Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Blizzard Acquitted of Treason against the State of West Virginia, Given Wild Ovation by Supporters

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 29, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Billy Blizzard Acquitted of Treason

From The Washington Times of May 28, 1922:

HdLn Blizzard Acquitted of Treason, WDC Tx p1, May 28, 1922

HdLn Juroros Free Blizzard, WDC Tx p1, May 28, 1922

By WARREN W. WHEATON.
International News Service Staff Correspondent.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va., May 27.-William Blizzard, alleged generalissimo of the miners’ army which marched upon Logan county last summer and fought with deputy sheriffs until Federal troops were called out, was acquitted by a jury in circuit court here tonight of treason against the State of West Virginia.

Verdict is Popular.

The jury was given the case at 3:27 o’clock this afternoon. Six hours and ten minutes was consumed in attempting to arrive at a verdict, two hours of which was taken out for dinner.

Peaceful Charles Town broke into a riot of noise. The pandemonium which answered the verdict: “We find for the defendant,” extended outside the court room.

Blizzard was given a wonderful reception as he emerged from the little red court house, scene of a similar trial sixty-three years ago.

The jurors as they left the scene of their labors which extended over a month, were likewise cheered.

The little red courthouse is the identical spot where John Brown, famous abolitionist, was convicted of treason sixty-three years ago. Residents of peaceful Charles Town, which has been conspicuous in history since colonial days, flooded the courthouse tonight to await the second treason trial verdict ever returned in calm, quiet Jefferson county.

After the jury had once reported its inability to reach a verdict and court was recessed for dinner, a report emanating from official sources had the jury ten to two for acquittal.

When the jurymen filed out, an over-crowded courtroom in which women predominated, immediately broke into a buzz of conversation. Blizzard seemed least concerned of the big assemblage. He had in his lap his five-year old son, asleep most of the first hour of the jury’s deliberations.

Blizzard Is Calm.

His wife, her little girl clasped close to her, frequently lifted a dampened handkerchief to her reddened eyes in which the tears constantly welled.

Next to Mrs. Blizzard, sat Blizzard’s sixty-year-old mother, a thin, spectacled little woman, a wisp of gray creeping through her once blond hair which stood out conspicuously against the background of black clothing. Mrs. Blizzard’s mother completed the family circle.

As time wore on with no report from the jury, Blizzard went to an ante-room and conversed with friends. His little boy and girl playfully edged their way about the crowd which filled every available nook.

After an hour had elapsed a ripple of excitement spread through the courtroom. A verdict was expected, but the jury asked for a copy of Judge Woods’ instructions, which would shape the verdict and which they neglected to get before retiring.

Kisses His Wife.

Blizzard was among the calmest of the excited throng in the court room when the foreman of the jury announced the verdict. For a moment he seemed dazed and then as the full import of the finding was grasped he leaned over and kissed his wife, who was standing near. Then he shook the hands of his counsel and waved a greeting to the congratulations expressed by scores who have attended every session of the long trial.

Blizzard was given a wild ovation as soon as the jury was discharged by Judge Woods.

Billy Blizzard w Family, WDC Tx p3, May 28, 1922, w quote

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Opines on Pennsylvania’s Great Anthracite Coal Strike for the Social Democratic Herald

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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quote EVD re PA Great Anthracite Strike Cossacks, SDH p1, May 4, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 27, 1902
Eugene Debs Opines on Pennsylvania’s Great Anthracite Coal Strike

From the Social Democratic Herald of May 24, 1902:

EUGENE V. DEBS ON THE MINERS’ STRIKE

EVD, Houston Daily Post p6, May 22, 1899

The miners’ strike is on in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. The operators were defiant and eager for the fray. The miners pulled every wire to prevent the collision and finally voted to go out in the very last extremity. A large minority voted against the strike and President Mitchell, all accounts agree, did his best to prevent it.

Most earnestly do I hope the poor devils will win, but there is no use trying to conceal the fact that they are up against it and that the coal and railroad companies have been preparing for the fight, openly courted it, and are determined to wipe out the union and run their mines to suit themselves.

At this writing everything is quiet as a graveyard in the anthracite region, but nevertheless the Republican governor [William A. Stone], elected largely by the votes of coal miners who don’t believe in going into politics, has already sworn in an army of special coal police, armed with Winchesters, to protect “property” and incidentally to perforate the hides of the striking miners if this becomes necessary to break up their strike, and force them back into their holes through starvation tunnel, to dig for their masters.

That is all they are fit for; at least that is what they themselves seem to think, for that is what they voted for under the direction of some of their district officers, who are simply the political pluggers of the gang of robbers that fleece the poor coal diggers when they work and have them murdered when they strike.

Pennsylvania, where hell is active as Mt. Pelee, and slavery in full blast, has a Republican majority of 300,000, made up quite largely of the poor devils now on strike.

The governor is already making active preparation to return bullet for ballot in accordance with the invariable program of the capitalist class, whom the miners and other workingmen have made the ruling class of the country.

