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Hellraisers Journal -Wednesday July 2, 1919
Kansas Class-War Prisoners, Who Are These Men?
From the Kansas City Workers’ World of June 27, 1919:
WHAT KIND OF BOYS DO THEY JAIL IN KANSAS?
ARE THESE MEN CRIMINALS?
On November 20,1917, a general roundup of union men was conducted in the oil fields of Kansas. Thirty-five were arrested without warrant on this date and held on the charge of vagrancy. Later they were indicted under a Federal charge and since that time they have been confined in various jails in the state.
Results of Confinement.
For eighteen months these men have sacrificed their freedom because of their loyalty to their ideals. Had they been willing to renounce their organization, and cease their activities, they would have been set free. This they have refused to do. Their bond has been set at $10,000 and until very recently every effort to secure a reduction has failed, and now only in the case of a few of the imprisoned men. As a result of their long months of confinement, one man has died, two have gone insane-one being confined in the insane asylum at Osawatomie, Kansas, and the other held in solitary confinement in the jail in Ottawa. Another man has become a nervous wreck, trembling like a leaf and falling to the floor in complete collapse at the slightest excitement. Two of them have lost all of their teeth. Men who were physical giants at the time of their arrest are today but a shadow of their former selves.
