Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 2, 1920
Minneapolis, Minnesota – May Day Celebrated by 10,000 Workers

From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:

May Day in Mpl Sec Lundberg, OBU p6, June 1920

[Part I of II.]

On May 1st, 1919, when the workers of Minneapolis attempted to celebrate International Labor Day, their parade was broken up several times by the police and other willing tools of the money interests, but they always succeeded in reforming and managed to continue their parade until their destination had been reached. All speaking was stopped by the police, but that did not seem to dampen the spirit of the workers, as will be seen from what happened on May 1st, 1920.

Only about two thousand participated in 1919, but as a result of police opposition all unions in Minneapolis took part in one gigantic parade on May 1st, 1920, with the result that close to 10,000 workers were participants in the largest and most enthusiastic May Day celebration that Minneapolis ever had. Not a word was said in regard to this by most of the local news perverters. Only one paper had the decency to mention the affair, in spite of the fact that it was one of the most important events of the day.

May Day in Mpl 10000 Workers, OBU Cv, June 1920

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Socialists Visit Debs at Atlanta Prison to Notify Him That He Has Been Nominated for President

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re SP n Working Class, Atlanta Cstn p2, May 30, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday June 1, 1920
Atlanta Penitentiary – Eugene Debs Accepts Nomination for President

From The Atlanta Constitution of May 30, 1920:

DEBS POINTS WAY FOR SOCIALISTS
———-
Praises Russian Russian Revolution, and
Criticises Platform When Notified of
Presidential Nomination.
—–

Expression of keen but friendly criticism of the socialist platform, as adopted in New York city, and of sentiments of sympathy with the Russian revolution, which Eugene V. Debs declared the greatest achievement of all time, were the features of the unique ceremony conducted in the federal prison in Atlanta Saturday morning, when the prisoner was formally notified by a committee of his party that he had been nominated for president by the socialists.

EVD f Prz w Sc Com Madge,ed, LW p3, June 12, 1920

Every possible courtesy was extended the committee and the aged convict by the prison authorities. There were some fifteen people present at the notification, some seven of them socialists, perhaps as many newspaper men, and a fellow prisoner of Debs-Joe Caldwell, of Rhode Island, a member of the communist party.

The exercises were held in a beautifully lighted room on the ground floor, with a nice view through the barred windows. Just before this took place. Debs met his friends in the hallway and kissed each one, four men and one woman-Dr. Madge Patton Stephens, from Terre Haute, his home town, and a friend of his family. Then, for half an hour, a moving picture man snapped all conceivable poses of the nominee and his committee.

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Hellraisers Journal: Arthur Gleason on Logan County, West Virginia: “Private Ownership of Public Officials” -Part II

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Organize Logan Co, Nation p724, May 29, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 31, 1920
Logan County, West Virginia – Coal Operators Own Public Officials, Part II

From The Nation of May 29, 1920:

Private Ownership Of Public Officials

By ARTHUR GLEASON

[Part II of II.]

WV Coal Fields Witnesses on Gunthug Terror, Wlg Int p1, Oct 1, 1919
Wheeling Intelligencer
October 1, 1919

There is only one incorporated town in Logan County, and that is the town of Logan, with a population of 3,500. Unidentified strangers are not wanted in Logan. The train that carries you the three hours from the city of Huntington into Guyan Valley is used by men who make it their business to find out yours. Deputies meet the train, as you pull into Logan—Dow Butcher, Buck White, Squire White, and Pat Murphy. You are sized up. This affectionate interest is directed for one purpose—to detect organizers and to invite them to go home. Commercial travelers, social workers, business and professional men pass in and out. Order is well kept; all the decencies are observed. Logan is a prosperous, busy little city. I stayed over night, received a welcome, and met a group of excellent sincere local folks, nurses, teachers, health experts, coal magnates. They are busy in every good work. They draw the line in this one matter alone: Logan County is not to be unionized. This led to an amusing mistake some time previous to my own visit. Mr. J. L. Heizer told me of it; it was his own experience in Logan. Mr. Heizer is chief clerk of the Department of Mines for the State of West Virginia. He is also Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias for the State. He went to Logan to induct certain brethren. Mr. Heizer said on the train to Mr. Wayne Chafin that he had heard a lot about Don Chafin, and wanted to meet him. In the middle of the night, Mr. Heizer said,

When I went to the hotel room, two men were standing at the door, and one of them stepped forward and said: “I understand you want to meet Don Chafin?”

