Tag: Labor Martyrs

Hellraisers Journal: Jack Sellins, Seeks Justice for His Mother, Martyred Mine Workers’ Organizer, Fannie Sellins

Janet RayeFannie Sellins
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Quote M. Robbins, for Fannie Sellins, Wkrs Wld p4, Nov 28, 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 2, 1922
Jack Sellins Seeks Justice for Murder of Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski

From the United Mine Workers Journal of April 1, 1922:

 

SON SEEKS JUSTICE
———-

ASKS THAT SLAYER OF HIS MOTHER,
MRS. FANNIE SELLINS,
BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE
———

WNF Sellins Starzeleski Monument, The Woman Today p9, Sept 1936

Editor of the Journal: I am writing you concerning the bringing to justice the persons responsible for the death of Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski, who were murdered in wanton cold blood over two and a half years ago.

For this length of time every effort has been made to find the persons responsible for this crime, and on January 26, last, three deputy sheriffs were arrested for the murder. Even on the information on which the arrests were made the court granted them their liberty on bail, which was only $2,500. However, on February 14, the grand jury returned an indictment against the three, and we are now waiting for a date for the trial to be set.

The three men indicted are: Edward Mannison, John Pierson and James Reilly, former deputy sheriffs.

A copy of a resolution is herewith enclosed asking that the two attorneys we have employed be appointed as special district attorneys. I would like to see this resolution adopted by local unions over the country and be sent to president judge of the Allegheny County courts.

Fraternally yours,
JACK SELLINS.

The writer of the above is a son of Mrs. Fannie Sellins, so brutally murdered by deputy sheriffs in the Brackenridge mine strike. He has had a heroic effort to have the slayers of his mother brought to justice, and says he is taking no chance of a failure of prosecution in the hands of the district attorney’s office.

The resolution is as follows:

Whereas, The District Attorney of Allegheny County has failed to proceed with the prosecution of the murderers of Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski, or to take any action to bring these offenders to trial, said murders having been committed at West Natrona, Pa., on Aug. 26, 1919;

Be it Resolved, That we believe that private counsel should be employed for that purpose, and that the court be asked to appoint two attorneys as special deputy district attorneys to take charge of said prosecution, and, further, we recommend that the court appoint John S. Robb, Jr., Esq., of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Victor B. Benton, Esq., of New Kensington, Pa., as such special deputy district attorneys, and that a copy of this resolution be mailed to the president judge of Allegheny County courts.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Jack Sellins, Seeks Justice for His Mother, Martyred Mine Workers’ Organizer, Fannie Sellins” →

Hellraisers Journal: Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Police Fire Riot Guns at Textile Strikers, One Killed, Many Wounded

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, ed, Ab Chp 6, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 24, 1922
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – Police Fire on Strikers, One Killed, Several Wounded

From the New York Evening World of February 21, 1922:

PAWTUCKET, R. I.. Feb. 21.-One man was killed, two were seriously wounded, and six persons were hurt when the police used riot guns today on a crowd of 1,000 person who gathered at the plant of the Jenckes Spinning Company, where a strike is in progress. The guns were brought into play when several patrolmen had been knocked down after the arrest of three strike sympathizers.

The dead man is Juan D’Assumpcau [Joseph Assuncao, Jose D’Assunpcao]  of Valley Falls. Tony Regoss and Joseph Diaz of this city were taken to hospitals in a critical condition.

Mayor Robert A. Kenyon witnessed the shooting. He had arrived at the gates of the plant early in the morning to observe the crowd that has customarily gathered to watch working operatives enter the mill. The Mayor, believing that there was danger in the crowd, read the riot act. He then told the patrolmen to be careful and calm but to do their duty and to “shoot if necessary. ” 

[…..]

[Machine Guns at Natick]

NATICK, R. I., Feb. 21,-While striking textile workers and sympathizers jammed the streets of this village to-day mounted cavalry troops and police kept strict patrol, forcing the throngs to keep moving, Hundreds of children, each bearing a tiny American flag, swelled the ranks of the strike sympathizers. There was no cheering, and in spite of the size of the crowd and the tenseness of the situation there was little noise.

