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Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 14, 1919
Chicago, Illinois – Bail Granted to I. W. W. Class-War Prisoners
From New Solidarity of April 12, 1919:
Tag: George Vanderveer
Hellraisers Journal: The Liberator: “Is Civil Liberty Dead?” -on the Department of Justice & the Persecution of the IWW
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 13, 1918
Legal Defense of Industrial Workers of the World Sabotaged
From The Liberator of November 1918:
IN the midst of our rejoicing over the second disagreement in the Masses case, comes news of continued persecution of the I. W. W. Not content with its power to arrest and hold in prison for months under outrageous bail, workingmen known to be penniless, agents of the Department of Justice, aided by Post Office officials, deliberately prevent the friends of these men from collecting the funds which are absolutely necessary to ensure them a fair hearing. This discrimination against men “presumed to be innocent” was notorious in the Chicago case. We learn from the Civil Liberties Bureau that the same methods are being employed to weaken the defense in the remaining I. W. W. cases. And we know from our own experience that letters to I. W. W. branches are returned as “unmailable” under the supreme power exercised by Mr. Burleson under the second Espionage Act. Words cannot be found to express the indignation that any real Democrat must feel at this continued reign of terror.
We print below a memorandum recently sent to the President by the National Civil Liberties Bureau.
I. Interference by Agents of the Department of Justice
Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part I
Remember, this is the only
American working-class movement which sings.
Tremble then at the I. W. W.,
for a singing movement is not to be beaten.
-Jack Reed
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday September 2, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Small on the huge bench sits a wasted man…”
From The Liberator of September 1918:
Part I of John Reed’s coverage of Chicago I. W. W. trial with drawings by Art Young-
The Social Revolution In Court
By Art Young And John Reed
—–IN the opening words of his statement why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him, August Spies, one of the Chicago martyrs of 1887, quoted the speech of a Venetian doge, uttered six centuries ago-
“I stand here as the representative of one class, and speak to you, the representatives of another class. My defense is your accusation; the cause of my alleged crime, your history.”
The Federal court-room in Chicago, where Judge Landis sits in judgment on the Industrial Workers of the World, is an imposing great place, all marble-and-bronze and mellow dark wood-work. Its windows open upon the heights of towering office-buildings, which dominate that court-room as money-power dominates our civilization.
Over one window is a mural painting of King John and the Barons at Runnymede, and a quotation from the Great Charter:
“No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseized of his freehold or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled or any otherwise damaged but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land-
“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice….”
Hellraisers Journal: “A Letter to All Reds” by A. S. Embree, Acting Secretary I. W. W. General Defense Committee
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 29, 1918
From the Cook County Jail: “Hold the Fort! We have nothing to regret.”
From The Ohio Socialist of August 28, 1918:
A Letter To All Reds
After 4 1-2 months of the most bitterly fought legal battle in the history of American labor, the prosecution scored an initial victory in the trial of one hundred of our fellow workers in Chicago.
A masterly defense was provided by Attorney George F. Vanderveer, assisted by William B. Cleary of Arizona, Otto Christensen of Chicago and Miss Caroline A.Lowe of Seattle. It is not too much to say that everything seemed to point to an acquittal, even the charge to the jury by Judge Landis, who, we gladly admit, proved himself to be impartial in all respects. The verdict of “Guilty” came as a shock, a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
The jury was out fifty-five minutes. It may have been only a formality that they left their seats to go to the jury room. A Chicago paper states it is evident that only one ballot was taken.
Motion for a new trial will be filed immediately and if necessary, appeal will be taken. All defendants are now in Cook County Jail. A word of cheer from the fellow workers in the field will be appreciated by them.
Fellow Worker Haywood gave out the following:
[Said Haywood, at the county jail:]
I have no fault to find with Judge Landis, and none of the rest of us have. He was fair to us, absolutely square throughout the whole trial. His instructions were fair, I thought, and certainly he treated us excellently while the trial was in progress.
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Trial: IWWs Found Guilty in Blanket Verdict, Taken to Cook County Jail Singing “Hold the Fort”
How often have court rooms served as undertaking parlors
for the aspirations of rebellious workers?
-Harrison George
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 18, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Guilty Is Verdict Against I. W. W.”
At 5:30 p. m. on Saturday August 17, 1918, the Federal Trial of the leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World ended when the jury announced its verdict:
Guilty as charged in the indictment.
