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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 14, 1911
Fresno, California – 94 Free Speech Fighters in Bullpen, 47×28 Feet
From the Appeal to Reason of February 11, 1911:
Court Crookedness in Fresno
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Some time ago the APPEAL printed a story about the fight on free speech at Fresno, signed by Mrs. W. F. [Emma] Little, a comrade of that city. The story resulted in Mrs. H. H. Roberts, of Connecticut, getting trace of a relative who had engaged in the fight and who was in jail at Fresno. F. W. Boyle, of Humboldt, Kan., and A. F. Boyle, of Dunneweg, Mo., also discovered that their cousin, Frank Little, was one of the prisoners of the free speech fight. The result has been a protest from various sections of the United States. It would be well for all acquainted with these parties and others to write to the chief of police and the police judge and the mayor of Fresno protesting against the imprisonment of these people. Following are some further facts furnished the Appeal relative to the fight by Comrade Mrs. Little:
Before the I. W. W. was organized at all the chief of police told my husband, “You mustn’t organize the common workers, for we have a raisin crop here that must be handled cheap. A painter belonging to the painters’ union here gets $4 a day and works eight hours. A man digging a ditch or picking raisins gets $1.50 to $2 a day and work ten hours. Both are out of work a good deal of the time.
In spite of the chief of police and his cheap raisin crop, my husband did his best to organize the common workers in the I. W. W., and shortly after a small local was formed. For some reason the chief of police got the idea into his head that the workers wouldn’t join the I. W. W. anyway, so he graciously allowed us to speak on the street. The chief was mistaken, and our local grew from fifteen to over a hundred in a couple of weeks. Then the chief took our permit to speak on the streets away from us. He informed my husband that he knew where his bread and butter came from.
We called a meeting for the dark Sunday afternoon to protest against our being denied the right to free speech. The supervisors refused to allow us the use of the park; but we got out our advertising just the same; and when hundreds of people gathered in the park that peaceful Sunday afternoon, they were met by the clubs of over a dozen policemen, some in uniform and some in plain clothes. Everyone asked why? For the park had, hitherto, been used freely by anyone who cared to address the public from its platform. From then on it was turned over to the ministerial union, for religious purposes only, and educational purposes were neglected. From that time we have not been permitted to speak on the streets of Fresno or in the park, with the exception of one or two addresses. The Salvation Army and other speakers have been allowed the use of the streets all that time.
However, we went quietly about our business of organization and were building up our local. The police couldn’t stand that. The raisin growers were after the police, also the packing house employers, and the railroad officials to get them to do something. So the police commenced arresting men on the charge of vagrancy and disturbing the peace. They would come up to a bunch of men talking industrial unionism on the street and order them to “move on.” They would see a number of I. W. W. men on the street as early as nine o’clock and order them to go home.
They arrested a number of men as vagrants, and the men proved that they were working at the time of their arrest. They arrested my husband, his brother [Frank Little], and two other I. W. W. men for disturbing the peace, and brought perjured testimony against them. My husband had such a clear alibi that they were forced to discharge him, but they convicted my brother-in-law and sentenced him to thirty days’ imprisonment. After a great deal of trouble my husband secured a warrent for one of the men who committed perjury. He was tried, found guilty and bound over to the superior court. He is out on bond, and it is needless to say will never be punished.
With the encouragement and help of other locals, our local decided that as long as they were to be harassed by the police, they just as well obtain the use of the streets while they were about it. But first they again asked the chief of police for a permit to speak on the streets. It was refused. Then they went to the mayor and the trustees of the city and presented them with a written request to be allowed to speak on the streets; this also was refused. Then one night eight boys, one after another got on the soap box on the street. The first one got to talk a few minutes, after that all the men could say would be “fellow worker” and the police would grab him and take him to jail.
There was no street speaking ordinance, and so they charged the men with vagrancy or disturbing the peace. Later they made an ordinance against street speaking.
There are about one hundred I. W. W. men in jail now with different charges, but all are arrested for the same offense. Only a few of the I. W. W. men have been tried. Some of the best speakers were tried and convicted of vagrancy, by juries of business men. Four of them got six months apiece, although they proved that they were not vagrants. Many of the boys have been imprisoned fifty-one days, today, without trial. For a long time they were not allowed to see anyone. Now they can see the people who call on them. Men accused of nothing worse than disturbing the peace or vagrancy held 51 days without a trial, part of the time not allowed to see their friends, and this happened not in Russia, but in Sunny California, that yon read so much about, “Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile.”
Frank Little was arrested on the charge of vagrancy. Frank is one of the 94 I. W. W. men confined in a bull pen, 47×28 feet. The officers of the state board of health say that then is air enough in the pen for 5 men. Most of the men confined in the bull pen have been out in the open air only once or twice since they were arrested. A good many of the men have been in there 53 days today, only a few have been tried. Frank has not been tried as yet.
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[Cartoon and emphasis added.]
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SOURCE
Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910
https://www.newspapers.com/image/606951967/
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Feb 11, 1911, page 3
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/110211-appealtoreason-w793.pdf
IMAGE
Cartoon Fresno FSF, IW p1, Jan 19, 1911
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v2n44-w96-jan-19-1911-IW.pdf
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 1, 1911
“They Are Mobbing Workers” by Mrs. Emma Little
-From the Appeal to Reason of December 31, 1910
Tag: Fresno Free Speech Fight of 1910-1911
https://weneverforget.org/tag/fresno-free-speech-fight-of-1910-1911/
-re Boyle cousins of Frank Little, note that Boyle does appear as family name in Botkin, see:
Frank Little and the IWW
The Blood That Stained an American Family
-by Jane Little Botkin
University of Oklahoma Press, May 25, 2017
(search: boyle)
https://books.google.com/books?id=ghskDwAAQBAJ
Note: Excellent source for Fresno Free Speech fight, and the part played by Emma Little in that struggle.
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The Popular Wobbly – The Grand Industrial Band
Lyrics by T-Bone Slim