Tag: Leavenworth Penitentiary

Hellraisers Journal: The Leavenworth Post: “Haywood Flees to Russia to Escape Prison” -Left from New York April 1st

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH re Capitalist Class, Lbr Arg p4, Mar 23, 1911———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 22, 1921
Chicago, Illinois – Federal Officials Confirm Haywood is in Russia

From The Leavenworth Post of April 21, 1921:

BBH Flees to Russia, Lv Pst p1, Apr 21, 1921

(By The Associated Press.)

BBH in Boise Cell 1907 ed, Lv Pst p1, Apr 21, 1921

Chicago, April 21.-Federal officials today received confidential information that William D. Haywood, secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World who was scheduled to begin a sentence at United States penitentiary, at Leavenworth this week, had fled from the United States and now is in either Moscow or Riga.

Attorney Admits Departure.

Otto Christensen, attorney for Haywood, said he had been informed that Haywood sailed from New York on the Oscar Second about April 1, and landed at Riga about April 16. He said he thought Haywood had gone to Russia on a personal mission and was not fleeing from the penitentiary sentence.

Authorities Start Search.

Charles F. Clyne, United States district attorney announced that search had been started for Haywood.

“He is not at Leavenworth, Chicago, nor New York, and we have private information that he has landed either at Moscow or Riga,” said Clyne.

“That is all we know about it but we expect to have definite information very quickly.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Letter to Upton Sinclair from John L. Murphy, Sacrament IWW Class War Prisoner at Leavenworth

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 13, 1921
Leavenworth Federal Prison – Letter from Fellow Worker John L. Murphy

From the Appeal to Reason of March 12, 1921:

The White Terror at Work

Ad, Story of a Patriot by Upton Sinclair, AtR p3, Nov 13, 1920

Recently I [Upton Sinclair] published a novel [100%-A Story of a Patriot] dealing with the activities of spies and secret agents of big business. Our gracious Postoffice Department does not permit me to mention the name of this novel, otherwise this contribution will be considered as an advertisement. But here is a letter which has just come to me, and which you might take to be a chapter out of the aforesaid unnameable novel. Read it, and see how very proud of your country it makes you. I do not know the writer of this letter, but the accent of truth is in every word of his story, and it what I have learned of hundreds of other cases, makes me quite ready to believe what he tells. If you know any 100 per cent American patriots in your neighborhood, take them this letter and try to get them to read it.

[Letter from John L. Murphy, No. 13586]

IWW Sacramento Class War Prisoner John L Murphy, Leavenworth, Jan 25, 1919

Leavenworth, Kans., Feb. 13, 1921.

Mr. Upton Sinclair, Pasadena, Cal.
Dear Comrade: 

Below I am sending you the facts of my case.

I was born in Boston the boasted, cradle of Liberty. I am a working man, not a leech. In 1918 while working at Olympia, Wash., I wrote a letter to Chris Luber at Sacramento, Cal. He was an I. W. W. He was in jail at the time of my writing. This I did not know at the time. In fact he had been in jail almost two months before I wrote my first letter. My letter was the ordinary kind exchanged among workers—working conditions, etc. This letter was not delivered to Luber. The Department of Justice got it. They answered it and forged Luber’s name to it. This letter was indeed very bitter against the government. I thought my friend Luber had gone “bugs.” How was I to know that the Department of Justice agent was writing to me? They had his name forged to the letter, and I did not know he was in jail at the time. They wound up by asking me to “Pull off” something violent, just anything would do.

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Hellraisers Journal: Political Prisoner Hulet M. Wells, Socialist, Released from Leavenworth Federal Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 22, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Hulet M. Wells Released from Prison

From the Everett Labor Journal of November 19, 1920:

Hulet Wells, ISR p11, July 1917

HULET M. WELLS IS AT LIBERTY
—————

WASHINGTON, D C, Nov. 16.-Hulet M. Wells, former president of the Seattle Central Labor Council, sentenced to prison by the Seattle federal court for alleged seditious utterances in opposing the draft act, was released from Leavenworth prison on November 13 under order of immediate commutation of the remainder of his sentence.

The formal order for his release was signed today by Attorney General Palmer.

