Tag: Mabel Abbott

Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They came, that none should trample Labor’s right
To speak, and voice her centuries of pain.
Bare hands against the master’s armored might!-
A dream to match the tolls of sordid gain!
-Charles Ashleigh

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 18, 1917
From The Tacoma Times: An Interview with Charles Ashleigh

POET-TRAMP-JOURNALIST A CLOSE OBSERVER
OF BIG SEATTLE TRIAL

By Mabel Abbott

Charles Ashleigh, IWW, Tacoma Tx, Apr 17, 1917

SEATTLE, Wash, April 17.-A poet, a tramp, a newspaper man and an I. W. W. sit each day at the press table in Judge Ronald’s courtroom, where a great class struggle is being fought around the stocky figure of Tom Tracy, I. W. W.

They are Charles Ashleigh.

He is in charge of publicity for the Everett Prisoners’ Defense league, and he is a radical of the radicals; so revolutionary that he even dares to defy the tradition that a revolutionist shall be a sinister and mysterious-looking person.

He is young, small, mild-mannered, and speaks literary English with a fine British accent.

He was born in London. As a boy he was for a time an assistant secretary in the Fabian society of socialists and free-thinkers, and saw and heard Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and other famous members.

A little later, he tramped through England with the army of the unemployed, haranguing the crowds and stirring the miners of South Wales to organization.

Loves Adventure.

Ordinary life was tame, naturally, after that, and Ashleigh, went to South America.

In Buenos Ayres he was for a little while in the accounting department of a railway; then he took a contract to string telegraph wires along the right of way.

He had never strung a wire in his life, or seen it done, but he hired a foreman who did know how, assembled a gang of Guarani Indians, and started out.

It was a colorful experience. “The Indians aren’t really a bad sort at all, you know,” Ashleigh explains, “but they do drink. One night the cook shot his brother, in my tent. They were all rioting around so it was hard to tell anything about it, and the authorities got hold of me, as being the handiest person, I suppose, and put me in jail, until the British consul came and cleared things up.” Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with “Poet-Tramp” and I. W. W. Journalist, Charles Ashleigh” →

Hellraisers Journal: Trial of I. W. W. Class-War Prisoner Thomas H. Tracy Begins in Seattle, Washington

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 6, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Tracy Proudly Displays His I. W. W. Button

IWW Button, libcom Sioux City FSF 1915

As the trial of our Class-War Hero, Tom Tracy, gets underway in Seattle, a reporter for The Seattle Star describes the Fellow Worker:

Tracy, the defendant,…is a young-looking, heavy-set man, in a blue flannel shirt and red tie, with his I. W. W. button in evidence on his coat lapel.

He told reporters before the trial began that he is 36 years old, was born in Nebraska, and has done road construction work principally, in several Western states. He watched the slow progress of drawing and examining jurors with evident interest, but with an air of detachment.

From The Seattle Star of March 5, 1917:

I.W.W. TRIAL OPENS WITH
FIGHT ON JURY
—–

BY MABEL ABBOTT

Everett Class War Prisoners 1916-17, Thomas H Tracy

The first of 74 I. W. W. murder trials resulting from the riots in Everett, November 5, 1916, got under way before Judge Ronald Monday.

After an hour and a half of examination as to whether he is an I. W. W., whether he is a member of the Employers’ association, what newspapers he reads, and whether he forms his opinions upon what they contain, J. H. Hicks, 5225 15th ave, N. E., proprietor of Hicks’ cafeteria, was challenged for cause Monday morning by Attorney George Vanderveer, representing Thomas H. Tracy, I. W. W.. on trial for participation in the shooting of Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard, at Everett, November 5, and excused by Judge Ronald from sitting in the case.

If examination of jurors proceeds at the same rate, with even a reasonable number of challenges, the selection of the jury will take two or three days, at least.

Tracy is the first of the 74 I. W. W. charged with first degree murder, to be tried. All have asked for separate trials.

Important Fight

The setting of the big fight indicates that it will rank in importance with the McNamara dynamiting trial in Los Angeles and the Ettor and Giovanitti trials in Lawrence, Mass.

Among the array of lawyers in the court room when the trial opened, were A. L. Veitch, of Los Angeles, who is credited with the convictions of the McNamaras, who assists the prosecution in the present case, and Fred H. Moore, also of Los Angeles, who defended Ettor.

The state is also represented by Prosecutor Black, of Snohomish county, and H. D. Cooley, of Everett. For the defense, besides Moore, are George H. Vanderveer. O. N Hilton, of Denver, and C. E. S. Wood, of Portland.

Tracy Wears I. W. W Button

Tracy, the defendant, who sits behind this legal battery, is a young-looking, heavy-set man, in a blue flannel shirt and red tie, with his I. W. W. button in evidence on his coat lapel.

He told reporters before the trial began that he is 36 years old, was born in Nebraska, and has done road construction work principally, in several Western states. He watched the slow progress of drawing and examining jurors with evident interest, but with an air of detachment.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Trial of I. W. W. Class-War Prisoner Thomas H. Tracy Begins in Seattle, Washington” →