Month: March 2022

Hellraisers Journal: All Hope Abandoned for Miners Trapped and Entombed in Burning Mine at McCurtain, Oklahoma

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 21, 1912
McCurtain, Oklahoma –  Explosion at San Bois Coal Mine Claims at Least 70 Miners

From the Muskogee Daily Phoenix of March 21, 1912:

Bnr HdLn Muskogee Dly Phx p1, Mar 21, 1912———–
HdLn MnDs OK Muskogee Dly Phx p1, Mar 21, 1912———-
MnDs McCurtain OK, Muskogee Dly Phx p1, Mar 21, 1912

POTEAU, Okla., March 20.— (Special)— San Bois coal mine No. 2, wrecked by explosion and fire this morning, tonight began giving up its burned, mangled and mutilated dead. Five bodies, some of them disfigured so recognition is hardly possible, have been taken from the depths of the shaft and thirty others have been found.

As far as the checking of the missing and the dead made a count possible late tonight between ninety and a hundred men lost their lives in the explosion. Seventy-five coffins have been ordered rushed to the mine from nearby cities.

Thirteen men have come alive from the smoldering shaft and three of them are so badly injured that their death is thought to be only a matter of hours. All of them are hurt.

What caused the explosion is not known but experts working in the rescue party believe that it was due to coal gas. The mine covers several square miles and is of many levels. Many of the entries caved in and the men who were not mangled by the explosion or burned to death are penned behind great walls of earth and twisted timbers. There they may live for hours but it is thought they will die of suffocation before the rescuers can dig their way to them…..

—————

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Party Sends Out Appeal from Eugene V. Debs Urging All to Work for Release of Political Prisoners

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD if Crime to oppose bloodshed, AtR p1, Oct 23, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 20, 1922
Chicago, Illinois – Socialist Party Sends Out Appeal for Political Prisoners

From the Washington Evening Star of March 9, 1922:

HdLn EVD Urges Amnesty, WDC Eve Str p2, Mar 9, 1922

From the Buffalo Socialist New Age of March 16, 1922:

Terre Haute, Ind.,
March 4, 1922.

To All Labor Unions and Organized Workers.
Dear Brothers and Comrades:

I am making this appeal to you in behalf of the political prisoners. These men are held simply because of their activities in the labor movement and for no other reason. Any other pretense is simply a lie. All other countries have long since released their political prisoners. The United States government, to its lasting shame, is the one exception that keeps men caged as felons for the expression of their opinions. These men, brothers of ours, committed no overt act, no crime of any kind. The court records will prove this. The infamous Espionage Law, under which these men were convicted, has long since been repealed [Note: a section of the Espionage Law, the Sedition Act, was repealed December 13, 1920], and there is not the slightest excuse to longer hold them in prison.

The simple fact is that the treason for which these men were convicted was their loyalty to the working class. Such loyalty, especially in a time of war when the workers are turned into butchers and set to slaughtering one another for the profit and power and glory of their masters, is always treason in the eyes of such masters.

If these men with union principles and union hearts beating in their breasts, had been scabs or gunmen or strikebreakers, they would have been cracked up as 100% American patriots, given hero medals, and assigned to posts of honor carrying high salaries and eminent respectability. But instead they refused to bow to the will of the brutal and impudent profiteers and stood up loyally for their own class and gave expression to the truth that was in their hearts, as it was not only their lawful right but their moral duty to do, and for this and this alone they are marked as dangerous and held and treated as criminals to the shame of the American labor movement and the infamy of the United States government, the most plutocratic government on the face of the earth.

Senator Borah of Idaho, be it said to his credit, introduced a resolution in the United States Senate on January 25th, directing the Attorney General to submit to the Senate all available information relative to the cases of persons convicted under the notorious Espionage Act. This resolution is most timely and the organized workers of the nation must bring all possible power to bear to force its passage. The plutocrats, profiteers, and pirates of Wall Street and their degenerate henchmen in all their servile capacities, who had the monstrous Espionage Law enacted to gag the truth and strangle free speech while they were putting over their criminal war conspiracy, will bring all their power to bear to defeat the Borah resolution.

Well do these knaves in high places know that if this resolution passes the Senate and the Attorney General is forced to reveal the court records of the political prisoners it will show that they are guilty of absolutely no crime whatever save only that of saying during war time, when the nation had been lashed into fury of blind hate, what the 100% Wall Street profiteers and their lackeys in and out of office did not want to hear. The Constitution, of which they had been in the habit of prating on every occasion, was summarily suspended, truth was exiled, and manhood and self-respect put in prison stripes.

