The World’s great Wrong cries out; you do not heed,
But drivel rot with heaven-uplifted eyes,
Then creep away behind a cloud of lies
To kiss the palsied hand of murderous Greed.
-Ralph Chaplin
Hellraisers Journal, Monday December 17, 1917
A Rebel Verse from Ralph Chaplin
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
Hellraisers Journal: Sunday December 16, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Defendants Appear Before Judge Landis
From the Kansas Pittsburg Daily Headlight of December 15, 1917:
I.W.W. DEFENDANTS FILLED
A COURT ROOM
—
BEFORE JUDGE LANDIS AT CHICAGO,
ACCUSED AGITATORS PLEADED NOT GUILTY.
—–
“American Bolsheviki Without Whiskers,”
as U. S. Lawyer Described Them,
Appeared to Answer Conspiracy Charge.
—–
Chicago, Dec. 15.-One hundred and three alleged members of the Industrial Workers of the World, probably the largest number ever assembled in one court room to answer the charges of conspiracy against the federal government, pleaded “not guilty” when arraigned before Judge Landis in the United States district court today.
In general appearance the defendants resembled a typical jury panel. There were exceptions, however, for among the I. W. W. there are not a few who pretend to literary merit. There are some who confess themselves poets, and a few are orators. These might be distinguished by the flowing Windsor tie and the soft collar of the artist or musician, by the stiff rearward brush of the hair, or, in one or two instances, by a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. One of the government lawyers referred to them as “the American Bolsheviki, without the whiskers.”
It’s great to fight for freedom
with a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill
Hellraisers Journal, Sunday December 15, 1907
Northern Minnesota – Miss Flynn Tours and Speaks
From The Industrial Union Bulletin of Dec 14, 1907:
Miss Flynn’s Tour a Success
I arrived in Duluth, Minn., on Friday, November 14th, and on Sunday afternoon, November 16th, the first meeting was held in Superior, Wis., with an audience of 300 people. The second was held the same evening in Duluth, Minn., with an attendance of from 600 to 700 people. At the two meetings the people were enthusiastic in demonstrating their appreciation of industrial unionism. The capitalist papers gave us extended write-ups, copies of which have been forwarded to headquarters, carefully omitting the portions of the talks which dealt with themselves and “the panic.” The chairman of both meetings was Fellow Worker Zollner, a fighter of ability in this vicinity.
The first range town we visited was Proctor, Minn., the home of the “Duluth, Mesaba and Northern” transportation workers. The round-houses and yards of this ore-carrying road are located here, all of it being stock-trust property. The company very generously gave their employers a special train into Duluth to see the “Land of Nod,” which was playing there that night, which had the effect of diminishing the size of our audience. “The Land of Nod” is better for the proletarians than an industrial awakening. Miss Flynn promised to come again, however-one hundred times, if necessary-to get the doctrines of industrial unionism before the workers. Let the company take notice.
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 14, 1907
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November:
-Found Covered with Fond Tributes in the Appeal to Reason
From the Appeal to Reason of November 2, 1907
The Typewriter Fund.
As correspondents will have noticed, the state office is now in possessions of a typewriter as a result of the movement in that direction started by Mother Jones.
The entire fund for that purpose, however, has never been raise.
Seeing the great need for a typewriter, Comrade N. B. Hunt, unsolicited, tendered a loan of $20 for the purpose of getting the much-needed machine without delay.
A machine was purchased from Comrade C. L. Vincent for $35; $2 of the fund has been contributed by Comrade Vincent…
Amount to be raised to cancel loan…$16.25.
Let us have your contribution to this fund and wipe out the debt.
—–
[Photograph & emphasis added.]
Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
WE NEVER FORGET
Mamie Fasig-13
Member: Industrial Workers of the World
Lancaster Silk Strike
November 19, 1907
From The Industrial Union Bulletin of December 7, 1907:
The Striking Silk Workers
…In Lancaster the recently chartered local of the I. W. W. is fighting bravely against one of the most bitter enemies of organized labor. Mr. J. E. Stehli, a man who with his two sons and a brother (a general in the Swiss army), owns several large mills in Switzerland, France and Italy, besides the one owned by that family in Lancaster.
The strike is now in progress four weeks and the girls and men and children are standing out firmly, although it is their first strike, their first battle. And it is a battle, indeed.
On Friday they all marched out to give the last escort to one of the little comrades who died, a victim of the cruel conduct of the firm.
In order to humiliate the strikers the firm’s representative superintendent, Mr. Schnabeli (whom the firm imported from Switzerland), had issued the order that the strikers would not be paid off at the mill, but at a small store on Grand street. Upon arriving there the strikers were not permitted to enter the store but were paid off through the window. Here all the men as well as girls had to stand in a drenching rain for a long time.
