Tag: Industrial Worker Newspaper

Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They came, that none should trample Labor’s right
To speak, and voice her centuries of pain.
Bare hands against the master’s armored might!-
A dream to match the tolls of sordid gain!
-Charles Ashleigh

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 18, 1917
From The Tacoma Times: An Interview with Charles Ashleigh

POET-TRAMP-JOURNALIST A CLOSE OBSERVER
OF BIG SEATTLE TRIAL

By Mabel Abbott

Charles Ashleigh, IWW, Tacoma Tx, Apr 17, 1917

SEATTLE, Wash, April 17.-A poet, a tramp, a newspaper man and an I. W. W. sit each day at the press table in Judge Ronald’s courtroom, where a great class struggle is being fought around the stocky figure of Tom Tracy, I. W. W.

They are Charles Ashleigh.

He is in charge of publicity for the Everett Prisoners’ Defense league, and he is a radical of the radicals; so revolutionary that he even dares to defy the tradition that a revolutionist shall be a sinister and mysterious-looking person.

He is young, small, mild-mannered, and speaks literary English with a fine British accent.

He was born in London. As a boy he was for a time an assistant secretary in the Fabian society of socialists and free-thinkers, and saw and heard Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and other famous members.

A little later, he tramped through England with the army of the unemployed, haranguing the crowds and stirring the miners of South Wales to organization.

Loves Adventure.

Ordinary life was tame, naturally, after that, and Ashleigh, went to South America.

In Buenos Ayres he was for a little while in the accounting department of a railway; then he took a contract to string telegraph wires along the right of way.

He had never strung a wire in his life, or seen it done, but he hired a foreman who did know how, assembled a gang of Guarani Indians, and started out.

It was a colorful experience. “The Indians aren’t really a bad sort at all, you know,” Ashleigh explains, “but they do drink. One night the cook shot his brother, in my tent. They were all rioting around so it was hard to tell anything about it, and the authorities got hold of me, as being the handiest person, I suppose, and put me in jail, until the British consul came and cleared things up.” Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh” →

Hellraisers Journal: Tracy Defense Presents Its Case: Louis Skaroff Testifies to Brutality at Everett Jail

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, Monday April 16, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Charles Ashleigh Reports on Tracy Trial

Everett Defense News #20, Apr 14, 1917

Everett Massacre, Snohomish County Jail, WCS p116 w text

SEATTLE, Wash., April 14th.-During the last week the Defense, in the case of Thomas H. Tracy, one of the 73 men charged with murder of a deputy on Nov. 5th in Everett, has been bringing its big guns to bear upon the edifice of lies and falsity which the Prosecution had erected. The covering has been torn away from Everett and the city has been exposed in all its native reek.


EVERETT MAYOR’S BRUTALITY REVEALED.

Last Monday, Louis Skaroff, a young Russian boy, gave his testimony which the Defense announced was intended to impeach the evidence of Mayor Merrill. Skaroff was in Everett on Bloody Sunday, Nov. 5th. He had the courage to get up on the street corner, after the massacre at the dock, and begin to speak. Of course, he was immediately arrested. Following is his account, under examination, of the treatment he received in jail:

On Monday evening following my arrest I was lying on a table in the tank, asleep, when the jailer called for me. Somebody woke me and told me to put on my clothes as the Mayor wanted to speak to me.

THE MODERN INQUISITION.

[Continued Skaroff:]

I was taken into a room in the jail where there was an iron bed. It appeared to be an officer’s rest-room. There were three men in there: the night officer, a man who posed as an Immigration Officer and Mayor Merrill. They sat me in a chair and started asking questions. Then they talked some more; and then the night officer began to beat me up. When he got tired, the Mayor started in on me. He beat me terribly and then threw me on the floor and walked on me. Then they put my fingers under the leg of the bed and the Mayor and another jumped on the bed. Then they took me back to the cell and on the way knocked me down four times.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: “The Patriot”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Should I ever be a soldier
‘Neath the Red Flag I would fight;
Should the gun I ever shoulder
It’s to crush the tyrant’s might
-Joe Hill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 15, 1917
From the Industrial Workers: A Poem From a Patriot

IWW, WWI, Patriot, Love My Flag, IW Apr14, 1917

 

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Hellraisers Journal: Prosecutor in Tracy Trial Gives Dramatic Reading of “Sabo-Tabby Kitten,” Complete with “MEOW! MEOW!”

