Reconcentrados; piteous God!
The misery of want and death!
The heavens smile, the flowers nod,
The birds sing forth their limpid breath-And why?
-A. W. Thomas
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday June 27, 1898
Girard, Kansas – Poems for the People
From the Appeal to Reason of June 25, 1898:
A poem for the Cuban Reconcentrados by A. W. Thomas-
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 3, 1908
Girard, Kansas – Comrades Wanted to Sell New Debs Book
From the Appeal to Reason of May 30, 1908:
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday May 26, 1908
Girard, Kansas – Town Throws Surprise Party for ‘Gene Debs
From the Appeal to Reason of May 23, 1908:
All of Girard and half of the county assembled in the court house park last Saturday afternoon [May 16th]. A hastily improvised platform had been erected, and, to the music of bands and lusty cheering of the citizens of this little town, irrespective of party affiliation, ‘Gene Debs was escorted forward and introduced to the enthusiastic crowd by Mayor Ryan. The mayor was preceded by E. N. Richardson, who, in a few moments’ speech, voiced the sentiment of every man and woman and child in Girard when he said:
Ladies and Gentlemen-My Friends and My Comrades:-Here is a man whom you all know-many of you may not yet agree with him in his political beliefs; many of you will not vote for hem, but you all love him-you love him because you can’t help yourself; you love him because he is the most lovable man America has ever produced…
Comrade Debs had been kept in complete ignorance of the little surprise party. For a few moments he seemed overwhelmed at the expressions of good will and the smiling faces on every hand. But he quickly recovered from the slight embarrassment, and began to talk. And such a talk! As a father talks to his children, Debs talked to those gathered under the shade of the spreading elms in the court house yard. It wasn’t a wildly enthusiastic gathering, such as one would expect to see on an occasion like this. It was rather a gathering of men and women in dead earnest who realized the deep significance of the occasion and were determined to let no single word which fell from the speaker’s lips escape them. One could almost feel the spirit of the revolution-it impressed me as a counterpart of those meetings of colonial patriots just prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “Momentous and significant.” These words sum up the Girard meeting at which the citizens of this village, without a dissenting voice expressed their congratulations to their fellow townsman, nominated for the presidency by the Socialist national convention.
At the close of the address a group of little children, bearing baskets of flowers and wreaths, and their little faces suffused with smiles, marched to the platform and literally smothered their friend with roses. Tears came to the big brother’s eyes as he gathered the little ones to him. An hour later, I passed ‘Gene sitting on the curb with a dozen bright haired lassies clinging to his arms and shoulders! Mark my words: “You can pin your faith to the man loved by children.”
Friends, you need never be afraid
to put your confidence in a man
whom the children and the dogs love.
-E. N. Richardson
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 25, 1908
Town Square, Girard, Kansas – Most Famous Citizen Celebrated
Upon learning that Eugene Debs had received the presidential nomination of the Socialist Party of America, the citizens of Girard, Kansas, arranged a celebratory meeting in the town square as a surprise for their most famous and most beloved resident. Mr. Debs did not attend the convention in Chicago and was, therefore, on hand to enjoy the festivities.
From The Girard Press of May 21, 1908:
DEBS JOLLIFICATION MEETING.
—–
Band, Flowers, and Hand Shaking.Saturday afternoon [May 16th] the citizens of Girard, regardless of political affiliations, held a meeting in honor of Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist nominee for President of the United States. It is not often that a town or community has the honor of being the residence of a nominee for the Presidency, and Girard comes to the front in having this honor, as Mr. Debs has been a citizen of our city for the past year.
The Frontenac band was engaged for this occasion and furnished music in the public square, where a speaker’s platform had been erected. The meeting was at 3 o’clock, and up to this time Mr. Debs had been kept in ignorance of what was going to happen, and was not apprised of the same until a committee waited upon him and escorted him to the park.
E. N. Richardson made the opening talk, in which he paid a glowing tribute to the nominee. He then introduced Mayor W. H. Ryan, who is a candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket, and who, after a few remarks, introduced Mr. Debs.