I said “Yes.”

He said, “By God, you’ve met him now.”

A young man with me, E. R. Dalton of Huntington, tried to pacify Mr. Chafin, who stuck a gun into the stomach of Mr. Dalton and said, “Young man, you get to bed, and get there quick. I can kill both of you in this room.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Arthur Gleason on Logan County, West Virginia: “Private Ownership of Public Officials” -Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Arthur Gleason on Logan County, West Virginia: “Private Ownership of Public Officials” -Part I

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 30, 1920
Logan County, West Virginia – Coal Operators Own Public Officials, Part I

From The Nation of May 29, 1920:

Private Ownership Of Public Officials

By ARTHUR GLEASON

[Part I of II.]

WV UMW D17 50 Orgzrs v Don Chafin Logan Co, Hbrg PA Tph p7, Oct 16, 1919
Harrisburg Telegraph
October 16, 1919

WEST VIRGINIA has started in again on the organized killing which every few years breaks loose in the mining districts. On May 19, eleven men were shot to death in the town of Matewan, Mingo County. Seven of them were detectives, three were miners and one was an official. This skirmish is the first in the 1920 war between the coal operators of the State and the United Mine Workers of America. Mingo is one of the counties in the southwest of the State which have been held against organized labor by detectives, armed guards, and deputy sheriffs.

With the beginning of May, the miners formed local unions, and brought in 2,000 members. As fast as the miners join the union, the coal companies are evicting them from the company-owned houses. I saw the typewritten notice of the Stone Mountain Coal Company on the window of the company-owned grocery store. It stated that the houses of the miners were owned by the company, and that the miners must leave the premises at once if they join the union. Ezra Frye, the local organizer, acting for the United Mine Workers, had leased land, and was erecting tents for the evicted families. He had ordered 300 tents on the first allotment. Matewan lies on the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River. It is run politically by the Hatfield clan, who for generations have had a feud with the McCoy clan. The economic struggle is making a new alignment across the old feudist divisions. No stranger is safe just now in these unorganized counties. We had a spy who trailed us from Charleston to Matewan. In the town, we were kept under constant guard.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Arthur Gleason on Logan County, West Virginia: “Private Ownership of Public Officials” -Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Spokane Free Speech Warrior Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Now Mother of Baby Boy in New York City

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 29, 1910
Spokane Fellow Workers Learn of Birth of Baby Boy to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

From the Spokane Spokesman Review of May 28, 1910:

GURLEY FLYNN IS MOTHER
———-

I. W. W.’S EX-LEADER ENDS WARFARE TO CARE FOR SON.
—–
Youngster Will Be Named Frederic Vincent Jones,
According to Letter.
—–

EGF, Restored, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

The birth of a son to Mrs. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Jones, leader of the recent street speaking fight in this city, is announced in a letter received by Mrs. Fred Heslewood, of E703 Providence avenue. Mrs. Jones is with her mother in New York, engaged in the preparation of a book called “Women in the Industrial World.” The boy has been named Frederic Vincent Jones, it is said. It was born May 19.

Mr. Jones, better known by her maiden name, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, was the leader of the street speakers in their fight against the authorities last winter. She was arrested on a charge of criminal conspiracy, found guilty by a jury in a justice court, and acquitted on appeal to the superior court. She spent one night in the county jail and made charges of misconduct against the jailers that were taken up later by members of the Woman’s club. She left for New York before the final adjustment of the street speaking difficulties. Her husband’s home is in Missoula, Mont.

