Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Nine Members of Brotherhood of Timber Workers Now on Trial in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH re BTW LA White n Black Unity, ISR p106 , Aug 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 26, 1912
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana – Fellow Workers on Trial for Their Lives

From The Wheeling Majority of October 24, 1912:

BTW, Shall Murder be Done, Def Com, Wlg Maj p6, Oct 24, 1912

—————

The Grabow “Conspiracy”
———-

Alexandria, La., Oct. 24.-(Special.)-at 11:40 a. m., Monday morning, October 7th, in the District Court of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Judge Winston Overton presiding, began the trial of President A. L. Emerson, Organizer Ed. Lehman, John Helton, R. H. Chatman, Edgar Hollingsworth, Louis Brown, Jack Payne, Ed Ezell and C. Havens, the nine members of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers the Southern Lumber Association has picked out to victimize in order to crush Unionism throughout the South.

The whole of  the first day was taken up in preparation and in a fight made by Judge E. T. Hunter, leading counsel for the defense, for time, about two weeks, in which to ask the Supreme Court of Louisiana for a writ of mandamus setting aside the District Court’s order severing the cases of the nine men on trial from the balance of their 58 brothers who had been indicted jointly with them for “conspiracy to murder.” The Court admitted Judge Hunter’s contention correct law, but refused to grant the petition, mainly on the round that it would be impossible to try the 58 accused all together, because the law gave them 1044 challenges.

Judge Hunter pointed out to the court that that was not the fault of the accused, that they had not indicted themselves and were not responsible for the blunders of District Attorney Joseph Moore or for those of the prosecuting attorney for the Southern Lumber Operators Association, Congressman A. P. Pujo, but the Court still refused and ordered the nine men to trial for the murder of the lumber trust gunman, A. P. Vincent, who was killed in the battle at Grabow, La., when the mass meeting of the Brotherhood and its farmer allies was fired on from ambush by the private thug army of the Association on the 7th of last July.….

[Emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 25, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Ordered to Resume Work, Part II

From the Scranton Tribune of October 22, 1902:

HdLn re Great Anthracite Strike, Miners to Resume Work, Scranton Tb p1, Oct 22, 1902

[Part II of II]

REJOICING AT SHENANDOAH.
———-
Eighteenth Regiment Band Leads
the Parade of Miners.

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

John Mitchell, The Columbian, Bloomsburg PA p2, Oct 23, 1902

Shenandoah, Pa., Oct. 21.-News that the convention declared the strike off reached Shenandoah at 12 o’clock, and almost simultaneously every bell in the town was ringing and the whistles of every factory and breaker pealed joyous notes. There was a spontaneous outpouring of people and ten minutes after the good news reached town the streets were crowded.

At Mahanoy City and elsewhere in the anthracite field the news of the strike settlement was received with wild enthusiasm. There was blowing of whistles and ringing of bells, and almost the entire population of the towns assembled in the streets. In some localities there were impromptu parades, in which the fire departments and other organizations joined in some instances.

Pathetic scenes were enacted as the men, who have been idle and under great strain for nearly six months, rushed off to prepare for work.

Colonel Rutledge sent the Eighteenth Regiment band into town this afternoon to take part in the strike settlement celebration. The band marched through the streets at the head of a mine workers’ parade and was wildly cheered all along the line. Nearly every building in the town is decorated with flags, and the people in general appear almost insanely happy. Besides the soldiers’ band, two other bands took part in the demonstration.

—————

PRESIDENT ACTS PROMPTLY.
———-
He Summons the Members of Commission
to Meet on Friday.

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

Washington, Oct. 21.-Shortly before 3 o’clock this afternoon, President Roosevelt received a telegram from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., informing him that the convention of miners had declared off the anthracite coal strike. The telegram was signed by John Mitchell, chairman, and W. B. Wilson, secretary of the convention, and was identical with that made public at Wilkes-Barre before noon today.

Immediately on receipt of this Information, the following telegram was sent to Mr. Mitchell:

White House, Washington, Oct, 21, 1902

Mr. John Mitchell, Chairman of Convention, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.:

Upon receipt of your telegram of this date, the president summoned the commission to meet here on Friday next, the 24th instant, at 10 a. m.

