Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 24, 1911 Fresno, California – Latest News from the Free Speech Fight
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of February 23, 1911:
THE LATEST FROM FRESNO. ———- City Would Like to Holler “Enough” -More Men Are Needed to Board With the County. ———-
Fresno Morning Republican February 2, 1911
The fight for Free Speech is still going on in Fresno. The men are all “stickers” and are determined to stick until they win. We have held two street meetings, Sunday, February 5 and 12. We had large crowds at both meetings, and the public sentiment is changing in our favor.
The city officials would like to quit, but they hate to lay down under fire. The city has enough, but hates to holler “quit.” Now that the fight has lasted as long as it has, they will never want to tackle the I. W. W. again. It is now up to the members to get to Fresno in strong enough numbers to FORCE the officials to “lay down.”
This has been a clean fight on our side and has been carried on by “Direct Action.” We want no compromise. Nothing but the unconditional surrender on the part of the city, and the release of all prisoners will go with us. I think after this fight is over we will have no more Free Speech fights for awhile. The officials of other cities will think twice before they tackle us.
I have been out of jail since February 1, when I was acquitted by a jury of farmers in four minutes on a charge of vagrancy. I have done some outside work since my release. Some of the boys will have jury trials on Friday. I will plead their cases, then speak on the streets and go to jail. Am getting homesick for my beans and raisins. Can’t stay out much longer. Wake up, boys. Come to Fresno and help whip the BOSS as he should be whipped. Meet us in the Fresno jail.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 21, 1911 Fresno, California – 90 Fellow Workers Now Lodged in Unsanitary Jail
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of January 19, 1911:
FRESNO WEAKENING, WE MUST WIN ———-
HELP IS NEEDED IN FRESNO-FIGHT TO WIN
-ON TO FRESNO-SEND MEN AND MONEY. ———-
With 90 I. W. W. men in jail worrying the pin-headed city officials, the county officials are now refusing to pay any part of the expense of the fight.
“Der Chief” is bravely pushing his vagrancy charges and the noble “business juries” find all “GUILTY,” regardless of fact or condition. Any I. W. W. man is a ‘vag,” but that will last but a short time, as the tax payers are getting tired.
The last circular was widely read and is having quite an effect, for every word is known to be a fact.
A new sheriff and a new jail crew took charge on the second inst., and from all news to be had the boys are getting as good treatment as it is possible for men to get in jail.
The “FLOWER” of the I. W. W. is in jail here and you must not let them lose the fight; so do your best.
But few men are coming at present , and many of them are being deterred from going to jail by a few slimy “knockers,” who will not do anything themselves and seem to wish to keep others from doing anything.
Some of the locals are doing well with financial assistance, but so far the greater part goes for postage and for tobacco for the boys in jail. Fellow workers, boost hard and help all you can.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 27, 1910 Fresno, California – Jailed Fellow Workers Given “Water Cure”
From The Fresno Morning Republican of December 24, 1910:
As the result of a second hostile demonstration in two days on the part of eighty Industrial Workers of the World, a fire hose attached to engine No. 5 was brought into play at 6 o’clock last night at the jail. For twenty minutes the howling prisoners put up a frenzied but futile resistance, and were finally subdued. This method of enforcing discipline within the confines of the jail proved effective and half an hour later the men informed Sheriff Chittenden that they would respect prison rules in the future.
From early morning until 6:30 last night the I. W. W.’s stormed within the jail. The riot was continuous and the authorities were powerless in their efforts to quell the raving Industrialists.
One minute they were singing their “Red Flag” song and the next they were climbing up the bars of the “bull pen” cursing and fuming. Not content with abusing officers and yelling with all the strength their lungs afforded, the men rushed to the windows and hurled insulting remarks to men, women, and children who were passing through the court house park.
Riot Lasts All Day.
The second riot started at 8 o’clock yesterday morning when the trusties appeared at the bull pen with a quantity of bread and water. The obscene demonstration of Thursday night, when the eighty I. W. W.’s wilfully broke the jail rules, resulted in an order from Sheriff Chittenden to place the men on a bread and water diet.
