Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 18, 1914 Salt Lake City – Police Search for Applequist in Connection with Morrison Murders
From the Deseret Evening News of January 15, 1914:
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...A gunshot wound in the right hand of Hillstrom, which puzzled deputy sheriffs and police yesterday was explained by Chief Fred Peters of Murray, who said that he “took a shot” at Hillstrom when he leaped from his bed yesterday morning and reached under his pillow. The wound was not a deep or serious one.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 15, 1914 Salt Lake City, Utah – Joe Hill Arrested in Connection with Murder of Grocer and Son
From The Salt Lake Tribune of Jan 14, 1914:
At an early hour this morning Sergeant Ben Siegfus expressed the belief that Joseph Hill, arrested for the murder of the two Morrisons, is Frank Z. Wilson, a former inmate of the state prison. The description of Hill corresponds closely with that of Wilson. The police have been searching for Wilson ever since the murders.
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Suffering from a wound believed to have been inflicted by John Arling Morrison, 17 years old, just before the boy fell dead, a victim of a murderer’s bullet, Joseph Hill, a musician, was brought to the county jail at 2 o’clock, charged with the murder of John G. Morrison and John A. Morrison, his son, in their grocery store in Salt [Lake City] last Saturday night.
Hill was arrested at 11:30 o’clock last night [January 13th] at the home of a family named Eselius on West Seventeenth South street, in Murray, by Marshal Fred Peters and Deputy Marshals Edwin Larson and Joseph Van Newland. They were told of his presence at this home by Drs. F. M. McHugh and A. A. Bird, who had been called to the Eselius home to treat the wounded man. Hill had been lying suffering from his wound at the Eselius home since last Saturday night.
Walked to Murray.
The wounded man walked into the residence of Dr. F. M. McHugh, 4002 South State street, in the outskirts of Murray, at 11:30 o’clock Saturday night [January 10th]. He was suffering from a wound to the left side. A bullet had entered the side pierced the left lung and emerged through the back. The man had apparently lost a great deal of blood and was in a weakened condition. He appeared to the doctor to have been walking a long distance.
The doctor took the man into his house and dressed the wound. Hill told the doctor that he had quarreled with a friend in Murray over a woman and that in the quarrel the friend shot him.
Later in the night Dr. McHugh saw Dr. A. A. Bird, also of Murray, driving by on State street, and called him in. At Hill’s request Dr. Bird drove the man to the Eselius home. Hill had previously known the Eselius family and they apparently believed Hill’s story of the shooting and gave him shelter. At the hour that Hill was treated by Dr. McHugh, the doctor had not heard of the shooting [of the Morrisons]. His suspicions were aroused later on hearing of the account of the murders in Salt Lake, and he then notified the Murray officers.
Maintained Silence.
Since his arrest Hill has maintained a sullen silence. When the officers entered the Eselius home, Hill made a feint as if to draw a gun and was quickly covered by the arresting officers. Hill then made no resistance. He has obeyed the commands of the officers quietly, but has refused to answer any questions.
After he had been brought to the county jail early this morning Hill was examined by Dr. W. N. Pugh, who said that while the wound was a serious one, there was a strong probability that he would recover from it. He said that his silence and apparently dazed condition might have been at least partially induced by opiates given him by the doctors to ease his pain.
The police are elated over the capture of Hill, whom they feel certain is one of the men wanted for the murder of the Morrisons. As soon as Hill’s condition warrants, an effort will be made by the officers to induce him to make a confession and give the name of the accomplice.
Linked about the wounded sufferer at the city jail hospital is already woven a strong chain of circumstantial evidence, even though Merlin Morrison, the only eyewitness to the tragedy, may be unable to make a positive identification of the man.
In a general way Hill’s description corresponds to that of one of the two scarlet-masked men who dashed into the Morrison store on Saturday night and shot to death the proprietor of the store and his brave son. Both Morrison and his son were killed with bullets fired from a .38-caliber automatic pistol.
From the blood-stained coat of Hill at midnight that same night Dr. McHugh took a .38-caliber automatic pistol.
Drawings of Joe Hill, 1911 & 1914, from Postcards
Sent to Charles Rudberg
From Labor History Journal of Fall 1984:
JOE HILL-CARTOONIST
by PHILIP MASON
In 1980, the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University acquired four postcards written by Joe Hill, the “Wobbly songwriter and poet,” to a friend, Charles Rudberg, between the years 1911 and 1914. The four postcards contained more than the usual short message-each included a cartoon of drawing by Joe Hill…..
Mason goes on to describe the postcards (see below).
Mason fails to mention exactly how the postcards were acquired, but perhaps they came from Rudberg’s daughter, Frances Horn, of Ventura, California, with whom Mason had communicated. Horn stated that her father and Joe Hill were childhood friends in Galve, Sweden, and reunited later in San Francisco shortly before the San Francisco Fire. Both Rudberg and his daughters cherished the postcards from Joe Hill and kept them as “priceless heirlooms.”
Mason was, in 1984, Director of the Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs , Wayne State Univ., Professor History Dept.