A machine gun detachment of the 103d Field Artillery mounted guns at the mills involved in the strike, and a company of field artillery formed the patrol.

[Machine Guns at Providence]

PROVIDENCE. Feb. 21.-The conflict at Pawtucket was followed by an increase in the militia forces called to aid the civil authorities. Two troops of cavalry, a machine gun detachment and a Coast Artillery Company, all acting as infantry, patrolled the Pawtucket valley villages of Pontiac and Natick, maintaining order where riotous outbreaks occurred last night.

While the military were trying to maintain order in the mill districts, mediators of both State and Federal jurisdictions were sitting here with representatives of the union organizations of strikes and mill managements to learn their views on a suggestion for arbitration of the differences.

Two of the mill corporations have formally announced that the issues-a wage reduction of 20 per cent, and, in some instances, an increase of working hours from forty-eight to fifty-four were not such as could be ironed out by arbitration.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Joe Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti Arrested; Young John Ramey Dead from Bayonet Wound to Back

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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WNF John Ramey, Martyr Bread and Roses Strike, Jan 30, 1912, findagrave—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 2, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Ettor and Giovannitti Arrested; Young Syrian Boy Dead

From The Boston Daily Globe, Morning Edition, of January 31, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence 2 Now Dead, Ettor n Giovannitti Arrested, Force ag Strikers, Bst Glb AM p1, Jan 31, 1912
Ruling Lawrence with Iron Hand
Infantry – Metropolitan Police – Artillery – Cavalry – 2d Corps Cadets
Local Police – Ambulance Corps

—–

HdLn Lawrence Ettor n Giovannitti Accused in Death of Lo Pizzo, Ramey Bayoneted, Bst Glb AM p1, Jan 31, 1912—–

Lawrence Ettor, Giovannitti, Annie Helzenbach, Bst Glb AM p5, Jan 31, 1912
Mrs. Annie Helzenbach – Joe Ettor – Arturo Giovannitti

From The Boston Daily Globe, Evening Edition, of January 31, 1912:

Ettor and Giovannitti on Way to Jail, Bst Glb Eve p2, Jan 31, 1912
Ettor and Giovannitti Being Taken to Jail
Ettor with Newspaper under Arm

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Joe Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti Arrested; Young John Ramey Dead from Bayonet Wound to Back” →

Hellraisers Journal: John Ramey, Syrian Boy, Dead in Lawrence, Was Bayoneted in Back By Soldiers. Ettor Arrested.

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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WNF John Ramey, Martyr Bread and Roses Strike, Jan 30, 1912, findagrave—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 1, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Syrian Boy, John Ramey, Second Martyr of Textile Strike

From The New York Call of January 31, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence WNF Ramey Bayoneted, Ettor Arrested, NYCl p1, Jan 31, 1912—–HdLn Lawrence Where Militia Bayoneting Strikers, NYCl p1, Jan 31, 1912—–
CHEERING THE STRIKERSLawrence Cheering Strikers from Windows, NYCl p1, Jan 31, 1912

———-

LAWRENCE, Mass., Jan. 30.-Murder was committed on the street in this city today, when an 18-year old Syrian boy striker was bayoneted by a member of a squad of Massachusetts militia on Oak street, and died later in the Lawrence hospital.

The dead boy, John Rami [Ramey], was stuck through the back like a pig as he and some companions were endeavoring to escape from an absolutely unprovoked assault by the soldiers, who are under instructions to look for trouble and when they had it to use steel and ball cartridges as often and as accurately as possible. Many of the militiamen are under-graduates of Harvard University, the president of which is a large shareholder in the Lawrence mills.

Although the police, who witnessed the murder of Rami, declare the boy was doing nothing wrong, the authorities are endeavoring to shift the blame for the lad’s death upon the strikers, and the report has been spread that it is doubtful who killed him. For several hours after the murder the authorities were terrified least the strikers, learning of the fate of the boy, should demand and take vengeance, and every effort was made to hush up the details of the tragedy.

The squad of militiamen, one of whom was responsible, has evidently concocted a story, probably with the connivance of their officers, for they are industriously lying about the matter, declaring they were not near enough to the boy to stab him, and that it was one of his fellow strikers who took his life.

