Hellraisers Journal: Monument at Grave of Martin Irons Unveiled During Convention of Texas State Federation of Labor

19th May 202119th May 2021 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones re Martin Irons Sleeps, AtR p4, May 11 1907 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 19, 1911
Bruceville, Texas – Monument Unveiled at Grave of Martin Irons

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of May 17, 1911:

LABOR FEDERATION UNVEILS MONUMENT
———-
Memory of Late Martin Irons Honored
at Bruceville-Missouri Editor Speaks.

WACO, May 17.-Addresses were heard at morning session of the [Texas] State Federation of Labor convention today, delivered by D. J. Bell of Bells, Grayson county: Secretary-Treasurer J. T. Smith of the Missouri State Federation of Labor, and others. Most of the delegates went to Bruceville today at noon, where a monument to the memory of the late Martin Irons was unveiled the address being delivered by E. T. Behrens, editor of the Liberator at Sedalia, Mo…..

———-

[Photograph and emphases added.]

Note: The monument was erected at the grave of Martin Irons on Labor Day, September 5, 1910. The dedication inscribed thereon reads:

Martin Irons, Oct 7, 1827-Nov 17, 1900
Leader Gould Southwest Railroad Strike 1886
Fearless Champion of Industrial Freedom
Erected by the Missouri State Federation of Labor
and Affiliated Unions
Labor Day Sept 5, 1910

1910 Labor Day Ceremony at Graveside Monument to Martin Irons
-photograph taken by Fred Gildersleeve:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Monument at Grave of Martin Irons Unveiled During Convention of Texas State Federation of Labor” →

Hellraisers Journal: Social Democratic Herald: “Tribute to Martin Irons” by Comrade Eugene Victor Debs

16th December 202016th December 2020 Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 16, 1900
“Tribute to Martin Irons” by Comrade Eugene V. Debs

From the Social Democratic Herald of December 15, 1900:

Martin Irons

It was in 1886 that Martin Irons, as chairman of the executive board of the Knights of Labor of the Gould southwest railway system, defied capitalist tyranny, and from that hour he was doomed. All the powers of capitalism combined to crush him, and when at last he succumbed to overwhelming odds, he was hounded from place to place until he was ragged and foot-sore and the pangs of hunger gnawed at his vitals.

For fourteen long years he fought single-handed the battle against persecution. He tramped far, and among strangers, under an assumed name, sought to earn enough to get bread. But he was tracked like a beast and driven from shelter. For this “poor wanderer of a stormy day” there was no pity. He had stood between his class and their oppressors-he was brave, and would not flinch; he was honest, and he would not sell; this was his crime, and he must die.

Martin Irons came to this country from Scotland a child. He was friendless, penniless, alone. At an early age he became a machinist. For years he worked at his trade. He had a clear head and a warm heart. He saw and felt the injustice suffered by his class. Three reductions in wages in rapid succession fired his blood. He resolved to resist. He appealed to his fellow-workers. When the great strike came, Martin Irons was its central figure. The men felt they could trust him. They were not mistaken.

When at the darkest hour Jay Gould sent word to Martin Irons that he wished to see him, the answer came, “I am in Kansas City.” Gould did not have gold enough to buy Irons. This was the greatest crime of labor’s honest leader. The press united in fiercest denunciation. Every lie that malignity could conceive was circulated. In the popular mind Martin Irons was the blackest-hearted villain that ever went unhung. Pinkerton blood-hounds tracked him night and day. But thru it all this loyal, fearless, high-minded working-man stood immovable.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Social Democratic Herald: “Tribute to Martin Irons” by Comrade Eugene Victor Debs” →

Hellraisers Journal: Martin Irons Passes Away in Bruceville, Texas; Led Great Southwestern Railway Strike of 1886

25th November 202025th November 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 25, 1900
Bruceville, Texas – Martin Irons Passes Away; Led Railway Strike of 1886

From Alabama’s Brewton Laborer’s Banner of November 24, 1900:

IRONS PASSES AWAY.
 ——-
Years Ago He Was the Leader
in a Great Strike.
——-

Martin Irons

Houston, Tex,, Nov. 18.-Martin. Irons, who was once leader of the union labor organizations and was director of the great Missouri Pacific strike in the eighties [Great Southwestern Railway Strike of 1886], with headquarters in St. Louis, died yesterday at Bruceville, twenty miles south of Waco, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad.

Irons came to the country three years ago, and, stopping with Dr. G. B. Harris, the then populist county chairman at Bruceville; he found congenial company and began organizing social democratic clubs. Anti-money rent was the slogan used to arouse the tenant farmers and in the course of a few months the entire south border of McLellan, east port of Bell and northwest portion of Falls counties were organized into clubs. The agitation extended in the east side of the Brazos river.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Martin Irons Passes Away in Bruceville, Texas; Led Great Southwestern Railway Strike of 1886” →