Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 20, 1922 Washington, D. C. – Women’s Amnesty Committee Pickets White House
From the Oklahoma Leader of December 19, 1922:
MAGON DEATH MAY HASTEN AMNESTY ———-
(By the Federated Press.)
Ricardo Flores Magón
WASHINGTON.-The ghost of Ricardo Flores Magon has appeared in front of the White House [Monday November 27th], demanding of his recent jailers that other friends of freedom still shut behind American prison bars be set free before they perish.
Magon still living, and racked by disease in his cell at Leavenworth, was no burden on the official conscience. But when death a week ago commuted his 21-year sentence for saying the war was an evil thing it released forces which brought embarrassment to the White House gates.
Outraged by the crucifixion of Magon, Mrs. Elizabeth Glendower Evans, Boston; Mrs. Nathalie B. Ellis, Baltimore; Mrs. Marguerite Tucker, New York, and Mary LaFollette Tucker, Washington, appeared before the executive mansion with banners which read:
Ricardo Flores Magon, Political Prisoner, Died for Freedom, Leavenworth Prison, Nov. 21, 1922.
Mr. President, Another Political Prisoner Released, Death Is More Merciful Than the Administration, Magon Died in Leavenworth, Other Political Prisoners Are Dying From Consumption.
Mr. President, Charles W. Morse Did Not Die in Jail, Harry M Daugherty Was His Attorney, Ricardo Flores Magon, Political Prisoner, Died in Leavenworth, Attorney General Daugherty Was His Jailer.
The only crime ever committed by Magon was the writing of an anti-war article for which he was given the maximum sentence by the federal court of the southern district of California. The reason given for the failure to consider this case was on the grounds that Magon was not repentant-in other words, that he refused to renounce his views.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 12, 1922 Striking Miners in Southwestern Counties of Pennsylvania Face Sever Hardships
From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of December 8, 1922:
SOME MINERS ARE STILL IN WANT ———-
United Mine Workers Journal of December 1, 1922
Hard coal [anthracite] field miners have received word that in the Berwind fields of Somerset and Fayette Counties [miners] are still in want.
Those are union miners who are in non-union districts, their cause was not included in the Cleveland agreement and forty-five thousand miners are still on strike.
Fayette County, where many former Hazleton people are located, has a record of 1,500 evictions by the sheriff.
Logan Union 5,220 of the miners’ organized during the strike has sent out an appeal for bread to feed their hungry children. They say that their local has “suffered 384 evictions, of which 200 have been since the Cleveland agreement.” They also say that “the agreement was signed against their wish and special plea that their Coke fields should not be left out,” and that the Hillman company has been allowed to sign up for former union miners near Pittsburgh without being required to sign up in Fayette county.
This is also the case with the Consolidated Coal Company-the Rockefellers‘ property. As they have done their bit “suffering evictions, exposure in tent colonies, typhoid fever and other hard ships,” they demand of the international organization that it send them relief.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 30, 1922
Portland, Oregon – Mayor Unhappy about Free Rides with Red Cards
From the Duluth LaborWorld of November 25, 1922:
SAYS I. W. W. MEMBERS GET
FREE RIDES ON RED CARD
Many railroad men on roads leading into Portland are recognizing I. W. W. membership cards and giving free rides on freight trains, George L. Baker, mayor of Portland, declared before the tax regulating and conservation commission, in explaining the water front strike situation.
“We have evidence that in many cases I. W. W. cards served as tickets to Portland,” he asserted. “Some of the trainmen will not allow ordinary tramps to ride, but those who carry red cards are given, free transportation. As a result many I. W. W. have come to Portland, who could not have come had they been required to pay their way.”
The mayor asserted that in some cases groups of I. W. W. had compelled train crews to permit them to ride.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 22, 1922 Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, Kansas – Ricardo Flores Magón Dead at Age 48
From The Leavenworth Post of November 21, 1922
DEATH COMES TO POLITICAL PRISONER
AT FEDERAL PRISON
———- Ricardo [Flores] Magon, Noted Revolutionist
Victim of Heart Disease Early Today. ———-
Ricardo [Flores] Magon, noted Mexican revolutionist and generally regarded as an anarchist, died in the Federal prison early this morning. The body was removed to the Davis Undertaking establishment awaiting word from relatives. Marie B. Magon, his wife, resides at 2132 Fargo street, Los Angeles.
Magon called an attendant at 4:30 o’clock this morning and said he was not feeling well. He had retired in bis usual health. A physician was called and it was discovered Magon was suffering with an acute attack of heart disease. While the physician was preparing a dose of medicine, Mason died.
