Tag: Duluth MN

Hellraisers Journal: Carlo Tresca Welcomed Home to New York City with Mass Meeting and Kisses to Both Cheeks

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday December 26, 1916
New York City – Carlo Tresca Welcomed Home at Mass Meeting

From the New York Sun of December 25, 1916:

TRESCA WELCOMED BCK.
—–
I. W. W. Leader Kissed on Both
Cheeks at Public Meeting.

MN16, Parade for Tresca etc, NYC, Dec 2, 1916

Nearly a thousand anarchists and Industrial Workers of the World expressed in a variety of ways yesterday their happiness at the return to New York of their fiery leader, Carlo Tresca, who has been on trial* in Minnesota as a result of his activities in the Mesaba iron range strike.

A meeting of welcome was held in Manhattan Lyceum, 66 East Fourth street. In his exuberance William Shatoff kissed the protesting Carlo first on one cheek and then on the other, while the crowd yelled its appreciation of the scene Shatoff afterward made a speech, but as it was in Russian it will not be reported. Hundreds of his compatriots gathered around Carlo and kept him busy shaking hands for half an hour. Then the meeting began. Tresca said the Minnesota iron miners were ready for another strike “when the gong rings.”

[*Note-Tresca did not stand trial, but was released as part of a plea agreement.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Judge Hilton Defends Plea Deal in Mesabi Cases, Lauds IWW Men and Praise Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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MN16, ON Hilton speech, LW, Dec 23, 1916

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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 23, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota – Plea Agreement & Vindication Meeting

Today’s Duluth Labor World discusses the issues of Justice surrounding the plea agreement reached last week which led to the release of I. W. W. organizers Tresca, Scarlett, and Schmidt:

MN16, Tresca Scarlett Schmidt Released, LW, Dec 23, 1916

OTHER DEFENDANTS DRAW
INDEFINITE TERMS
———-

Tresca Scarlett Schmidt, ISR, Nov 1916

Tresca, Scarlett and Schmidt are freed. Last Friday they were let out of the dingy, over-crowded St. Louis county jail and given their liberty.

Months ago The Labor World made the prediction that the cases against these men would never come to trial; that as soon as the trouble on the ranges blew over these men would be let go. Our prediction was correct, although we have no inclination to claim the virtues of a prophet.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Judge Hilton Defends Plea Deal in Mesabi Cases, Lauds IWW Men and Praise Elizabeth Gurley Flynn” →

Hellraisers Journal: Plea Deal Reached in Iron Miners’ Cases; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Bids Mesabi Range Good-Bye

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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I loved the people on the Range…
the blond children of the Finnish workers,
with their rosy cheeks…
the dark-eyed Italian children,
trying to be friends.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 22, 1916
Mesabi Range – Three Strikers to Be Sent to Prison

From the Bemidji Daily Pioneer of December 16, 1916, we learn the sad news that three strikers will be sent to the state penitentiary in Stillwater as a result of plea deal reached in Duluth:

THREE SENT TO “PEN” FOR
KILLING SHERIFF*
—–

[*Note: the so-called “sheriff” in the title of this article was actually a deputized company gunthug who committed an illegal and violent raid upon the Masonovich home.]

Masonovich-P. & M. & Boarders, ISR, Sept 1916

Duluth, Dec. 16.-Three of the eight persons indicted for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Thomas James C. Myron during the strike trouble at Biwabik on July 3 last appeared before Judge Cant in district court here and pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter in the first degree. They were each sentenced to terms of not more than 20 years in the state penitentiary at Stillwater.

The prisoners who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree were:

Philip Masonovich, 35; Joe Cernagorcevich, 37, and Joe Nickich, 22.

The murder charge against two others, one a woman, was dismissed and the defendants were given their freedom.

In the three remaining cases which are those pending against the Industrial Workers of the World organizers Carlo Tresca, Sam Scarlet [Scarlett], and Joe Schmidt, continuances were ordered. These three were given their freedom in the mean time.

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Hellraisers Journal: Comrade Wins Car from the Review; AWO Raises Funds for IWWs Charged with Murder on Mesabi

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Their only crime consisted of opposing
the U. S. Steel trust on the Mesaba Range
in an effort to better the condition of the toilers.
-Local 65, I. W. W., Bisbee, Ariz.

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday December 3, 1916
From the International Socialist Review: News and View

From the “News and Views” section of this month’s Review, we found a few interesting stories: A Comrade in Oklahoma wins a new car by selling subscriptions to the Review.  And Fellow Workers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Bisbee, Arizona, support the Mesabi Range miners and I. W. W. organizers who are charged with first degree murder-their only crime being loyalty to the working class.

Comrade Clark Wins a Car, ISR Dec 1916

How I Won the Ford.— The best way to get subscribers is to “get them.” I believe it was about the 15th of September that I mailed in my first remittance to the REVIEW for subscribers with the thought of winning the Ford. The victory is a collective one and the car the collective property of myself and Comrade Dorothy Merts, she having secured something over two hundred subscribers on the car. Comrade W. J. Loe was the next highest among many who assisted us. The most effective way to get the subscribers is to talk REVIEW.