Rami, according to eye-witnesses, was walking along Oak street, with seven companions. As they neared a corner of the street, where a squad of eight armed militiamen were standing, one of the boys said, jestingly:

“There are the soldiers now. Let’s have some fun with them.”

Stabbed in Back.

Immediately the man in charge of the squad ordered the soldiers to charge. Rami, unable to run as fast as his companions, brought up the rear. His steps were slightly retarded by the slippery pavement and he appeared to stumble. As he did so, one of the militiamen caught up with him, and thrusting viciously forward, stuck his bayonet into Rami’s back.

The boy screamed and staggered forward. He ran a few more steps and fell, fainting. Officials at the hospital where he was taken would not say how far the long bayonet blade went into his lungs…..

Strike Leader is Arrested.

Joseph J. Ettor, of New York, national organizer of the Industrial Workers of the world and leader of the woolen strike here, was arrested shortly before midnight on a charge of being an accessory to the murder of Annie La Pizza [Anna LoPizzo], the Italian striker who was killed during the clash in Union street early last evening. Ettor was taken into custody at the hotel where he is stopping when he was about to go to bed and was taken to the police station, where he was locked up. An extra guard of militiamen was thrown about the station for fear that when the news went abroad and attempt might be made by the strikers to storm the place and rescue Ettor.

The strike is assuming its real character-a hunger strike, it is a strike in which empty bellies clamor for food, in which children cry for life’s joys, and woman fight desperately with their men to save themselves from prostitution. And every hour the 25,000 victims of a merciless corporation’s greed realize more clearly the nature of their fight, and grow more grimly determined to win.

[…..]

[Emphasis added]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: John Ramey, Syrian Boy, Dead in Lawrence, Was Bayoneted in Back By Soldiers. Ettor Arrested.” →

Hellraisers Journal: Italian Woman Killed in Lawrence as Strikers Gathered at Mills at Closing Time on Monday January 29th

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Lawrence Anna LoPizzo Killed, Jan 29, 1912

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 31, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Woman Shot and Killed During Strikers’ Demonstration

From The Boston Daily Globe of January 30, 1912:

HdLn Woman Killed in Lawrence Anna LoPizzo, Bst Glb p1, Jan 30, 1912HdLn Warrant Issued for Ettor at Lawrence, Bst Glb p1, Jan 30, 1912
——

From The New York Call of January 30, 1912:

WOMAN SLAIN BY SHOT IN LAWRENCE
STRIKE EXCITEMENT
———-

[…..]

LAWRENCE, Mass., Jan. 29.-After a two hours’ demonstration, during which the woolen and cotton mill strikers had full control of the streets of this city, there was a clash between the police and militia on one side and about 1,000 strikers near the Everett mills just before 6 o’clock to night.

The affray resulted in the killing of an Italian woman, who was standing on the sidewalk, the stabbing of Patrolman Oscar Benoit and sore heads for many of the strikers, who were finally put to flight.

The woman killed was the victim of senseless shooting by an unknown individual, who seemed to be taking great joy in firing revolver bullets into the ground on the opposite side of Union street from the woman. It is claimed that neither the police nor militiamen fired a shot during the battle and it is believed that the woman was killed by a bullet which glanced off a stone in the street.

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Italian Woman Killed in Lawrence as Strikers Gathered at Mills at Closing Time on Monday January 29th” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene Debs Recalls Labor’s Battles in the “War for Freedom”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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SDH p2, Jan 11, 1902———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 12, 1902
Eugene Victor Debs Recalls Bloody Scenes of Battle in Class War

From the Social Democratic Herald of January 11, 1902:

The War for Freedom.

By Eugene V. Debs.

EVD crpd Nw Orln Tx Dem p3, Jan 26, 1900

The country we inhabit is generally supposed to have been in a state of peace since the close of the Civil War, excepting the brief period required to push the Spaniards off the western continent. And yet during this reign of so-called peace more than a score of bloody battles have been fought on American soil, in every one of which the working class were beaten to the earth, notwithstanding they outnumber their conquerors and despoilers at least ten to one, and notwithstanding in each case they asked but a modest concession that represented but a tithe of what they were justly entitled to.