In Mr. Debs’s introduction he said that his residence in our city had been the most pleasant, and that he felt as much at home in Girard as he did in the town of his birth. He complimented the Girard people upon their hospitality and the good fellowship that existed toward him. He talked at length, and was heard to the end by a large audience.
At the close of his speech a bevy of little girls bearing baskets of flowers went to the platform and presented their floral offerings, after which there was handshaking and congratulations.
———-
[Paragraph breaks added.]
And there’s Gene Debs—a man ’at stands
And jest holds out in his two hands
As warm a heart as ever beat
Betwixt here and the Jedgment Seat!
-James Whitcomb Riley
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 24, 1908
Girard, Kansas – Socialists Celebrate with Comrade Debs
From The Fort Scott Tribune and Monitor of May 15, 1908:
Chicago, May 15-The socialist convention [Socialist Party of America] at 2 o’clock this morning named Eugene V. Debs as candidate for president; Benjamin Hanford of New York, vice president. Caleb Lipscomb of Sedalia, Mo., was placed in nomination for vice president and received one vote.
———-
[Photograph added.]
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A Pleasant Evening in Girard with Comrade Debs,
Thursday May 21, 1908
“A Living Exemplification of Gentleness and Kindness”
Following the Socialist National Convention at Chicago, numerous home-bound delegates made their way to Girard to visit the Temple of the Revolution, the home of The Appeal to Reason, and to meet the comrades who serve the Cause of Socialism through that aggressive disturber of plutocracy, among whom is our gallant standard-bearer, Eugene V. Debs.
On Thursday (May 21, 1908) several of the old war horses happened in together. As they were to remain until the midnight trains, the word was passed along for the assembling of the clan. The body of Girard Socialists, as a whole, breathe the spirit of brotherhood, and since it has been their exceeding good fortune to have Comrade Debs in their midst there has been a living exemplification of gentleness and kindness by one whose soul has enlarged to embrace all humanity. Whenever it is known that Debs is to be present there is a turn-out of old and young. Hence, on this occasion, when they came to meet the comrades from other states the greeting to the gallant and gracious Debs was full of fervor on all sides.
Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 9, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1908, Part 2:
–Found Speaking at Girard, Kansas, at Socialist District Convention
After February 19th, Mother Jones was found in the state of Kansas where she gave speeches in her usual rousing style on behalf of the Socialist Party. She was a special guest of the Appeal to Reason in Girard where she attended the Third District Convention and gave a speech which “aroused the audience to the wildest enthusiasm.”
The Dallas Morning News reported on February 28th that Mother had entered the state of Texas and was engaged to speak in Longview and in Dallas.
From the Appeal to Reason of February 29, 1908:
A GALA DAY FOR SOCIALISM
—–
The Third District Convention Stirs Things up in Girard
-Old Party Politicians Puzzled and Worried.
—–Last Saturday, in the Girard court house, delegates from the Third district of Kansas met in convention and placed in nomination for congress Comrade Ben Wilson. Under the new primary law this nomination is merely an informal expression of the party’s desire and his name will necessarily have to be voted on at the regular primary in August. In the meantime a vigorous campaign will be carried on.
There were seventy-six regular delegates present, representing nearly every county in the district. There were several hundred out-of-town visitors at both afternoon and evening sessions, and the court house was crowded to the doors. Two years ago there were eleven delegates at our congressional convention in Parsons. The old party politicians viewed the assemblage with surprised wonder. They’ll be more surprised this fall.
The feature of the night session was a stirring address by Mother Jones. As usual, her clear, resonant voice, her earnest face, in its frame of silver hair, aroused the audience to the wildest enthusiasm. The air seemed electrified with the spirit of the revolution. Turning suddenly, as she pointed to Ben Wilson, she declared:
I’m coming back to the Third district this summer and fall and I’m going to help you fellows elect the first Socialist congressman. Then I’m going down to Washington, and when Ben and I get there you’ll see something doing.
