Tag: Bisbee Deportations of 1917

Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Woman Representatives Score Butte & Bisbee, Jeannette Rankin Speaks

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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No one is safe where lynching is sanctioned.
-Jeannette Rankin

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday August 22, 1917
From the Appeal to Reason: Two Brave Women Speak for Labor

The Appeal to Reason of August 18th featured the opinions of two women elected to represent the people: the first, Miss Jeannette Rankin of the United States House of Representatives, and the second, Mrs. Rosa McKay of the Arizona House of Representative. Today we begin with Miss Rankin who outlines conditions at Butte. We will conclude tomorrow with Mrs. McKay and her view of recent events in Bisbee.

Butte and Bisbee Outrages Scored
by Brave Woman Representatives

Jeannette Rankin, MN Princeton Union, Aug 9, 1917

The stories of the labor troubles in Butte, Mont., and Bisbee, Ariz., are told below by two women, both of them elected representatives of the people from their respective districts.

Miss Jeanette Rankin, of Montana, the first Congresswoman of the United States, told of conditions in Butte in a speech [August 7th] before the national House of Representatives.

In an article to the Appeal, Mrs. Rosa McKay, member of the Arizona House of Representatives from Bisbee, Cochise county, Arizona, tells of the Bisbee deportation.

The activity of these two women in behalf of justice for the workers and in defense of the cause of true democracy, leaves little wonder why the reactionary, corporation-serving politicians have sought to prevent the entrance of woman into politics. Speed the day when woman will take her full share in the affairs of government! Miss Rankin and Mrs. McKay have done the cause of suffrage a great service in the noble stand they have taken.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1917, Part II: Found in West Virginia & Washington, DC

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday August 18, 1917
Mother Jones News for July, Part II: Organizing West Virginia

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 12, 1917:

The following was published as an advertisement in the The Beckley (West Virginia) Messenger of July 10, 1917, but without the final paragraph.

“Mother” Jones’ Refreshing Experience

Mother Mary Harris Jones, Decatur Herald IL, May 14, 1916

“Mother” Jones had a most refreshing experience at a great meeting of the miners at Quinnimont, West Virginia, on the 14th day of June. The Layland mines, where the meeting was held, is owned by the Berwin-White Coal Company, and a large number of men are employed at this place. It is in the very heart of the mountainous New River coal fields. In the years gone by this section has been a veritable Gibraltar of the foes of unionism, and armed guards have patrolled the works of the companies looking for those who were trying to carry the message of unionism to the miners of this section. Happily, this condition has passed away in many parts of this field, and the private gunman is being driven farther and farther back into the remote mountain fastnesses.

The refreshing part of the Layland meeting was the manner and spirit in which Mr. O. A. Kneer, the superintendent of the Berwin-White Coal Company received the visit of “Mother” Jones. Instead of following the tactics of some of the less enlightened companies and forbidding “Mother” holding a meeting at the mines, he told the miners to go to the meeting, and was present himself. After the meeting was over he said it was one of the best addresses he had ever heard. Having an open mind and the spirit of fair play, he was ready to meet the miners half way and deal with them as men with rights.

If all the coal companies were enlightened enough to show the same spirit, the coal fields of the country would not so often be the scene of bitter industrial struggles. Mr. O. A. Kneer, by his fairness and good will, has done much to bring peace between the miners and operators in that section. His attitude is commended to the companies who think to crush the miners by private armies of gunmen. There is nothing that appeals to the average miner so much as fair play.

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Hellraisers Journal: Frank Little in Butte, Speaks to 4,000 Striking Metal Miners & Supporters at Ballpark

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday July 24, 1917
Butte, Montana – Fellow Worker Frank Little Speaks

Frank Little, wiki

Fellow Worker Frank Little arrived in Butte, Montana, on July 18th as a representative of the Industrial Workers of the World. The Butte Metal Mine Workers Union is officially unaffiliated with the I. W. W., and yet, Frank Little, a leader of the Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union No. 800, was welcomed whole-heartedly by the striking miners and was invited to speak at a mass meeting held on July 19th at the Columbia Garden Baseball Park.

