Tag: Socialist Party of America

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1909: “The President Gave Me an Audience.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Friend of Friendless, St L Labor, June 26, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 13, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1909, Part II:
-Hard at Work for Release of the Mexican Political Refugees

From St. Louis Labor of June 26, 1909:

Washington, D. C.,
June 17, 1909.

Editor [G. A.] Hoehn,
St. Louis, Mo.
Dear Comrade:

Mother Jones Seeks Pardon Crpd, Oak Tb p3, June 24, 1909

I have been hard at work for a week, working for the release of the Mexican Political Refugees. Yesterday the President gave me an audience. I presented a sworn statement from Gue[r]ra, who has been sentenced to the Federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. Warden McCloughery was extremely courteous and sympathetic in every way.

T. V. Powderly, one of the early fighters for Labors’ rights in the stormy days of the past, arranged a meeting with the attorney of the Board of Pardons; he gave me a very respectful hearing, and promised to send the papers to the President as soon as possible.

When the President and I met, his salutation was: “Mother Jones, it seems to me that you are always working in behalf of the friendless?” I replied:

Well Mr. President, those who got many friends do not need my assistance.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Monster Mass Meeting Held in Tombstone on Behalf of Mexican Patriots

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Save Our Mexican Comrades, AtR p3, Feb 20, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 14, 1909
Tombstone, Arizona – Citizens Protest Conviction of Mexican Revolutionaries

From the Appeal to Reason of June 12, 1909:

CITIZENS’ PROTEST.
—–
Monster Mass Meeting in Tombstone, Ariz.,
Petitions Taft for Pardon for Mexican Patriots.

Mex Rev, Villareal Magon Rivera, Barbarous MX p307, 3rd ed 1910

Had it not been for the corporation influences in Arizona it is very unlikely that Magon, Villarreal and Rivera would have been convicted of the charge of conspiring to violate the neutrality laws of the United States. The organized miners and the unprejudiced farmers and stockmen were quite certain that the neutrality laws had not been violated by anybody-not even by Mexican peons who occasionally crossed the line into the United States for the purpose of buying arms and ammunition with which to prosecute the revolution against Dictator Diaz-and clearly not by the leaders of the junta of the Mexican liberal party, who admittedly were in Canada when the conspiracy was alleged to have been made. With the exception of mine managers, superintendents, shift bosses and corporation hirelings, including Pinkerton and Furlong detectives, virtually every persons in Arizona was in sympathy more or less pronounced with the cause for which Magon and his associates stood.

In Tombstone at the beginning of the trial there was some division of public sentiment, though the majority of those who expressed themselves were convinced of the innocence of the prisoners. As the trial progressed and the weakness of the prosecution became manifest expressions of sympathy for the Mexican prisoners were more frequent. The last day of the trial virtually every person in Tombstone declared the Magon, Villarreal and Rivera were innocent and that the jury ought not to have to leave the box to make up a verdict of acquittal. There were no bets made the last day, as there were no takers. The detectives, Mexican consuls, spies, thugs and gunmen employed by the United States government in its prosecution of the defendants kept together and stayed close around their headquarters; these were the only fellows who desired the conviction of the Mexicans.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for May 1909: Found in Peoria, Illinois & Girard, Kansas

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Ladies Women, NYT p3, May 23, 1914———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 13, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1909:
-Found Arriving in Girard, Kansas, at End of May

Mother Jones w edit crpd ag, Dnv Rck Mt Ns p2, Feb 28, 1909

Throughout the month of May, we found Mother Jones within the pages of the Appeal to Reason where she was announced as a featured speaker, along with Eugene Debs, at the Kansas Socialist Women’s Conference scheduled for June 4th and 5th. The May 29th edition of the Appeal reported that:

Mother Jones reached Girard yesterday and says that unless she is obliged to return to Washington before the day set for our conference she will gladly assist.

Mother was also found May 19th speaking at the Switchmen’s convention held in Peoria, Illinois.

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Hellraisers Journal: Letter to The Crisis Reminds Editor of Ben Fletcher, “Sole Negro Defendant” at IWW Chicago Trial

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We respect [the IWW] as one of the
social and political movements
in modern times that draws no color line.
-WEB DuBois for The Crisis
———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 7, 1919
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher, Prisoner at Leavenworth, Remembered

From The Crisis of June 1919:

I. W. W.

[by W.E.B. Du Bois]

IWW, Ben Fletcher, 13126 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher

AN editorial in the Easter CRISIS (written during the Editor’s absence) has been misunderstood and was, perhaps, itself partially misleading.

