him, or silence his agitation.

More than twenty reputable witnesses not only testified to Mooney’s innocence but proved it beyond even the shadow of a doubt. His alibi was without a flaw. He was miles away from the bomb when it exploded in the preparedness parade. He had absolutely no connection with and no knowledge of the affair. Bourke Cockran, the eminent New York lawyer who defended him, is positively convinced of this and so is every other man or woman who attended the trial and is not in the pay or under the influence of the United Railroads, the Manufacturers’ Association, and other red-handed bandits who have for years been plundering San Francisco and have now set themselves up as the autocratic rulers of the Pacific coast.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for March 1917: Found Assisting Strikers in Chicago and Washington DC

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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All strikes are alike;
they are a protest against charity,
ignorance, misery, hunger,
individual slavery and jails.
-Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday April 12, 1917
Mother Jones News for March: Found in Chicago and Washington

Mother Jones, Garment Strike, Chg Dly Tb, Feb 26, 1917

From the Chicago Day Book
for March 1, 1917:


PETITION ASKS THAT COURTS
BE FORBIDDEN TO
ENJOIN PEACEFUL PICKETING

Signed by several hundred “neutrals,” a long petition asking the legislature to pass a law forbidding the courts from enjoining peaceful picketing of shops where a strike is on has been forwarded to Springfield.

True to the predictions of Mother Jones last Monday, the wholesale arrests of [garment] strikers on orders of Judges Baldwin and Smith aroused public opinion….

From the Duluth Labor World
for March 3, 1917:

MOTHER JONES MET WITH
COPY OF WRIT
—–

CHICAGO, March 1.-Officials anticipated activities of “Mother” Jones, 83-year-old labor leader. When she arrived here to participate in the garment workers’ strike she was served with a copy of the injunction prohibiting picketing.

[She declared:]

What a lot of rot. Imagine an old judge issuing anything like that in the twentieth century!

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for March 1917: Found Assisting Strikers in Chicago and Washington DC” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1907: Found in Texas on Behalf of Moyer and Haywood

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I am as ready to die with you now
as I have been ready to fight
with you in the past.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday April 11, 1907
Mother Jones News for March: Found Traveling in Texas

Mother Jones, Mar 11, 1905, AtR

Mother Jones was found in Texas during the month of March. She traveled throughout the state and gave speeches under the auspices of the state committee of the Socialist Party. Mother spoke on the the subject of Socialism and also voiced support for Charles Moyer, Bill Haywood, and George Pettibone of Western Federation of Miners, now imprisoned in Ada County Jail of Boise through the machinations of the Mine Owners of Colorado and Idaho.

From The Oasis of Nogales, Arizona,
of March 2, 1907:

MOTHER JONES, “the labor union Joan of Arc,” has come to Arizona to bear a hand in the attempted unionization of Bisbee.

From the Appeal to Reason of March 2, 1907:

Mother Jones.

“Mother: Jones will fill the following dates in Texas: San Antonio, February 26th; Center Point, February 27th; Kerrville, February 28th; San Antonio, March 1st; Lytle, March 2d; Corpus Christi, March 4th, 5th, 6th; Hallettsville, March 7th; Columbus, March 9th; El Campo, March 11th; Alvin, March 13th, 14th; Galveston, March 15th; Raywood, March 16th; Sour Lake, March 18th, 19th, 20th; Batson, March 21st, 22d, 23d.

———-

ARMY COLUMN.
[Appeal Army]
—–

[…..]

“You will find enclosed money order for $5 to pay for the enclosed yearly subscriptions. You can tell by the names that we are invading the mighty plutes domain. “Mother” Jones will be here the 4th, 5th, 6th of March and we hope to boost up the local.”-W. S. Pittillo, Corpus Christi, Tex.

[…..]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1907: Found in Texas on Behalf of Moyer and Haywood” →

Hellraisers Journal: Big Bill Haywood Responds to Roosevelt: “His statement ..will work me irreparable injury..”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 10, 1907
From Ada County Jail, Idaho: Big Bill Haywood Makes a Statement

Haywood, Wilshire's Magazine, 1906

The following statement by Big Bill Haywood is being widely published and republished by newspapers large and small across the nation:

The President says that I am an “undesirable citizen,” the inference being that, as such, I should be put out of the way. His influence is all-powerful, and his statement, coming as it does on the eve of my trial for life, will work me irreparable injury and do more to prevent a fair trial than everything that has been said and done against me in the past.

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 8, 1907:

The Roosevelt-Harriman Controversy
and Organized Labor.

Joseph R Buchanan, Labor Agitator, ab/ 1903

Replying to the letter of Edward H. Harriman, which probably the whole world has read by this time, the President said, if correctly reported:

It shows the cynicism and deep-seated corruption which make the man uttering such sentiments, and boasting, no matter how falsely, of his power to perform such crimes, at least as undesirable a citizen as Eugene V. Debs or Moyer or Haywood.

This sentiment furnished the topic of conversation among labor men generally throughout the city during the past few days. In fact, it has been condemned by organized labor in every section of the country. Joseph R. Buchanan, of Big Six, thus expressed himself:

Of course, every one understood that the President’s words were intended as a reflection upon the citizenship qualities of Moyer and Haywood, as well as upon those of Mr. Harriman, and as he has the reputation of always hitting as hard as he can, it is assumed that he could think of none who were such “bad citizens” as the officials of the Western Federation of Miners.

Organized labor of New York has held many meetings of protest against the unjust and unlawful treatment of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone by the officials of Colorado and Idaho, and has contributed thousands of dollars to the fund raised by union labor all over the United States to defray the expenses of their defense. That they have committed any crime or broken any law of the land has still to be proven.

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Hellraisers Journal: War Profits and Starvation: International Socialist Review on “Food Riots in America”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 9, 1917
The Review Reports on Failure to Starve in an Orderly Manner

The Cover of the International Socialist Review for April 1917:

New York Food Riots, ISR Cover, Apr 1917

Leslie Marcy of the Review Reports on Food Riots:

Rioting for Food, NYC, ISR Apr 1917

FOOD RIOTS IN AMERICA

-By LESLIE MARCY

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: War Profits and Starvation: International Socialist Review on “Food Riots in America”” →