Think of these innocent union men, these working class brethren of ours, being suffered to remain buried alive in the steel vaults of American prison hells, and then talk about being “the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!” The very thought brings the deep blush of shame to the cheek of every decent American.

These men must be gotten out of prison to the last one of them. As long as one remains we are all in disgrace, and our country stands impeached before the civilized world.

There must be no discrimination among the class war prisoners, for that is what they are and nothing else. All spies and enemy agents, some of whom were convicted of the gravest charges, including the placing of fire bombs in ships and the destruction of life and property, were released years ago. Not one remains in prison. Not one of these belonged to a labor union. They were all readily forgiven as soon as the war was over.

But how different with the men who did belong to labor unions and who did not commit any crime or take any life or destroy any property, but who only stood up like men exercising their constitutional rights and telling the truth about the capitalist slaughter of the working class “to make the world safe for democracy!” It is for their benefit that the atrocious Espionage Law was enacted, and for the benefit of the Wall Street profiteers who coined the blood of the slaughtered workers into billions for themselves, that they are still festering in the hell-holes capitalism charitably provides for its victims.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Party Sends Out Appeal from Eugene V. Debs Urging All to Work for Release of Political Prisoners” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1902, Part II: Found Returning to West Virginia as Organizer for United Mine Workers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Mine Supe Bulldog of Capitalism—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 19, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1902, Part II
Found Returning to West Virginia as Organizer for U. M. W. A.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of February 16, 1902:

Mother Jones, Ipl Ns p11, Jan 21, 1902

Mother Jones stopped over in the city yesterday on her way to the Southern coal fields, to the organization of which region she has been assigned by President Mitchell, of the United Mine Workers.

[Photograph added.]

From the Birmingham Labor Advocate of February 22, 1902:

 

HdLn Textile Workers Union Growing, Bmghm Lbr Adv p1, Feb 22, 1902

It is interesting to note the progress being made by the organization of Textile Workers for the betterment of the workers in the textile industries, both North and South.

A national organization of these workers with affiliation with the American Federation of Labor was only formed last year, and delegates were accepted at the last convention at Scranton. The organization consists of the workers in cotton factories and knitting mills and their strides forward have been rapid and well taken. Quite a foothold has been secured in the Carolinas, particularly North Carolina, the Charlotte district being compactly organized.

[…..]

The condition of the textile workers are little understood, and if told in cold black type would probably create a furore….They are first robbed of all independence, planted in company houses, often fed from company stores and worked at the company’s will. The result is that the spirit of organization has hard ground to work over, but the Textile Workers’ organization is making headway.

Mother Jones, that noted woman who has devoted her life to the interest of the organization of labor and to the betterment of the conditions of the workers, and whose penchant seems to be the factory workers, came to Birmingham a few years ago and spent considerable time in the Avondale mills working as a weaver and trying to lay ground plans for an organization, but the time was not ripe; yet many of the facts that she made known have been most useful in the work now progressing…..

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1902, Part II: Found Returning to West Virginia as Organizer for United Mine Workers” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1902, Part I: Found in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Pennsylvania Towns of Erie and Arnot

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 18, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1902, Part I
Found in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Erie and Arnot, Pennsylvania

From Indiana’s Muncie Daily Herald of February 3, 1902:

Our Indianapolis Correspondent Has to
Do With Several Points.

Mother Jones DRWG Reading, Ipl Ns p9, Jan 22, 1902

Indianapolis, Feb. 3.-The members of the delegation of the Illinois miners to the joint conference here told an amusing story today in which a woman’s hat was a prominent part. One of the most picturesque characters at the great convention is Mother Jones, who has a national reputation among organized laborers. She has been prominent in their trials and triumphs and the miners would be lonesome at their convention without her. Today she appeared among them with a handsome new hat and thereby hangs the tale. She attended one of their meetings last week, and during the discussion a husky Illinois delegate sat down on her hat, mashing it flat. Mother Jones didn’t say much about it, as she is with the miners first and last, but the Illinois men were determined to make good, so they took up a collection and purchased a beautiful and costly bit of millinery that was the talk of all the miners.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Cleveland Leader of February 6, 1902:

“MOTHER JONES”
———-
Famous Woman Agitator Delivers Address
Before Central Labor Union.

“Mother” Jones, the famous agitator made a stirring address at the meeting of the Central Labor Union last night on the subject of her organizing work for unions in the Virginias. She was bitter in her denunciation of capital and many of her remarks were warmly applauded. She stated that the toilers were in no better condition than the prisoners in Siberia. She urged the workingmen present to elect men from among their own numbers to the lawmaking bodies, as their only means of salvation…..

