Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 11, 1913
Leavenworth, Kansas – Heavily Guarded Train Carries Union Men to Prison
From the United Labor Bulletin of January 2, 1913:
Note: Article continues with names, residences and organizations of other men transported to Leavenworth along with President Ryan, and continues further with remarks of Judge Anderson at sentencing.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 5, 1921 Letter from Fellow Worker James Rowan, Class War Prisoner
Leavenworth Prisoner #13113:
From The Nation of August 3, 1921:
The Imprisoned I. W. W. at Leavenworth
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATION:
SIR: May I call your attention, as well as that of your readers, to the cases of the I. W. W. prisoners at present doing time at Leavenworth? There are about one hundred and twenty of these men, all told. They are serving sentences varying from five to twenty years. I happen to be one of those serving a twenty-year sentence, so I can speak from first-hand knowledge.
We were arrested in 1917 under three indictments, known respectively as the Chicago, Sacramento, and Wichita indictments, charging us with conspiracy to hamper and obstruct the United States Government in the conduct of the war. After being held from one to two years under unspeakable conditions which caused the death of some, and others to go insane, in the county jails of Chicago, Sacramento, Wichita and other towns in Kansas, we were “tried,” convicted, and given sentences varying from one to twenty years. Fifteen received twenty-year sentences and the majority of the remainder are now serving ten year sentences.
Not one of us was proven guilty of any crime. We were convicted under the stress of war-time hysteria and public prejudice. Our real offense was that we all were, or had been, more or less active members of the I. W. W. We held, and still hold, certain opinions regarding the present system of society which are unfavorable to the ruling class and at variance with those held by the great majority of the people. Whether these opinions are right or wrong cuts no figure as far as the principle involved in these cases is concerned. If men can be imprisoned for their opinions then the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution no longer exist in the United States; free press and free speech are only empty phrases used to deceive the unthinking. If we are forced to serve out these sentences then no one is safe. Anyone holding opinions which the American plutocracy consider dangerous to their privileges can be thrown behind prison bars and forced to spend many years in a felon’s cell.
Our imprisonment not only means loss of liberty and all that makes life worth living to us. It is also a direct attack on the liberties of one hundred and ten million people. If the American people stand for these high-handed and savage judicial acts, unparalleled in any modern civilized country, it means that they have abandoned all claims to the rights and liberties for which our forefathers shed their blood. The lives of one hundred and twenty men are of little consequence. If forced to serve out our sentences we can do so, and I for one would rather stay in jail with a clear conscience than bow the knee to privilege on the outside. The real tragedy lies in the moral breakdown of a great people.
The only power that can free us is aroused public opinion. These cases must be investigated and the facts given wide publicity, and such a strong protest made to the officials at Washington that they may see their way clear to take action leading to the early release of all political prisoners in the State and Federal prisons of the United States. A small group of liberals and radicals are doing all in their power to bring about general amnesty for all political prisoners. Needless to say we thoroughly appreciate their efforts on our behalf. I ask you to add your voice to theirs, to the end that justice may be done and the voice of freedom, in unmistakable tones, may once more ring through the land.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 27, 1921 Leavenworth, Kansas – Fellow Workers Report to Prison Voluntarily
From The Leavenworth Times of April 26, 1921:
PRISON WELCOMES TWENTY WOBBLIES TO ITS ROCK PILE. ———-
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF WORLD REPORTED VOLUNTARILY YESTERDAY. ———-
SAY ‘HAYWOOD IS COMING’ ———-
Charles Ashleigh, Oxford Graduate, Ralph H. Chaplin, Artist-Poet, Ben Fletcher, Walking Delegate and Other “Leading Lights” Among Those Who Re-Entered Federal Penitentiary -Several Refuse to Believe “Big Bill” Fled to Escape Sentence. ———-
Twenty of the forty-six Industrial Workers of the World, convicted for violation of the espionage law and obliged to return to the Federal penitentiary because the United States supreme court denied an appeal on a trial review, reported voluntarily yesterday.
“Haywood will be here soon,” declared most of the “wobblies,” who reported yesterday. They refuse to believe that “Big Bill,” their international secretary and chieftain, fled to Russia to escape the prison sentence of five to twenty years.
Stanley J. Clark, Chicago attorney, under sentence of ten years, was the first to report. He arrived yesterday morning from Fort Worth, Tex. Charles Bennett, also under sentence of ten years, was the twentieth man to report, being “dressed in” at 5 o’clock yesterday evening.
Twelve “wobblies” marched through the prison gates in one group. Among the twelve were Ben Fletcher, walking delegate for the I. W, W. and the only colored man in the entire consignment Charles Ashleigh, Englishman and graduate of Oxford University, and Ralph H. Chaplin, artist and poet, who was detailed by the “wobblies” to investigate the Centralia, Wash., conspiracy. Nizra Pietro [Pietro Nigra], who drew the shortest sentence, only ten months, also reported.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 13, 1921 Washington, District of Columbia – U. S. Supreme Court Rules Against Haywood
From The Leavenworth Post of April 11, 1921:
DECISION IS AGAINST WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD ———- Supreme Court Refuses to Review Conviction of Industrial Leader. ———-
79 OTHERS TO COME BACK. ———-
(By the Associated Press.)
