Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 9, 1919
New York, New York – Dress and Waist Makers Declare Victory
Local 25 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union declared total victory for 12,000 striking Dress and Waist Makers on April 7th (see article below from the New York Tribune).
From the Liberator of April 1919:
“Strike!” OUR cover design, drawn by Cornelia Barns, will carry to readers all over the country something of the spirit with which Local 25 of the International Garment Workers is conducting its strike for the 44-hour week in New York. Eighty-five per cent of the strikers are girls. Of the 35,000 who went out on January 21st, 23,000 have already won their terms and gone back to work. The rest are sticking it out magnificently.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 7, 1919
Poetry from Leavenworth Prisoner No. 13104, Ralph Chaplin
From the Leavenworth New Era of April 4, 1919:
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LIBRARY NOTICE
…..A donation of ten volumes of “The Wit and Humor of America,” edited by Marshall P. Wilder, has been added to the library by Ralph Chaplin. It is a fine set of books , filled with chuckles and laughter…..
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 6, 1909
John Murray on the Horrors of the Private Prisons of Diaz, Part III
From the International Socialist Review of April 1909:
[Part III, Conclusion]
[John Murray’s interview with the escaped prisoner, Antonio, continues:]
The sick man’s pauses in this narrative were frequent. At times the old lady give him water to drink, and then again he would take two puffs at a cigarette rolled by the president, all of which kept him going to the end of his story.
We were accused of participating in the rebellion started in September, 1906, by the Junta Revolucionaria Mexicana in Jimenez, and in Acayucan. Chained in gangs with two hundred others, we were brought to the fortress and political prison of San Juan de Ulua.
Some of us were betrayed by that Judas, Captain Adolfo Jimenez Castro, an officer of the post at Cuidad Juarez, while others were betrayed by Trinidad Vasquez at Cananea.
Among the number were persons entirely innocent of any participation in the rebellion, but they received neither consideration nor mercy, and, like many of us, saw their homes burnt by the soldiery and their families left to starve.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 5, 1909
John Murray on the Horrors of the Private Prisons of Diaz, Part II
From the International Socialist Review of April 1909:
[Part II]
[John Murray at San Juan de Ulua Prison, continues speaking with the sympathetic soldier…]
Without a word the soldier turned and walked towards the archway. I followed at his heels and we made our way around outside the walls, entered the arsenal and climbed an inner staircase to the battlements of the fortress.
Pointing out to sea, my guide showed me a small man-of-war coming into the harbor.
“That’s the ‘General Bravo’—look at it. Keep looking at it, senor, and while we are here alone I will stand behind your back and tell you all I know of the martyrs imprisoned in Ulua.
“The friends of Magon in the army are many. Here, in Ulua, all would be glad to see a way out of this hell—but will it ever come?”
I answered as I believed, in all sincerity, “It will come,” and with a look of encouragement the young soldier went on:
Six months ago I came to Ulua from Sonora, and never once have I seen the political prisoners. But this I saw with my own eyes:
Late on a Sunday afternoon, a boat with two occupants came rowing towards the guardhouse of the west side landing. I saw it before the others, being far-sighted, and this my first day of guard duty on the island. As the boat touched the pier, a white-haired lady wrapped in a black shawl, and trembling with age, was just able to mount from the rocking gunnel to the first stone step, where she sank down, panting and exhausted. The oarsman was a small, black Indian from the mountain tribes near Orizaba. Martin Jose Pico, our hook-nosed, thief-of-a-sergeant—ration-robbing is his trade-roughly demanded her pass, but she had none.
This was such a strange occurrence—a white-haired woman of over eighty years trying to gain entrance to the prison without credentials—that the officer of the day was summoned.
Captain Garcia likes not old women, and to the black figure seated at his feet on the stone step, his words were short and sharp:
“Speak! What do you want?”
“To see a boy who is imprisoned here,” replied the trembling, low-toned voice of the old lady.
“A boy? We have no boys. Who is he?” testily demanded the officer.
“Juan Sarabia,” replied the white-haired woman.
