Tag: National Civil Liberties Bureau

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Floyd Dell on America’s Political Prisoners & Conscientious Objectors

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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While there is a soul in prison
I am not free.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 9, 1919
America’s Political Prisoners by Floyd Dell

From The Liberator of January 1919:

“What Are You Doing Out There?”

[by Floyd Dell]

The Liberator Jr Revolutionary Progress, Jan 1919

THIS magazine goes to two classes of readers: those who are in jail, and those who are out. This particular article is intended for the latter class. It is intended for those who wish to prove themselves friends of American freedom rather than those who have had it proved against them.

The relation between these two classes of people is embarrassingly like that in the old anecdote about Emerson and Thoreau. Thoreau refused to obey some law which he considered unjust, and was sent to jail. Emerson went to visit him. “What are you doing in here, Henry?” asked Emerson.

“What are you doing out there?” returned Thoreau grimly.

That is what the people who have gone to prison for the ideas in which we believe seem to be asking us now.

And the only self-respecting answer which we can give to this grim, silent challenge, is this: “We are working to get you out!”

That is our excuse, and we must see that it is a true one. We are voices to speak up for those whose voice has been silenced.

There are some silences that are more eloquent than speech. The newspapers were forbidden to print what ‘Gene Debs said in court; but his silence echoes around the earth in the heart of workingmen. They know what he was not allowed to tell them; and they feel that it is true.

It would be wrong to think of this as an opportunity to do something for Debs; it is rather our opportunity to make ourselves worthy of what he has done for us.

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WE NEVER FORGET: FW James Gossard Who Died October 30, 1918, Awaiting Trial in Harvey County Jail, Newton, Kansas

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
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WNF, IWW Martyr James Gossard, Harvey County Jail KS, Oct 30, 1918

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James Robert Gossard-25, IWW Martyr

IWW Emblem wiki

James Gossard was one of the members of the Industrial Workers of the World who were rounded up, in the fall of 1917, on the oil fields of Butler County, Kansas, and held under terrible conditions in the jails of Kansas while awaiting trial in federal court. Fellow Worker Gossard survived for about one year under these brutal conditions before dying of influenza and pneumonia on October 30, 1918, at Newton, Kansas, in the Harvey County Jail.

The story of his long ordeal is here told through newspaper and magazine accounts of the day.

From The Towanda News (Kansas) of December 20, 1917:

Arrest Four More I. W. W.-Four more I. W. W. were picked up by federal authorities in the Butler county oil fields and brought to the Sedgwick county jail [in Wichita]. They were James Gossard, John Gresbach, Morris Hunt and John Vagtch. There now are twenty-nine I. W. W. in the Sedgwick county jail.

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

The Sedgwick County Jail Described by Winthrop Lane

WWIR, In Here For You, Ralph Chaplin, Sol Aug 4, Sept 1, 1917

The Sedgwick county jail is the worst place for incarcerating human beings that I have ever been in. Built forty years ago, it has undergone additions from time to time, so that to day it is not the compact structure that many jails are but has many wings and cages. There are cells for approximately 100 prisoners. It is filthy with the accumulated filth of decades. No longer would it be possible to give the jail a decent cleaning. The metal floors are periodically “laraped” with black jack, a greasy substance the chief effect of which is to fill the corners with a coagulated mass of dust and floor sweepings, hardened by the glue-like action of the black-jack. The toilets throughout are covered with dirt. Many of them are encrusted with excreta and a few actually stink. The men declare that they do not dare to sit down on them, because of the vermin. [Drawing added. For more on Sedgwick County Jail and worse of it, see below at “See also”.]

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Hellraisers Journal: The Liberator: “Is Civil Liberty Dead?” -on the Department of Justice & the Persecution of the IWW

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 13, 1918
Legal Defense of Industrial Workers of the World Sabotaged

From The Liberator of November 1918:

Is Civil Liberty Dead? Liberator, Nov 1918

WWIR IWW Remember the Boys in Jail, OH Sc p3, Aug 21, 1918

IN the midst of our rejoicing over the second disagreement in the Masses case, comes news of continued persecution of the I. W. W. Not content with its power to arrest and hold in prison for months under outrageous bail, workingmen known to be penniless, agents of the Department of Justice, aided by Post Office officials, deliberately prevent the friends of these men from collecting the funds which are absolutely necessary to ensure them a fair hearing. This discrimination against men “presumed to be innocent” was notorious in the Chicago case. We learn from the Civil Liberties Bureau that the same methods are being employed to weaken the defense in the remaining I. W. W. cases. And we know from our own experience that letters to I. W. W. branches are returned as “unmailable” under the supreme power exercised by Mr. Burleson under the second Espionage Act. Words cannot be found to express the indignation that any real Democrat must feel at this continued reign of terror.

We print below a memorandum recently sent to the President by the National Civil Liberties Bureau.