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O, the rats all hate and fear me.
MEOW! MEOW!
The softest paw can be a claw;
They seldom venture near me,
Hurrah, they saw your Sabo-Tabby Kitten!
-Ralph Chaplin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 23, 1917
Seattle Tracy Trial – Dramatic Reading Provided by Prosecutor

Sabo-Tabby Kitten by Ralph Chaplin

In an article in Thursday’s edition of the The Northwest Worker, Katherine H. Hodgins provides further details on the reading of I. W. W. literature into the trial record and a closer look at the testimony of Mayor Merrill of Everett.

It seems that Prosecutor Cooley thought the courtroom a stage when he recited the lyrics to Ralph Chaplin’s song about a Sabo-Tabby Kitten:

Friday morning was enacted a scene that was worth any person’s time and money to have seen and heard, when Mr. Cooley read from the I. W. W. song-book. Imagine, if you can, a white-haired man, rather sever in countenance, reading with the utmost gravity to a solemn-faced jury, the songs “Casey Jones,” “Tabby Kitten,” etc. Mr. Cooley read them in an interesting and expressive manner which added color to the unique performance. Especially was this true when he “meowed” at the end of each chorus of one of the songs, exclaiming “sabotage” in the most fearful and dramatic manner of which he was capable.

On a more serious note, Mayor Merrill was confronted by the young I. W. W. member whose fingers the Mayor had crushed:

The most dramatic incident of the trial so far, was the introduction of Louis Skaroff, an unusually interesting, bright-faced Jewish lad, who had been arrested and detained at the city jail in Everett after having been arrested on the afternoon of Nov. 5th while speaking on the street. It has been alleged that this lad had been maltreated by officials at the city jail late one night, and that at the termination of a series of kickings and beatings, during which he sustained bruises about the head and body inflicted by the mayor, assisted by another official, his fingers were placed under the foot of an iron bed by the mayor, while he, with the other worthy, jumped upon the middle of the bed, thus crushing and bruising the poor lad’s hand. When confronted by Skaroff, Merrill denied having ever seen him. Again he refreshed his memory and admitted that he had seen him, but denied any connection with atrocity.

From The Northwest Worker of March 22, 1917:

MAYOR MERRILL OF EVERETT GETS
GRUELLING AT TRIAL
—–

PROSECUTION FAILS IN ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE ONLY
ONE SIDE OF THE WORKERS CASE TO JURY.
CLASS WAR IN THE LIME LIGHT
—–

(By Katherine H. Hodgins)

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Prosecutor in Tracy Trial Gives Dramatic Reading of “Sabo-Tabby Kitten,” Complete with “MEOW! MEOW!”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Seattle Union Record Covers Tracy Murder Trial, Plans to Give Day to Day Account

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 March 21, 1917
Seattle, Washington – E. B. Ault Reports on Tracy Trial

E. B. “Harry” Ault, editor of the Seattle Union Record, organ of the Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity, promises:

The Union Record has made arrangements to be represented at each session of the trial, and next week will cover the story from day to day covering those points the daily press avoids.

From the Seattle Union Record of March 17, 1917:

FAIR TRIAL ASSURED
THE FREE SPEECH PRISONERS
—–

Judge J. T. Ronald Prevents State’s Attorneys
Taking Unfair Advantage-
Deputies So Far Heard as Witnesses
Bound to Convict Tracy-
I. W. W. Officers Prove Good
Antidote for Gunmen-
Jury to Get Liberal Education in Doctrines
of Organization on Trial

By E. B. AULT

Everett Massacre, Judge Ronald, WCS, p139

With the second week of what may prove to be one of the greatest labor trials in history drawing to a close, in which Thomas F. Tracy, the defendant, is the first of 74 workers to be tried for the fatal fracas at Everett last November 5, one great outstanding fact is being made more and more apparent-in so far as Judge J. T. Ronald has power and influence, the trial will be absolutely fair.