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Hellraisers Journal: How the Steel Trust Gained Control of the Mesabi Iron Range Without Spending a Single Dollar

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

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday November 29, 1916
Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range – Under the Rule of the Steel Trust

MN Iron Range Strike, Tresca Scarlett Schmidt Button, 1916

Harrison George, in an article for the November 25th edition of the Duluth Labor World, describes how the Steel Trust came to rule the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota. This is same Steel Trust which steadfastly refused to bargain with its employees and now seeks to frame-up organizers for the Industrial Workers of the World who have stood with the iron miners and their families in their struggle for justice.

Harrison George says of this plot:

This is the firm that backs with its grimy millions, the persecution of brave men; the firm who desires the conviction on a framed-up murder charge of Carlo Tresca, Sam Scarlett and Joe Schmidt-organisers,-who brought their loyalty to labor into the miner’s strike and who are guilty of no other crime.

From The Labor World of November 25, 1916:

STEEL TRUST GRABS RANGE
WITHOUT COST
—–

By HARRISON GEORGE.

Special Investigator for The Labor World.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Duluth Labor World Waxes Ecstatic Over Re-Election of President Wilson

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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He kept us out of war.
-Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday November 12, 1916
Duluth, Minnesota – Leading Labor Paper Rejoices

From The Labor World of November 11, 1916:

WOODROW WILSON RE-ELECTED
IN HOTTEST FIGHT SINCE
CIVIL WAR

Woodrow Wilson, Elected, Labor World, Nov 11, 1916

The election of President Wilson at this writing seems certain. Considering the character of the opposition to his re-election the victory is wonderful. The power of plutocracy in America has been destroyed. Special privilege is doomed. The forces that have strangled justice and robbed the people for 50 years back are crushed. A new nation is born. A new freedom permeates the atmosphere. Human rights will take precedence over the claims of the dollar.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE THEIR FACES TURNED TOWARD THE MORNING SINGING NEW SONGS OF LIBERTY.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mesabi Range IWW Prisoners: Orlandich Speaks Thru Interpreter; Schmidt to Visit Dying Wife

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, Wednesday November 1, 1916
From the Duluth Labor World: News Regarding I. W. W. Defendants

From The Labor World of October 28, 1916:

JOHN ORLANDICH TELLS HIS
STORY FOR FIRST TIME
—–

gavoilo-john-orlandich-isr-sept-1916

A great big hulk of a man with innocent baby eyes stood looking out of the bars in the St. Louis county jail. The interpreter spoke rapidly to him in his own language. The baby eyes lighted up and filled with tears. Gesticulating, the big man poured forth his tale, in melodious strange sounding words.

It was the first time that John Orlandich had been able to make himself clearly understood since he was imprisoned. Orlandich, Tresca, Scarlett, Cernogorovich, Nickich and Masonovich, Iron Range miners, who went on a strike, are all in jail charged with murder. The people of Minnesota, through their government, claim that these men killed James Myron, a special deputy [deputized company gunthug], during the Range strike.

Orlandich doesn’t even know why he is in jail. He asked the interpreter if he had broken any laws by refusing to work. The trials are to start Dec. 5.

 

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Hellraisers Journal: AWO Wrapping Up Season in Harvest Fields, Turns Attention to Lumber Workers

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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The boss will be leery, the “stiffs” will be cheery
When we hit John Farmer hard
They’ll all be affrighted, when we stand united
And carry that Red, Red Card.
-Richard Brazier

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday October 18, 1916
From the Harvest Fields to the Lumber Camps: A. W. O. #400

The October 1916 edition of the International Socialist Review reports:

Harvest Workers, Farmer John, ISR Oct 1916
The Militant Harvest Workers

HUNDREDS of swarthy faced, hard muscled harvest workers are now turning their backs upon a hard summer’s work and are bound for the lumber camps and mills in the northwest, where they will be heard from during the coming winter.

The Agricultural Workers Organization, better known among the farmers as Local 400 I. W. W., is closing its second year’s work 20,000 strong. The members are going to carry their organization with them into the lumber camps and on construction work. Thus insuring not only the continued growth of the organization, but new unions in other industries. In spite of the fact that crops were small in North and South Dakota, the boys were able to enforce job control on half of the machines, making $3.50 per day for ten hours’ work.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on Tour on Behalf of Mesabi Defendants

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Your welfare ain’t on that rich man’s mind.
-Hazel Dickens

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday October 3, 1916
Miss Flynn to Hold Meetings in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas

IWW Metal Mine Workers IU No. 490, Hibbing MN, June 19, 1916

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is currently on tour on behalf of Mesabi I. W. W. defendants who are charged with first degree murder-we refer our readers to the recent article by Eugene Debs in the International Socialist Review.

Before leaving northern Minnesota, Miss Flynn spoke with Joe Ettor at a meeting in Virginia, Minnesota, where she said:

Tresca, Scarlett, Smith and the others are in jail for your sake, remember them.

She also spoke to the Ministerial association at the Duluth Y. M. C. A. where she declared:

A very large majority of the workers on the iron range are foreigners, and they have no friends except among their kinsmen and fellow-workers. If the American-born people would only co-operate, and enlighten the lives of these poor unfortunates, all these disturbances and misfortunes would be done away with.

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