Magon lad served terms in three penitentiaries. In 1912 he was arrested in Arizona on a charge of violating the neutrality laws. The trial resulted in conviction and he was sentenced to serve a year and a day in the Yuma state penitentiary. He was next arrested in June, 1916, on charges of obstructing the military service, violating the trading with the enemy act, mailing unmailable matter and conspiracy against the government.
The trial resulted in a conviction on all charges and he was given a total sentence of 21 years in the Federal prison at McNeil Island. On November 3, 1919, Magon was transferred to the Federal penitentiary here.
Since Magon has been in the Federal prison there have been several efforts to obtain his freedom by so-called radical organizations.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 14, 1922 Charles Town, West Virginia – Keeney Awaits Ruling Regarding Change of Venue
From The Labor World of November 11, 1922:
Accessory to Murder.
Keeney had been called to trial on a charge of accessory to a murder-the charge growing out of the attempted march of union miners into Logan county several months ago in protest of the feudal conditions in its coal fields.
Efforts of the prosecution to call William Blizzard to trial on the same charge, after Keeney had been granted a change of venue, brought a ruling from the court that further proceedings would be suspended until after the Court of Appeals of West Virginia has passed upon the action of the court here in granting a new change of venue in a case which was originally removed here from Logan county. This ruling is expected in about fifteen days. While granting the change of venue, the court declined to issue an injunction against the coal interests of the state from participating in the prosecution and putting up the money for conducting the trials.
First Defeat.
Keeney’s victory brings to the coal interests their big defeat in the effort to oust the miners’ union from the state. Incidentally, it exposes in a court of record the activities of the coal interests in using the prosecuting power of the state to fight the miners’ union.
Attorneys for the prosecution bitterly contested the motion of Keeney for a change in venue. It was claimed that one change in venue is all that the law allows, and that Keeney was enjoying that in having his trial removed to Jefferson county from Logan county. It was claimed that the court did not have the power to grant a second change, and maintained that the allegations of prejudice in Jefferson county were unfounded.
About 100 affidavits were offered from residents of Jefferson county, where three convictions had already taken place in the “treason” cases, that no fixed prejudice exists in the county, and that Keeney could “get a fair jury.” The court ruled these affidavits were too general in character to be of value.
Sought to Stop Flood of Money.
Keeney’s motion for a change in venue was quickly followed by an application for an injunction to prohibit the Logan Coal Operators’ Association and 77 coal corporations from contributing money to finance the prosecution of the miners’ union officials. This application was later denied by Judge Woods.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 13, 1922 Vera Cruz, Mexico – Maritime Workers Strike for Release of Ricardo Flores Magón
From El Paso Herald of November 9, 1922:
VERA CRUZ, Mex., Nov. 9.—(By the Associated Press.)—Workers belonging to the maritime league were on strike here today in protest against the alleged unlawful imprisonment of Ricardo Flores Magon, former Mexican rebel leader in Leavenworth, Kan., prison.
Magon in 1917 was sentenced to 20 years for complicity in a communist plot in Los Angeles.
Want Release Of Radicals.
The workers made a demonstration before the American consulate and presented a petition for the release of Magon and other Mexicans imprisoned in the United States as dangerous radicals. A cable message embracing the protest and the petition was sent to the Mexican charge d’affaires in Washington. Other demonstrations were held in various Mexican gulf ports.
A boycott against American ships in Mexican ports is being considered and other measures also are threatened if the United States government refuses to liberate the Mexicans.
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Magon was arrested in Los Angeles after he had been trailed for several months by government operatives. In his possession at the time of arrest was found circulars and other propaganda issued with intent of creating a revolution in Mexico.
Ricardo Magon and a brother, Enrique were prominent in a revolution in Sonora in 1910 coincident with the Pascual Orozco uprising in the state of Chihuahua. The Magon brothers several times were charged with conspiring against the Diaz government.
Los Angeles was used principally as headquarters by the brothers and it is said, that many attempts to foment revolution began there.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 3, 1922 Fellow Workers Fletcher, Walsh and Nef Freed from Leavenworth Penitentiary
From TheWashingtonTimes of November 1, 1922:
THREE I. W. W. PRISONERS PAROLED BY PRESIDENT
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
The sentences of Walter T. Nef, Ben Fletcher and John Walsh, political prisoners, have been conditionally commuted by President Harding, it was announced at headquarters of the amnesty committee here today.
The men are from Philadelphia, but were sentenced with other I. W. W. members from Chicago.
The commutation is conditional upon their future good behavior. They must be law abiding in future and “not encourage or be connected with lawlessness” of any sort, otherwise they can be recommitted to prison by the President without hearing. The fact that the men were given such conditional pardons was criticised by the amnesty committee in making the announcement.
Fletcher and Walsh were serving ten years and Nef twenty.
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Fellow Worker John Walsh
Fellow Worker Walter T. Nef