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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 4, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Determined to Carry on Free Speech Fight
From The Spokane Press of November 3, 1909:
[…..]
That 75 socialists are mingled with the scores of revolutionists arrested here yesterday and this morning for speaking on the streets in violation of the city’s ordinance, is an assertion made to The Press this morning by leading members of the Industrial Workers of the World.
[…..]
In Court
Profound interest settles about the trials of the revolutionists in the police court this afternoon. Judge Mann’s decision of these cases means mush. Should he decide the men guilty and uphold the city ordinance, which is almost identical to the one that he declared invalid yesterday morning, the fight will continue with renewed vigor and determination; while, should his decision be a dismissal of the cases, the street meetings will be continued under the regulation of the police.
In a statement made yesterday in the police court, Attorney Fred H. Moore, for the Industrial Workers of the World, said that that order was willing that the street meetings should be regulated by the police after a reasonable manner, but that the city could not prohibit them.
War against Spokane’s street speaking prohibition has begun today with renewed vigor and with more determination than ever by the Industrial Workers of the World. The revolutionists’ fight was cheeked for a few hours last night because of the arrest of their executive committee, which, from the seclusion of headquarters, was directing the fight outside.
A great mass meeting has been called in Portland, Ore., for the purpose of concentrating the interest of the revolutionists’ vast forces of the coast on the fight going on in Spokane.A telegram stating that about 200 more men have left Portland to come here, and that more will be sent as the result of the mass meeting, has been received.
Captains to head squads of five men are being appointed by the executive committee to go to designated places on the streets and speak till every member of the squad has been arrested. A general call for more volunteer martyrs to the cause is being issued from headquarters this morning, and it is estimated that at least 200 men of the order will throw themselves into the hands of the police today.
An order is posted in the I. W. W. headquarters calling upon every man to do his utmost to keep down rowdyism and disturbance aside from common street speaking. It tells them to turn such persons over to the police and have them jailed, in order that the “dirty work of the thugs and the Pinkertons” may be prevented. The I. W. W. officials openly charge members of the Pinkerton detective service with creating many of the disturbances that have been charged to the revolutionists here in the past.
Another notice that scoffs at the contention of the police that they have broken the backbone of the order by the arrest of its executive committee is also posted. It urges these detailed to speak to “show the authorities that the police are as ignorant as ‘bulls’ usually are.” Up till 10:15 o’clock this morning 11 men had been placed in jail on charges of disorderly conduct for speaking on the street, aside from the numbers that were arrested yesterday.
The fire department has been called on to assist the police in case the latter force is inadequate to cope with the situation. The order has been made by Fire Commissioner Armstrong.
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18 MINERS JOIN FIGHT
—–Eighteen members of the Western Federation of Miners, who lent their voices in the fight of the I. W. W. for free speech, joined the I. W. W.’s and socialists in jail this afternoon.
One of the leaders gathered 18 of his fellow workers together and started in to hold a meeting on Front avenue. It took but a few moments to book them in the city jail.
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCE & IMAGES
The Spokane Press
(Spokane, Washington)
-Nov 3, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1909-11-03/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1909-11-03/ed-1/seq-2/
See also:
Tag: Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909-1910
https://weneverforget.org/tag/spokane-free-speech-fight-of-1909-1910/
“The Spokane Free Speech Fight-1909”
-by John Panzner
-for Writers Group Journal of Sept 1959
-issued by West Side U. A. W. Retired Workers’ Center in Detroit
From:
Rebel Voices
-ed by Joyce L. Kornbluh
PM Press, 2011
(Search: John Panzner 1883)
https://books.google.com/books?id=n2ATBwAAQBAJ
Found also:
Fellow Workers and Friends
I.W.W. Free Speech Fights as Told by Participants
ed by Philip S Foner
Greenwood Press, 1981
-see page 71, spelled: “Pancner”
https://books.google.com/books?id=y4yxAAAAIAAJ
Note: in this memoir Panzner describes coming to Spokane Free Speech Fight with Walter Nef from Portland, Oregon; the formation of the committees, and his time in city and county jail.
Note: to search for John Panzner online, use:
-iww + pancer; iww + pancner; iww + panzner
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There is Power in The Union – Utah Phillips
Lyrics by Joe Hill