Tag: Butte Daily Bulletin

Hellraisers Journal: How West Virginia Mine Owners Maintain “Law and Order” against Mingo County Miners

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 7, 1920
Mingo County, West Virginia – Mine Owners’ Gunthugs Maintain “Law and Order”

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of September 29, 1920:

CRTN BF Thugs Law n Order in WV, BDB p1, Sept 29, 1920

West Virginia Mine Owners Take Steps
to Get More U. S. Regulars
—————

By PAUL HANNA.
(Staff Writer, the Federated Press.)

Washington, Sept. 29.-West Virginia mine owners have acted quickly to overcome the complaint of Mingo county miners against the anti-labor conduct of federal troops in that district.

The detailed charges against federal troops made by Fred Mooney, district president [secretary-treasurer] of the United Mine Workers was printed in Federated Press newspapers on the morning of Sept. 24. That same afternoon the following “news” dispatch was sent out from Charleston, W. Va., and widely printed in the capitalist press:

A reign of terror and lawlessness still prevails in the Williamson and Pocahontas coal fields, according to reports sifting through from various sources and reaching here today.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: Deb Asks Supporters to Work for Release of All Class War Prisoners

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re SP n Working Class, Atlanta Cstn p2, May 30, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 6, 1920
Atlanta Penitentiary – Debs Working for Release of All Class-War Prisoners

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of August 4, 1920:

EVD w SP Com at Atlanta Pen, BDB p2, Aug 4, 1920

DEBS STILL WORKING FOR RELEASE OF FELLOW MEN
—–

(Special United Press Wire.)

New York, Aug. 4.-Added impetus to the movement to secure the release of all political and class war prisoners from the federal and state prisons has been noted here since the receipt of word from Eugene V. Debs, who requested that efforts of individuals and organizations in his behalf alone be ceased and energies turned to the release of all.

Debs, who is the nominee of the Socialist party for president, is undergoing imprisonment at Atlanta federal penitentiary for his struggles in behalf of the workers.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: “Inside Story of the Steel Strike” by Edwin Newdick of Federated Press

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Revolution in Our Veins, Altoona Tb p6, Jan 12, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 15, 1920
Edwin Newdick of Federated Press Tells Inside Story of Great Steel Strike

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of July 14, 1920:

re Great Steel Strike by E Newdick, GSS WZF, BDB p2, July 14, 1920

WZF GSS n Lessons, NY 1920, see BDB p2, July 14, 1920

(Editorial Note-Mr. Newdick was in charge of publicity for the National Committee for organizing iron and steel workers throughout the great steel strike. He was attached to the headquarters of William Z. Foster at Pittsburgh and in intimate touch with every phase of the situation. After the strike was called off he remained for sometime in Pittsburgh to check up on every fact herein presented. The Newdick series will comprise five installments.)

FIRST ARTICLE.

Pittsburgh, Pa.-The great steel strike of 1919-20 stands as a tribute to the American labor movement; but it also stands as a tremendous and inescapable problem confronting American labor; and, finally, it constitutes an indictment of labor in that labor failed to achieve the full measure of success which was within its reach.

The purpose of these articles is to show how and why labor failed. It will be assumed that every will-informed and fair-minded reader recognizes the epoch-making successes signalized by the steel strike and the organizing campaign which preceded it; but, before proceeding to expand upon the failures with which these articles will more particularly deal, the encouraging aspects will be summarized. In this case, as in various others in the course of these articles, the words of one of the leaders who was its most active executive official will be used. This is possible by arrangement with B. W. Huebsch, the publishers of “The Great Steel Strike and Its Lessons,” by William Z. Foster, secretary-treasurer of the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers during the entire strike and the campaign which preceded it. By this arrangement the Federated Press is also to present extracts from this remarkable book before, or simultaneously with, its appearance before the public……

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Newly Freed, Kate Richards O’Hare Visits with Eugene V. Debs, Imprisoned at Atlanta Penitentiary

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, To Speak for Labor, Canton OH, June 16, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 14, 1920
Atlanta Penitentiary – Kate Richards O’Hare Visits Eugene Debs

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of July 12, 1920:

DRAMATIC VISIT PAID ‘GENE BY KATE O’HARE
—–
Two Comrades Meet in Atlanta Prison
After Long Separation;
Think of Others’ Suffering.
—–

(By the Federated Press.)

Kate Richards OHare w Children, Chg New Day, July 10, 1920, MxOrg

Atlanta, Ga., July 12.-In a visit full of dramatic incidents, Kate Richards O’Hare visited Eugene V. Debs in the federal penitentiary July 3.

