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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 28, 1919
Chicago, Illinois – Letter from I. W. W. General Defense Committee
From The One Big Union Monthly of September 1919:
Tag: James Gossard
Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Insanity & Death
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 11, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part V & VI of Series by W. D. Lane
From The Survey of September 6, 1919:
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—–[Parts V & VI of VI.]
V
Several times in this account I have referred to the jails described as having been “chosen” by the United States government for the confinement of prisoners awaiting trial. Let us see what justification there is for the use of this word.
The thirty-four men held under the Wichita indictment were originally taken into custody November 21, 1917. These men were all engaged in the oil industry in Kansas. They were, for the most part, young men, some of them married, some not. Judging from their names-Anderson, Boyd, Gordon, Forbes, Stark, Sapper, Barr, Poe, Gossard, Davis, etc.—many of them were of American or Allied extraction; some foreign names were among them, but only five, so far as I learned, were accused of being enemy aliens. The indictment against them charged violation of the espionage law, the food control law and the selective service law.
On March 10, 1918, a motion to quash this indictment was filed by their attorneys. No ruling on this motion was ever made. The attorneys stood ready, therefore, to go to trial on September 24, the day set. To their surprise, a new indictment was returned on that very day. This was drawn on lines similar to the previous Chicago indictment, which had resulted in sending nearly a hundred I. W. W.’s to prison for terms varying from a few days to twenty years. The attorneys could not at once accept trial on this new indictment, and so they were granted until March 10, 1919, in which to plead.
The men who, in September, had already spent ten months in jail awaiting trial, thus faced another five and a half months of confinement. Miss Lowe, their attorney, undertook to find as comfortable jails as possible, in which, she hoped, they might be allowed to spend the winter. They were then in the Sedgwick county jail, having been transferred to it for the trial. Sheriff Sprout, at Hutchinson, agreed to take twelve of the men, and the sheriff in Winfield, where there was a modern, sanitary jail, agreed to take sixteen. Thinking that she had thus arranged accommodations for twenty-eight, Miss Lowe reported her action to the United States district attorney, Fred Robertson, who was prosecuting the case. Mr. Robertson turned a deaf ear to her plea. In vain did she dwell upon the physical condition of the men and the consequences of spending another five months amid overcrowding and filth. Mr. Robertson said that prisoners had no voice in choosing their places of incarceration, and declared.that he intended to ask Judge John C. Pollock, judge of the United States district court for Kansas, to have all of the men placed in the Wyandotte county jail in Kansas City. This was one of the worst in the state.
Hellraisers Journal: From The Workers’ World: “What Kind of Boys Do They Jail in Kansas?” -19 Months Without Trial
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Hellraisers Journal -Wednesday July 2, 1919
Kansas Class-War Prisoners, Who Are These Men?
From the Kansas City Workers’ World of June 27, 1919:
WHAT KIND OF BOYS DO THEY JAIL IN KANSAS?
ARE THESE MEN CRIMINALS?
On November 20,1917, a general roundup of union men was conducted in the oil fields of Kansas. Thirty-five were arrested without warrant on this date and held on the charge of vagrancy. Later they were indicted under a Federal charge and since that time they have been confined in various jails in the state.
Results of Confinement.
For eighteen months these men have sacrificed their freedom because of their loyalty to their ideals. Had they been willing to renounce their organization, and cease their activities, they would have been set free. This they have refused to do. Their bond has been set at $10,000 and until very recently every effort to secure a reduction has failed, and now only in the case of a few of the imprisoned men. As a result of their long months of confinement, one man has died, two have gone insane-one being confined in the insane asylum at Osawatomie, Kansas, and the other held in solitary confinement in the jail in Ottawa. Another man has become a nervous wreck, trembling like a leaf and falling to the floor in complete collapse at the slightest excitement. Two of them have lost all of their teeth. Men who were physical giants at the time of their arrest are today but a shadow of their former selves.
WE NEVER FORGET: FW James Gossard Who Died October 30, 1918, Awaiting Trial in Harvey County Jail, Newton, Kansas
Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
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James Robert Gossard-25, IWW Martyr
James Gossard was one of the members of the Industrial Workers of the World who were rounded up, in the fall of 1917, on the oil fields of Butler County, Kansas, and held under terrible conditions in the jails of Kansas while awaiting trial in federal court. Fellow Worker Gossard survived for about one year under these brutal conditions before dying of influenza and pneumonia on October 30, 1918, at Newton, Kansas, in the Harvey County Jail.
The story of his long ordeal is here told through newspaper and magazine accounts of the day.