To recall the bloody scenes in the Tennessee mountains, the horrors of Idaho, the tragedies of Virden, Pana, Buffalo, Chicago, Homestead, Lattimer, Leadville, and many others, is quite enough to chill the heart of a man who has such an organ, and yet above the cloud and smoke of battle there shines forever the bow of promise, and however fierce the struggle and gloomy the outlook, it is never obscured to the brave, self-reliant soul who knows that victory at last must crown the cause of labor.

Thousands have fallen before the fire of the enemy and thousands more are doubtless doomed to share the same fate, but

“Freedom’s battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, Is ever won.”

The struggle in this and other lands by the children of toil is a struggle between classes which in some form or other has been waged since primitive man first captured and enslaved his weaker fellow-being. Through the long, dark night of history the man who toiled has been in fetters, and though today they are invisible, yet they bind him as securely in wage slavery as if they were forged of steel.

How the millions toil and produce! How they suffer and are despised! Is the earth forever to be a dungeon to them? Are their offspring always to be food for misery? These are questions that confront the workingmen of our day and a few of them at least understand the nature of the struggle, are conscious of their class interests, and are striving with all their energy to close up the ranks and conquer their freedom by the solidarity of labor.

In this war for freedom the organized men in the Western states have borne a conspicuous and honorable part. They have, in fact, maintained better conditions on the whole than generally prevail, and this they have done under fire that would have reduced less courageous and determined men. But, notwithstanding their organized resistance, they must perceive that in common with all others who work for wages they are losing ground before the march of capitalism.

It requires no specially sensitive nature to feel the tightening of the coils, nor prophetic vision to see the doom of labor if the government is suffered to continue in control of the capitalist class. In every crisis the shotted guns of the government are aimed at the working class. They point in but one direction. In no other way could the capitalists maintain their class supremacy. Court injunctions paralyze but one class. In fact, the government of the ruling class today has but one vital function, and that is to keep the exploited class in subjection.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene Debs Recalls Labor’s Battles in the “War for Freedom”” →

Hellraisers Journal: New York City Trembles at Great Strike of 4000 Humble Street Cleaners-by Big Bill Haywood, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH One Fist, ISR p458, Feb 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 6, 1912
The New York City Street Cleaners Strike of November 1911, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of January 1912:

THE STRIKE OF THE SCAVENGERS

By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD

[Part II of II.]

ISR p391, Jan 1912

The city officials made every effort to break the strike, and although they resorted to the brutal tactics the employing and ruling classes are accustomed to use everywhere in like cases, they met with little success.

Detective agencies were enlisted and were paid $5 for each man they secured, the strikebreaker receiving for his services $3 per day. It requires at least three scabs to do the work of one husky garbage driver, in addition to the number of police required for guard duty. The change was an expensive experiment on the part of the city authorities.

There were many bitter popular demonstrations against the strikebreakers. One man was knocked senseless by a brick thrown from a near-by roof, and was then run over by a wagon that broke both of his legs. He died shortly after being taken to the hospital. A child was run over and killed by one of the mayor’s scabs. Some policemen were injured, but this is not worthy of particular mention, as they are all still alive. Many arrests were made and strikers were cruelly beaten.

 One of the chief lessons to be learned is the inefficiency of scab labor. This is obvious on every hand. While no particular skill is required in the collection of garbage and sweeping of streets, it requires a certain physical standard that is not reached by the casually employed, who do the work slowly, gingerly, spilling at least a third on the street in their clumsy efforts. This same inefficiency prevails in every shop strike, but there the bosses are able to furtively conceal their helplessness behind closed doors. The spirit of many a strike has been broken by apparent success which perhaps is as much of a failure as New York’s strike-breaking department.

ISR p393, Jan 1912

The importance of the least considered, even the scavenger in the machinery of modern living is another lesson to be learned. If this strike had occurred in the summer season the sweltering heat enveloping the piles of filth on the streets would have borne this home with deadly emphasis.

