Hellraisers Journal: The Body of Rebel Songwriter, Poet, & Artist Joe Hill Reduced to Ashes

29th November 20153rd November 2017 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Through this aperture each of us, one at a time,
and each with feelings all his own,
viewed the flame-lashed casket.
-Ralph Chaplin

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 29, 1915
Chicago, Illinois-
The Body of Fellow Worker Joe Hill Reduced to Ashes

Joe Hill, charcoal, by L. Stanford Chumley, ISR, Dec 1915

In his Last Will, FW Joe Hill wrote:

My body? Oh! If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.

In accordance with the wishes of our Rebel Songwriter, Hill’s body was taken to the crematory at Graceland Cemetery on Friday, November 26th, and cremated. Ralph Chaplin has provided a moving description of the cremation procedure:

The coffin lid was raised for the last time to permit final identification. The attendants looked to me as committee spokesman for word to proceed. I bowed my head. The casket was wheeled to the doors of the blast chamber, which creaked open to receive it. The steel doors creaked together, and the tiny room was all white again. Only the roar of the fire blast could be heard, growing louder and louder. We could hardly bear it.

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Hellraisers Journal: Thousands Gather in Chicago to Honor FW Joe Hill and Sing His Rebel Songs

27th November 201517th October 2017 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

I. W. W. movement has been sealed in
the sweet blood of this poet-radical.
-Jim Larkin

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Saturday November 27, 1915
Chicago, Illinois-
I. W. W. Gives FW Joe Hill a Grand Send-Off, Thousands March

A grand funeral hosted by the Industrial Workers of the World was provided for Fellow Worker Joe Hill, Working Class Martyr. Thousands gathered in the West Side Auditorium on Thanksgiving morning, November 25th. The windows of the auditorium were open and the singing within could be heard by the the thousands who filled the streets outside, extending for blocks in every direction.

After the morning’s orations were completed, a great throng of mourners followed the casket to the train which bore the remains of FW Joe Hill to Graceland Cemetery. Another funeral service took place there followed by singing which lasted late into the night.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Worker & Rebel Songwriter Joe Hill Executed by Utah Firing Squad; “Died Game.”

19th November 201521st September 2017 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

JOE HILL SHOT AT SUNRISE. DIED GAME.
-ED ROWAN

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Friday November 19, 1915
Salt Lake City, Utah-
Fellow Worker Joe Hill Executed by Utah Firing Squad

Joe Hill, lgr

FELLOW WORKER JOE HILL

At 7:40 a. m. in the prison yard of the Utah Sate Prison, Fellow Worker Joe Hill was shot to death by firing squad. Ed Rowan and other friends and fellow workers whom Hill had invited to attend the execution were not allowed to enter the prison. According to Rowan, they stood at the gate and heard the shots ring out “like musketry in battle,” a sound, says Rowan, that is still ringing in his head.

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