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 – Thursday December 14, 1922 Bars and Shadows, Poems by Ralph Chaplin, I. W. W. Class-War Prisoner
From The Nation of December 13, 1922:
Ralph Chaplin and 58 of his fellow agitators for industrial justice are behind Federal prison bars because they dared to tell the truth about the war while the war was in progress. Chaplin has spent five consecutive Christmases behind the bars…
“Bars and Shadows’ [is] an ideal Christmas reminder, and one of the most effective documents for amnesty that has appeared.
DEMAND THE RELEASE OF ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Do Ralph Chaplin a good turn by ordering six copies of “Bars and Shadows” and using them for holiday gifts. The book is privately published. Every penny above the actual cost of manufacture, advertising and distribution goes to Mrs. Chaplin and her son…..
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 5, 1922 Ricardo Flores Magon Found Dead in Prison Due to Brutal, Inhumane Conditions
From the OklahomaLeader of December 1, 1922:
RICARDO FLORES MAGÓN
Several times the writer of this column has called the attention of the country to the unspeakable outrage perpetrated against Ricardo Flores Magon, a Mexican citizen and patriot, who having been convicted in one of our federal courts of the crime of inciting revolution against a friendly republic, was sentenced to serve a long term in the Leavenworth penitentiary and until a few days ago occupied a cell there.
It was when we learned of his declining health, the information that he could not survive for many months, that we entered our first protest against his brutal confinement, and if the so-called department of justice had been animated with one atom of justice and moral courage, his life might have been spared, for now Ricardo Flores Magon is dead, another brave martyr to the cause of human liberty.
He was prosecuted and convicted and imprisoned at the instance of the corrupt agents of the still more corrupt and tyrannical government of the Dictator Porfirio Diaz. In fear of assassination he fled Mexico and on this side of the Rio Grande sought to enthuse the hearts of his fellow countrymen with those hopes and ideals which glorified the lives and characters of the fathers of American liberty.
Diaz, bloody and unscrupulous tyrant, was the bosom friend of the capitalists of this country, and their word and wish was law, so when Ricardo Flores Magon, raised his voice in protest against the cruel wrongs from which his countrymen were suffering-when his powerful pen delineated the indictment against Diaz and portrayed him as the braided beast he was-his friends on this side of the Rio Grande were wild with fury and Magon became their victim.
Notwithstanding, the flame which gallant and courageous Magon kindled, grew into a mighty conflagration, and Diaz, the usurper and autocrat, was exiled, never again to set foot in the country he had cursed by his presence-notwithstanding a free government was established and the constitutional liberties of the people of Mexico restored-notwithstanding the great cause for which he struggled was triumphant, Ricardo Flores Magon continued, for years afterward, to breath the foul air of a felon’s home, even until the day when merciful death closed his kindly eyes and composed in rest and peace a body which knew no weariness in toiling for the liberation of his oppressed countrymen.
What a mighty and cruel force is capitalism! It knows no country. It does not respect international boundaries. It follows its victims, even within the temple where sanctuary, except for its cruel sway, might be obtained, and upon the very tree of liberty it hangs its victims, and in the name of the law, does them to death. Ricardo Flores Magon, pure and gentle, unselfish and brave, should have lived through many happy years, and died at last in the arms of loved ones, amid the worshiping prayers and tears of those compatriots to whom he was an inspiration, but thanks to the international powers of capitalism, whom he had offended, he died a felon and with his last gasp paid the last installment of the penalty which capitalist hate demanded.
So long, Magon, at last your body rests calmly and sweetly in the land you loved. We are ashamed of our part in your cruel murder. Some day we hope we shall be able to make partial restitution, for as the train which bore your wasted and emaciated form, wound its way across the Western plains, the hopes and prayers of many more than a million souls followed you, and some day, please God, our countrymen shall join yours in the erection of a monument to your memory which will express in some small measure the love we bear you.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 1, 1912 Terre Haute, Indiana – Debs Responds to Indictment by Federal Grand Jury
From the Richmond EveningItem (Indiana) of November 26, 1912:
DEBS DECLARES WORLD WOULD STAND AGHAST ———-
IF WHOLE TRUTH WERE DISCLOSED ABOUT CONDITIONS AT LEAVENWORTH PRISON. ———-
(By the Associated Press.)
Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 26.-Eugene V. Debs, indicted by the federal grand jury at Girard, Kas., Saturday, appeared at his home Monday, refuting the report that he had started for Ft. Scott, Kas., on hearing of the indictment. In speaking of the case, Debs said:
These indictments are based on an infamous lie. There was never any attempt on the part of the officers of The Appeal to Reason to induce any witness to leave anywhere. I have recently been the candidate of the working classes for the presidency. I suppose I can now be the candidate of the capitalistic class, for the penitentiary. Were the whole truth told about conditions in the Ft. Leavenworth prison, the world would stand agast.
