Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 24, 1912
Jay Smith, Secretary of B. of T. W., Appeals for Funds to Save Fellow Workers
From Pittsburg (Kansas) Labor Herald of August 16, 1912:
Shall Emerson Die?
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[Letter from Jay Smith, B. of T. W. Secretary]
Brother, Comrades, Fellow-workers:
On Sunday evening, July 7, 1912, while the Brotherhood of Timber Workers were holding a mass meeting on the public road at Grabow, La., thugs concealed in the office of the Galloway Lumber Co., fired upon our people with rifles and pump guns loaded with buck-shot. When the firing ceased, three men were found to be killed outright, several mortally and seriously wounded and thirty-odd others injured, the great majority being union men. Immediately following the “riot”, as it was called by the capitalists class, President A. L. Emerson, who was our chief speaker on the occasion, and other members of the Brotherhood, were arrested, denied bail, and placed in the county jail at Lake Charles, La., which prison is totally inadequate to accommodate the number of men now confined there, and is in a deplorably unsanitary condition, besides. Despite the condition of this prison, sick and wounded men are confined there, the authorities giving the excuse that there is no room in the I hospital for them and our boys are still being arrested.
This, so far, is the outcome of the “riot” at Grabow. That our boys were neither looking for nor expecting any such trouble is borne witness to by the fact that many of them had taken along their women and children, and, that none of the last were killed by the Trusts gunmen, is a miracle.
All the news and evidence so far reported shows that our men were not only ambushed, but that the “riot” had been carefully planned by the Lumber Trust, and we have every reason to believe, that hidden in the offices of the Galloway Lumber Co., were gunmen who had been sent over from other places by the Southern Operators’ Association. The “riot” was but the culmination of a long series of outrages against the Brotherhood and all other Union labor, and was staged by the Operators’ Association for the purpose of crushing out the unions in the Southern timber districts and terrorizing its workers back into meek submission into peonage. This has been the boasted purpose of the Operators’ Association: “To crush all union labor out of their mills and camps, drive all Socialist speakers out of their towns, and run things as they damned please.”
For twenty long months we have fought this mighty and merciless combination of capital, this vicious combine of grafters and gunmen, and, because they have not been able to whip us back into their mills and slave pens, they have planned the massacre of Grabow, and, failing there to kill our President Emerson and his bravest associates, they have taken him and them to jail and are preparing to stage another legal murder.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 23, 1912 San Diego, California – Fellow Worker Jack Whyte Expresses His Contempt of Court
From The Kentucky Post of August 21, 1912:
San Diego I. W. W., Convicted, Bluntly Explains to Judge His Contempt for Court ———-
SAN DIEGO, CAL., Aug. 21-Contempt of court, more bluntly expressed than probably ever before in the history of California, whose court records have been dirtied often by judicial acts which have disgraced the State, marked the close of proceedings here recently [August 5th], when Judge Sloane sentenced several members of the Industrial Workers of the World for conspiracy to violate the street-speaking ordinance.
Sloane asked Jack Whyte, Industrial Worker, if he had anything to say as to why he should not receive sentence.
Whyte had something to say. He talked straight. This is what he said:
There are only a few word that I care to say, and this court will not mistake them for a legal argument, for I am not acquainted with the phraseology of the bar, nor the language common to the courtroom.
There are two points which I want to touch upon-the indictment itself and the misstatement of the Prosecuting Attorney. The indictment reads: “The People of the State of California against J. W. Whyte and others.”
It’s a hideous lie. The people of this courtroom know that it is a lie, and I know that it is a lie. If the people of the State are to blame for this persecution, then the people are to blame for the murder of Michael Hoey and the assassination of Joseph Mickolasek. They are to blame and responsible for every bruise, every insult and injury inflicted upon the members of the working class by the vigilantes of this city.
The people deny it, and have so emphatically denied it that Gov. Johnson sent Harris Weinstock down here to make an investigation and clear the reputation of the people of the State of California from the odor that you would attach to it. You cowards throw the blame upon the people, but I know who is to blame and I name them-it is Spreckels and his partners in business, and this court is the lackey and lickspittle of that class, defending the property of that class against the advancing horde of starving American workers.
The Prosecuting Attorney in his plea to the jury accused me of saying on a public platform at a public meeting: “To hell with the courts; we know what justice is.” He told a great truth when he lied, for if he had searched the innermost recesses of my mind he could have found that thought, never expressed by me before, but which I express now. “To hell with your courts, I know what justice is,” for I have sat in your courtroom day after day and have seen members of my class pass before this, the so-called bar of justice.
I have seen you, Judge Sloane, and others of your kind, send them to prison because they dared to infringe upon the sacred right of property. You have become blind and deaf to the rights of men to pursue life and happiness, and you have crushed those rights so that the sacred rights of property should be preserved. Then you tell me to respect the law.
