Tag: December 1910

Hellraisers Journal: The Appeal to Reason: Mrs. W. F. (Emma) Little Reports from Fresno: “They Are Mobbing Workers”

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote Emma Little, re IWW Fresno FSF Mob Attack of Dec 9, AtR p3, Dec 31, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 1, 1911
Fresno, California – “They Are Mobbing Workers” by Mrs. Emma Little

From the Appeal to Reason of December 31, 1910:

They Are Mobbing Workers

Fresno, Cal., December 13-Friday night [December 9th] Fresno mob attacked I. W. W. members who were speaking on the street and severely beat them. The mob then proceeded to the I. W. W. camp. The boys on the street rushed out to our house [home of Fred and Emma Little], then on out to camp, to give the boys in camp what warning they could.

I could hear the autos going past our house right behind the boys. Shortly after the autos passed I could bear the yell, the mob yell.

IWW Fresno FSF, Mob Attacks, FMR p1, Dec 10, 1920

They burned down the tent and then they took a vote on whether or not they should burn our house. They decided not. Then they proceeded back to town, stood around town awhile, then went to the jail and demanded the prisoners. This request was refused, and shortly after the mob dispersed.

Friday afternoon Murdock, one of the I. W. W. speakers, was tried for vagrancy before Judge Briggs by a jury of business men. Murdock was a well-dressed, well educated man, who, it was proved, was employed by and receiving a salary from the I. W. W. as organizer. The jury convicted him of vagrancy. Judge Briggs put off sentencing him until the next day.

When Murdock came to receive his sentence the next day, Briggs stated that he liked Murdock, but as he was one of the instigators of last night’s trouble he would have to sentence him 180 days (six months).

For weeks the papers have been urging the citizens to form a mob and drive the I. W. W. from the country. The I. W. W. had violated no law. They had lived quietly and peaceably in their own little canvas homes. The officers bad no excuse for molesting them.

Mayor Rowell, the saloon champion, owns the Republican, or most of it. A short time before the day of the mob the Republican said that in Portersville, a small town about thirty miles from here, the citizens had formed a committee and requested the I. W. W. to leave; and that the I. W. W. had immediately left. The paper suggested that would be good tactics to pursue here. The whole article was a tissue of lies. The I. W. W. was not driven out of Portersville. The article and many more along that line were written for the sole purpose of making a mob spirit.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: “500 Men Wanted in Fresno, California, Immediately”

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote John Whyte, re Fresno Aroused Working Class, IW p1, Dec 22, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 31, 1910
On to Fresno! – Call Goes Out for 500 Fellow Workers to Join Free Speech Fight

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of December 29, 1910:

Fresno FSF, Bnr HdLn, 500 Men Wanted Immediately, Spk IW p1, Dec 29, 1910

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1910, Part II: “Trinity of Sleek Parasites,” Roosevelt, Mitchell, Bishop of Scranton

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Capitalists Money Grabbing Parasites, AtR p2, Nov 5, Mnrs Mag p11, Nov 17, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 29, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1910, Part II:
–Roosevelt, Mitchell and Bishop of Scranton: “Trinity of Sleek Parasites”

From The New York Call of November 14, 1910:

MOTHER JONES’ LATEST VISIT
TO THE ANTHRACITE FIELDS

Mother Jones, the friend of the miners, the Socialist apostle, is now seventy-seven years old, but her activities in behalf of the oppressed are as vigorous as ever. Only lately she paid a visit to the anthracite fields. Her account of her visit, written for The Call, is as follows:

What I Saw in the Anthracite Fields.

Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

My work in connection with the Mexican cases being completed at Washington, and feeling assured that the victims of this “bloodocracy” would not be rearrested on their liberation from prison, I decided to visit the boys in the anthracite regions, investigate conditions, and see what progress, if any, had been made in the way of organization and education since the last general strike. My visit to the anthracite regions which border on the inferno followed that of Roosevelt and his ex-labor leader, John Mitchell [ex-President of United Mine Workers of America], who had visited the coal fields, so it is said, for the purpose of making some observations and investigations as to the condition of the slaves whose lifeblood is coined into profits that the few may riot in luxury.