Judge Ronald is the dean of the King County superior court, and it was probably for that reason he was chosen by Governor Ernest Lister to preside over these trials. His course throughout the examination of jurors and later on of witnesses, and his rulings on the introduction of testimony have been so fair and equitable as to call forth expressions of admiration from the large audience, many of whom had come to have but little respect for the law or for any one connected with its operation, owing to the many injustices they have suffered in the past at the hands of officers of the law.

George Vanderveer, Defense Attorney

A peculiarly pertinent case in point occurred on the afternoon of Thursday [March 15], when, after the “Sabotage” pamphlet by Walker C. Smith had been admitted as evidence, Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black read portions of the book to the jury. Mr. Black picked out only those portions which would tend to show sabotage as a method of violence, and carefully eliminated such portions as would show its use to be merely a matter of slowing up in work and without violent intent. As was natural, Defense Attorney George F. Vanderveer objected to the method of Mr. Black, declaring the desire was to prejudice the jury and not to establish any fact, and demanded the right to read with Mr. Black, supplying to the jury those parts of the text which were left out by the prosecutor. Judge Ronald ruled that was not permissible, and that Mr. Black was within his rights. The judge, however, closely followed the reading, and after Black had finished and had in one instance quoted all of a certain paragraph except the last sentence, which was set out in black type, he sent the jury out and heard argument on the point. The sentence omitted by Black was: “Note this important point, however, sabotage does not seek nor desire to take human life.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Walker C. Smith in Courtroom as Sabotage Books Read at Tracy Trial

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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 19, 1917
Seattle, Washington – “Sabotage” Introduced into Tracy Trial

From The Seattle Star of March 16, 1917:

JUROR ASLEEP AS LAWYERS READ
OF SABOTAGE BOOKS
—–

Sabotage by Walker C Smith, first pub 1913

By admitting as exhibits all the articles from the Industrial Worker presented by the state which related to industrial and free speech troubles at Everett, and excluding all which related to California or other places, Judge Ronald settled the point which has been more bitterly contested than any other so far in the case in which Thomas H.Tracy and 74 other members of the Industrial Workers’ organization are charged with murder on account of the death of Jefferson Beard from shots fired when a crowd went from Seattle to Everett on the “Verona” November 5 last.

The jury, which had been excused while the articles were being discussed, was brought back, and the articles and other I. W. W. literature read to it Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

Juror Sleeps

One of the jurors slept during much of the reading.

Walker C. Smith, author of the book in question, “Sabotage,” sat at the press table during the afternoon, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, speaker and author of another book on “Sabotage,” also was in the room, she chatted cheerfully with Tracy during the recess. She has just returned from a speaking trip in Oregon and will leave for California next week.

It is not yet certain whether she will be called as a witness when the defense puts on its case.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Everett Defense News Letter 15: “Jury Chosen…Case Attracts Nation-Wide Attention.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They will tell their lyin’ stories
Send their dogs to bite our bodies
They will lock us in their prison
Carry it on, carry it on,
Carry it on, carry it on.
-Gil Turner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 13, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Charles Ashleigh Reports on Tracy Trial

Everett Defense News #15, Mar 8, 1917

Everett Massacre, Tom Tracy, Trial Photo, ab Mar 5, 1917

SEATTLE, Wash., March 8th.-The jury for the trial of Thomas H. Tracy, the first of the 74 men to be charged with the murder of Jefferson Beard at Everett on November 5th, has been selected. The attorneys for both sides have had a grim and keen struggle over the choice of jurors.

