Month: April 2020

Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Worker Ferry is Second to Die Due to Brutal Treatment at Spokane’s Franklin School Prison

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote EGF, re Spk FSF, ISR p618, Jan 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 11, 1910
Spokane, Washington – FW Ferry Dead Due Brutal Treatment at Franklin School

From The Spokane Press of April 8, 1910:

IWW Spk FSF, WNF FJ Ferry, Spk Prs p1, Apr 8, 1910—–

34 DAYS ON BREAD THE CAUSE
—–

F. FERRY, AN INVALID AFTER JAIL EXPERIENCE,
SUCCUMBS TO PNEUMONIA.
—–

Another death is chargeable to the brutality of the system of Chief of Police John Sullivan and the members of the Spokane police department.

Another agonizing face will await the coming of these men in the Great Beyond, where they will face the responsibility that they so shrewdly shift here below, in the name of the majesty of the law.

The latest victim of police inhumanity to man is an aged man named F. Ferry, a resident of Spokane for years, who died last night at the Spokane general hospital, Third and Washington, following a brief but deadly attack of pneumonia.

IWW Spk FSF, Franklin School Jail, ISR p612, Jan 1910—–

Ferry took part in the free speech fight last fall and was among the first arrested and sent to the Franklin school. There, by order of chief Sullivan, he was placed on bread and water for 34 days and left the prison a physical wreck. He has since been an invalid, unable to work, and barely able to crawl around. Wednesday night he took suddenly sick with pneumonia, which found in his worn and emaciated body an easy victim, and all that medical science could do to save him was of no avail.

True, Ferry was an I. W. W. Yet he was an American citizen, a resident of Spokane for many years, whose only offense was that he thought the right of free speech should be accorded his fellow workingmen. He was a quiet, inoffensive man, past 60 years of age, and even in a Russian prison his gray hairs would have been respected and less harsh treatment shown than was manifested by the cowardly police force of Spokane.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1900: “For many years she has devoted her life to the downtrodden.” -J. A. Wayland

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 10, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1900
Found Receiving Tributes from J. A. Wayland and Arnot Miners

From Appeal to Reason from March 17, 1900:

AtR p1, JA Wayland, Mar 17, 1900

Mother Jones, Title, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900

[by J. A. Wayland]

WHEN the history of these times, shall be written by people living under a state of industrial harmony and peace, in the years to come, the name of “Mother” Mary Jones will occupy a prominent place. For many years she has devoted her life to the downtrodden, and is known to every railroad man and miner who is intelligent enough to be called a man. She was my guest during the winter and early spring of 1898-9, and I learned to love her great heart and gray hairs. For many months she has been working among the striking miners of Pennsylvania, encouraging the men and advising them not only absent the tactics necessary to win the industrial battle, but teaching them the lessons of brotherhood and the rights of the working people to have the full results of their labor. Writing to “Grit,” a correspondent recites the tribute paid Mother Jones at the ending of the long struggle as follows:

Blossburg, Feb. 23.–A most appropriate finale to the long struggle between operaters and miners in this section, and a just tribute of love, honor, and respect to one of the most active participants in the whole affair, was the immense parade of men, women, and children, which marched from Arnot to Blossburg, a distance of five miles, on Saturday night, Feb. 17, one of the roughest and coldest nights of this winter, to pay their last heartfelt tribute to one, who, while her labors in this county are ended, and she may never return to this locality again, bears away with her the most sincere gratitude of the mining portion of Tioga county-Mrs. Mary Jones. As they had marched to Blossburg at critical times during the strike to hear words of encouragement from her, and to feel strengthened by her presence, so they marched on that last night of her stay, through a gale of wind and snow, to proclaim their fealty to her, and their true appreciation of her labor.

On Saturday night Mrs. Jones made her last speech and the “striking” portion of Arnot, together with the citizens of Blossburg, turned out in full farce to do honor to the old lady who is generally credited with having won the strike.

Both Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Jones addressed the people, but interest was mainly centered on “Mother” that night, and her bright beaming face told how happy she was at the miner’s success. She spoke at length on the strike and its results, and cited it as a repetition of the Civil war on a small scale. She addressed the women feelingly, and ended by advising the men to be always peaceful, and to bury the hatchet, to forget all little animosities, to be careful in the future at the polls, and to be sure and pay those men who had stood by them, if only a dollar a month. The speaking ended about 11 o’clock and the procession quickly formed and started homeward. The settlement includes the restoration to their houses of the evicted miners, but as Mr. Lincoln is away none have been able to move back as yet. The men of Arnot and Landrus are to be provided with work first, and the mine foremen are offering to put on three shifts of eight hours each in order to more speedily open the north drift headings and to employ as many men as possible.

