Tag: Telluride Strike of 1903-1904

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Meeting of Akron Central Labor Union, Describes Labor War in Colorado

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 10, 1904
Akron, Ohio – Mother Jones Speaks to Members of Central Labor Union

From The Akron Beacon Journal of September 9, 1904:

MOTHER JONES ADDRESSES LABOR UNION
———-
Woman Leader Speaks Her Mind
on Colorado Trouble.
———-

“COMMERCIAL CANNIBALS”
———-
Will Make a Public Address
in the City on Sunday.
———-

Mother Jones, Tacoma Times, Sept 19, 1904

The principal feature of the regular meeting of the Central Labor union Thursday night was an address by “Mother” Jones.

Mrs. Jones spoke mainly upon the labor war in Colorado. She maintained that the money powers and employers of the state of Colorado were united in an effort to crush out all organized labor. She stated that the governor of Colorado said the fight was against the Western Federation of Miners and not the American Federation of Labor he was a liar. Mrs. Jones described many of the scenes of this bloody labor war which she saw while in Colorado before she was deported.

About the Philippines.

She paid her compliments to the Dick bill by which the guns were supplied to the state of Colorado as well as the others. These guns were used by the militia in service at the mines.

Mrs. Jones brought up a bugaboo when she said she actually believed that the next congress would pass a law to make the Philippines a penal institution and ship all union labor over there.

She referred to the wealthy manufacturers of the east as the “commercial cannibals.” Commercialism was declared to be the curse of the whole country and responsible for the Colorado trouble.

Mrs. Jones then distributed some of her literature bearing on the labor questions of the day.

[Will Speak to Public on Sunday]

She will remain in Akron for several days and on Sunday afternoon will again speak in public under the auspices of the Central Labor union. A committee was appointed by the Central union to secure a hall for the purpose. One of the opera houses will be secured…

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Meeting of Akron Central Labor Union, Describes Labor War in Colorado” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones: “We want every dollar we produce, and what is more, we are going to have it!”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925————————-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 23, 1904
Brooklyn, New York – Mother Jones Cheered at Meeting of C. L. U.

From the New York Sun of August 22, 1904:

UNION MEN DINE AND TALK.
———-
C. F. U. Joins With Brothers in Brooklyn in Cheering Mother Jones.
———-

Mother Jones, Socialist Spirit p19, Aug 1902

The Central Federated Union of Manhattan and the Central Labor Union of Brooklyn met in the Labor Lyceum, Myrtle and Willoughby avenues, Brooklyn, last night, for a dinner with speechmaking on the side. About 300 men and women were present.

The guests of honor were John Z. White of Chicago and “Mother” Jones. The latter attracted the most attention and got the most cheers. In responding to the toast, “Law and Order in Colorado,” “Mother” Jones began by saying:

I hope the cheers you are giving me to-night you will give the Labor candidate for the Presidency the day after election.

Then she went on with parts of the speech she has been giving recently about her work and accounts of what she saw in the Colorado mining camps, and ended with an appeal for funds to help the Colorado miners in their struggle.

[She said:]

Even if you deplete your treasuries completely..it’s the best thing you can do with you  money.

John Sherwin Crosby talked on the “Open Shop,” opposing it.

Miss Annie C. Patterson urged the women to confine their purchases to those articles bearing the union label

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones: “We want every dollar we produce, and what is more, we are going to have it!”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Summary of Miners’ Strikes in Colorado and Utah, May 1904

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote Mother Jones re North n South Coal Miners Separate Settle, Ab p99, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 9, 1904
Summary of Miners’ Strikes in Colorado and Utah for May 1904

From The Salt Lake Herald of May 06, 1904:

Mother Jones at Conv of UT WFM, SL Helrad p3, May 6, 1904
Mother Jones with Delegates at Utah State Convention
of Western Federation of Miners