Washington Apr. 11.-The supreme court today refused to review the conviction of William D. Haywood and seventy-nine more members of the I. W. W. on charge of having conspired to obstruct war activities of the government.
Then refusal of the supreme court to interfere closed the long fight to save Haywood and his associates from prison only a presidential pardon can now prevent their sentences from being imposed.
Evidence Was Questioned
The petition for the review was based on the contention that the federal agents conducting the raids on houses and offices of the official of the I. W. W. on September 5, 1917 acted without search warrants and evidence obtained was illegal under the recent ruling of the supreme court.
The cases were tried before federal Judge Landis and the sentence ranging from one to twenty hears were imposed.
Most of the men were given their liberty on bail bonds aggregating $500,000 pending the outcome of the appeals.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 18, 1920
Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas – Ben Fletcher Released on Bond
From The Leavenworth Times of February 8, 1920:
FOUR PRISONERS WERE RELEASED AT FEDERAL PEN
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All but One, Ben Fletcher, Colored I. W. W.
Were Taken Immediately into Custody.
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[…..]
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
Ben Fletcher, the only colored I. W. W. of “Big Bill” Haywood’s tribe, received, September 8, 1918, at the Federal penitentiary was released yesterday from that institution on an appeal bond to the amount of $10,000. The bond was furnished in Chicago and Ben, immediately upon his release, set out for that metropolis.
The colored “wobbly” was one of four inmates, who were released yesterday, but Fletcher is the only one to enjoy his freedom. The others were taken into custody at the prison gates…..
Hellraisers Journal -Friday December 26, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – I. W. W. Prisoners of Kansas Will Work Outside
From The Leavenworth Post of December 22, 1919:
WORK AT PRISON
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All Were Assigned to Outside Work
By Deputy Warden This Morning…
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The twenty-six I. W. W. received at the federal prison last week following their conviction in Kansas City, were assigned to work by L. J. Fletcher, deputy warden, this morning . They were “mugged,” dressed in and assigned to permanent cells last Saturday.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 27, 1919
Leavenworth, Kansas – Wire City Weekly, Prison Magazine
From The Liberator of September 1919:
A Prison Magazine
THE latest and most daring enterprise in American radical journalism is-or doubtless we should say was-the Wire City Weekly. It is the product of a group of men whom the United States Government has imprisoned, tortured, and some of whom it has killed, in the effort to break their spirits. It is the last and most flagrant proof of the failure of that effort. It has already been extinguished by the huge hoof of American militarism; but it has existed, and should not be without honor among us.
The Wire-City Weekly. Published every week at Wire City, Kansas. Circulation-secret. One of the 1,500 Bolshevik papers in America. Barred from the Postoffice as First Class Matter.
So runs the description at the top of the editorial page. It is the organ of the Soviet in the United States Disciplinary Barracks, the military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 11, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part V & VI of Series by W. D. Lane
From The Survey of September 6, 1919:
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[Parts V & VI of VI.]
V
Several times in this account I have referred to the jails described as having been “chosen” by the United States government for the confinement of prisoners awaiting trial. Let us see what justification there is for the use of this word.
The thirty-four men held under the Wichita indictment were originally taken into custody November 21, 1917. These men were all engaged in the oil industry in Kansas. They were, for the most part, young men, some of them married, some not. Judging from their names-Anderson, Boyd, Gordon, Forbes, Stark, Sapper, Barr, Poe, Gossard, Davis, etc.—many of them were of American or Allied extraction; some foreign names were among them, but only five, so far as I learned, were accused of being enemy aliens. The indictment against them charged violation of the espionage law, the food control law and the selective service law.
On March 10, 1918, a motion to quash this indictment was filed by their attorneys. No ruling on this motion was ever made. The attorneys stood ready, therefore, to go to trial on September 24, the day set. To their surprise, a new indictment was returned on that very day. This was drawn on lines similar to the previous Chicago indictment, which had resulted in sending nearly a hundred I. W. W.’s to prison for terms varying from a few days to twenty years. The attorneys could not at once accept trial on this new indictment, and so they were granted until March 10, 1919, in which to plead.
The men who, in September, had already spent ten months in jail awaiting trial, thus faced another five and a half months of confinement. Miss Lowe, their attorney, undertook to find as comfortable jails as possible, in which, she hoped, they might be allowed to spend the winter. They were then in the Sedgwick county jail, having been transferred to it for the trial. Sheriff Sprout, at Hutchinson, agreed to take twelve of the men, and the sheriff in Winfield, where there was a modern, sanitary jail, agreed to take sixteen. Thinking that she had thus arranged accommodations for twenty-eight, Miss Lowe reported her action to the United States district attorney, Fred Robertson, who was prosecuting the case. Mr. Robertson turned a deaf ear to her plea. In vain did she dwell upon the physical condition of the men and the consequences of spending another five months amid overcrowding and filth. Mr. Robertson said that prisoners had no voice in choosing their places of incarceration, and declared.that he intended to ask Judge John C. Pollock, judge of the United States district court for Kansas, to have all of the men placed in the Wyandotte county jail in Kansas City. This was one of the worst in the state.
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