I don’t. I did violate the law, and I will violate every one of your laws and still come before you and say: “To hell with the courts,” because I believe that my right to live is far more sacred than the sacred right of property that you and your kind so ably defend.
I don’t tell you this with the expectation of getting justice, but to show my contempt for the whole machinery of law and justice as represented by this and every other court. The Prosecutor lied, but I will accept it as a truth and say again, so that you, Judge Sloane, may not be mistaken as to my attitude:
“To hell with your courts; I know what justice is.”
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 22, 1912 Charleston, West Virginia – Mother Jones Demands Removal of Mine Guards
From The Wheeling Intelligencer of August 16, 1912:
August 15, 1912, Charleston, West Virginia -Mother Jones Speaks to Striking Miners from Steps of Capitol
Wheeling Intelligencer August 16, 1912
This, my friends, marks, in my estimation, the most remarkable move ever made in the State of West Virginia. It is a day that will mark history in the long ages to come. What is it? It is an uprising of the oppressed against the master class.
From this day on, my friends, Virginia–West Virginia–shall march in the front of the nation’s states. To me, I think, the proper thing to do is to read the purpose of our meeting here today–why these men have laid down their tools, why these men have come to the State House.
To His Excellency, William E. Glasscock, Governor of the State of West Virginia:
It is respectfully represented unto your Excellency that the owners of the various coal mines doing business along the valley of Cabin Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia, are maintaining and have at present in their employ a large force of armed guards, armed with Winchesters, a dangerous and deadly weapon; also having in their possession three Gatling guns, which they have stationed at commanding positions overlooking the Cabin Creek Valley, which said weapons said guards use for the purpose of brow-beating, intimidating and menacing the lives of all the citizens who live in said valley, and whose business calls them into said valley, who are not in accord with the management of the coal companies, which guards are cruel and their conduct toward the citizens is such that it would be impossible to give a detailed account of.
Therefore, suffice it to say, however, that they beat, abuse, maim and hold up citizens without process of law, deny freedom of speech, a provision guaranteed by the Constitution, deny the citizens to assemble in a peaceable manner for the purpose of discussing questions in which they are concerned. Said guards also hold up a vast body of laboring men who live at the mines, and so conduct themselves that a great number of men, women and children live in a state of constant fear, unrest and dread.
We hold that the stationing of said guards along the public highways, and public places is a menace to the general welfare of the state. That such action on the part of the companies in maintaining such guards is detrimental to the best interests of society and an outrage against the honor and dignity of the State of West Virginia. (Loud applause.)
As citizens interested in the public weal and general welfare, and believing that law and order, and peace, should ever abide, that the spirit of brotherly love and justice and freedom should everywhere exist, we must tender our petition that you would bring to bear all the powers of your office as Chief Executive of this State, for the purpose of disarming said guards and restoring to the citizens of said valley all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and said State.
In duty bound, in behalf of the miners of the State of West Virginia.
I want to say with all due respect to the Governor–I want to say to you that the Governor will not, cannot do anything, for this reason: The Governor was placed in this building by Scott and Elkins and he don’t dare oppose them. (Loud applause.) Therefore, you are asking the Governor of the State to do something that he cannot do without betraying the class he belongs to. (Loud applause.)
I remember the Governor in a state [Altgeld of Illinois], when Grover Cleveland was perched in the White House–Grover Cleveland said he would send the Federal troops out, and the Governor of that state said, “Will you? If you do I will meet your Federal troops with the state troops, and we will have it out.” Old Grover never sent the troops–he took back water. (Applause, and cries of: “Yes, he did.”)
You see, my friends, how quickly the Governor sent his militia when the coal operators got scared to death. (Applause.)
I have no objection to the militia. I would always prefer the militia, but there was no need in this county for the militia, none whatsoever. They were law-abiding people, and the women and children. They were held up on the highways, caught in their homes and pulled out like rats and beaten up–some of them. I said, “If there is no one else in the State of West Virginia to protest, I will protest.” (Loud applause, and cries of: “Yes, she will; Mother will.”)
The womanhood of this State shall not be oppressed and beaten and abused by a lot of contemptible, damnable blood-hounds, hired by the operators. They wouldn’t keep their dogs where they keep you fellows. You know that. They have a good place for their dogs and a slave to take care of them. The mine owners’ wives will take the dogs up, and say, “I love you, dea-h” (trying to imitate by tone of voice).
Now, my friends, the day for petting dogs is done; the day for raising children to a nobler manhood and better womanhood is here. (Applause and cries of: “Amen! Amen!”)
You have suffered, I know how you have suffered. I was with you nearly three years in this state. I went to jail, went to the Federal courts, but I never took any back water. I still unfurl the red flag of industrial freedom, no tyrant’s face shall you know, and I call you today into that freedom, long perched on the bosom (Interrupted by applause).