When Roosevelt and his bodyguard arrived at Scranton they were received by the Bishop of Scranton, who wined and dined them and who remarked during the meal that it was the first time in his life he had had the honor of sitting between two Presidents. On the right of the bishop sat Mr. Roosevelt, friend of the workingman. It was he who, in order to show his friendship, sent 2,000 guns to Colorado to shoot the miners into subjection and, if they did not obey, blow their brains out, and who, while president of the United States, sent hundreds of messages to Congress, but never one in the interest of the working class. Not even when the explosion in the Monongah mine sent 700 souls, the souls of wage slaves, into the shadows and shocked the civilized world, did he find it in his sterile conscience to send a message to Congress demanding protection for the men whose labor feeds the mammoth maw of industry and warms the fireside of the world. Roosevelt’s real interest in the working class is only aroused when he seeks their votes. On the left of the bishop sat the $6,000 Civic Federation beauty [Mitchell], pet of the mine owners, decorated with diamonds, gifts from the coal barons.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1910, Part I: Holds Roosevelt Responsible for Ruin of Mine Workers in Anthracite

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Oligarchy, Sops, Rise Up, Giants, Clv Oct 12, Lbr Arg p1, Oct 13, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 28, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1910, Part I:
–Blames Roosevelt for State of Miners Union in Anthracite Field

From the Muskegon News Chronicle of November 4, 1910:

Workers of the World Peter Power, Muskegon MI Chc p5, Nov 4, 1910

[Mother Jones] Holds T. R. Responsible
for Ruin of Coal Union.

Mother Jones, Tacoma Tx p7, Oct 24, 1910

That man Roosevelt is responsible for the wrecking of the once powerful union of anthracite miners; he turned John Mitchell’s head by flattery and did what Geo. F. Baer and the combined hard coal barons couldn’t do. I repeat, the overrated Roosevelt wrecked the anthracite miners union.

These startling words were uttered by Mother Jones in conversation with the writer a few days ago, while en route to the Irwin-Greensburg coal field to assist the 20,000 striking miners who have been locked out since last spring [Westmoreland County Coal Strike].

Mother Jones is unquestionably the most influential figure among the American miners today, and has been for a decade. If she were a man she would be the life president of the United Mine Workers of North America. It was Mother Jones more than any other human being who rallied the hard coal miners in their helpless slavery 10 years ago and cheered them on a fight their way out.

[Said Mother:]

Now, after ten years of open shoppery, the boys are back in the old rut, back on the treadmill, not daring to call their souls their own, thanks to the scheming and hypocrisy of Roosevelt. And then that bluffer had the audacity to go down into the Scranton district recently, accompanied by photographers and press agents, and gloat and grin at the poor miners and announce ostentatiously, “I am ex-President Roosevelt.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Fresno Jailers Turn Fire Hoses on Fellow Workers, Jailed for Fighting for the Right to Speak in Public

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Quote John Whyte, re Fresno Aroused Working Class, IW p1, Dec 22, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 27, 1910
Fresno, California – Jailed Fellow Workers Given “Water Cure” 

From The Fresno Morning Republican of December 24, 1910:

Fresno FSF, re Water Cure, FMR p1, Dec 24, 1910

As the result of a second hostile demonstration in two days on the part of eighty Industrial Workers of the World, a fire hose attached to engine No. 5 was brought into play at 6 o’clock last night at the jail. For twenty minutes the howling prisoners put up a frenzied but futile resistance, and were finally subdued. This method of enforcing discipline within the confines of the jail proved effective and half an hour later the men informed Sheriff Chittenden that they would respect prison rules in the future.

From early morning until 6:30 last night the I. W. W.’s stormed within the jail. The riot was continuous and the authorities were powerless in their efforts to quell the raving Industrialists.

One minute they were singing their “Red Flag” song and the next they were climbing up the bars of the “bull pen” cursing and fuming. Not content with abusing officers and yelling with all the strength their lungs afforded, the men rushed to the windows and hurled insulting remarks to men, women, and children who were passing through the court house park.

Riot Lasts All Day.

The second riot started at 8 o’clock yesterday morning when the trusties appeared at the bull pen with a quantity of bread and water. The obscene demonstration of Thursday night, when the eighty I. W. W.’s wilfully broke the jail rules, resulted in an order from Sheriff Chittenden to place the men on a bread and water diet.