[Emphasis added.]
From The Coming Nation of November 30, 1912:
AN INCREDIBLE STORY
By A. M. Simons
THAT within two weeks after receiving the votes of almost a million citizens for the office of president of the United States, Eugene V. Debs should be indicted by federal grand jury for obstructing the orderly process of the court by alleged tampering with a witness is almost incredible…..
When the Appeal turned the light on Leavenworth penitentiary it pulled a bone away from a pack of hungry office-holding curs who sprang in hydrophobic rage upon the persons who had disturbed their foul feast. When to this was added the exposure of the corruption of the federal courts of the nation and especially of the southwest, another allied pack was started into full cry for vengeance. It was easy for these to get the backing of the great powers of capitalism, and all the branches of class government…..
In their blind baffled rage the conspirators played their last card. A servile grand jury indicted Eugene V. Debs, Fred D. Warren and J. I. Sheppard for attempted tampering with a witness in the case based upon the Leavenworth exposure…..
The object of this assault is to cripple the publications against which it is directed. Throughout this fight the Appeal has helped to carry the COMING NATION. In this desperate crisis no extra weight can be carried. Yet if the news goes out that the first effect of the assault was to compel the abandonment of the COMING NATION that will have all the effect of a victory for the enemy. They will have restricted and choked the voice of revolt by just that much. They will have strangled in youth what promises to be a powerful champion when full grown…..
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 22, 1922 Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, Kansas – Ricardo Flores Magón Dead at Age 48
From The Leavenworth Post of November 21, 1922
DEATH COMES TO POLITICAL PRISONER
AT FEDERAL PRISON
———- Ricardo [Flores] Magon, Noted Revolutionist
Victim of Heart Disease Early Today. ———-
Ricardo [Flores] Magon, noted Mexican revolutionist and generally regarded as an anarchist, died in the Federal prison early this morning. The body was removed to the Davis Undertaking establishment awaiting word from relatives. Marie B. Magon, his wife, resides at 2132 Fargo street, Los Angeles.
Magon called an attendant at 4:30 o’clock this morning and said he was not feeling well. He had retired in bis usual health. A physician was called and it was discovered Magon was suffering with an acute attack of heart disease. While the physician was preparing a dose of medicine, Mason died.
Magon lad served terms in three penitentiaries. In 1912 he was arrested in Arizona on a charge of violating the neutrality laws. The trial resulted in conviction and he was sentenced to serve a year and a day in the Yuma state penitentiary. He was next arrested in June, 1916, on charges of obstructing the military service, violating the trading with the enemy act, mailing unmailable matter and conspiracy against the government.
The trial resulted in a conviction on all charges and he was given a total sentence of 21 years in the Federal prison at McNeil Island. On November 3, 1919, Magon was transferred to the Federal penitentiary here.
Since Magon has been in the Federal prison there have been several efforts to obtain his freedom by so-called radical organizations.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 13, 1922 Vera Cruz, Mexico – Maritime Workers Strike for Release of Ricardo Flores Magón
From El Paso Herald of November 9, 1922:
VERA CRUZ, Mex., Nov. 9.—(By the Associated Press.)—Workers belonging to the maritime league were on strike here today in protest against the alleged unlawful imprisonment of Ricardo Flores Magon, former Mexican rebel leader in Leavenworth, Kan., prison.
Magon in 1917 was sentenced to 20 years for complicity in a communist plot in Los Angeles.
Want Release Of Radicals.
The workers made a demonstration before the American consulate and presented a petition for the release of Magon and other Mexicans imprisoned in the United States as dangerous radicals. A cable message embracing the protest and the petition was sent to the Mexican charge d’affaires in Washington. Other demonstrations were held in various Mexican gulf ports.
A boycott against American ships in Mexican ports is being considered and other measures also are threatened if the United States government refuses to liberate the Mexicans.
—–
Magon was arrested in Los Angeles after he had been trailed for several months by government operatives. In his possession at the time of arrest was found circulars and other propaganda issued with intent of creating a revolution in Mexico.
Ricardo Magon and a brother, Enrique were prominent in a revolution in Sonora in 1910 coincident with the Pascual Orozco uprising in the state of Chihuahua. The Magon brothers several times were charged with conspiring against the Diaz government.
Los Angeles was used principally as headquarters by the brothers and it is said, that many attempts to foment revolution began there.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 3, 1922 Fellow Workers Fletcher, Walsh and Nef Freed from Leavenworth Penitentiary
From TheWashingtonTimes of November 1, 1922:
THREE I. W. W. PRISONERS PAROLED BY PRESIDENT
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
The sentences of Walter T. Nef, Ben Fletcher and John Walsh, political prisoners, have been conditionally commuted by President Harding, it was announced at headquarters of the amnesty committee here today.