I am back again to find you, my friends, in a state of industrial peonage–after ten years absence I find you in a state of industrial peonage.
The Superintendent at Acme–I went up there, and they said we were unlawful–we had an unlawful mob along. Well, I will tell you the truth, we took a couple of guns, because we knew we were going to meet some thugs, and by jimminy (interrupted by applause).
We will prepare for the job, just like Lincoln and Washington did. We took lessons from them, and we are here to prepare for the job.
Well, when I came out on the public road the Superintendent–you know the poor salary slave–he came out and told me that there were Notary Publics there and a squire–one had a peg leg, and the balance had pegs in their skulls. (Applause.)
They forbid me speaking on the highway, and said that if I didn’t discontinue I would be arrested. Well, I want to tell you one thing, I don’t run to jail, but when the blood-hounds undertake to put me in jail I will go there. I have gone there. I would have had the little peg-leg Squire arrest me only I knew this meeting was going to be pulled off today to let the world know what was going on in West Virginia. When I get through with them, by the Eternal God they will be glad to let me alone.
I am not afraid of jails. We build the jails, and when we get ready we will put them behind the bars. That may happen very soon–things happen overnight.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 21, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part V Judge Jackson Proves Himself a Coward, Afraid to Sentence Mother Jones
From the Duluth Labor World of July 26, 1902:
IT IS AN OUTRAGE
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ORGANIZERS OF MINE WORKERS IN PRISON FOR CONTEMPT. ———-
Judge Jackson, of United States Circuit Court, Passes Sentence -Fears to Sentence “Mother” Jones -President Mitchell Says Decision “Imperils the Rights of All Americans in the Courts.”
Judge Jackson, of the United States Circuit Court, at Parkersburg, W. Va., has held “Mother” Jones and seven other organizers and officials of the United Mine workers guilty of contempt of court in violating his injunction of June 19, prohibiting them from “making inflammatory speeches,” and has imposed a sentence of from thirty to ninety days upon all, with the exception of “Mother” Jones.
The injunction in question, which Judge Jackson issued, is directed at the right of free speech. It is a deadlier blow at American liberty and the rights of the masses of the people than has been struck for a long time. It is an outrage which cannot but make the blood of every working man boil with indignation.
Trade unionists know President John Mitchell, of the United Mine workers. They know him by reputation all over the land. They know that he has compelled even those on the capitalistic side to acknowledge that he is cool-headed, conservative, brainy and far-seeing. He is not given to loud talk or extravagant assertions. Yet President Mitchell says of the Jackson decision:
“It imperils the rights of all Americans in the courts.”
It takes something of more than ordinary significance to draw from President Mitchell such an accusation against one of the highest tribunals of justice in the United States. Even now the statement is dignified, and quiet, but for that very reason it carries all the more force with thinking men.
“The rights of all Americans in the courts” is imperiled by what? Trades unions? Strikes? Organized, labor? Boycotts? Oh, no! By the action of a man chosen to meet out justice from the bench of the United States Circuit court, which is next to the Supreme court itself the highest court of justice in the country.
In the case of “Mother” Jones, the judge suspended contempt. In doing so he said that she had been found guilty of contempt, “but as she was posing as a martyr, he would not send her to jail or allow her to force her way into jail.” No more insulting message to organized labor could have been given out than that comment on the case of “Mother” Jones, coming after his action on her case. If she were guilty, she deserved punishment just as much as the others. But, because, forsooth, she is well known among organized labor circles, and her imprisonment would call attention to the monstrous injustice of this ermined anarchist, he sneeringly remarks that he will not allow her to “pose as a martyr,” and turns her loose.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday August 20, 1902 Chicago, Illinois – Police Raid and Capture Little Beggar Children
From the Duluth Labor World of August 16, 1902:
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of July 30, 1902:
LOCK UP CHILD BEGGARS.
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TWO SCORE YOUNG MENDICANTS OR PEDDLERS CAPTURED. ———- Raid Made by Police Through Downtown Streets and Many Little Ones Are Caught Telling Tales of Poverty and Suffering -Flight and Capture of the Popp Family -Newspaper Alley Visited and
a Number of Boys Are Arrested. ———-
In a raid through the downtown streets last night forty children, all beggars or peddlers, were arrested and taken to the Harrison street police annex and to the Juvenile home, 625 West Adams street.