President Mitchell will do the best he can in a trying position. He has issued a request that miners abstain from the use of liquor during the strike, and, acting upon his advice, they thronged the churches on Sunday last and took the oath of total abstinence and the pledge to entirely keep out of saloons till the strike is settled.

As for the Civic Federation, it has already done its worst. It has delayed and dallied six weeks, taken the heart out of many of the strikers and set them by the ears among themselves. Had the miners struck April 1, as they intended, they would have been far stronger than they are today.

My advice to you, striking miners, is to keep away from the capitalistic partnership of priest and politician, to cut loose from the Civic Federation, and to stand together to a man and fight it out yourselves. If you can’t win, no one else can win for you; and if in the end you find that the corporations can beat you at the game of famine, you may, and it is hoped that you will, have your eyes opened to the fact that your vote is your best weapon and that if the 140,000 miners of Pennsylvania will cast a solid vote for socialism, they will soon drive the robbers from the state and take possession of the mines and make themselves the masters of their industry, and the workingmen the rulers of the state.

As for the army of coal police already marshaled and armed by the governor to shoot the strikers upon the assumption that they are criminals, I advise that the miners in convention assembled unanimously resolve that, while they propose to keep within the law, they also propose to exercise all the rights and privileges the law grants them; and, furthermore, that the monstrous crime of Latimer shall not be repeated, and if any striker is shot down without good cause the first shot shall be the signal for war and the miners will shoot back; and if killing must be the program of the coal barons, let it be an operator for a miner instead of miners only, as in the past. 

Terre Haute, Ind., May 19. 

Eugene V. Debs [Signature]

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Report from Children’s Bureau Describes Conditions for Children Working in Shrimp and Oyster Canneries

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Mother Jones Quote ed, Suffer Little Children, CIR p10641, May 14, 1915—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 25, 1922
Report Describes Child Labor in Shrimp and Oyster Canning Industry

From the Pittston Gazette of May 23, 1922:

 

POOR CONDITION FOR CHILD WORKERS
IN FISH CANNERIES
———-

Lewis Hine Feb 1911, Three Little Girl Oyster Shuckers
Josie, six year old, Bertha, six years old, Sophie, 10 years old,
all shuck regularly at Maggioni Canning Co,
Port Royal, South Carolina. -by Lewis Hine, February 1911

A report made public today by the U. S. Department of Labor through the Children’s Bureau describes child labor in the oyster and shrimp-canning industry during the period between the first and second Federal child labor laws, when no Federal regulation of child labor existed. Special significance attaches to the report in view of the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court, rendered on May 15, which held the Federal Child Labor Tax Law unconstitutional and thus leaves the children again without the protection of a Federal law. The report, entitled “Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp canning communities on the Gulf Coast,” calls attention to the very young ages of many of the children employed, the detrimental conditions under which they worked, the poor school facilities, the marked retardation in school, and the employment of mothers of young children.

The work of both the children and their parents was subject to all the irregularities of the canning industry, the report states. Since the work depended on the catch, it began any time between 3 and 7 o’clock in the morning and lasted a few hours, a whole day, or sometimes on into the evening. Of the 544 working children under 16 years of age included in the study, more than three-fifths worked whenever the factory was open. The others worked only occasionally or before and after school and on Saturdays. The majority of the children-334 of the 544 who worked-were under the age of 14 years, the minimum fixed by both of the Federal laws. Some were as young as six years of age or under.

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Honors Fellow Worker Joseph Mikolasek with Great Funeral Demonstration in Los Angeles

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote EGF, re Spk FSF, ISR p618, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 24, 1912
Los Angeles, California – Great Funeral Demonstration Held for FW Mikolasek

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of May 23, 1912:

GREAT FUNERAL DEMONSTRATION
FOR MIKOLASCK.

(Special Telegram to the “Worker.”)

WNF Mikolasek Funeral, LA Eve Exp p17, May 13, 1912

Los Angeles, Cal., May 13.-Fifteen hundred rebels were in line at the funeral of our brave fellow worker and comrade Joseph Mikelasck [Mikolasek], who was murdered by the San Diego police on the seventh inst. It was the greatest demonstration in the history of the city. The banner of the Industrial Workers of the World led the procession and the groups which followed carried red flags. Along the line of march the “Red Flag” and “Marseillaise” were sung. Parade traversed the business district and the police were forced to aid the parade by stopping traffic. The banners carried in the parade read:

“With the suppression of free speech our liberties are gone.”

“We are organized, not for riot and disorder, but for universal peace.”

“The defenders of liberty are jailed and murdered. The vigilantes go free.”

“He had nothing to give but his life, that he gave freely.”

“Our fellow worker who was murdered in the fight for free speech in San Diego.”

“Our silence in the grave will be more powerful than the voices you strangled today.”

