Margaret Fazekas – WE NEVER FORGET

Quote Poem Ellis B Harris re Annie Clemenc n Women of Calumet, Mnrs Mag p14, Nov 27, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 25, 1914
Margaret Fazekas Testifies Before House Subcommittee

Tuesday February 24, 1914 – Hancock, Michigan

Although only 14 years old, Margaret Fazekas appeared before the Congressional Investigating Committee this morning and held her own throughout the long interrogation. Margaret is the young girl who was shot in the back of the head last September as she performed her picket duty:

Margaret Fazekas, ab 1914

MARGARET FAZEKAS, a witness, sworn, testiﬁed on examination as follows:
Mr. HILTON [Attorney for the Miners]. How old are you?
The Witness. I was 14 in August.
Mr. HILTON. Where do you live?
The Witness. Wolverine.
Mr. HILTON. Do you remember the 1st day of September last and what happened on that day?
The Witness. Yes, sir. _ ,
Mr. HILTON. Tell what happened on the 1st day of September.
The Witness. September 1 I went out on picket duty with the other women. We were marching back and forth on the streets, and there was about 13 deputies, and there was some more deputies on the other side to those that were close to us. There were about 13, and they were telling us—we weren’t doing any harm at all—they told us to go home for breakfast, and we said we had just as much— we can stay there just as well as they can. We weren’t doing any thing at all. Some of the ladies told them to go for breakfast, and then they turned back, and we thought they were going home for breakfast. But when they turned back toward us they had the revolvers in their hands, and they started shooting, and as soon as I saw the revolvers I turned back and started to run, and so I don’t know anything afterwards.
Mr. HILTON. Were you shot?
The Witness. Yes, sir.
Mr. HILTON. Show the committee where you were shot. (The witness removed her hat and indicated to the committee the location of the wound on the side of her head.)
The Witness. My hair is on top so it doesn’t show.
The CHAIRMAN [Congressman Taylor]. Is it in the back of the head, just behind the left ear?
The Witness. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Did the bullet enter your brain?
The Witness. I don’t know. Dr. Roach said some of my brain came out, but he put it back in again, and he took a bone out of it—a small bone.
Mr. HILTON. How long were you in the hospital?
The Witness. Four weeks and a half.
Mr. HILTON. Not expected to live? The
Witness. No, sir; nobody expected it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Margaret Fazekas, Age 14, Holds Her Own as Witness Before House Subcommittee at Hancock, Michigan” →

Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Mnrs Bltn p1, Aug 14, 1913 —————-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 6, 1913
Kearsarge, Michigan – Young Margaret Fazekas Shot Down by Deputies

From The Calumet News of September 2, 1913:

[…..]

Saturday September 6, 1913
Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan – Girl, fourteen, shot in head, not expected to live.

Disturbing stories of violence against the women and children in the Michigan Copper Country Strike Zone are making there way out of the area. A young fourteen-year-old girl was shot in the head when deputies opened fire on a strikers’ parade. The girl is Margaret Fazekas. She was shot near the Kearsarge shaft during the Labor Day parade by Sheriff Cruse’s armed deputies.She was rushed to the hospital and was not expected to live.

On September 4th, a guardsmen was so enraged by a woman waving a broom and cursing at him that he threatened her:

I’ll fix you so that you won’t handle a broom anymore!

The guard attempted to tie her to his horse for the purpose of dragging her along the ground. However, his plan was thwarted when more women came running to her aid, pelting the guardsmen with rocks and sticks.

Militiamen routinely ride their horses into the strikers who gather for any reason, and, by this practice, a small child has been injured in Laurium.

But it is for the children that the strike must go on, for as one woman said pointing to her children:

These are the ones we are striking for. You don’t want to see them bent and crippled before their time, do you?

Another woman joins the picket lines even though her husband is dead, killed in the mines leaving her with four young children. She said:

Men killed, company pay nothing. Many families get poor by strike, but maybe men win. I hope so.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Kearsarge, Michigan-Margaret Fazekas, Age 14, Shot in the Head by Deputies While Performing Picket Duty” →