Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 22, 1910 Fresno, California – Thirty-Three Fellow Workers Now in Jail
From The Fresno Morning Republican of October 21, 1910:
THIRTY-THREE MEMBERS OF I. W. W. NOW IN COUNTY JAIL ———— Police Arrest Five More for Speaking on Streets Without Permit. ———— Sheriff Chittenden Says He Can Accommodate 300 “Workers.” ————
Industrial Worker October 19, 1910
With the arrest of five members of the I.W.W. last night by the police, there are now thirty-three of the so-called “workers” in the county jail. One was released yesterday as he declared that he was not an I.W.W. and asked for an opportunity to shake Fresno’s dust from his feet. Police Judge Briggs gave him the chance and he left town. All of the remainder, excepting the five jailed last night, have entered pleas of not guilty and demanded immediate trials by jury.
Four of the “workers” were in court yesterday morning. Alfred Nelson said he was not an I.W.W. and pleaded guilty to a charge of vagrancy. He was given a “floater.” H. S. Barnes, E. F. Doree and William Love pleaded not guilty to the same charge and demanded immediate jury hearings. The trio was returned to jail in default of bonds of $100.
At 8 o’clock last night, five were arrested on a charge of violating the city ordinance against speaking on the public streets without a written permit from the chief of police. Patrolman Al Hayes arrested J. Alpert, a lineworker; Helms arrested William Cashman and George Berger, miners; Pickens jailed Manuel Carragal, a laborer; and McKee arrested C. R. Neeley, a smelter-worker. All had I.W.W. buttons, working cards and literature but no money.The men arrived in town on the brakebeams of the southbound trains yesterday afternoon.
Since the I.W.W. headquarters were removed from Mariposa street to a tent in Belmont, just beyond the city limits line, the “workers” who arrive in town have found some difficulty in locating the place where they are supposed to register and receive financial assistance.
Sheriff Chittenden, who witnessed the scene at I and Mariposa streets last night, stated that he had made arrangements to accommodate three hundred of the I.W.W.’s if they come to Fresno.
“I can, on a moment’s notice, take all of the vags out of the bull-pen and turn it over to the ‘workers.’ This bull-pen, which is on the lower floor of the northwest wing of the jail, will accommodate approximately three hundred men. I am prepared for any invasion,” said the sheriff.
When the “workers” tried to speak at I and Mariposa streets last evening, a crowd of fully five hundred was in attendance. At the same time, evidently at a given signal, four men tried to speak, each on a different corner. The police were on hand in large numbers and the men had no sooner started than they were jerked from their boxes and taken to jail. The big crowd lingered for several minutes expecting to see more of the “workers” on the boxes, but after the arrest of the five men, none ventured forth and the crowd gradually melted away.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 3, 1910
Spokane, Washington – Gurley Flynn Reports from Free Speech Fight, Part I
From the International Socialist Review of March 1910:
Latest News from Spokane
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ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN.
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[Part I of II.]
HE agitation of the I. W. W. and free speech fight in Spokane, Washington, if it brought no other effects has been valuable in that it has forced the officials to take action against the employment agencies. In the beginning of the difficulty they were admitted by Judge Mann to be the cause of all the trouble. Since that time Mayor Pratt has frankly admitted refunding thousands of dollars to working-men who had been sold fictitious jobs by the employment agencies. There were about thirty-one in the city of Spokane but the licenses of all but twelve of these were revoked.
The following statement from Mayor Pratt explains this action: “On the whole we have found that the larger agencies have not been causing so much trouble. Some of the larger men have made a study of the business, understanding human nature, and have been successful. In some cases we find that men who do not understand the business have engaged in it nevertheless and have made a little money and have held on to every dollar that has come into their possession whether they were entitled to it or not.”
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 16, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Report on Brutal Treatment of Prisoners, Part II
From The New Appeal of January 11, 1919:
[Part 2 of 2.]
Summing up the results of his inquiry, Mr. Moore [Attorney for the Industrial Workers of the World] says:
Extremely fragmentary as is the above, I believe that the following points may be considered as fully established:
1. That negro convicts armed with clubs were used under the direction of Mr. Fletcher [Deputy Warden] to beat up white men. That among those so beaten up were Stratton, Murphy and Floyd Ramp.