The following are the jurors who are to sit on this case: Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher; Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, now working for himself; Mrs. Louise Raynor, wife of a master mariner; A. Peplan, farmer; Mrs. Clara Uhlman, wife of a harnessmaker in business for himself; Mrs. Alice Freeborn, widow of a druggist; F. M. Christian, tent and awning maker; Mrs. Sarah F. Brown, widow, workingclass family; James R. Williams, machinist’s helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J. Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. Under the new “Extra Juror” law of Washington, there are also two alternate jurors, who sit with the jury but have no voice except in the event of sickness or death rendering one of two of the twelve incapable of acting. The two alternates are; J. W. Efaw, furniture manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams, carpenter and member of union.

MAKE-UP OF THE JURY.

An analysis of the jury will reveal that it includes six women and six men; of the women, two are widows, two are wives of middle-class men, and two are wives of union workingmen. Of the men, two are union working men, two are ranchers and two are small businessmen. Of the two alternate jurors, one is a union carpenter and the other a manufacturer. Thus we have a very equal division of sex and class.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mass Funeral Held in Philadelphia for I. W. W. Martyr, Marciionas Petkus

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Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 9, 1917
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 10,000 March to Honor Fellow Worker

From the Industrial Worker of March 3, 1917:

GUNMEN ATTACK PICKETS, KILL AND INJURE
———-

(Special Wire to the Industrial Worker)

WNF, Marciionas Petkus, IWW, Funeral Phl Eve Ldg Feb 26, 1917

Philadelphia, Pa., February 27.-In its fourth week the sugar workers’ strike here finds the five thousand workers more determined than ever. The I. W. W. longshoremen and men on the boats plying out of Philadelphia have refused to handle sugar, or transport it to other ports where it would be handled. The picket lines are getting bigger every day. The wives and daughters of the strikers are also on the picket line.

On February 21 the police charged the strikers and shot Martinus Petkus (Marciionas Petkus, age 28) to death and wounded several others. There have been many arrests and strikers are being clubbed every day on the picket line.

The sugar workers of New York and New Jersey are also out on strike. One of the results has been an increase in the price of sugar, which has soared to twenty-five cents a pound.

The sugar companies are getting desperate.

The funeral of Martinus Petkus occurred here today. Over ten thousand people were in line, including over five thousand Industrial Workers of the World. The Tailors’ Union of the I. W. W. declared a holiday to attend the funeral.

Funds are needed to carry on this fight. Act, and act now! W. T. Nef, 800 Parkway Bldg, Philadelphia, Pa.

———-

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mass Funeral Held in Philadelphia for I. W. W. Martyr, Marciionas Petkus” →

Hellraisers Journal: Trial of I. W. W. Class-War Prisoner Thomas H. Tracy Begins in Seattle, Washington

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, Tuesday March 6, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Tracy Proudly Displays His I. W. W. Button

IWW Button, libcom Sioux City FSF 1915

As the trial of our Class-War Hero, Tom Tracy, gets underway in Seattle, a reporter for The Seattle Star describes the Fellow Worker:

Tracy, the defendant,…is a young-looking, heavy-set man, in a blue flannel shirt and red tie, with his I. W. W. button in evidence on his coat lapel.

He told reporters before the trial began that he is 36 years old, was born in Nebraska, and has done road construction work principally, in several Western states. He watched the slow progress of drawing and examining jurors with evident interest, but with an air of detachment.

From The Seattle Star of March 5, 1917:

I.W.W. TRIAL OPENS WITH
FIGHT ON JURY
—–

BY MABEL ABBOTT

Everett Class War Prisoners 1916-17, Thomas H Tracy

The first of 74 I. W. W. murder trials resulting from the riots in Everett, November 5, 1916, got under way before Judge Ronald Monday.

After an hour and a half of examination as to whether he is an I. W. W., whether he is a member of the Employers’ association, what newspapers he reads, and whether he forms his opinions upon what they contain, J. H. Hicks, 5225 15th ave, N. E., proprietor of Hicks’ cafeteria, was challenged for cause Monday morning by Attorney George Vanderveer, representing Thomas H. Tracy, I. W. W.. on trial for participation in the shooting of Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard, at Everett, November 5, and excused by Judge Ronald from sitting in the case.

If examination of jurors proceeds at the same rate, with even a reasonable number of challenges, the selection of the jury will take two or three days, at least.