When breakfast arrived the Industrialists rebelled and the sight of the loaves of bread and buckets of water fanned the flames of fury within them. As the bread passed in the men in a long line accepted the loaves. After all had been served the riot began. As if from a gattling gun the loaves were hurled at the trusties and Major Ed Jones, day jailer. In the afternoon at 4 o’clock the men were again offered bread and water but they refused to eat a bite and declared with a shower of oaths that they would starve to death before they would partake of a bite of bread.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor Argus: Women and Children of Irwin Coal Field Live in Tents on Frozen Ground

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Brutal Ruling Class, Cnc Pst p7, May 31, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 23, 1910
Greensburg, Pennsylvania – Strikers’ Families Face Winter in Frozen Tent Colony

From The Labor Argus of December 15, 1910:

PA Miners Strike, HdLn Horrible Conditions Tents, Labor Argus p1, Dec 15, 1910

PA Miners Strike, Small, Tent Colony Greensburg, Thanksgiving, Stt Str p1, Nov 24, 1910
Thanksgiving at Greensburg
Tent Colony

Pittsburg. Pa. Dec. 14.-Have you ever camped in a bleak and barren hillside in the frosty month of December with nothing to protect you from the biting winds but a flimsy tent, with the frozen ground for a carpet, and a hard wooden bunk for a bed? Can you imagine a more cruel punishment to inflict upon the most despised criminal upon earth? And yet this is exactly what thousands of people in the Irwin-Greensburg strike district are compelled to and they are not criminals either, but upright and honest, law-abiding people. The conditions which confront these poor mortals simply beggar description, no mind can picture nor pen accurately describe the situation.

And what have these people done to be thus punished? Is it a crime to revolt against merciless oppression, to prefer death by cold and starvation rather than a miserable existence in abject slavery. If it is then these people should be punished just like other criminals, but we know of no law they have violated, and hence society owes them some little consideration, at least an opportunity to live as others in this richly blessed land of ours live.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: “Capitalist Sluggers in Fresno” -Mob Destroys IWW Camp

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 22, 1910
Fresno, California – Mob Destroys I. W. W. Camp as Police Stand By

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of December 15, 1910:

Fresno FSF, Telegram StJ CRTN re Mob Attack, IW p1, Dec 15, 1910

———-

Fresno FSF, HdLn Capitalist Sluggers in Fresno, IW p1, Dec 15, 1910

Again we have been taught another lesson in LAW AND ORDER. On Dec. 7, F. H. Little, secretary of the I. W. W. local in Fresno was tried in that city on a charge of DISTURBING THE PEACE. Disturbing the peace meant to use his constitutional rights to address an audience of workers or whoever wished to stop and listen to him expound the teachings of the I. W. W. At the trial of Little it was discovered (after men had been tortured in the cells of the Fresno jail for breaking LAWS) that there was no LAW in Fresno denying a man FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Fellow Worker Little was acquitted and it was then up to the authorities to release all the prisoners from the dungeons, where they had been tortured with the fire hose and other barbarous methods. The following dispatch to the Spokesman-Review from Fresno proves our statement:

The Industrial Workers of the World have won their fight for “free speech” in Fresno and are speaking throughout the city advocating the principles of their organization, while the police, helpless to interfere, are merely watching to see that none of the agitators incite rioting.

The victory was due to the discovery today that the ordinances of the city do not prohibit speaking on the streets without a permit. Police officials say that probably the 49 I. W. W. speakers now in the county jail will be liberated tomorrow.

Several of the prominent merchants here have advocated the organization of a citizens’ committee to force the industrialists out of the city, but no one has been willing to take the initiative.

The headquarters of the organization, just outside of the city limits, was the scene of jollification this evening , over the acquittal of F. H. Little, secretary of the organization, on a charge of disturbing the peace.