Franklin Rosemont states that in a letter to Mason on January 29, 1980, Frances Horn wrote that her father told her older sister that Joe could also “sing like an angel, play the violin like a master and write like a fury.”
POSTCARD DRAWINGS by JOE HILL
January 24, 1911 -from Joe Hill at Coalinga CA to Charles Rudberg at Sailors Rest Mission, San Pedro CA:
“Doings of Väran Kalle”
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April 29, 1911 -from Joe Hill at Sailors Rest Mission, San Pedro CA to Charles Rudberg at Sailor’s Union Hall, East Street, San Francisco CA:
“I’ve Got a Mission to Fill Don’t Ye Knauw, JO-EL”
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September 2, 1911 -from Joe Hill at San Pedro CA to Charles Rudberg at Sailors Union Hall, East Street, San Francisco CA:
“Oh you Hoboeing”
With Poem by Joe Hill:
The song of Mauser bullets may be exciting and the rattle of machine-guns may also have its thrills- but Oh you hoboeing!
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December 18, 1914 -from Joe Hill at Salt Lake County Jail, Salt Lake City UT to Charles Rudberg at San Francisco (?) CA Note: Joe was not moved to Utah State Pen until July 1915, after appeal for new trial was denied by Utah Supreme Court.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 21, 1912 Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1912, Part I
Found in California Speaking on Behalf of Striking Shopmen
From The Sacramento Bee of January 8, 1912:
SHOPMEN HEAR “MOTHER” JONES
Mother” Jones, the famous labor leader, spoke in this city for the second time Saturday night, when she addressed meeting in Socialist Hall at 1024½ J Street. Her theme was the principles of labor unionism, and her remarks were made principally in behalf of the striking shopmen. “Mother” Jones declared the strikers were right, and urged them to hold out firm against the efforts of the Harriman lines to prevent them from establishing a shop federation.
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[Photograph added.]
From the Ogden Evening Standard of January 9, 1912:
MOTHER JONES AT M. E. CHURCH ———-
Evidently holding with Kipling that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” Mother Jones, internationally known because of her fiery oratory in defense of labor, arraigned and chided the women of her audience in the Methodist church last night, claiming that women are always the dangerous element to the cause of labor during strikes. Mother Jones spoke under the auspices of the Harriman federation, although the expenses of her present tour over the Harriman railroad system are being bourne by the Western Federation of Miners.
The aged “guardian of the minors,” now nearing her eightieth birthday, did not lack in oratorical vigor and spoke with all the vehemence that has marked her forty years experience in the labor movement. While Mother Jones spoke with almost brutal force at times, there was withal a kindly thread of sentiment throughout her talk which softened the harshness with which she emphasized her contempt for “scabs,” “corporation lap dogs,” “capital’s spies and detectives,” “capital’s rats,” and kindred vindictive frequently used.
Mother Jones turned many of her remarks to the women of her audience, stating that because the women in many instances do not understand the economic problems of the day they often persuade their husbands or brothers to return to work when their union is on strike. She contended that a large per cent of strike breakers became strike breakers because of the urging of women. “Women,” she asserted, “are the dangerous element in every strike, because they cannot see the need of labor’s organizations and do not know the struggle between capital and labor”
[She told the women:]
If I had a husband and he had never gone on a strike I would lick him and make him go on a strike. I would not live with such a servile slave, as the worker that never strikes. This nation was founded on a strike against George III and the bravest and best men of the nation have been striking against various forms of injustice ever since. And there have always been ‘scabs,’ men who were traitors to their fellows. There were traitors in the army of Washington and there were traitors to the Immortal Lincoln; always there have been traitors but the traitors have never in the end defeated a just cause. Labor never loses. It becomes better educated with each battle and its struggles becomes more intelligent and more heroic, and in the end it cannot lose.
The gray haired speaker recounted many of her experiences in different strikes, in which she has taking place, told of facing militia bullets in Pennsylvania during the coal strike of a year ago and during the greater strike of 1904. She said that the present strike on the Harriman lines was but a symptom of the industrial disease which infected the nation and the entire world and which would never be cured until the workers themselves owned the tools with which they worked. She ridiculed those whom she termed the timid strikers who were always asking how long the strike was going to last and told them that some strikes had been on after the workers had remained away from their jobs for five years. “This strike is going to last,” she said, “until the railroad company recognizes the federation of shop workers.”
Mother Jones will leave this city today for Salt Lake City where, she will deliver an address to the striking shopmen of that city tonight.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 26, 1908
The Socialist Red Special Rolls On Across the Great Plains
The journey of the Red Special across the American Great Plains is well documented in the following article from the Appeal to Reason. An inspiring message from Comrade Debs describes the thousands of cheering supporters who greeted the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in Colorado. As an added bonus, in this same edition of the Appeal, we find Comrade Haywood speaking in Enid, Oklahoma, and preparing for a tour of the great state of Kansas.
From the Appeal to Reason of September 19, 1908:
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From Debs.
