Tag: Industrial Workers of the World

Hellraisers Journal: Sentence Suspended for Theodora Pollock, Social Worker Who Was Convicted with Sacramento IWWs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH Sacramento IWW Martyrs, With Drops of Blood, Oct 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 14, 1919
Sacramento, California – Sentence Suspended for Theodora Pollock

While many of those convicted with her were sentenced to ten years in federal prison, the sentence of Miss Theodora Pollock has now been suspended. Below, our readers can find a complete list of the fellow workers who were convicted under the Espionage Act in federal court in Sacramento, California. In fact they are guilty only of being members of-or sympathetic to-the Industrial Workers of the World. Missing from this list, of course, are the five fellow workers who died awaiting trial.

From the National Civil Liberties Bureau:

IWW Sacramento Theodora Pollack, Tx Hld Prt Huron p3, Feb 12, 1919

Convicted January 17, 1919, at Sacramento, California for alleged conspiracy to violate several sections of the Federal Penal Code, the Espionage Act and various other Federal statutes.

Sentenced to ten years:
Mortimer Downing,
Frederick Esmond,
Chris Luber,
Phil McLaughlin,
John Grave,
Louis Tori,
James Quintan,
Edward Quigley,
George O’Connell,
Roy P. Connor,
John Potthast,
Henry Hammer,
Pete de Bernardi,
Myron Sprague,
Elmer Anderson,
Caesar Tabib,
Robert Connellan,
Frank Elliott,
Harry Gray,
Gabe Brewer,
Godfrey Ebel,
William Hood,
Vincent Santelli,
Geo. F. Voetter

Sentenced to five years:
Edward S. Carey,
Harry Murphy,
Herbert Stredwick

Sentenced to four years:
Robt. Feehan,
James H. Mulrooney,
James Price

Sentenced to three years:
Joe Carroll,
Otto Eisner

Sentenced to two years:
Frank Moran,
Frank Reilly,
Edward Anderson,
Felix Cedino

Sentenced to one year:
H. Donovan,
W. H. Faust,
Chas. Koenig,
W. L. Miller,
Albert Whitehead

Convicted, not yet sentenced:
[Note: these three chose legal representation, and did not take part in the “Silent Defense.” Since this list was made, they have all received light sentences, with Miss Pollock’s sentence suspended.]
Theodora Pollock,
A. L. Fox,
Basil Saffores

[Newsclip added is from the Port Huron Times Herald of February 12th.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Eye-Witness Account from Sacramento Courtroom: Fellow Workers “Were Led Back to Jail Singing”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917—–

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 7, 1919
Sacramento, California – Fellow Workers Sang Their Way Back to Jail

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of February 3, 1919:

43 I.W.W. RECEIVE THEIR SENTENCE
WITH A LAUGH

The Defiant Stand of Unionists in Sacramento Trial
Told in Eye-Witnesses’ Account.

WWIR, In Here For You, Ralph Chaplin, Sol Aug 4, Sept 1, 1917

An eye-witness’ account of the courtroom scene when 43 members of the I. W. W. were sentenced in Sacramento 10 days ago, after having maintained a “silence strike against capitalist justice” during the trial, has just been published by the New York defense committee, 27 East Fourth street, New York City. After being out only 70 minutes the jury brought in a verdict of “guilty as charged” against all of the defendants, showing that the case of each had been dispatched in a minute and a half.

The men seemed rather glad to have it over with, it is reported. There never had been any doubt in their minds as to what the verdict would be. As they were led out of the courtroom they sang “Solidarity Forever!”

The next morning, Jan. 17. the 43 “silent defendants” were brought in for sentence. The three who had refused to join in their decision to put up no defense were absent. “Have any of the defendants anything to say before I pass sentence?” asked Judge Frank H. Rudkin.

