You need to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. -Eugene Victor Debs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Sunday July 14, 1918
From Atlanta Penitentiary: Comrade A. L. Hitchcock Sends Greetings
From The Ohio Socialist of July 9, 1918:
A Letter from Comrade A. L. Hitchcock
—–
June 16, 1918
Comrades:
From the Cincinnati Enquirer of June 11, 1918
I arrived here yesterday (Saturday) at 2:30. Had a very interesting trip down from Toledo. Was quite surprised to learn that I was going so soon. I suppose you will be anxious to know of how I am and what conditions are here. So I will say, for the present I am in a large ward with about 60 others. We are in quarantine, to wait until all danger of bringing any disease in here is passed. Everything is scrupulously clean. We are fitted out with clean and disinfected clothes from top to toe. Have shower bath twice a week. The food is good and there is enough of it, so there is no kick from the care I am receiving. There are men here of all descriptions and professions, for all the different kinds of wrongdoing imaginable. However, I must not discuss those who are here, but it is all very interesting to me. This paper is not adequate to hold all I should like to write, but as you are mostly interested in my welfare I will reassure you that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
My time will peter out in a little over six years, so I am told, so that don’t amount to much. So long as I am good I can write once per week, but can receive all the mail that comes. All mail is read both ways, in and out, so you will not write anything so intimate that it could not be read by the officials here. The officers, or those I have come in contact with, seem like very decent fellows. You will have to pass this letter along and send it to Cleveland, too, so the friends there will know that all is well.
Atlanta is quite a large city, near 200,000, also it is the home of the state office of the Socialist Party, I believe.
We are furnished with enough tobacco for our own good. I can tell you that penal institutions are not what are generally understood, or, this is an exceptionally well managed one on most progressive lines. We are allowed to have visitors but I don’t know how often or how many, but if any of our friends here want to see me they can find out. It may be that while we are held for observation we will not be allowed to see any one on the outside.
From The Fort Wayne News and Sentinel of June 12, 1918
Was up to the doctor this morning and he said my heart is normal and that I am in good health. I was vaccinated and sent back. We have such dishes as we need, including knife, fork and spoon, plate, bowl and cup. We fare five times better than the boys in Canton or in Lucas county jail at Toledo. The boys here get the daily papers, magazines and books from the library. I might get books from outside but am not well enough posted to know yet. Later on I will know what is allowed and let you know for I don’t mean to break any rules. Although I look for no pardon or parole, I do not intend to be other than a good prisoner while here, if for no other reason than my own satisfaction. No place I have been yet have I had any but a good, clean record and the same shall obtain here.
There are dominoes and checkers here, but I’d rather look at the other men and study them than waste time on time killing. I have not yet seen any one I know, though there are Cleveland people here. I may not see any one here for this is not a pleasure resort but still no one can complain.
Address me
A. L. HITCHCOCK,
Box 1733. Atlanta, Ga.
[News clippings added.]
From Locomotive Fireman and Enginemen’s Magazine of July 1, 1918:
Socialist School Board Member Given
Ten Years on Disloyalty Charge
A. L. Hitchcock, Socialist member of the Cleveland (Ohio) Board of Education, on June 12 was found guilty of disloyalty to the United States by a federal jury in Toledo and sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years in the penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga.
Hitchcock was convicted of violating the espionage act by “promoting the success of the enemy” and “causing insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny and refusal of duty in the military and naval forces of the United States.”
The maximum penalty for the acts of which Hitchcock was convicted is $10,000 fine or imprisonment for 20 years, or both. In returning its verdict the jury recommended clemency.
The arrest of the school board Socialist came after an address he delivered in Sandusky, O., April 6, at the opening of the third Liberty Loan campaign. The warrant for his arrest charged him with making this statement:
I do not believe in the d— Liberty Loan. Every dollar goes into the pockets of profiteers. I won’t contribute any of my money to war profiteers. By purchasing bonds you are aiding the political ambitions of the heads of our government. All who buy Liberty bonds are being hoaxed. The war is a scheme to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
It also was charged that Hitchcock characterized the emergency fleet corporation “an out-and-out swindle” and ridiculed Ambassador Gerard and Special Envoy Root, charging that their reports regarding Germany were written before they sailed for Europe.
Hitchcock was arrested under Section 3 of the espionage act, which deals with “conveying false reports with the intention of interfering with the operation or success of the United States while it is at war, or for obstructing recruiting or enlistment in the military or naval forces of the United States.”
In pronouncing sentence immediately after the jury returned its verdict, Judge Killits excoriated the prisoner, calling him “just a plain jackass.”
Mrs. Hitchcock, who was in the courtroom with her husband when the verdict was announced, broke down completely and wept.
Several days after the conviction the Cleveland Board of Education formally declared Mr. Hitchcock’s seat vacant.
