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Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 8, 1909
Missoula, Montana – Committee Protests Execution of Prof. Ferrer
From The Daily Missoulian of November 4, 1909:
SPAIN IS DENOUNCED BY RESOLUTION
—–OPEN-AIR MEETING IN MISSOULA PROTESTS
AGAINST FERRER’S EXECUTION.
—–[-by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.]
A protest has been made in Missoula against the execution of Francisco Ferrer, a set of resolutions having been passed at an open-air meeting at the corner of Higgins avenue and Main street. The protest is expressed in the following words:
Whereas, On October 13, 1909, in the fortress of Montjuic, at Barcelona, Spain, Francisco Ferrer was murdered by the Spanish government, and
Whereas, He died bravely, this gentle scholar and brilliant educator of workingmen’s children, with the cry, “Long live the modern schools” on his lips, and
Whereas, His only “crime” was his unswerving devotion to the ideals of freedom and his belief that workingmen’s children should not be given over to a clerical institution to have faith and dogmas moulded into their young minds, but should be taught to think and reason, and
Whereas, He was accused of stirring up anti-war riots in Barcelona and of advocating the establishment of a republic in Spain, both of which are deeds to be proud of and applauded by Americans, and
Whereas, No proofs were produced to sustain the charge against him of burning a cloister but statements from prisoners, wrung from them in unspeakable dungeons by torture, be it
Resolved, That we, citizens of Missoula, Mont., assembled, do protest against the murder of Professor Ferrer as a reverting to the methods of the dark ages and a crime against civilization; that we denounce the king, Alfonso of Spain, and the Vatican for their refusals to interfere and the Spanish government for confiscating the property of Ferrer, leaving his family destitute; and be it further
Resolved, That we indorse the ideas of Professor Ferrer and express our hope that his death may not be in vain, but will bear fruit in the overthrow of tyranny in Spain and the establishment of a government of, for and by the working people, and that we further express our hope that the ideas of economic, religious and social freedom may spread in this country, that we may establish a co-operative commonwealth of toilers world wide.
ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN,
Committee.[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Quote Ferrer, Aim Well, per Avrich, Modern School Mv-p32
https://books.google.com/books?id=X6X_AwAAQBAJ
The Daily Missoulian
(Missoula, Montana)
-Nov 4, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025316/1909-11-04/ed-1/seq-10/
IMAGE
Francisco Ferrer, Canton SD Farmer Leader-p3, Nov 5, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn00065127/1909-11-05/ed-1/seq-3/
See also:
Francisco Ferrer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Ferrer
Francisco Ferrer
https://libcom.org/library/on-francisco-ferrer
Francisco Ferrer:
His life, work and martyrdom,
with messages written especially for this brochure by Ernest Haeckel, Maxim Gorky, Edward Carpenter, Havelock Ellis, Jack London and others.
-Francisco Ferrer Association
NY, 1910
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005944550
Ferrer Guardia, Francisco, 1859-1909
-Online Book Page
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Ferrer%20Guardia%2C%20Francisco%2C%201859%2D1909
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The Red Flag