But the piles of garbage in the streets of America’s greatest city grew higher and higher. Abominable enough in other parts of town, the stench in east side streets was almost unendurable. So bad did the situation become that the Merchants’ Association issued an appeal to “good citizens” to come out and take the strikers’ places.

So frightened did the city officials become that they allowed the piles of garbage to be set afire, though this could not fail to do great damage to the streets and endanger lives and dwellings from flying sparks. Gaynor and Edwards declared they would never take the strikers back, but would turn over the street cleaning to· private contractors. Such is the deal handed to the workers under capitalist “municipal operation.”

The Socialist Party was quick to take a hand in the fight and held a big mass meeting in Cooper Union at which the treatment accorded the strikers was denounced.

The teamsters’ and truck drivers’ unions also pledged their “moral support,” but they didn’t give the strikers the kind of support they needed most. A general walk-out of all the teamsters in the city-“a stoppage of everything on wheels,” as one speaker put it-would have ended the fear of pestilence and won the garbage collectors’ strike for them in about one day. But that though “threatened,” never came.

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: New York City Trembles at Great Strike of 4000 Humble Street Cleaners-by Big Bill Haywood, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: “Voice of the Negro” by Kerlin: Johnston Brothers Murdered by White Mob During Elaine Massacre

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Ware, Song fr AR Prison, Fall 1919, Elaine Massacre, Ida B p6———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 27, 1921
Excerpt from The Voice of the Negro by Robert T. Kerlin

Note: On Saturday we featured a review of Kerlin’s “Voice of the Negro,” which includes a section on the so-called “riot” at Elaine, Arkansas. This deadly event, which we refer to as the Elaine Massacre, was a bloody rampage led by the plantation class, initially against the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America (sharecropper’s union) and later against the entire Afro-American community of Phillips County, Arkansas.

From  Kerlin’s introduction to article:

The outstanding incident of the “Arkansas pogrom” was the slaying of the Johnston brothers. From The National Defender and Sun (Gary, Ind.), October 25, I take an article that appeared in substance throughout the colored press:

From The National Defender and Sun of October 25, 1919:

ALMOST ENTIRE JOHNSTON FAMILY IS MURDERED
BY FIENDISH HELL-HOUNDS OF ARKANSAS

(Special to the Defender and Sun.)

Helena, Ark., Oct. 24. [1919]-The report that the four Johnston brothers who were outrageously murdered near Elaine, Ark., met death in a riot at the latter place, is not true. The four brothers, one of whom. Dr. L. H. Johnston of Cowweta, Okla., who was there visiting his other brothers, had been hunting and were peacefully returning home with their game when they were intercepted by a white man, supposed to be a friend of the Johnston boys, and told that a race riot was in progress in Elaine and advised them not to go in that direction, but to return to a point below Elaine, leave their guns to avoid suspicion, and take the train for Helena. After considerable persuasion on the part of their supposed white friend, the Johnstons followed his advice, trying to avoid trouble that they knew nothing of.

When the train on which they were riding en route to Helena reached Elaine, their good white “friend” led a mob aboard the Jim Crow coach and with guns drawn commanded the Johnston boys to throw up their hands, according to eye-witnesses, and in a few seconds had handcuffed three of the boys, evidently not recognizing Dr. L. H. Johnston as one of the brothers, and was marching them out of the train when Doctor Johnston spoke to the men, saying: “Gentlemen, these men are my brothers, and I want to know why you are taking them from this train.” In reply, one of the men said: “If you are their brother you’d better come along with them.” To this Dr. L. H. Johnston retorted: “Well, I will certainly go,” whereupon he was handcuffed, and the four forced at the point of guns to get in a waiting auto and hurriedly driven off. That night about eleven o’clock the bodies of the four brothers, riddled with bullets and mutilated with knives or other sharp instruments, were found by the roadside. They had been murdered in cold blood!

The perpetrators of this gruesome atrocity then issued a statement to the effect that one of the Johnstons took a gun from a deputy sheriff and killed him, causing the posse to fire on the four brothers, killing all of them instantly.