———-

[Photograph added is from Spokesman Review of July 9, 1909.]
[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From Duluth Labor World: Jury Verdict Says Mining Laws Were Broken at Cherry Mine Disaster

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Wake fr Slumber, AtR p2, Oct 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday May 28, 1910
Princeton, Illinois – Jury Reaches Verdict in Great Cherry Mine Disaster

From the Duluth Labor World of May 28, 1910:

Cherry MnDs of Nov 13, 1909, Jury Verdict, LW p1, May 28, 1910

Cherry MnDs Murders by JO Bentall, Orphans, ed ISR p585, Jan 1910

PRINCETON, Ill, May 27.-The coroner’s jury, which began last November to investigate the cause of the Cherry mine disaster, which resulted in the death of 265 miners in the St. Paul Coal company’s mine, has reached an agreement, and 250 separate verdicts have been returned.

The jury says the mining laws were broken with the knowledge and consent of the mine inspector.

The verdicts were in three sets, one set fixing the cause of the death of the twelve men in the rescue party who perished on the cage in the mine shaft, another set for the 187 men who were suffocated in the second vein and the third for the 51 men who were trapped in the third vein and died of exposure and suffocation.

The verdict of the coroner’s jury is a vindication of John Cowley, the engineer who was in charge of the cage on which the twelve rescuers lost their lives. The verdict says the twelve rescuers lost their lives “indirectly by a confusion of signals regulating the movements of the cage.”

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Duluth Labor World: Jury Verdict Says Mining Laws Were Broken at Cherry Mine Disaster” →

Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield and Nine Others Arrested at Matewan, Taken to Williamson, and Charged with Murder

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 26, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Chief of Police Sid Hatfield Arrested

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of May 25, 1920:

Sid Hatfield Plus Arrested, Whlg Int p1, May 25, 1920

MATEWAN, W. Va., May 24.-Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan, Mingo county, and nine others were arrested today and taken to Williamson, where they were arraigned before Judge James Damron of the circuit court, charged with the murder of L. C. Felts and other Baldwin-Felts detectives in the recent Matewan riots.

They waived examination and were released on bond in the sum of $3,000 each.

Among the men arrested with Hatfield were: Reese Chambers, Clare Overstreet, Charle Kiser, Douglas Mounts, [Ed] Chambers, Ezra Fry, Billy Bowmen and two others.

The men were taken to Williamson by Jackson Arnold, chief of the state department of public safety, and other members of the state constabulary.

Other arrests are expected, as fifteen warrants have been issued for miners. Warrants have also been issued for the four surviving detectives who are alleged to have participated in the battle.

———-

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Yellow Dog to Blame for Battle with Company Gunthugs at Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 25, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Correspondent Russ Simonton on “Yaller Dog”

From the Harrisburg Evening News of May 24, 1920:

Matewan, Yaller Dog by R Simonton, Hbrg PA Eve Ns p17, May 24, 1920—–

MATEFAN [Matewan], W. Va., May 24.-State police patrol this coal town because Americans refused to sign away their rights as citizens.

Here is the history of the events which led a few days ago to the killing of Mayor Testerman, it is said, in cold blood, by mine private detectives [Baldwin-Felts gunthugs], and a battle between citizens and detectives that cost a total of twelve lives.

Fighting Union

Matewan miners want to affiliate with the United Mine Workers of America. Mine operators of the Tug Creek District are opposed to any labor organizations.

Organizers were sent here last April. They held street meetings. A few miners joined them, then right and left those who joined lost their jobs. These men became organizers themselves. Obviously that sort of thing could not continue long. There are 6000 miners in this district and two-thirds or more live in company houses and buy food from company stores.

“Yaller Dog” Appears

The “Yaller Dog” soon made its appearance. It is a marvelous document. In part It reads:

In consideration of my employment I agree that I will not affiliate with or give assistance to any union or labor organization without first giving you notice. Should I fall to comply with this agreement, our relations shall be terminated. I will leave your premises and will surrender without notice any house occupied by me, it being understood that such house is incident to my employ.

The “Yaller Dog” made no favorable impression with these drawling, slow-moving hill miners.

Not half a dozen signed the agreement.

Wholesale firing began and man after man was discharged and several mines boarded up their drifts and loaded the miners out.

Then Hughie Coombs, Methodist minister and one of the first men discharged for joining the union, arranged, he said, that if dispossession proceedings should be started, the sheriff [George Blankenship] of Mingoco [Mingo Co.] should serve the papers.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Yellow Dog to Blame for Battle with Company Gunthugs at Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia” →