They had, indeed. Their pledge of silence, “in contempt of court,” was to last only until they had been convicted. Their tongues were now loosed. Eleven of them spoke, occupying the entire morning, during which time the 43 stood shoulder to shoulder before the court and delivered probably as scathing an arraignment of capitalist justice as has ever been voiced by workingmen.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “The Silent Defense in Sacramento” by Jean Sterling (Silent Except for Coughing)

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Jean Sterling, Silent Defense, Liberator, Feb 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 1, 1919
Sacramento, California – I. W. W. Defendants Silent Except for the Coughing

From The Liberator of February 1919:

The Silent Defense in Sacramento

By Jean Sterling

Sacramento IWW, Silent Defense, Dec 1918 to Jan 1919
Silent Defenders

—–

“Do the defendants, not represented by attorneys, wish to interrogate the talesman?”

The court reporter held his pencil suspended. The forty-three defendants faced with mocking eyes and closed lips their jailers, prosecutors and the presiding judge.

“Do they wish to exercise the right of challenge?”

For a tense second the inexorable wheels of justice stopped turning. Some one had thrown a felt slipper in the cogs. The defendants gave the prospective juror not so much as a glance. They had read and yawned and gazed vacantly out of the high windows while the attorneys for the prosecution had been probing the talesman’s soul for any humane or modern ideas on the subject of labor.

Then, after a decorous silence, such as is observed in court procedures and funeral rites, the Judge said quietly, “If, then, there are no objections to the talesman, he may take his seat in the jury box.”

And so the juryman, an ancient rancher, the prophesy of the type to follow, took his seat.

And in this manner did the forty-three defendants, I. W. W.’s, now being tried in Sacramento, California, on charges of conspiracy, under the Espionage Act, open their “silent defense.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento IWW Prisoners Arrive at Leavenworth; Mortimer Downing Speaks to the Court

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mortimer Downing, Speech to Court, Sacramento, Jan 17, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 27, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Fellow Workers Arrive from Sacramento

From The Leavenworth Times of January 26, 1919:

MORE I. W. W. PRISONERS HERE
—–
Special Car Load of Them Brought in
From California Yesterday
-Names and Sentences.
—–

Sacramento IWW, Silent Defense, Dec 1918 to Jan 1919
Silent Defenders

Another big batch of I. W. W. prisoners was landed in the Federal penitentiary yesterday. They were brought in from California in a special car in charge of six deputy United States marshals. They got into the prison at 3:30 in the afternoon.

These were all white men and they were a tough looking bunch. There were sharp and well dressed looking prisoners in the ninety-one that were brought over from Chicago with Haywood last fall, but the California gang seems to be run down hobos.

They will be dressed in Monday and put to work Tuesday. Like the other I. W. W. prisoners they will be divided up among the working gangs of the penitentiary.

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Hellraisers Journal: Stanley J. Clark, Socialist Imprisoned at Leavenworth, Confirms IWWs Brutally Beaten

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Stanley J Clark, Workers Demand World, AtR p2, Nov 19, 1921—–

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 26, 1919
Leavenworth Prison – Stanley J. Clark Confirms Brutal Treatment

From The New Appeal of January 25, 1919:

I.W.W.’s Beaten Up, Says Stanley Clark

WWIR, Chg IWW, EVD re Stanley J. Clark, ISR Feb 1918
International Socialist Review
February 1918

Confirmation of the story of brutalities inflicted upon political prisoners in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kans., published in a recent issue of The New Appeal, has reached us in the form of a letter from Mrs. Dorothy Clark, wife of the well-known Socialist lecturer, Stanley J. Clark. Clark was convicted of having violated the Espionage Act and is a fellow prisoner of the I. W. W.’s and other radicals at Leavenworth.

