Tag: John Murray

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part II: Found Testifying Before House Rules Committe on Behalf of Mexican Refugees

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, No Abiding Place, WDC Hse Com Testimony, June 14, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 18, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1910, Part II:
-Found in Washington, D. C., Testifying Before House Committee

From the San Francisco Call of June 15, 1910:

“MOTHER” JONES DENOUNCES DIAZ
—–
Mexican Refugees Persecuted by American Officers,
She Tells House Committee
—–
Writer Declares Los Angeles Detectives Open
Private Letters in Postoffice
—

Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

WASHINGTON, June 14.—”Mother” Jones addressed the rules committee of the house today in behalf of the Mexican refugees, who, it is alleged, are being persecuted in the United States through the agencies of American officers and Mexican government “spies.”

Mrs. Jones related that while she was in Douglas, Ariz., addressing a meeting, of “the unorganized slaves who work in the smelters,” she witnessed the kidnaping of a Mexican refugee, who, she said, was seized, strangled, thrown into an automobile and carried across the line into Mexico.

“Mother” Jones” denounced President Diaz of Mexico for sending “his hirelings across the border to crush the constitution of our country.”

John Kenneth Turner, a magazine writer, and John Murray, a newspaper writer, continued their testimony. The offering of evidence was finished today and the committee will decide within a few days whether an investigation by congress shall be recommended.

Murray testified to the opening of his own mail and that of a large number of other persons by the American authorities.

Turner said he had discovered city detectives in the Los Angeles postoffice examining the mail of Mexican residents there. He also told of the suppression by the authorities of many small newspapers published by Mexican refugees in various cities in Texas, California and Arizona.

———-

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part II: Found Testifying Before House Rules Committe on Behalf of Mexican Refugees” →

Hellraisers Journal: Testimony of Mother Jones before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, No Abiding Place, WDC Hse Com Testimony, June 14, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 18, 1910
Washington D. C. – Mother Jones Before House Rules Committee, Part II

Washington D. C., June 14, 1910-During the morning session of the Hearings before the House Rules Committee on H.J. Res. 201, “Providing for a Joint Committee To Investigate Alleged Persecutions of Mexican Citizens by the Government of Mexico,” Mother Jones continued her testimony as follow:

STATEMENT OF MRS. MARY JONES

[Part II of II.]

Mother Jones re Mex Rev, Lebanon PA Dly Ns p7, June 15, 1910
Lebanon Daily News
June 15, 1910

I left there [Arizona] then, but in 1908, immediately after the campaign. I learned from those men in jail at Los Angeles their condition [Ricardo Flores Magon, Librado Rivera, and Antonio I. Villareal]. They were without money, without aid, and I felt that they were just like Kosciuszko, Carl Schurz, Kossuth, and Garibaldi, and men of that kind, who received protection in our country from the tyrannical governments which they fled from, and I felt they were entitled to some protection, and that if they were without money, but were in the fight for liberty, a fight against the most bloody tyrant that has been produced, I would protect them; and so, although I was not in very good health, I went out and raised $4,000. I sent it West to get stenographers, hire attorneys, and bring witnesses to Tombstone, Arizona, where they were to be tried. I did not expect any great amount of mercy from the court at Tombstone, because Judge Doan is not very humane man. People who are feasting and eating and drinking with those who own the fleshpots of Egypt are not generally very humane characters. But I still felt that probably through the efforts we were making, and the publicity we were giving it, they would not be turned over to be murdered, and if they could be saved from being murdered that would satisfy me, knowing that some day we would get them out of the clutches of the tyrant. And so they were tried and sentenced to eighteen days in Yuma. From there they were moved to the new prison.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Testimony of Mother Jones before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Testimony of Mother Jones before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, No Abiding Place, WDC Hse Com Testimony, June 14, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 17, 1910
Washington D. C. – Mother Jones Before House Rules Committee, Part I

Washington D. C., June 14, 1910-During the morning session of the Hearings before the House Rules Committee on H.J. Res. 201, “Providing for a Joint Committee To Investigate Alleged Persecutions of Mexican Citizens by the Government of Mexico,” Mother Jones was called to the stand by Congressman William B. Wilson of Pennsylvania. Mother testified as follow:

Mr. Wilson: Mr. Chairman, I would like to have Mother Jones speak.
The Chairman [Representative John Dalzell of Pennsylvania]:
Mother Jones, please give the stenographer your name and residence.