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1900: “For many years she has devoted her life to the downtrodden.” -J. A. Wayland” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January and February 1900, Found Receiving Fervent Ovation from Arnot Strikers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Mother Jones at Arnot, Wellsboro PA Agitator p1, Jan 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 9, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January and February 1900
Found in Pennsylvania Receiving “Fervent Ovation” from Arnot Miners

From The Wellsboro Agitator of February 28, 1900:

Mother Jones, Arnot Strike ed, Elmira NY Dly Gz p5, Oct 7, 1899

LOCAL FACTS AND COMMENTS.
—–
Recent Haps and Mishaps in this County and Its Vicinity.

[…..]

–Arnot miners, who sought work elsewhere after the strike began, are now coming home.

[…..]

–Mrs. Mary Jones, of Pittsburg, the striking miners’ champion, left this county on the 19th instant to go to Toby valley whither she had been summoned. The night before her departure there was a fervent ovation in her honor at the opera-house in Blossburg. Mr. W. B. Wilson, of Blossburg, President of the 5th District United Mine Workers of America, presided and paid Mrs. Jones a glowing tribute. Mrs. Jones’s remarks were very affecting.

[…..]

———-

[Inset added from Elmira Gazette of October 7, 1899.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: Funeral of S. O. Chinn, Spokane Free Speech Martyr, Largely Attended

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote EGF, re Spk FSF, ISR p618, Jan 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 8, 1910
Spokane, Washington – S. O. Chinn Gets Grand I. W. W. Send-Off

From the Industrial Worker of April 2, 1910:

IWW Spk FSF v Employment Sharks, IW p1, Apr 2, 1910—–

CHINN’S FUNERAL LARGELY ATTENDED
—–
Many Watch Procession on Riverside Avenue
-Strains of the Marseillaise Heard-I. W. W.
Members Who Attend Funeral Wear Red Neckties.
—–

Funeral services for S. O. Chinn, age 27, which were held from the I. W. W. hall proved a magnate as the procession of men, women and children following the hearse and the brass band moved down Riverside Avenue. The last tribute was paid by James Thompson, national organizer of the Industrial Workers at the I. W. W. Hall at 616 Front Avenue, in which he declared that the man had given his life in the interest of the working class.

Three hundred Fellow Workers packed the hall to capacity and after the services followed the hearse and band to Riverside Avenue and Monroe Street, from which point the hearse and pall bearers proceeded to Greenwood cemetery, where Chinn was buried. The casket was draped with the flag of the organization of which Chinn was a member and an officer. Chinn came to Spokane last fall to participate in the free speech fight. His home was originally at Hutchinson, Kansas.

The funeral proceedings attracted a great deal of attention. Before the hearse walked four officers of the I. W. W. with red neckties and red badges of the organization in their buttonholes, while the band before pealed out the martial strains of the “Marseillaise.” Stretching behind for four or five blocks marched the members of the organization, who came out to pay their last respects to the man that had sacrificed his life for the cause of Free Speech.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: Funeral of S. O. Chinn, Spokane Free Speech Martyr, Largely Attended” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Nicholas Beffel on the Centralia Trial and the Lynching of Wesley Everest

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 6, 1920
Montesano, Washington – John Nicholas Beffel Observes Centralia Trial

From The Liberator of April 1920:

Fear in the Jury Box

[-by John Nicholas Beffel]

IWW Centralia, Eugene Barnett, Spk Chc p1, Feb 7, 1920
Eugene Barnett

A NERVOUS little man is on the witness stand in Montesano. He is James T. McAllister, whose wife owns the Roderick Hotel next door to the raided I. W. W. hall in Centralia. He testifies that one of the defendants, Eugene Barnett, was in the Roderick lobby all during the Armistice Day shooting and not in the Avalon Hotel, as the prosecution asserts.

“But when you were arrested you said there was nobody in the lobby,” says a prosecutor for the lumber trust. “Why did you say that?”

“I wasn’t sworn then,” replies the little man. “I didn’t want to be drawed into no trouble.”

He cowers in his chair, remembering the mob. There was a list of people to be hung that night beside Wesley Everest.

“What’s the matter?” demands Vanderveer, counsel for the defense. “Are you afraid now?”

“N-no.” The little man shakes as with a chill.