Mrs. Mercy Johnston, mother of the unfortunate quartette, who lived in Chicago in a home purchased for her by her sons, was at the time in Pine Bluff, visiting relatives. She accompanied by relatives and friends, her heart all but breaking over the sad occurrence, went to claim the bodies of her loved ones, that she might at least pay a mother’s last tribute, even though that should be in tears and heartache, but rank insult was added to injury when she was compelled to pay a ransom for the dead bodies. She paid the price, however, and followed the remains to their last resting place in Little Rock. The funeral was the biggest and most impressive ever seen in that city. No man was quite strong enough to look upon this terrible scene. The great wonder is that any black should witness such a scene and be free from that which makes men desperate.

———————-

[Photograph and paragraph break added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Voice of the Negro” by Kerlin: Johnston Brothers Murdered by White Mob During Elaine Massacre” →

WE NEVER FORGET: Tomás Martínez, Class-War Prisoner, Who Died from Illness Due to Conditions at Leavenworth

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, ed, Ab Chp 6, 1925—————

Nunca Olvidamos: Tomás Martínez, 1893-1921, Class-War Prisoner
-Died October 23, 1921, after Deportation to Guadalajara, Mexico

Photograph of Tomás Martínez, sent to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, shortly before his death.

WNF Tomas Thomas Martinez shortly bf death Oct 23, 1921, photo sent to EGF, Zimmer, Red Scare Deportees

From Iron in Her Soul by Helen C. Camp, page 95:

Thomas Martinez was deported to Mexico after he left the Kansas penitentiary in the spring of 1921. He arrived there very ill, suffering from tuberculosis-“which I suppose I took from the jail of Free America”-and the effects of a botched appendectomy. The Mexican IWW gave him a little money, as did [Elizabeth Gurley] Flynn, and the Workers’ National Prison Comfort Club branch in Milwaukee sent him two union suits and a pair of shoes. A friend of Martinez sent Elizabeth a photograph taken of him shortly before he died in October of the same year.

[Emphasis added.]

From “Red Scare Deportees” by Kenyon Zimmer:

Tomás Martínez (Thomas Martinez)

Born 1893, Mexico. Miner. 1905, a founding member of La Unión Liberal Humanidad in Cananea, which was affiliated with the new Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) and helped lead the 1906 Cananea miners’ strike. Member of several more PLM-affiliated groups. Migrated to the US circa 1907; active in Morenci, Arizona; helped plan and joined the PLM’s cross-border invasion of Baja California in 1910. Taken prisoner by Carranza’s forces and ordered executed, but escaped. 1914 organizing miners in Cananea; denounced and expelled as a “Huerta supporter,” leading to a strike of 2,500-3,000 miners until he was allowed to return. 1915-1918 active in IWW and PLM activities in Arizona and Los Angeles. Wrote numerous articles for the IWW’s paper El Rebelde (1915-1917). Arrested Miami, Arizona, March 1918; convicted to two years in Leavenworth Penitentiary and a $500 fine for violation of the Espionage Act [convicted of having literature of seditious nature]. Contracted tuberculosis while in prison, and a botched operation resulted in septicemia. Upon his release, detained for deportation but he petitioned to be allowed to leave what he called “the Jail of Free America” to another country at his own expense for fear that he would be executed for his past revolutionary activities if returned to Mexico; his petition was denied and he was deported in 1921; according to one report, “When he was finally shipped across the border he was more dead than alive.” Furthermore, he wrote to a friend in the US, “When I arrived at the border, they left me naked, they burned my clothes and shoes.” He never recovered, and died in Guadalajara, October 23, 1921. Comrades buried him with a headstone reading: ¡Nunca olvidamos! (We Never Forget!).

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “WE NEVER FORGET: Tomás Martínez, Class-War Prisoner, Who Died from Illness Due to Conditions at Leavenworth” →

Hellraisers Journal: Sworn Affidavits Tell of Murder of Union Bricklayer in Logan County Jail by Deputies of Sheriff Chafin

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote FD Greggs re Death of P Comiskey, Logan County Jail Sept 1, Affidavit WV Sept 6, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 18, 1921
Paul Comiskey, Union Bricklayer, Murdered in Logan County Jail

From The Nation of October 5, 1921:

WV Industrialism Gone Mad, IWW Comiskey Martyr, Ntn p372, Oct 5, 1921

THERE is just one point at issue in the whole sequence of violence and homicide that has led West Virginia into a state of virtual, although unacknowledged, civil war. It is the right to belong to a labor union as represented by the United Mine Workers of America. In the strife-torn territory—the southwestern counties of Mercer, McDowell, Logan, and Mingo—there are no demands for workers’ control, for higher wages or shorter hours. There is not even any immediate question of recognition of the union or collective bargaining.