From the San Francisco Chronicle of May 1, 1904
Southern Coalfields of Colorado – Union Organizer Beaten, Not Expected to Live

The strike zone of the southern coalfields of Colorado continues to be a dangerous place for union organizers working for the United Mine Workers of America. Brother Wardjon was brutally assaulted there and was not expected to live. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on that assault and other news regarding the labor situation in Colorado:

ASSAULT ON A LABOR LEADER
———-
Mine Union Organizer Wardjon Beaten on Head
in Colorado So Severely That He May Die
———-
DENVER, (Col.). April 30.-W. M. Wardjon, national organizer of the United Mine Workers of America was terribly beaten on the head and shoulders with revolvers by three unknown men at Sargent, Col., to-day and lies in a critical condition at the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Hospital at Salida. Wardjon was traveling eastward from Crested Butte, where he had been organizing the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company’s miners, and was attacked in a car while the train was standing at Sargent.
He is suffering from concussion of the brain, and the hospital physicians say his recovery is doubtful.

In a lengthy brief filed before the Supreme Court to-day by Attorney E. F. Richardson in the habeas corpus case of Charles H. Moyer, president  of the Western Federation of Miners, who is held as a military prisoner at Telluride, Governor James H. Peabody is declared to be a usurper. Governor Peabody is compared by Richardson to a soldier drunk with power, and his acts in trying to suppress the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus compared to the acts of tyranny practiced on the people of England by the olden kings.

Richardson, in his brief, attacks the decision of the Supreme Court of Idaho in a similar case, and says it is the only court in the country that has said that the military was above the judiciary. He says that the decision does not follow precedent or commonsense, and that the Judges of the Supreme Court of Colorado should not consider it when deciding the present case.

The Legislature alone, Richardson says , has the authority to determine when the conditions require the suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus and then to suspend it.

PUEBLO (Col.).-April 30.-Because Charles Demolli, a former organizer of the United Mine Workers, failed to appear to-day as complaining witness against Oreste Pagnini, charged with being the ringleader of a gang which assaulted the Italian labor leader several weeks ago, the case was dismissed by Justice McCallip. Pagnini, however, will be held on a complaint sworn to by William Gearhard, charging him with assaulting Demolli with intent to kill. Demolli is in the coal fields of Kansas and is in communication with friends here.

INDIANAPOLIS (Ind.), April 30.-The Colorado situation was again taken up at to-day’s session of the national executive board of the United Mine Workers of America……

President Mitchell has telegraphed to “Mother” Jones, who is being held in quarantine near Price, Utah, directing her to report to him in person in this city as soon as possible. He says that there is no significance attached to this, and that the order was issued because the work in the district 15 at the present time is scarcely suitable for a women.

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Summary of Miners’ Strikes in Colorado and Utah, May 1904” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Rescued from “Quarantine” in Utah; Charles Moyer and Big Bill Haywood Persecuted Under Military Despotism in Colorado

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 30, 1904
Mother Jones Held in Utah; Moyer and Haywood Up Against Militia in Colorado

From The Rocky Mountain New of April 27, 1904:

Mother Jones has been in Utah since her deportation from Trinidad, Colorado. There she has been working among the miners of that state, and, for her efforts, was confined under “quarantine” near Helper, Utah. This was too much for the miners of that area and a raid was made upon the pest house which freed from Mother from that place. She has since been recaptured, and, according to the following report, is now held in the Carbon County jail at Price, Utah.