Mrs. O’Hare, recently freed from the penitentiary, was ushered into the prison. The two comrades embraced.

“How glad I am to see you free, Kate,” Debs said.

“I’m not used to being free yet,” she answered. They sat down, facing each other across the table. It was a fair afternoon and the rays of the sun filtered through the steel bars of the visitors’ cell, and lighted up the features of Debs, who smiled a smile of joy to see his old friend.

“Your coming here is like a ray of sunlight to me,” said Debs. “Tell me of your prison experiences.”

“I am not thinking of myself,” Mrs. O’Hare answered, “but of little Mollie Steimer, who now occupies my cell at Jefferson City, and of her appalling sentence of fifteen years. She is a little 19-year-old girl, smaller than my Kathleen, and her sole crime is her love for the oppressed.” At Debs’ questions, Mrs. O’Hare related the story of the girl. Debs’ lashes damped and his eyes were tear-stained, his face showed the emotion in his heart.

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Hellraisers Journal: Gunthugs Cross Tug River from Mingo County to Inflict Reign of Terror on Pike County Miners

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 26, 1920
Pike County, Kentucky – Miners Marched in Chains by Company Gunthugs

From The Buffalo Labor Journal of June 24, 1920:

Pike Co KY Terrorized by Gunthugs, Ellsworth Co Ldr KS p1, June 24, 1920

EVICTED MINERS IN CHAINS
—–

Charleston, W. Va.-When Pike county (Ky.) miners joined the union they were evicted from company houses, chained together and marched in mud and rain 30 miles by armed guards.

This is one of the sensational statements made in a report to President Keeney, district No. 17, United Mine Workers’ union, by Thomas West, attorney, who investigated Pike county mining troubles. Pike county is opposite Matewan, where several persons were recently killed by Baldwin-Feltz detectives.

[Said the investigator:]

The miners were chained together and were walked in a pouring rain to Pike, 25 or 30 miles away. Mud was almost knee deep. Pike county deputies shot a man’s hands off on the Kentucky side of Borderland. About 30 of them were terrorizing both sides of the river. The Pike county deputies were all drunk. In my opinion they constitute one of the most dangerous gangs of men I ever came in contact with.

[Newsclip added from Ellsworth County Leader of Kansas of June 24, 1920.]

From the Duluth Labor World of June 26, 1920:

MINERS HAVE NO TIME FOR
W. VA. PRIVATE POLICE
—–
Protest Against Continued Use-
Demand That U. S. Senate
Make Investigation.
—–

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 25.— Every possible effort is being made by the United Mine Workers of America to bring about a full and thorough investigation of conditions in West Virginia under which coal miners are employed. The recent battle between coal miners and coal company gun­men at Matewan, W. Va., in which 10 men were killed, has caused the officials of the union to redouble their efforts to induce congress to make a sweeping probe of the situation.

Operating under the guise of private detectives, hundreds of gunmen and thugs, nearly all with criminal records, are employed by coal operators of some fields of West Virginia, and these men enforce a reign of terror among the miners and their families. Miners are beaten, slugged and shot. They are arrested and thrown in prison on no valid pretext whatever.

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Hellraisers Journal: William F. Dunne of Butte Daily Bulletin: “Why Copper Is Red” -The Anaconda Road Massacre

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 9, 1920
Butte, Montana – W. F. Dunne on the Anaconda Road Massacre

From The Liberator of June 1920:

Why Copper Is Red

By W. F. Dunne

ANOTHER crimson chapter has been added to the bloody history of Butte, Montana. It was written on April 21 when Winchester repeaters in the hands of gunmen of the Anaconda Mining Co;, poured their deadly loads of buskshot into a peaceful assemblage of striking miners.

Thomas Manning is dead, two more lie at the point of death, twelve more were wounded. Everyone of the victims was shot in the back.

ACM Massacre, Thomas Manning Death, BDB p1, Apr 26, 1920
The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 26, 1920

The miners struck on Monday, April 19. Their demands were as follows:

Release of all industrial and political prisoners. Six-hour day from collar to collar. Minimum wage scale of $7 a day for all workers in the mining industry. Abolition of the rustling-card. Abolition of contract and bonus and so-called efficiency system. Two men work together on all machines, and two men to work together in all workings.