Mrs. Clark, hearing of the occurrences at the federal prison and anxious to learn whether her husband had been injured, came to Kansas City, Mo., which is within an hour’s car ride of the prison doors. While learning that Clark had escaped maltreatment she also learned that The New Appeal’s report of the manhandling of other prisoners was not exaggerated. In a letter to The New Appeal Mrs. Clark says:

I came here because I had heard of the inhuman treatment that men were receiving in this prison at Leavenworth and I knew that I should go insane unless I could see Stanley and know just what had happened. I was relieved of course to find that nothing had happened to him personally, but I found him terribly stirred up and in a perfect frenzy of indignation over the treatment that the other prisoners had received.

It seems that they have a new warden, who at once began to lengthen the hours of work and to cut down food rations. Some of the poor boys, not realizing that they were buried in there and by the world forgotten and absolutely at the mercy of their captors, attempted to strike to enforce the old and regular system of hours of work.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1918, Part II-Found in San Francisco on Behalf of Tom Mooney

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Mission for Mooney, SF EXmr p7, Dec 12, 1918

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 21, 1919
Mother Jones News for December 1918, Part II
-Mother Found in San Francisco on Behalf of Tom Mooney

From the San Francisco Examiner of December 12, 1918:

‘Mother’ Jones to Aid Mooney
in His Fight for Liberty
—–

Labor Leader Represents 500,000 Workers
in Appeal for Man’s Release.
—–

Mother Jones, Ft Wy Jr Gz p3, Dec 17, 1917

“Mother” (Mary) Jones, labor leader, arrived in San Francisco last night from Chicago to urge a new trial for Thomas J. Mooney, serving a life sentence for the Preparedness Day bomb murders.

Armed with credentials from the Illinois State Federation of Labor and the Chicago Federation of Labor and a letter from Governor Lowden of Illinois, “Mother” Jones said her first errand will be to obtain an audience with Governor William D. Stephens, who recently commuted Mooney’s death sentence.

“Mother” Jones declared her dissatisfaction with the imprisonment of Mooney, who, she said, was innocent and so held by the great mass of the labor organizations that had sent her here. She said:

I believe this is an issue that goes to the very heart of the judicial system, not only of California, but of the entire nation. That is what I shall try to present to Governor Stephens.

The organizations that sent me to San Francisco number many hundreds of thousands of workers and behind them are 500,000 more, the mineworkers, who are with me on this mission.

The visitor was met by San Francisco and Oakland members of the International Workers’ Defense League at the Ferry building. She went to the Hotel Clark. “Mother” Jones will address some of the labor bodies during her stay in California.

———-

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1918, Part II-Found in San Francisco on Behalf of Tom Mooney” →

Hellraisers Journal: National Labor Convention for Mooney: Debs Invited, W. F. Dunn of Butte Speaks for Radicals

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re General Strike, Journal Paper Mill Workers p7, Mar 1919

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 18, 1919
Chicago, Illinois – National Labor Convention for Mooney Hears from Radicals

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of January 16, 1919:

National Labor Mooney Conference, HdLn, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 16, 1919 National Labor Mooney Conference, Radicals, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 16, 1919

—–

(Special Dispatch to The Bulletin.)

Chicago, Jan. 16.-At this morning’s session of the Mooney Labor Congress Ed Nolan scored the capitalist press on its criticism of the invitation of Debs and its attempt to give a sense of dissension among the delegates. Debs’ name was again greeted with tumultuous applause. It was moved that the Nonpartisan league be given the floor. The motion was defeated. Dunn of Butte moved to give the Detroit delegate the floor. The Detroit leader clearly outlined the program before the convention as follows:

No political begging, a general strike to free Tom Mooney and also to take a stand to free political prisoners and recognize Russia; reorganize the American Federation of Labor on an industrial basis.

The radicals are satisfied with the moves so far.

—–

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Attorney Moore and Miss Caroline Lowe Report on Brutal Conditions at Leavenworth, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 16, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Report on Brutal Treatment of Prisoners, Part II

From The New Appeal of January 11, 1919:

AtR HdLn re IWW SPA in Leavenworth, p1, Jan 11, 1919

[Part 2 of 2.]

