Tag: April 1920

Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Worker Thomas Manning Laid to Rest in Butte as Thousands March in Funeral Procession

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Butte Striking Miners re ACM Massacre Butte, BDB p1, Apr 28, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 29, 1920
Butte, Montana – Fellow Worker Thomas Manning Laid to Rest

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 28, 1920:

ACM Massacre Butte, Manning Laid to Rest, BDB p1, Apr 28, 1920———-

FIRST OF VICTIMS OF A. C. M. MURDERERS
TO DIE SHOWN LAST HONOR
———-

This morning, a week to the day, since Thomas Manning fell on Anaconda road, riddled with bullets fired from guns in the hands of the notorious Roy Alley and his gang of hired murderers of the Anaconda Copper Mining company, the mortal remains of that martyr to the cause of the rights of workingmen were laid at rest in Holy Cross cemetery. And though his mangled body lies beneath six feet of cold earth, the dauntless spirit which impelled Manning, unarmed except with the conviction that he was in the right, to face the hordes of killers on the hill last Wednesday [April 21st], is still with his fellow workers and fellow victims.

In Ireland, an aged father waits in vain for the return of his son from America-reputed land of the free, where justice is supposed to dwell and where the workingman is presumed to have equal rights with the millionaire.

In Ireland, also, a loving wife, who as yet does not know that she is a widow, waits patiently for the letter from her man whom she thinks is working in this land of unexampled wealth to amass the nest-egg on which her husband and herself will be enabled to keep the wolf from the door. And, perhaps, she is awaiting that letter which will tell her that Tom has saved up enough money to bring her to the United States to make anew their home in glorious, free America.

It is also possible that Mrs. Manning, as she hears of the killings and riotings in British-ruled Erin breathes a silent prayer that her loving Tom is in America, where British soldiery with their guns are now unknown, and where, as she mercifully believes, such despicable creatures as armed company gunmen have no existence.

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Hellraisers Journal: Centralia Defendants Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith, Found Not Guilty, Now Back in Chehalis Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 28, 1920
Chehalis, Washington – Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith Back Behind Bars

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 23, 1920:

CHEHALIS JAILOR CHARY ABOUT RECEIVING VISITS
———-
Correspondent Tells of Conditions in Prison Where
Victims of Centralia Lumber Barons Were Confined
—–

(By John Nicholas Beffel.)

IWW Centralia, Sheehan n Smith, Stt Str p11, Jan 24, 1920

Centralia, Wash.-It’s difficult to get into the decrepit old jail at Chehalis unless you are a Wobbly. I wanted to get inside, but Sheriff John Berry wouldn’t let me. He was firm about it, and a bit peevish. Sanitary conditions within were a delicate subject, a cause for official sensitiveness.

That jail has an important relation to the Centralia tragedy story. Some of the I. W. W. defendants consented to make statements while confined there. Mrs. Mary McAllister, one of the vital witnesses for the defense, who testified that Eugene Barnett was in the Roderick hotel during the rioting and not in the Avalon hotel, was held in the Chehalis jail twenty days without warrant or charge, and then released.

And now Mike Sheehan and Elmer Smith, acquitted at Montesano, were back at Chehalis, imprisoned in a little cell, suffering for lack of proper ventilation, fighting live rats and enduring the odor of dead ones. Sheehan and Smith had been found innocent of connection with the death of Warren O. Grim, and then were immediately rearrested charged with conspiring to murder Arthur McElfresh, another slain Armistice Day parader.

I asked Sheriff Berry if I could see the interior of the jail.

“Who are you investigatin’ jails for?” he demanded suspiciously.

“For the labor press,” I said.

“It won’t be necessary for you to see the inside of this jail,” he decreed. “It ain’t the kind of place it ought to be, but I can’t help that. I’ve tried to get the county commissioners to fix things, but they won’t loosen up.”

Already I knew that Berry would not permit the prisoners to receive any copies of the Seattle Union Record or any other labor paper.

