Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 3, 1914 Salt Lake City, Utah – Joe Hill Denied New Trial by Judge Ritchie
Salt Lake Herald September 2, 1914
Joe Hill appeared Tuesday before Judge M. L. Ritchie accompanied by his attorney, Soren X. Christensen. Christensen presented an argument for a new trial stating that:
1). Hill had not been identified as the man who killed the store owner, Morrison. 2). There had been only one thing proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and that was that Hill had been shot on the same night that Morrison was killed. 3).The jury had been prejudiced when, in the presence of the jury, Hill fired his own attorneys (Scott and McDougall) These same attorneys were then retained by the court as friends of the court contrary to the wishes of the defendant. 4).The jurymen were not impartial but were inclined to favor the prosecution. On this point, Christensen argued that: “That jury was selected by a science at which the district attorney is a past master and the defendant’s attorneys were unskilled.”
District Attorney E. O. Leatherwood insisted that the trial was fair and had been conducted in strict accordance with the law, and that Hill should be executed on the date set by Judge Ritchie [September 4, 1914].
Judge Ritchie ruled for the prosecution.
Christensen immediately filed for an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court which again stays the execution of Fellow Worker Joe Hill, for now.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 13, 1914 Salt Lake City, Utah – Joe Hill on Trial for Murder on Circumstantial Evidence
State of Utah vs. Joseph Hillstrom
Joe Hill on Day of Arrest
Joe Hill, famous I. W. W. songwriter, went on trial June 10th in Salt Lake City, Utah. Fellow Worker Joe Hill is on trial for his life, having been charged with the murder of J. G. Morrison who was shot and killed, along with his son, during the robbery of his grocery store on the night of January 10, 1914. Joe Hill was arrested three days later. He pleaded “Not Guilty” on January 22nd to the charge of murder in the case of J. G. Morrison. Hill has been in the Salt Lake County Jail since his arrest.
District Attorney E. O. Leatherwood admits that all of the evidence against Joe Hill is circumstantial, but states that he will prove Hill’s guilt through a chain of circumstantial facts: 1). that a tall man in the company of a short man were seen near the store just before the murder of Morrison, 2). that Hill was that tall man, 3). that Morrison’s son fired at the men and wounded Hill, who then shouted that he had been shot, 4). that Hill was treated shortly thereafter for a gunshot wound, 5). that Hill was carrying a gun of the same type used in the murder while at the doctor’s office.
Joe has strenuously denied any involvement in this brutal double murder. He states that he was shot by a friend during an argument over a woman known to both of them. He states that he is confident that he will be acquitted. Others are not so sure, pointing out that Fellow Worker Joe Hill has already been found guilty of being a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
From The Voice of the People of May 21, 1914:
JOE HILL’S TROUBLE
The following letter is published at the request of Fellow-worker Ed. Rowan, Secretary L. U. 69:
SALT LAKE CITY. May 2. 1914.
Voice of the People, New Orleans, La.:
Gentlemen–On January 10th, 1914, J. G. Morrison, ex-policeman, was shot at 9:31 p. m. in his grocery store by two masked men, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His son was also shot, but is supposed to have wounded one of the men first. Another son claims to have heard the shots and reached the store just as the masked men were running away.
Four days later at the house of his friends, seven miles front Salt Lake City, Joe Hill was arrested on information of a Dr. Bird, who drove him to Eselius’ home about 11:30 p. m. the night of the murder. Hill stated to the doctor who attended him that he had been shot at the house of a friend because the friend thought he had insulted his wife and that he did not want anything said as he knew the friend did not mean it.
Another son of the dead man claims to have identified Hill. Yet as the men were masked I don’t think much of the identification. We are defending him, but he states that he does not wish to involve his girl friend and will not state who shot him nor her name.
The main thing the State has against Hill is that he is an I. W. W. and therefore sure to be guilty. Hill tried to keep the I. W. W. out of it and denied it, but the papers fastened it on him. For this reason he is entitled to be helped and not allowed to hang for being an I. W. W. Every man is presumed to be innocent till proved guilty. It should not he necessary for him to prove his innocence, and it would not be if he was not an I. W. W.
Scott and MacDougall, per Scott. (Attorneys for Joe Hill)
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 15, 1914
Salt Lake City, Utah – Joe Hill Arrested in Connection with Murder of Grocer and Son
From The Salt Lake Tribune of Jan 14, 1914:
At an early hour this morning Sergeant Ben Siegfus expressed the belief that Joseph Hill, arrested for the murder of the two Morrisons, is Frank Z. Wilson, a former inmate of the state prison. The description of Hill corresponds closely with that of Wilson. The police have been searching for Wilson ever since the murders.