George B. Cortelyou, Secretary.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Ordered to Resume Work, Part I

From the Scranton Tribune of October 22, 1902:

HdLn re Great Anthracite Strike, Miners to Resume Work, Scranton Tb p1, Oct 22, 1902

[Part I of II]

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

John Mitchell, The Columbian, Bloomsburg PA p2, Oct 23, 1902

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 21.-With a shout that fairly shook the convention building, the representatives of the 147,000 mine workers, who have been on strike since last May, officially declared off at noon today the greatest contest ever waged between capital and labor, and placed all the questions involved in the struggle into the hands of the arbitration commission appointed by the president of the United Slates. When the news was flashed to towns and villages down in the valley and on the mountains of the coal region, the strike-affected inhabitants heaved a sigh of relief.

Many days have gone by since more welcome news was received. Everywhere there was rejoicing, and in many places the end of the strike was the signal for impromptu town celebrations. The anthracite coal region, from its largest city-Scranton-down to the lowliest coal patch has suffered by the conflict, and everyone now looks for better times. While the large army of mine workers and their families, numbering approximately half a million persons, are grateful that work is to be resumed on Thursday, the strikers have still to learn what their reward will be. President Roosevelt having taken prompt action in calling the arbitrators together for their first meeting on Friday, the miners hope they will know by Thanksgiving day what practical gain they have made.

The vote to resume coal mining was a unanimous one and was reached only after a warm debate. The principal objection to accepting the arbitration proposition was that no provision was contained in the scheme to take care of those men who would fail to get back their old positions, or would be unable to get any work at all. The engineers and pumpmen get better pay than other classes of mine workers, and they did not wish to run the risk of losing altogether their old places and be compelled to dig coal for a living. This question came up yesterday, and was argued right up to the time the vote was taken. No one had a definite plan to offer to overcome the objection, and the report of the committee on resolutions, recommending that the strike be declared off and that all issues be placed in the hands of the arbitration commission for decision, was adopted without the question being settled. A few moments before adjournment, however, a partial solution was reached when a delegate in the farthest corner of the hall moved that the problem be placed in the hands of the three executive boards for solution, and his suggestion was adopted.

The principal speech of the day was made by National Secretary-Treasurer W. B. Wilson, who practically spoke for President Mitchell and the national organisation. In a strong argument he counselled the men to accept arbitration, the very plan the strikers themselves had offered, return to work and trust to the president’s tribunal to do them justice.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part III: “Revolution Is Here…Tyranny, Robbery and Oppression Must Go”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Mother Jones, Halo of Lustre, John ONeill, Mnrs Mag p3, Sept 26, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 23, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part III
Speaks at Charleston, West Virginia: “Oppression of the People Must Go!”

September 21, 1912, Charleston, West Virginia
-Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting Following Parade of Strikers’ Children:

Mother Jones, NE State Jr p2, Sept 19, 1912

I want to say to those children, they will be free; they will not be serfs. We have entered West Virginia-I have-and a hundred thousand miners have pledged their support to me, “If you need us, Mother, we will be there.” Five thousand men last Sunday night said, “We are ready, Mother, when you call on us.”

The revolution is here. We can tie up every wheel, every railroad in the State, when we want to do it. Tyranny, robbery and oppression of the people must go. The children must be educated. The childhood will rise to grander woman and grander man in happy homes and happy families-then we will need no saloons. We will need no saloons, nor any of your prohibition. As long as you rob us, of course we drink. The poison food you give us needs some other narcotic to knock the poison out of it. They charge you $2.40 for a bushel of potatoes at the “pluck-me” store. Ten pounds of slate in 9700 pounds of coal and you are docked-then they go and “give for Jesus.” “How charming Mr. Cabell is, he gives us $500.00.”

Let us, my friends, stand up like men. I have worked for the best interests of the working people for seventy-five years. I don’t need any one to protect me. I protect myself. I don’t break the law. Nobody molests me, except John Laing. John is the only dog in West Virginia that attacks a woman. He is the only fellow that would do that. I am not afraid of John Laing. I would give him a punch in the stomach and knock him over the railroad. I don’t know who punched him-he lost his pistol. I put my hand on him and told him to go home to his mother. I gave him a punch in the stomach, and he fell over the railroad track and lost his pistol. He didn’t know he lost it until he reached home.

