Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 3, 1920
Centralia, Washington – Lumber Barons Plot Murder, Never Charged
From the New York Liberator of February 1920:
Murder in Centralia
By J. T. Doran of the I. W. W.
ON Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1919, a mob broke into the I. W. W. hall at Centralia, Washington, and five of them were killed. The attackers came from a passing parade of ex-service men. The same day an ex-serviceman, Wesley Everetts [Everest] by name, was seized by a mob, dragged through the streets and lynched.
The Truth About Centralia by Maurice Becker —–
The lynchers of Wesley Everetts are known. They have not been indicted. They will never be tried for their crime. That is because Wesley Everetts was a member of the I. W. W.
But ten members of the I. W. W. (including five ex-servicemen) have been arrested and charged with conspiring to fire upon and kill the men in the parade as it passed their hall; they are charged with having plotted and planned to do this thing for two weeks in advance of the act; they are charged with doing this as an attack upon the Government. They are going to be tried for murder.
Why should the temporary withdrawal
of a hundred members seriously affect
the welfare of a group composed
of nearly 100,000 laborers in
the United States alone?
-Big Bill Haywood
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 1, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Judge Landis Imposes Severe Sentences
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of August 31, 1918:
HAYWOOD GIVEN 20 YEAR TERM;
93 SENTENCED
—–
Big Fines and Prison Sentences
for the I. W. W.
—–
William D Haywood, “uncrowned king” of the Industrial Workers of the World, and ninety-two other principal officers and organizers, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the American war program, were sentenced to terms ranging from one to twenty years in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kas., and given heavy fines by Federal Judge K. M. Landis yesterday.
With Haywood fourteen of his principal aids must spend twenty years in prison; thirty-three others of the organization leaders must spend a maximum of ten years in prison; thirty-three others a maximum of five years, and twelve others one year and one day. Two of the defendants escaped with ten day sentences in the county jail, while the case against two others was continued.
The combined prison sentences of the defendants aggregates 807 years and 20 days.
Added to this prison penalty is a total of $2,300,000 in fines assessed against the ninety-three prisoners. Individual fines ranged from $20,000, the minimum, up to $30,000.
In Jail Here Till Friday.
The defendants were permitted to remain in the county jail until next Friday before they will be removed to the federal prison. In the meantime, George F. Vandeveer, chief counsel for the “Wobbles,” announced a writ of supersedeas will be asked of the Court of Appeals and petition will be made for enlargement upon bail. Ninety days’ time was granted in which to file bills of exception on behalf of the convicted men.
When our cause is all triumphant
And we claim our Mother Earth,
And the nightmare of the present fades away,
We shall live with love and laughter,
We who now are little worth,
And we’ll not regret the price we have to pay.
-Ralph Chaplin
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 19, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Jury Out for Just 55 Minutes
From The Chicago Sunday Tribune of August 18, 1918:
100 I.W.W. Leaders Convicted-
Fellow Workers Prashner, Doran, Haywood, and St. John-
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday July 2, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Chalk Talk” by Red Doran at I. W. W. Trial
On Friday, June 28th, Attorney Otto Christensen called forth John T. “Red” Doran as a witness for the defense. In place of the usual witness chair was found a large easel and a cloth blackboard upon which Fellow Worker Red Doran launched into an illustrated address describing the current economic system and explaining how it is based upon robbery, degradation and exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.
From El Paso Morning Times of June 30, 1918:
Red Doran, Lecturer
for I.W.W. Society,
Given Trial in Court
—–
By Associated Press.
Chicago, June 29.-Red Doran, who was permitted to lecture in court [June 28th] as part of the evidence in the I. W. W. defense and spoke of alleged unsanitary conditions in northwestern lumber camps, had only spasmodic experiences as a worker in these camps, it appeared on cross examination today. He admitted that he never had worked in a lumber camp or mill, except in the blacksmith.
Charles Ashleigh, the third defendant to take the witness stand, said he became interested in the labor movement in England. In 1903 when he came to the United states he became interested in the I. W. W. in New York he said he did some work for Miss Anne Morgan.
