Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 23, 1918
Mother Jones News for March 1918, Part III: Found in Evansville, Indiana
On Thursday evening March 28th, Mother Jones spoke before a meeting organized by the local labor leaders of Evansville, Indiana. She was there to speak on behalf of Tom Mooney now facing the gallows in San Francisco. The Evansville Press of March 29th described her speech:
URGES MOONEY BE SAVED FOR SAMMIES’ SAKE
Altho she’d much rather be in Europe “cleaning up on the kaiser,” Mother Jones told an audience of workers Thursday night that the business of the people at home was to fight for the Sammies here.
She said the way to do this was to save the life of Thomas Mooney, the labor leader who is being railroaded to the gallows in San Francisco at the behest of labor-crushing interests.
[She said:]
Sometimes I feel almost ashamed that I’m not over there, putting heart into those boys, so they can give the kaiser hell.
But my place is here, fight ing for them while they’re gone. When those boys come back, after having fought your battles across the sea for democracy, you’ll be able to say: “Boys, while you’ve been gone we haven’t shirked; we’ve fought and won your battles here for industrial democracy.”
PRAISES WILSON
As she said it, Mother Jones, better known as the “Angel of the Miners,” stooped her short, grandmotherly form until her hands rested on her knees, and wagged her head, until the snow white curls bobbed.
[She said:]
You couldn’t have had a better man than Woodrow Wilson in the executive chair. Of course, Roosevelt and his gang don’t like him, but God Almighty knows that they wouldn’t have known what to do in a time like this.
“That flag,” she said, pointing to the stars and stripes that hung on the stage of the high school auditorium,
-was given with the blood of men who fought for democracy; they wouldn’t have submitted to the kind of thing that you submit to. Why, that’s the reason that Washington led those men to fight; because George the Third brought his scabs over here and wouldn’t let them organize.
MOONEY A PATRIOT
[She said:]
And no one has any right to be a traitor to that flag, or this country. I know the kaiser pays traitors to do it; but they shouldn’t. Why, what did this country do? It opened its arms to the oppressed of all nations and said: “Come in and be free.” And that’s what the boys over there are fighting for, and that’s what we at home are fighting for. That’s what Mooney was doing-organizing the people so the children could have more to eat, and the thorns would be taken out of their paths.
And that dirty Chamber of Commerce-I beg your pardon; the Chamber of Crooks!-what did they do? They put a packed jury in the box; they perjured men to swear to lies, and when the judge, who was a fair judge, instructed the jury to give a fair verdict, the district attorney advised them to disregard the court’s instructions, and convict Mooney.
WILSON TO SAVE HIM
And now he’s on the road to be hanged. But he won’t be; PRESIDENT WILSON WON’T LET THEM COMMIT THAT CRIME!
Mother Jones told of the impossible charges that were often brought against organizers.
[She said:]
Why, once they came to me in the bull-pen, where they had me confined, and charged me with blowing up a bridge; me, who didn’t know a stick of dynamite when I saw it! And they charged me with stealing a machine gun; an old woman stealing a machine gun, and carrying it off on her back! Why, I just said: “Get the hell out of here!” and they went.
After the address by Mother Jones a resolution was adopted by the meeting, to be sent to the governor of California and to President Wilson, asking for the immediate release of Mooney, his wife and Warren K. Billings.
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[Emphasis and photograph added.]
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From The Evansville Courier of March 24, 1918:
MOTHER JONES TO PLEAD FOR MOONEY
—–
Will Address Meeting of Protest Here
Thursday Night Against Execution
of Labor Leader
—–Mother Jones is coming to Evansville.
This is her second visit to the city and from all appearances she likes the town.
She will be here Thursday evening to address a big meeting held in the high school auditorium as a remonstrance against the execution of Thomas Mooney of San Francisco. Mooney was convicted of conspiracy in connection with the bomb throwing at the preparedness parade in San Francisco July, 1916. It is claimed the evidence against him was perjured.
