Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 3, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Ben Fletcher Imprisoned for Principle
From The Messenger of August 1919:
Ben Fletcher
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
Negro newspapers seldom publish anything about men who are useful to the race. Some parasite, ecclesiastical poltroon, sacerdotal tax gatherer, political faker or business exploiter will have his name in the papers, weekly or daily. But when it comes to one of those who fights for the great masses to lessen their hours of work, to increase their wages, to decrease their high cost of living, to make life more livable for the toiling black workers-that man is not respectable for the average Negro sheet.
Such a man is Ben Fletcher. He is one of the leading organizers of the Industrial Workers of the World, commonly known as I. W. W. He is in the Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, where he was sent for trying to secure better working conditions of colored men and women in the United States. He has a vision far beyond that of almost any Negro leader whom we know. He threw in his lot with his fellow white workers, who work side by side with black men and black women to raise their standard of living. It is not uncommon to see Negro papers have headlines concerning a Negro who had committed murder, cut some woman’s throat, stolen a chicken or a loaf of bread, but those same papers never record happenings concerning the few Negro manly men who go to prison for principle. Ben Fletcher is in Leavenworth for a principle-a principle which when adopted, will put all the Negro leaders out of their parasitical jobs that principle is that to the workers belongs the world, but useful work is not done by negro leaders.
We want to advocate and urge that Negro societies, lodges, churches, N. A. A. C. P. branches and, of course, their labor organizations begin to protest against the imprisonment of Ben Fletcher and to demand his release. He has been of more service to the masses of the plain Negro people than all the wind jamming Negro leaders in the United States.
We respect [the IWW] as one of the
social and political movements
in modern times that draws no color line.
-WEB DuBois for The Crisis ———-
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 7, 1919
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher, Prisoner at Leavenworth, Remembered
From The Crisis of June 1919:
I. W. W.
[by W.E.B. Du Bois]
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
AN editorial in the Easter CRISIS (written during the Editor’s absence) has been misunderstood and was, perhaps, itself partially misleading.
Mr. F. H. M. Murray of Washington, D. C., writes us:
In a recent editorial in your magazine the statement is made that there are no Negroes among the Industrial Workers of the World. While I am certain that the statement is erroneous, I am not at this moment able to lay my hands on anything in print to confirm my denial, except the following from an article in last Sunday’s New York Call magazine, by David Karsner, who reported the trial of the big batch of members of the I. W. W- in Chicago last summer and later the trial of the five Socialists at the same place. He is writing about Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, who presided at both trials and who imposed upon the hundred or so I. W. W., who were convicted, and the five Socialists, sentences aggregating over nine hundred years in prison and fines aggregating over two millions of dollars. Mr. Karsner says:
“There was only one defendant among the I. W. W., to my knowledge, who refused to believe in Judge Landis [during the trial]. He was Ben Fletcher, the sole Negro defendant. One day in the corridor I asked Ben what he thought of Judge Landis. Ben smiled broadly, ‘He’s a fakir. Wait until he gets a chance; then he’ll plaster it on thick.’ Ben was a sure-thing prophet, for the Judge plastered him with ten years, and his counsel said with not enough evidence to invite a reprimand.”
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 27, 1919
Prisons and Jails of the U.S.A. Now Hold the “Best and Bravest”
From The Messenger of May-June 1919:
POLITICAL PRISONERS
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher —–
The recent conviction and sentenced of the national Socialist officials, the Supreme Court’s confirmation of the convictions of Eugene V. Debs and of Kate Richards O’Hare, definitely stamp the United States as the most archaic, antiquated and reactionary of the alleged civilized nations. In addition to these popular and well-known characters, there are 1,500 political and class prisoners in the prisons. Practically all other countries have granted amnesty to their political prisoners, but the U. S. is sentencing them more savagely now than during the War.
Men like Victor Berger, Adolph Germer, Louis Engdahl, Irwin St John Tucker and Charles Kruse have each been sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years for speaking a word in favor of human liberty and for making statements concerning profiteering and patriotism, the truth of which has been amply corroborated by the Federa Trade Commission and the Federal Income Tax Reports. Among the 1,500 political and class prisoners are men of practically all races and nationalities.
Negro men like Ben Fletcher, who have done more to improve the actual economic and social life of Negro workers than the much heralded so-called leaders, are in prison for fifteen and twenty years. There is no race, color or sex line involved. The best and bravest, the noblest and most courageous, are in the dark and cavernous prison cells of this country.
The Portland Fellow Workers send $285.75 to be equally divided among the boys in the Leavenworth Penitentiary, but the rebels confined therein decided unanimously to send same to the general office as the organization is in need of ready cash at present.
This is the spirit of the men who fought for us, and for whom we are now fighting, and their message is organize, organize some more.
———-
[Emphasis added.]
——————–
Disciplinary Reports from Leavenworth Penitentiary
J. A. MacDonald, No. 13133
January 24, 1919
Became sarcastic and ridiculed the laws and system of Government of the United States. Isolation on restricted diet and removed as school teacher.
The bandage will remain on
the eyes of Justice
as long as the Capitalist
has the cut, shuffle, and deal.
-Big Bill Haywood
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 12, 1918
Leavenworth, Kansas – Fellow Workers Lectured by Warden
From The Leavenworth Times of September 8, 1918:
I.W.W.’S ENTER FEDERAL PEN
WITH AIR OF UNCONCERN
[Part II]
—–
ADVICE FROM THE WARDEN.
