Tag: Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909-1910

Hellraisers Journal: Charles Grant on Free Speech & Law and Order from the First Edition of Spokane’s Industrial Worker

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote Charles Grant, Spk IWWs Sing in Jail, IW p3, Mar 18, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 19, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Free Speech and Law Order

From the Industrial Worker of March 18, 1909:

Industrial Worker Spokane, Vol I No I, Mar 18, 1909
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LAW AND ORDER IN SPOKANE

By Charles Grant

[Since the I. W. W. began holding outdoor meetings in Spokane…..]

…The capitalistic papers, Spokesman-Review-morning dollar sign-and its concubine, the Chronicle, were quick to take up the cry against the I. W. W. The Spokane Press brought up the rear. Rev. Dr. Bull wrote several [withering?] articles against the union, saying he considered these the most dangerous men in Spokane.

The City Council.

The city council was influenced by Dr. Bull to draw upon an ordinance [which] prohibited free speech and peaceful assemblage upon the streets of Spokane, but this applied only to the revolutionists and Industrial Workers of the World.

The Fourth of March.

The I. W. W. still persisted in the fight and forced the council to a general application of the law in all organizations, Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, etc., and on the 4th of March an ordinance was put into effect, and on that date J. H. Walsh violated the ordinance and was arrested, put in jail and fined $10 and costs. The Salvation Army and Volunteers also violated the ordinance and were arrested, but not put in jail. Their fines were also $10 and costs. All the cases were appealed to the superior court, but the members of the I. W. W., as individuals, continued to speak upon the streets, were arrested and placed in jail. The conditions there equalled the black hole of Calcutta. Mexican dungeons were not to be compared as regards brutality and utter hate for humanity.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fight Against Employment Sharks is on in Spokane, “The I. W. W. Storm Center for the West”

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote JH Walsh, re Employment Sharks, IUB p1, Feb 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 28, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Takes on Employment Sharks

From The Industrial Union Bulletin of February 20, 1909:

“STORM CENTER OF THE WEST”

IWW Gen Adm Emblem, IUB, Mar 14, 1908

The I. W. W. storm center for the West just now appears to be Spokane, Washington. The very great activity of the fellow workers of that city is noticeable at General Headquarters in frequent orders and remittances for due stamps, membership books, buttons and other supplies, as well as Bulletins and other literature. Their fight against the employment bureau sharks continues unabated, and with growing sentiment against those institutions.

Fellow worker James Wilson, secretary of the Central Committee of the Spokane locals, writes on Dec. 19: “Over 100 members have joined here this last week,” and again on Dec. 23, he says: “I can tell you in all sobriety that we are convinced that the success of the I. W. W. in this part of the country will be amazing from now on, and I flatter myself that I am not visionary.”

J. J. Stark writes Dec. 23 in behalf of Local 222: “We are going to move into a larger hall about the first of the year, where the rent will be $125 per month, while formerly we only paid $30. However I think that the increasing membership will warrant the move. Walsh is still with us and is doing great work. He has just received a telegram from Whitehead to come on the first train to Seattle, and will leave at once. It appears that there is something doing among the loggers, and they need his services for a time.”

———-

[Photograph and paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Spokane, Washington: IWWs Ready for Jail in Fight for Right to Hold Street Meetings

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote Thomas Paine re Liberty n Home, Age of Reason Into, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 31, 1908
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Plans Free Speech Campaign

From The Spokane Press of December 28, 1908:

ALL GET READY FOR JAIL
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INDUSTRIAL WORKERS WILL HAVE 500 SPEAKERS
ON TAP TO BE ARRESTED FOR
MAKING TALKS ON CITY STREET
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IWW Emblem Label, IWWC 1906

Another problem similar to that of jailing all the saloonkeepers in town will be presented the police department when an attempt is made to enforce the ordinance recently passed to prevent public speaking on the street. The Industrial Workers of the World have organized systematic opposition and yesterday they asked the socialists to join them.

The Industrial Workers already have a list of 50 speakers, and expect to secure a total of 500 out of their membership of 1,500 in this city. These speakers will be numbered, a street meeting started and as soon as one speaker is confiscated by the police another will take his place. The industrialists hold the ordinance an invasion of the rights of free speech, and say they would rather go to jail than abide by its provisions.

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Hellraisers Journal: Agnes Thecla Fair, Hobo Poet and “The Good Angel of Labor,” Memorialized by Alfred D. Cridge

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I have a sharp tongue and a hat pin,
and know how to put any man down and out
who gets foolish.
-Agnes Thecla Fair

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 13, 1917
Portland, Oregon – Agnes Thecla Fair Journeys On

Agnes Thecla Fair, OR Dly Jr, Dec 17, 1916

We are saddened to hear of the death of Sister Agnes Thecla Fair who took her own life on January 11th in Portland, Oregon. The Oregon Daily Journal of January 12th reported:

Convinced that failing health made it impossible for her to continue her work in behalf of the downtrodden in the ranks of labor, Agnes Thesla [Thecla] Fair, noted street lecturer and writer on sociological subjects, yesterday afternoon ended it all by throwing herself in front of an Oregon City electric car on Spokane avenue in Sellwood [a neighborhood of Portland]. She was 37 years of age…

A Tribute from the Appeal to Reason of February 10, 1917:

Agnes Thecla Fair, Rough Neck, Railway Carmens Jr, Apr 1914

Agnes Thecla Fair

[“Sister Agnes”-as she was called by thousands-is dead. All through the west, Agnes Thecla Fair’s name is known to the workers in almost every mining and lumber camp. Wherever union men needed help-Agnes was there. Wherever the Socialist had a particular difficult job-Agnes was there. Wherever the victims of the system endured especially trying hardships-Agnes was there with a helping hand. She was a rare character-a real woman hobo. She never hesitated to ride the rods. She went to hundreds of cities via the boxcar route. On such trips she wore overalls. The following appreciation of “The Good Angel of Labor” appeared in the Oregon Journal of Portland, on January 14. Agnes was killed under a train:]

—–

BY ALFRED D. CRIDGE.

Agnes Fair has gone again, this time never to return. She was a frail and earnest little woman, whose experiences had been many and varied for her thirty-seven years of life. She never spoke of her early life or parentage to me, but in a way we were friends.

Agnes was the friend of every man who was down and out. That we were not better friends is because I never was in a position to need her help.

Agnes was first heard of by me as being active in the free speech fight in Spokane some years ago.

She was known before that in Seattle and in the Yukon territory and Alaska as the advocate, nurse and provider for the under dog.

Agnes never sought help for herself. She always sought help for others. She would sell the clothes she had on to help the down and outs. I have known her literally to do so.

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