Tag: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Age 19, Braves Motherhood in Spokane Jail Cell in Fight for Free Speech

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Work for Justice Despite Hardships, Tacoma Tx p7, Dec 29, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 31, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Miss Flynn, Age 19, Braves Motherhood in Jail Cell

From The Tacoma Times of December 29, 1909:

ONLY 19, SHE BRAVED MOTHERHOOD IN CELL
TO AID IN STRUGGLE FOR FREE SPEECH

EGF, ed Spk Chc p2, Nov 18, 1909

(Special Correspondence.)

SPOKANE, Dec. 29.,-“If I have found work to do in a struggle for what is right, and just and human, then I would be unworthy and unhappy, should I lay down the work because of hardships, persecutions or privations. That is all.”

Nineteen years old, a wife, soon to be a mother, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, member of the national committee of the I. W. W., explained in her cell in the city prison here why she passed unflinchingly through the indignity of arrest, trial and conviction, through the insults of the “third degree” and the tortures of the “sweat box;” why she faced bravely a coming ordeal of motherhood behind jail bars.

This girl was arrested here for her activities in the struggle for free speech being carried on by the Industrial Workers of the World against the city authorities who are attempting to enforce what has been declared by one judge an unconstitutional ordinance against street speaking. She was tried for “criminal conspiracy,” convicted and sentenced to a term in jail. She heard the sentence without any visible manifestation of emotion and though in a delicate condition, she smiled calmly when the grated door of her cell was swung shut, leaving her alone.

Ten miserable years of childhood spent in the squalid poverty-ridden tenement districts of New York are the explanation of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s activities in the “free speech war” in Spokane. Filled with a spirit of revolt against existing industrial systems, she allied herself, four years ago, with the work of the Industrial Workers. She was a frail slip of a girl, 15 years old, then. When she was 17 she became the wife of J. A. Jones, an I. W. W. organizer. Though her married life has been happy, in her work she has retained her maiden name. Her education, snatched from bitter expedience and what few books she could find time to read, this girl leader is refined and gentle in speech and manner.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: From Montana News: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Sentenced to Three Months in Spokane Jail for Conspiracy

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 18, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Convicted of Conspiracy

From the Socialist Montana News of December 16, 1909:

IWW Spk FSF, Barbarities, MTNs p1, Dec 16, 1909IWW Spk FSF, EGF Sentenced, MTNs p1, Dec 16, 1909

[Part II of II.]

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Sentenced
to Three Months.

EGF, Joan of Arc, Nw Cstle Hld PA p21, Dec 17, 1909

Miss Flynn, or rather Mrs. Jones in private life, was arrested while walking on the street, on the new conspiracy charge that is now being used against the Industrial Workers. She has been editing and getting out the paper, the “Industrial Worker”, since the force was arrested.

This “conspiracy” charge makes any one concerned in coming or bringing people to Spokane to test the city ordinance guilty of the crime of conspiring against the peace of the city, and the authorities are working this to the limit. They even claim that their ordinance is superior to the Washington state laws, or the United States constitution. They completely ignore the fact that no inferior jurisdiction can make a law in contradiction to its superior.

The police have been itching to get Miss Flynn. She was thrown into a cell with prostitutes, insulted by the police, who came with their vile familiarity in the night, and abused terribly by the prosecuting attorney, Pugh. She is in a pregnant condition, and the greatest fears are entertain for her safety, the first child lost owing to her overwork on the platform. Her husband, who is Missoula, is worked up to an extreme nervous tension through suspense and anxiety.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Montana News: “Unexampled Barbarities” Used Against Prisoners of Spokane Free Speech Fight

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 17, 1909
Spokane, Washington – “Officials Use Russian Tortures”

From the Socialist Montana News of December 16, 1909:

IWW Spk FSF, Barbarities, MTNs p1, Dec 16, 1909IWW Spk FSF, EGF Sentenced, MTNs p1, Dec 16, 1909

[Part I of II.]

The stand of the I. W. W. for Free Speech in Spokane is making the history that will disclose the hollowness of the claims of personal liberty the American constitutional government has made.

The brutal treatment of the prisoners has not been excelled in Russia. The Franklin schoolhouse where over 200 of them have been incarcerated is kept in a state of unparalleled filth. The floor has never been scrubbed; there are no receptacles for expectoration, a filthy pall is provided for the calls of nature, often overflowing. No beds or bunks are provided, and the men have to lie in this filth. There was no fire or stove, but the men began tearing down the building and making a fire on the floor, and so a stove was furnished.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Socialist Montana News: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, New York Labor Agitator Now in Spokane

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Western IWW Aggressive Spirit, IW p3, Aug 12, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 13, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Fights for Free Speech

From the Socialist Montana News of December 2, 1909:

A WOMAN LABOR AGITATOR.