From the train the prisoners were marched to the chapel to listen to a short talk by Warden Morgan. As is customary when a group of men enter the institution, he explained to them what they should do and advised each one to obey without question every rule. “The prominence of your trial will cause prejudice neither for nor against you” the warden stated. “As with every other man you will be classed as a first grade prisoner on your entrance; how long you hold that classification depends on each one individually. Though you were tried and convicted jointly you will be dealt with individually while here.
“Be exceedingly slow to take advice if it necessitates any deviation from the prison rules. There are ‘old timers’ here who will probably try to get you into trouble that they themselves would avoid. Your treatment here depends largely on yourselves; play fair with us and you will receive leniency in return.”
Next the men were told to take everything from their pockets and put it in their hats. They were warned not to hold back a single bit of personal property. Knives, money, pencils, booklets, glasses and everything they possessed was turned over into the care of prison officials. After undergoing a search they were given something to eat, taken to a group of empty cells and locked up for the night.
Why should the temporary withdrawal
of a hundred members seriously affect
the welfare of a group composed
of nearly 100,000 laborers in
the United States alone?
-Big Bill Haywood
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 1, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Judge Landis Imposes Severe Sentences
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of August 31, 1918:
HAYWOOD GIVEN 20 YEAR TERM;
93 SENTENCED
—–
Big Fines and Prison Sentences
for the I. W. W.
—–
William D Haywood, “uncrowned king” of the Industrial Workers of the World, and ninety-two other principal officers and organizers, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the American war program, were sentenced to terms ranging from one to twenty years in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kas., and given heavy fines by Federal Judge K. M. Landis yesterday.
With Haywood fourteen of his principal aids must spend twenty years in prison; thirty-three others of the organization leaders must spend a maximum of ten years in prison; thirty-three others a maximum of five years, and twelve others one year and one day. Two of the defendants escaped with ten day sentences in the county jail, while the case against two others was continued.
The combined prison sentences of the defendants aggregates 807 years and 20 days.
Added to this prison penalty is a total of $2,300,000 in fines assessed against the ninety-three prisoners. Individual fines ranged from $20,000, the minimum, up to $30,000.
In Jail Here Till Friday.
The defendants were permitted to remain in the county jail until next Friday before they will be removed to the federal prison. In the meantime, George F. Vandeveer, chief counsel for the “Wobbles,” announced a writ of supersedeas will be asked of the Court of Appeals and petition will be made for enlargement upon bail. Ninety days’ time was granted in which to file bills of exception on behalf of the convicted men.
Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 12, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June
New York Tribune, April 14, 1918
As the federal trial of the I. W. W. leaders continues in Chicago, we find through the reporting of Harrison George that evidence against Fellow Workers Fletcher and Ashleigh is non- existent. This fact was noted by Attorney Vanderveer in his request for dismissal of charges against them:
“What has Ben Fletcher ever shown to have done,” said he, “except that he got married and wrote in for his week’s wages?”
“Overruled,” said Landis.
“Whatever Charles Ashleigh might have done last year not one word of evidence is brought to show it and your honor knows as little about it as of the Angel Gabriel,” said Vanderveer.
“Overruled,” said Landis.
Judge Landis on the
Non-Submissive State of Mind
Another question fought over was Vanderveer’s motion to expunge from the record certain so-called “disloyal” acts and utterances under claim that they were acts of individuals not in furtherance of any possible conspiracy. “These acts,” said Landis, in overruling the motion, “although not criminal in themselves, nor apparently carried out by any plan, may tend to show a state of mind and therefore are admissible as evidence to be considered by the jury.” In comment Vanderveer said, “If this theory holds, nobody is safe and I, for one, want to take to the woods.”
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 17, 1918 As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press, Part II
Today we offer the conclusion of our two-part series featuring the article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune.
THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE
Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 9, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Red Sweetheart,” Now Bride, Observes Trial
Miss Genevieve Semashko, formerly known as the “Red Sweetheart,” is now married to FW George Andreytchine, according to The Chicago Tribune. She has recently been found in attendance at the great I. W. W. trial as the process of jury selection continues.
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of April 4, 1918:
TWO JURYMEN ARE ACCEPTED
FOR I.W.W. TRIAL
—–
Ten Veniremen Locked Up for
Examination Today.
—–
Two jurymen tentatively accepted yesterday afternoon to sit in the trial of 112 members of the I. W. W. were ordered locked up last night along with ten others selected for examination today. They were ordered by Judge Landis to avoid discussing the case and not to read anything bearing upon it.
The men chosen, who may still be challenged by either the government or the defense, are:
A. J. McKEE, druggist, Morrison, Ill.
WILLIAM MALLOW, plumber, 4343 Lincoln avenue.
Two Challenges Used.
Two of the six peremptory challenges allowed the government were used yesterday by Charles F. Clyne, United States district attorney, who personally questioned the veniremen.
One of the two challenges used up by the government eliminated Thomas W. Allinson, father of Brent Dow Allinson, the pacifist, of Swiss embassy fame, ordered classed as a deserter yesterday for failure to respond to orders to report at Camp Grant.
Sixty brand new metal spittoons made their appearance yesterday on order from Judge Landis in the name of comfort for those being tried. Simultaneously a variety of plug and fine cut appeared from hip pockets.
Judge Landis also made his way to the “chuck house,” alias Judge Evans’ court, where the men are fed at noon. He wanted to see if the feeding was up to standard. He tasted about a bit and tried the coffee.
“The coffee will have to be stronger,” was his verdict.
Walter T. Neff, whose illness of Tuesday delayed the opening of the trial, was on hand, his throat wrapped warmly. “The Girl in Red,” Miss Genevieve Semashko, who figured some time back in an alleged attempt at jail delivery, appeared yesterday.
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