He said, “You are disturbing my miners.” My slaves! Scabs! Dogs!

[…..]

Shame! Forever shame! on the men and women in the State of West Virginia that stand for such a picture as we have here today-[Referring to the children of the coal camps who marched in the parade]-Shame! When the history is written, what will it be, my friends, when the history of this crime, starvation and murder of the innocents, so they can fill the operators’ pockets, and build dog kennels for the workers. Is it right? Will it ever be right?

Now, I understand Mr. White is going to speak at the court house. He will have something to tell you.

This strike ain’t going to end until we get a check-weighman on the tipple. That is the law. It is on the statute books-that your coal will be weighed….

You miners here have stood for it, you have starved your children, starved yourselves, you have lived in dog-kennels-they wouldn’t build one for their dogs as bad as yours. You have lived in them and permitted them to rob you, and then got the militia for the robbers. You can get all the militia in the state, we will fight it to the finish-if the men don’t fight the women will. They won’t stand for it.

Be good, boys, don’t drink. Subscribe for the Labor Argus. If I was sentenced to sixteen months to jail, and these guys found it out I would be in jail longer. I don’t worry about it. I am down at the Fleetwood when ever they want to put me in jail for violation of the law, come along for me, come. There is coming a day when I will take the whole bunch of you and put you in jail. (Applause.)

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of September 22, 1912:

LABOR CONFERENCE VAIN
———-
Refusal To Take Up Kanawha Coal Troubles
Keeps Union Men Away.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Sept 21.-The representatives of the commercial and civic bodies of West Virginia called by Governor Glasscock to consider the labor situation adjourned this afternoon after an exciting session without having accomplished anything.

International President John P. White, of the United Mine Workers of America, with Vice-President Hayes, announced early in the day that they would have nothing to do with the conference because they had learned that it was not the purpose of those in charge of the meeting to permit a discussion of the strike situation in the Kanawha coal field, where 1,200 West Virginia militiamen are maintaining martial law……

Hayes Addresses Strikers.

Vice-President Hayes addressed a large audience of striking miners and their sympathizers, and Mother Jones talked to another audience almost within the shadow of the State Capitol…..

Children Parade Streets.

One of the striking features of the day was the appearance on the streets of 100 children of striking miners, brought down from the mountains by “Mother” Jones.

They paraded the streets to the music of a band and bearing banners with these legends,

We are the babes that sleep in the woods.

We want to go to school and not to the mines.

The children, miners’ leaders say, were among those compelled to live much in the open since martial law was declared.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part III: “Revolution Is Here…Tyranny, Robbery and Oppression Must Go”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part II: Speaks at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands, Grown Men Weep

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 22, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part II
Found Speaking at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands

From the New York Sun of September 11, 1912:

MINERS TO BESIEGE GLASSCOCK.
———-
Will Bring Wives and Children
to West Virginia Capital.
———-

Mother Jones and WV Gov Glasscock, Wilmington DE Eve Jr p6, Sept 13, 1912

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Sept. 10.-Mother Jones announced to-day that the striking miners of the Kanawha district would make another effort to see Gov. Glasscock. Within a week they are to march into the capital again and make a demand for the use of the State House grounds as a meeting place.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The Governor must hear us this time. We want him to hear our story, we want him to see us. The very looks of the men who are fighting for freedom is a tremendous argument for their cause.

We are coming back to our capital again and twice as strong as last week. The men are going to bring their children along and their wives.

—————

[Photograph added.]

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of September 16, 1912:

MOTHER JONES MAKES ADDRESS
———-

TO OVER 1,500 AT FIFTH WARD MARKET HOUSE.
———-
Paints Horrible Picture of Conditions in Strike District
and Flays Coal Barons.

Owing to the rain the mass protest meeting that was to have been held at the wharf yesterday afternoon [Sunday September 15th] was held at the Fifth ward market house, where over 1,500 people assembled to hear Mother Jones, the lady of the mines, and other prominent speakers.