I. Interference by Agents of the Department of Justice

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Ohio Socialist: Comrade A. L. Hitchcock Arrives at Atlanta Penitentiary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You need to know that you are fit for something
better than slavery and cannon fodder.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday July 14, 1918
From Atlanta Penitentiary: Comrade A. L. Hitchcock Sends Greetings

From The Ohio Socialist of July 9, 1918:

A Letter from Comrade A. L. Hitchcock
—–

June 16, 1918

Comrades:

A. L. Hitchcock in Court in Toledo, Cnc Enq p7, June 11, 1918
From the Cincinnati Enquirer
of June 11, 1918

I arrived here yesterday (Saturday) at 2:30. Had a very interesting trip down from Toledo. Was quite surprised to learn that I was going so soon. I suppose you will be anxious to know of how I am and what conditions are here. So I will say, for the present I am in a large ward with about 60 others. We are in quarantine, to wait until all danger of bringing any disease in here is passed. Everything is scrupulously clean. We are fitted out with clean and disinfected clothes from top to toe. Have shower bath twice a week. The food is good and there is enough of it, so there is no kick from the care I am receiving. There are men here of all descriptions and professions, for all the different kinds of wrongdoing imaginable. However, I must not discuss those who are here, but it is all very interesting to me. This paper is not adequate to hold all I should like to write, but as you are mostly interested in my welfare I will reassure you that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

My time will peter out in a little over six years, so I am told, so that don’t amount to much. So long as I am good I can write once per week, but can receive all the mail that comes. All mail is read both ways, in and out, so you will not write anything so intimate that it could not be read by the officials here. The officers, or those I have come in contact with, seem like very decent fellows. You will have to pass this letter along and send it to Cleveland, too, so the friends there will know that all is well.

Atlanta is quite a large city, near 200,000, also it is the home of the state office of the Socialist Party, I believe.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “Tulsa, November 9th” – First-Hand Account from Secretary of IWW Local

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday April 11, 1918
From The Liberator – I. W. W. Secretary on Tulsa Mob Violence

Tulsa, November 9th

WWIR, IWW Flog Tar Feather, Morn Tulsa Dly Wld, Nov 10, 1917

[EDITOR’S NOTE:-In this story of persecution and outrage at Tulsa, Oklahoma, told in the sworn statement of one of the victims, there is direct and detailed evidence of one of the most menacing by-products of the war. Here in Tulsa, as in Bisbee and Butte and Cincinnati, patriotic fervor was used by employers with the connivance or open co-operation of local officials, as a mask for utterly lawless attacks upon workingmen who attempted to organize for better conditions. This false resort to loyalty on the part of certain war profiteers is emphasized in the recent report of the President’s Mediation Commission. These cowardly masked upper-class mobs, calling themselves “Knights of Liberty” and mumbling hypocritical words about “the women and children of Belgium,” will not succeed in terrorizing the labor movement of America, nor will they tend to make it more patriotic.]

On November 9, 1917, seventeen men, taken from the custody of the city police of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were whipped, tarred and feathered, and driven out of the city with a warning never to return.

In a letter dated December 21, a resident* of Tulsa, writes:

I think it is only fair to say that the bottom cause of this trouble locally was that a few men, presumably belonging the I. W. W. came into the oil fields something like a year ago and were meeting with considerable success in getting oil-field workers-especially pipe-line and tank builders-to fight for better wages and shorter hours.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Buffalo New Age: Kate Richards O’Hare, “Tribune of the People” Facing 5 Years in Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Kate Richards OHare, Dangerous to war profiteers, ab Dec 1917

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 27, 1918
Buffalo, New York – Kate O’Hare to Speak on Thursday

From the Buffalo’s Socialist New Age of February 23, 1918:


Tribune of The People,
–Speaker at Music Hall
—-Faces 5 Years in Jail
—–

FIVE YEARS AWAY FROM HER CHILDREN
-KATHLEEN, JUST STANDING WHERE CHILD TURNS TO MAIDEN;
AFFECTIONATE, BROWN-EYED GENE, NOW NINE YEARS OLD;
KEEN, ALERT VICTOR, THE OTHER TWIN,
AND DICK, 14 THE ELDEST.
—–

Kate Richards O'Hare Bff New Age p1, Feb 23, 1918

Kate Richards O’Hare, who was considered the most powerful woman orator in the Socialist movement, and whose ability as a lecturer is comparable only with such men as Eugene V. Debs and William Jennings Bryan, will deliver one of her mastery addresses under the auspices of the Socialist Party in Elmwood Music Hall on the evening of Thursday, February 28th. Mrs. O’Hare is known throughout the length and breadth of the land as a most eloquent advocate of the cause of Socialism, and a fearless defender of the rights of the oppressed.

SENTENCED FOR
FIVE YEARS.

Recently she has been sentenced to five years in a Federal prison for alleged violation of the espionage law, in which she was accused of stirring up opposition to the draft in a speech delivered last summer in North Dakota. She is out on bail pending the appeal of her case.

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Hellraisers Journal: Night of Terror in Tulsa: IWWs Taken From Jail, Whipped & Tarred by “Knights of Liberty”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Strangle the I. W. W.’s.
Kill them, just as you would kill
any other kind of a snake.
Don’t scotch ’em; kill ’em.
And kill ’em dead.
–The Tulsa Daily World

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 12, 1917
Tulsa, Oklahoma – Fellow Workers Face Night of Terror

From The Tulsa Daily World of November 10, 1917:

WWIR, IWW Flog Tar Feather, Morn Tulsa Dly Wld, Nov 10, 1917

Three automobile loads of I. W. W.’s, in charge of policemen, were halted on Boulder avenue, near Archer, last night at 11 o’clock by a crowd of men garbed in long black robes and wearing black masks. The officers were forced to drive their prisoners to a secluded spot west of Irving Place, where, with impressive ceremonies each of the I. W. W.’s was lashed with a cat-o’-nine-tails. Then a coat of hot tar was applied to the bleeding back and feathers applied.

With each stroke of the brush the black-robed man in charge of the ceremony uttered the words:

“In the name of the outraged women and children of Belgium.”

With nothing on but their trousers the men were started toward the Osage hills. Hundreds of rifle and revolver shots were fired in the air and they sped into the inky darkness of the night.

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