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Hellraisers Journal: FW Manning Dies, Was Wounded in Massacre Inflicted Upon Miners by Anaconda Company Gunthugs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re IWW Martyr Manning ACM Massacre, BDB p1, Apr 26, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 27, 1920
Butte, Montana – Fellow Worker Thomas Manning Dies

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 26, 1920:

ACM Massacre, Thomas Manning Death, BDB p1, Apr 26, 1920—–

M’CARTHY AND SULLIVAN HOVERING ON BORDER
OF DEATH IN LOCAL HOSPITAL
———-

In the early hours of yesterday morning the spirit of Thomas Manning, first of the victims of the bloodlust of the Anaconda Copper Mining company’s gunmen as evidenced in the massacre of last Wednesday on Anaconda Road, fled to join the spirits of those who at Ludlow, and at other industrial centers of the United States have offered up their lives on the altar of devotion to the cause of the wage slaves.

On a cot in St. James hospital James Sullivan, with his spine shattered by a bullet from one of the company assassins and the lower part of his body paralyzed, lies awaiting the call of the Angel of Death. On another cot in the same institution, John McCarthy, his lungs riddled with shot fired by the murderers of Manning, also awaits the call and is hourly expected to join Manning in the Great Beyond.

Manning joined the ranks of the labor martyrs, sent to their deaths by the greed of the corporate interest who never hesitate to use the riot gun, the machine gun, the rifle and the bayonet to perpetuate the enslavement of the workers, at about 1:30 o’clock yesterday morning. Despite the severity of his wounds and the frequency of internal hemmorhage the merciful administration of opiates by the hospital authorities made his last hours on comparatively painless, although his tortured body tossed and turned in the delirium of approaching death.

The name of Manning, first of the martyrs of Wednesday, the twenty-first, has been emblazoned on the scroll of organized labor in Montana and from reports reaching Butte from the various organizations of workers throughout the state, “Manning!” will be the shibboleth around which the wage slaves will rally to end forever the reigns of the copper, the lumber, the power and the railroad kings in Montana.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: City in Shock due to Slaughter of Unarmed Miners by A. C. M. Gunthugs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 23, 1920
Butte, Montana – Gunthugs of Anaconda Copper  Shoot Down  Striking Miners

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 22, 1920:

ACM Massacre, Miners Near Death, BDB p1, Apr 22, 1920—–

ACM Massacre, Butte Shocked by Slaughter, BDB p1, Apr 22, 1920

Butte today was shrouded in grief, mixed with considerable awe, as the result of the unprovoked massacre of unarmed, peaceful striking miners by Roy Alley and his selected band of Anaconda copper Mining Company’s hired killers, which occurred on Anaconda Road about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. All night and today, awed groups of men stood in clusters on the streets and discussed in quiet tones the facts of the outrage as they have developed and frequently the belief was openly expressed that the time has come when the rule of the Anaconda company in Butte and Montana through the use of its political crooks, backed by armed thugs must cease…..

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: A. C. M. Gunthug Advocates for “Some More Killings and Hangings”

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 22, 1920
Butte, Montana – Gunthug of Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Wants More Hangings

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 20, 1920:

HdLn Butte Gunmen Active, BDB p1, Apr 20, 1920

Alley Openly Urges Murder
—–

“The wobblies have got us tied up again. It wouldn’t be so bad if they only quit themselves but they are interfering with our loyal men.

We need some more killings and hangings here, and if there were any red-blooded Americans in the camp it would be done.”-Roy Alley, secretary to John D. Ryan of the A. C. M. in the Thornton Hotel barber shop about 9:30 yesterday morning.

So Roy Alley wants to hang someone AGAIN!

He wants some MORE killings and hangings!

WE need some more killings!

WHOM does Roy Alley mean by WE?

WHAT does he mean by MORE?

The Bulletin desires to call the attention of the county attorney to the fact that this individual-the distributor of the corruption fund of the Anaconda Mining Co.-is openly urging murder as a means of settling the strike of the miners.

We desire to call the attention of the federal authorities to the fact that this gentlemen is “preaching violence” and “defiance of constituted authority.”

The Bulletin also desires to call the attention of the county attorney to the fact that Mr. Alley said MORE hangings. To us this appears to indicate previous activities in that direction.

