Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part III: “Friend of Labor” Interviewed in Washington, D. C., by Selene Armstrong

Share

Quote Mother Jones, Husband Children, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 19, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1910, Part III:
-Interviewed by Selene Armstrong in Washington, D. C.

From The Washington Times of June 18, 1910:

Mother Jones, Home ed, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910Thus spoke Mother Jones, the plucky little white-haired woman, whose home, to use her own words, is “wherever there’s a labor war, and the President of the United States, when she had journeyed across half a continent to lay before him for the first time the cases of a number of political refugees in prison in Arizona, Kansas, and other Western States.

Today and on other days this week, Mother Jones has been busy at the Capitol, where it said that members of certain committees before which she has appeared have gasped for breath and begged for mercy before she had finished outlining to them their duties in regard to the Mexicans whose freedom she seeks from the Government.

Meets Old Friends.

She has hobnobbed with her old friends Representatives Wilson and Nicholls of Pennsylvania, and has made new friends of many other statesmen, who, however little they sympathize with her decided views on this or that public question, cannot harden their hearts against the cheery good humor and keen wit which radiate from her.

When asked by Chairman Dalzell of the Rules Committee of the House, before which she has appeared this week, to state her place of residence, Mother Jones replied:

My home is wherever there a labor war, sir.

The life story of this little woman with the snow white hair, the childlike blue eyes, and the look of perennial youthfulness on her face, would, if it were written, be the history of the of cause of organized labor. For thirty years she has traveled throughout the length and breath of the land in order to stand by the workers in time of stress. In the roughest mining camps of the West, and in the crowded tenement districts of eastern cities, she has brought to the women of the working class a woman’s gentle counsel, and to the men sagacity and keen judgement the equal of a man’s.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part III: “Friend of Labor” Interviewed in Washington, D. C., by Selene Armstrong”

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

Share

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: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part I: Found Resting and Recovering from Illness at Grand Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio

Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 17, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1910, Part I:
-Found Recovering from Illness at Grand Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio

From The Cincinnati Post of June 2, 1910:

MOTHER JONES IS GROWING WORSE,
LONGS FOR “BOYS”
—–

Mother Jones Ill, Coshocton OH Tb p1, June 1, 1910

Mother Jones, “Angel of the Mines,” who is ill at the Grand Hotel, is worse, according to Attorney Nicholas Klein, who has been in attendance at her bedside. From her bedside Thursday came word that what was considered a slight nervous breakdown had developed into a serious illness.

From the sick woman came a pathetic wish characteristic of her life devoted to the workers in the mines.

I want to get well,” she said. “I want to be able to get back among the boys.”

When stricken a few days ago, after she had filled an engagement at an outing given by Cincinnati Socialists, she refused to believe she was seriously endangered. She continued with her plans for brightening the lives of the toilers and preaching a gospel of optimism.

“It is nothing.” she said, and Dr. S. J. D. Meade, who is attending her, sought to encourage that belief. Dr. Meade says she will recover as soon as she gets a good rest.

For years the little woman has been the light-hearted ally of the miners throughout the nation.

———-

[Newsclip added from Coshocton Daily Tribune of June 1st.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part I: Found Resting and Recovering from Illness at Grand Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio”

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones, the Stormy Petrel, Interviewed in Washington D.C., Remembers Martin Irons

Share

Quote Mother Jones re Martin Irons Sleeps, AtR p4, May 11 1907———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 25, 1910
Washington, District of Columbia – Mother Jones Remembers Martin Irons

From The Labor Argus of June 23, 1910:

Labor Progressing, Says Mother Jones
—–

Workers of Today Do Their Own Thinking Declares
“Stormy Petrel” In Special Interview
—–

Mother Jones, ed Cameron Co PA Prs p1, Apr 7, 1910

Washington, D. C., June 22.-“The workingmen of this country are at last beginning to think for themselves.”

These significant words came from the lips of Mother Jones, the gray-haired labor agitator, who for the last thirty years has participated in every labor struggle of any prominence, whose presence on the field of action inspires courage and hope among the workers, and strikes terror in the hearts of the masters.

[Said Mother, as she is fondly called by the millions of her boys:]

In the years gone by, the workers were absolutely helpless and dependent on the ability and loyalty of the leaders. Today the leaders are absolutely helpless and dependent on the strength and intelligence of the rank and file.

The work of the old warriors of the labor movement, who have blazed the way with sacrifices for a cause that burned their souls, is bearing fruit. The workers are at last fired with the spirit of revolt and religiously and industrially they are working out their own salvation.

With the force and strength characteristic of the “Stormy Petrel,” and with a sudden brightening of her kindly face, she transmitted to her interviewer the thoughts that were stirring her soul when she uttered, “They are working out their own salvation.”

[Continued Mother Jones:]

There are any number of plain workingmen, who for clearness and logic in analyzing and understanding economic questions can give cards and spades to any Senator and Representative in Washington.

Workingmen of today exchange ideas and discuss important problems in the workshops, at their union meetings, and in their ever growing labor press. These are the most promising signs of the times.

Mother Jones has spent the last ten days in Washington, doing her utmost to secure a congressional investigation of the persecution of the Mexican political refugees in this country. When she was called upon to testify at the hearing on Representative Wilson’s resolution for an investigation of these outrages before the House committee on rules, Chairman Dalzell asked her to state the place of her residence.

I live wherever the workers are fighting the robbers,” she replied to the surprise and embarrassment of a number of corporation men who are members of the committee.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones, the Stormy Petrel, Interviewed in Washington D.C., Remembers Martin Irons”

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

Share

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

Share

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

Share

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: Baby Boy Born to IWW General Executive Board Member, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Share

Quote EGF, My Aim in Life, Spk Rv p7, July 8, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday June 14, 1910
New York, New York – Baby Boy Born to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

From the Industrial Worker of June 4, 1910:

IWW Exec Brd Member EGF Gives Birth to New FW, IW p1, June 4, 1910

I. W. W. General Executive Board Member
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn:

IWW EGF on Exec Board ed, IW p2, June 11, 1910, Spk Rv p9, July 9, 1909

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Baby Boy Born to IWW General Executive Board Member, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn”