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Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 25, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Not Afraid of Bayonets
From the Arkansas Gazette of March 24, 1912:
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Who Stood with the Strikers of Lawrence
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the New York Girl Who Went to Jail
in Spokane for Writing I. W. W. Articles—–
Soldiers Forcing Back the I. W. W. Strikers and Sympathizers
in Lawrence, Mass.
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Hellraisers Journals – Sunday March 24, 1912
Lawrence Child Strikers at Washington; Harvard Bayonets at Lawrence
From The Coming Nation of March 23, 1912:
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“Higher Education” by Ryan Walker
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 17, 1912
“The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse
From Harper’s Weekly of March 16, 1912:
A few weeks ago a company of about forty children of the Lawrence strikers, bound for Philadelphia, were forcibly prevented from leaving Lawrence by the order of City Marshal John J. Sullivan. He was led to this act by the belief that some of those children were leaving town without the consent of their parents. Before this, several groups of children, to the total of nearly three hundred, had been sent out of town to the strike sympathizers in various cities, and public opinion against the departure of the children had been aroused. As Congressman Ames said: “The people here feel that the sending away of these children has hurt the fair name of Lawrence since it is a rich town and capable of caring for all its needy children without the help of outsiders.”
The forcible detention of these children had an extraordinary response throughout the country. It was one of those things that cannot be done in America without stirring up public opinion from north to south and east to west. There had been earlier aggressive moves on the part of the authorities: Joseph J. Ettor, one of the first to take charge of the strike on behalf of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Arturo Giovannitti, his chief lieutenant, were arrested and committed to jail without bail, as accessories to the murder of a woman [Anna LoPizzo], shot by a deflected bullet during a clash between the strikers and the police. Both men were two miles away during the conflict. Their imprisonment caused comment in the press, as did other episodes of the strike- for instance, the railroading of twenty-three men to prison for one year each, during a single morning’s police-court session, on the charge of inciting to riot; but in the minds of the country at large these things have been simply incidents. The abridgment of the right of people to move from one place to another freely was at once a matter of national importance. It had for its immediate sequel the sending of that touching little band of thirteen children of various nationalities to Washington to state their grievances and to testify as to what occurred at the railway station on that Saturday morning.
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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 16, 1912
Washington, D. C. – Lawrence Children Appear Before House Committee
From the Everett Labor Journal of March 15, 1912:
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(Republished from Los Angeles Citizen.)
“The chill hand of charity” got a severe slap a few days ago when Congressman Victor Berger grabbed a bill from a hat that was being passed for the benefit of the child textile strikers from Lawrence, Mass., who appeared before the house committee on rules, and hurled it into the face of its donor, J. H. Cox, a mill owner of Lawrence.
“We don’t want your money; it’s blood money,” cried Berger, indignantly. “We’ll take care of our own without your help.”
If it were possible to Bergerize the public conscience and cast the frown of public disapproval on the Cox kind of charity—the bribe of industrial bandits to satisfy society—Lawrence episodes would become less frequent.
In the same room in which only a month or so ago Andrew Carnegie complained bitterly because he had been paid only $320,000,000 for his properties by the steel corporation; where Judge Gary confided to a committee from congress that the steel trust had $75,000,000 in cash always ready to meet an emergency, child strikers in the mills at Lawrence laid bare their scars to pitying congressmen.
Presented by Representative Berger as an exhibit of what “one of the most highly protected industries in America does to human life by which it is served,” thirteen sallow-cheeked, thin-lipped, hollow-eyed, poorly-clad children, and six adults marched up Pennsylvania avenue and filed solmenly into the capitol.
In the room where attendants hurried to wait upon the smallest wish of Carnegie, Gary and Schwab, nobody had arranged for the comfort of these “exhibits” and they stood along the wall until Representative Henry, accompanied by his own little son, of eight, took pity on their plight.
“Get chairs for these children,” commanded Judge Henry. “Arrange them any way you want and take your time,” he added to Mr. Berger.
Before the witnesses began Chairman Wilson of the committee on labor pleaded for a federal investigation on the ground that in refusing to permit children to leave Lawrence several days ago the state authorities had violated the federal law.
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike
From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:
(By United Press.)
LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.
Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.
The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.
The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.
Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.
Chant the Internationale.
The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 13, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Mrs. Pinchot and Miss Marvin Investigate Conditions
From The Boston Daily Globe of March 11, 1912:
Left to Right-Mrs Amos Pinchot, Gertrude Marvin, William Gates,
Francis Miller, Edward Reilly, Rebecca Smith.
From the Bridgeport Evening Farmer of March 9, 1912:
Lawrence, March 9-Wearing a chic, white felt crush hat, long gray coat and high boots, Mrs. Amos Pinchot [Gertrude Minturn Pinchot], sister-in-law of Gifford Pinchot who came down here to investigate conditions for herself, was “out and about” at 6, this morning, despite the dismal drizzle that kept even many of the strikers off the picket route.
With Miss Margaret Marvin [Gertrude Marvin], a magazine writer, Mrs. Pinchot breakfasted in true cosmopolitan fashion in a typical “sling ’em out quick” counter lunchroom and then made the rounds of soup kitchens, tenement homes, police stations and courtroom. She argued with strike pickets, policemen and militiamen and got the point of view of everyone whom she saw and who “looked interesting.”
She spoke laughingly, today, of threats by policemen to arrest her for “obstructing the sidewalk” when she questioned them too closely and said she might be tempted when she gets back to New York to write about some of the “inhuman things” she has seen in her two days visit here.
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[Emphasis added.]
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 12, 1912
“The Industrial Revolt at Lawrence” by R. W. Child, Illustrated by Jay Hambidge
From Collier’s of March 9, 1912:
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DURING these eight weeks in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a strange and wonderful picture has been painted.
Upon the little canvas, woven on the looms of social and industrial development, are now spread the half-somber, half-glaring colors of human instincts and emotions. In the foreground one of our American melting pots, having failed to produce an alloy of many metals, has frothed, sputtered, and boiled over; in the background is the indistinct gray swirl of economic forces rushing by-out of history-into eternity. If there is an awe-inspiring quality in this picture, it is because some day it may be reproduced in great bold strokes across the whole expanse of American life.
Lawrence is drab. In the winter dusk the huge rectangular prisms of the textile mills, black and sullen against the sky line, lie along the shores of the Merrimac River, and, behind them, like a progeny of badly begotten offspring, crowding in a hungry herd, are the countless other rectangular prisms of human habitations.
Systematic and Organized Misrepresentation
STANDING on a street corner, one sees suddenly that this crowd that moves along the street of shops is a congress of nations. He sees the faces of oppressed peoples, nine-tenths timid and patient, one-tenth of the stuff that makes mobs. The marching feet of a company of soldiers fill the cold, damp air with the grim, scuffling sound of military without music. At every street corner a pacing sentry, who is clad in wool cap, greatcoat, and leggings, lurches back and forth like a huge bird deprived of liberty. His bayonet flashes in the light from the store windows.
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 11, 1912
“The Lawrence Way” by Art Young-Striking Parents and Children Under the Club
From Collier’s of March 9, 1912:
On February 24 and 25, soldiers and policemen forcibly prevented parents from
sending their children away from Lawrence to cities that offered food and shelter.[Detail 1.]
Let the Children Come – Sympathy – Homes of the Workers of Other Cities
[Detail 2.]
Lawrence Mass., the Hunger City
Dividends for Mill-Owners, Starvation Wages for Workers—————
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 10. 1912
Mrs. Fremont Older Describes Startling Scenes at Lawrence Textile Strike
From the Fall River Daily Globe of March 1, 1912:
LAWRENCE, March 1-The prolonged strike of the mill operative here has attracted attention from sociologists all over the country, and many of them are here studying conditions. William D. Haywood is taking a prominent part in the management of the strike and has addressed many meetings. Mrs. Fremont Older and Mrs. Frances Jolliffe, both of San Francisco, have also been keeping close watch on affairs and have given advice to the strikers and their sympathizers.
From the San Bernardino News of March 7, 1912
-Mrs. Fremont Older Reports on Conditions at Lawrence:
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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 9, 1912
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joan of Arc of Lawrence, Massachusetts
From the Pittsburgh Gazette Times of March 4, 1912:
The Militant Leader of the Textile Workers, Who Made Successful Appeal
for Funds for the Relief of the Wives and Children of the Workmen.
From Pennsylvania’s Franklin Evening News of March 5, 1912:
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, fresh from her work at Lawrence, Mass., where she played a prominent part in organizing the textile workers on strike there, is making speeches in the larger cities over the country, telling of conditions existing in Lawrence and raising funds for the relief of the strikers. Miss Flynn, who is only 22 years old, first gained fame as a labor worker in New York. She is an able talker.
“The Lawrence strike is no labor union strike,” she is telling her audiences; “it is a starvation strike.”
