———-
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 27, 1921
Leavenworth, Kansas – Fellow Workers Report to Prison Voluntarily
From The Leavenworth Times of April 26, 1921:
PRISON WELCOMES TWENTY
WOBBLIES TO ITS ROCK PILE.
———-INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF WORLD
REPORTED VOLUNTARILY YESTERDAY.
———-SAY ‘HAYWOOD IS COMING’
———-Charles Ashleigh, Oxford Graduate, Ralph H. Chaplin, Artist-Poet,
Ben Fletcher, Walking Delegate and Other “Leading Lights”
Among Those Who Re-Entered Federal Penitentiary
-Several Refuse to Believe “Big Bill” Fled to Escape Sentence.
———-
Twenty of the forty-six Industrial Workers of the World, convicted for violation of the espionage law and obliged to return to the Federal penitentiary because the United States supreme court denied an appeal on a trial review, reported voluntarily yesterday.
“Haywood will be here soon,” declared most of the “wobblies,” who reported yesterday. They refuse to believe that “Big Bill,” their international secretary and chieftain, fled to Russia to escape the prison sentence of five to twenty years.
Stanley J. Clark, Chicago attorney, under sentence of ten years, was the first to report. He arrived yesterday morning from Fort Worth, Tex. Charles Bennett, also under sentence of ten years, was the twentieth man to report, being “dressed in” at 5 o’clock yesterday evening.
Twelve “wobblies” marched through the prison gates in one group. Among the twelve were Ben Fletcher, walking delegate for the I. W, W. and the only colored man in the entire consignment Charles Ashleigh, Englishman and graduate of Oxford University, and Ralph H. Chaplin, artist and poet, who was detailed by the “wobblies” to investigate the Centralia, Wash., conspiracy. Nizra Pietro [Pietro Nigra], who drew the shortest sentence, only ten months, also reported.
The “wobblies” to report yesterday were:
Ten months: Nizra Pietro [Pietro Nigra].
Five years: W. H. Lewis. Joe Graber, John M. Foss, Charles H. McKinnon, William Weyh.
Ten years: Joseph J. Gordon, Francis Miller, John Walsh, Ben Fletcher, Jack Law, Albert B. Kreschner [Prashner], Edward W. Doree, Charles Ashleigh, Stanley J. Clark, Charles Bennett.
Twenty years: Walter T. Neff [Nef], Ralph H. Chaplin.
During their previous incarceration virtually all of the “wobblies” who reported yesterday, established good prison records. With a few exceptions, however, the “wobblies” will be assigned today to work on the prison rock pile.
Most of the other I. W. W.’s, with the exception of Haywood, are expected to report today by prison officials.
Convicted for violation of the espionage act, obstructing the army draft, attempting to delay the war program and for other acts of disloyalty, the “wobblies” were sent to the Federal penitentiary in September of 1918. They were released on bail for a review of their trial on the contention that search warrants used by federal agents in obtaining most of the evidence against them were invalid, that neither warrants nor the supporting affidavits “adequately described either the places to be raided, nor did they recite any facts showing probable cause for the issuance of said warrants.”
The legal battle for freedom was lost, the first decision remaining unchanged after the review. An appeal to the United States supreme court was denied and all of the released men reverted to their former status of prisoners, which they must assume not later than tomorrow.
According to advice furnished to prison officials the whereabouts of all but Haywood and one or two others are known. Some of the men reported to federal agents, claiming they were without funds to reach the prison.
Chicago, April 25.-Dispirited and leaderless in the absence of William D. “Big Bill” Haywood who automatically became a fugitive from justice, a few I. W. W.’s departed tonight for the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kans., to complete their sentences for obstructing the nation’s war work.
They were the Chicago contingent of the forty-seven I. W. W. denied a new trial by the United States supreme court and who were ordered back to prison for terms varying from five to twenty years after having been at liberty on bonds. Every effort will be exerted by the department of justice to obtain Haywood’s apprehension. It was announced by federal officials.
With four members who departed last night for Leavenworth, fourteen members of the I. W. W. in Chicago have been accounted for as follows: John Balsazzi [Giovanni Baldazzi], Ragner Johanson [Johannsen], Pietro Nigra, James Rowan, Sigfrid Stenberg, Frank Westlund [Westerlund], Dan Buckley , Claud Hough, Harry Lloyd, Charles Plahn, William Tanner, Vincent St. John, Joseph Gordon and Ralph C. Chapman [Ralph Chaplin].
Alexander Cornos [Cournos], who was expected to depart with tonight’s contingent, did not appear and George Andreytchine notified federal officials that he would leave tomorrow.
The prisoners were accompanied to the train by a sad faced group of wives, sweethearts and friends, who stood about in silent groups, several of the women weeping on their husband’s arms.
The prisoners were accompanied only by John J. Bradley, United States marshal, and were not handcuffed.
———-
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Bars and Shadows, Mourn Not the Dead, by Ralph Chaplin
London, 1922
https://archive.org/details/barsshadows00chaprich/page/14/mode/2up
The Leavenworth Times
(Leavenworth, Kansas)
-Apr 26, 1921
https://www.newspapers.com/image/76609438/
IMAGE
IWW Chg Class War Prisoners bf Leaving for Leavenworth,
-Late Apr 1921, with Names fr Messenger p235, Aug 1921
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/social/id/485/rec/5
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2904888&view=1up&seq=53
See also:
Tag: Chicago IWW Class War Prisoners
https://weneverforget.org/tag/chicago-iww-class-war-prisoners/
American Political Prisoners
Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts
-by Stephen Martin Kohn
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994
(search with names above)
https://books.google.com/books?id=-_xHbn9dtaAC
-re indictments, see:
International Socialist Review of Nov/Dec 1917, pages 268-279
-note list of names on page 270
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v18n05-n06-nov-dec-1917-ISR-Harv-gog-ocr.pdf
-re trial, see:
The I.W.W. Trial
Story of the Greatest Trial in Labor’s History
-by one of the Defendants, Harrison George
—-with introduction by A. S. Embree.
IWW, Chicago, 1919
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100663067
Tag: IWW Federal Trial Chicago 1918
https://weneverforget.org/tag/iww-federal-trial-chicago-1918/
Wobbly
The Rough-and-tumble Story of an American Radical
-by Ralph Chaplin
University of Chicago Press, 1948
https://books.google.com/books?id=n-ygPQAACAAJ
Ben Fletcher
The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly
-by Peter Cole
PM Press, Dec 1, 2020
https://books.google.com/books?id=mlYEEAAAQBAJ
From The Messenger of August 1921:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mourn Not the Dead by Ralph Chaplin