STATEMENT OF MRS. MARY JONES

[Part I of II.]

Mother Jones re Mex Rev, Lebanon PA Dly Ns p7, June 15, 1910
Lebanon Daily News
June 15, 1910

[Questioned by Chairman Dalzell:]

My name is Mary Jones. I live in the United States, but I do not know exactly in what place, because I am always in the fight against oppression, and wherever a fight is going on I have to jump there, and sometimes I am in Washington, sometimes in Pennsylvania, sometimes in Arizona, sometimes in Texas, and sometimes up in Minnesota, so that really I have no particular residence…No abiding place, but wherever a fight is on against wrong, I am always there. It is my pleasure to be in the fray.

[Mr. Wilson questions Mother about the kidnapping of Manual Sarabia from Douglas, Arizona, during summer of 1907:]

I was in Arizona at that time. We had a strike on there with the Philip Dodge copper interest. The smelters, the men, or the slaves, rather, working in the smelters, had not been organized, and I went down there in Douglas to help organize those workers.

[Wilson asks Mother if she would rather sit down] I am so accustomed to standing when I am talking that I am uncomfortable when sitting down. That is too easy. [Laughter.]

Well, I was holding a meeting on the streets of Douglas on Sunday night for the workers that were in the smelters. An automobile was run out from the jail, from what I learned afterwards and this young Sarabia was thrown into it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Testimony of Mother Jones before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Testifies before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Save Our Mexican Comrades, AtR p3, Feb 20, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 16, 1910
Washington, District of Columbia – Mother Jones Denounces Diaz

From The San Francisco Call of June 15, 1910:

“MOTHER” JONES DENOUNCES DIAZ
—–
Mexican Refugees Persecuted
by American Officers,
She Tells House Committee
—–
Writer Declares Los Angeles Detectives
Open Private Letters in Postoffice
—–

Mother Jones re Mex Rev, Lebanon PA Dly Ns p7, June 15, 1910
Lebanon Daily News
June 15, 1910

WASHINGTON, June 14.—”Mother” Jones addressed the rules committee of the house today in behalf of the Mexican refugees, who, it is alleged, are being persecuted in the United States through the agencies of American officers and Mexican government “spies.”

Mrs. Jones related that while she was in Douglas, Ariz., addressing a meeting of “the unorganized slaves who work in the smelters,” she witnessed the kidnaping of a Mexican refugee [Manuel Sarabia], who, she said, was seized, strangled, thrown into an automobile and carried across the line into Mexico.

“Mother” Jones denounced President Diaz of Mexico for sending “his hirelings across the border to crush the constitution of our country.”

John Kenneth Turner, a magazine writer, and John Murray, a newspaper writer, continued their testimony. The offering of evidence was finished today and the committee will decide within a few days whether an investigation by congress shall be recommended.

Murray testified to the opening of his own mail and that of a large number of other persons by the American authorities.

Turner said he had discovered city detectives in the Los Angeles postoffice examining the mail of Mexican residents there. He also told of the suppression by the authorities of many small newspapers published by Mexican refugees in various cities in Texas, California and Arizona.

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Testifies before House Committee on Behalf of Persecuted Mexican Refugees” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1909, Part II: Reports Found of Mysterious Disappearance in San Antonio

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Save Our Mexican Comrades, AtR p3, Feb 20, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 15, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1909, Part II:
-Reports Found of Mother’s Mysterious Disappearance in San Antonio, Texas

From The Buffalo Enquirer of October 18, 1909
-the following story was reported by newspapers from coast to coast:

SECRET SERVICE MEN ARE ACTIVE
—–

SOCIALISTS AND ANARCHISTS APPREHENDED IN
ADVANCE OF PRESIDENT TAFT’S ARRIVAL
-MOTHER JONES GONE.
—–

(By the American News.)