As the old lady with white hair mounted the platform she was greeted with cheers that lasted for over five minutes. She started right in to business, and did not mince words or names when it came down to condemning the conditions in the southern part of the state. Before the meeting closed, Governor William Glasscock and Senators Watson and Chilton came in for their share of flaying, as well as Senators Scott and Elkins. They were classed by her as leeches and blood suckers, and the detective force and mine guards as human blood hounds. She said that right here in the little Mountain State, peonage of the most horrible kind was being practiced, and that Russia and Bulgaria were a paradise compared to it. She said that slavery was nothing compared to it, and that only last Thursday she was forced to cross streams in the strike district in the middle of the night by wading in the water up to her waist.

She claimed that women, children and sick men were thrown out of doors by these hired toughs and compelled to find shelter in the open, and that women were hauled about by the hair if they resisted these insults.

A collection was taken up to be sent to the relief committee which amounted to over $50. It will be used for the purpose of buying food and clothes for the strikers. A large donation was also received from the miners in Cripple Creek, Colo.

Want Legislation.

By unanimous vote it was decided to send a petition to Governor Glasscock demanding him to call a special session of the state legislature to make laws to help the miners. The following legislation is wanted: To do away with the guard system; that all coal dug by the miners shall be paid for by weight; the enforcement of an employer’s liability law; the abolition of the company store; and the payment of the miners every two weeks. She said that the miners would never go back to work until these wishes were complied with, and that the guard system would have to go, and if the governor would not give the citizens their rights, they would be compelled to take the law in their own hands or starve.

Raps Watson.

She also took a rap at the Fairmont district and hit Senator Watson hard. She scorned him as a blot on the state that would take years to wipe off. As she concluded her speech she was madly cheered.

Other speakers were F. C. Harter, also from the southern part of the state, a Confederate soldier, and a well-to-do farmer over 80 years old. He condemned the tactics used by the coal barons as a disgrace to humanity, and a thing that every citizen in the state should be ashamed to tolerate.  “Mother Jones left last evening for Charleston and will stay with the boys, she says, until they get their rights.

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part II: Speaks at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands, Grown Men Weep” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Rather sleep in guard house, Day Book p2, Sept 9, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 21, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part I
Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

From the Baltimore Sun of September 1, 1912:

TROUBLE AT CABIN CREEK.

Mother Jones, Rock Isl Argus p8, Sept 12, 1912

Trouble broke out afresh tonight at Cabin Creek Junction. Just what caused it cannot be learned at this time, but it is said it was started by the miners, who opened fire on the mine guards, seriously wounding two of them. If any or the miners were killed or wounded it is not known at this time. The wounded guards were hurried off to the hospital and their names are kept secret. Several of the guards who have been here for a long time have been marked by the miners, and it is possible that the injured men are of that number.

MILITIA RUSHED TO SCENE.

As a result of the battle tonight, five companies of militia which had been ordered home were rushed to the scene of the trouble.

Before they could arrive, however, a company from headquarters at Camp Pratt, on Paint creek, was rushed to Cabin Creek Junction…

Unless the situation improves materially within the next 48 hours martial law probably will be declared….It is admitted in official circles that the situation is more critical now than at any time since the miners went on strike in the Kanawha field last April. In case martial law is declared more troops will be needed.

MORE OUTBREAKS EXPECTED.

Further outbreaks between strikers and guards are expected at any or all of a dozen places on Paint and Cabin creeks as a result of the tense feeling which exists. In every instance the arrival of the militia has been sufficient to restore order.

Up to the present the strikers have been friendly to the militia, although a change may occur at any time.

“Mother” Jones has sent out word that the militia provost must be removed from the trains on the two creeks, but this guard will not be abandoned. As a result an attack on the passenger trains on either creek would cause little surprise. Close watch is being kept on the railway tracks to prevent the dynamiting of trains.

“Mother” Jones is scheduled to speak at Kingston tomorrow and orders have been issued to the militia to prevent such meeting. 

[…..]

Dogged Mother Jones’ Footsteps.

[T]he statement that the operators, or their agents, the mine guards, would prevent one individual from visiting another may seem to be overdrawn. It is not. Here is a case to illustrate:

About 10 days ago Mother Jones went to Kayford to hold a meeting. An account of that meeting was given in THE SUN of last Sunday [Aug 25th]. It was held after considerable trouble. She arrived at Kayford in the early afternoon and had tramped a good distance up the road before she reached the place. At every step she took she was followed by mine guards. She had had nothing to eat from the time she had an early breakfast and she was hungry. One of the miners, Lawrence Dwyer, the man who had arranged the meeting, asked her and the correspondent of THE SUN to go to his cabin for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The invitation was accepted and we started to Dwyer’s house. No sooner had we stepped off the road and started up the lane leading to the cabin than Mayfield, the chief of the guards, ordered us off with an oath, threatening to arrest us if we took another step. His manner was rough in the extreme, especially to the white-haired old woman who really needed her cup of tea.