While in the city Mother Jones will be the guest of the Central Labor union whom she addressed at a Labor day celebration in 1916.
Elaborate plans are being made for the affair and efforts to secure three or four other out of town speakers are on foot. The meeting will be similar to ones held for the same purpose in New York and Chicago.
The committee in charge of the meeting Thursday night is made up of Arthur Yaser, chairman; W. F. Jaus, August G. Eltonhead, John Newbeck, Charles Fitch, jr., John Morninee, William Herrscher, Benjamin Tilicamp, Jacob Schadd, Leo Weisz, John Ruff, Robert Leigh, Victor Seizer, Fred Hohenberger and George Huber.
———-
From the Evansville Journal-News of March 27, 1918:
LOCAL LABOR TO TAKE BALLOT ON NATIONAL STRIKE
—–
Meeting Thursday Night Will Decide Attitude
of Evansville Men on Mooney Case
—–Whether local union men will go to the extent of entering a nation-wide strike of all union laborers, if such drastic action becomes necessary to save the life of Tom Mooney, labor leader, sentenced to death in San Francisco; will be decided Thursday evening at a mass meeting of all workmen in the high school auditorium. Mother Jones, famous friend of union labor, will arrive in Evansville Thursday morning from Louisville and will address the mass meeting at the high school.
Mother Jones is now going from city to city and urging the union men of each city to appeal to President Wilson for justice to Mooney. Mooney was convicted as one of the men who threw bombs on the big preparedness parade in San Francisco, Cal., in 1916. It has been asserted that he was convicted through perjured testimony and is not guilty. Several union organizations have declared they will join a nation-wide strike if the case against Mooney is not reopened and he is given a chance to prove his innocence.
Resolutions will be presented at the mass meeting in the high school Thursday evening asking that Mooney be given a new and fair trial. A resolution will also be presented to the effect that every union laborer of Evansville will join in the vast strike if their requests for justice are not granted.
Mooney was a well known labor leader and union men over the country assert the case was framed up on him in an attempt to get rid of his powerful influence.
Every union man in the city is urged to attend the meeting Thursday evening
———-
From The Evansville Courier of March 28, 1918:
MOTHER JONES TO TALK HERE TONIGHT
—–
Resolutions Against Execution of
Thomas Mooney Will Be
Presented at Meeting
—–Resolutions will be presented tonight at the mass meeting of local labor unions to be held at the high school auditorium, protesting against the execution of Thomas Mooney, who was convicted of participating in the bombing of the preparedness parade at San Francisco, July 22, 1916, on evidence which President Wilson’s commission found was perjured.
Mother Jones, the “Angel of Miners, will address the meeting, Secretary Jaus of the Central Labor union having received word yesterday she positively will be here. Mother Jones is devoting her time going from city to city urging the union men and people in general to appeal to President Wilson for justice to Mooney. She will arrive this morning from Louisville, where she spoke last night.
Mooney’s father died in Daviess county, Indiana, when the children were small. He was shot by a strikebreaker whom he approached to talk with and ask him to join in a strike then on in that locality, and the wound shortened his life. The condemned man was a well-known labor leader, and, since his trial, appeals have been made throughout the country for a reopening of his case.
———-
From the Evansville Journal-News of March 28, 1918:
MOTHER JONES, LABOR ORATOR, ARRIVES HERE
—–Mother Jones, called the “guardian angel of the miners,” arrived in Evansville late Thursday afternoon for an address Thursday night before a mass meeting of local labor unions. The meeting will be held in the high school auditorium.
The meeting will be held as a protest against the execution of Thomas Mooney, recently convicted of participating in the bombing of the preparedness parade at San Francisco, July 22, 1916. A commission appointed by President Wilson later found that Mooney was convicted on evidence which was perjured.
Resolutions protesting against the execution and appealing to President Wilson will be passed at the meeting, it is expected.
Mother Jones several times has addressed Evansville labor unions.
