Tag: December 1908

Hellraisers Journal: J. H. Walsh: Spokane to Made Headquarters for the Migratory Lumber Workers of the Great Northwest

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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At the rate the organization is now growing
we shall soon have doubled our membership in this city
and the territory tributary to Spokane.
-J. H. Walsh
IWW National Organizer
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 6, 1908
Spokane, Washington – J. H. Walsh Has Returned from Chicago

From The Western News of December 2, 1908:

LABOR NEWS.
—–

IWW Emblem, IUB p1, Oct 24, 1908

SPOKANE, Nov. 24.-Spokane is to be made the headquarters for over 5,000 members of the Industrial Workers of the World employed in the lumber industry in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Northern California.

During the last year the number of sawmill workers and men employed in logging camps who have become members of the Industrial Workers, has attained large proportions, 3,000 members being located in Montana alone.

The Industrial Workers have now decided to form a department for men engaged in the lumber industry in these five states and in British Columbia, placing all local organizations in various towns and cities under the jurisdiction of the head officers of the department, who, it is stated, will have their offices in this city.

Organizer J. H. Walsh, of the Industrial Workers of the World, has returned from Chicago where he has been in conference with prominent members of his organization.

[Declares Mr. Walsh:]

Since the fourth annual convention of the I. W. W. at Chicago during the latter part of September, the organization has become thoroughly united and unaffected by factional differences.

The Western Federation of Miners is now practically co-operating with us. We have gained remarkable strength in the Coeur d’Alene country and in Montana we have control of the lumber situation and our organizers are meeting with phenomenal success in the formation of strong new unions. We are well organized in the Flathead country and after a few small tussels with employers have gained control of considerable work.

At the rate the organization is now growing we shall soon have doubled our membership in this city and the territory tributary to Spokane.

Mr. Walsh anticipates that he will shortly be ordered to Montana to assist in the organization work now in progress in that state.

—–

[Emblem of I. W. W. added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Woman on Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Spirit of poet & revolutionist beautifully combined.

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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EGF Quote, I fell in love with my country, RG 96

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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 5, 1908
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the Maud Gonne of the American Movement

From the Socialist Woman of December 1908:

The Cover:

Socialist Woman, EGF on Cover, Dec 1908

From the Editor, Mrs. Josephine Conger Kaneko:

Elizabeth G. Flynn.
—–

EGF, Socialist Woman Cv, Dec 1908

The first time I saw Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was at a Socialist meeting in New York City in 1906. She was the speaker of the evening. A sixteen year old high school girl, she was indeed an interesting personality. The last time I saw her was in Chicago, where she came as a delegate to the convention of the Industrial Workers of the World. Meanwhile, she had become “famous” in New York City, all the big dailies writing up her activity for Socialism, some of them giving whole pages to it. Although a “mere slip of a girl” she promises much for the future, both from an intellectual standpoint, and as a “soap boxer.” For she has made most of the eastern part of the continent, speaking night after night for weeks at a time. The spirit of the poet and the revolutionist are beautifully combined in her, together with a power of logic, which often is wanting in older heads. She has been called the Maud Gonne of the American movement.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Tour of the Red Special” by Charles Lapworth

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re Red Special, AtR p2, Sept 19, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 4, 1908
The Journey of Red Special as Told by Charles Lapworth

In this month’s edition of the Review, Comrade Lapworth tells the inspirational story of the journey of the Red Special which carried Eugene Debs, the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America, across the nation, ending with a big rally and last campaign speech at Terre Haute.

From the International Socialist Review of December 1908:

The Debs Red Special

EVD Red Special Cover Photo at Danville, ISR p1033, Dec 1908

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Hellraisers Journal: Report Continues from Gertrude Gordon at Marianna Mine Disaster: Story of Lone Survivor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Fred Elvarna re Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Ptt Prs p2, Nov 30, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 3, 1908
Marianna, Pennsylvania – Gertrude Gordon Interviews Lone Survivor

The heart-rending reporting of Gertrude Gordon continues from the scene of the Marianna Mine Disaster.

From the Pittsburg Press of November 30, 1908:

FEARFUL SCENES WERE ENACTED AT PIT MOUTH
[Continued.]
—–

BY GERTRUDE GORDON.
Staff Corespondent of the Press
—–

Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Carry Out Corpse, Ptt Prs p2, Nov 30, 1908

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SOLE SURVIVOR TELLS STORY OF CATASTROPHE
—–

The first body taken out was that of Fred Elvarna who is in all probability, the only man living of all who were in the mine at the time of the explosion. He was badly burned and his leg was wrenched, but he was living. In a talk with him, which, with surprising vitality he was able to give within a few hours of his rescue, he described some of his sensations in the mine. He is a bricklayer and was repairing a wall when the explosion occurred.

