Author: Janet Raye

Hellraisers Journal: The Adventures of Henry Dubb: Goes In for Preparedness & Marches in Parade

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 11, 1916
From The Northwest Worker: Now Offering Walker’s Henry Dubb

Ryan Walker, Northwest Worker, Feb 10, 1916

The Northwest Worker of Everett, Washington, despite experiencing some financial difficulties, now offers the Adventures of Henry Dubb by Ryan Walker. The May 18th edition of the paper explained:

We could save money today by getting out a smaller paper (the size it used to be), and we could cut out the cartoon service, but that is not our method of doing business. We are getting the Ryan Walker cartoon service, commencing with next week. You will all appreciate this and in return all we ask of you is to renew your sub. when you are notified that it has expired. The Northwest Worker is in the field to STAY. You will receive the full 52 issues for your dollar. So again we ask you to renew if your sub. has expired.

—–

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Hellraisers Journal: Mine Owners of Cripple Creek Prepare to Replace Scabs with Imported Labor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 10, 1906
From The Labor World: George Shoaf on the Cripple Creek Situation

' Alliance Terror in Cripple Creek Strike

From the Duluth Labor World of June 9, 1906:

MINE COMPANY STORES
AND IMPORTED LABOR
—–

Mine Owners Association of Cripple Creek
Now Preparing to Discharge Scabs
—–
Fellows Who Helped to Deport Union Men
to Be Dismissed By Mine Bosses.
—–
BY GEORGE H. SHOAF.
Staff Correspondent Appeal to Reason.
—–

Colorado Mine Owners Ass by Ryan Walker, AtR, Jul 30, 1904

Denver, Colo., June 7.-I just returned from my trip to the Cripple Creek district this morning. Conditions commercially in that community are really worse than were pictured in this week’s Appeal. The howls from the business men are loud and long. On every street corner groups of men gather and discuss the situation and outlook. In the restaurant conversationalists openly threw off the mask and spoke their mind. They cannot sell their possessions and they have no place to which they can go. They are barred from all other western mining camps-and they dislike to return east and take chances with the unemployed. Where I stayed at night-and I changed rooming houses every night-the men about the stove talked hard times, cursed their luck and admitted their folly in helping the Mine Owners’ association drive the Western Federation from the district.

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Hellraisers Journal: American Miners Fleeing Mexico, Arriving in Bisbee, W. F. of M. Blamed for Unrest

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We are free, truly free, when
we don’t need to rent our arms to anybody
in order to be able to lift
a piece of bread to our mouths.
-Ricardo Flores Magón
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 9, 1906
Report from Bisbee, Arizona: “Agitators” Threatened with Arrest

Cananea Copper Strike of 1906, Strikers confront Am

From today’s Salt Lake Tribune:

AMERICAN MINERS FLEE
FROM MEXICO
—–

Mexican Authorities Threaten Agitators
of the Strike With Arrest.
—–
WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS IS BLAMED
—–
Those Killed in Recent Riots Have Been
Buried Without identification.
—–

BISBEE, Ariz., June 8.-As a result of the strike at Cananea, Mexico, mines of Colonel W. C. Greene, last week, the American miners in the camp will be very few in number in the future, it is believed. They are crossing the line in droves, and several hundred have arrived in Bisbee during the last forty-eight hours.

Threatened With Arrest.

On Thursday the Mexican authorities sent a man through the mines notifying all American miners that those who were under suspicion of having agitated the trouble at Cananea and had openly sympathized with the striking Mexicans would on the following day be placed under arrest. The result was a general exodus of Americans.

Western Federation Blamed.

It can be reliably stated that the American authorities believe that members of the Western Federation of Miners at Cananea secretly encouraged and abetted the strike and members of this organization were the first to receive the notice to leave.

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Hellraisers Journal: Miners Strike at Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, Leads to Fierce Fighting, Many Killed

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III—–

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 3, 1906
Tucson, Arizona – Reports on Cananea Copper Strike

From the Arizona Daily Star of June 2, 1906:

Cananea Copper Strike, Arizona Dly Star, June 2, 1906

(Special to the Star.)

Naco, June 1.-There is a great riot at Cananea. All of the Mexicans at the mines of Colonel W. C. Greene are on the strike.

George Metcalf, the purchasing agent of the mines, and his brother, Will Metcalf, have been murdered by the strikers.

Between thirty and forty of the Mexicans have been killed, and about a hundred wounded.

It is reported that two days ago some Mexican police shot an American saloonkeeper wounding him. No arrests were made at the time, but later Colonel Greene had the perpetrators of the deed imprisoned. This precipitated the disturbance. A number of the miners dynamited a large pawnshop, taking all of the arms and ammunition. The company’s lumber yard was then burned, a property valued at a quarter of a million dollars.

Three carloads of refugees have just arrived from Cananea including Col. Greene. They bring the information that all of the Americans are trying to leave Cananea. The Mexicans are trying to dynamite all of the American houses. A reign of terror exists.

Governor Yzabel is said to be enroute with a division of Federal troops, and is expected to arrive at Naco late tonight or tomorrow morning. The situation is very serious, the lives of hundreds of Americans being threatened.