Mamie Farig [Fasig], one of the youngest I. W. W. members, 15 [13] years old, caught cold and died several days after, a victim of capitalist brutality. A wreath of red carnations bearing the I. W. W. emblem was laid on her grave.
Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday December 12, 1907
Monongah, West Virginia – Grim Work Continues in Driving Rain
From The Pittsburgh Press of December 10, 1907:
“Oh, damn it, dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jones quoting a mine manager.
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday December 11, 1907
Monongah, West Virginia – Little Orphan Girls Beg for Work
Journalist Dorothy Dale reports from the devastated town:
Please letta me work, lady; gotta getta money…Please you get something for me, I can do.
A little hand touched my arm. The curl-framed face of a girl of 10 years looked into mine.
[She said pitifully:]
You know mans all dead. Boys all dead. Only girls left to work.
From The Pittsburgh Press of Dec 10, 1907:
Fairmont, W. Va., December 10.-“Please letta me work, lady; gotta getta money.”
It was the appeal on every side in Monongah on Tuesday and it came from little girls, many of them not 10 years old. It is the newest development in the mine horror. Girls-mind you-not boys!
The boys of Monongah lie sleeping under the coal-weighted hills. Early Tuesday the corpse of a slender child form was brought out of No. 6. It was identified as Johnny Yaconis, and taken to the tumble down shack up in Red Row, over the mine, where a stony faced little woman kissed it until her face was black from the charred flesh. Another body, that of the boy’s father, Franco Yaconis, is still concealed in one of those underground rooms.
Dominic, her boy of 15, lies in the company hospital, where his crushed leg was amputated. Only her Johnny had been brought to her. “Devil Johnny,” they called him, but there was nothing devilish about him. At the age of 12 years the stunted little overalled figure trudged every morning to the mines, where he was a trapper. At 13 years of age he died in those mines.
Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday December 10, 1907
Monongah, West Virginia – No Hope Remains as Rescue Work Continues
From The Fairmont West Virginian of December 9, 1907:
How can God forgive you, you do know what you’ve done.
You’ve killed my husband, now you want my son.
-Hazel Dickens
Hellraisers Journal, Monday December 9, 1917
Monongah, West Virginia – Agonizing Scenes of Grief and Despair
From The Pittsburgh Press of December 7, 1907:
James Cain, an inspector, was overcome while working in the mine this afternoon and is in a precarious condition.
Many women are rallying to aid in giving temporary relief wherever possible. Across the street from the mine quarters have been arranged where the distracted widows of the dead miners are cared for…..
AGONIZING SCENES.
With the early dawn of day and rising of the sun, the beautiful little mining village of Monongah was found to be one of sorrow and despair. Throughout the night widows and orphans hovered close together at the mine entrance, despite the coldness of the night, hoping against hope that their loved ones would still be found alive who were entombed.
The concussion was felt all over the country, houses were wrecked, windows broken and many persons near the mines knocked down and injured.
Thousands of people have assembled at the mine entrances.
The scenes about the mine openings throughout the night were agonizing in the extreme. The anguish of wives and mothers who wrung their hands and cried hysterically out of their solicitude for bread winners who were locked up in their underground sepulchre, were painful in the extreme. Women fainted. Strong men gave way. Little children, only faintly realizing what happened, cried pitifully, not for absent fathers and brothers, but because of the distress round about them and their intuitive knowledge that it was an occasion that called for tears…
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 8, 1917
Christopher, Illinois – All Bodies Recovered from Old Ben Mine
From the United Mine Workers Journal of December 6, 1917:
Eighteen Men Die in Illinois Explosion
Christopher, Ill.—On the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day an explosion occurred at the Old Ben Mine, four miles north of this town, that wrecked both shifts and all the approaches to the workings.
Eighteen day hands were in the mine at the time of the explosion, and all of them were killed.
Rescue teams worked day and night in the hope that some of the trapped men might be found alive. Timbers had been blown out and all the entries were blocked with rock. It was necessary to establish a ventilating system as the rescuers advanced into the wrecked workings. The bodies of all the victims were recovered.
The immediate cause of the explosion is not determined. It is believed that a fall of rock drove a body of gas that had accumulated on the open lamps of some of the men; coal dust and gas together made for the terrible explosion that ensued. The first party of rescuers that entered the mine were driven back by afterdamp. Some members of this rescue party were overcome; pulmotors were used to revive them.
Some 700 men are employed in this mine. Had the explosion occurred on a working day, the loss of life would have been far greater.