Dwyer remonstrated, saying he thought he had the right to take anyone he pleased to his house. He was told, with an oath, that he thought too much. Perhaps that is true. He is not fat. Like Cassius, “he hath a lean and hungry look,” and be certainly “thinks too much” for the peace of mind of the guards. However, Mother Jones went without her tea and she kept off private property.

Felts Blames Her For Trouble.

Later she came to a place where the road ran through the bed of the creek and she attempted to leave the county road on which she had been trudging and walk along the railroad track. Again she was ordered off. Even the railroad track was private property. This time the correspondent of THE SUN protested to Detective Felts. Felts was pleasant enough, but he was firm.

“That woman is old enough to be your grandmother,” he was told, “and no matter how much you may be opposed to her, remember that she is an old woman.”

“That makes no difference,” was the reply. “She is responsible for all the agitation and trouble that is taking place in these mines, and even though she is an old woman we do not propose to allow her any privileges here, or to show her any courtesies. She has got to keep to the public road, and keep off private property.“

That is the point. It would have been a “privilege” if she had been permitted to walk on the railroad track; it would have been a “courtesy” to have permitted her to go to Dwyer’s for her cup of tea. She might have done either, or both, by the grace and the favor of the company, but she could do neither as a matter of right.

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Evening Sun of September 5, 1912:

3,000 MINERS TO MARCH IN
PROTEST TO CHARLESTON
———-
“Mother” Jones Will Lead Delegation
Before Governor Glasscock.
———-

MAYOR OF ESKDALE PLACED UNDER ARREST
———-
Court-Martial Disposing Of Cases Rapidly
-All Civil laws Suspended.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Sept. 5.-Three thousand miners of that part of the Kanawha coal district which is not under martial law are coming to the State House at Charleston tomorrow to make a demonstration against the guard system in behalf of the men who are striking.

They will march through the streets of Charleston led by “Mother” Jones.

“Martial law is all right, but what after martial law?” is the legend to be displayed on a banner in the parade.

Governor Glasscock will be urged to come out and answer that question. “Mother” Jones will make a direct appeal to Glasscock.

Could Have Been Settled Long Ago.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The guard system will come back as soon as the soldiers are withdrawn. Months ago Governor Glasscock could have settled all difficulties by declaring that there shall be no guards. He did nothing at all; now the State and the miners are paying heavily.

Mayor And Miners Looked Up.

Martial law reached out last night and caught 20 miners and guards, including the Mayor of Eskdale, in the strike zone. The men were charged with disorderly conduct. They occupy joint jail quarters in the railroad station at Paint Creek Junction, which, has been turned into a prison.

Court-Martial Working Quickly.

The court-martial is working as quickly as a city court. In two days the military judges have tried 15 men. The verdicts were sealed and sent to Governor Glasscock for approval. The court can fix any penalty within its discretion. All statutory penalties are suspended.

The military authorities today ordered a Socialist paper that has been circulating in the “war” district suppressed as inflammatory. Free speech is one of the constitutional guarantees suspended by martial law.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.” →

Hellraisers Journal: Editorial from the Baltimore Sun: “Belated Justice”-at Long Last for IWW Philadelphia Longshoreman

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin, Prison Reveille, Lv New Era p2, Apr 4, 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal –Friday October 20, 1922
Fellow Workers, Fletcher, Nef and Walsh, Offered Belated Justice

From the Baltimore Sun of October 18, 1922:

BELATED JUSTICE.

IWW Local No 8 MTW Button, Feb 1917

Exactly six months ago it was announced by the Department of Justice that the cases of four Philadelphia longshoremen, imprisoned under the Espionage act, were being subjected to individual review. At that time it was admitted by the Administration that evidence was not available to disprove the assertions of many men of reputation, the former United States District Attorney in Philadelphia for one, that their war records were blameless. In particular their work in the responsible duty of loading munitions for overseas was shown to be of the most patriotic character.