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From The Evansville Courier of March 29, 1918:
SAYS MOONEY NEVER WILL BE HANGED
—–
“Mother” Jones Puts Her Faith in the
Justness of President Wilson
—–GREATER THAN LINCOLN
—–
Mass Meeting Adopts Resolutions Demanding
Pardon of Labor Leader-
Conviction a Crime
—–Mother Jones, “Angel of the Miners”, declared before a large audience at the high school auditorium last night, that Thomas J. Mooney, the labor leader convicted as a participant int the bomb throwing during the preparedness parade at San Francisco, July 22, 1916, would never be hanged.
Following this declaration she turned to a Courier reporter who had interviewed her just before she made her appearance on the stage and asked that her prediction be made emphatic.
[She said:]
Mooney is innocent of the crime. A packed jury tried him, the evidence against him was perjured and while the instructions by the judge were fair, the district attorney told the jury not to heed the court’s instructions but to convict Mooney whether or no.
The meeting resulted in the adoption of a set of resolutions from the local citizens present, addressed to President Wilson and the governor of California, demanding the immediate pardon of Mooney.
It is in the justness of President Wilson that Mother Jones declared she pinned her faith in the Mooney case.
Why Wilson Is Greatest
[Said she:]
My opinion is that Wilson is the greatest president this country has had. I was once asked why I class Wilson ahead of Lincoln. Well, Lincoln had only a home affair on his hands while Wilson is fighting the common enemy across the sea. And then Lincoln did not have the traitors to contend with who are being paid to sow the seeds of disloyalty among our people. A better man than Wilson could not have been selected to champion the country’s destinies and I only thank God that Roosevelt is not at the helm.
My advise to Roosevelt and his ilk is that they go before the cabinet with their knocking and not do it with our common enemies.
-This Mother Jones declared with great emphasis, and it brought forth loud applause from the audience.
Her advice was to the working class to organize for an industrial democracy so as to head off after the war the cry of the French revolution, “down with dictators and down with despots”.
[Said she:]
We are sending the best blood of our country to battle for democracy, and let us not tell them when they return that we have not been fighting for them here at home for an industrial democracy.
None Has Right to Be Traitor
She declared that there is no man or woman in this country who has a right to be a traitor to the “Stars and Stripes,” nor to shirk in doing their best bit toward helping the battle for democracy over there.
[Said she:]
While I’m raising hell for the downtrodden here at home, I often think I am shirking my duty in not being over there doing my share in giving the kaiser hell, but as it seems my lot to remain at home I am doing my share by assisting the president in any way I can to bring this bloody war to a successful close for freedom and democracy.
Mother Jones told of her efforts in behalf of the miners in their struggle in Nevada and other fields; of her numerous arrests, and declared she was now engaged at Charleston, W. Va., where mine operators had admitted to the government they had paid $5,000 to keep her away.
She declared the prosecution of Mooney was mainly a war of the capitalists against organized labor for its extermination. She gave a recital of the bomb throwing at San Francisco, depicting how, when the smoke drifted away, there lay ten men, women and children dead or mortally wounded, while half a hundred others were severely hurt, and she showed how Mooney and his wife, through perjured testimony, were held implicated with the terrible deed, although they proved that they were a mile and a quarter away at the time of the occurrence.
She told of the efforts being made by labor throughout the country in Mooney’s behalf and of President Wilson’s commission demanding a new trial for the condemned man, in which the latter made the following declaration:
But the feeling of disquietude aroused by the case must be heeded, for if unchecked, it impairs the faith that our democracy protects the lowliest and even the unworthy against false accusation. War is fought with moral as well as material resources. We are all in this war to vindicate the moral claims of unstained process of law, however slow at times such process may be. These claims must be tempered by the fire of our own devotion to them at home.