Mother Jones, Elkhart IN Dly Rv p2, Crpd, July 19, 1909

San Antonio, Oct. 18.-The failure of a half dozen or more Socialists in this city to show up at their homes and a search instituted by local newspaper men, revealed the fact that the Secret Service authorities had taken into custody quietly a number of Socialists and Anarchists just before the visit of President Taft to this city.

Mother Jones, the friend of the miners, who was in the city Sunday it has been learned to day, also mysteriously disappeared. Friends of Mother Jones assert that she too was taken into custody and her whereabouts kept secret until after the departure of President Taft.

Activity among Anarchists and Socialists in this vicinity is thought to have been the cause for the arrests.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From the Shenandoah (Pennsylvania) Evening Herald of October 21, 1909:

“Mother” Jones Heard From.

Charles Gildea, a national organizer of the United Mine Workers at Hazleton, has received a letter from “Mother” Jones, who took a prominent part in miners’ strikes here, that she intends to be at the meeting between President Taft, of the United States, and President Diaz, of Mexico, near El Paso, Texas. Whether she was among those present or not has not yet been learned, as the letter was posted before the time of the meeting.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1909, Part II: Reports Found of Mysterious Disappearance in San Antonio” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1909: Found in South Dakota Black Hills

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote John ONeill re Mother Jones Resting Place, Miners Mag p6, Sept 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 15, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1909:
-Found Speaking at Labor Day Celebration in Lead, South Dakota

From The Deadwood Daily Pioneer-Times of September 1, 1909:

Ad Mother Jones Labor Day, Dwd SD Dly Pr Tx p5, Sept 1, 1909

From the Appeal to Reason of September 4, 1909:

Mother Jones Doing Good Work.

Mother Jones is speaking in Texas and New Mexico in behalf of the accused [Mexican] revolutionists and is attracting great crowds of workers. Even the papers are compelled by the force of public opinion to speak well of her work. The Houston Chronicle recently devoted a column to her full of praise. It quotes her as saying:

I hope the time will come when the lead which is now used for making bullets will be used for making type to educate the masses.

Everywhere she goes she is greeted with large and enthusiastic audiences.

—–

Note: We last found Mother in Texas, speaking in San Antonio, on August 21st.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1909, Part II: Found in San Antonio, Fighting for Imprisoned Mexican Revolutionaries

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Save Our Mexican Comrades, AtR p3, Feb 20, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 13, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1909, Part II:
-Found in San Antonio, Fighting for Mexican Revolutionaries

From the Beaumont Daily Enterprise of August 20, 1909:

“MOTHER” JONES GETTING BUSY
—–
She Will Actively Enter Fight For
“Liberty in Old Mexico.”

Special to the Enterprise.

Mother Jones, Elkhart IN Dly Rv p2, Crpd, July 19, 1909

San Antonio, Texas, Aug. 19-Much interest has been aroused in the case of Thomas [Tomás] Sarabia and Jose [José] M. Rangel, who are in the county jail charged with violation of the United States neutrality laws, by the arrival of “Mother Jones,” who will hold a series of mass meetings, protesting against the imprisonment of the men and the coming of Andrea Villareal [Villarreal], sister of Antonio Villareal an alleged revolutionist, now in prison in Los Angeles, Cal. The first of these meetings will be held Saturday night [August 21st] in a large tent on East Houston street and will be addressed by “Mother Jones.” Andrea Villareal is expected to arrive Monday.

