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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 2, 1910
Spokane, Washington – The Story of Joseph Thompson, Courageous Newsboy
From the International Socialist Review of January 1910:
The Shame of Spokane
—–By Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
—–[Part II of II.]
This same Judge Hinkle had made himself infamous in connection with the juvenile cases. Perhaps the most disgraceful affair of many connected with the Spokane free-speech fight was the raid on the hall December 1st, resulting in the arrest of eight little newsboys. Simple on the surface, it is a subtle attempt to undermine the right of a parent to teach a child ideas different from the established order. The children were taken to the chief’s office and put through a severe cross examination, after which they were locked up for the night.
“The third degree” on youngsters ranging in years from eight to sixteen is quite a credit to the Spokane detective force. Couldn’t you get evidence from grown-ups, Captain Burns, throwing light on the “secrets” and “conspiracy” of the I. W. W. without scaring it out of a lot of little boys? “The I. W. W. hall is no fit place for them,” said Prosecuting Attorney Pugh of these poor, ragged, little urchins who trudge the streets in their thin little shoes going in and out of saloons and cheap resorts all hours of the day and night. The parents of the boys with that innate respect for law came in fear and trembling to say that they had not sanctioned the children joining. One woman said she was too poor to buy her boy a necktie so let him wear the red one that a man gave him. The parents knew nothing of the I. W. W. and the little youngsters were rather deserted by the very ones who ought to know what’s wrong with conditions that force them to send their little ones on the streets this frosty weather.
One by one the youngsters succumbed and promised not to sell the I. W. W. paper or go near the hall. One notable exception was little Joseph Thompson. This little man bore himself with all the moral courage of a revolutionist straight through, refusing to retreat an inch. Over this boy the hardest conflict raged. Evidence was produced to show that Mrs. Thompson was in full accord with the I. W. W. and accompanied the boy to the hall. Judge Hinkle then remarked that, from his personal experience, “the I. W. W Hall is no fit place for a woman and no good woman frequents it.” “Besides,” he remarked, of this clean, healthy, little youngster, “he looks dirty and uncared for.” Language becomes inadequate and a horsewhip looks reasonable in face of this cowardly, scurrilous statement. If the condition of the judge’s red and bloated face is indicative of his mode of life one may safely assume that his reputation as a notorious drunkard is not overdrawn, yet he is the guardian of juvenile morals, the critic of working women!
The next day, the cases being postponed for two days, Mrs. Thompson and her boy came to the court room where Mr. Thompson was expected to be tried. The probation officer called the boy out and his mother followed. He asked what the boy was doing there and she replied that she was accustomed to taking him with her everywhere she went. The officer retorted: “You are not a fit person to take care of the boy,” and ordered the boy to go home.
In 1817 Shelley was deprived of his three children because he was an atheist. Is the time coming in this United States when Socialists are to be deprived of their children because they are Socialists? There is no insult too gross, no trick too low, no act too heartless for these brutal representatives of law and order to resort to. Who is to fix the standard of what constitutes proper care for children and correct ideas to teach them—shyster lawyers, drunken judges and ignorant, illiterate police officers?
But Judge Hinkle overstepped the bounds when he said no good woman frequents the I. W. W. hall. Saturday, December 4th, saw his court room lined with men and women who visit the hall regularly, and many of the women were not in a pleasant frame of mind. The judge blustered around, tried to make amends and then summarily dismissed the juvenile cases. The whole affair, however, is but a straw to show the trend of modern capitalism. It will happen again and we must be prepared.
The [Washington state] conspiracy cases have been increased to eleven within the last month and we are continually reminded by the prosecuting attorney that more are to follow. Fellow-Worker Filigno was given a preliminary hearing before Judge Mann and bound over in the Superior Court under two thousand dollars bond. Fellow-Worker John Pancner was adjudged guilty and sentenced to six months in the county jail. A change of venue was demanded on the strength of the judge’s admitted prejudice and was granted for the conspiracy cases, but the street-speaking cases remained in the hands of a judge who stated that “the right to speak is God-given and inalienable” but that he “would sentence any man for disorderly conduct who spoke or attempted to speak.” The conspiracy cases are now being tried before Judge Stocker, with progress up to the present as follows: E. J. Foote, James Wilson and James P. Thompson have been sentenced to six months in the county jail and A. E. Cousin to four months. Still to be tried are George Speed, Louis Gatewood, Charles Conner, William Douglass and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Appeals have been taken in all cases up to date and as the rest of us will probably get the same sentence appeals will be taken to a higher court and a jury trial.