The men are from Philadelphia, but were sentenced with other I. W. W. members from Chicago.
The commutation is conditional upon their future good behavior. They must be law abiding in future and “not encourage or be connected with lawlessness” of any sort, otherwise they can be recommitted to prison by the President without hearing. The fact that the men were given such conditional pardons was criticised by the amnesty committee in making the announcement.
Fletcher and Walsh were serving ten years and Nef twenty.
Hellraisers Journal –Thursday October 19, 1922 Six Fellow Workers, Chicago-Group Class-War Prisoners, Offered Liberty
From the Baltimore Sun of October 17 1922:
PRISONERS OFFERED LIBERTY ———- Six Convicted Of Espionage May Go Free If They Accept Condition.
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
Washington, Oct. 16.-Six men serving sentences imposed after conviction of the espionage act have been offered conditional executive pardons, the Department of Justice announced today, the condition in the case of three, who are aliens, being deportation, and in the others that “they will be law-abiding in the future.”
The men to whom the offer of clemency has been made are Walter T. Nef, former secretary-treasurer of the Marine Transport Workers [I. W. W.], Philadelphia; John J. Walsh and Benjamin H. Fletcher, members of the same union, and Ragner Johannsen, Siegfried Sternberg [Sigfried Stenberg] and Carl Ahlteen, formerly of Minneapolis, but natives of Sweden. The last three are alleged to have been members of the I. W. W.
No, hint as to whether any or all of the prisoners will accept the conditions has been received by the Government agencies in charge of their cases, it was said tonight. Both Nef and Fletcher made individual applications for pardons, but Walsh was one of 52 prisoners in Leavenworth who refused to sign such petitions.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 14, 1922 “The Men I Left at Leavenworth” by Pierce C. Wetter, Part II
From The Survey Graphic Number of October 1922:
[Part II of II.]
wo of our men-Caesar Tabib and Edward Quigley—are suffering from tuberculosis aggravated if not contracted in the Sacramento jail where they spent a year before they were brought to trial. Because of their physical condition, these two men were prevailed on by the rest of us to make application for release, for “clemency,” but their application was coldly refused by the Department of Justice. Apparently they are not yet near enough to death to make it “safe” to release them.
Another of our number, William Weyh, was kept on the “rock-pile” last December until the exposure resulted in severe illness, hemorrhages—twelve in a single day. He was so emaciated as to be scarcely recognizable. It was at this point that a prison official said to him: “I don’t believe you have another ten hours to live if you stay in this place. Drop your I. W. W. affiliations, and you can go out of here as soon as you please.” Weyh’s answer was: “No. I’ll die first.” We had been urging him to make application for release and he at last consented, and the authorities agreed, apparently preferring that he should die outside the walls. He stipulated, however, in writing, that “I have not wavered in my adherence to the I. W. W. and its principles.”
There is not space here to go further down the list of these fifty-two men; they all have the same splendid spirit, the same high courage, the same sense of the crucial human value of solidarity.
AGAIN and again I am asked by those who depend only upon newspapers for their information, why we refuse to ask for “clemency”; and last July, when a petition for general amnesty (that is, for unconditional release for all charged with the same “offence”) signed by some three hundred thousand names from all over the country, was presented to President Harding by a delegation of representative men and women, the President expressed “surprise” about this refusal on our part, and of course at the same time went through with that same ancient formula—”No one advocating the overthrow of the government by violence will be pardoned.” This phrase is continually used by officials, apparently in lieu of any reason they can give for our continued imprisonment.
The truth of the matter is, not one of these fifty-two men was ever even indicted on the preposterous charges brought against them in the press during war-time hysteria, such as the receipt of German gold, and being spies. They are in prison now solely for expression of opinion, and none of those opinions have anything to do with the overthrow of any government in any way—they are merely opinions against war. Note also that these men are confined under the Espionage Act only, though it is now no longer in force. In lieu of any legal reason for their continued incarceration, Attorney General Daugherty even felt obliged to resort to giving out false information in reply to inquiries made on this subject by the Federal Council of Churches (see March 11, 1922 issue Information Service Research Department, Commission on Church and Social Service, F. C. C. C. A., room 604, 105 East 22 Street, New York).
Now, to revert to the President’s “surprise” that we are unwilling to crawl out, I don’t for a moment doubt his genuineness. It is entirely likely that it really is very difficult for him to understand such a thing. Let me quote from the Open Letter since prepared by these fifty-two men and sent a month ago not only to the President, but also to all Cabinet officials, Congressmen, the Governors of the forty-eight states, and to editors and others throughout the country. (I shall be very glad to send a copy to any one who will write me in care of the SURVEY.)