It is important not to lose sight of this elementary fact in the detail likely to be uncovered in the promised investigation of the West Virginia situation by the Committee on Education and Labor of the United States Senate. Such an inquiry was begun in the summer but adjourned after a few days. Subsequently Senator Kenyon of Iowa and Senator Shortridge of California spent three days—September 18 to 20, inclusive in the coal fields of Mingo and Logan counties and a fourth in talking with State officials in Charleston. On this trip no formal hearings were held nor was any testimony taken under oath. The announced purpose was to get a picture of the country and to lay the base for a searching inquiry later on…..

Now as to suzerainty over county governments exercised by the coal companies and the use of hired gunmen. The two go hand in hand. The entire State of West Virginia has an unenviable reputation for control by the coal operators, but in the actual producing fields local government is at their mercy. Through their mines, their company-owned stores and dwelling houses, their subsidized preachers and teachers, the operators control the livelihood and the lives of virtually the whole population. Hence, politically, the region is their pocket borough. The operators admit and defend the practice of preserving order through deputy sheriffs, paid partially or entirely out of company funds. In addition to these privately-owned public officials, there are also mine guards, armed and exercising police functions without a vestige of authority. Among both these latter classes there are many men whose methods and records justify one in calling them thugs and gunmen. “Private detectives” of the Baldwin-Felts agency are used largely in Mercer, McDowell, and Mingo counties. They are not employed in Logan County. There Sheriff Don Chafin and his company-subsidized deputies rule supreme. When Senators Kenyon and Shortridge went into Logan County they sent word ahead that they especially wanted to see Chafin, but upon arrival he was not on hand and was reported to be away resting after his strenuous efforts in defending the county against invasion by the marching miners a few weeks previous.

His efforts then were indeed strenuous according to two affidavits filed with the Senatorial committee, Floyd D. Griggs, sworn before a notary public at Montgomery, West Virginia, on September 6, declares that he arrived in Logan on August 24 looking for work. Two minutes later he was arrested by a deputy sheriff and taken to the jail. Greggs then states:

On August 29th about 12:30 a. m. I was taken from jail by three armed deputies and taken to the County Court House and into the presence of Don Chafin, sheriff of Logan County, who pinned a white band around my left arm, and was then conducted by the aforesaid Don Chafin into another room of the Court House which was filled with arms and ammunition and told to select a Winchester rifle and go to the front to fight.

I told him that I carried a rifle for eighteen months in the Fifth Regiment, United States Marines, and that I did not intend to go out there and fight against a working man as I was a working man myself. He then drawed a .45 calibre revolver and putting the muzzle in my face told me that I would either fight or die. I told him to shoot as I was not going to fight. He then ordered me sent back to jail.

On Thursday, September 1st, about 7 p. m., I saw a union bricklayer [Paul Comiskey] from Huntington, W. Va., shot down in cold blood murder in the corridor of the jail, not three feet from my cell. Two shots were fired. Two deputies then taken the man that was shot by the feet and dragged him from the jail and across the C. and O. R. R. tracks toward the river.

Greggs concludes by saying that on the night of September 2 he was released by Don Chafin personally, who gave him fifteen minutes to get out of town and until daylight to get out of the county “or get my head blown off.” The affidavit of Greggs is corroborated by one made by Colmar Stanfield, another inmate of the jail at the time, who adds the details that the murdered man was a union bricklayer from Huntington and that he was shot because he refused to fight against the marching miners. Both affidavits name the man who did the shooting, but owing to the gravity of the charge and the absence of an indictment I omit it…..

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Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Sworn Affidavits Tell of Murder of Union Bricklayer in Logan County Jail by Deputies of Sheriff Chafin” →