Mr. F. H. M. Murray of Washington, D. C., writes us:

In a recent editorial in your magazine the statement is made that there are no Negroes among the Industrial Workers of the World. While I am certain that the statement is erroneous, I am not at this moment able to lay my hands on anything in print to confirm my denial, except the following from an article in last Sunday’s New York Call magazine, by David Karsner, who reported the trial of the big batch of members of the I. W. W- in Chicago last summer and later the trial of the five Socialists at the same place. He is writing about Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, who presided at both trials and who imposed upon the hundred or so I. W. W., who were convicted, and the five Socialists, sentences aggregating over nine hundred years in prison and fines aggregating over two millions of dollars. Mr. Karsner says:

“There was only one defendant among the I. W. W., to my knowledge, who refused to believe in Judge Landis [during the trial]. He was Ben Fletcher, the sole Negro defendant. One day in the corridor I asked Ben what he thought of Judge Landis. Ben smiled broadly, ‘He’s a fakir. Wait until he gets a chance; then he’ll plaster it on thick.’ Ben was a sure-thing prophet, for the Judge plastered him with ten years, and his counsel said with not enough evidence to invite a reprimand.”

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Hellraisers Journal: The Messenger on FW Ben Fletcher: “The best and bravest, the noblest and most courageous”

Janet RayeA. Philip Randolph
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 27, 1919
Prisons and Jails of the U.S.A. Now Hold the “Best and Bravest”

From The Messenger of May-June 1919:

POLITICAL PRISONERS

IWW, Ben Fletcher, 13126 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
—–

The recent conviction and sentenced of the national Socialist officials, the Supreme Court’s confirmation of the convictions of Eugene V. Debs and of Kate Richards O’Hare, definitely stamp the United States as the most archaic, antiquated and reactionary of the alleged civilized nations. In addition to these popular and well-known characters, there are 1,500 political and class prisoners in the prisons. Practically all other countries have granted amnesty to their political prisoners, but the U. S. is sentencing them more savagely now than during the War.

Men like Victor Berger, Adolph Germer, Louis Engdahl, Irwin St John Tucker and Charles Kruse have each been sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years for speaking a word in favor of human liberty and for making statements concerning profiteering and patriotism, the truth of which has been amply corroborated by the Federa Trade Commission and the Federal Income Tax Reports. Among the 1,500 political and class prisoners are men of practically all races and nationalities.

Negro men like Ben Fletcher, who have done more to improve the actual economic and social life of Negro workers than the much heralded so-called leaders, are in prison for fifteen and twenty years. There is no race, color or sex line involved. The best and bravest, the noblest and most courageous, are in the dark and cavernous prison cells of this country.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1909, Part II: Found in Western New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Injunction Shroud, Bff Exp p7, Apr 24, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 10, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1909, Part II:
-Found in Speaking and Touring in Western New York

After being disappointed by her missed visit last February, the working men and women of Olean, New York, were pleased to welcome Mother Jones into their midst for a speech given Tuesday evening, April 20th.

From the Olean Evening Times of April 19, 1909:

Mother Jones, Dnv Pst p2, July 19, 1908

Reception Tonight-This evening Mother Jones will arrive in Olean, and will be given a reception in the Trades and Labor Council hall at 8 o’clock, at which time those who desire will be given an opportunity to meet her. Tomorrow evening she will deliver an address in the opera house on “Peonage in Mexico, and what it means to the American workingman.” The meeting will be called to order by Elmer E. Evans and August Klenke will act as chairman. An invitation has been extended to the officers of all the local labor organizations to take seats on the platform. Music for the occasion will be furnished by the Red Mens’ band. It is anticipated that the opera house will be filled, and those desiring seats are advised to be early.

[…..]

Peon Labor and Its Effects on American Workmen, will be the subject of Mother Jones’ lecture at the opera house Tuesday night.

