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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 19, 1919
Sacramento, California – Fellow Workers Convicted at Federal Trial
From the San Francisco Examiner of January 17, 1919:
Tag: Sacramento CA
Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento Federal IWW Trial Continues; Agents Tell of Raids on “Alleged” California Headquarters
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 16, 1918
Sacramento, California – Fellow Workers Continue Silent Defense
From the San Francisco Examiner of December 14, 1918:
U. S. AGENTS TELL OF RAIDS ON ‘WOBBLIES’
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Poster Ridiculing Army, Emery Dust,
Copper Nails Seized;
Trial at Sacramento Continues
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Prosecution to Present Testimony Showing
Connection With I.W.W. Organization
in Chicago
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SACRAMENTO, December 13.-Emery dust, a poster ridiculing the United States Army, copper nails and leaflets ostensibly warning against sticking nails in fruit trees “while Ford and Suhr are in jail,” were seized in a raid on Fresno I. W. W. headquarters, S. J. Shannon, deputy United States marshal, testified here today at the trial of 46 persons for alleged conspiracy of the Industrial Workers of the World to hinder war work.
A half-dozen government operatives today told of raids on alleged California headquarters of the organization at San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Los Angeles, Fresno and Redding. Documents said to have been seized were offered by the government in its preliminary movement to establish the membership in the I. W. W. of the defendants.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento Federal IWW Trial Continues; Agents Tell of Raids on “Alleged” California Headquarters”
Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento IWW Trial: Federal Charges Against Fred Little Dismissed, Brother of Martyr Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 12, 1918
Sacramento, California-Charges Dismissed Against Fred Little
Fred Little, brother of Martyred Fellow Worker, Frank Little, is now free, having had charges against him dismissed by federal prosecutors. Emma Little, wife of Fred Little, has also suffered her share of persecution. Her home has been invaded by federal agents, her children terrorized, and her papers seized. Yet she continues steadfast in her support for the imprisoned members of the Industrial Workers of World.
From the San Francisco Examiner of December 10, 1918:
JURY EXAMINED TO TRY I.W.W.
—–
Four of Seven Talesmen Examined
Passed Temporarily
and Three Are Excused.
—–SACRAMENTO, December 9.-Questions as to what impressions they had formed from reading literature on the Industrial Workers of the World, news stories and other matter relating to the Bisbee deportations more than a year ago and who they thought responsible for the dynamiting of the executive mansion here December 17, 1917, were asked by counsel for three of the defendants in the Industrial Workers of the World conspiracy trial, which was begun here today.
Hellraisers Journal: Fellow Workers Plan “Silent Defense” at Sacramento Federal Trial of Industrial Workers of the World
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 11, 1918
Sacramento, California-Federal Trial of I. W. W. in Progress
The trial of members of the Industrial Workers of World is now in progress in Sacramento, and little to no mention is made by the kept press of the five fellow workers who did not live long enough to face a jury of their peers.The San Francisco Chronicle of December 9th does mention them briefly:
[F]our of the defendants-Robert James Blaine, Edward Burns, Henry Evans and Frank Travis-have died since they were arrested.
However The Chronicle fails to mention the death of defendant, Fellow Worker James Nolan, and also fails to mention that these five fellow workers were imprisoned under horrendous conditions and further fails to mention that they died of influenza/pneumonia to which those unsanitary conditions may have been a contributing factor.
From the San Francisco Examiner of December 8, 1918:
I.W.W. to Treat U.S. Charge
With Silent Contempt
—–47 Defendants in Conspiracy Case
at Sacramento
Will Make No Defense.
—–SACRAMENTO, December 7.-A “silent defense” is the program of the trial committee, which will represent all but one of the forty-seven defendants in the Industrial Workers of the World conspiracy cases, who will be brought to trial here Monday in the United States District Court, according to Robert Duncan, special attorney for the Department of Justice, who will prosecute the case for the government.
Duncan said today he had received information from among the defendants and through other sources that it was the plan for the defendants and their committee to treat the entire proceedings with “silent contempt” and to take no part in the trial.
The only women defendant, Theodora Pollok of San Francisco, will be represented by Attorney Nathan C. Coghlan of San Francisco. The other defendants announced at their arraignment October 8, when they entered pleas of not guilty, that they had dismissed their attorneys and would conduct their own trial.
One defendant, Julius Weinberg of San Francisco, entered his plea of guilty on October 4, but has not been sentenced.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to obstruct the war program of the United State government.
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Hellraisers Journal: Tom Mooney’s Death Sentence Commuted to Life in Prison by Governor Stephens of California
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 29, 1918
Sacramento, California – Life of Brother Mooney to be Spared
From the San Francisco Chronicle of November 29, 1918:
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Governor, in Decision,
Refuses to Recognize
Case as Representing
Clash of Capital and Labor
—–
ACTION INFLUENCED BY
APPEALS FROM WILSON
—–
Convicted Man No True Friend
of Working Class,
Statement Says;
Matter Decided on Merits
—–Sacramento, November 28,-The death sentence of Thomas J. Mooney was commuted to life imprisonment today by Governor William D. Stephens. Mooney, convicted of the Preparedness parade bomb murders in San Francisco July 22, 1916, was sentenced to be hanged at San Quentin Prison December 13.
In announcing his decision governor Stephens asserts the case does not represent a clash between capital and labor. He characterizes as “absurd” propaganda that would make Mooney appear as a martyr to the cause of labor, and indicates that this action was influenced by two telegraphic appeals from President Wilson which urged commutation of sentence for international reasons….