Asked for his response to the verdict, Fellow Worker Harrison George stated:
If America can stand it, I am sure the I. W. W. can.
Report from Harrison George:
NEBEKER concluded his speech at 10:33 a. m. [August 17th], and the crowded courtroom listened expectantly for Vanderveer to open the floodgates of oratory. Nebeker had used less than one hour of the two allotted to the prosecution, and his assistant, Claude R. Porter, was to finish the presentation of their side with a flag-waving broadside of denunciatory eloquence that was not only to sway the jury, but was intended to elect him governor of Iowa. For, thoughtful of his campaign in that state, he had on the previous day sent advance copies of his speech to a great many of his partisan papers in Iowa for release on that day, when he intended to talk himself into immortality.
Judge, oh, ye gods! how deeply he was wounded when Vanderveer forbore to orate, only rising to thank the jury for their patience during the long trial and asking their consideration for a “Christian judgment.” The spectators were nonplussed at such an unusual situation, while Porter, pale and stunned, sat voiceless, trying to grasp the fact that Vanderveer, by refusing to address the jury, had cut off further argument, and that he, Porter, was up against wiring those Iowa papers to kill his oration, already going into the presses.
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Big Bill Haywood on the Stand, Part II-The Class War 1903 to Present Day
Abolish the wage system, is our battle cry.
With an idea that is imperishable,
Organization and Education as our weapons,
we are invulnerable.
-Big Bill Haywood
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 15, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Haywood Takes the Stand, Part II
Report from Harrison George:
Asked if he did any violence in the Cripple Creek strike days [1903-1904], Haywood said he had not, but had received some upon his body, the marks of which remain today.
The Western Federation of Miners had issued a poster bearing a U. S. flag on every stripe of which was an inscription: “Habeas Corpus denied in Colorado”; “Free Speech denied in Colorado,” etc. Under the flag was a photograph of John [Henry] Maki, a union miner, chained to a telegraph pole in the snow by militiamen. Over the flag was the caption: “Is Colorado in America?” Charles H. Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, was arrested at Telluride by militia for “desecrating the flag,” and kept in the bull-pen for one hundred and ten days. Haywood was in Denver, under arrest, but paying a deputy $5 a day to remain out “looking for $300 bail.”
“Couldn’t you get $300 bail?” asked Vanderveer.
“Sure,” was the reply, “but as long as I paid that deputy $5 a day while looking for bail, I would not have to go to Telluride where the militia ruled.”
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Vincent St. John, “The interest of wage workers the world over is bound together.”
[In Lawrence] they were striking
to maintain the human race
in that part of the country—and all over—
because the interest of wage workers
the world over is bound together.
-Vincent St. John
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday August 13, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I.W.W. Trial, The Saint Takes the Stand
The Saint Speaks on the Workers’ Right to Life
On August 6th, Defendant Vincent St. John, former General Secretary-Treasurer of Industrial Workers of World, took the stand. Harrison George offers the following report:
From the beginning of the trial the prosecution harped upon that sentence in St. John’s “History and Structure of the I. W. W.,” which says: “The question of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ does not concern us.”
Q. Why did you put those words in quotation marks?[Answer:] For the reason that in every struggle the wage earners have made during my experience, no matter what they have done, the exponents of the employing class, the press, platform, politicians of all degrees and stripes, have always told them that no matter what they were after, that it was not ‘right’; something they did was ‘wrong.’ The only time a strike is ‘right’ with them is when you have no chance to win it; when they want you to strike; when they want to wipe out whatever vestige of organization you have, then the strike is ‘right,’ that is, a good time to strike.
The Lawrence strike was not entirely a question of getting better wages for those mill operatives, but it was a question that involved the very life and death not only of the men, women and children who were on strike, but also of unborn generations of these same operatives. The death rate in that section among children is 400 out of every 1,000 before they are 1 year of age.
When they were striking in Lawrence they were striking not only for an immediate proposition, but they were striking to save the lives of those 400 unborn children, if you please. They were striking to maintain the human race in that part of the country—and all over—because the interest of wage workers the world over is bound together.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: With Silk Ribbons, Red & Black, Fellow Workers “Remember August 1, 1917”
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 12, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Defendants Honor Frank Little
Report on the Chicago I. W. W. Trial from Harrison George:
Trial Notes: Thursday August 1, 1918
9 A. M. on August 1 every defendant appeared, wearing upon his breast two strips of silk ribbon, red and black, attached to a small button bearing the picture of Frank H. Little, and upon which were inscribed the words, “Remember August 1, 1917.” This anniversal tribute to the memory of our murdered fellow worker aroused no small comment among the deputies and court attaches.
