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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 18, 1914
Mother Jones Deported Out of Southern Colorado Strike Zone by Gen. Chase
From The Winnipeg Tribune of March 16, 1914:
“MOTHER JONES” DEPARTS
Trinidad, Colo., March 16.-“Mother” Mary Jones, noted woman strike leader, who has been a military prisoner in San Rafael hospital here since January 12, was put aboard a train quietly last night and sent out of the coal strike district. Her departure became known today. It was said this action was taken at her request and on orders of General John Chase.
“Mother” Jones was taken to Denver.
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[Drawing and emphasis added.]
From El Paso Herald of March 16, 1914:
WOMAN LEADER IS DEPORTED;
IS STILL ANGRY
———-DECLARES SHE IS SURE TO RETURN
———-
“Mother” Jones Now in Denver, Says She Was Deported
Late at Night by Military Authorities and Sent Away
on a Ticket Paid For by the State;
Goes to Call on the Governor.
———-Trinidad. Colo., March 16-“Mother” Mary Jones, noted woman strike leader, who has been a military prisoner in San Rafael hospital here since January 12, was put aboard a train quietly last night [March 15th] and sent out of the coal strike district. Her departure became known today.
She went to Denver. The military authorities proceeded with the utmost secrecy to remove “Mother” Jones. She was arrested at a local hotel here January 12, after having been deported from the district the week previous and told not to return. Since her confinement several efforts have been made to secure her release.
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Denver, Colo., March 16-That she was deported from Trinidad; that she was accompanied by Denver militia officers, taken to a hotel and was not told she had been released; that she expects to return to the strike zone soon, was the substance of a statement made today by “Mother” Mary Jones, noted strike leader, who has been a military prisoner at San Rafael hospital in Trinidad since January 12.
Her statement was given to a group of newspaper men at the conclusion of a conference with Horace N. Hawkins, attorney for the United Mine Workers of America, Immediately thereafter she left for the state house to call upon Governor E. M. Ammons.
Rearrest Threatened.
General Chase stated “Mother” Jones will be arrested whenever she returns to Trinidad.
“Mother” Jones was put upon an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe train last night [Sunday March 15th], arriving in Denver early today. She was accompanied by Col. W. A. Davis, of the Colorado National Guard.
“Mother” Jones declared that the state bought the ticket on which she came to Denver. She declared she intended returning to Trinidad to demand her mail, explaining that no mail had been delivered to her during her detention. She stated that she had received considerate treatment at the hospital, but had suffered somewhat from the confinement.
Confers With Governor
In the conference with the governor were his secretary, Claude W. Fairchild, “Mother” Jones, John Lawson, John McLennan, union officials, and Horace N. Hawkins.
Telegrams were sent to M. D. Foster, chairman of the house committee on mines and mining, and representative Edward Keating of Colorado by John Lawson, relating the incident of “Mother ” Jones being brought to Denver.
Didn’t Consent to Trip, She Says
In her statement to newspaper men, “Mother” Jones said:
I never asked to talk with governor Ammons and I never gave my consent to the trip to Denver. Sunday night a military officer came to me and told me to pack my clothes quick, as it was almost train time. He took pains to tell me I was not being deported.
Boarded Train a Crossing.
We did not board the train at the depot, but it was stopped at a crossing. We arrived in Denver early today, and I was taken to a hotel. They did not even tell me whether or not I was free.
Mr Hawkins then took up the narrative.
“I telephoned to Gen. Chase,” he said, “and he told me that ‘Mother’ Jones was released. I then called up Governor Ammons and he said that he had not been advised that ‘Mother’ Jones wanted to see him. I informed him that she had no desire to talk with him, but would call at his office if he invited her to do so.
“He said: ’Well, then I invite her to call.’”
She Complains of Detention.
“Mother” Jones complained vigorously of the manner in which she had been arrested and detained. “If I have done any thing wrong why have they not charged me with a crime in court?” she demanded of the assembled newspaper men. “Why have they resorted to this trick to release me just before the supreme court was to pass upon my habeas corpus suit?”
“Mother” Jones gave her vision of the events preceding her arrest. She said the day before the Forbes battle a man came to her room at a Trinidad hotel and told her the guards were preparing to raid the tent colonies.
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[Emphasis added.]