We are not criminals and are not in prison because we committed any crimes or conspired to commit them. From the beginning, justice has been denied us and the truth of our case withheld from the consideration of the public….In the press, the I. W. W. is like the Mexican in the movie show; he is always the villain….We are in prison now solely for exercising our constitutional right of free speech…. If it is a crime to exercise the right for which our fathers laid down their lives, we have no apology to make.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 13, 1922 “The Men I Left at Leavenworth” by Pierce C. Wetter, Part I
From The Survey Graphic Number of October 1922:
[Part I of II.]
HE other day I was riding in a street car in New York behind two well dressed men deep in their daily papers. Their comments on some of the dispatches about the railroad strike reminded me more of James Whitcomb Riley’s refrain: “The goblins’ll get yer if yer don’t look out” than anything I had heard for a long time.
“I tell you, those I. W. W. fellows…one of them rumbled.
“It doesn’t say it’s proved yet they were around …” the other suggested timidly.
“Huh! Doesn’t need to!” the first shook his head ominously. “Nowadays a man takes his life in his hand wherever he goes. I believe in giving that kind of vermin a wide berth. I never saw one of them and I never want to!”
The next instant there was some sort of mix-up with a truck on the track and we all got a violent jolt. The speaker, who had risen in his seat to get off at the next corner, became rather badly tangled with some passengers across the aisle. I helped to disentangle them and he was at once all smiles and amiability—“Almost like one of our college football rushes,” he grinned, in the easy fellowship an earlier generation is apt to accord its successors on the same campus.
I should have liked to watch his face when I told him that I am a sincerely convinced, indelible I. W. W.; that I had just been released from Leavenworth prison on expiration of a five-year sentence under the 1918 Chicago indictment; and that I am now working with all the strength and ability I possess in the interest of my fifty-two fellow-workers, fellow-prisoners, still in Leavenworth, some with twenty-year sentences.
But “We’re late for that appointment,” his companion reminded him, and I missed my chance.
He will doubtless go on indefinitely repeating his “bogey-man” stuff about people whom he admits he has never seen and knows nothing of except by hearsay. I wonder how many people who read this have done exactly the same thing? And how long they are going to keep on doing it?
This is why, when I. W. W.’s are on trial, whether in courts or in newspapers, practically “everything goes.” But in all such movements, persecution only serves as propaganda, and weeds out the worthless material—those who “can’t stand the gaff” and go back on their principles—and shows the grain of the men who cannot be bribed or bought, who have the courage to stand by their convictions at whatever the cost.
There are fifty-two such men in Leavenworth today. Over two-thirds of them are American-born. They have been there since 1918, and most of them have ten- or twenty-year sentences. I know these men; and I want everyone else to know them. They are of the stuff that makes history, the sort of stuff that went to the making of our country in the beginning, and that is needed just as much right now, perhaps more, to keep our country true to its big ideals.
I am not going to try to give fifty-two full biographies (though I wish I could, for everyone of them is a story in itself—an almost unbelievable story!) but just a suggestion or a characteristic here and there of a few of the men. They are all very human, the same hopes and desires, the same flesh and blood we are all made of-fathers, husbands, brothers-it means as much to every one of them to stay there in prison year on year under those hideously monotonous, unsanitary, galling conditions, as it would to any of you who read these words. Try for one moment to realize what these things mean. Try honestly. And then try to understand what it means in terms of character for these men to stay there rather than to compromise.
NOT long ago the Rev. Richard W. Hogue, known doubtless to many [Survey] GRAPHIC readers as the international secretary of the Church League for Industrial Democracy, made a visit to Leavenworth, and James P. Thompson was one of the men with whom he talked.
“How can we, how can any decent, self-respecting man,” Thompson said to him, “buy his release at the cost of his manhood, by promising to refrain ever after from expressing his convictions and standing by his principles? It would be degrading and dishonest for us to accept ‘parole’ on the terms on which it has been offered us. We will go out of here as men, when we do go, not as ‘criminals’ purchasing ‘liberty’ with the barter of our convictions and our consciences. When we leave this place it will be with our heads up…”
—————
—————
—————
—————Fellow Worker John Walsh
Fellow Worker Walter T. Nef
—————wo of our men-Caesar Tabib and Edward Quigley—are suffering from tuberculosis aggravated if not contracted in the Sacramento jail where they spent a year before they were brought to trial. Because of their physical condition, these two men were prevailed on by the rest of us to make application for release, for “clemency,” but their application was coldly refused by the Department of Justice. Apparently they are not yet near enough to death to make it “safe” to release them.