Three patriot wagons followed the police men and picked up the children arrested. Many were caught as they were telling pitiful tales of cruel parents and sick mothers. Several others were too quick for the detectives and dodged into alleyways and other avenues of escape. The raids will be continued until the streets are cleared of the baby beggars.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 19, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part IV Judge Jackson Severe on the Miners, Releases Mother Jones with Lecture
From The Pittsburg Press of July 24, 1902:
Parkersburg, W. Va., July 24.-There was the most intense interest in the crowded room of the United States District Court this morning when Judge Jackson began reading his lengthy decision declaring “Mother” Mary Jones, the angel of the miners, and seven other organizers of the United Mine Workers and four Hungarians to be guilty of contempt of disregarding his injunction of June 19, against holding a meeting or creating a demonstration at or near the Pinnickinnick mine of the Clarksburg Fuel Co., or near the residence of miners at work. Judge Jackson, after concluding his decision, sentenced the defendants as follows:
Thomas Haggerty, 90 days in jail; Wm. Morgan, Bernard Rice, Peter Wilson, Wm. Blakeley, George Bacon, Thomas Laskavish, 60 days each.“Mother” Jones’ sentence was passed till afternoon. It is said she will receive a stiff fine and will not be jailed. Albert Repake, Joseph and George Roeski and Steve Teonike, Hungarians, passed until the afternoon session.
Judge Jackson stated that the defendants would not be sent to the same jail. District Attorney Blizzard sprung a sensation by immediately filing an affidavit that Secretary Wilson, of the United Mine Workers of America, had violated the restraining order by making an inflammatory speech at Clarksburg July 7, and at Fairmont July 8. His arrest was asked. Judge Jackson made an order that Wilson be arrested and brought within the jurisdiction of the court. Wilson is said to be in Indianapolis.
Jackson’s huge frame shook with emotion as he dramatically emphasized portions of his decision to “Mother” Jones, who was the center of attraction……
[Photograph added.]
From The Pittsburg Press of July 25, 1902:
LECTURE BY JUDGE TO “MOTHER” MARY JONES. ———- Told Her She Most Obey the Law or Suffer.
Parkersburg. W. Va., July 25.-Thursday, after he had suspended sentence on “Mother” Jones, Judge Jackson started to lecture “the miners’ angel.”
“It must be distinctly understood,” he said, “that you must obey this injunction. If ‘Mother’ Jones is the good woman they say she is she will obey law and order. I will not send her to jail to pose as a martyr, nor shall she break into jail.”
Mother Jones arose and dramatically declared that she did not ask the mercy of anybody; she was simply trying to do her duty as she saw it, and whenever the court wanted her it could send for her. “I hope we will both meet on the other side of life when we die,” she finished, and at this Jackson smiled and the audience broke into applause. “Mother” Jones then went to the bench and shook hands with Judge Jackson, both smiling. “Now take my advice and go back home, keep the peace and obey the law,” Jackson softly said to her.
“Oh. but I must keep up the fight as long as I live,” she replied.
“Well, don’t fight In my district,” was the judge’s parting shot.
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Mother Jones Undaunted.
Parkersburg, W. Va., July 25.-Mother Jones says she will continue to work in behalf of the miners of West Virginia [as an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America] in spite of Judge Jackson’s threat that if she does he will have her arrested again and sentenced. She says she is doing her duty and fear of jail will not prevent her from continuing along that line.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 18, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part III Found Speaking at Central Labor Council Meeting in Cincinnati
From The North Adams Transcript of July 21, 1902:
PATHETIC FAREWELL FOR “MOTHER” JONES ———- On Leaving Indianapolis to Go to Jail for Contempt
Indianapolis, Ind., July 21-An affecting scene was witnessed in the United Mine Workers’ headquarters last evening when “Mother” Jones bade the miners goodby and boarding a train for West Virginia.
“Mother” Jones was on trial early last week with several striking miners for contempt of court in holding public meetings in the face of an injunction, and she was found guilty. She now returns to receive sentence, and it is believed she will be sent to jail.
Many of the delegates to the recent convention are still here, and in the crowd gathered in the headquarters not a single dry eye was to be seen when “Mother” said goodby. Men whose faces were as hard as parchment with the work in the mines and with the hardship of their lives wiped the tears away with their rough hands and some of them left the room.
“Mother” Jones cheered them up and made little of the coming ordeal, but the miners knew she was doing it for them, and if she were their own mother they could not have a warmer love in their hearts for her.
[Photograph added.]
From the Baltimore Sun of July 22, 1902:
Charleston, W. Va., July 21.-Upon the application of the Collins Colliery, Federal Judge Keller today issued attachments for the arrest of John Richards, president of District No. 17, United Mine Workers of America, and 35 other members who took part in meetings near that mine. Special complaint was made against a meeting of July 17 as an alleged violation of the injunction issued against National Secretary Wilson, “Mother” Jones and others. After their arrest today Richards and 10 others were taken before the United States Commissioner at Hinton, where they gave bonds, and the hearing was set for next Friday in Charleston.
Judge Guthrie, of the State Court, issued an attachment for the arrest of 10 miners on complaint of the Kanawha and Hocking Coal Company, which held that they had violated an injunction of his court.
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