WE NEVER FORGET: The IWW Martyrs of the Sacramento County Jail Who Died Awaiting Trial, October-November, 1918
Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
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The IWW Martyrs of the Sacramento County Jail
Between October 22nd and November 2nd, 1918, five Fellow Workers, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, died of influenza while awaiting trial on Federal Espionage charges.
FW Ed Burns-died October 22nd
FW James Nolan-died October 28th
FW R. J. Blaine-died October 28th
FW H. C. Evans-died October 31st
FW Frank Travis-November 2nd
“The Silent Defense,” IWW Pamphlet, describes jail condition:
Fifty-three were arrested in and around the Sacramento hall [December 1917]. These men were thrown into a [county] jail cell, 21×21 feet. All of them could not lie down at once. It was winter. One cotton blanket was given each. Their food was about two ounces of mush in the morning, less than two ounces of bread. and at night three fetid little smelts and less than two ounces of potatoes, with “coffee” twice a day. In the cold they shivered. Day by day they starved. By relays they slept at night; the bedlam of a city drunk tank soothed their slumbers wooed in frost and starvation. Everyone of these men had money when arrested. They sent out and bought food for themselves. This is a general privilege in the Sacramento jails. This food was placed before their cells just outside the prisoner’s reach. It rotted there. They slaved and starved. Once or twice some of the “harness bulls” of Sacramento slipped their lunches to the ravenous wretches.
Hellraisers Journal: Five IWWs Under Federal Indictment in Sacramento County Jail Have Died from Spanish Influenza
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 3, 1918
Sacramento, California – Five Fellow Workers Dead of Influenza
Fellow Worker Frank Travis died yesterday of influenza while awaiting trial on federal charges in the Sacramento County Jail. Travis is the fifth indicted I. W. W. member to die of influenza. Edward Burns was the first to die on October 22nd. James Nolan and Robert Blaine died October 28th, and Henry Evans died on October 31st.
From The Sacramento Bee of November 2, 1918:
Two Prisoners Die-Two more County Jail inmates died to-day of the influenza. Frank Travis died in the County Jail, while Peter Ramiez died after he was removed to the County Hospital. Travis is the second county prisoner to die in the jail, while Ramiez is the fourth county prisoner to die at the hospital.
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Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Debs Special Paints the Coast Red-California, Oregon and Washington
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 7, 1908
The Red Special Paints a Crimson Streak Up the Pacific Coast States
From the Appeal to Reason of September 26, 1908:
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San Bernardino.
HE first evening meeting after the crimson flyer left Salt Lake City was held at San Bernardino, California, September 8. For the purpose a large park pavilion had been secured and the largest attendance at any political gathering in the history of the city greeted the speakers from the train and the veteran Comrade N. A. Richardson, well known wherever the Appeal is read as the author of that mighty little pamphlet, “The Introduction to Socialism.”
Excursion trains were run in from neighboring points; and, after 4,000 people had crowded the great auditorium, hundreds were turned away because it was physically impossible to find room for one more. Although the train arrived a half hour ahead of time several hundred were at the station to meet it and listen to the concert by the band which pleased even those benighted brethren whose minds were yet befogged with capitalistic teaching.
Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento IWWs Held In Jail Under Wretched Conditions; Federal Trial Set to Begin in November
Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 3, 1918
Sacramento, California – Fellow Workers in Jail, Hungry and Cold
The federal trial of Sacramento members of the Industrial Workers of the World is set to begin in November (see article below.) Meanwhile, most of those arrested remain in jail under wretched conditions which has greatly undermined their health. Jail conditions are described:
They must sleep in relays due to crowded conditions with one cotton blanket given to each man to ward off the winter chill. Food consists of “two ounces of mush in the morning, less than two ounces of bread, and at night three fetid little smelts and less than two ounces of potatoes, with ‘coffee’ twice a day.” They are allowed to send out for food, bought and paid for with their own money, but when the meal arrives, it is placed before their cells, just out of reach, where they can watch it rot.
From the San Francisco Examiner of October 1, 1918:
I.W.W. TRIALS START NOV. 8
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All Cases in State to Be Consolidated for
Sacramento Hearing in U.S. Cases.
—–John W. Preston, special assistant to the United States Attorney General, yesterday announced that the numerous I. W. W. cases, including the ones which are before the court in Los Angeles, have been consolidated for trial in Sacramento. There will be seventy-five defendants, charged with violation of the espionage law and obstructing the draft.
The case will not go to trial next week as was scheduled, but will be continued until November 8 by Federal Judge Wm. C. Van Fleet.
G. N. Murdock, special agent of the Department of Justice who prepared the evidence in the Chicago I. W. W. trials, has been assigned to take charge of the investigation in the present case, Deputy United States Marshal Thomas Mulhall, who has been conducting the collection of evidence, will be assigned other duties.
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Hellraisers Journal: General Defense Committee of Industrial Workers of the World Organizes Despite Persecution
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong
-Ralph Chaplin
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 10, 1918
I. W. W. Prepares for Greatest Labor Trial in History
From the International Socialist Review of February 1918:
The General Defense Committee of the I. W. W.
—–
THE conspiracy of the Owners of American Industry to put the One Big Union out of business by legal procedure will come to a showdown during the coming I. W. W. trials in Chicago, about the 25th of February.
It may be the greatest labor trial in the history of these United States, resulting in the conviction of the 106 workers, or the trial itself may turn into an indictment of the profit system, which will shake the thrones of the fat copper and lumber profiteers. For as Prof. Roger W. Babson points out in the Magazine of Wall Street: “There are two wars in progress today. One is between nations and the other is between classes.”
At the present time, over one thousand members of the I. W. W. are in jails across country, but there are away over one hundred thousand members on the outside. The faster they jail them the faster they grow. Tomorrow there will be more of them than today. There will never be enough jails to go around!