—————
Suffering from a wound believed to have been inflicted by John Arling Morrison, 17 years old, just before the boy fell dead, a victim of a murderer’s bullet, Joseph Hill, a musician, was brought to the county jail at 2 o’clock, charged with the murder of John G. Morrison and John A. Morrison, his son, in their grocery store in Salt [Lake City] last Saturday night.
Hill was arrested at 11:30 o’clock last night [January 13th] at the home of a family named Eselius on West Seventeenth South street, in Murray, by Marshal Fred Peters and Deputy Marshals Edwin Larson and Joseph Van Newland. They were told of his presence at this home by Drs. F. M. McHugh and A. A. Bird, who had been called to the Eselius home to treat the wounded man. Hill had been lying suffering from his wound at the Eselius home since last Saturday night.
Walked to Murray.
The wounded man walked into the residence of Dr. F. M. McHugh, 4002 South State street, in the outskirts of Murray, at 11:30 o’clock Saturday night [January 10th]. He was suffering from a wound to the left side. A bullet had entered the side pierced the left lung and emerged through the back. The man had apparently lost a great deal of blood and was in a weakened condition. He appeared to the doctor to have been walking a long distance.
The doctor took the man into his house and dressed the wound. Hill told the doctor that he had quarreled with a friend in Murray over a woman and that in the quarrel the friend shot him.
Later in the night Dr. McHugh saw Dr. A. A. Bird, also of Murray, driving by on State street, and called him in. At Hill’s request Dr. Bird drove the man to the Eselius home. Hill had previously known the Eselius family and they apparently believed Hill’s story of the shooting and gave him shelter. At the hour that Hill was treated by Dr. McHugh, the doctor had not heard of the shooting [of the Morrisons]. His suspicions were aroused later on hearing of the account of the murders in Salt Lake, and he then notified the Murray officers.
Maintained Silence.
Since his arrest Hill has maintained a sullen silence. When the officers entered the Eselius home, Hill made a feint as if to draw a gun and was quickly covered by the arresting officers. Hill then made no resistance. He has obeyed the commands of the officers quietly, but has refused to answer any questions.
After he had been brought to the county jail early this morning Hill was examined by Dr. W. N. Pugh, who said that while the wound was a serious one, there was a strong probability that he would recover from it. He said that his silence and apparently dazed condition might have been at least partially induced by opiates given him by the doctors to ease his pain.
The police are elated over the capture of Hill, whom they feel certain is one of the men wanted for the murder of the Morrisons. As soon as Hill’s condition warrants, an effort will be made by the officers to induce him to make a confession and give the name of the accomplice.
Linked about the wounded sufferer at the city jail hospital is already woven a strong chain of circumstantial evidence, even though Merlin Morrison, the only eyewitness to the tragedy, may be unable to make a positive identification of the man.
In a general way Hill’s description corresponds to that of one of the two scarlet-masked men who dashed into the Morrison store on Saturday night and shot to death the proprietor of the store and his brave son. Both Morrison and his son were killed with bullets fired from a .38-caliber automatic pistol.
From the blood-stained coat of Hill at midnight that same night Dr. McHugh took a .38-caliber automatic pistol.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 26, 1908
National Elections Pass into History; Hardships Continue for Toilers
From the Charleston Labor Argus of December 24, 1908:
Trade Union Are Toilers Only Hope
—–
Only Protection and Safety for the Working
Masses is Organized Labor
-Politicians Are But Tools of the Trusts.
—–
Now that another national contest has, passed into history and the working people can take a sober view of the economic situation, the Cleveland Citizen calls attention to the fact that the labor problem was not solved on Nov. 3, 1908.
While the unsuccessful politicians are now in the dumps and the victors are celebrating their acquaintance of the spoils of office, the workingmen are confronted by exactly the the same conditions that they were to face the day before election.
The problem of unemployment for some and overwork for others, the evils for cheap women and child labor, the introduction of labor-displacing machinery, the threats of wage reductions, the attacks of union smashing open shoppers and similiar questions are here today just as they were here last week, and they must and considered for the reason that they cannot lie dodged.
Since there is no likelihood that the victorious politicians will establish the millennium week after next or next year or the year following, what are the working people going to do for their own betterment? Sit on their haunches and suck their thumbs. Go into a trance and give up the few advantages that they still possess?
We believe not. Down in their hearts the workingmen and women know that their only protection and safety lies in organizing-in combining the toilers into trade unions for offensive and defensive purposes.
