Tag: Pullman Strike of 1894

Hellraisers Journal: Judge Woods Is Dead, Sent Eugene Debs to Prison for Six Months in Connection with Pullman Strike of 1894

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 25, 1901
Pullman’s Injunction Judge, William Woods, Is Dead

From the Social Democratic Herald of July 20, 1901:

Debs and Judge Woods

EVD ARU Officers Sent to Woodstock Jail 1894 Pullman Strike, photo ab 1895

The death of Judge Wm. A. Woods of the United States circuit court naturally brings up a chain of thought which may be useful and instructive at this time. Woods was the judge who prostituted his high and exalted office to serve the railways and crush the laboring men who were struggling for enough of the products of their labor to keep their families from starving. He it was who sent Eugene Debs to prison [at Woodstock, Illinois] for six months [in 1895] without trial for “contempt” of his most contemptible court, simply because Debs opposed with manly firmness the usurpations of this judicial scoundrel. It was this same judge Woods who set free “Blocks of Five” Dudley and the other bribers and ballot-box stuffers at Indianapolis in 1880, and was promoted from the district to the circuit court by the republican administration for his rascality. In his charge to the jury Judge Woods said that “advising or counseling bribery is not punishable unless briery is committed.”

In the coming time when the co-operative commonwealth shall have been established, when each man shall receive the product of his toil and have time and leisure to think upon the various steps and acts which have led up to industrial emancipation, then these two men, Debs and Woods, will each be held in proper estimation by the world. Posterity alone can properly write epitaphs. The memory of Debs will then be revered as one willing to suffer for his fellow men, while Woods will rank with Judas Iscariot, Grover Cleveland and Benedict Arnold.

[…..]

All the robber elements of this country will pronounce encomiums upon Judge Woods, while they have and will continue to cast odium upon Debs. But posterity will pass just judgment upon these two men, and memory of Debs will be enshrined in glory, while that of Woods will be shrouded in eternal infamy.-Equality, Deadwood, S. D.

EVD Notice ARU Offices to Terre Haute, Officers Sentenced, Rw Tx, Jan 1, 1895

—————

[Photographs and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Judge Woods Is Dead, Sent Eugene Debs to Prison for Six Months in Connection with Pullman Strike of 1894” →

Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Eugene Debs Interviewed by Norman Hapgood at Atlanta Prison

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD if Crime to oppose bloodshed, AtR p1, Oct 23, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 25, 1920
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary – Norman Hapgood Interviews Eugene Debs

From the Appeal to Reason of October 23, 1920:

EVD Interviewed in Prison by N Hapgood, AtR p1, Oct 23, 1920

Did you ever enter the strong gates of a prison? Has your mind ever pictured the sinking heart of a man who hears those heavy iron doors clank behind him? Wife and child, perhaps, are shut from him in the outer world. And inside? The lost are there, the despairing, the destroyed. Leave hope behind, ye who enter. And yet it is not as bad as it was, some centuries ago. The harmonious and austere building at Atlanta is infinitely superior, in what happens inside of it, to the prisons of Lincoln’s day. God knows it is bad enough.

Partly, it is bad because we in truth do not know what to do with certain types of dangerous depravity. Give us time, a century or two, and we may learn the alphabet of treating such aberration. Granted we are ignorant about crime — what about prisoner 9653? Why is he in this place?

To see prisoner 9653 we go only so far as a reception room, and Eugene V. Debs, four times nominee of a great party for the Presidency, now No. 9653, steps forth eagerly to meet me. How warm his grasp! How pure and sunny his smile! How his face carries the record of his 40 years of service, of forbearance, of hope of a great belief.

Debs’ Warm Cordiality.

