Hellraisers Journal: Great Chicago Labor Trial Begins; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Granted Separate Trial

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote Giovannitti, Prevail

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday April 4, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Federal Trial of I. W. W. Underway

From The Salt Lake Tribune of April 1, 1918:

100 I. W. W.’S WILL GO TO TRIAL TODAY
—–
Government’s Charged Include Sabotage,
Intrigue and Conspiracy.
—–

WWIR, In Here For You, Ralph Chaplin, Sol Aug 4, Sept 1, 1917

CHICAGO, March 31.-More than 100 Industrial Workers of the World will go on trial tomorrow before Federal Judge Landis, charged with conspiracy to disrupt the government’s war programme.

One hundred and sixty-five men and one woman were named in the true bill returned by the September grand jury, but forty escaped capture. Cases against ten have been dismissed, and three, including the woman, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of New York, have been granted separate trials.

The government’s charges against the defendants include allegations of sabotage, including the slowing down of production and the wanton spoilage of material, propaganda for strikes to delay the output of war munitions and covert intrigue against military service.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Lon Amos Millsap Who Lost His Life in Freedom’s Cause, Kansas City General Strike of 1918

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones

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WNF, Kansas City, MO, Lon Amos Millsap, March 29, 1918
———-

Lon Amos Millsap, Labor Martyr
Kansas City General Strike, March 29, 1918

On March 29, 1918, Lon Amos Millsap, striking laundry truck driver, gave up his life in Kansas City Research Hospital. He died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The kept press claims that the strikers had been rioting (throwing rocks) when fired upon by armed company guards at the Globe Laundry two days earlier, March 27th, the first day of the Kansas City General Strike.

Lon Amos Millsap was born October 28, 1885, in Platte County, Missouri. At the time of his death he was 32 years old, single and a striking laundry driver. He is buried at Mount Washington Cemetery at Independence, Missouri.

M. L. Millsap, address: 2728 Brooklyn, provided the personal information for the death certificate, and was most likely a relative.

Buried in the same cemetery is the mother of Lon Millsap, Nancy Belle Heller Millsap, who died on July 27, 1927, at age 76. His father was John S. Millsap, date of death not known.

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Hellraisers Journal: Kansas City Striker, Lon Amos Millsap, Dies in Hospital from Gunshot Wound to Abdomen

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for living.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 2, 1918
Kansas City, Missouri – Lon Amos Millsap, Labor Martyr

Rose for Labor Martyrs, Sc Victory Choir Red Flag

Lon Amos Millsap, striking laundry truck driver, gave up his life in Kansas City Research Hospital on Friday March 29th. He died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The kept press claims that the strikers were rioting when they were fired upon by armed guards at the Globe Laundry. Two other strikers were injured but are expected to live.

The following articles tell of the shooting and of the death of Brother Millsap.

From The Fort Scott Tribune of March 28, 1918
-Inset added is from The Leavenworth Post of March 31, 1918:

TROOPS TO CURB STRIKE.
—–

RIOTING IN KANSAS CITY STRIKE,
WHICH IS SPREADING SLOWLY.
—–

THREE WOUNDED YESTERDAY
—–
Strikers Wrecked Laundries and Restaurants,
and Stoned Street Cars;
Not So Many Disorders Today.
—–

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Social Democrat: “Song of the Factory Slave” by Ernest Jones

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They’ll find me still unchanged and strong,
When breaks their puny thrall;
With hate for not one living soul,
And pity for them all.
-Ernest Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 1, 1898
“The coming hope, the future day, When wrong to right shall bow.”

From The Social Democrat of April 1898:

Song of Factory Slave by Ernest Jones, ScDem Apr 1898

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Social-Democrat: Anniversary of Paris Commune Celebrated by Socialists World-Wide

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.
-Eugène Pottier – Paris, June 1871

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 31, 1898
Paris Commune Celebrated Annually by Socialists

From The Social Democrat of March 1898:

ScDem Mar 1898

Triumph of Order over Paris Commune May 1871, ScDem Mar 1898

THE COMMUNE OF PARIS.