When breakfast arrived the Industrialists rebelled and the sight of the loaves of bread and buckets of water fanned the flames of fury within them. As the bread passed in the men in a long line accepted the loaves. After all had been served the riot began. As if from a gattling gun the loaves were hurled at the trusties and Major Ed Jones, day jailer. In the afternoon at 4 o’clock the men were again offered bread and water but they refused to eat a bite and declared with a shower of oaths that they would starve to death before they would partake of a bite of bread.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 22, 1910 Fresno, California – Mob Destroys I. W. W. Camp as Police Stand By
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of December 15, 1910:
———-
Again we have been taught another lesson in LAW AND ORDER. On Dec. 7, F. H. Little, secretary of the I. W. W. local in Fresno was tried in that city on a charge of DISTURBING THE PEACE. Disturbing the peace meant to use his constitutional rights to address an audience of workers or whoever wished to stop and listen to him expound the teachings of the I. W. W. At the trial of Little it was discovered (after men had been tortured in the cells of the Fresno jail for breaking LAWS) that there was no LAW in Fresno denying a man FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Fellow Worker Little was acquittedand it was then up to the authorities to release all the prisoners from the dungeons, where they had been tortured with the fire hose and other barbarous methods. The following dispatch to the Spokesman-Review from Fresno proves our statement:
The Industrial Workers of the World have won their fight for “free speech” in Fresno and are speaking throughout the city advocating the principles of their organization, while the police, helpless to interfere, are merely watching to see that none of the agitators incite rioting.
The victory was due to the discovery today that the ordinances of the city do not prohibit speaking on the streets without a permit. Police officials say that probably the 49 I. W. W. speakers now in the county jail will be liberated tomorrow.
Several of the prominent merchants here have advocated the organization of a citizens’ committee to force the industrialists out of the city, but no one has been willing to take the initiative.
The headquarters of the organization, just outside of the city limits, was the scene of jollification this evening , over the acquittal of F. H. Little, secretary of the organization, on a charge of disturbing the peace.
When the authorities could find no legal way to stop FREEDOM OF SPEECH they began to throw out hints to the Citizen’s Alliance and other thugs to go at it themselves and clean out the I. W. W. men with violence. The following dispatch to the Spokesman-Review on the 9th again bears out our statement that the respectable mob was invited to do bodily harm to our members, and probably murder in cold blood:
Following an order given by the chief of police to all patrolmen to allow members of the I. W. W. to speak unmolested on the streets of Fresno, and a statement that the citizens might do as they wished, a large mob gathered in this city tonight about 7 o’clock, attacked and severely beat a number of industrial workers, who sought to speak, and then marched to the I. W. W. camp, outside the city limits, and burned a big tent in which the members lived, together with all the supplies kept there.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 12, 1910 Fresno, California – “Water Cure for Workers; Turkey for Pimps”
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of December 8, 1910:
Fighting for the right to tell the truth to workers so that they will organize and put an end to this CLASS STRUGGLE is no play for children. The rich are rich by virtue of the fact that the great mass of the people are IGNORANT. It pays to keep the workers in IGNORANCE, as no one recognizes the old axiom that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER any better than the parasites that revel in luxury from the toil and misery of others. Under the guise of PATRIOTISM the children are taught to murder each other in the name of their country when in reality they have no country and are fighting for the boss. Under the guise of the GOLDEN RULE they are taught to suffer on earth, and that the more they surfer and starve on earth the better off they will be after they die. Ay one who preachers this SPOOK DOCTRINE will never be cast into jail even if all the street cars in America are stopped because of the crowd.
That I. W. W. men want to block the streets and obstruct traffic is an absolute lie. This bunk was peddled daily by the Spokane lying capitalist press, while at the same time religious organizations were having free use of the streets. This same bunch of LIES is being peddle now in Fresno, where the fight for Free Speech is on. I. W. W. men in jail have had the hose turned on them by the POLICE for singing the Marsellaise. The capitalist press of Fresno is a unit in endorsing the actions of the police in this matter. One daily paper of Fresno gleefully tells how the prisoners were floating around in the water, but yet they sang the Marsellaise.
In another department of the jail were PIMPS that were arrested for dealing WHITE SLAVES. They were fed on good food and were given daily papers and tobacco, and were furnished with good beds. The WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC is a product of capitalism. The I. W. W. is the result of the best thoughts and intelligence of the workers who rebel against the rule of the master.
The CAPITALIST CLASS knows that if the workers are organized on the lines laid down by the I. W. W. that the smoke it off with them. Among the men in jail in Fresno for Free Speech is an old man 81 years of age. He was put through the horrors of the water cure with the younger men. This old white-headed man stands for Freedom on earth. The crawling coward that will stand for all the insults and misery that is handed out to him on earth, believing that he will be better off after death, is too despicable a thing to notice. When are we to profit by the torture that is being dealt out to us in the lousy cells of the master class? Fall in around the banner, boys, and organize to put the PARASITES to work doing something useful. The day of reckoning is yet to come. Down with IGNORANCE.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 6, 1910 Fresno, California – Free Speech Fight Renewed; Fellow Workers Arrested
From The Fresno Morning Republican of November 30, 1910:
The Long threatened clash between the Industrial Worker of the World and the local police materialized last night. Twenty-four of the followers of the red flag were lodged in jail by Chief Shaw and a squad of ten policemen.