EGF, ed Spk Chc p2, Nov 18, 1909

The tour of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn through the west, and the strenuous work she has been performing in generaling the Free Speech fights has introduced to this section of country and earnest and energetic young woman.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is a married woman of New York, whose agitation in the labor movement has excited much attention in the capitalist press, and a certain amount in the labor and socialist press; although the attention given her by the latter has been by no means commensurate with the ability of her work, and the impression it has made upon those who have heard and seen her. But Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has broken into the labor movement under peculiar conditions. Reared in a socialist home, she grew up with her mind intelligent and keen as to the homogeneity of the socialist and labor movements, an idea that is as yet scarcely grasped at all in America, either by the great mass of laborers or the majority of the socialists themselves. To be a socialist, a social reformer, meant to Miss Flynn to work in the labor movement.

When the Industrial Workers of the World was organised she thought she saw in its methods the ideal line of activity for the workers to adopt, who were bent upon industrial emancipation through a revolutionary program. She became devoted to the interest of the Industrial Workers. She refused to ally herself with either the Socialist Party or the Socialist Labor Party because of their failure to co-operate decidedly with the I. W. W.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Socialist Montana News: “Free Speech War Rages At Spokane” -to Speak Until All Are Arrested

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 12, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Fellow Workers to Speak Until All Are Arrested

From the Socialist Montana News of December 2, 1909:

IWW Spk FSF, Free Speech War Rages, MTNs p1, Dec 2, 1909

[Part II of II.]

Justice Orders Ordinance Made to Order.

Justice Mann who is holding up the judicial end of the government persecution detected the flaw in the first ordinance, as class legislation, and dismissed the prisoners under it. Another ordinance was then framed on the judge’s advice, designating any speaking on the street where a crowd gathers as disorderly. Thus the judge makes the laws, and decides on it, and passes sentence on it.

The second day 133 were arrested and 33 sentenced to 30-day terms in jail.

Attorney Moore for the I. W. W. gave notice of appeal to the superior court.

Foote, the editor of the Industrial paper published at Portland, was arrested as soon as he reached town.

A bulletin posted at headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World was as follows:

Fellow workers, tomorrow this fight will be carried on with greater determination than ever. We have only begun to fight; 200 men will go to jail tomorrow.

Immediately below was posted another, which read:

Every man who is appointed captain to select five or more men and proceed to hold meetings.

Every captain and squad go to the places designated and speak until all are arrested.

Remember, the authorities claim to have broken the backbone of the organization. Show them that they are just as ignorant as bulls usually are…..

The socialist of Spokane have actively taken up the I. W. W. fight.

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WE NEVER FORGET-James Kelly Cole Who Lost Life on November 17, 1909, En Route to the Spokane Free Speech Fight

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

WNF, James Kelly Cole, IWW Spk FSF, Nov 17, 1909, Rev Writings Poems p12, 1910 ———-

WE NEVER FORGET
James Kelly Cole Who Lost His Life in Freedom’s Cause,
November 17, 1909, at Tomah, Wisconsin
———-

James Kelly Cole, Poems Cover, 1910
“It was on a pilgrimage to help others
who believed in the rights of men
that James Kelly Cole was halted suddenly by death.
A railroad accident at Tomah, Wis., November 17th, 1909,
ended only too untimely his brief, young, hopeful life.
He lived well and bravely and thus did he die.”

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: “We can keep up the fight all winter.” -Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Reports from Spokane Free Speech Fight

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 3, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Reports from Scene of Battle

From the International Socialist Review of December 1909:

ISR IWW FSF, p483, Dec 1909

[Part I-Report from Spokane by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]

Letter T, ISR p483, Dec 1909HE working class of Spokane are engaged in a terrific conflict, one of the most vital of the local class struggles. It is a fight for more than free speech. It is to prevent the free press and labor’s right to organize from being throttled. The writers of the associated press newspapers have lied about us systematically and unscrupulously. It is only through the medium of the Socialist and labor press that we can hope to reach the ear of the public.

The struggle was precipitated by the I. W. W. and it is still doing the active fighting, namely, going to jail. But the principles for which we are fighting have been endorsed by the Socialist Party and the Central Labor Council of the A. F. of L.

IWW Spk FSF JP Thompson, ISR p483, Dec 1909

The I. W. W. in Spokane is composed of “floaters,” men who drift from harvest fields to lumber camps from east to west. They are men without families and are fearless in defense of their rights but as they are not the “home guard” with permanent jobs, they are the type upon whom the employment agents prey. With alluring signs detailing what short hours and high wages men can get in various sections, usually far away, these leeches induce the floater to buy a job, paying exorbitant rates, after which they are shipped out a thousand miles from nowhere. The working man finds no such job as he expected but one of a few days’ duration until he is fired to make way for the next “easy mark.”