—–

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Hellraisers Journal: George Pettibone, Miners’ Hero and First President of the Gem Miner’s Union of Idaho

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 26, 1906
An Introduction to George Pettibone, Miners’ Hero

From The Miners’ Magazine of November 1901:

From the archives of The Miners’ Magazine, official organ of the Western Federation of Miners, we came across the following introduction to George Pettibone, who now stands accused, along with Charles Moyer and Bill Haywood, of the murder of the ex-governor of Idaho:

George Pettibone, First President of Gem ID, Miners Mag Nov 1901 Pettibone, Text 1, Miners Magazine, Nov 1901, Darrow CollectionPettibone, Text 2, Miners Magazine, Nov 1901, Darrow Collection

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones on Rich at Horse Show & Children on Breadline, One Block Away

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I want justice, no more, no less.
If you’ll give us justice we won’t need charity.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 9, 1905
From the Albuquerque Evening Citizen:
Rich of Gotham Frolic While Children Stand in Breadline One Block Away

Mother Jones, Mar 11, 1905, AtR

In an article which appeared yesterday in the Albuquerque Evening Citizen, Mother Jones describes the ostentatious display of wealth at a Madison Square Garden horse show while the children of the poor queued up for stale bread one block away.

Mother describes the Rich Spectators:

Hundreds of men and women, dressed in the height of what they called fashion, were seated in boxes, facing a circle, where well-bred horses, beautifully kept, beautifully fed, beautifully groomed and carefully sheltered from the cold blast of a November evening, were prancing about on the tan bark.

The horse show was in progress. The great garden was hung with gay bunting, the air was oppressive with the perfume of cologne and flowers. Pecks of diamonds glistened at the ears and breasts of the women. Orchids, which I am told cost $5 apiece, were as common at the corsages of the society dames as are daisies in an uncultivated meadow in July.

Mother describes the Hungry Children of the Slums:

I walked a hundred paces east, toward the corner of 27th street, and Fourth avenue. A little army of children from the slums was drawn up before Cushman’s bakery. Those children are there every night at 6 o’clock, drawn up in a line of misery. They came for free bread-stale bread, something to hold together the bodies and souls of brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Songs to Honor and Remember Fellow Worker and Rebel Songwriter Joe Hill

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Songs for Joe Hill

Joe Hill’s Great-Grand Niece, Lovisa Samuelsson performs a song she wrote for Joe Hill at the Joe Hill Centennial Celebration in Salt Lake, Utah. She is joined on stage by her mother, Pia Samuelsson, and her uncle, Rolf Hägglund. They are descendants of Joe Hill’s brother Efraim Hägglund. She is playing on the guitar of Utah Phillips which contains some of Joe Hill’s ashes.

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WE NEVER FORGET: The Love Songs of Joe Hill

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hilda Erickson
Hilda Erickson

There are three love songs written by Joe Hill that have survived to make their way into our Rebel Songwriter’s musical legacy. Two were found in his room when it was searched soon after his arrest in January of 1914. These two songs were subsequently published in The Salt Lake Tribune of June 21, 1914. The third was found years later in Stockholm, Sweden, during a search of the Joe Hill file of the Archives of the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Joe Hill-Songs from the Little Red Songbook, Part Four

Janet RayeJoe Hill Rebel Songwriter
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Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Hill, Self-Portrait at San Pedro Sailors Mission
Joe Hill, Self-Portrait at Sailors’ Rest Mission in San Pedro, April 1911

Fellow Workers, sit back and relax. It’s time to honor the memory of Joe Hill by enjoying the songs that he left to us. For the fourth day, WE NEVER FORGET, The Labor Martyrs Project, features FW Hill’s musical and lyrical legacy. We are presenting his songs in the order in which they were first published in the Little Red Songbooks of the Industrial Workers of the World. Today we offer Part 4 of this series.

The Songs & Poems of Joe Hill,
Published in the Little Red Songbooks of 1914 & 1916

The Eighth Edition of the Little Red Songbook, published in Cleveland and dated December, 1914, was dedicated as the “Joe Hill Edition.” There were no new Joe Hill song’s in that edition, but there was a poem headed by a drawing of a wooden shoe entitled “The Rebel’s Toast.” The poem appears under the song “Liberty Forever,” but Green believes that the two are not related and states that there is no evidence to indicate that Joe Hill intended for the poem to be sung.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Joe Hill-Songs from the Little Red Songbook, Part Three

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Hill, cartoon, And stay off! See! Sept 1911
Cartoon drawing by Joe Hill, September 1911

Fellow Workers, sit back and relax. It’s time to honor the memory of Joe Hill by enjoying the songs that he left to us. For the second day, WE NEVER FORGET, The Labor Martyrs Project, features FW Hill’s musical and lyrical legacy. We are presenting his songs in the order in which they were first published in the Little Red Songbooks of the Industrial Workers of the World. Today we offer Part 3 of this series.

Continue reading “WE NEVER FORGET: Joe Hill-Songs from the Little Red Songbook, Part Three” →