From Pennsylvania’s Erie Daily Times of February 7, 1902:

“MOTHER” JONES
———-
The Miner’s Valued Friend, 
Is in Erie Today.
———-

Mother Jones stopped over in Erie today on her way from the miners’ convention in Indianapolis. By request she will remain in the city for a few days. She will give an address tomorrow evening at the Labor Carnival, and on Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock, will speak at the Central Labor Union hall, corner of Fifth and State streets. Mother Jones scarcely needs an introduction to the people of Erie, as by reputation she is well known here as the woman who for many years has been a conspicuous figure during he strikes of the coal miners.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1902, Part I: Found in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Pennsylvania Towns of Erie and Arnot” →

Hellraisers Journal: Harper’s Weekly: “The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse-Men, Women, Children v Bayonets

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 17, 1912
“The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse

From Harper’s Weekly of March 16, 1912:

Lawrence Trouble by MHV, Harpers Wkly p10, Mar 16, 1912

A few weeks ago a company of about forty children of the Lawrence strikers, bound for Philadelphia, were forcibly prevented from leaving Lawrence by the order of City Marshal John J. Sullivan. He was led to this act by the belief that some of those children were leaving town without the consent of their parents. Before this, several groups of children, to the total of nearly three hundred, had been sent out of town to the strike sympathizers in various cities, and public opinion against the departure of the children had been aroused. As Congressman Ames said: “The people here feel that the sending away of these children has hurt the fair name of Lawrence since it is a rich town and capable of caring for all its needy children without the help of outsiders.”

Lawrence Trouble w Bayonets by MHV, Harpers Wkly p10, Mar 16, 1912

The forcible detention of these children had an extraordinary response throughout the country. It was one of those things that cannot be done in America without stirring up public opinion from north to south and east to west. There had been earlier aggressive moves on the part of the authorities: Joseph J. Ettor, one of the first to take charge of the strike on behalf of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Arturo Giovannitti, his chief lieutenant, were arrested and committed to jail without bail, as accessories to the murder of a woman [Anna LoPizzo], shot by a deflected bullet during a clash between the strikers and the police. Both men were two miles away during the conflict. Their imprisonment caused comment in the press, as did other episodes of the strike- for instance, the railroading of twenty-three men to prison for one year each, during a single morning’s police-court session, on the charge of inciting to riot; but in the minds of the country at large these things have been simply incidents. The abridgment of the right of people to move from one place to another freely was at once a matter of national importance. It had for its immediate sequel the sending of that touching little band of thirteen children of various nationalities to Washington to state their grievances and to testify as to what occurred at the railway station on that Saturday morning.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Harper’s Weekly: “The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse-Men, Women, Children v Bayonets” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor Journal: Children of Lawrence Strikers Appear before Congressional Committee

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 16, 1912
Washington, D. C. – Lawrence Children Appear Before House Committee

From the Everett Labor Journal of March 15, 1912:

Lawrence Children bf House Com, Evt Lbr Jr p1, Mar 15, 1912

———-

(Republished from Los Angeles Citizen.)

“The chill hand of charity” got a severe slap a few days ago when Congressman Victor Berger grabbed a bill from a hat that was being passed for the benefit of the child textile strikers from Lawrence, Mass., who appeared before the house committee on rules, and hurled it into the face of its donor, J. H. Cox, a mill owner of Lawrence.

“We don’t want your money; it’s blood money,” cried Berger, indignantly. “We’ll take care of our own without your help.”

If it were possible to Bergerize the public conscience and cast the frown of public disapproval on the Cox kind of charity—the bribe of industrial bandits to satisfy society—Lawrence episodes would become less frequent.

In the same room in which only a month or so ago Andrew Carnegie complained bitterly because he had been paid only $320,000,000 for his properties by the steel corporation; where Judge Gary confided to a committee from congress that the steel trust had $75,000,000 in cash always ready to meet an emergency, child strikers in the mills at Lawrence laid bare their scars to pitying congressmen.

Presented by Representative Berger as an exhibit of what “one of the most highly protected industries in America does to human life by which it is served,” thirteen sallow-cheeked, thin-lipped, hollow-eyed, poorly-clad children, and six adults marched up Pennsylvania avenue and filed solmenly into the capitol.

In the room where attendants hurried to wait upon the smallest wish of Carnegie, Gary and Schwab, nobody had arranged for the comfort of these “exhibits” and they stood along the wall until Representative Henry, accompanied by his own little son, of eight, took pity on their plight.