From The Denver Post of March 16, 1914
-Statement of Mother Jones:
[Regarding Mother Jones, General Chase said:]
“I consider her dangerous and if left at large in the strike zone
she would cause riot and disturbances.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Chase No Own State, RMN p3, Jan 12, 1914
https://www.genealogybank.com///image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-1478F5FED1489F20@2420145-14776648A6574308@2
The Winnipeg Tribune
(Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
-Mar 16, 1914
https://www.newspapers.com/image/43254991/
El Paso Herald
(El Paso, Texas)
-Mar 16, 1914
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88084272/1914-03-16/ed-1/seq-1/
The Denver Post
(Denver, Colorado)
-Mar 16, 1914
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C7581AC4BD0728@GB3NEWS-136D66274372E770@2420208-136C6040AA446388@3
IMAGE
Mother Jones Hell Hounds by Art Young, Masses p7, Feb 1914
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/masses/issues/tamiment/t35-v05n05-m33-feb-1914.pdf
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 9, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Writ of Habeas Corpus Denied for Mother Jones
Tag: Military Despotism Colorado 1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/military-despotism-colorado-1914/
Tag: Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1913-1914/
Mar 16, 1914 – Chicago Day Book
-General Chase called Mother Jones a “dangerous agitator.”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-03-16/ed-2/seq-31/
Mar 16, 1914 – Trinidad Chronicle News
-Mother Jones quietly deported from Trinidad.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1914-03-16/ed-1/seq-1/
Mar 16, 1914 – The Milwaukee Leader
-Mother announced that she will immediately return to Trinidad.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045293/1914-03-16/ed-1/seq-3/
Mar 16, 1914 – The Denver Post
-Horace Hawkins, union attorney, charges that military used ruse to get Mother Jones out of Trinidad in order to check appeal on Habeas Corpus Writ.
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C7581AC4BD0728@GB3NEWS-136D66274372E770@2420208-136C6040A868BA00@0-136C6040A868BA00
Mar 17, 1914 – Trinidad Chronicle News
-Chase states he will arrest Mother Jones should she return to southern Colorado strike zone.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1914-03-17/ed-1/seq-1/
Mar 17, 1914 – Rocky Mountain News
-Attorney Hawkins says Mother Jones will return to strike zone despite military’s “trick” to avoid State Supreme Court ruling on habeas corpus.
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A4C51855A00@2420209-1477B8E47A4A2650@11-1477B8E47A4A2650
In her Autobiography, Mother Jones gives this account of her release:
[O]n Sunday [March 15, 1914], colonel Davis came to me and said that the governor wanted to see me in Denver.
The colonel and a subordinate came for me that night at nine o’clock. As we went down the hall, I noticed there was not a soldier in sight. There was none in the elevator. There was none in the entrance way. Everything was strangely silent. No one was about. A closed automobile waited us. We three got in.
“Drive the back way!” said the colonel to the chauffeur.
We drove through dark, lonely streets. The curtains of the machine were down. It was black outside and inside. It was the one time in my life that I thought my end had come; that I was to say farewell to the earth, but I made up my mind that I would put up a good fight before passing out of this life!
When we reached the Santa Fe crossing I was put aboard the train. I felt great relief, for the strike had only begun and I had much to do. I went to bed and slept till we arrived in Denver. Here I was met by a monster, called General Chase, whose veins run with ice water. He started to take me to Brown Palace Hotel. I asked him if he would permit me to go to a less aristocratic hotel, to the one I usually stopped at. He consented, telling me he would escort me to the governor at nine o’clock.
I was taken before the governor that morning. The governor said to me, “I am going to turn you free but you must not go back to the strike zone!”
“Governor,” I said, “I am going back.”
“I think you ought to take my advice,” he said, “and do what I think you ought to do.”
“Governor,” said I, “if Washington took instructions from such as you, we would be under King George’s descendants yet! If Lincoln took instructions from you, Grant would never have gone to Gettysburg. I think I had better not take your orders.”
[Emphasis added.]
From:
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
-ed by Mary Field Parton
Charles H Kerr, 1925
From Chapter XXI: “In Rockefeller’s Prisons”
https://archive.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/21/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Charge on Mother Jones · Utah Phillips
THE CHARGE ON MOTHER JONES
(William M. Rogers)
The patriotic soldiers came marching down the pike,
Prepared to shoot and slaughter in the Colorado strike;
With whiskey in their bellies and vengeance in their souls,
They prayed that God would help them shoot the miners full of
holes.
In front of these brave soldiers loomed a sight you seldom see:
A white-haired rebel woman whose age was eighty-three.
“Charge!” cried the valiant captain, in awful thunder tones,
And the patriotic soldiers “CHARGED” and captured Mother Jones.
‘Tis great to be a soldier with a musket in your hand,
Ready’ for any bloody work the lords of earth command.
‘Tis great to shoot a miner and hear his dying groans
But never was such glory as that “charge” on Mother Jones!
Note: Mr. Rogers, recited this to the W. Virginia Federation of
Labor sometime between 1917 and 1920
https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=6037#google_vignette
From the Fairmont West Virginian of May 31, 1919:
W. M. Rogers, Fairmont, president of the State Federation of Labor
Tag: William M Rogers
https://weneverforget.org/tag/william-m-rogers/
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