Ten men sit facing the judge and jury and gallows. They are accused of killing Warren O. Grimm, service man, in the Armistice Day parade. But it is not a murder trial; it is a trial of organized labor; the lumber interests seek to crush their most dangerous enemy, the uncrushable I. W. W. The main legal issue is whether men still have a right to defend their lives and property against violence. If these ten workers get a fair trial and are judged solely by the evidence, they will without any doubt go free. But will the jury dare to acquit? A verdict of acquittal would mean ruin for the twelve. Each man’s history is known to the lumber trust; it knows how to break men; it has broken men before.

Centralia Trial, IWW Defendants Names, Spk Chc p1, Feb 7, 1920—–

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Nicholas Beffel on the Centralia Trial and the Lynching of Wesley Everest” →

Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “The Car Strike and the General Strike in Philadelphia” -Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Lawmakers Felons, Phl GS Speech, IA, Mar 19, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 4, 1910
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – “When the Sleeper Wakes” by Joseph E. Cohen, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of April 1910:

Phl GS, Shooting at Workers, ISR p865, Apr 1910—–

[Part II of II.]

On February 23rd, Mayor Reyburn dispatched a telegram to Governor Stuart, asking for the state constabulary, or cossacks, as they are more popularly known. Four companies of them, 158 men all told, arrived next day and remained until March 1st.

Now, the people of Philadelphia had no particular quarrel with the state constabulary. Their antipathy was confined largely to the transit company and its strike breakers. To fight against the cossacks meant to engage in bloody warfare, not with fists or bricks, but guns, and this the people were not prepared to do. Were it otherwise, the handful of cossacks would never have left Philadelphia alive. So, aside from a drubbing administered to a few of their number, they were permitted to depart in peace.

Phl GS, State Cossacks, ISR p870, Apr 1910—–

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “The Car Strike and the General Strike in Philadelphia” -Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “The Car Strike and the General Strike in Philadelphia” -Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Lawmakers Felons, Phl GS Speech, IA, Mar 19, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 3, 1910
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – “When the Sleeper Wakes” by Joseph E. Cohen, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of April 1910:

Phl GS, Shooting at Workers, ISR p865, Apr 1910—–

[Part I of II.]

Letter A, ISR p865, Apr 1910CHILD does not blossom into maturity in a day, nor can a weakling to transformed into a Hercules over night. It requires the lapse of many years in the one instance as in the other. And several decades may pass before a city or a nation attains its majority. Yet there is no telling for how long a time the elements have been gathering for some mighty upheaval; how soon, when the surface of things seemed as calm as ever, there would break out an eruption such as would rearrange all that seemed stable and permanent.

Philadelphia is the third city, in population, in America. It has its own peculiar makeup, fondles its own brand of conservatism and will have to work out its own method of salvation from the condition of “corruption and contentment” which has been ascribed to it.

It is a city of “magnificent distances.” That, of itself, explains a great deal, for solidarity and separation are usually antithetical, and Philadelphia is spread over such a wide territory, that people who work and live in Manayunk, Chestnut Hill, Germantown, Olney, Fox Chase, Frankford and Bridesburg—all within the city limits—come down to the center of the city much as country folk go “into town.” Many wage-workers in these localities have had no notion at all of what a trades union is. The seeds of class feeling were only beginning to be scattered among them, their outlook was for all the world, that of some fair sized village—not of the third city in America.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “The Car Strike and the General Strike in Philadelphia” -Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 2, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – House Investigates Coeur d’Alene Troubles

From The Railroad Telegrapher of April 1900:

IDAHO’S DISGRACE.
—–

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900—–

THE investigation before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, with reference to the charges made against the United States soldiers under Brigadier General Merriam, growing out of the labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Idaho, has been creating intense interest in labor circles and elsewhere for some time past. Even those who are callous to labor’s wrongs and pin their faith to the theory that the survival of the fittest is the prevailing law in heaven as well as on earth and the other place, have felt some qualms of conscience that such things should happen in “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

After a strike and some riotous proceedings, which latter could easily have been quelled by the local authorities, the Governor of the State [Frank Steunenberg] suspended the writ of habeas corpus, an infringement of the liberties of the people not even within the prerogative of the President of the United States, without the sanction of Congress. Over eleven hundred citizens were arrested without warrant by this tyrannically-inclined “servant of the people” and confined in a place unfit for human habitation, and kept there for a period ranging from a few days to eight months.

By and through the courtesy of the Miner’s Magazine and the Pueblo Courier, we are enabled to present pictures of some of the men who have been made “Martyrs of the Bull Pen.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates” →