Hellraisers Journal: Salt Lake County Sheriff Continues Preparations for Execution of FW Joe Hill

Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 15, 1915
From The Salt Lake Tribune:
Sheriff Corless Prepares for Execution of FW Joe Hill

At this time, the only man that stands between Fellow Worker Joe Hill and a Utah firing squad is Governor William Spry. Preparations by Sheriff Corless continue apace for the execution of our Rebel Songwriter who now has less than four days left to live. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

GOVERNOR GETS MORE HILLSTROM LETTERS
—–
Preparations for Execution of Condemned Man
Continued by Sheriff.
—–

Yesterday was devoid of occurrence of significance in the case of Joseph Hillstrom, condemned to be shot Friday morning for the murder of John G. Morrison, except in that its passing shortened the time allotted him for life from five to four days.

Several special delivery letters were received by Governor William Spry in relation to the execution, but the governor said last night that they were of the usual order. Other letters are probably among the accumulation that will be delivered at the governor’s office this morning. Governor Spry said that the situation was the same as it had been for some time past, no word having been received from any person of official standing with regard to the case. Oscar W. Carlson, Swedish vice consul in Salt Lake, said last night that he had received no further word from the Swedish minister or other officials with regard to Hillstrom. He said that so far as he knew at the time of speaking there remained nothing to do in behalf of the condemned man.

In the meantime everything is in readiness for the carrying out of the lawful requirements just ninety-six hours from this morning at sunrise. The firing squad that was engaged and instructed by Sheriff John S. Corless for October 1, when Hillstrom would have been shot but for the governor’s reprieve, will do duty next Friday morning, barring an interruption as unforeseen as the last one. Sheriff Corless will visit Hillstrom in his cell next Thursday as a matter of courtesy, as he did on September 30, and ask the condemned man if he has any request or message to impart. As he did upon the last visit, he will remind the man that he is to be executed upon the morrow. In spite of Hillstrom’s reputed calm, the sheriff’s visit incident to the expected carrying out of the execution perturbed the man considerably, it is said. Whether or not hope of another eleventh-hour intervention will help him to preserve his stoical front more effectually upon the coming interview remains to be seen.

[Photograph added.]

From today’s Boston Post:

Hope that the Governor will grant another reprieve of the death sentence is fading fasts. Nevertheless, supporters continue to rally on behalf of Joe Hill.

NEW TRIAL ASKED FOR HILLSTROM
—–
Ettor Appeals for Protests
to Be Sent Wilson
—–

A protest against the conviction of Joseph Hillstrom, the I. W. W. poet and song writer who has been sentenced to face a firing squad in Salt Lake City at daybreak, Friday, is now arousing the same country-wide interest that brought a general demand for commutation in the instance of Leo Frank, according to speakers for his defence in Boston yesterday.

Several meetings were held in this city yesterday in behalf of the youth, who many believe is sacrificing his life to shield the name of a woman.

—–

ETTOR PRINICIPAL SPEAKER

The principal gathering of the day was in Franklin Union Hall where Joseph Ettor, I. W. W. organizer, reviewed the Hillstrom case and laid emphasis on the alleged “unfair deal” that has been given the condemned man in Utah’s courts.

Meanwhile many Swedish organizations throughout the city busied themselves with appeals to the nation’s head and to other authorities that might use influence to secure Hillstrom a new trial. There were also meetings in other cities throughout the country at the same moment. That the young man was of Swedish birth has brought many of his country men and their organizations into action.

Ettor told his audience that Hillstrom did not care for commutation of sentence to life imprisonment.

[Said the speaker:]

He would rather die than spend his remaining days in jail…The young man does not ask any favor nor does he appeal to sentiment. He demands a fair trial, and this the Mormons will not grant for he does not come of their school.

Our only appeal to save his life must now be made to the court that gives justice-namely the people of the country. If there is the same general demand that was made and produced results when my friend Giovannitti and I were in danger of death or life imprisonment, I have no doubt but what the legal minds of Utah can find a way to give this Hillstrom lad a chance to prove his innocence at a fairly conducted trial.

Mr. Ettor then recited the events leading up to Hillstrom’s conviction and urged the gathering to send telegrams to Governor Spry of Utah and to President Wilson. He declared that it was too late for letters through the mail as they would not reach Utah before “Hillstrom has been murdered.”

Resolutions were adopted calling for a “fair trial,” and with many signatures the resolutions were sent in the form of telegrams to both Washington and Salt Lake City.

—–

[Photograph added.]

