Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 4, 1921 Messenger Calls for General Amnesty for Political and Class-War Prisoners
From The Messenger of July 1921:
BEN FLETCHER, CLASS AND POLITICAL AMNESTY
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
WHEN the historian of the future writes of this period he will find that black as well as white men languished in prison cells on account of the political and economic beliefs they entertained. Anthropologists take note!
Ben Fletcher was the only Negro, among the 101 Industrial Workers of the World, who was convicted and sentenced, by Judge Keneesaw Mountain Landis, to 10 years imprisonment in Fort Leavenworth, for an alleged violation of the Espionage Act.
Like Debs, these men were the victims of a vicious war hysteria. Their only crime was that they dared to proclaim the essential rights of the toiling masses, black and white, Jew and Gentile, native and foreign, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; though these rights are supposed to be vouchsafed in the Magna Charta of American liberties–the Declaration of Independence. It is clear that Fletcher and his white co-workers sinned against the sacred creed and dogma of financial imperialism, drunk and maddened with the red wine of mass murder. The excuse for their imprisonment was that they interfered with the successful prosecution of the war. That excuse no longer exists, for the war is over; still these men are not yet free. Every country, which was a party to the war has proclaimed political amnesty for political and class-war prisoners, save our own. Why?
This is the question which every black and white citizen, worker and lover of liberty should ask President Harding and Attorney General Daughterty
The MESSENGER is calling upon the Negro church and press to preach sermons and write editorials for the release of Ben Fletcher. Needless to say that the white political and class-war prisoners will be included. We call upon every Negro to send telegrams and letters to Harding, Daugherty and the congressman of his district for the release of Fletcher and other political and class-war prisoners. We only single out Fletcher because the Negro population is not aware of the reason for his imprisonment, and, consequently, has a luke-warm interest in the cause of political amnesty. We realize that all workers, regardless of race, creed or color or nationality will benefit from sentiment created; though that sentiment be created, nominally, in the interest of a single worker because of certain conditions, such as race, which make it possible to interest a large part of the population, such as Negroes, or Irish or Italians, etc.
All hands to the Wheel of General Amnesty for Political and Class-War Prisoners.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 3, 1921 From Leavenworth Penitentiary – Letter from Fellow Worker John L. Murphy
Fellow Worker John L. Murphy
From The Liberator of July 1921:
March 22nd, 1921.
THERE are some facts I would like to blot out from memory, but I cannot. Had you layed in Sacramento jail as I did, and seen your comrades dying all around you and seen them losing their reason from the inhuman treatment they were receiving, you too would want to blot it from your memory.
On Dec. 22nd, 1917, fifty-five workingmen from all walks of life were sitting in the Industrial Workers of the World hall at Sacramento, California, reading. Some of these men were members of the organization and others were not. Most of them had just come in from their work, and were sitting there reading. When without any warning the police drove up, and with drawn guns rushed into the hall and made everybody put up their hands. After finding nothing more dangerous than a red card, they then loaded every man of them into the patrol wagon and unloaded them in a drink tank at the city jail.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 23, 1911 Poems of James Kelly Cole, Martyr of Spokane Free Speech Fight
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of June 15, 1911:
THE LIFE WORK OF KELLY COLE —————
By Frank Bohn.
James Kelly Cole was killed in a railway accident at Tomah, Wisconsin, November 17th, 1909. He was on his way to take part in the Spokane free speech fight and was riding free.
At that time I wrote a short letter in the [New York Socialist] Call, drawing attention to the self-forgetfulness which led to the untimely death of this young comrade. To me he was simply one of many who were then fighting for freedom of speech in Spokane and elsewhere. I had not even learned his name. It is therefore a peculiar pleasure to discover that, dying in the cause, he left us something very much worth while. A little book of poems entitled “Revolutionary Writings” suggest to us the deep loss suffered by the movement when he went to his death.
His picture as well as his poems makes one regret not to have known him personally. He was a representative of a type-the type of idealistic young Americans of both sexes who are now thronging into the Socialist movement. He was fortunate in having had educational advantages. He had been a student at one of the Chicago High schools and abundant leisure during his youth afforded him opportunity for wide reading on a variety of subjects.
The most significant feature about his personality and his work was the revolutionary spirit. His intense hatred for misrule coupled with his desire for emancipation from wage slavery once led him into a tactical error. He was forced to spend more than a year in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 14, 1911 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Freed
From The Philadelphia Inquirer of June 13, 1911:
WOMAN SOCIALIST FREED ———- Court Grants Appeal From Magistrate and Remits Fine
Appealing from the decision of Magistrate Scott, who fined her $10 for obstructing the highways, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a labor organizer and social worker, received a favorable decision from Judge Kinsey in Quarter Sessions Court yesterday by having the magistrate’s action reversed and the fine remitted.
This is the second time within a week that Miss Flynn has succeeded in having the court overthrow the action of the police of the Twentieth and Buttonwood streets station. She was arrested twice while speaking in the vicinity of the Baldwin Locomotive Workers.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday May 27, 1911 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico – Rebels Win Great Victory
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of May 25, 1911:
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REDS GAIN A GREAT VICTORY ———–
TURNING POINT IN LIBERAL REVOLUTION -MANY DEEDS OF BRAVERY -I. W. W. BOYS IN INSURRECTO ARMY.
Special to the “Worker.”
TIJUANA, Baja, Cal., May 10.-At last the victory of social revolutionists in Lower California is assured. The workers of America and Mexico are awakening, and brave men are sacrificing their lives for the cause of Freedom, and their sacrifice shall not be in vain. All opposition is being swept aside by “la Bandera Roja” (the red band), the latest victory being the capture of this little Mexican village, situated in the Tijuana river valley right on the International boundary line, and fifteen miles southeast of San Diego, Cal.