Going along Hill Street the procession was joined by a body of Mexicans who threw down their tools in response to the cry of  

“ONE BIG UNION FOR ALL”

J. J. McKELVEY.

[Emphasis added; newsclip added from Los Angeles Express of May 13, 1912.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Coal Miners, Men and Boys, Mangled or Suffocated in Fraterville Mine Explosion at Coal Creek, Tennessee

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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MnDs Fraterville TN, Jake to Ellen Goodbye, Offbeat TN—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 22, 1902
Coal Creek, Tennessee – At Least One Hundred Men and Boys Lost in Mine Explosion

From the Akron Daily Democrat of May 19, 1902:

HdLn MnDs Fraterville TN, Akron Dly Dem p1, May 19, 1902

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1912, Part III: Speaks in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana on Behalf of Harriman Strikers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Mother Jones, LW p3, Apr 20, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 21, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1912, Part III
Found Traveling  and Speaking in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana

From The Labor World of April 20, 1912:

HdLn Mother Jones at Head of Lakes, LW p1, Apr20, 1912

Mary Jones, the little mother of the miners, and familiarly known throughout the country as Mother Jones, was a visitor in Duluth Monday and Tuesday. She delivered an address Monday evening at the Lincoln Park Auditorium in the interest of the shop employes of the Harriman lines who are on strike.

Mother Jones has been sent out by the United Mine Workers’ Union to help the striking railroad men. She is meeting with much success in soliciting funds. A fairly good collection was taken up at the Lincoln Park meeting.

During her visit to Duluth, Mother Jones spent much of her time in the office of the Labor World. We have’ known her for almost twenty years, and blamed if she does not look younger today than she did two decades ago. She attributes her youthful appearance to the fact that she has not been in jail lately nor has she been quarantined for smallpox.

Is Eighty Years of Age.

Mother Jones will be eighty years of age on May first. She is as active and as sprightly as a woman of thirty. She never looked better in her life. Her complexion is as clear as that of a baby and there is not the sign of a furrow on her kind old face.

Fight? When she is asked a question about labor conditions in the mining regions of America, her eyes flash, her mouth is set firm, her fist is clenched and she stretches out her arm with the vigor and force of an athlete. She tells a story of social injustice that reaches the heart of the most hardened.

In her speech at Lincoln Park the daily newspapers dwelled only upon the shafts she hurled at men and women of the toady type who “bend the cringing hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning.”

Knows the Labor Movement.

Mother Jones understands the philosophy of the labor movement. She has a peculiar way, which is distinctly her own, of driving her points right to the hearts of her listeners. For a moment she will philosophically discuss the growth and development of production; then like a flash she will clinch her argument with a militant attack upon both men and women who are responsible for injustices that have been permitted to creep into the industrial system.

Mother Jones is said to be without fear. During her strenuous life she has been cast into prison, confined in bull pens, driven at the points of bayonets, and once or twice has had a pistol aimed close to her face by willing servants of the capitalistic class…..

From The Butte Miner of April 25, 1912:

Mother Jones Ad for Lecture, Btt Mnr p10, Apr 25, 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1912, Part II: Speaks in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota on Behalf of Harriman Strikers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Mother Jones, LW p3, Apr 20, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 20, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1912, Part II
Found Traveling Through Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota

From The Butte Miner of April 1, 1912:

HdLn Mother Jones Spks, Btt Mnr p5, Apr 1, 1912

 “Mother” Jones, a national figure in labor circles, a woman who has done a life’s work in the furtherment of the cause of humanity, regardless of position or circumstance, last night, with a vigor at her 89 years that would put to shame the lassitude of her sisters with less milestones to account for, made a stirring address before the Silver Bow Trades and Labor council that, in lasting an hour or more, was considered too short.

She spoke first as an accredited representative of the federated employes of the Harriman system of railroads, now on strike. But she went further and covered details of the labor situation generally that appealed with telling force to her audience. Her talk was frequently interrupted by applause and was given with a spirit of conviction that carried weight…..

—————

From The Fargo Forum of April 9, 1912:

MOTHER JONES SCORED TEDDY
———-

NOTED INDUSTRIAL WORKER’S LECTURER WHO APPEARED AT ASSEMBLY
HALL LAST NIGHT, SCORED ROOSEVELT AND J. P. MORGAN.
———-

“Mother” Jones, 80 years of age and well known the country over as the industrial worker’s lecturer, appeared at the Assembly hall last night in a lecture on Social Conditions, which was heard by a large number of laboring men and others. “Mother” Jones is the official organizer of the United Mine Workers of America, and has traveled the world over in her efforts in this movement. Last night she was introduced “from God Knows where.”

“Mother” Jones took a fling at Col. Theodore Roosevelt in her address last night. She accused him of selling out the coal miners in the strike of 1912 [1902] soon after he came into the White House.

Then she also rapped the Men and Religion Forward movement, which she said was but another scheme of J. Pierpont Morgan to get money from the laboring men and classes he could not otherwise reach. Her speech was a firey one and she electrified her audience with her denunciations of different nation-wide movements.

She was accompanied here to Fargo by Rev. C. H. Doolittle of Chicago, called the workingman’s friend, who opened the meeting last night with prayer which he followed with a short address on the present situation of the strike on the Harriman lines.

Another speaker at the meeting was C. M. Fielder, organizer of the journeymen barbers, who has been here for several weeks, who also talked about the Harriman strikers.

—————

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