Hellraisers Journal: Many Fellow Workers in Jail in Fresno, Arrested for Fighting for Free Speech; More Men Arriving

Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 21, 1910
Fresno, California – Many Fellow Workers Jailed, More Men Arrive Daily

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of October 19, 1910:

FRESNO FIGHT IS ON:
MANY MEN IN JAIL
—————

The fight for free speech in the State of California has opened in Fresno. The boys have been gathering for the last month and more are on the way to the front. Telegrams received by the WORKER informs us that 19 men were arrested on the streets up to the time of sending the message. Large crowds are on the streets and the populace is much excited. Men are arriving on every train and more are coming by boat from Portland and Seattle, according to the statements of letters just received from these cities.

The boys have been forced from their hall and cannot rent another, but are doing well in their camp in the jungles. There the incoming men are fed and prepared to go to the “can.” While there has been no news from the men already in jail, it is a safe bet that they are roaring the “Red Flag” and other working men’s songs.

The boys evidently took the police by surprise, as an editorial in the Fresno Herald of a few days ago asserts that November has been selected as the time for opening the fight. This same slimp street, a scurrilous sewer of degenerated conceptions that rivals the infamy of the “Morning Liar” (sometimes called the Spokane Spokesman-Review), states in its columns that the members of the I. W. W. are thugs, holdups, etc., and that one was killed in an attempted robbery on the way to Fresno. This monumental liar does not mention names, dates nor locations, but leaves it to the scurvy imagination of his own class of degenerates to fill in the missing items of mis-information.

He further advocates the use of the whipping post for men the insist on their privilege of free speech, and even suggests that to wash their wounds with salt water would increase the agony. Such a vicious apostle of a return to the methods of the Inquisition is a fitting herald for the ideas and intentions of the master class, and he only advocates the desires of them all. It is just such articles and just such tactics on the part of the ruling class and their tools that puts murder in the hearts of the helpless victim and breeds a psychology of violence it is to be hoped that no member of the I. W. W. will so far lose control of himself as to attempt to retaliate in kind, but should such articles inflame the minds of the weaker minded workers to the extent that violence is returned for violence, the boss and his prostitute lackeys have only themselves to blame. One thing is certain. Whatever the outcome of the fight, the workers will have been educated to a better understanding of their relationship to the boss and they will have learned to hate the condition of slavery to that extent.

—————

[Emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

[From page 2:]

From The Fresno Morning Republican of October 18, 1910:

7 MORE I. W. W. MEN ARE THROWN
IN JAIL BY OFFICERS
————
Arrested for Attempting to Speak
Publicly on the Streets.
————
Thirteen Demand Separate Jury Trials
Before Judge Briggs.
————

Seven more members of the I.W.W., accused of disturbing the peace, were arrested last night by the police and lodged in the county jail. There are now twenty of these men in jail awaiting trial.

A large crowd was gathered at the corner of I and Mariposa streets shortly after 7 o’clock last night to witness the expected clash between the I. W. W. and the officers. When thirteen of their number were arrested Sunday night for speaking publicly on the streets, local leaders of the I. W. W. announced that they would speak again the next night, and as a result a large number were attracted to the scene to witness the attempts.

Twelve or fifteen policemen, some in uniform and some in plain clothes circulated throughout the crowd and upon each attempt made by I. W. W. men to speak, they were seized and hustled off to jail. A big force of deputy sheriffs was also on hand to assist the police in case the situation became too severe for them to handle, but their assistance was unnecessary.

The attempts to speak and the arrests were unaccompanied by any demonstrations. Members of the I. W. W. made no attempts whatever to assist their fellow members who were arrested, and those who were arrested made no resistance.

It was estimated last night that about 100 members of the I. W. W. were at the corner of I and Mariposa streets, but only seven made any active demonstration. Two of the men arrested, A. V. Roe and W. Lechner, were arrested for agitating and urging other members to get up and try to speak. Those jailed last night were R. Price, Peter X. L. Blank, H. Minturn, James Shipley, John Stine, A. V. Roe and W. Lechner.

More Are Coming

Passenger brakemen on the southern run notified the police last night that about 75 or 100 more men were en route to Fresno to participate in the trouble which has just been started. All are beating their way on the brake beams.

