RICARDO FLORES MAGÓN
Several times the writer of this column has called the attention of the country to the unspeakable outrage perpetrated against Ricardo Flores Magon, a Mexican citizen and patriot, who having been convicted in one of our federal courts of the crime of inciting revolution against a friendly republic, was sentenced to serve a long term in the Leavenworth penitentiary and until a few days ago occupied a cell there.
It was when we learned of his declining health, the information that he could not survive for many months, that we entered our first protest against his brutal confinement, and if the so-called department of justice had been animated with one atom of justice and moral courage, his life might have been spared, for now Ricardo Flores Magon is dead, another brave martyr to the cause of human liberty.
He was prosecuted and convicted and imprisoned at the instance of the corrupt agents of the still more corrupt and tyrannical government of the Dictator Porfirio Diaz. In fear of assassination he fled Mexico and on this side of the Rio Grande sought to enthuse the hearts of his fellow countrymen with those hopes and ideals which glorified the lives and characters of the fathers of American liberty.
Diaz, bloody and unscrupulous tyrant, was the bosom friend of the capitalists of this country, and their word and wish was law, so when Ricardo Flores Magon, raised his voice in protest against the cruel wrongs from which his countrymen were suffering-when his powerful pen delineated the indictment against Diaz and portrayed him as the braided beast he was-his friends on this side of the Rio Grande were wild with fury and Magon became their victim.
Notwithstanding, the flame which gallant and courageous Magon kindled, grew into a mighty conflagration, and Diaz, the usurper and autocrat, was exiled, never again to set foot in the country he had cursed by his presence-notwithstanding a free government was established and the constitutional liberties of the people of Mexico restored-notwithstanding the great cause for which he struggled was triumphant, Ricardo Flores Magon continued, for years afterward, to breath the foul air of a felon’s home, even until the day when merciful death closed his kindly eyes and composed in rest and peace a body which knew no weariness in toiling for the liberation of his oppressed countrymen.
What a mighty and cruel force is capitalism! It knows no country. It does not respect international boundaries. It follows its victims, even within the temple where sanctuary, except for its cruel sway, might be obtained, and upon the very tree of liberty it hangs its victims, and in the name of the law, does them to death. Ricardo Flores Magon, pure and gentle, unselfish and brave, should have lived through many happy years, and died at last in the arms of loved ones, amid the worshiping prayers and tears of those compatriots to whom he was an inspiration, but thanks to the international powers of capitalism, whom he had offended, he died a felon and with his last gasp paid the last installment of the penalty which capitalist hate demanded.
So long, Magon, at last your body rests calmly and sweetly in the land you loved. We are ashamed of our part in your cruel murder. Some day we hope we shall be able to make partial restitution, for as the train which bore your wasted and emaciated form, wound its way across the Western plains, the hopes and prayers of many more than a million souls followed you, and some day, please God, our countrymen shall join yours in the erection of a monument to your memory which will express in some small measure the love we bear you.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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