[He told me:]

I had just put up a brick, and was putting some mortar on it when I felt the explosion coming. It was just like a cold breath from somewhere, not exactly cold, but there was something awful seemed to come and I knew that terrible danger of some kind was there. Of course the worst danger is fire damp, after any explosion that kills more than fire or the falling timbers, and I just threw myself on the ground and dug a hole with my hands to put my face in, and threw my coat over my head.

Of course I did all that in a second and I didn’t really dig a hole, but just scooped out a handful of earth to lay my face in, so that I could breathe.

After the crash I laid quiet for a little and then when I had to move to breathe I tried to look around. It was pitch dark, of course, and the air was pretty bad, but still I could get enough to keep me going.

COULD NOT MOVE.

I couldn’t move and didn’t know how bad I was hurt, but I started yelling right away so that the boys could tell where I was when they came to hunt us. I could hear the men moaning and crying all around me, but we couldn’t get to one another. The men didn’t seem able to talk, and I cannot tell how long they moaned. I guess it was hours, but one by one they stopped, and I guess they all died.

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Hellraisers Journal: Gertrude Gordon Reports from Marianna Mine Disaster: Mute Women Waiting, “Piteous Horror”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Gertrude Gorden re Women Waiting Marianna MnDs, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 2, 1908
Marianna, Pennsylvania – Heartrending Reports from Gertrude Gordon

From The Pittsburg Press of November 29, 1908:

Marianna PA Mine Disaster Horror, Ptt Prs p6, Nov 29, 1908

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WOMEN MUTE SUFFERERS AT MARIANNA MINE
—–
Bear Their Great, Anxious Sorrow,
in a Benumbed Fashion
-Rescuers Come From the Shaft,
to Be Followed by Others
—–

By Gertrude Gordon.

Marianna PA Mine Disaster Gertrude Gordon, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908

Marianna, Pa., At the Mine, Midnight.-The first thing that struck my ears on leaving the train at Marianna was the hysterical scream of a woman.

With my nerves keyed to a tension by the reports I had heard all the way up from Pittsburg, and the conversations relating to the terrible mine disaster, I expected to enter upon a scene and sights of the utmost horror, but that one scream was all I heard.

“My boy,” calling her son, and that was all.

Not a star shown on the skies, even the moon glimmered but dully, the only light being the points of brightness which showed the presence of the lanterns and the smoking torches flaming in an inadequate attempt to light the darkness. At the mouth of the Rachel shaft, where formerly had stood compact machinery and rough, although completely equipped sheds, was only a shapeless mass of debris. Official-looking men in blue uniforms stood around, keeping black all the people who were pressing to get closer to the shaft.

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Hellraisers Journal: Coal Miners Perish in Explosion at Marianna, Pennsylvania; Brave Rescuers Battle Flames

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 1, 1908
Marianna, Pennsylvania – Catastrophe at Rachel and Agnes Mine

From The Pittsburg Press of November 29, 1908:

Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908

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[Sketch of Stricken Crowds at the Mine]

Marianna PA Mine Disaster Stricken Crowds, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908

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BRAVE RESCUERS FIGHT THE UNDERGROUND FIRE
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Crack Mine Is Scene of Terrible Disaster
-Scaffolding Hurled 2,000 Feet in the Air
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WORKED LIKE DEMONS AGAINST GREAT ODDS
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BY OWEN A. THOMAS,
Press Staff Correspondent.

Marianna, Pa., November 28 (11 p. m.)-Even worse than was at first reported is the horrible catastrophe here at the Marianna mine, where late this morning 200 miners were killed instantly by a terrible explosion.

Although officials of the Pittsburg-Buffalo Co., owners and operators of the mine, refuse to admit it, flames are baffling the attempts at rescue, and brattice clothe in enormous quantities is being rushed here by trains from Monongahela 21 miles distant.

Rescuing parties, lowered in great iron buckets, have been able to force their way through the mass of tangled wreckage at the bottom of the shaft.

Here, however, they were stopped by the great piles of stone, iron and coal, heaped there by the force of the exploding gas. The cause of the disaster, in all probability, never will be known….

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