Hellraisers Journal: Part II: “Mother Jones & Her Methods -Personality & Power of This Aged Woman”-Boston Sunday Herald

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Quote Mother Jones, Husband Children, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 14, 1904
Part II of III: “Mother Jones & Her Methods”-Then and Now

From the Boston Sunday Herald of September 11, 1904:

HdLn w Photos Mother Jones Methods, Speech WV 1897, Bstn Hld Sun Mag p1, Sept 11, 1904

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 1904

Her Appearance and Her History

Mother Jones Methods, Making a Point, Bstn Hld Sun Mag p1, Sept 11, 1904“Mother” Jones is an old woman, perhaps about 62 years of age. Her hair is white as snow, her eyes bright blue. She has a sweet, womanly mouth, and a pink flush in her cheeks. She is robust and healthy in appearance, with a good matronly figure. In dress she is quite plain, often almost shabby; though there is a neatness, almost a daintiness, about her which always gives her an agreeable appearance.

Her maiden name was Mary Harris. When she was a child of 10 she came to this country with her father and brother from Ireland. They lived for time in Provincetown, and afterward went to Canada. She was educated in the common and normal schools of Toronto, where her brother became a priest, and is now the dean of the archdiocese. She went to teach in a convent in Monroe, Mich., and later, going to Memphis, Tenn., to teach, she met an iron moulder, whom she married. They had two [four] children. She lost husband and children after a brief six years of married life in the yellow fever epidemic in the south.

After the war she went to Chicago, where she lived from 1867 until 1874, taking part in the relief work of the great fire as one of her first experiences in public work. She was a dressmaker in Chicago, as she was in San Francisco, where she lived for five years. In San Francisco she became interested in socialism, and took part in the anti-Chinese movement. When she returned East it was Mrs. George Pullman who secured her transportation. She had sewed for many women of wealth in Chicago, and had a large circle of friends among them.

Her life thus far had been comparatively simple. As a daughter she was obedient and studious, as a young woman a modest, retired teacher, as a wife, faithful and loving. She says of her married life that it was like that of most devoted wives. She wept if her husband drank a glass of beer after the day’s work or went to a union meeting at night. Yet she had enough intelligence to interest herself in his labor views, and imbibed her first notions of unionism from the protestations of her husband against her too devoted solicitude, and a great part of her effort in later years was to make women understand what she failed to understand in those early days, that the wife must care for what the husband cares for, and that every man loves freedom, even freedom from domestic tyranny.

Her remedy for lonely wives is a broader interest in the affairs of life. As a young widow she took pride in the trade she learned, and today she still loves to walk for an hour through the shops and look at beautiful silks and fine laces.

But though a good teacher and skillful dressmaker, it was not sufficient for this woman to provide for herself a good living and take no further thought of the world. She was aware that there were questions troubling the minds of men, and she wanted to help solve them. And somewhat later it came to her that she had the gift of eloquence. She discovered this in the old trades and labor assemblies in the West, where, when rising to take part in a discussion, a torrent of words would rise to her lips and her hearers would sit spellbound.

She belonged to the old Knights of Labor, and later took part in the organizing work of the American Railway Union, and became the friend of Eugene Debs. She was active in Chicago at the time of the Pullman strike, unmindful of the old-time friendliness of Mrs. George Pullman. Some years later she was able to secure a pardon for some of the men involved in the labor troubles of that great railroad strike by a personal interview with President McKinley at the White House.

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Hellraisers Journal: Without Husband or Children, Mother Jones Chooses as Her Family the Toilers from Coast to Coast

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Quote Mother Jones, Husband Children, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 22, 1911
Columbus, Ohio – Mother of the Toilers Speaks to Miners’ Convention

From Ohio’s Marion Daily Mirror of January 21, 1911:

Talks to Miners.

Mother Jones, ed Cameron Co PA Prs p1, Apr 7, 1910

Columbus, O., Jan. 21.-“Mother” Jones, whose name and fame is known throughout the country as the friend of laborers, addressed the miners’ convention [United Mine Workers of America] this morning and was given a rousing ovation when she appeared on the stage. “Mother” Jones claims the United States as her only home and registers on the hotel registers accordingly. She is 67 years old, and her hair is as white as snow. Without husband or children, she has chosen as her family the thousands of toilers from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene V. Debs on Texas Coming to Social Democratic Party

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Quote EVD Brush the Dust, Saginaw Eve Ns p6, Feb 6, 1899 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 4, 1899
Comrade Debs Has Successful Tour of Texas for S. D. P. of A.

From the Social Democratic Herald of June 3, 1899:

Texas is Coming

[by Eugene V. Debs]

Houston, Texas
[May 21, 1899]

EVD, Houston Daily Post p6, May 22, 1899

Beginning at Nashville on the 10th of May, this trip has been fruitful of results beyond all expectations. Nearly every meeting has been crowded and in some places many were turned away. Farmers have come in from 30 and 40 miles distant.

At Nashville the Socialist Club voted unanimously to join the Social Democratic Party. At Memphis, I am satisfied the Independent Socialist Society will follow suit. William Pinard, the national organizer of the Barbers’ Union and one of the most progressive trade unionists, will join at Memphis and enter our list of organizers.

At Little Rock a branch is organizing. At Dallas, Fort Worth, Bonham, Cleburne, Waco, San Antonio, and Houston, branches will soon be in active operation.

I have some good news for our comrades from Texas. I feel warranted in saying that the Socialist Party of Texas will soon be in the Social Democratic Party. At Bonham I had a conference with William E. Farmer, the veteran editor of The Social Economist and president of the party. He is heartily with us. At San Antonio I had an extended conference with the Executive Board of the Socialist Party of Texas. We canvassed the situation thoroughly. They unanimously resolved to issue an address to the party, recommending that their locals attach themselves to the Social Democratic Party. A referendum vote is now being taken. I do not have the least doubt that all the locals in the state will come to us in a body.

A committee of the Houston Section S. L. P. [Socialist Labor Party] has just called on me and we had a most pleasant interview. They are true comrades and I was happy to meet them. I assume the responsibility to predict that it will not be long before the comrades who compose this section will be in our party. Let the good work proceed.

The outlook everywhere is immensely cheering. My heart leaps with anticipation for the future. It is coming. The triumph is near. Onward comrades!

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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