2. That many prisoners, whose physical condition was extremely bad, were placed on bread and water diet and deprived of their blankets and compelled to sleep on the cement floor at a time when this would seriously endanger their health.
3. That many prisoners were chained by their wrists to the sides of their cells and so compelled to stand for a period in excess of twenty-four hours.
Visits Husband in Cell.
In an affidavit, of which The New Appeal has been furnished a copy, Mrs. Floyd Ramp, wife of one of the solitary prisoners, states that she was allowed a brief visit with her husband on December 15, having come to Leavenworth in response to a report from friends that her husband had been seriously injured. Mrs. Ramp states that she was not permitted to question her husband regarding his injuries, but that his right eye was badly discolored and he was in an emaciated condition. Owing to the presence of the guard she could elicit no information of what had occurred beyond the most vague and unsatisfactory references. Ramp did say that Stratton was “pretty badly hurt.” Mrs. Ramp states “that Jack Phelan, who was released from the Leavenworth prison on December 18 because declared by the Appellate Court to have been illegally incarcerated on a charge of violating the Espionage Act, told her he had seen Floyd Ramp’s body and that it was a mass of bruises which led him to believe that he had been beaten, kicked and trampled upon.”
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 15, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas – Brutal Treatment of Prisoners Reported
From The New Appeal of January 11, 1919:
[Part 1 of 2.]
In its issue of last week The New Appeal reproduced a report of conscientious objectors at Camp Funston, Kans., detailing the brutal treatment to which they were subjected at the command of certain officers, contrary to the express directions of the war department in Washington. This report was published primarily as a matter of record, the guilty officers having been dismissed from the service and the conditions complained of corrected.
We are now in the way of making a more important exposure-an exposure of brutalities committed upon Socialists, I. W. W.s. and others imprisoned in the Federal penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., brutalities that we have reason to believe have not been brought to the notice of the higher authorities since the efforts of interested persons to investigate these brutalities have been baffled at every turn by prison officials. Enough evidence has been dragged into the light, however, to make it shamefully plain, to use the words of Mrs. Floyd Ramp, wife of a Socialist prisoner, “that things are occurring in this penitentiary which citizens of a democracy should not knowingly countenance.”
Could Not Question Prisoners.
On December 12, F. H. Moore, a Chicago attorney, went to Leavenworth to discuss certain legal steps with the group of prisoners sentenced under the Chicago indictment of the I. W. W. alleged anti-war agitators. He also desired to make personal inquiry of the treatment the prisoners were receiving, disquieting reports of which had reached him through “underground” channels. In company with Miss Caroline A. Lowe, who assisted in the defense of the prisoners at the trial, Mr. Moore called upon the warden. They were told by the warden that they could talk over legal matters connected with the case, but they were absolutely forbidden to question the prisoners as to conditions in the penitentiary.
Mr. Moore, in a somewhat lengthy communication sent to The New Appeal, repeatedly emphasizes this autocratic censorship of the warden. As they interviewed, separately, each one of twenty-two prisoners held in solitary confinement with unusual punishment, the deputy warden, who was present during the interviews, sternly suppressed every attempt to question the prisoners as to the manner in which they had been handled and as to their physical condition at the time. Nor were Mr. Moore and Miss Lowe, when they met and conferred with the majority of the prisoners in a body permitted to refer to the condition of their fellow prisoners who were “in solitary.”
Proudly went out Joe unto his death
With smiling lips and fearless eyes
this message gave with his last breath
“Don’t mourn for me, but ORGANIZE.”
-Richard Brazier
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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday June 1, 1918 “Farewell, Joe” by Richard Brazier
From I. W. W. Songs, “General Defense Edition” of April 1918:
When you wear that button, the “Wobblies” red button
And carry their red, red card,
No need to hike, boys, along these old pikes, boys
Every “Wobbly” will be your pard.
-Richard Brazier
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 29, 1918
From the Chicago I. W. W. Publishing Bureau:
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———-HE agitation of the I. W. W. and free speech fight in Spokane, Washington, if it brought no other effects has been valuable in that it has forced the officials to take action against the employment agencies. In the beginning of the difficulty they were admitted by Judge Mann to be the cause of all the trouble. Since that time Mayor Pratt has frankly admitted refunding thousands of dollars to working-men who had been sold fictitious jobs by the employment agencies. There were about thirty-one in the city of Spokane but the licenses of all but twelve of these were revoked.