We do not believe that Roy Alley can be quite sane if he thinks that he or anyone else is going to settle anything by a few MORE murders.

More than that, if any of the strikers or their supporters are to be murdered by the thugs of the Anaconda Mining Co. as an example of red-blooded Americanism, Mr. Alley wants to be sure that he has enough troops in here at the time to keep him and his band of degenerate outlaws from the wrath of an outraged working class.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: IWWs Get Heavy Sentences; “Centralia: An Unfinished Story” by Anna Louise Strong

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 21, 1920
Centralia Defendants Get Heavy Sentences; Anna Louise Strong Reports on Trial

From the Washington Standard of April 6, 1920:

HEAVY SENTENCES GIVEN I. I. W.’S
———-

TWENTY-FIVE TO FORY YEARS GIVEN MEN CONVICTED OF
SECOND DEGREE MURDER; PRACTICALLY MEANS LIFE
TO MOST OF THEM; CASE TO BE APPEALED.
———-

Centralia Trial, IWW Defendants Names, Spk Chc p1, Feb 7, 1920—–

The seven men convicted at Montesano March 13 of second degree murder for the slaying of Warren O. Grimm, Centralia Armistice Day parade victim, were sentenced to not less than 25 years in state’s prison and not more than 40 years, by Judge John M. Wilson Monday afternoon.

Defense Attorney Vanderveer took exception to the sentences and gave notice of appeal.

Judge Wilson said that he could not pay any attention to the jury’s plea for leniency in the case of John Lamb and Ray Becker in the light of the evidence submitted. He said he regarded the case against all of the men as identical. Loren Roberts, whom the jury found insane, was ordered sent to the criminal insane ward at Walla Walla penitentiary.

The seven men sentenced to 25 to 40 years were O. C. Bland, Bert Bland, John Lamb, Eugene Barnett, James McInerney, Ray Becker and Britt Smith.

Motion for a new trial was made by Vanderveer, and argued at length but was denied by Judge Wilson before the sentence was passed.

The minimum sentence for second degree murder is 10 years, the maximum life imprisonment. The defense has 90 days in which, to carry the case to the supreme court.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

From The Nation of April 17, 1920:

Centralia: An Unfinished Story

By ANNA LOUISE STRONG

Anna Louise Strong, Stt Str p 5, Mar 4, 1918

NEITHER side was satisfied with the compromise verdict rendered by the jury at Montesano in the trial of the eleven members of the I. W. W. charged with the murder of Warren 0. Grimm in connection with the Centralia tragedy on Armistice Day. The prosecution asked that all eleven be convicted of murder in the first degree, as having conspired to commit murder. The defense asked that all be acquitted, as men who had planned only to defend themselves and their hall against a threatened raid. One of the defendants was freed on a directed verdict. Of the ten considered by the jury, two were acquitted, one adjudged insane, and seven convicted of murder in the second degree. Even to the jury itself this verdict was not satisfactory. It brought in first a verdict of murder in the third degree for two of the defendants, but was informed by the judge that this was inadmissible, and upon further consideration changed the verdict to that of murder in the second degree. It is generally conceded that three of the jurors held out for some time for absolute acquittal of all defendants.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Prison Poem from Leavenworth by Conscientious Objector H. Austin Simons

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Soul in Prison, Statement to Court Upon Conviction, Sept 18, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 13, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Prison Poem by H. Austin Simons

From The Liberator of April 1920:

Prison Poem by CO H Austin Simons, Liberator p42, Apr 1920

From The Liberator of July 1919
-“Try the Big One” by Maurice Becker:

CRTN, M Becker, GS for Political Prisoners, Lbtr p8, July 1919

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Poem by Fellow Worker Charles Ashleigh from Leavenworth Penitentiary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 12, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Prison Poem by Charles Ashleigh

From The Liberator of April 1920:

IWW Class War Prisoners, Poem C Ashleigh, Liberator p7, Apr 1920

Fellow Worker Charles Ashleigh, No. 13115, Leavenworth, Sept 1918:

IWW, Charles Ashleigh, 13115, Leavenworth, Sept 1918

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Poem by Fellow Worker Charles Ashleigh from Leavenworth Penitentiary” →