The number of I. W. W. men in this city was augmented yesterday by the arrival of about fifty from the southern part of the state.

A movement was started last night by several local merchants to devise means to rid the city of these undesirable characters, and it was announced last night that a mass meeting of citizens will be called in the near future, if the trouble continues, for the purpose of organizing a force to drive these men from Fresno.

Plead Not Guilty

The thirteen men arrested Sunday night for speaking on the streets appeared before Judge Briggs in the police court yesterday morning and all pleaded not guilty. Each of the men demanded a separate jury trial. Judge Briggs set their trials for about the 15th of November and placed the bail in each case at $250. These men will spend the next month in jail. Judge Briggs further announced that he will not give these men separate trials, as under the law he is not obliged to do so for misdemeanors. One man, probably F. H. Little, will be tried by a jury and the remainder will be released or sentenced, as the jury in his case decides.

[Emphasis added.]

From The Fresno Morning Republican of October 19, 1910:

3 OF I. W. W. MEMBERS JOIN FELLOW WORKERS
IN LOCAL JAIL
————
Expected Outbreak of Agitators Fails,
Due to Lack of Supporters.
————
Fifteen Prisoners Disobey Rules and Receive
Wetting From Hose.
————

The expected outbreak of the members of the Industrial Workers of the World did not occur last night, due to a lack of supporters. Three were arrested and lodged in jail by the police, however. J. Leon and O. A. Hartgrave were charged with vagrancy and Charles Wallen was accused of disturbing the peace. Wallen tried to make a speech to a small crowd at I and Mariposa streets. Acting Sergeant Bradley and a squad of patrolmen, the majority of whom were in plain clothes, mingled with the crowd and when Wallen became abusive, directing his remarks at the police department and the city government, Sergeant Bradley placed him under arrest.

Leon and Hartgrave were found in the crowd by the plain clothes men. Both were encouraging the “orator.” When searched, Leon and Hartgrave had I. W. W. cards. En route to jail Hartgrave informed Patrolmen Charley McKee that he had been arrested many times for vagrancy and never before had he been treated like a gentleman. “In the past,” said Hartgrave, “the arresting officer always beat me over the head with his club.”

The trio of the I.W.W.’s behaved well and after being locked behind the bars went to bed and did not object in the least to spending a night, or several nights, in jail. The men admitted to the officers that they did not work and were not seeking employment. When Wallen was taken from the box at the street corner the crowd cheered the police for their action.

Last night the department received word the 176 I. W. W.’s are en route to Fresno from the Northwest, and these men are now camping along the railroad tracks between here and Sacramento. The squad is expected to arrive by Saturday night to join the local forces in their war against the police.

Yesterday the seven agitators who were arrested by Chief Shaw and squad Monday night for violating the city ordinance against speaking on the public streets without a permit, appeared in the police court and pleaded not guilty. Most of them demanded separate trials by jury, while all wanted to be given a speedy hearing. The prisoners were returned to jail in default of bail.

Shortly after breakfast yesterday morning about fifteen of the I. W. W.’s started to sing their campaign song in the jail. Day Jailer Ed Jones asked them to cease their noise-making “ballad,” and when they refused after three requests, the trusties were ordered to turn a stream of water into the cells. The men continued to sing and yell at the top of their voices until they were drenched, and they became silent, remaining quiet for the rest of the day.

Leader F. H. Little, who is confined in a separate cell, later in the day started to sing the same song, and he was ordered to desist under penalty of receiving a stream of water from the fire hose. Little immediately stopped his singing.

[Emphasis added.]

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SOURCES & IMAGES

Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910
https://www.newspapers.com/image/606951967/

Industrial Worker
(Spokane, Washington)
-Oct 19, 1910
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v2n31-w83-oct-19-1910-IW.pdf

The Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, California)
-Oct 18, 1910
https://www.newspapers.com/image/606953871/
-Oct 19, 1910
https://www.newspapers.com/image/606953895/

FRESNO FIGHT IS ON: MANY MEN IN JAIL—————

FRESNO FIGHT IS ON:
MANY MEN IN JAIL
—————