Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 3, 1918
Sacramento, California – Fellow Workers in Jail, Hungry and Cold
The federal trial of Sacramento members of the Industrial Workers of the World is set to begin in November (see article below.) Meanwhile, most of those arrested remain in jail under wretched conditions which has greatly undermined their health. Jail conditions are described:
They must sleep in relays due to crowded conditions with one cotton blanket given to each man to ward off the winter chill. Food consists of “two ounces of mush in the morning, less than two ounces of bread, and at night three fetid little smelts and less than two ounces of potatoes, with ‘coffee’ twice a day.” They are allowed to send out for food, bought and paid for with their own money, but when the meal arrives, it is placed before their cells, just out of reach, where they can watch it rot.
From the San Francisco Examiner of October 1, 1918:
I.W.W. TRIALS START NOV. 8
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All Cases in State to Be Consolidated for
Sacramento Hearing in U.S. Cases.
—–John W. Preston, special assistant to the United States Attorney General, yesterday announced that the numerous I. W. W. cases, including the ones which are before the court in Los Angeles, have been consolidated for trial in Sacramento. There will be seventy-five defendants, charged with violation of the espionage law and obstructing the draft.
The case will not go to trial next week as was scheduled, but will be continued until November 8 by Federal Judge Wm. C. Van Fleet.
G. N. Murdock, special agent of the Department of Justice who prepared the evidence in the Chicago I. W. W. trials, has been assigned to take charge of the investigation in the present case, Deputy United States Marshal Thomas Mulhall, who has been conducting the collection of evidence, will be assigned other duties.
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