Then we’ll sing one song of the poor and ragged tramp,
He carries his home on his back;
Too old to work, he’s not wanted ’round the camp,
So he wanders without aim along the track.
-Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 4, 1908 “The Blanket Stiff, Product of Roosevelt’s Prosperity”
From the Socialist Montana News of February 27, 1908:
The Man Without a Country
Still on the Hunt for the Dinner Pail
—–
The Wage Slave
A little more than half a century ago a question of great interest to the country was brought up by a few men and women who saw the evil effects of slavery and its consequences. The question was agitated so persistently that it spread through the world. Not to our own country was it confined, but it became the absorbing question in Europe, and it was acknowledged that it was an evil and a disgrace to humanity and to the civilized world that beings made in the image of God should be subjected and treated like animals.
Girls in this way, fall every day,
And have been falling for ages,
Who is to blame? you know his name,
It’s the boss that pays starvation wages.
A homeless girl can always hear
Temptations calling everywhere.
-Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 15, 1918
From Hull House, Chicago – Miss Jane Addams Speaks for “Fallen” Women
In this week’s Appeal, we find a reprint of an article by Jane Addams which previously appeared in The Survey of May 4, 1912.
From the Appeal to Reason of January 12, 1918:
A great English preacher has said that life holds for every man one searching test of the sincerity of his religious life, and that although this test is often absurdly trivial, to encounter it is to “fall from grace.” We all know these tests: a given relative or familiar friend has an irritating power of goading us into anger or self-pity; a certain public movement inevitably hardens us into a contemptuous mood of all uncharitableness; one particular type of sinner fills us with an unholy sense of superior virtue.
If we may assume that society itself is subject to one such test, if it too possesses a touchstone which reveals its inmost weakness and ultimate meanness, may we not say that the supreme religious test of our social order is the hideous commerce of prostitution, and that the sorry results of that test are registered in the hypocrisy and hardness of heart of the average good citizen toward the so-called “fallen” woman. May we of claim that in consequence of this irreligious attitude, prostitution remains today a hard, unresolved mass in the midst of so-called Christian civilization, until it has come to be regarded as a vice which cannot be eradicated, as a sin which cannot be forgiven, as a social disease which cannot be cured.
The World’s great Wrong cries out; you do not heed,
But drivel rot with heaven-uplifted eyes,
Then creep away behind a cloud of lies
To kiss the palsied hand of murderous Greed.
-Ralph Chaplin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Monday December 17, 1917
A Rebel Verse from Ralph Chaplin
My body? Oh, if I could choose, I would to ashes it reduce And let the merry breezes blow My dust to where some flowers grow. Perhaps some faded flower then Would come to life and bloom again. -Joe Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 19, 1917
Omaha, Nebraska – Joe Hill’s Ashes Seized in Raid
From the Lincoln Journal Star of November 16, 1917, we find that, in the raid upon the I. W. W. hall in Omaha conducted by federal officials on Tuesday in which 64 men and one woman were arrested, Fellow Worker Joe Hill, now dead, was also taken into custody. The article describes his arrest, or rather, the arrest of a portion of his remains:
Among the things taken from the headquarters is a framed picture of Joe Hill, one of the “I. W. W. martyrs,” who was executed in Utah a few years ago. Inclosed behind the glass is a small envelope containing a few grains of ashes of his body, which was cremated.
How long federal authorities plan to hold on to the ashes of Joe Hill is unknown at this time.
Hellraisers Journal Wednesday October 30, 1907
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Boys Work Molten Glass at Midnight
The following account of young boys laboring late at night in the heat and glow of a Pittsburgh molten glass works comes from the October 29th edition of The Evening Star of Independence, Kansas:
“Devil’s Kindergarten,” Where Boys Toil
With Molten Glass All Night
—————
THE HORRORS INCIDENT TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG
CHILDREN IN FACTORIES OR AT WORK ANYWHERE
ARE A BLOT ON CIVILIZATION.
-President Theo. Roosevelt.
—–
(By Gilson Gardner.)
Glass Works at Midnight
Pittsburg. Pa., Oct. 29.-A visit to the Devil’s Kindergarten would help congress to understand. And to understand is, of course, what congress wants in the case of this child labor problem.
This merry place will be found in Pittsburg, and the way lies down along the river on the south side, where the smoke hangs heaviest and the night sky is lurid and the air is filled with the groans of tortured steel. It is the night effects which are important, for the kindergarten runs at night, and the visit must be made at midnight.
—————
—————
