Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 30, 1911 “Damned be the rich! Damned be the system! Damned be the world!”
From the Jewish Daily Forward of March 29, 1911:
Triangle Fire Requiem by Morris Rosenfeld
Neither battle nor fiendish pogrom Fills this great city with sorrow; Nor does the earth shudder or lightning rend the heavens, No clouds darken, no cannon’s roar shatters the air. Only hell’s fire engulfs these slave stalls And Mammon devours our sons and daughters. Wrapt in scarlet flames, they drop to death from his maw And death receives them all.
Sisters mine, oh my sisters; brethren Hear my sorrow: See where the dead are hidden in dark corners, Where life is choked from those who labor. Oh, woe is me, and woe is to the world On this Sabbath When an avalanche of red blood and fire Pours forth from the god of gold on high As now my tears stream forth unceasingly. Damned be the rich! Damned be the system! Damned be the world!
Over whom shall we weep first? Over the burned ones? Over those beyond recognition? Over those who have been crippled? Or driven senseless? Or smashed? I weep for them all.
Now let us light the holy candles And mark the sorrow Of Jewish masses in darkness and poverty. This is our funeral, These our graves, Our children, The beautiful, beautiful flowers destroyed, Our lovely ones burned, Their ashes buried under a mountain of caskets.
There will come a time When your time will end, you golden princes. Meanwhile, Let this haunt your consciences: Let the burning building, our daughters in flame Be the nightmare that destroys your sleep, The poison that embitters your lives, The horror that kills your joy. And in the midst of celebrations for your children, May you be struck blind with fear over the Memory of this red avalanche Until time erases you.
From the Jewish Daily Forward of January 10, 1910:
The “Triangle” company…With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop-of the crusaders.
City Hall, New York City,
-December 28, 1910
Testimony before the New York State Senate and Assembly Joint Investigating Committee on Corrupt Practices and Insurance Companies Other Than Life Insurance:
Judge M. Linn Bruce, Counsel
Chief Edward F Croker, NYC Fire Department
Bruce: How high can you successfully combat a fire now? Croker: Not over eighty-five feet. Bruce: That would be how many stories of an ordinary building? Croker: About seven. Bruce: Is this a serious danger? Croker: I think if you want to go into the so-called workshops which are along Fifth Avenue and west of Broadway and east of Sixth Avenue, twelve, fourteen or fifteen story buildings they call workshops, you will find it very interesting to see the number of people in one of these buildings with absolutely not one fire protection, with out any means of escape in case of fire.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 23, 1921 Matewan, West Virginia – Sid Hatfield and Co-Defendants Return Home
From The New York Times of March 22, 1921:
Home Folk Welcome Defendants.
MATEWAN, W. Va., March 21.-This little mining village called it a holiday today to greet the sixteen mountaineers, defendants in the Matewan battle trial, who were found not guilty by the jury at Williamson this morning.
Apparently all residents of the town were at the station late in the day when the train, which brought home Sid Hatfield, Chief of Police, and his fifteen companions, arrives.
A special car attached to the train held the hillmen and their bodyguard, Pinoon, six deputies, Captain Brockus and ten State troopers.
As the sixteen men stepped from the train and rushed into the arms of relatives and friends women laughed and cried, alternately, and for an hour the defendants were kept busy shaking the hands of men, women and children.
“It is the happiest day Matewan ever knew,” declared one rugged mountaineer as he grasped the hand of Sid Hatfield.
“At least for me,” Sid replied.
Chief Hatfield was the centre of the admiring throng, and it was with great difficulty that he made his way to his home through the crowd. It took him more than an hour to traverse the 100 yards from the railroad station to his residence.
Arrived at the door of his home, Hatfield gazed upon his right hand, swollen from the hearty grasps of his neighbors, and remarked: “It’s good to know you have so many friends.”
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 22, 1921 Williamson, W. V. – Matewan Defendants Found Not Guilty
From The Pittsburg Press of March 21, 1921:
SID HATFIELD AND 15 CO-DEFENDANTS FREED BY JURY —–
By S. D. Weyer, International News Service Staff Correspondent
Courthouse, Williamson, W. Va., March 21.-Sid Hatfield and his 15 co-defendants in the trigger trial were found not guilty by the jury at 11:21 o’clock this morning.
Three minutes later judge Bailey told the defendants to go back to the county jail, where they will give bond for their appearance in court for the indictments of murdering six other detectives. Bailey arranged to allow the 16 men to go back to Matewan on the noon train.
J. J. Coniff, chief counsel for the defense, made this statement to the International News Service staff correspondent immediately after the verdict was read by the clerk of courts:
I think the result is what the public generally anticipated. It means, in my opinion that the private guard system in West Virginia has been on trial and been condemned, and the legislature now in session should take notice of this fact.
The 16 defendants received the verdict without any show of emotion, except that Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan, smiled his perpetual smile.
After Judge Robert D. Bailey had told them to “go back to jail,” they crowded around Coniff and grasped his hand.
Then, accompanied by two “double gun” deputy sheriffs, they filed out of the court room, where they have sat daily since Jan. 26, and walked through lines of men and women congratulating them, across the court house lawn to the jail.
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[Drawing of Sid Hatfield by Robert Minor and emphasis added.]
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