Tracy is the first of the 74 I. W. W. charged with first degree murder, to be tried. All have asked for separate trials.

Important Fight

The setting of the big fight indicates that it will rank in importance with the McNamara dynamiting trial in Los Angeles and the Ettor and Giovanitti trials in Lawrence, Mass.

Among the array of lawyers in the court room when the trial opened, were A. L. Veitch, of Los Angeles, who is credited with the convictions of the McNamaras, who assists the prosecution in the present case, and Fred H. Moore, also of Los Angeles, who defended Ettor.

The state is also represented by Prosecutor Black, of Snohomish county, and H. D. Cooley, of Everett. For the defense, besides Moore, are George H. Vanderveer. O. N Hilton, of Denver, and C. E. S. Wood, of Portland.

Tracy Wears I. W. W Button

Tracy, the defendant, who sits behind this legal battery, is a young-looking, heavy-set man, in a blue flannel shirt and red tie, with his I. W. W. button in evidence on his coat lapel.

He told reporters before the trial began that he is 36 years old, was born in Nebraska, and has done road construction work principally, in several Western states. He watched the slow progress of drawing and examining jurors with evident interest, but with an air of detachment.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: Everett Prisoners Speak From Behind Bars, Reveal Jail Conditions

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Don’t Mourn! Organize!
-Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 5, 1917
From the Snohomish County Jail – Everett Class-War Prisoners Speak Out

The Industrial Worker of March 3rd offers the story of our I. W. W. Class-War prisoners who have spent the last few months behind the bars of the Snohomish County Jail in Everett, Washington. Despite the harsh conditions, the usual I. W. W. organizational and educational activities continue unabated.

PRISONERS WRITE EVERETT JAIL CONDITIONS AND ACTIVITIES
—–
Will get Freedom, If There Exists Shadow of Justice in America;
Bring order and Cleanliness Out of Filth and Disorder;
Abused by Drunken Deputies.
——

Everett Massacre, Snohomish County Jail, WCS p116

“Everything is fine and dandy on the outside, don’t worry, boys.”

This is the first thing we have heard from visitors ever since we seventy-four have been incarcerated in the Snohomish County Jail at Everett.

While “everything is fine and dandy on the outside” there are no doubt, hundreds who would like to hear how things are on the inside. Let us assure everyone on the outside that “everything is fine and dandy” on the inside. We are not worrying as it is but a short time till the beginning of the trials, the outcome of which we are certain will be one of the greatest victories Labor has ever known, if there exists a shadow of justice in the courts of America.

One hundred days in jail so far-and for nothing! Stop and think what one hundred days in jail means to seventy-four men! It means that in the aggregate the Master Class have deprived us of more than twenty years of liberty. Twenty years! Think of it, and a prospect of twenty more before all are at liberty.

And why?

There can be one reason, one answer: We are spending this time in Jail and will go thru the mockery of trial because the masters of Everett are trying to shield themselves from the atrocious murders of Bloody November Fifth.

After being held in Seattle, convicted without a trial, except such as was given us by the press carrying the advertising of the boss and dependent on him for support, on November 10th forty-one of us were brought to Everett. A few days later thirty more were brought here.

Russianized Jail Conditions.

We found the jail conditions barbarous. There were no mattresses and only one blanket to keep off the chill of a Puget Sound night in the cold, unheated steel cells. There were no towels. We were supplied laundry soap for toilet purposes, when we could get even that. Workers confined in the lower cells were forced to sleep on the floors. There were five of them in each cell and in order to keep any semblance of heat in their bodies they had to sleep all huddled together in all their clothing.

The first few days we were in the jail we spent in cleaning it, as it was reeking with filth and had probably never been cleaned out since it was built. It was alive with vermin. There were armies of bed bugs and body lice. We boiled up everything in the jail and it is safe to say that it is now cleaner than it has ever been before or ever will be after the wobblies are gone.

Everett Class War Prisoners 1916-17, Jack Leonard (John L. Miller)

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: Everett Prisoners Speak From Behind Bars, Reveal Jail Conditions” →