The fall of Tijuana, means the turning point in the campaign against Diaz tyranny in Baja, California. The rebels now control the whole peninsula excepting the capital of the state, Ensenada, and the acquisition of Tijuana gives the “red army” an excellent base of supplies, and a military headquarters from which to conduct the rest of the campaign.
The battle [of May 8th and 9th] was by far the biggest battle that has been fought since the Mexican Liberal party [P. L. M.] placed their army in Lower California. It lasted nearly 36 hours, and about 400 men were involved. Many brave acts were recorded, one was the firing of the Catholic church, and the “Bull pen” by the rebels. At an early stage of the fight four men crawled from the rebel ranks through Tijuana, and slipped into a federal trench and from that point these four insurrectos poured a deadly fire into the ranks of the Mexican federal troops, the latter being unable to locate the four men until too late, as by that time the rebels had completely surrounded the town and were advancing on all sides, steadily pouring a well directed fire into the Diaz camp.
[…..]
[A]t 8:30 a. m., Tuesday, May 9th, the Liberal Army was in full possession of Tijuana, Mexico, a port of entry and a valuable recruiting station for the Liberals in Lower California.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 27, 1921 Leavenworth, Kansas – Fellow Workers Report to Prison Voluntarily
From The Leavenworth Times of April 26, 1921:
PRISON WELCOMES TWENTY WOBBLIES TO ITS ROCK PILE. ———-
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF WORLD REPORTED VOLUNTARILY YESTERDAY. ———-
SAY ‘HAYWOOD IS COMING’ ———-
Charles Ashleigh, Oxford Graduate, Ralph H. Chaplin, Artist-Poet, Ben Fletcher, Walking Delegate and Other “Leading Lights” Among Those Who Re-Entered Federal Penitentiary -Several Refuse to Believe “Big Bill” Fled to Escape Sentence. ———-
Twenty of the forty-six Industrial Workers of the World, convicted for violation of the espionage law and obliged to return to the Federal penitentiary because the United States supreme court denied an appeal on a trial review, reported voluntarily yesterday.
“Haywood will be here soon,” declared most of the “wobblies,” who reported yesterday. They refuse to believe that “Big Bill,” their international secretary and chieftain, fled to Russia to escape the prison sentence of five to twenty years.
Stanley J. Clark, Chicago attorney, under sentence of ten years, was the first to report. He arrived yesterday morning from Fort Worth, Tex. Charles Bennett, also under sentence of ten years, was the twentieth man to report, being “dressed in” at 5 o’clock yesterday evening.
Twelve “wobblies” marched through the prison gates in one group. Among the twelve were Ben Fletcher, walking delegate for the I. W, W. and the only colored man in the entire consignment Charles Ashleigh, Englishman and graduate of Oxford University, and Ralph H. Chaplin, artist and poet, who was detailed by the “wobblies” to investigate the Centralia, Wash., conspiracy. Nizra Pietro [Pietro Nigra], who drew the shortest sentence, only ten months, also reported.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 26, 1921 Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1921 -Found in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Will Swear as Needed
From The Grand Rapids Press of March 15, 1921:
MOTHER JONES WILL SWEAR
IF IT IS REQUIRED ———-
“Mother” Jones, for many years a labor leader of national repute, arrived in Grand Rapids Tuesday noon for her first visit to this city in 20 years. She was a guest at the Eagle hotel and lunched at noon with a group of local labor leaders and their wives. During the afternoon she spoke at Trades and Labor council hall on general labor conditions in the United States, being introduced to the Grand Rapids audience by D. B. Hovey. Tuesday evening she will give another address at the Railway Workers’ union.
Grand Rapids labor circles greeted the venerated leader in a spirit of tribute for her many years of service in the cause of labor. She is a picturesque figure, but in spite of her flat bonnet and old-fashioned dress the impression the white haired old lady gives is not that of quaintness but of power, for the lines of her face are very strong and certainly she has a mind of her own. Though 85 years old she is more active than many persons much younger.
Mother Jones said she never knows what she is going to say to an audience until she faces it.
[She said:]
I’m not one of those orators that prepare a speech beforehand. I have to see what the folks I’m going to talk to look like first. If they’re a lot of roughnecks like us not I’ll swear at ’em.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 22, 1921 Chicago, Illinois – Federal Officials Confirm Haywood is in Russia
From The Leavenworth Post of April 21, 1921:
(By The Associated Press.)
Chicago, April 21.-Federal officials today received confidential information that William D. Haywood, secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World who was scheduled to begin a sentence at United States penitentiary, at Leavenworth this week, had fled from the United States and now is in either Moscow or Riga.
Attorney Admits Departure.
Otto Christensen, attorney for Haywood, said he had been informed that Haywood sailed from New York on the Oscar Second about April 1, and landed at Riga about April 16. He said he thought Haywood had gone to Russia on a personal mission and was not fleeing from the penitentiary sentence.
Authorities Start Search.
Charles F. Clyne, United States district attorney announced that search had been started for Haywood.
“He is not at Leavenworth, Chicago, nor New York, and we have private information that he has landed either at Moscow or Riga,” said Clyne.
“That is all we know about it but we expect to have definite information very quickly.”
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“Mother” Jones, for many years a labor leader of national repute, arrived in Grand Rapids Tuesday noon for her first visit to this city in 20 years. She was a guest at the Eagle hotel and lunched at noon with a group of local labor leaders and their wives. During the afternoon she spoke at Trades and Labor council hall on general labor conditions in the United States, being introduced to the Grand Rapids audience by D. B. Hovey. Tuesday evening she will give another address at the Railway Workers’ union.
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