“Get chairs for these children,” commanded Judge Henry. “Arrange them any way you want and take your time,” he added to Mr. Berger.

Before the witnesses began Chairman Wilson of the committee on labor pleaded for a federal investigation on the ground that in refusing to permit children to leave Lawrence several days ago the state authorities had violated the federal law.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The New York Call: “Lawrence Strike Ends in Victory” -Workers’ Committee Accepts Offer

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote re Lawrence Strike Victory NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike

From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

HdLn Lawrence Mtg Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

(By United Press.)

LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.

Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.

The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.

The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.

Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.

Chant the Internationale.

The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Workers Big Bill Haywood, George Andrytchine, and William Shatoff Photographed in Russia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH IWW w Drops of Blood, BDB, Sept 27, 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 14, 1922
Received from Russia: Photograph of Haywood, Andreytchine and Shatoff

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of March 4, 1922:

BBH Andreytchine Shatoff in Russia, Ft W Str Tg p1, Mar 4, 1922

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Amos Pinchot and Journalist Gertrude Marvin Meet with Lawrence Textile Strike Committee

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote EGF, Heaven n Hell, ISR p617, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 13, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Mrs. Pinchot and Miss Marvin Investigate Conditions

From The Boston Daily Globe of March 11, 1912:

Lawrence, Meeting w Strike Com, Pinchot Marvin, Miller, Bst Mrn Glb p2, Mar 11, 1912

Left to Right-Mrs Amos Pinchot, Gertrude Marvin, William Gates,
Francis Miller, Edward Reilly, Rebecca Smith.

From the Bridgeport Evening Farmer of March 9, 1912:

Lawrence, March 9-Wearing a chic, white felt crush hat, long gray coat and high boots, Mrs. Amos Pinchot [Gertrude Minturn Pinchot], sister-in-law of Gifford Pinchot who came down here to investigate conditions for herself, was “out and about” at 6, this morning, despite the dismal drizzle that kept even many of the strikers off the picket route.

With Miss Margaret Marvin [Gertrude Marvin], a magazine writer, Mrs. Pinchot breakfasted in true cosmopolitan fashion in a typical “sling ’em out quick” counter lunchroom and then made the rounds of soup kitchens, tenement homes, police stations and courtroom. She argued with strike pickets, policemen and militiamen and got the point of view of everyone whom she saw and who “looked interesting.”

She spoke laughingly, today, of threats by policemen to arrest her for “obstructing the sidewalk” when she questioned them too closely and said she might be tempted when she gets back to New York to write about some of the “inhuman things” she has seen in her two days visit here.

—————-

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Textile Strike at Lawrence, Melting Pot Boiled Over into Industrial Revolt against Starvation Wages

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 12, 1912
“The Industrial Revolt at Lawrence” by R. W. Child, Illustrated by Jay Hambidge

From Collier’s of March 9, 1912:

Revolt at Lawrence by Jay Hambidge, Colliers p13, Mar 9, 1912

———-

Revolt at Lawrence, Woman Beaten, by Jay Hambidge, Colliers p15, Mar 9, 1912

DURING these eight weeks in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a strange and wonderful picture has been painted.

Upon the little canvas, woven on the looms of social and industrial development, are now spread the half-somber, half-glaring colors of human instincts and emotions. In the foreground one of our American melting pots, having failed to produce an alloy of many metals, has frothed, sputtered, and boiled over; in the background is the indistinct gray swirl of economic forces rushing by-out of history-into eternity. If there is an awe-inspiring quality in this picture, it is because some day it may be reproduced in great bold strokes across the whole expanse of American life.

Lawrence is drab. In the winter dusk the huge rectangular prisms of the textile mills, black and sullen against the sky line, lie along the shores of the Merrimac River, and, behind them, like a progeny of badly begotten offspring,  crowding in a hungry herd, are the countless other rectangular prisms of human habitations.

Systematic and Organized Misrepresentation

STANDING on a street corner, one sees suddenly that this crowd that moves along the street of shops is a congress of nations. He sees the faces of oppressed peoples, nine-tenths timid and patient, one-tenth of the stuff that makes mobs. The marching feet of a company of soldiers fill the cold, damp air with the grim, scuffling sound of military without music. At every street corner a pacing sentry, who is clad in wool cap, greatcoat, and leggings, lurches back and forth like a huge bird deprived of liberty. His bayonet flashes in the light from the store windows.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Textile Strike at Lawrence, Melting Pot Boiled Over into Industrial Revolt against Starvation Wages” →