When miners were evicted because they dared to strike for more wages it was Mother Jones, who will speak at the opera house Tuesday night, took the wives and children to the woods and sheltered them in tents and secured food for them until the strike was won.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1909, Part I: Found Speaking in Dayton, Ohio

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Mother Jones Quote, Child Labor Man of Six Snuff Sniffer———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 9, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1909, Part I:
-Found in Dayton, Ohio, Speaking to Socialists

From The Dayton Herald of April 19, 1909:

SPECULATION SCORED BY “MOTHER” JONES

Mother Jones, Dnv Pst p2, July 19, 1908

It is doubtful if the Auditorium ever held a more interested audience than that which filled it to the doors Sunday afternoon to hear “Mother” Jones’ address. Miss Gertrude Rodgers presided and in her introductory remarks said the Socialists were the only party which today recognized the equality of the sexes politically and economically and was pledged to lift womankind in the world’s affairs.

“Mother” Jones’ appearance on the stage at the conclusion of Miss Rodgers’ introductory remarks, called for a long continued welcome that clearly indicated the pleasure of those who came to hear her.

[Mother Jones stated:]

The unrest of today threatens the peace, not only of this nation, but of the world and upon the working class fails the problem of establishing peace that shall be world-wide and permanent.

[She further said:]

Were Lincoln alive today, and in power, he would, as in 1863, order the doors of prisons now holding the Mexican political prisoners thrown open and set them free, as he did the chattel slave.

“Mother” Jones jabbed working class voters for being responsible for present conditions, saying that in last November they had gone to the polls and instead of voting for their own interests, had endorsed the “ruining class” candidate.

CHILD LABOR.

The child labor question received scathing arraignment. She declared the present industrial machine had entered the sacred precincts of the home reached down into the cradle and caught the babe, had torn its hands and arms from its body, caused it to have shrunken forms and sunken lifeless eyes, in order that profits might flow to those who controlled the machinery of production. Then she denounced society for its indifference to these daily occurrences, and pointed out that in the near future it would dearly pay for these atrocious wrongs.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Daily Bulletin: From Paris to Cleveland, May Day Parades and Meetings Attacked

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD re Unity for May Day 1919, fr SPA Progam———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 5, 1919
Butte, Montana – The Bulletin on “Bomb Plot” Frame-Up and May Day “Riots”

The following reports and opinion pieces are from The Butte Daily Bulletin, published May 1st, May 2nd and May 3rd, and covering the dramatic events surrounding May Day 1919.

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of May 1 1919:

May Day Bomb Plot, Btt Dly Bltn p1, May 1, 1919

BOMBS ARE SENT BY MAIL
—–
Packages Sent to Several Government Officials
and Citizens Throughout U. S.
Contained Explosives.
—–

(Special United Press Wire.)

Washington May 1.-What is believed by the officials to be a wide spread attempt on the lives of members of Wilson’s cabinet has just been discovered. Seventeen packages being held in the postoffice at New York were found to contain explosives. it is not known how many have already passed through the mail.

The packages were addressed to officials throughout the United States among whom were; Postmaster-General Burleson, Secretary of Labor Wilson, Attorney-General Palmer, and Commissioner-General Palmer, and Commissioner-General of Immigration Caminetti. There were also packages addressed to John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, New York Commissioner Howe, Mayor Hylan of New York, Governor Sproul of Pennsylvania, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, District Attorney Fickert of California and his assistant, Edward Cunha. The bombs were similar to the ones received by Mayor “Ole” Hanson of Seattle and former Senator Hardwick of Georgia. The packages all bear the label of Gimble Bros., a New York department store, but the officials of the store declare they are imitations.

Fear is expressed that some of the packages may have had sufficient postage to insure their delivery through the mails and may be enroute to their intended victims. It is noted that virtually all the prominent men to whom the packages were addressed are concerned one way or another with the immigration problems. A warning has been issued by the postoffice department to all postoffice inspectors and superintendents in charge of the railway mail service to watch for any bombs that may still be in transit. If has not been ascertained, the officials state, whether any bombs have been sent to the Americans who are attending the peace conference.

Friends of Edward Cunha delivered the package to him at his sick bed, thinking that it was a present for him. The package was only partly opened when their suspicions were aroused and the package was not opened until later. When the contents were disclosed they were found to contain sulphuric acid and explosives similar to that received by Mayor Hanson. Ficket’s package was left unopened.

———-

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