Mother Jones Escapes Quarantine to County Jail, Price UT, RMN p4, Apr 27, 1904

From the American Labor Union Journal of Apr 28, 1904
-Moyer brought to Denver, but returned to bullpen at Telluride;
Haywood brutally assaulted by soldiers:

BBH Moyer v Colorado Military Despotism, ALUJ p1, Apr 28, 1904

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Rescued from “Quarantine” in Utah; Charles Moyer and Big Bill Haywood Persecuted Under Military Despotism in Colorado” →

Hellraisers Journal: “Crimes of Capitalism in Colorado” by Eugene Victor Debs; Driving Out Mother Jones by C. W. Fryer

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 10, 1904
“Crimes of Capitalism in Colorado” by Eugene Victor Debs

From The Chicago Socialist of April 9, 1904:

EVD IA re Mother Jones CO Militia, Chg Sc p1, Apr 9, 1904

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Crimes of Capitalism in Colorado” by Eugene Victor Debs; Driving Out Mother Jones by C. W. Fryer” →

Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Miners Continue to Suffer Under Gen. Bell’s Despotism; Moyer Will Not Be Released

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 9, 1904
Colorado Miners Continue to Suffer Under Military Despotism

From The San Bernardino County Sun of April 2, 1904
-Military Despotism Continues in Colorado:

COLORADO MINERS STILL SUFFERING
———-

MILITARY’S DRASTIC ACTION
———
-Moyer Will not be Allowed Freedom.
Orders are That Habeas Corpus Shall not be Accepted
-Conditions in the Trinidad Coal Fields Continue Deplorable
-Families Being Evicted.
———

by Associated Press to THE SUN.

CO Militia on Mission to Arrest BBH, DP p3, Apr 4, 1904
The Denver Post
April 4, 1904

DENVER. April 1-General Bell commanding the State troops at Telluride, this morning telephoned Chief of Police Armstrong to detail detectives to watch every movement of Secretary and Treasurer Heywood [Haywood] of the Western Federation of Miners, who is under arrest on a warrant issued by a local court, charging him with desecration of the American flag.

Bell insisted that Heywood be returned to Telluride, no matter how many local warrants were issued and when the time came, a sufficient number of soldiers will be sent from the camp to arrest him, or the Denver troops will be called out to take him.

President Moyer of the Federation last night was removed from the bull pen to the new city jail. He was then locked in a cell and denied all privileges. He is being fed only two meals daily. The Governor has ordered Bell to refuse to accept service of habeas corpus for the release of Moyer. He must stay in custody until the case is taken to the Supreme Court.

EVICTING COAL STRIKERS.

TRINIDAD, April 1.-Fully a dozen influential men among the strikers in Las Animas county have been deported in the last three days by order of Major Hill. The wholesale eviction of strikers in Gray Creek has begun. The military is refusing to allow the people evicted to settle in other parts of the country.

Almost penniless men and their families are compelled to walk long distances to reach points where assistance can be obtained. Many evictions are reported in other camps of the county and much suffering has ensued.

[Newsclip and emphasis added.]

IS COLORADO IN AMERICA?

Mrs Emma F. Langdon Reports from Colorado:

Moyer was arrested on the 26th day of March, 1904, at Ouray, and taken to Telluride, charged with desecration of the flag. He was released under $500 bond only to be immediately re-arrested by the military authorities. A warrant was also sworn out charging Secretary-Treasurer Haywood with the same offense, but before it was served a similar one had been sworn out in Denver and Haywood remained in custody of the Denver officers. Governor Peabody, when interviewed concerning the re-arrest of Moyer, disclaimed any knowledge of the facts, but stated that it was the intention to rearrest Moyer every time he secured his release on bonds.

Mrs Langdon repeats the question raised by the “Desecrated” Flag Poster:

Is Colorado in America? If you consult the map you will find it there. If you read the facts in this recent industrial struggle in the light of American history and traditions, you will find nothing to recall memories of our country’s youth or the hopes that led strange people across the sea to stretch wider the boundaries of a land where none were so strong as to be above the laws and none so weak as to be beneath their protection. There is nothing in recent history, save by the way of contrast, to recall the fact that ours is the Centennial state marking more than one hundred years of progress under the idea that ”all men are created free and equal with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It is an unpleasant awakening from thoughts like these to a realization of such facts as were inscribed upon a symbol of the flag and burned into the hearts of thousands of Colorado’s citizens.