At this name the captain took a sudden step back, for of all the prisoners most strictly kept “incommunicado” is this famous revolutionist, Juan Sarabia. Even to mention his name is forbidden the soldiers of Ulua.
White-faced, the officer gripped the old lady by her arm and stuttered a rasping question:
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 4, 1909
John Murray on the Horrors of the Private Prisons of Diaz, Part I
From the International Socialist Review of April 1909:
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[Part I]
S soon as we were alone at the end of the pier breasting the Vera Cruz harbor, the little, pock-marked secretary of the revolutionary group pulled from his pockets a piece of grey stone and held up before my eyes.
“Look at that!”
I took the fragment from his slim, brown fingers and turned it over curiously. It was a piece of coarse, grey coral.
“See! It’s porous. Now do you understand? The whole prison’s built of it.”
With an upward jerk of his hand he leveled an accusing finger at the white-washed walls of the fortress-prison shining in the sun across the waters of the blue bay.
“There it stands! On that island, yonder! San Juan de Ulua! The foulest spot in all Mexico—Diaz’ private prison for his political enemies!”
The corners of the man’s mouth drew down into a snarl and his eyes narrowed to burning slits of hate as he gazed in the direction of the fortress.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 3, 1909
Chicago, Illinois – St. John Welcomes Spokane Industrial Worker
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of April 1, 1909:
FROM I. W. W. HEADQUARTERS.
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Chicago, March 24.
The initial issue of the Industrial Worker is a credit to the organization in Spokane and will help to prove to the friends and enemies of the I. W. W. alike that the organization is still kicking. Passing Fellow Workers of Spokane bouquets will not be of very much material benefit to them and so, in this regard you can consider that your time and mine is saved and that everything that I could or should say in the way of congratulations has been said.
VINCENT ST. JOHN.
Gen. Secy. Treas.
[Inset of I. W. W. Executive Board added.]
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THEY LIKE THE PAPER.
Chicago, Ill., March 23rd, 1909.
The initial number of the “Spokane Industrial Worker” just to hand. Bully for the “Slummists” [or “Bummery”] On glancing-over the paper I’ll find it to contain the right kind of stuff for the worker who wants to learn and know the Industrial Workers of the World, what it stands for now and it’s final aim. Let’s hope that it will continue along the same lines in the future.
The cartoon is a feature which deserves the attention of everybody who has a bit of sense of humor.
The paper stock is fine and the type easy to read.
Words, words, words, “How mighty is the supply of sound behind which lies no support of deeds,” can not be said of the I. W. W. membership on the Pacific Coast .
If there is anything I can do for you, give me particulars.
With success to the “Industrial Worker” and best regards to all the hustlers.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 2, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Members Fined and Beaten
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of April 1, 1909:
[Cartoon: The Street Speaker, The Judge, and The Shark]
[Details:]
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UNION MEETING AT THE COURT HOUSE
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After the arrest of National Organizer J. H. Walsh for speaking on the street for the I. W. W., some weeks ago, he was convicted of the crime of street speaking by police judge Mann, and fined $10.00 and costs. The case was appealed to the Superior Court as an object lesson. When the case was called before Judge Ilinkle, the demurrer of the union’s attorney V. T. Tustin was of course over-ruled. The trial will take place in the Spokane County Court House on April 6th. All union men should be present at this entertainment-the admission is free. Those interested in the repeal of the United States constitution by the Spokane employment agents will have a chance to laugh-not out loud-. The decision of this court will be a jewel in the brilliant career of Ilinkle or some of the other sprags. It will make the ever-growing power of the employing class apparent. Judging from the justice handed out to the I. W. W. men heretofore in Spokane, we can expect that not much difficulty will be made on account of the constitution. Even the Indians were allowed to agitate in their tribes. But we are living on “the civilized plane”-and two meals a day.
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———-[Part II]
———-S soon as we were alone at the end of the pier breasting the Vera Cruz harbor, the little, pock-marked secretary of the revolutionary group pulled from his pockets a piece of grey stone and held up before my eyes.
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