I am certain the readers of the Review will appreciate for themselves the enormity of this injustice.
The Mullen case, one that should be heralded from coast to coast, is as follows: The court room was crowded one day and Officer Shannon was appointed to keep further spectators from coming in. A little fellow by the name of Mullen, not an I. W. W. man, presumably did not understand that the court room was closed and started in. Shannon instead of telling him the circumstances, grabbed him, kicked him and beat him continually down the stairs and through the hall way to the booking office of the jail, where he struck the man’s head against the desk. The business in the court room was completely interrupted for at least ten minutes while the man’s shrieks and agonized cries for mercy rang through the building. The judge suavely thanked the spectators for their orderly behavior during “the disturbance.” Mullen was kept in jail for three or four days, probably that he might recover his normal looks, and then was tried with the result that he was sentenced to thirty days, one hundred dollars fine and costs, in spite of the fact that four non-partisan witnesses testified to the man’s quiet behavior and Officer Shannon’s intense brutality.
Shannon is an old man on the force, has a reputation for being “a tough proposition” and is now so near his time for retirement that no matter what he does he will be retained on the force that he may draw his pension.
That such inhuman conduct is not uncommon among the police of Spokane is shown by the attack of Officer Meyers made upon a harmless drunkard a few weeks ago when he beat him into unconsciousness before a crowd of indignant citizens. Ernest Untermann was a witness to this incident. The citizens complained so strenuously to the Police Commissioner that Meyers was dismissed, but if he had attacked an I. W. W. man he would probably have been given a gold medal.
The Spokesman Review was very much excited over the fact that the I. W. W. “jail birds” insulted the Salvation Army. Of course their indignation turns to unctuous praise when Prosecuting Attorney Pugh designates James Wilson as a coward, a sneak and a liar, trying to whine out of his responsibilities. The Salvation Army has not the courage to continue its street meetings, but must come down to the city jail to talk to starving men who cannot get away. They did not put in an appearance on Thanksgiving day to feed the hungry or give drink to the thirsty, but like the hypocrite in the bible when asked for bread “they offered a stone.” The insult was not that the I. W. W. boys howled at them and jeered them out of the place, the insult was that they ever dared to come at all. The Industrial Workers are interested in a live issue of better things for this world. As Mr. Pugh so aptly put it we are a modest aggregation “who. after they win the free-speech fight, intend to come back after the whole works.”
Needless to say people who advise us to be contented and humble and look for our reward in heaven are not very popular when we’re starving and suffering that we may get a little less hell on earth. If we are. as Mr. Pugh says, “the hoboes, tramps and ne’er-do-wells,” then it is up to us to change our status right here and now.
The A. F. of L. Central Labor Council and the Socialist party are working earnestly on the initiative petition and it is progressing splendidly from all reports. The miners of Butte have followed up the action of the Coeur D’Alene district in boycotting Spokane and all her products. Damage suits have piled up against the city, many filed by indignant citizens who were drenched by the hose of the fire department, others filed by members of the I. W. W. who have been assaulted by officers both in and out of jail. Needless to say all of these different activities have their result upon the opinions of the taxpayers and the business men. We can appeal to their pocketbook far more effectually than to their intelligence or sense of justice.
The newspapers have gloated over the fact that the switchmen’s strike is helping to cripple the I. W. W. To a certain extent the influx of I. W. W. volunteers is certainly being delayed but the fight can never be lost when starved and beaten men will come out of jail and voluntarily offer to go back that the fight may not be lost. Such courage and endurance as the rebels have shown in this fight is almost beyond the comprehension of the average citizen. Particularly are they surprised at the “non-resistant” attitude, at the self-control and splendid discipline under circumstances that would try the average man to desperation.