When the authorities could find no legal way to stop FREEDOM OF SPEECH they began to throw out hints to the Citizen’s Alliance and other thugs to go at it themselves and clean out the I. W. W. men with violence. The following dispatch to the Spokesman-Review on the 9th again bears out our statement that the respectable mob was invited to do bodily harm to our members, and probably murder in cold blood:

Following an order given by the chief of police to all patrolmen to allow members of the I. W. W. to speak unmolested on the streets of Fresno, and a statement that the citizens might do as they wished, a large mob gathered in this city tonight about 7 o’clock, attacked and severely beat a number of industrial workers, who sought to speak, and then marched to the I. W. W. camp, outside the city limits, and burned a big tent in which the members lived, together with all the supplies kept there.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fresno Free Speech Fight Continues: Jailed Fellow Workers Get Water Cure; Pimps Get Turkey Dinner

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 12, 1910
Fresno, California – “Water Cure for Workers; Turkey for Pimps”

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of December 8, 1910:

IWW Fresno FSF, Jail Workers v Pimps, IW p1, Dec 8, 1910

Fighting for the right to tell the truth to workers so that they will organize and put an end to this CLASS STRUGGLE is no play for children. The rich are rich by virtue of the fact that the great mass of the people are IGNORANT.  It pays to keep the workers in IGNORANCE, as no one recognizes the old axiom that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER any better than the parasites that revel in luxury from the toil and misery of others. Under the guise of PATRIOTISM  the children are taught to murder each other in the name of their country when in reality they have no country and are fighting for the boss. Under the guise of the GOLDEN RULE they are taught to suffer on earth, and that the more they surfer and starve on earth the better off they will be after they die. Ay one who preachers this SPOOK DOCTRINE  will never be cast into jail even if all the street cars in America are stopped because of the crowd.

That I. W. W. men want to block the streets and obstruct traffic is an absolute lie. This bunk was peddled daily by the Spokane lying capitalist press, while at the same time religious organizations were having free use of the streets. This same bunch of LIES is being peddle now in Fresno, where the fight for Free Speech is on. I. W. W. men in jail have had the hose turned on them by the POLICE for singing the Marsellaise. The capitalist press of Fresno is a unit in endorsing the actions of the police in this matter. One daily paper of Fresno gleefully tells how the prisoners were floating around in the water, but yet they sang the Marsellaise.

In another department of the jail were PIMPS that were arrested for dealing WHITE SLAVES. They were fed on good food and were given daily papers and tobacco, and were furnished with good beds. The WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC is a product of capitalism. The I. W. W. is the result of the best thoughts and intelligence of the workers who rebel against the rule of the master.

The CAPITALIST CLASS knows that if the workers are organized on the lines laid down by the I. W. W. that the smoke it off with them. Among the men in jail in Fresno for Free Speech is an old man 81 years of age. He was put through the horrors of the water cure with the younger men. This old white-headed man stands for Freedom on earth. The crawling coward that will stand for all the insults and misery that is handed out to him on earth, believing that he will be better off after death, is too despicable a thing to notice. When are we to profit by the torture that is being dealt out to us in the lousy cells of the master class? Fall in around the banner, boys, and organize to put the PARASITES to work doing something useful. The day of reckoning is yet to come. Down with  IGNORANCE.

———-

[Emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

IWW Fresno FSF, Telegram Jack Whyte, IW p4, Dec 8, 1910

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Fresno Free Speech Fight Back On; Frank Little Among Many Fellow Workers Arrested and Jailed

Janet RayeFrank Little
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Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 6, 1910
Fresno, California – Free Speech Fight Renewed; Fellow Workers Arrested

From The Fresno Morning Republican of November 30, 1910:

Fresno FSF IWW Renews, FL Arrested, FMR p1, Nov 30, 1910

The Long threatened clash between the Industrial Worker of the World and the local police materialized last night. Twenty-four of the followers of the red flag were lodged in jail by Chief Shaw and a squad of ten policemen.

The expected invasion began at 6 o’clock and continued till 9 when the 34th agitator was taken into custody. During these three hours the police department was never busier in the history of Fresno. As fast as central could ring the bell at police headquarters, Night Desk Sergeant Frank Truax was kept busy jotting down the various corners in the downtown section where the I. W. W.’s were trying to make speeches. Several of the “red shirts” were making wild-eyed speeches to a handful of men. At H and Kern streets two were talking at the same time from soap boxes to a half dozen listener.

Among the twenty-four arrested were three of the leaders, James Murdock, C. L. Fligino [Filigno] and F. H. Little. Yesterday morning Chief Shaw appeared in the police court and swore to complaints charging Murdock and Fligino with vagrancy. It is said that they receive no compensation from the Industrial Workers. In fact, Murdock and Fligino admit that they are speaking for the “good of the cause.”

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