As he spoke, a light rain began to fall. Frank looked upward into the raindrops, raised his hands and remembered the miners left in the New Mexican desert following the Bisbee Deportation:

Oh man, if this rain could only descend upon that bull pen in the hot, sun-parched desert of New Mexico, and bring some relief to the two thousand noble men held there by the uniformed federal thugs, it would be appreciated.

Frank Little closed his speech with a call for Solidarity and Unity, the only means by which the working class can gain liberty from oppression.

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WE NEVER FORGET: FW James H. Brew who gave his life in freedom’s cause on July 12 1917 at Bisbee, Arizona

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

WE NEVER FORGET James H Brew, Bisbee AZ, July 12, 1917

—–

Fellow Worker James H. Brew
Card-Carrying Member of the Industrial Workers of the World

WNF James H Brew, Tombstone, d. July 12, 1917

Fellow Worker James H. Brew was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was a miner and a boilermaker, and a seasoned veteran of the Cripple Creek Strike of 1903-1904.

During the early morning hours of July 12, 1917, he was asleep at his rooming house when a band of Sheriff Wheeler’s army of deputized gunthugs and citizen vigilantes came to grab him as part of their warrantless round-up of the striking miners and strike sympathizers of Bisbee, Arizona.

Leading this band of kidnappers was Orson P. McRae, shift boss at the Copper Queen Mine and a member of the Loyalty League. McRae was accompanied by five deputized gunthugs.

FW Brew warned the would-be kidnappers not to enter, but with McRae in the lead, they were determined to force their way inside.

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Hellraisers Journal: Bisbee Deportee, Attorney W. B. Cleary, Issues Statement from Hermanas, New Mexico

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday July 16, 1917
From Hermanas, New Mexico – W. B. Cleary Speaks

Bisbee Deportation Miners and Supporters July 12, 1917

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In a statement issued from Hermanas, New Mexico, where the miners and their supporters, deported from the Bisbee district of Arizona, were left stranded at 3 a. m. on July 13, Attorney W. B. Cleary said in part:

About 5 o’clock in the morning of the 12th a rounding-up of the men on strike began. The strikers were members of the I. W. W. and the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. Men from Bisbee, Lowell, Warren, and Douglas, and the county adjacent thereto, to the number of 2,200, mostly armed with rifles and revolvers and some with clubs, assisted in the work of the round-up. Some of the miners were treated without any show of violence by the men taking them from their homes, while in other instances the men were forced at the point of a gun to leave their homes, and in many instances their wives and families.

They were herded by gunmen with an automobile which carried a machine gun. This machine gun was trained on the miners….

The men were entrained on twenty-four cars waiting on a siding near the park. Cattle cars and box cars were used for this purpose. About noon the train was started toward New Mexico. On top of each car were a large number of armed guards and along the railroad track for miles the train was accompanied by automobiles with men holding guns fixed upon the railroad cars.

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Hellraisers Journal: Bisbee Deportees Stranded at Hermanas; Governor Appeals to U. S. Authorities for Help

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday July 15, 1917
Hermanas, New Mexico – I. W. W. Fellow Workers Stranded in Desert

From the Santa Fe New Mexican of July 13, 1917:

Bisbee Deportation, IWW Hermanas, StFe NMxn, July 13, 1917
Bisbee Deportation, IWW US Army, StFe NMxn, July 13, 1917

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Miners of Jerome & Bisbee Loaded into Cattle Cars & Deported from State of Arizona

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday July 14, 1917
From Jerome & Bisbee, Arizona – More Than 1000 Working Men Deported

Bisbee Deportation, IWW to Cattle Cars, July 12, 1917

The above photograph shows more than 1000 working class men, mostly members of the Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, being loaded into cattle cars in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12th, for the purpose of being deported from the state of Arizona. The men were force to stand in manure and left without food and water for hours until they were hauled across the state line and into New Mexico. More than 1000 men were left stranded in the desert near Hermanas, New Mexico.

The sixty-seven men deported from Jerome were taken across the state line and left at Needles, California.

From the Bisbee Daily Review of July 12, 1917:

Bisbee Deportation, Keep Off Streets, Bsb Dly Rv, July 12, 1917

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