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The hunger strike was called off by the unknown fighting committee for the reason that they felt the I. W. W. boys were practically committing suicide under the surveillance of a police force that were glad to see them do it. In a war there is no sense in doing what the enemy want you to do. Some of the boys have gone on the rock pile and from now on others will probably go without being considered either traitors or cowards by the organization. The reason is that they can in this way get three square meals a day and fresh air to keep them in good fighting condition. As for work that will be rather a minus quantity, a sort of graceful shifting, of shovel or pick from one hand to the other.
This fight is on to the bitter end. It will never be settled for us until it is settled right. They may send us all to jail, but that will not stop the agitation for free speech. They may deport the I. W. W. men but the battle will not be crushed. Let sympathizers on the outside help to spread the news of this brutal conflict and express their sympathy in the coin of the realm. The great need of the hour is financial assistance. Readers of the Review are invited to contribute their share.
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SOURCE & IMAGES
The International Socialist Review, Volume 10
(Chicago, Illinois)
-July 1909-June 1910
C. H. Kerr & Company, 1910
https://books.google.com/books?id=MVhIAAAAYAAJ
ISR Jan 1910
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MVhIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA577
Page 610-“The Shame of Spokane” by EGF
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MVhIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA610
Page 613-Part II
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MVhIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA614
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 1, 1910
International Socialist Review: “The Shame of Spokane” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part I
Tag: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
https://weneverforget.org/tag/elizabeth-gurley-flynn/
Tag: Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909-1910
https://weneverforget.org/tag/spokane-free-speech-fight-of-1909-1910/
Seattle Workingman’s Paper of Dec 18, 1909, pages 1 & 4:
–“Newsboys Tortured”-see page 4 for more on Thompson family:
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/thesocialist-seattle/091218-seattlesocialist-v10w452.pdf
Note: Joseph Thompson was 12 years old per Spokane Press of Dec 2, 1909
-the other newsboys arrested were ages 11 to 16:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1909-12-02/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1909-12-02/ed-1/seq-2/
Search: “newsboys” Washington papers Dec 1, 1909 to Jan 2, 1910:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=Washington&dateFilterType=range&date1=12%2F01%2F1909&date2=01%2F02%2F1910&language=&ortext=&andtext=&phrasetext=newsboys&proxtext=&proxdistance=5&rows=50&searchType=advanced&sort=date
For more on the Washington State Conspiracy Cases against IWWs, see:
“The Spokane Free Speech Fight-1909”
-by John Panzner
-for Writers Group Journal of Sept 1959
-issued by West Side U. A. W. Retired Workers’ Center in Detroit
From:
Rebel Voices
-ed by Joyce L. Kornbluh
PM Press, 2011
(Search: John Panzner 1883)
https://books.google.com/books?id=n2ATBwAAQBAJ
Found also in:
Fellow Workers and Friends
I.W.W. Free Speech Fights as Told by Participants
ed by Philip S Foner
Greenwood Press, 1981
-see page 71, spelled: “Pancner”
https://books.google.com/books?id=y4yxAAAAIAAJ
Tag: IWW Spokane Free Speech Fight Committee
https://weneverforget.org/tag/iww-spokane-free-speech-fight-committee/
“Joe Mullen”-per Spokane Chronicle of Nov 30, 1909, page 11
-“recently made himself notorious in police circles by causing a disturbance in police court in which he alleged that Officer Bill Shannon struck him in the face several times….
https://www.newspapers.com/image/562164164/
“Mullen Escaped”-per Spokane Press of Dec 8, 1909
-and that’s the last I could find of a Joe Mullen connected to IWW.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1909-12-08/ed-1/seq-2/
For more on Northwestern Switchmen’s Strike of 1909, see:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?date1=11%2F01%2F1909&date2=12%2F31%2F1909&searchType=advanced&language=&proxdistance=5&state=Washington&rows=50&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=switchmen%27s+strike&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1&sort=date
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There is Power in The Union – Utah Phillips
Lyrics by Joe Hill