DEAR APPEAL: The meeting at Denver last night can’t be described. The great Coliseum was packed and jammed and the surrounding streets filled with cheering, shouting Socialists. The scene can never be forgotten. Thousands could not get near the speakers. Have just left Colorado Springs, where we had a splendid meeting, notwithstanding the crowd, through a misunderstanding, was at the wrong depot. Five minutes after arrival at any station the “Red Special” has a crowd. We are thoroughly organized and take full advantage of every minute. We are ready to drop off at a minute’s notice and make a speech of half a minute to a hundred people, or two hours to twenty thousand people.
We are now up in the mountains and from far up the rock-ribbed sides of the Rockies can be seen the fluttering handkerchiefs of the Socialist miners and prospectors and their wives from the cabin doors and windows. It is great, thrilling, inspiring.
Marvelous transformation! The miracle is working out all around us and before our very eyes, and the Socialists seem to spring from the soil to join in the exultation. These grand old mountains all about us are smiling their benediction upon us and the green-plumed pines along our iron highway seem to sway in gladness and join in the applause.-E. V. DEBS.
We hail with joy the formation of the Western Labor Union which has progress for its main object. -Pueblo Courier
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 16, 1898
Salt Lake City, Utah – W. F M. and Montana Unionists Unite!
Rather than supplanting the Western Federation Miners as stated in the headline (see below) from the Salt Lake Herald, the avowed purpose of the newly founded Western Labor Union is to organize all unorganized workers into one powerful organization, especially the unskilled workers so often ignored by the American Federation of Labor.
From the Deseret Evening News of May 13, 1898:
FORM A WESTERN LABOR UNION.
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Includes All Territory in the United States West
of Mississippi and Canadian Northwest.
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Late yesterday afternoon [May 12th] an organization to be known as the Western Labor union, was formed in this city as a result of the executive conference of the Western Federation of Miners which has been in session here for the last few days. The organization came into existence on the adoption of the following resolution by a vote of 119 to 9:
Be it resolved, by this conference, that a permanent organization is hereby organized by this conference to be hereafter known and designated the “Western Labor union,” having for its object the unification of all labor unions and assemblies east of the Pacific ocean and west of the Mississippi river into one organization, or others not included within these lines who desire to affiliate with it; and to organize all the wage-earners within these lines, whenever possible. To promote the interests of labor by unceasingly working for the establishment of the initiative and referendum in every department of this government. This body shall grant and issue charters under seal to all subordinate unions or assemblies that make application for the same.
This union shall hold its annual conventions on the first Monday of September in such town or city as may be designated by the executive board.
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday March 30, 1918
From The New York Call: A Letter from the Atlanta Pen
The New York Call on March 24th published a letter written by Ammon A. Hennesey who, having been convicted of distributing literature against the draft, is now serving a two-year sentence at the Atlanta Federal Prison. Hennesey began serving his sentence on July 31, 1917. He hales from Columbus, Ohio, and is described as an “Irish America Socialist.”
Imprisoned with Hennesey is John T. Dunn, a Socialist from Providence, Rhode Island, who was sentenced to twenty years having been convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917.
Described also is William V. McCoy, a “Virginia mountaineer” from big Stone Gap, West Virginia who was convicted of conspiring to seize U.S. property and oppose the government. McCoy was sentenced to five years in prison and began serving his sentence on August 17, 1917. Despite the fact that he is sixty-one years old Mr. McCoy was sent to “the hole” in January and remains there at this time.
Don’t worry, fellow-worker,
all we’re going to need from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal, Friday September 7, 1917
Nationwide Raids Against Industrial Workers and Socialists
The nationwide raids conducted by federal agents on September 5th against the Industrial Workers of the World and the Socialist Party of America are described by the Spokane Spokesman-Review of September 6th:
US Officers Raid I. W. W. Headquarters
Over Nation
[Report from Associated Press]
Indictments May Follow.
MAGNOLIA, Mass., Sept. 5.— Attorney General Thomas W. Gregory was a guest at the summer home of Colonel E.M. House here this evening when he received word that raids on the headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World in many cities had been carried out as arranged by the federal Department of Justice.
“It is no secret,” said Mr. Gregory, “that the Industrial Workers of the World have been under suspicion for some time. The Department of Justice conducted a quiet investigation until I was convinced that we were warranted in taking such action as this.
“I do not need to say the the raids will be followed quickly by indictments if we find anything to warrant them, and the men will be prosecuted to the extent of the law if they deserve it.”
Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill
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Hilda Erickson
There are three love songs written by Joe Hill that have survived to make their way into our Rebel Songwriter’s musical legacy. Two were found in his room when it was searched soon after his arrest in January of 1914. These two songs were subsequently published in The Salt Lake Tribune of June 21, 1914. The third was found years later in Stockholm, Sweden, during a search of the Joe Hill file of the Archives of the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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—————, spoke in this city for the second time Saturday night, when she addressed meeting in Socialist Hall at 1024½ J Street. Her theme was the principles of labor unionism, and her remarks were made principally in behalf of the striking shopmen. “Mother” Jones declared the strikers were right, and urged them to hold out firm against the efforts of the Harriman lines to prevent them from establishing a shop federation.