It is a noteworthy fact that the Mexican population of the city are taking a great interest in the matter pertaining to the imprisoned men. This is particularly noticeable among the laboring class of the Mexicans and the matter is being discussed in all quarters. The wealthy class and also Americans who have financial interests in Mexico are trying to belittle the matter and say it is the work of sensation mongers. They feel confident that the United States will uphold the Mexican government and extradite the men now being held. It is expected that these meetings will do much to encourage the cause of the revolutionists in the proposed overthrow of the Diaz government and will tend to arouse feelings against Diaz. “Mother Jones” says she will have much of interest to say at the protest meeting. “Mother Jones” figured prominently in the strikes in the anthracite regions and the Western Federation of Miners and is accountable for the release of Manuel Sarabia from prison. When Manuel Sarabia, brother of Thomas Sarabia, now in the Bexar county jail was arrested in Douglas, Ariz, two years ago, he was taken into Mexico. It was charged that he was taken across the line without the due process of law, and “Mother Jones” started the first meeting of protest. It resulted in a movement which ended only with a decision by the United States supreme court and Sarabia was returned to the United Sates from a Mexican prison. He met a wealthy Boston girl while in Arizona and married her several months ago. “Mother Jones” will tell the story of the rescue of Manuel Sarabia.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for March 1909, Part I: Found Speaking in Denver

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Dnv Rck Mt Ns p3, Mar 2, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 12, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1909, Part I:
-Found in Denver, Colorado, Speaking at Protest Meeting

On the evening of Thursday March 1st, Mother Jones spoke before trade unionists, assembled together at the People’s tabernacle, to protest against the jail sentences imposed upon Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, and Frank Morrison by District Court Judge Daniel Thew Wright.

From The Denver Post of March 1, 1909:

MOTHER JONES TO ADDRESS DENVER
LABOR MEETING
—–
Protest Against Federal Judge Sending
Labor Leaders to Jail.
—–

3,000 ARE TO TAKE PART
—–
Resolutions to Be Adopted Strongly
Censuring Judge Wright.
—–

Mother Jones w edit crpd, Dnv Rck Mt Ns p2, Feb 28, 1909

Tonight at the People’s Tabernacle, Twentieth and Lawrence, labor will enter its protest against the recent decision of Judge Wright of the district of Columbia, sentencing Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison to prison for alleged contempt of court. A monster massmeeting has been arranged for, to commence at 8 o’clock. State senators, representatives and many of the representative labor men of Colorado will take part.

[…..]

“Mother Jones,” one of the famous women advocates of the rights of labor, a woman who saw many of the early conflicts of labor when blood was shed in Easter miners’ strikes, and one of the most interesting orators among the women of the country today will be one of the principal speakers.

“Mother Jones” is known to every laboring men in the country. She attends many labor conventions, and last year delivered one of her characteristic speeches before the annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners. She has been travelling through the West seeking to raise funds for three Western men who are being held in Mexican prisons on the ground that they were seeking to overthrow the Mexican government.

“Mother Jones” is a guest at the home of John M. O’Neill, editor of the official organ of the Western Federation of Miners, 1229 Kalamath street.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: John Murray on the Prisons of Diaz, Part III

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Freedom Ricardo Flores Magon, ed, Speech re Prisoners of Texas, May 31, 1914———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 6, 1909
John Murray on the Horrors of the Private Prisons of Diaz, Part III

From the International Socialist Review of April 1909:

Mex Rev, Diaz Prison by Murray, ISR p737, ISR Apr 1909

[Part III, Conclusion]

[John Murray’s interview with the escaped prisoner, Antonio, continues:]

The sick man’s pauses in this narrative were frequent. At times the old lady give him water to drink, and then again he would take two puffs at a cigarette rolled by the president, all of which kept him going to the end of his story.

We were accused of participating in the rebellion started in September, 1906, by the Junta Revolucionaria Mexicana in Jimenez, and in Acayucan. Chained in gangs with two hundred others, we were brought to the fortress and political prison of San Juan de Ulua.

Some of us were betrayed by that Judas, Captain Adolfo Jimenez Castro, an officer of the post at Cuidad Juarez, while others were betrayed by Trinidad Vasquez at Cananea.

Among the number were persons entirely innocent of any participation in the rebellion, but they received neither consideration nor mercy, and, like many of us, saw their homes burnt by the soldiery and their families left to starve.

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