—–
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Sunday October 6, 1907
The View from Girard, Kansas: Collier’s Licks the Velvet Hand
From the Appeal to Reason of October 5, 1907:
“Crucify Him!”
—–
Collier’s Weekly, in the face of all the antagonistic circumstances under which Haywood was tried and acquitted, says that it is privately informed by the best detectives in the country that Orchard told the truth. Well, the Appeal is informed by the best detectives in the country that Orchard maliciously lied, to save his craven neck, under the paid expert coaching of a man whose antecedent history in the “Mollie Maguire” period, and at Parsons, Kan., where good citizens made affidavits denouncing him, shows him to be a creature whose moral pulse beats lower than a snake’s. All the time Orchard was “telling the truth” he was telling stories of his own despicable treachery and double dealing for pay.
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday October 3, 1907
Girard, Kansas – J. A. Wayland Publishes Darrow’s Greatest Speech
From Girard, Kansas, home of the Appeal to Reason, Socialist weekly, comes the publication of the entire speech made by Clarence Darrow on July 24th and 25th. This speech resulted in the famous “Not Guilty” verdict which was cheered by working men and women the world over.
From Wayland’s Monthly of October 1907:
—–
While Elihu Root is advising
the new Russian democracy,
you can come over and advise
the new American autocracy.
–Appeal to Reason to Czar Nicholas II
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday July 12, 1917
Girard, Kansas – Invitation Sent to “Mr. Nicholas Romanoff”
From the Appeal to Reason of June 30, 1917:
The Appeal Invites “Czar Nick”
to Come to AmericaGirard, Kansas, June 27, 1917.
Mr. Nicholas Romanoff, Care Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates, Petrograd, Russia.
Dear Nick: Not knowing just how to reach you directly, we are sending this letter in care of the Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates, who are doubtless keeping an eye on you and whom we trust to deliver this message uncensored as the mail of other private citizens is now being delivered-in Russia.
We expect you to be surprised at hearing from us, but not more surprised than we are at finding ourselves writing to you, a perfect stranger, you might say. Still, we feel that we have had an introduction to you after a fashion, having read about you a great deal and followed your recent career with much interest; so we think, Nick, that you’re the very man for a job that is now open over here in this land of the recently free. Here is a new and promising field for the exercise of your peculiar talents.
You will drop your hoe and come over on the next ship when we tell you that Czarism has been introduced in America, that the United States has taken the place of Russia with a vengeance that is rather characteristic of your own past rule.
The worm turns at last, and so does the worker.
Let them dare to execute their devilish plot
and every state in this Union will resound
with the tramp of revolution
-Eugene Victor Debs
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 4, 1907
Boise, Idaho – Eugene Debs Will Not Attend Haywood Trial
From the South Dakota Lead Daily Call of June 1, 1907:
DON’T WANT DEBS
—–Haywood’s Attorneys Request Debs,
the Famous Socialistic Labor Leader,
Not to Attend the Trial Now on at Boise
—–[…]
BOISE, Idaho, June 1.-Eugene V. Debs, the leading apostle of socialism in the country, has been requested by Attorneys Richardson and Darrow to stay away from Boise during the progress of the Haywood trial. Debs has replied to the letter of Haywood’s counsel announcing his acquiescence in their desire.
The correspondence was perfectly friendly, Debs accepting the reasons advanced by Richardson and Darrow as sufficient.
The socialist problem is a serious and difficult one for the defense attorneys. A dozen representatives of as many socialistic publications are attending the trial and each is at odds with the other….
The request to Debs was made because of a statement published over his signature a year ago in which he declared for an armed demonstration if the Colorado men were executed…
[Photograph added.]
From the June 3rd Evening Star of Independence, Kansas:
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Girard correspondence in the Pittsburg Headlight [Pittsburg, Kansas]: Eugene V. Debs, who is living in Girard for the present, treated the ladies who are employed at the Appeal to reason office very liberally to ice cream, cake and candy at Decker’s Candy Kitchen, after office hours last Friday afternoon.
