Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1918, Part III: Found Speaking at Evansville, Indiana, on Behalf of Tom Mooney

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Flag Organize, Evle IN Prs, Mar 29, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 23, 1918
Mother Jones News for March 1918, Part III: Found in Evansville, Indiana

On Thursday evening March 28th, Mother Jones spoke before a meeting organized by the local labor leaders of Evansville, Indiana. She was there to speak on behalf of Tom Mooney now facing the gallows in San Francisco. The Evansville Press of March 29th described her speech:

URGES MOONEY BE SAVED FOR SAMMIES’ SAKE

Mother Jones Fire Eater, Lg Crpd, St L Str, Aug 23, 1917

Altho she’d much rather be in Europe “cleaning up on the kaiser,” Mother Jones told an audience of workers Thursday night that the business of the people at home was to fight for the Sammies here.

She said the way to do this was to save the life of Thomas Mooney, the labor leader who is being railroaded to the gallows in San Francisco at the behest of labor-crushing interests.

[She said:]

Sometimes I feel almost ashamed that I’m not over there, putting heart into those boys, so they can give the kaiser hell.

But my place is here, fight ing for them while they’re gone. When those boys come back, after having fought your battles across the sea for democracy, you’ll be able to say: “Boys, while you’ve been gone we haven’t shirked; we’ve fought and won your battles here for industrial democracy.”

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Hellraisers Journal: “Prison Song” by Ralph Chaplin from Latest IWW Song Book, General Defense Edition

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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For Freedom laughs at prison bars
Her voice re-echoes from the star;
Proclaiming with the tempest’s breath
A Cause beyond the reach of death!
-Ralph Chaplin

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 22, 1918
From the Chicago I. W. W. Publishing Bureau:

IWW Songs, 14th, Gen Def Ed, Cover, LRSB, April 1918

—–

“I. W. W. Prison Song” by Ralph Chaplin:

IWW Songs, 14th, Gen Def Ed, LRSB, Prison Song, April 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1918, Part II: Found Speaking at Mass Meetings in Rockford, Illinois

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Fear Not Organize, Rkfd Mrn Str p3, Mar 19, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 21, 1918
Mother Jones News for March 1918, Part II: Found in Rockford, Illinois

From the Rockford Morning Star of March 17, 1918:

Mother Jones, AD Mass Mtg, Mar 17, Rkfd Mrn Str p23, Mar 17, 1918

From the Rockford Morning Star of March 15, 1918:

JOHN WALKER AND MOTHER JONES
TO BE HERE SUNDAY
—–

CENTRAL LABOR UNION SPONSOR PARADE
AND MEETING AT LYRAN HALL

Rockford Central Labor Union has arranged a big labor demonstration for next Sunday, March 17, which will include a parade, headed by a band, which will start from the court house at 1:30 o’clock in the afternoon and move to Lyran hall in Fourth avenue, where a monster meeting will be held.

Addresses will be made by John Walker, the patriotic president of the State Federation of Labor, Ed. Carbine, first vice president of the same body, Mother Jones, leading figure in many labor struggles, William B. Hannon, member of the executive board of the International Association of Machinists, and Tony Augustine, general organizer of the International Hodcarriers, Building and Common Laborers’ association. The public is invited to attend.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1918, Part I: Found in Kansas and Iowa Speaking at UMW District Conventions

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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She is the same dear little old Mother Jones
and if she has lost any vigor
in the past two years I can’t see it.
-An Iowa Miner, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 19, 1918
Mother Jones News for March 1918: Found in Kansas and Iowa

Mother Jones Fire Eater, Lg Crpd, St L Str, Aug 23, 1917

 

We begin our Mother Jones news round-up for March 1918 with a report of Mother listening to A. F. of L. President Samuel Gompers pleading for the Eight Hour Day before the Chicago Alschuler Hearings. We next find her speaking before district conventions of the United Mine Workers held in Kansas and in Iowa.

From Springfield’s Illinois State Register of March 1, 1918:

GOMPERS SAYS SHORTER DAYS WILL WIN WAR
—–
Long Hours and Low Wages Drive Men to Drink,
Is Plea of Labor Chief at Chicago
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MOTHER JONES LISTENS
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Chicago, Feb. 28.-Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor made a stirring appeal today in behalf of an eight-hour day for employes in the meat packing industry at the stockyards wage arbitration. He appeared as a witness for the employes and his testimony was eagerly listened to by “Mother” Mary Jones, an organizer for the United Mine Workers and several hundred other representatives of organized labor from all sections of the country…..

From the Kansas Pittsburg Daily Headlight of March 11, 1918:

DISTRICT MINERS’ CONVENTION STARTS
—–

MOTHER JONES IS ON HAND TO ADDRESS
KANSAS COAL DIGGERS
—–
President Howat’s Report Was Read
at Opening Session-
Excluded Two Papers From Hall.
—–

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Social Democrat: “The Old Communard” a Story Set in a French Village of 1880

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.
-Eugène Pottier – Paris, June 1871

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Hellraisers Journal: Monday April 18, 1898
From London’s Social Democrat: the Story of an Old Communard

The following story of an old communard’s tribulations, in a small French village during the early 1880s, was begun in the April edition of The Social Democrat and will be continued in the May edition.

THE OLD COMMUNARD.
(Il en Était)
—–

(From the French of J. B. Clément.)
—–

Triumph of Order over Paris Commune May 1871, ScDem Mar 1898

I.

One morning in the month of December, 1880, the omnibus which connected the station of —– with a little village at several miles distance, stopped before the door of a farm, on the threshold of which waited the farmer, his wife, and their two young children.

“Ah! Here he is! What happiness!” cried the two little ones, dancing, and clapping their hands with joy the while.