——-

Wells, after two trials, was sentenced to serve two years in the federal penitentiary following his conviction in the local district court on a charge of having violated the military law of the United States. He began serving his sentence at McNeil Island in June, 1919, and about one year ago was transferred to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Note: Hulet Wells was convicted in March of 1918 but did not begin serving his sentence until June of 1919 when all appeals were exhausted.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Prison Poem from Leavenworth by Conscientious Objector H. Austin Simons

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Soul in Prison, Statement to Court Upon Conviction, Sept 18, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 13, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Prison Poem by H. Austin Simons

From The Liberator of April 1920:

Prison Poem by CO H Austin Simons, Liberator p42, Apr 1920

From The Liberator of July 1919
-“Try the Big One” by Maurice Becker:

CRTN, M Becker, GS for Political Prisoners, Lbtr p8, July 1919

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Poem by Fellow Worker Charles Ashleigh from Leavenworth Penitentiary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 12, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Prison Poem by Charles Ashleigh

From The Liberator of April 1920:

IWW Class War Prisoners, Poem C Ashleigh, Liberator p7, Apr 1920

Fellow Worker Charles Ashleigh, No. 13115, Leavenworth, Sept 1918:

IWW, Charles Ashleigh, 13115, Leavenworth, Sept 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher, Imprisoned Since September 1918, Released on Bond from Leavenworth

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

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
—–
All but One, Ben Fletcher, Colored I. W. W.
Were Taken Immediately into Custody.
—–

[…..]

IWW, Ben Fletcher, 13126 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918
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…..

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Class-War Prisoners of Kansas Assigned to Outside Work at Leavenworth Penitentiary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

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
—–
All Were Assigned to Outside Work
By Deputy Warden This Morning…
—–

IWW KS Class War Prisoners, CW Anderson 14801, Leavenworth Dec 18, 1919—–

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.

IWW KS Class War Prisoners, Frank J Gallagher 14802, Leavenworth Dec 18, 1919—–

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Hellraisers Journal: The Messenger: Ben Fletcher in Leavenworth for a principle: “to the workers belongs the world.”

Janet RayeA. Philip Randolph
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 3, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Ben Fletcher Imprisoned for Principle

From The Messenger of August 1919:

Ben Fletcher

IWW, Ben Fletcher, 13126 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher

Negro newspapers seldom publish anything about men who are useful to the race. Some parasite, ecclesiastical poltroon, sacerdotal tax gatherer, political faker or business exploiter will have his name in the papers, weekly or daily. But when it comes to one of those who fights for the great masses to lessen their hours of work, to increase their wages, to decrease their high cost of living, to make life more livable for the toiling black workers-that man is not respectable for the average Negro sheet.

Such a man is Ben Fletcher. He is one of the leading organizers of the Industrial Workers of the World, commonly known as I. W. W. He is in the Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, where he was sent for trying to secure better working conditions of colored men and women in the United States. He has a vision far beyond that of almost any Negro leader whom we know. He threw in his lot with his fellow white workers, who work side by side with black men and black women to raise their standard of living. It is not uncommon to see Negro papers have headlines concerning a Negro who had committed murder, cut some woman’s throat, stolen a chicken or a loaf of bread, but those same papers never record happenings concerning the few Negro manly men who go to prison for principle. Ben Fletcher is in Leavenworth for a principle-a principle which when adopted, will put all the Negro leaders out of their parasitical jobs that principle is that to the workers belongs the world, but useful work is not done by negro leaders.

We want to advocate and urge that Negro societies, lodges, churches, N. A. A. C. P. branches and, of course, their labor organizations begin to protest against the imprisonment of Ben Fletcher and to demand his release. He has been of more service to the masses of the plain Negro people than all the wind jamming Negro leaders in the United States.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Poet Ralph Chaplin Released on Bond from Leavenworth, to Arrive Soon in Chicago

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin, Prison Reveille, Lv New Era p2, Apr 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 1, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Ralph Chaplin Released on Bond

From the Madison Capital Times of July 31, 1919:

I.W.W. Leader to Gain Release From Prison

Ralph Chaplin, Leavenworth 13104, Sept 1918
Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner #13104

CHICAGO – Bonds for the release of Ralph H. Chaplin, one of the ninety-three I. W. W.’s sentenced to the Leavenworth penitentiary last August were approved in federal court here on Tuesday. William Bross Lloyd, Chicago’s millionaire socialist; Harry Morris, an accountant, and Jacob Bruning, a farmer of Dekalb county, were on the sureties.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

From The Topeka Daily Capital of July 31, 1919:

ANOTHER I. W. W. RELEASED.

Leavenworth, July 30.–Ralph Chaplin, sent to the federal prison here in 1918, upon conviction with ninety-two other I. W. W.’s of violating the espionage act, was released today on $10,000 bond, pending an appeal and has left for Chicago.

[Emphasis added.]

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