Resolutions Adopted
The resolutions presented to the meeting in behalf of the Central Labor union by Secretary Jaus adopted with a standing vote and amid cheers, were as follows:
Whereas, in the recent trial of Thomas Mooney, a member in good standing of the International Moulders’ union for the past fourteen years, he was convicted and is in immediate danger of being railroaded to the gallows on a trumped-up charge, and on the most brazen and contradictory testimony, and
Whereas, it has been proven that testimony of Smith, Crowley and McDonald, used to convict Warren K. Billings, is a flat contradiction of evidence of Oxman, used to convict Mooney, and
Whereas, twenty-one alibi witnesses, numerous photographs and time clocks have established an unmistakable alibi, and
Whereas, the recent decision handed down by the California supreme court refused a retrial of the case after it was proved that there was abundant evidence that the testimony was admittedly perjured, and
Whereas, such prosecution at the hands of conspirators who are opposed to organized labor on the Pacific coast and who use the courts and the judge, who in turn take shelter behind a miserable technicality which would show the judicial system of California to be more mindful of technicalities than human life, and
Whereas, such proceedings are a monstrous injustice to organized labor and entirely out of harmony with the government, therefore
Be it resolved, the we, the citizens of Evansville, Ind., in mass meeting assembled, demand that Thomas Mooney be pardoned at once and, be it further
Resolved, that we forward the president of the United States and the governor of California a copy of these resolutions of protest.
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From the Evansville Journal-News of March 29, 1918:
WILSON INTERCEDES IN BEHALF OF TOM MOONEY
—–(BULLETIN.)
SACRAMENTO, Cal., March 29.-President Wilson has telegraphed Gov. William D. Stephens of California, asking executive clemency for Thomas J. Mooney, now under death sentence, it became known here today. Mooney was convicted in connection with a bomb explosion in San Francisco in a “preparedness day” parade, in 1916, which caused the death of ten persons and injured forty others.
—–
LOCAL LABOR ACTED ON MOONEY CASE LAST NIGHT
—–Following within a few hours of the time local union laborers passed a resolution urging President Wilson and the governor of California to intercede in behalf of Tom Mooney, labor leader sentenced to death in San Francisco, the word was received here that the president has telegraphed Gov. William D. Stephens of California, asking executive clemency for the sentenced man. The resolution requesting such action was passed Thursday evening at a meeting in the high school auditorium of all the union laborers of Evansville.
The meeting was addressed by Mother Jones, “Angel of the Miners.” Mother Jones made the assertion at the meeting that Mooney would never be hanged. She stated she based her assertion upon a belief in the justness of President Wilson. Local labor leaders Friday morning pointed to the action of the president as a vindication of Mother Jones’ firm belief in him.
Mooney was convicted in connection with a bomb explosion in San Francisco in a preparedness parade in 1916, which caused the death of ten persons and injury to forty others. In the resolution passed Thursday evening, local working men asserted their belief that Mooney was convicted by perjured testimony and a packed jury.
William Jaus, secretary of the C. L. U., stated Friday morning that the resolutions passed Thursday evening will be sent to both the president and governor of California, despite the action of Wilson Friday. The local working men wish both the men to know their sentiments in the case.
———-
SOURCES
Evansville Press
(Evansville, Indiana)
-Mar 29, 1918
https://www.newspapers.com/image/137894411/
The Evansville Courier
(Evansville, Indiana)
-Mar 24, 1918, page 24
-Mar 28, 1918, page 9
-Mar 29, 1918, page 3
https://www.genealogybank.com/
Evansville Journal-News
(Evansville, Indiana)
-Mar 27, 1918, page 1
-Mar 28, 1918, page 5
-Mar 29, 1918, page 9
https://www.genealogybank.com/
IMAGE
Mother Jones Fire Eater, St L Str, Aug 23, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/204372148/
See also:
Justice and Labor in the Mooney Case
-San Francisco, Jan 1, 1919
International Workers’ Defense League, 1919
https://books.google.com/books?id=FvA7AQAAMAAJ
Federal Commission’s Report of Jan 16, 1918
-to President Wilson & signed by Sec of Labor Wilson, etc
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=FvA7AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA12
Tom Mooney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mooney
Mooney-Billings Case
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAmooneycase.htm
“Sammies” definition
http://www.word-detective.com/2009/01/sammies/