The farmer, followed by his wife, ran to open the door of the carriage and to assist a man of about sixty years of age to descend. He was of middle height, and was supported by a crutch.

“Good morning, father,” said the farmer, as he embraced the old man with effusion.

The farmer’s wife and the two children fell upon his neck and covered his face with kisses.

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Hellraisers Journal: As Jury Selection Continues in Chicago, New York Tribune’s Full-Page Article Finds IWW Guilty, II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin"all the world that's owned", Leaves
-Ralph Chaplin
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 17, 1918
As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press, Part II

Today we offer the conclusion of our two-part series featuring the article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune.

THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE

Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.

By Boyden R. Sparkes
Chicago, April 13, 1918.

[Part II]

WWIR, IWW Leaders BBH StJ BF etc, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

WWIR, IWW Leaders Sketched in Court by MM Evers, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: As Jury Selection Continues in Chicago, New York Tribune’s Full-Page Article Finds IWW Guilty

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The worst thief is he who steals
the playtime of children.
Join the I. W. W. and help put
the thieves to work.
-Big Bill Haywood

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 16, 1918
As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press

Today we offer Part One of the following article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune. We will conclude tomorrow with Part Two.

THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE

Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.

THE I. W. W. PRINCIPLES AS SHOWN IN THEIR OWN CARTOONS

By Boyden R. Sparkes
Chicago, April 13, 1918.

WWIR, IWW, Sabotage Beware, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

OUT in the hill country of Oklahoma last August a group of tenant farmers and oil field workers were just a little too quick on the trigger, and what Federal officials believe was intended to have been a country-wide uprising of American “Bolsheviki” against the draft law was quelled almost before it started.

At the hearing in the Federal court in Enid, Okla., it was developed that forty-eight organizations under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World had planned a nation-wide revolution. The anti-draft rioters in Seminole, Hughes and Pontotoc counties began shooting just a little too soon, and posses of patriotic citizens had put 500 of them under arrest before many persons had been killed.

WWIR, IWW, Sabotage Sabots, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

The men arrested belonged to organizations affiliated with the I. W. W., chief among these being the “Working Class Union.” The government is still trying to find out where the money used to purchase arms for the rioters came from.

It is the opinion of government attorneys that these I. W. W. leaders believed they would receive the support of the American Federation of Labor. Naturally any such hope was doomed to disappointment. But the government is still picking up threads of evidence that strengthen the belief that the American Bolsheviki leaders were prepared and hoping for a reign of terror in America that would have far outdone the Bolsheviki uprising in Russia.

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Hellraisers Journal: “What We Want” by Joe Hill from “I.W.W. Songs-General Defense Edition,” Recently Released

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We want all the workers in the world to organize
Into a great big union grand
And when we all united stand
The world for workers we’ll demand.
-Joe Hill

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 15, 1918
“I. W. W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent”

From the recently released General Defense Edition:

What We Want by Joe Hill, LRSB p8, Gen Def Ed, April

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Hellraisers Journal: “Six Red Months in Russia” by Louise Bryant, Series Running in Philadelphia Evening Ledger

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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On the grey horizon of human existence
looms a great giant called
Working Class Consciousness.
He treads with thunderous step
through all the countries of the world.
There is no escape, we must go out and meet him.
-Louise Bryant

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Hellraisers Journal: Sunday April 14, 1918
Stories from the Russian Revolution by Louise Bryant

From the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger comes a series by Louise Bryant, written from the front lines of the Russian Revolution.

From Public Ledger of April 2, 1918:

Ad, 6 Red Months in Rss, Bryant, Phl Pb Ldg p15, Apr 2, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason Defends Robert Hunter, Now Under Attack by Police Chief of New York

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Quote re Hunger March, Jewish Daily Forward of Mar 28, NYT p3 Mar 29, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal: Monday April 13, 1908
New York, New York – Robert Hunter Blamed for Bombing

The unemployed, and those who stand up for them, are to blame for a bomb thrown by a murderous criminal unconnected with them, this according to the Police Force of New York City. The actual crime of the protesting unemployed men, women and children was, apparently, their failure to starve silently and in an orderly manner.

From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1908:

Robert Hunter.
—–

Robert Hunter, Painting by Sergeant Kendall, The Critic, Jan 1905

In his address to the public following the breaking up of the meeting of the unemployed in Union Square, New York, Police Commissioner Bingham assumed an insolent and pompous attitude toward the working class. He served notice that the was going to deal with such meetings hereafter with an “iron hand.” We have heard such talk before. There is nothing in it.

Bingham goes on to defend the police. Of course. The police acted under his orders. Thousands of eye-witnesses declare that the police acted with unspeakable brutality in riding rough shod over the people and clubbing them without mercy. Hundreds who were unable to escape from the crowd bear the marks of the outrageous and unprovoked assaults of the police hirelings. Of course the police were not to blame, and of course Bingham comes to their rescue and defends them. The police were the mere tools in the hands of such politicians as Bingham.

Among other things, Bingham took occasion to misrepresent Comrade Robert Hunter and place him in a false light before the people. We happen to personally know Comrade Hunter and to have known him from his childhood. There is no gentler, kindlier, more considerate soul. Nor at the same time one more courageous. His heart throbbed in sympathy with the thousands of the unemployed. With all the passion of his noble nature he yearned to serve them, to comfort them. And so he was to speak to them on that fateful day when the blue-coated Cossacks swooped down upon the hungry hordes and scattered them with as little mercy as if they had been so many tarantulas. Robert Hunter did not speak. He had no chance to speak. But he was blamed for the trouble because he sympathized with the unfortunates; because he did not have a heart of stone.

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