The first witness on that day was C. O. Carlson of Minot, North Dakota, who had hired I. W. W. threshing crews season after season without having anything horrible happen to either himself or the machinery. Charles W. Westphal of Outlook, Montana, who followed him, told much the same story. Westphal farms1,400 acres of land in co-operation with three brothers. When asked how ranchers’ crops would get along without migratory workers, he said, “I don’t know; that’s a question I couldn’t answer.” Westphal said he always hired all the organized men he could get.
“How do you know they are organized in the I. W. W.?” asked [Prosecutor] Porter.
“Because I always demand their red cards,” was the reply.
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Ralph Chaplin on West Virginia and His Undying Hate for Industrial Tyranny
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday July 28, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Testimony of Ralph Chaplin
Report from Defendant Harrison George:
Ralph Chaplin, defendant, artist-poet, and editor of “Solidarity” during 1917, took the stand on the morning of July 19th, 1918, and gave an account of how his life’s events had influenced his conclusions upon industrial and political questions. Born in Kansas thirty years ago, he had studied art at night-school while working during the day-time in the darkroom, “Spot-knocking” photographs. Later, another boss, knowing he was a “scissor-bill,” had him pledge $10 a week out of a $16 wage to invest $500 in the boss’ business. When that was paid in, the boss told him to go to hell and got another victim. This $500 was recovered because Chaplin was a minor when the contract was made; so he took this and started into business for himself with the ambition to be “independent.” But—he found a trust controlled all supplies and he was unable to buy anywhere and had to quit. So he went back to the easel, working for wages.
He then went to Mexico for one year and noted the extreme poverty of the peon class under the Diaz regime. Coming back, he had worked for the Chicago Portrait Company until the artists struck against conditions there. When that strike was lost he went to West Virginia, where he did artist work in the coal mining region. For several years previous he had been an enthusiastic member of the Socialist Party, “soap-boxing” and writing articles.
In West Virginia he did much work on the “Socialist and Labor Star” at Charleston [Huntington], which paper became the spokesman for the U. M. W. of A. coal miners’ strike at Paint Creek and Cabin Creek. During this strike Chaplin acquired his hatred of the labor-crushing militia. He described to the jury the “Bull Moose Special,” an armored train, built by union machinists in the C. & O. shops, loop-holed for machine guns and rifles; a train that was manned by Baldwin-Felts detectives and commanded by Quinn Morton, a company superintendent, and in the darkness run through the strikers’ colony at Holly Grove, belching death to men, women and children.
Chaplin came out of that strike zone with undying hate for industrial tyranny. He had written many poems about that strike and Vanderveer read them to the jury: “What Happened in the Hollow,” “The Mine Guard,” “When the Leaves Come Out,” and “Too Rotten Rank for Hell.” The latter Vanderveer asked about. “Does it express your contempt for the prostitute newspaper men?” “Well,” said Chaplin, “a part of it.”
Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: “What Has Ben Fletcher Ever Shown to Have Done?” Queries Vanderveer
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Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 12, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June
As the federal trial of the I. W. W. leaders continues in Chicago, we find through the reporting of Harrison George that evidence against Fellow Workers Fletcher and Ashleigh is non- existent. This fact was noted by Attorney Vanderveer in his request for dismissal of charges against them:
“What has Ben Fletcher ever shown to have done,” said he, “except that he got married and wrote in for his week’s wages?”
“Overruled,” said Landis.
“Whatever Charles Ashleigh might have done last year not one word of evidence is brought to show it and your honor knows as little about it as of the Angel Gabriel,” said Vanderveer.
“Overruled,” said Landis.
Judge Landis on the
Non-Submissive State of Mind
Another question fought over was Vanderveer’s motion to expunge from the record certain so-called “disloyal” acts and utterances under claim that they were acts of individuals not in furtherance of any possible conspiracy. “These acts,” said Landis, in overruling the motion, “although not criminal in themselves, nor apparently carried out by any plan, may tend to show a state of mind and therefore are admissible as evidence to be considered by the jury.” In comment Vanderveer said, “If this theory holds, nobody is safe and I, for one, want to take to the woods.”