The 18th of March, the anniversary of the Paris Commune, is annually celebrated by Socialists throughout the world. The Commune of Paris is an event unique in history. It was the first working-class government that the world had ever seen. For the first time the working people had seized the reins of government, and taken into their hands the administration of a great city. No wonder the possessing classes were alarmed; no wonder all the forces of “respectability,” of reaction and obscurantism, rallied to the government of the “little man,” Theirs, and his gang of Imperialist mouchards and Royalist ruffians at Versailles. The revolution of the Parisian proletariat was not a mere political movement, it was a menace to all those interests which live and thrive by the enslavement, the exploitation, and the plunder of the workers.

The history of this epoch-marking insurrection is an oft-told tale. Who, among Socialists, does not know of the desertion of Paris by the reactionary Assembly; of the measures for disarming the Parisian National Guards; of the attempted seizure of the guns on the heights of Montmartre in the morning of the 18th of March; how that attempt was frustrated, and how the troops sent to carry it out fraternised with the National Guards, and shot the officer who ordered them to fire upon the people?

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Hellraisers Journal: Letter to New York Call from Atlanta Penitentiary Describes Two American Political Prisoners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ammon Hennacy, Love Courage Wisdom, Bk of Ammon

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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday March 30, 1918
From The New York Call: A Letter from the Atlanta Pen

New York Call, March 21, 1918

The New York Call on March 24th published a letter written by Ammon A. Hennesey who, having been convicted of distributing literature against the draft, is now serving a two-year sentence at the Atlanta Federal Prison. Hennesey began serving his sentence on July 31, 1917. He hales from Columbus, Ohio, and is described as an “Irish America Socialist.”

Imprisoned with Hennesey is John T. Dunn, a Socialist from Providence, Rhode Island, who was sentenced to twenty years having been convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917.

Described also is William V. McCoy, a “Virginia mountaineer” from big Stone Gap, West Virginia who was convicted of conspiring to seize U.S. property and oppose the government. McCoy was sentenced to five years in prison and began serving his sentence on August 17, 1917. Despite the fact that he is sixty-one years old Mr. McCoy was sent to “the hole” in January and remains there at this time.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on Tour in New England; Speaks in Providence and Buffalo

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 29, 1908
Providence, Rhode Island – Miss Flynn Speaks to Textile Workers

From The Industrial Union Bulletin of March 28, 1908:

The Flynn Lectures

EGF, ab Sept 1907, LOC

Enclosed find clipping from Providence Journal giving report of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s lecture. The Providence Tribune printed her picture and a full column report of the meeting, but the editor’s fine Italian hand shows clearly throughout the article; it is evident that in his opinion the kind of talk dealt out by Miss Flynn is not good reading, unadulterated, for readers of the Tribune. This was the bumper meeting of a series of lectures run every Sunday evening by Textile Union 530, I. W. W. The first one, with Organizer Thompson as speaker, drew a large audience, and it grows larger at every meeting, rain or shine. The last meeting taxed the seating capacity of the hall. The speakers are limited to an hour and a quarter, after which the floor is thrown open for questions and remarks, with a five-minute limit, and no one is given the floor twice until all who wish to speak are done. There is no doubt that it is this feature of the meetings that draws the crowd. As speakers we have had, so far, two professors from Brown University, a lawyer with “radical” ideas, a high school principal who believes in Socialism, a couple of single-taxers, two Socialist party men, Frank Bohn, who gave a fine lecture, “The Working Class in American History,” and Miss Flynn. I understand that Organizer Thompson is on the docket for next Sunday, with the “Materialistic Conception of History” as the subject.

The following is from the Providence Journal:

Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn addressed a large gathering in Textile Hall, Olneyville square, last evening under the auspices of Textile Local 530 and spoke on “Industrial Unionism.” Her coming had been the topic of discussion of local textile workers for several days and the hall was filled in spite of the disagreeable weather. She was received with enthusiasm. After her address several of those present plied her with questions and there was a general debate on the labor question.

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Hellraisers Journal: General Strike In Kansas City Now Underway in Sympathy with Striking Laundry Workers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Solidarity Forever
For the Union makes us strong.
-Ralph Chaplin

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 28, 1918
Kansas City, Missouri – General Strike Is Spreading

Workers of Kansas City, both union and non-union, are rallying to the aid of laundry drivers and laundry workers who have been on strike now for about five weeks.The employers have repeatedly refused to bargain with their employees, and have even refused to meet with the federal conciliators sent by the U. S. Department of Labor.