The expected invasion began at 6 o’clock and continued till 9 when the 34th agitator was taken into custody. During these three hours the police department was never busier in the history of Fresno. As fast as central could ring the bell at police headquarters, Night Desk Sergeant Frank Truax was kept busy jotting down the various corners in the downtown section where the I. W. W.’s were trying to make speeches. Several of the “red shirts” were making wild-eyed speeches to a handful of men. At H and Kern streets two were talking at the same time from soap boxes to a half dozen listener.
Among the twenty-four arrested were three of the leaders, James Murdock, C. L. Fligino [Filigno]and F. H. Little. Yesterday morning Chief Shaw appeared in the police court and swore to complaints charging Murdock and Fligino with vagrancy. It is said that they receive no compensation from the Industrial Workers. In fact, Murdock and Fligino admit that they are speaking for the “good of the cause.”
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 3, 1920 Industrial Workers of the World – Some November Anniversaries
From The One Big Union Monthly of November 1920:
Some I. W. W. Anniversaries
The month of November is particularly rich in memories for the I. W. W.
The events of the day are crowding upon us so fast that we cannot devote much time or space in our publications to the memories of the past, but not for a moment should the workers of this country be allowed to forget the outrages committed upon us in years gone by.
For the time being we shall content ourselves with a very brief review of some of the most horrid anniversaries of the I. W. W., which should be “celebrated” this month, not forgetting such anniversaries as that of Frank Little, whose anniversary falls in a different month.
On November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was legally murdered in the prison of Salt Lake City, Utah. His ashes are scattered by loving friends, who believe in his innocence, over the flower beds of this and other countries, and his memory lives in the songs which the I. W. W. members sing on every occasion.
Besides being a writer of songs which made the workers of all countries listen, Joe Hill, the miner, was also an amateur cartoonist. We reproduce here with a couple of his cartoons.
On November 5th, 1916, The Everett Massacre took place. We shall not try to describe this terrible tragedy of the class struggle. We refer every body to the account of it, issued in a book of 302 pages by the I. W. W. This book, “The I. W. W. Massacre,” is written by Walker C. Smith and sold by the I. W. W. Should be read by every red- blooded worker. Five were killed and scores wounded.
The Everett Massacre was one of the foulest deeds ever committed by the dirty hirelings of the capitalist class. It can be compared only to the indescribable horrors of Armistice day in Centralia, Wash., on November 11, 1919. The gruesome death of our Fellow Worker Wesley Everest on that day is enough to stagger the world. We cannot go into details. Read the book “The Centralia Conspiracy,” by Ralph Chaplin. It describes in word and illustration those terrible days.
Fellow Worker Bert Bland, who with a number of others is now serving a sentence equal to life imprisonment in Montesano as a result of the Centralia conspiracy, writes a touching tribute to the memory of the martyr Wesley Everest, which is published herewith.
Wesley Everest’s last greeting was: “Tell all the boys I did my best.” Joe Hill’s last message was: “Don’t mourn. Organize!” Frank Little’s last message is known only to his murderers, but we have no doubt it was like Joe Hill’s.
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 trainand 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.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 16, 1910 Fresno, California – Town soon to feel hand of Industrial Workers of the World.
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of October 15, 1910:
FRESNO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH ——-
Industrial Worker of April 2, 1910
The day draweth nigh. Soon is the town of Fresno, Cal., to feel the weight of the hand of the I. W. W. This upstart city has taken upon itself the task of wresting from the workers the right of free speech and as a result hundreds of workers are in the vicinity of Fresno prepared at the signal to speak in spite of the “law and order” element of thugs and gum shoes.
Soon will the workers demonstrate to the boss that there are a few privileges, at least, that will not be surrendered.
The owners of halls in Fresno have refused to rent their buildings to the I. W. W. boys, but in spite of this obstacle all will be in readiness for the sounding of the call.
Let every worker in the north and west who can possibly do so go to Fresno and speak on the streets in accordance with the age-long inheritance of the Anglo-Saxon. Let us demonstrate to the boss that we will FIGHT before we will submit to the loss of the privilege of free speech.
———-
———-
———-
———-