From The Towanda News (Kansas) of December 20, 1917:
Arrest Four More I. W. W.-Four more I. W. W. were picked up by federal authorities in the Butler county oil fields and brought to the Sedgwick county jail [in Wichita]. They were James Gossard, John Gresbach, Morris Hunt and John Vagtch. There now are twenty-nine I. W. W. in the Sedgwick county jail.
From The Survey of September 6, 1919:
The Sedgwick County Jail Described by Winthrop Lane
The Sedgwick county jail is the worst place for incarcerating human beings that I have ever been in. Built forty years ago, it has undergone additions from time to time, so that to day it is not the compact structure that many jails are but has many wings and cages. There are cells for approximately 100 prisoners. It is filthy with the accumulated filth of decades. No longer would it be possible to give the jail a decent cleaning. The metal floors are periodically “laraped” with black jack, a greasy substance the chief effect of which is to fill the corners with a coagulated mass of dust and floor sweepings, hardened by the glue-like action of the black-jack. The toilets throughout are covered with dirt. Many of them are encrusted with excreta and a few actually stink. The men declare that they do not dare to sit down on them, because of the vermin. [Drawing added. For more on Sedgwick County Jail and worse of it, see below at “See also”.]
Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Worker James Gossard Dies of Pneumonia in Harvey County Jail at Newton, Kansas
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 24, 1918
Harvey County Jail, Newton, Kansas – Fellow Worker James Gossard Dies
From New Solidarity of November 16, 1918 comes the sad news that another Fellow Worker has died behind bars. The headline reads:
Member Dies While Incarcerated
I. W. W. member jailed in the raids of the Butler county [Kansas] oil fields died of influenza and pneumonia while incarcerated.
From the Newton Evening Kansan-Republican of October 30, 1918:
FEDERAL PRISONER PNEUMONIA VICTIM
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James Gossard, I. W. W., at Least
Passed Last Days In Good Hands
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James Gossard, aged about 25, whose home is at Urbana, Ill., died at the county jail this morning about 5 o’clock, and he was turned over to the Duff undertaking firm, pending instructions from the federal authorities.
And herein lies a human interest story of unusual setting.
Gossard was a federal prisoner, being held here at the expense of the government, pending trial in court as an I. W. W. disturber, having been arrested in the raids of the Butler county oil fields. When the recent term of federal court was adjourned and seven of these men were sent here for safe keeping, five of them were ill with colds. Gossard was not sick then. The five recovered under treatment of Dr. Bennett, government physician. Then Gossard became ill with influenza and pneumonia set in. Sheriff Smith and wife forgot that he was one of the despised I. W. W. gang. He was given the best bed in the jail building, and placed to himself on the second floor. Dr. Bennett visited him several times daily, and nothing that could be done to relieve him was withheld. His fellow prisoners nursed him with the greatest care and devotion, taking turns at watching at his bedside and giving the medicines.
“You don’t need to bother about doctoring me,” he said. “I feel just like my time had come, and I am certain I am going to die.”
He made good on his hunch. His relatives live at Urbana, and the disposition of his body is up to them and Uncle Sam.
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[Photograph added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Federal Agents Move Against IWWs in Kansas Oil Fields, Fifty Arrested in Butler County
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday November 21, 1917
Butler County, Kansas – I. W. W. Oil Workers Seized by Feds
A round-up by federal agents of members of the Industrial Workers of the World has commenced in Butler County, Kansas. Reports from Kansas indicates that most of those taken into custody were members of the Oil Workers Industrial Union. Butler County is located just east of Wichita. The county seat is located at El Dorado.
From The Topeka State Journal of November 20, 1917:
FEDERAL AGENTS START A ROUNDUP
I.W.W. IN KANSAS
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Fifty Arrests Made in Butler
Oil Fields Today.
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Starts Gigantic Drive Thru
Forest of Derricks.
—–ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES CLEANUP
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“Workers” Won’t Get Chance to
Duplicate Okla. Trouble.
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Robertson, U. S. District Attorney,
Will See to It.
—–Kansas City, Nov. 20.-A roundup of I. W. W’s in the oil fields of Kansas is to be made immediately, Fred Robertson, district attorney for Kansas, announced late today. Already more than fifty alleged I. W. W.’s were arrested in the Butler county oil fields today, it was announced.
The arrests today were made in the vicinity of Augusta by state and federal agents, it was announced. A tent alleged to have been used for I. W. W. meetings there was raided and a great quantity of literature was seized.
The purpose of the raids will be to rid the oil fields of the state of undesirables, federal officers say, and each man arrested will be examined as to whether he was registered.
The presence of alleged I. W. W.’s in the Butler county fields recently led to the placing of armed guards.
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