From The Leavenworth Post of March 27, 1918:

GREAT STRIKE AT KANSAS CITY
NOW WELL UNDER WAY
—–
Walkout Began at Eight o’Clock This Morning
With Barbers, Bartenders and Brewers
in the Forefront of the Fray.
—–

TROUBLE REPORTED THIS AFTERNOON
—–
Sympathetic Strike, Called to Aid Laundry Drivers,
Brought Out 700 Card Men
From Other Unions in First Call.
—–

Kansas City GS, Chg Tb, Mar 27, 1918

Kansas City, March 27.-Kansas City today was in the midst of a general strike, the exact extent of which was unknown this afternoon. The strike began at 8 o’clock this morning and although labor leaders declared it would result in a virtual tie-up of all industry by tomorrow night, best reports indicated that so far only 700 union men, including brewers, bartenders, barbers and members of certain building trades unions had quit work. Men from other crafts were walking out this afternoon, however, it was said. No disorders had been reported to the police. The strike was called to support the walkout of laundry workers and drivers.

Street cars were still operating this afternoon and reports were current that members of the Street Railway Employes’ union had voted not to strike.

Late News Tells of Violence.

The first violence in connection with the strike occurred at 2 o’clock this afternoon when a crowd estimated at one thousand persons rushed a crowd of police reserves who had arrested three men in connection with the overturning of a laundry wagon. The officers used their clubs freely and the crowd responded with stones and fists. A number of persons were injured, none severely it was reported. The prisoners escaped during the tussle and only one of them was recaptured it was said.

Reports late this afternoon indicated that the strike was spreading slowly.

———-

[Inset is from Chicago Daily Tribune of March 27th.]

 

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Hellraisers Journal: Rose Schneiderman: “Working Sisters..Organize! You Will Need No Laws to Save You.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Working sisters, fix your own hours of labor!
Organize!
You will need no laws to save you from coming
to work before 6 and leaving after 9.
-Rose Schneiderman

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 27, 1908
Stirring Appeal to “Working Sisters” by Rose Schneiderman

As the Women’s Trade Union League continues its work on behalf of working women (see below), we pause to recall a fiery speech by one of our favorite union organizers.

From The Pittsburgh Press of June 30, 1907:

Quote Working Sisters Organize, Ptt Prs p16, June 30, 1907

From The Pittsburgh Press of July 19, 1907:

NY WTUL officers, Ptt Prs p14, July 19, 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: Revolutionaries Ricardo Flores Magón and Librado Rivera Under Arrest in Los Angeles

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We are free, truly free, when we don’t need to rent
our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift
a piece of bread to our mouths.
―Ricardo Flores Magón

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 26, 1918
Las Angeles, California – Publication of “Manifesto” Leads to Arrests

The publication of a “Manifesto” by Mexican Revolutionaries, Ricardo Flores Magón and Librado Rivera, in the March 16th edition of Regeneración has led to the arrests of our Mexican Comrades. According to the plan outlined below, they will be tried under the federal Espionage Act.

From The Los Angeles Times of March 22, 1918:

Magon and Rivera Jailed for Sedition, HdLn, LA Tx p12, Mar 22, 1918

Ricardo Magon, LA Hld p19, Apr 26, 1908, Librado Rivera, Wiki
Ricardo Flores Magon and Librado Rivera

AN INVESTIGATION by government agents was begun yesterday in the ramifications of a plan to foment a local Mexican insurrection, following the arrest of Ricardo Flores Magon and Liberado [Librado] Rivera, kingpins of the local anarchistic group and editors an publishers of Regeneracion, organ of the Los Angeles Bolsheviki [this is, of course, absurd as the Bolsheviki are not anarchists]. United States Commissioner D. M. Hammack fixed the bail in each case at $25,000.

Magon was picked up on the street in front of the Federal Building by Deputy United States Marshal Dolph Bassett, and just before noon, the same officer grabbed Rivera in the courtroom of Superior Judge Willis, where he was a witness for the defense in the Palma murder trial.

As Rivera was taken down the steps he scattered a number of sealed copies of Regeneracion, that had been addressed to followers of the unpatriotic cult. Enrique Flores Magon, the brother of Ricardo, was also in the courtroom and smiled when he saw Rivera taken away. For once he was outside the Federal net.

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