He testified that the I. W. W., aims at industrial rather than governmental reform. In the United States, he said, there is an advanced political democracy and an industrial autocracy.
“So long as this condition exists, industry is little more than a sentiment,” he said.
Charles R. Griffith [Griffin], another defendant, related numerous experiences with his employers during 18 years spent in the woods as a lumberjack. He defended the I. W. W. propaganda and told of conditions which he said had been responsible for many strikes in the northwest lumber camps.
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 17, 1918 As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press, Part II
Today we offer the conclusion of our two-part series featuring the article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune.
THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE
Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.
The worst thief is he who steals
the playtime of children.
Join the I. W. W. and help put
the thieves to work.
-Big Bill Haywood
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 16, 1918
As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press
Today we offer Part One of the following article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune. We will conclude tomorrow with Part Two.
THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE
Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.
THE I. W. W. PRINCIPLES AS SHOWN IN THEIR OWN CARTOONS
By Boyden R. Sparkes Chicago, April 13, 1918.
OUT in the hill country of Oklahoma last August a group of tenant farmers and oil field workers were just a little too quick on the trigger, and what Federal officials believe was intended to have been a country-wide uprising of American “Bolsheviki” against the draft law was quelled almost before it started.
At the hearing in the Federal court in Enid, Okla., it was developed that forty-eight organizations under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World had planned a nation-wide revolution. The anti-draft rioters in Seminole, Hughes and Pontotoc counties began shooting just a little too soon, and posses of patriotic citizens had put 500 of them under arrest before many persons had been killed.
The men arrested belonged to organizations affiliated with the I. W. W., chief among these being the “Working Class Union.” The government is still trying to find out where the money used to purchase arms for the rioters came from.
It is the opinion of government attorneys that these I. W. W. leaders believed they would receive the support of the American Federation of Labor. Naturally any such hope was doomed to disappointment. But the government is still picking up threads of evidence that strengthen the belief that the American Bolsheviki leaders were prepared and hoping for a reign of terror in America that would have far outdone the Bolsheviki uprising in Russia.
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday November 6, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – More “Agitators” Arrive to Face Charges
From The Chicago Sunday Tribune of November 4, 1917:
I.W.W. AGITATORS TRICKLE IN
FROM ALL OVER THE U.S.
—–
One by one I.W. W. agitators, have been brought to Chicago from all parts of the United States until more than 100 of the 167 recently indicted by the federal grand jury are locked in Chicago jails. Charles F. Clyne, United States district attorney, said yesterday that he expected to see the case go to trial soon-probably within thirty days.
Three defendants arrived from New York yesterday. They are Elizabeth Gurney [Gurley] Flynn, Carl Tresca, and Arturo Giovannitti and will be given a chance to get bond. A fourth from the east, John Bladazi [Giovanni Baldazzi], an anarchist, is to be denied bond, it is said, as the government considers him too dangerous to be at large.
Seven more have just arrived from Seattle in charge of six officers. They are Harry Lloyd, J A. McDonald [MacDonald], , Walter Smith [Walker C Smith], J. T. Doran, James F. Thompson [James P Thompson], John M. Foss, and George Hardy. Claude R. Porter of Des Moines has arrived in Chicago to take the place of Frank C. Dailey, prosecutor, whose resignation has just been announced.
True patriotism hates injustice
in its own land
more than anywhere else.
-Clarence Darrow
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Hellraisers Journal, Friday September 28, 1917
Everett, Washington – Editor Watts Warned of Warrant
From The Northwest Worker of September 27, 1917:
HOW THEY LOVE US
We are informed by “Red” Doran I. W. W. organizer, that he has seen a warrant that has been issued for the arrest of ye editor [H. W. Watts], three other Socialists and four I. W. W. It seems too bad that the authorities will persist in disturbing us from our peaceful pursuits. We have been in jail four times already and if they keep it up it will soon be like home to us. Guess we must be too autocratic and they want to get us out of the way in order that America might be “made safe for Democracy.” We know, dear reader, that you are sick and tired of hearing that term, but it is the only string the jingoes have on their fiddle and we want to help them fiddle it so that it will wear out.
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