Solidarity’s “Joe Hill Special” of November 13, 1915:

The current edition of I. W. W. newspaper, Solidarity was published on November 13th and is dedicated as the “JOE HILL SPECIAL”. At the top of the front page is the schematic diagram (featured yesterday by Hellraisers) of the prison yard where Fellow Worker Hill will be shot on Friday, November 19th, four days from today. The issue describes a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where three thousand marched in support of Fellow Worker Joe Hill. Also included is a poem by Joseph (Wild Joe) O’Carrol entitled “To the Governor of the Sovereign State of Utah.”

Ultimately, the legalized murder of Fellow Worker Joe Hill is upon the shoulders of Governor William Spry.

~~~~~~~~~~SOURCES

The Salt Lake Tribune
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
-Nov 15, 1915
http://newspaperarchive.com/us/utah/salt-lake-city/salt-lake-tribune/1915/11-15/page-8

Boston Post
(Boston, Massachusetts)
-Nov 15, 1915
http://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-post/1915/11-15/page-16

The Man Who Never Died:
The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon
-by William M. Adler
Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Aug 30, 2011
https://books.google.com/books?id=nCwHDiXYMRMC

Joe Hill
-by Gibbs M. Smith
Gibbs Smith, Sep 1, 2009
https://books.google.com/books?id=wFwsHQVuHVUC

IMAGES
Sunset Magazine, Nov 1915, UT Gov Spry, Joe Hill
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=IUFEAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA855
Joe Ettor Speaks in Boston for Joe Hill, Boston Globe, Nov 8, 1915
http://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-daily-globe/1915/11-08/page-28

Joseph Carroll, Wild Joe, about 1918
Artful Lives:
Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, and the Bohemians of Los Angeles
-by Beth Gates Warren
(search:”joseph wild”)
This is a great book!!
https://books.google.com/books?id=6e-GshOGqsIC

Wooden Shoe
https://msp3196.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/anarchy-in-the-phl-the-wooden-shoe-as-an-anarchist-safe-space/

See also, for more on Wild Joe O’Carroll:

See link above at Artful Lives

An example of Wild Joe’s poetry:
https://archive.org/stream/overlandmonthlyo84johnrich#page/146/mode/1up/search/ocarroll

Note: Not having access to Solidarity online is frustrating. But I wanted to include information on the “Joe Hill Special” edition in the hopes that those who are able to do so will be encouraged to make the newspaper available to those of us who would like to have it available online

See also, for more on the Ettor and Giovannitti Trial:
Arturo Giovannitti’s Address to the Jury
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/giovannittijury.html
“To Joseph J. Ettor on his 27th Birthday” by Arturo Giovannitti
https://archive.org/stream/arrowsingale00glovrich#page/n71/mode/2up

Information from Archie Green via Gibbs Smith:

The Eighth Edition of the Little Red Songbook, published in Cleveland and dated December, 1914, was dedicated as the “Joe Hill Edition.” There were no new Joe Hill song’s in that edition, but there was a poem headed by a drawing of a wooden shoe entitled “The Rebel’s Toast.” The poem appears under the song “Liberty Forever,” but Green believes that the two are not related and states that there is no evidence to indicate that Joe Hill intended for the poem to be sung.

The Rebel’s Toast
-by Joe Hill

If Freedom’s road seems rough and hard,
And strewn with rocks and thorns,
Then put your wooden shoes on, pard,
And you won’t hurt your corns.
To organize and teach, no doubt,
Is very good — that’s true,
But still we can’t succeed without
The Good Old Wooden Shoe.

The Ninth Edition of the Little Red Songbook was published in Cleveland in March of 1916 and was dedicated as the “Joe Hill Memorial Edition.” Four new songs, Joe Hill’s Last Will, and Joe Hill’s Farewell Message were featured therein, including “Workers of the World, Awaken!” on pages 1-2.

Workers of the World, Awaken!
-words and music by Joe Hill

Workers of the world, awaken!
Break your chains. demand your rights.
AII the wealth you make is taken
By exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission
From your cradles to your graves?
ls the height of your ambition
To be good and willing slaves?

CHORUS:
Arise, ye prisoners of starvation!
Fight for your own emancipation;
Arise, ye slaves of every nation.
In One Union grand.
Our little ones for bread are crying,
And millions are from hunger dying;
The end the means is justifying,
‘Tis the final stand.

If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.

Join the union, fellow workers,
Men and women, side by side;
We will crush the greedy shirkers
Like a sweeping, surging tide;
For united we are standing,
But divided we will fall;
Let this be our understanding —
“All for one and one for all.”

Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might;
Take the wealth that you are making,
It belongs to you by right.
No one will for bread be crying,
We’ll have freedom, love and health.
When the grand red flag is flying
In the Workers’ Commonwealth.

Source for poem:
http://www.folkarchive.de/rebtoast.html
Source for song lyrics:
http://www.folkarchive.de/workers.html
Sure do wish I knew who this great performer is!
Can anyone tell us?