The I. W. W. since its inception in the northwest has carried on a determined, relentless fight on the employment sharks and as a result the business of the latter has been seriously impaired. Judge Mann in the court a few days ago remarked: “I believe all this trouble is due to the employment agencies,” and he certainly struck the nail on the head. “The I. W. W. must go,” the sharks decreed last winter and a willing city council passed an ordinance forbidding all street meetings within the fire limits. This was practically a suppression of free speech because it stopped the I. W. W. from holding street meetings in the only districts where working men congregate. In August the Council modified their decision to allow religious bodies to speak on the streets, thus frankly admitting their discrimination against the I. W. W.

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Hellraisers Journal: William Z. Foster Reports from Spokane Free Speech Fight for Seattle Workingman’s Paper

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 24, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Fellow Workers Jailed Under Horrible Conditions

From Seattle Workingman’s Paper of November 20, 1909:

IWW Spk FSF, HdLn, ed, Stt Socialist Workingmans Paper p1, Nov 20, 1909

SPECIAL SPOKANE DESPATCHES
———-

Discipline Excellent
—–
[-by William Z. Foster]

Spokane, Sunday, Nov. 14.-The one distinctive feature of this fight, which impresses me at first glance is the calm, business like determination of the men and the excellent discipline pervading throughout their ranks.

Things are quiet today. No street speaking is the order for Sunday. Tomorrow street speaking will be resumed. The plan is to send out a sacrifice squad daily. Many men are arriving. Two hundred and eighty are in jail, living on bread and water. Eighty of these are in Fort Wright, seventy-five in the abandoned Franklin school house and one hundred and twenty-five in the city jail. Two meetings will be held tonight , one in the city court room and one at I. W. W. headquarters. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and John M. Work are speakers for both meetings, relieving each other.

WM. Z. FOSTER

———-

Horrible Conditions
—–

SPOKANE, Monday, Nov. 15.-Ten speakers arrested today. Police handled them roughly and were jeered by the bystanders.

Conditions in jails are horrible. In the [Franklin] school house bucket is used for toilet. The place is alive with vermin. The prisoners are refused water to boil their clothes. Windows are broken. No visitors are allowed. No place to sleep except floor. No blankets. Half loaf bread daily. All are suffering with cramps in stomach. Doctor gives them castor oil. Many are very sick, but they are ordered to work on rock pile. Only two so far have accepted this means of release.

Today a six day striker was released, afflicted with bleeding piles. Blood was running down his legs. At first they ordered him to rock pile, then told him to go. He could hardly walk and was refused admission to hospital. He was penniless, but authorities refused to return thirty cents taken from his person when he was arrested, on the plea that he owed for costs.

Socialists have declared boycott on Apple show.

Public sentiment is strong for strikers.

W. Z. FOSTER.

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Hellraisers Journal: News from the Spokane Free Speech Fight by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for the Industrial Worker

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Compliment IWW, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 19, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Employment Sharks Compliment I. W. W.

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of November 17, 1909:

News From Spokane

Spk FSF, Leaders n Editors, IW p1, Nov 17, 1909

NEWS FROM THE FRONT;
-FREE SPEECH VS. LAW
—–

[-by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]

[…..]

Outside fellow workers may realize the seriousness of the situation in Spokane when a railroad official of Portland is quoted as saying that the authorities there are watching with great interest the Spokane fight on the I. W. W. and calling attention to the fact that if we are defeated in Spokane, then a similar campaign will be started against us in Portland. The capitalist class of the northwest are out to annihilate us. We have only the powers of our numbers, organized and disciplined for action.

Two employment agents in town, Walker and Macho, are quoted as saying that they will employ no I. W. W. men. Like the fable of the sour grapes there is a very good reason-they never get any to employ. They say that the I. W. W. man is trouble breeder, that he advises others not to work so hard, to howl for better grub and better bunkhouses and more wages. That is about one of the finest compliments that the I. W. W. has ever received.

On Sunday night two splendid meetings were held in the cause of free speech, one at the I. W. W. hall and the other by the Socialist party in the municipal courtroom. From the same forum that Judge Mann delivers his decree of thirty days on bread and water the I. W. W. defiance of the “law and order” element rang forth. The walls echoed and re-echoed with the strains of the “Red Flag,” and resolutions were passed boycotting the apple show. Altogether, over a hundred dollars was received for the free speech defense fund and a dozen or more new members were added to the ranks of the I. W. W. But we must not let our enthusiasm abate one iota. We want volunteers to go to jail. We want to advertise Spokane during the National Apple Show. Boost for her as a city where the constitution is dead and the police make the laws. Get into Spokane and do your part in this great battle for the rights of labor.

ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN.

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