On Monday three of these men were offered liberty on condition that “they will be law abiding in the future.” Those three, whose names should be well known to SUN readers, are Walter T. Nef, former secretary-treasurer of the Marine Transport Workers of Philadelphia; John J. Walsh and Benjamin H. Fletcher, members of the same union. All are members of the I. W. W. Three Swedish workmen, likewise said to be members of this organization, were also offered liberty-to be deported.

When we remember the number of political prisoners still in jail we see no reason to congratulate the Government on this belated act of justice. Imprisoned under a Democratic administration and held in jail by its Republican successor, they are free at last-after all of the few bomb-plotters and German spies ever convicted under the Espionage act have been given liberty. Apparently nothing illegal was ever proved against these men. Simply because they were members of the I. W. W. they were held five years in prison. And at the end Mr. Daugherty, over-busy with injunctions, found six months necessary to “review their cases.”

Considering the whole ignoble history of the Espionage act, it is perhaps scarcely surprising that the Department of Justice could not let them go without that final insult about being good in future.

—————

Solidarity w MTW of Philly, Messenger p396, Apr 1922

[Photographs and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Editorial from the Baltimore Sun: “Belated Justice”-at Long Last for IWW Philadelphia Longshoreman” →

Hellraisers Journal: Six IWW Class-War Prisoners Offered Liberty: Fletcher, Nef, Walsh, Johannsen, Stenberg and Ahlteen

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Matilda Robbins ed, Ben Fletcher, p132 PC—————

Hellraisers Journal –Thursday October 19, 1922
Six Fellow Workers, Chicago-Group Class-War Prisoners, Offered Liberty

From the Baltimore Sun of October 17 1922:

PRISONERS OFFERED LIBERTY
———-
Six Convicted Of Espionage May Go
Free If They Accept Condition.

IWW, Ben Fletcher ed, 13126 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher

Washington, Oct. 16.-Six men serving sentences imposed after conviction of the espionage act have been offered conditional executive pardons, the Department of Justice announced today, the condition in the case of three, who are aliens, being deportation, and in the others that “they will be law-abiding in the future.”

The men to whom the offer of clemency has been made are Walter T. Nef, former secretary-treasurer of the Marine Transport Workers [I. W. W.], Philadelphia; John J. Walsh and Benjamin H. Fletcher, members of the same union, and Ragner Johannsen, Siegfried Sternberg [Sigfried Stenberg] and Carl Ahlteen, formerly of Minneapolis, but natives of Sweden. The last three are alleged to have been members of the I. W. W.

No, hint as to whether any or all of the prisoners will accept the conditions has been received by the Government agencies in charge of their cases, it was said tonight. Both Nef and Fletcher made individual applications for pardons, but Walsh was one of 52 prisoners in Leavenworth who refused to sign such petitions.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: “Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families” by G. H. Edmunds-Militia Aids Operators

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Quote Mother Jones, Better to Die Fighting, Sac Str p1, June 3, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal –Friday October 18, 1912
West Virginia Militia Aids Coal Operators in Evicting Miners’ Families

From The Wheeling Majority of October 17, 1912:

SOLDIERS EVICT MINERS’ FAMILIES
———-
(By G. H. Edmunds.)
—–

WV Militia Escort Miners to Court Martial, Cmg Ntn p2, Oct 12, 1912

In commenting on the troubles in the strike fields of Kanawha county, Gov. Glasscock mentioned the “invisible government” as being largely responsible for the troubles existing, and many of the citizens of this state have wondered what the “invisible government” was, but on Monday last, every one was brought face to face with this “Gila monster.” We beheld a monster with one head but two faces, a second Janus, too subtle for description.

Remember, Baldwin guards were driven out under the martial law proclamation, and everything went fine in the strike zone so far as peace and quiet was concerned, but, on Monday what do we find.

We find the militia of the state of West Virginia being used by the coal operators to evict miners from their homes, without any process of law whatsoever.

Never before has anything of the kind happened in any of the strikes of the country. Result: More than 100 families, aggregating 500 men, women and children are sitting by the roadside in the mountains of West Virginia with no place to lay their heads but on the hard rocks of the mountains, and absolutely no redress whatsoever. The governor has been appealed to, and his reply to the appeal was that the miners had redress in the civil courts, yet this same governor has suspended the civil courts and instituted martial law in their stead, and yet he tells the miners to go to the civil courts.