Summing up the results of his inquiry, Mr. Moore [Attorney for the Industrial Workers of the World] says:

Extremely fragmentary as is the above, I believe that the following points may be considered as fully established:

1. That negro convicts armed with clubs were used under the direction of Mr. Fletcher [Deputy Warden] to beat up white men. That among those so beaten up were Stratton, Murphy and Floyd Ramp.

2. That many prisoners, whose physical condition was extremely bad, were placed on bread and water diet and deprived of their blankets and compelled to sleep on the cement floor at a time when this would seriously endanger their health.

3. That many prisoners were chained by their wrists to the sides of their cells and so compelled to stand for a period in excess of twenty-four hours.

Visits Husband in Cell.

In an affidavit, of which The New Appeal has been furnished a copy, Mrs. Floyd Ramp, wife of one of the solitary prisoners, states that she was allowed a brief visit with her husband on December 15, having come to Leavenworth in response to a report from friends that her husband had been seriously injured. Mrs. Ramp states that she was not permitted to question her husband regarding his injuries, but that his right eye was badly discolored and he was in an emaciated condition. Owing to the presence of the guard she could elicit no information of what had occurred beyond the most vague and unsatisfactory references. Ramp did say that Stratton was “pretty badly hurt.” Mrs. Ramp states “that Jack Phelan, who was released from the Leavenworth prison on December 18 because declared by the Appellate Court to have been illegally incarcerated on a charge of violating the Espionage Act, told her he had seen Floyd Ramp’s body and that it was a mass of bruises which led him to believe that he had been beaten, kicked and trampled upon.”

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Attorney Fred Moore and Miss Caroline Lowe Report on Brutal Conditions at Leavenworth

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 15, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas – Brutal Treatment of Prisoners Reported

From The New Appeal of January 11, 1919:

AtR HdLn re IWW SPA in Leavenworth, p1, Jan 11, 1919

[Part 1 of 2.]

In its issue of last week The New Appeal reproduced a report of conscientious objectors at Camp Funston, Kans., detailing the brutal treatment to which they were subjected at the command of certain officers, contrary to the express directions of the war department in Washington. This report was published primarily as a matter of record, the guilty officers having been dismissed from the service and the conditions complained of corrected.

We are now in the way of making a more important exposure-an exposure of brutalities committed upon Socialists, I. W. W.s. and others imprisoned in the Federal penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., brutalities that we have reason to believe have not been brought to the notice of the higher authorities since the efforts of interested persons to investigate these brutalities have been baffled at every turn by prison officials. Enough evidence has been dragged into the light, however, to make it shamefully plain, to use the words of Mrs. Floyd Ramp, wife of a Socialist prisoner, “that things are occurring in this penitentiary which citizens of a democracy should not knowingly countenance.”

Could Not Question Prisoners.

On December 12, F. H. Moore, a Chicago attorney, went to Leavenworth to discuss certain legal steps with the group of prisoners sentenced under the Chicago indictment of the I. W. W. alleged anti-war agitators. He also desired to make personal inquiry of the treatment the prisoners were receiving, disquieting reports of which had reached him through “underground” channels. In company with Miss Caroline A. Lowe, who assisted in the defense of the prisoners at the trial, Mr. Moore called upon the warden. They were told by the warden that they could talk over legal matters connected with the case, but they were absolutely forbidden to question the prisoners as to conditions in the penitentiary.

Mr. Moore, in a somewhat lengthy communication sent to The New Appeal, repeatedly emphasizes this autocratic censorship of the warden. As they interviewed, separately, each one of twenty-two prisoners held in solitary confinement with unusual punishment, the deputy warden, who was present during the interviews, sternly suppressed every attempt to question the prisoners as to the manner in which they had been handled and as to their physical condition at the time. Nor were Mr. Moore and Miss Lowe, when they met and conferred with the majority of the prisoners in a body permitted to refer to the condition of their fellow prisoners who were “in solitary.”

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