We sit down on opposite sides of a long table. Debs’ lawyer is there and so is the prison attendant. Neve mind; Debs doesn’t mind. He leans across, his face alight, his speaking and delicate hands at play. He will not let me get in my question. His warm cordiality prevents. He knows I am not a Socialist and that I am not going to vote for him. He knows all about it. But what is that to him? I am a human being, which is enough. But there is more. I have recently chosen the unpopular course on a great subject — Russia — and Debs knows all about that also, and pours out an overgenerous appreciation until, afraid of that man at the end of the table, who is responsible for the allotment of time, I see a chance to turn the switch and I suddenly ask the most dangerous question I know.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Eugene Debs Interviewed by Norman Hapgood at Atlanta Prison” →

Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: General Merriam Represents McKinley in War Against Idaho Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 16, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – General Merriam, Tool of President McKinley

From the Appeal to Reason of April 14, 1900:

Wardner ID Bullpen HdLn, Gen Merriam Lunatic, AtR p2, Apr 14, 1910—–

There is a long and interesting story in the Coeur d’ Alene mining troubles.

The strikers began by acting very badly-no doubt whatever of that. They or their friends unquestionably made mistakes, blowing up a mill with dynamite, etc.

Of course it is probable that the mine owners in their own way abused their power as wickedly. But a mine owner can always hire lawyers, or, if need be, government officials and the army-the strikers cannot. Therefore, the strikers should be careful.

New ID Bullpen of 1899, Miners Bunks, Hutton p56, 1900—–

You know that in that mining region men were arrested without warrant. United States troops, sent to obey mine owners’ orders, shut the men up in a “bull pen.” The district attorney was the legal advisor of the Standard Oil corporation. He suspended the habeas corpus idea entirely-said that if the courts had issued habeas corpus papers he would have ignored them.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: General Merriam Represents McKinley in War Against Idaho Miners” →

Hellraisers Journal: From Butte Daily Bulletin: Review of “Debs, His Authorized Life and Letters” by David Karsner, Part I

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Be True Labor Will Come Into Its Own, OH Sc p1, Nov 5, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 22, 1920
David Karsner, of New York Call, “Paints Debs with Loving Hands” -Part I

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of February 13, 1920:

EVD re Karsner Bio, BDB p3, Feb 13, 1920

[Part I of II.]

EVD, David Karsner, Debs Life n Letters, Brk Dly Egl p4, Jan 17, 1920

“Debs, His Authorized Life and Letters,” has just gone into its second edition, (Boni and Liveright, New York). Written for socialists, by a socialist, it might well be termed a book for Americans, since socialism is the great issue of the present day. “Debs” is propagandist. And as such it should be a handbook of ready reference for those who agree with its doctrines, and for those whore aim it is to refute those doctrines. But the book primarily presents the emotional color of Debs’ socialism.

David Karsner, the author, paints Debs with loving hands. He is an ardent disciple. He depicts a man who is not a fiery leader, but rather one who is filled with good-will and a desire for peace on earth. Debs was not born a socialist. He was pushed, says the author by the logic of facts as he saw them, into the opinions that have finally caused his incarceration in prison. According to Karsner, his magnetism does not issue from flame, for he is not a “Red.” He is, says Karsner, a mild and greatly loved leader. He is said to have no desire for honors. Yet he was four times a candidate for the presidency of the United States.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Butte Daily Bulletin: Review of “Debs, His Authorized Life and Letters” by David Karsner, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Western Federation of Miners Dedicates Monuments to John Murphy & George Pettibone, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote John ONeill re Pettibone, Mnrs Mag p7, July 29, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 7, 1909
Denver, Colorado – Monuments for Murphy and Pettibone Dedicated, Part II

From The Miners Magazine of August 5, 1909:

Monument to Murphy and Pettibone Dedicated July 24th.
[Part II]
—–

John Murphy, Pettibone, Mnrs Mag p4, Aug 5, p6, July 29, 1909
—–

Judge Hynes in a neat address then introduced John M. O’Neill, editor of the Miners’ Magazine, who delivered the following address:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of Organized Labor and Delegates to the Western Federation of Miners:

We have gathered here today to dedicate monuments to the memory of two men, who in life entwined themselves in the hearts of men and women who are scanning with yearning eyes the distant horizon and watching for the faint gleams of that glad morning that shall usher in a civilization that bequeathes to humanity the priceless heritage of industrial liberty. These monuments are the generous gifts of men who mourned the cruel summons of the grim messengers of death that snatched from life’s arena men whose deathless devotion and loyalty to the eternal principles of justice, made their names immortal in the labor movement of Western America. They did not come from the gory field of battle bearing victories that were baptized in human blood. They were not crowned with achievements won amid the fire and smoke of shot and shell, but they were soldiers in that great army of the world’s struggling millions that is slowly but surely marching onward toward the goal of economic freedom.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Western Federation of Miners Dedicates Monuments to John Murphy & George Pettibone, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Ohio Socialist: Eugene Debs’ First Day In West Virginia Prison as Told by David Karsner

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Debs Address to the Court, Sept 14, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 17, 1919
Moundsville, West Virginia – With Eugene Debs at West Virginia State Prison

From The Ohio Socialist of April 16, 1919:

Debs’ First Day In Prison

By DAVID KARSHNER [KARSNER].

EVD On Way to Prison, OH Sc p1, Apr 16, 1919

Moundsville, W. Va., April 14.-Eugene Victor Debs will sleep tonight, not in a cage like a wild beast, as he slept last night, his first night in the West Virginia State Prison, but in a little room in the hospital of the prison, for “Our Gene” has been appointed a hospital attendant, and he has a separate room to himself, with a white iron bed, newly clothed, a table and a chair.

Shortly after 11 o’clock this morning Debs was taken from his cell, No. 51, in the second tier of the south wing, to the prison baths. He was examined by Dr. O. P. Wilson, the prison physician, and then donned prison underclothing and the prison uniform. But when I saw Debs late this afternoon the prison suit was not unbecoming to him. It was well fitting and contained the tiniest check. It is the kind of a suit that anybody might purchase at a cheap clothing store.

Warden Joseph Z. Terrill explained that he had at first thought of placing Debs in the prison library because of his knowledge of books and literature, but he did not do this because he thought that he might be too much subjected to curiosity. As hospital attendant Debs will have a rom entirely to himself. The room is of a good size, larger than most rooms of the Bronx apartments. It is on the ground floor. There are two ample windows one facing the south, and one the east. There are no bars at his windows. The door will be open at all times, and Debs has full privilege to come and go as he pleases. He has full and complete access to the prison yard and the lawns.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Ohio Socialist: Eugene Debs’ First Day In West Virginia Prison as Told by David Karsner” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Your Liberties Will Go With ‘Gene Debs When He Goes to Prison

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD Slave is My Brother, AtR p1, May 1, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 30, 1919
“…while Debs is in prison, you are not free, no honest man is free…”

From the Appeal to Reason of March 29, 1919:

Banner Headline EVD to Go to Prison, AtR p1, Mar 29, 1919
—–

The decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the prison sentence passed upon Eugene V. Debs by a lower federal court came as a distinct shock to several millions of the American people. It is true that the hopes of these people were not pinned to the slender faith that Debs would find a just refuge in this high court of the powers that be. While the Supreme Court frequently sets aside laws with an astonishing alacrity, they are such laws as are obnoxious to privileged interests rather than to plain citizens. Setting aside the Espionage Act, especially to remove the threat of prison from Debs the spokesman of labor, was the last thing the Supreme Court could have been rationally expected to do.