Yes, the government of West Virginia is “invisible.”

There seems to be a “power behind the throne” in this fight. Soldiers being used as strike breakers, and putting hundreds of women and children out in the cold to live in the open air in October, without any semblance of law. These people had a right to remain in the houses occupied by them until legally dispossessed, because, in law the fact that they were in the houses, and entered legally, gave them the right of remaining in said houses until legally dispossessed. The miners of West Virginia are being wrongfully treated by the governor, who is the commander in-chief of the state militia.

Strike breaking militia! Oh, shame on the fair name of West Virginia! The way that the militia is being used to evict the miners is done in this wise: The coal company sends several men to a miner’s house to put his household goods into the road. If the miner objects to having his goods put out without due process of law, the militia will arrest him and put him in the guard house. A squad of soldiers follows the evicting army and sees that no miner resists the process.

Yet in the face of all of this, and the hardships that the miners are being put into by the attitude of the governor of the state with their children half clad, hungry and barefooted, sickness in almost every home, no doctor, no money, only the charity of the Miners’ union to look to, and with a cold winter almost upon them, yet these hardships are more to be desired than peonage under the guard system. We are hoping that the governor will soon see the error of his way and do something to redeem the fair name of the great state of West Virginia.

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph break added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: “Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families” by G. H. Edmunds-Militia Aids Operators” →

Hellraisers Journal: John W. Brown on Coal Miners’ Strike in West Virginia: “This Is War and War Is Hell”-Part III

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal –Thursday October 17, 1912
“This Is War and War Is Hell” by John W. Brown, Part III

From The Coming Nation of October 12, 1912:

WV Mine War by JW Brown, Cmg Ntn p5, Oct 12, 1912

[Part III of III]

Killing Unborn Babes

The most heart rending testimony was that given by Mrs. Taney Sevillis [Gianiana Seville, Mrs. Tony Seville] who told how her baby was born dead after the brutal mine guards fired bullets through her house. This poor mother terrified, fled for safety to the home of Mrs. Waters, the wife of the mine foreman. Mrs. Waters, in testifying before the commission, said: “She was as white as a ghost when she ran into my house. She fell on her knees before me and made the sign of the cross. ‘Oh save me, save me, my baby, my baby, my poor baby,’ she cried, and I took her in and a month later the baby was born dead. The doctor said it had been dead several weeks.”

Mrs. Charles Fish, the wife of a miner, testified to how she and sixty-three others, men and women and children, had hid from the guards in a cellar for twenty-four hours after they had been driven from their homes by the fiendish guards, and how at length they fled over the hills, hungry, dirty, unkempt and sick from their long fast in the dark cellar. She told how she was beaten and choked by the guards when she informed the strike-breakers at the railway station that there was a strike on at that place to which they were being shipped.

WV Mine War, Boy in Tent Colony, Cmg Ntn p7, Oct 12, 1912

The prices charged the miners at the “Pluck-me-stores” which are owned by the coal barons and the difference between these prices and the price of the same article in Charleston furnish another chapter in the evidence being taken. Potatoes which sell in Charleston for 85 cents per bushel are sold to the miners for $2.60. Arbuckle Coffee which can be bought anywhere for 25 cents per pound costs the miner 40 cents. Flour, sugar, bacon, beans and everything else which goes to make up a miner’s diet is sold on the same basis.

When one stops to consider that the miners on Paint Creek and Cabin Creek are mining coal for 19 cents per ton less than the miners get in union fields; that in union fields 2,000 pounds constitutes a ton while in the non-union fields the coal barons exact 2,240 pounds for a ton, and not only that, but in the non-union fields they do not even weigh the coal; on the contrary, the miner has to load a car which is supposed to hold 2,240 pounds, but which in fact holds anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 pounds, the wonder is not that the miners have revolted against such inhuman conditions; the wonder is that they have stood it as long as they have. However, the revolt is on and not only the miners but the people as a whole are aroused.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: John W. Brown on Coal Miners’ Strike in West Virginia: “This Is War and War Is Hell”-Part III” →