The picket lines were sent out and by Tuesday evening, as they say in Butte, “the hill was clean.” The hoisting of ore ceased. The strike was called on Sunday, April 18, by Local 800 Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, at two meetings attended by over 2,500 miners. For several weeks miners had been leaving Butte by the dozens, dissatisfied with the contract and bonus system instituted by the mining companies. Men were forced to take contracts and if they made more than a day’s pay received but a fraction of their increased earnings in their envelopes; if they failed to break enough rock, at the price per cubic foot paid, to equal a day’s pay, they were fired. At the Sunday meetings some speakers urged postponement of action until June but were greeted with silence. The miners wanted to strike and strike at once. The demands were drawn up, the strike declared and a committee appointed to close all of the boot-legging joints to eliminate trouble as far as possible. Between forty and sixty illegal places were closed on Monday evening by the miners committee but they were immediately told to open up the following morning by the authorities, and did so.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 3, 1920
Minneapolis, Minnesota – May Day-I. W. W. and A. F. L March Together

From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:

May Day in Mpl Sec Lundberg, OBU p6, June 1920

[Part II of II.]

Some of those in charge attempted to turn the speaking into a “campaign rally” to boost some local aspirants for different political offices and relegate all other speakers to the rear and have the crowd tired out before any genuine working class speakers could get the platform, and they succeeded to a certain extent; but when W. F. Dunne, editor of the Butte Daily Bulletin, managed to get the floor he lost no time in explaining how the Workers’ International Labor Day had been desecrated by those who had no other desire except to get into office, no matter how, and that those who would stoop to misuse Labor’s holiday would need watching.

May Day in Mpl Justice Is Dead, OBU p9, June 1920

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Hellraisers Journal: Butte Daily Bulletin: At Matewan, W. V: Baldwin-Felts Gunmen “have at last met their just deserts.”

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 23, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Gunthug Brothers Invade the Wrong Town

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of May 22, 1920:

Matewan, Felts Bros Got What Needed, BDB p1, May 22, 1920———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Butte Daily Bulletin: At Matewan, W. V: Baldwin-Felts Gunmen “have at last met their just deserts.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1920, Part III: Jim Seymour on Mass Meeting for Labor Defense in San Francisco

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Raising Hell, NYT p1, Oct 6, 1916———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 9, 1920
-Mother Jones News for March 1920, Part III
Jim Seymour Describes Labor Defense Meeting in San Francisco

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of March 29, 1920:

Mother Jones Raises Hell in San Francisco, BDB p4, Mar 29, 1920—–

Bulletin’s “Minister Without Portfolio”
Attends Interesting Gathering of
“Vicious Syndicalists.”
—–

BY JIM SEYMOUR.

(Special to the Bulletin.)

Mother Jones, Crpd Lg, Chg Tb p120, Oct 26, 1919

Frisco (known bourgeoiseally as San Francisco), March 20 (By Mail).-Last night [Friday, March 19th] California hall was filled to “S. R. O.” by specimens of the various breeds of workers and a very few others. William Cleary, attorney for a number of vicious criminal syndicalists, and some woman called “Mother Jones,” were billed to speak under the auspices of the Labor Defense league. Cleary jimmed the meeting by exercising his prerogative as a member of the bar and coming late. The trial was kept waiting for him until several of the chairs got too hot for the comfort of the sitters, whereupon Robert Whitaker, ex-sky pilot [preacher] and chairman of the meeting, who seems too good-natured to be named anything more dignified than Bob, delivered a serm-an opening address in which he mentioned the names of Anita Whitney, Kate O’Hare and one Eugene Debs. The applause percentages follow: Whitney, 96; Debs, 72; O’Hare, 49. Collection for defense of criminal syndicalists, for which the Lord be praised, $148.03.

The Rev. Bob then addressed us a few remarks that convinced us that the white-haired old woman on the stage was really Mother Jones and that nobody was trying to palm off a ringer on us. I don’t know just what it was, but Whitaker said something that Mother Jones didn’t quite agree with; and I don’t know just what Mother Jones’ reply was, but she gave him a good-natured bawling out that seemed to amuse the audience but failed to disturb the equanimity of the man who had just collected $148 for the cause. And so long as it didn’t harm him, or us, or the boys in jail, we will remark that it served him jolly well right-he should have known better than to pull that absurd burgeoise stunt of introducing a speaker that is better known than Jesus Christ. [Note: Mother Jones as a devote Catholic would certainly dispute that description of her fame.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for March 1920, Part III: Jim Seymour on Mass Meeting for Labor Defense in San Francisco” →