—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 5, 1913
Hancock, Michigan – W. F. of M. District Union No. 16 Appeals to Labor Movement
From the Miners Magazine of September 4, 1913
-Dan Sullivan, C. E. Hietala, and John H. Walker Sign Appeal to Labor Movement:
…..Now, we turn to you, the organized workers of this country, in our hour of need. We stand united, determined to win. We are fighting one of the richest mining corporations in the world. It is as heartless as it is rich.
We have nothing but empty hands, our wives and children. They are urging us on, helping in the struggle. A northern winter will soon be here. We must have food and fuel. We are fighting this battle for all. We are willing to endure any sacrifice. The copper barons hope to drive us back to the mines through the hunger of our wives and children That is the only thing that can defeat us. Bayonets do not scare us, and thugs won’t mine copper.
If the mine managers of this district knew that the American labor movement was behingd us, that you would not see us defeated for the lack of bread, the fight would be won now.
Speak so that the copper kings and the world will know that you are behind us in this strike with your dollars as well as sympathies…..
[Emphasis added.]
From the Miners Magazine of September 4, 1913
-Joseph D. Cannon Indicts Michigan Governor Ferris-from Miners Bulletin:
…..Governor Ferris! I call you now before that bar of higher public opinion….and there indict you as an accessory before the fact of this lamentable double murder.
You cannot plead ignorance, for you were informed when these Waddell-Mahon thugs were brought here, what they are, and their purpose; you were told, when you permitted them to remain, why they were here and what would result, and instead of enforcing he statutory law of the state of Michigan, by removing these “gunmen,” the militia of the state was used to protect them in the depredations…..
Governor Ferris! When this fearful crime was perpetrated by which two of our number [WE NEVER FORGET Alois Tijan and Steve Putrich], with no chance of defense, with no warning of their impending doom, with no opportunity to prepare to meet their God according to the tenets of their religious beliefs, and when the room containing the fifteen people, of whom these two were of the number, and these occupants, men, women and children, were made the object of the fiendish sport of the local and imported gunners, and the resulting dead and wounded strewed the floors, the militia came, not to arrest the invaders of the home and its destroyers, the murderers of our brothers, but to protect them in their nefarious work and to stand guard while they endeavored to manufacture evidence, the purpose of which was to place the responsibility, not on the murderers, but on their victims. Friends were forbidden entrance to the stricken ones while the marauding band ransacked the house, doing as they willed, boasting the meantime of the big game brought down in their pleasurable sport…..
Not only is the power which is yours responsible for this double murder, but it is the more reprehensible in permitting the escape of the professional felons…..
Since this ghastly murder has been committed by those from who you get your “standard of gentlemanly conduct,” your mirth seems unbounded, and now, figuratively speaking, you revel, dog-like, in lapping the blood of the hated victims.-Miners Bulletin.
[Emphasis added.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Miners Bulletin p1, Aug 14, 1913
Copy in possession of JR
Miners Magazine
(Denver, Colorado)
-Sept 4, 1913
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506416&view=1up&seq=249
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506416&view=1up&seq=251
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506416&view=1up&seq=255
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506416&view=1up&seq=257
See also:
More from Miners Magazine of Sept 4th:
“The Strike of the Copper Miners” by J. L. Engdahl
and other articles re Michigan Copper Strike in this issue
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506416&view=1up&seq=260
Tag: Seeberville MI
https://weneverforget.org/tag/seeberville-mi/
Tag: Michigan Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/michigan-copper-country-strike-of-1913-1914/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~