The reply of the Appeal to the Supreme court is simply this: Whatever you can or cannot do, whatever you will or will not do, in the case of Debs makes little difference in the actual and final settlement of the issue. Where ignorance and prejudice are blissfully enthroned, ’tis folly to look for wisdom and tolerance. If you had it in your power and province to make Debs a free man by a mere effortless nod of the head, we know well that you would not do so. Politically you may safely defy any storm of public opinion, because you are secure in your arbitrary life jobs. But there are other branches of the government that depend upon the suffrage of the people and that must, unless madness has seized them and they are led to listen to the most stupid of counsels, place themselves responsive to the manifested will of public opinion. We believe that President Wilson and certain members of his official family are really inclined to favor action that a sufficient sentiment of the people, clearly expressed, may demand. That is to say, we believe that they are wise enough to listen to the people when the people talk loud enough and that they are not so wrapped in reactionary stupidity and prejudice that they will obdurately refuse to follow a course that demonstrates itself to be popular.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Your Liberties Will Go With ‘Gene Debs When He Goes to Prison” →

Hellraisers Journal: Debs in Omaha, Believes Workingmen Will Soon be Ready for Economic Revolution by United Ballot

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Modern Wage Slave, Terre Haute May 31, 1898, Debs-IA

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

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 23, 1898
Omaha, Nebraska – Eugene Debs Tells Old Story of Wealth and Poverty

On Wednesday December 21st, Eugene Debs was interviewed in Omaha and said, in part:

It is the old, old story—economics—the concentration of industry. The middle class of middlemen are being obliterated; they buy goods in small quantities and pay more than the department stores which buy by the carload. The department store advertises cheap goods, gets the laboring man’s cash, and the little corner grocery has the “credit” business. The small dealer is crushed: labor is pinched and suicides have increased 200 percent in the last ten years…..

I believe the present system, so destructive to the better elements of mankind, is soon to be eradicated, and that by the workingmen. They are beginning to think, and from the products of their minds is developing an economic revolution.

From the Omaha World-Herald of December 22, 1898:

Morally I Mean to Pay Them
[Interview with Eugene Debs]

EVD re Social Democracy, SLTb p3, Feb 9, 1898

No, I did not attend the [A. F. of L.] convention at Kansas City. I am in deep sympathy with the meeting and wanted very much to go, but my lecture engagements prevented. I have been speaking every night for two weeks.

With what success?

At Boone, Iowa, I had a fair audience, but usually through Iowa my audiences were not large. You know, the railroads and other corporations have no love for me, and it is given out cold to the men, and many of them who would attend stay away, fearful of incurring the displeasure of the powers that be. Especially is this true in railroad towns. However I cannot complain: I speak and the papers report and thus I reach the masses.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Debs in Omaha, Believes Workingmen Will Soon be Ready for Economic Revolution by United Ballot” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Taft Is Elected; Bryan Defeated; Debs Victorious!”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD re Political Scabbing, AtR p2, Oct 3, 1908
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 7, 1908
1908 Campaign Ends with Taft Elected and Debs Victorious

From the Appeal to Reason of November 7, 1908:

Debs Victorious

EVD EVD Debs Victorious detail, AtR p1, Nov 7, 1908 Victorious

Taft Elected

EVD Debs Victorious, AtR p1, Nov 7, 1908

Debs Re-visits Woodstock Jail

FROM THE RED SPECIAL
—–
Debs Re-visits Woodstock Jail in
Last Days of Long Journey
-Vote should Be at Least a Million.
—–

EVD Debs Release Woodstock, Debs Life p194, AtR Pub 1908

Madison, Wis., Oct. 30.-We are now on the homeward lap, and when this is read by the Appeal readers the “Red Special” will have passed into history. This morning our first stop out of Chicago was at Woodstock, Ill. On arrival there the “Red Special” crew, and the assembled citizens marched to the Woodstock jail headed by the the “Red Special” band. On arrival at the court house, Harry Parker, manager of the train, called the meeting to order and made a few happy introductory remarks. Comrade Debs then addressed the people, recalling the time when he came to Woodstock as a prisoner, the intense feeling that then prevailed against him and how that had changed until now the people were as friendly and sympathetic as they were then hostile and hateful.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Taft Is Elected; Bryan Defeated; Debs Victorious!”” →