Desecration of the flag? Was it not the deeds done under it and not the truths inscribed upon it that constituted the desecration?

WFM Flag Poster CO America, BBH Moyer, Flag 1, Wiki

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Miners Continue to Suffer Under Gen. Bell’s Despotism; Moyer Will Not Be Released” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Labor World: Editor W. E. M’ewen Describes Reign of Military Terror Against Miners in Colorado

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 8, 1904
Editor W. E. M’ewen Describes Military Despotism in the State of Colorado

From The Labor World of April 2, 1904:

ANARCHY IN COLORADO.

CO Telluride Miners v Peabody, LW p1, Apr 2, 1904

The situation in Colorado is commanding the attention of the free thinking people of America. If there is such a reign of terror here as is charged by the executive authorities of the state why is it that the leaders of the lawless element have not been convicted in a court of Justice? If the miners are such a bad lot of men why have they not been prosecuted? These are questions that are asked by the thoughtful, unprejudiced men of America.

The truth is that Governor Peabody has entered into a conspiracy with the mine owner’s association to crush the miners’ union. The state’s treasury, already depleted in a vain attempt to destroy organization among the miners, is now being mortgaged, to complete the work of extermination which was begun last July. After the struggle is over and when the state shall have been carried to the verge of bankruptcy, it will be found that the miners’ union is stronger than ever.

A review of the hearing before the committee on labor legislation in congress proves conclusively that but one man was killed during the entire strike-a mine superintendent. The mine owners say that he was assassinated. The miners deny the charge, and say that he was killed as the result of a grudge, by an old enemy. The miners further declare that this superintendent was their friend and hence, even if the union championed crime, he would be the last man in Colorado to be attacked.

After several months of watchfulness the militia have at last arrested President Moyer, who is accused of being the arch criminal of the state. What is the charge against him? Desecrating the flag. The man who is accused of being the leading spirit in the criminal work of the state is cast into prison on an entirely foreign charge. Mr. Moyer had a hand bill printed with a picture of the American flag upon it, and the words “are we living in America,” above it. In the stripes were printed some rebukes against Gov. Peabody.

Miners have been deported from their homes by the Citizens’ Alliance of Telluride.

What is the Citizens’ Alliance of Telluride? An organization of gamblers-of the class that usually loiter about a mining camp.

Why are the gamblers against the miners’ union? Because the miners’ union is against the gamblers. The Western Federation of Miners is not only a progressive organization, but it is a wealthy organization. It discovered that many of its members were spending most of their wages at gambling.  After their money was gone they secured loans from the union. This grew to be a nuisance. The line had to be drawn somewhere. It could not very well cure the miner from gambling, so in the interest of self preservation it insisted upon the enforcement of the state gambling laws. This was a new departure in Colorado mining communities. The gamblers defied the law. The miners secured their arrest and conviction.

Since the strike was inaugurated Gov. Peabody has pardoned all of the convicted gamblers upon condition that they join the state militia. These are the men who are deporting the miners from their homes. The mine-owners, the governor of the state and the gamblers have formed a partnership, and entered into a conspiracy to crush the miners’ union. The purpose of the gamblers is to get the pittance that the mine-owners see fit to deal out to the miners, while the purpose of the governor at this time, is to rid the state of this body of citizens, knowing full well that he cannot get their votes on election day. There will probably be a political revolution in Colorado.

Then there is Mother Jones, the friend of the miners. She who goes about their homes, nursing the mothers and children, and speaking words of good cheer to the men, was cast into prison for doing this, by a tin soldier who is unfit to even touch the hem of her garment.

There may be some reason for military occupation in Telluride, but there cannot be any just excuse for military despotism. The fair and conservative people of America, when acquainted with the full facts in the case, will look with pity and contempt upon the state of Colorado.

[Newsclip and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Labor World: Editor W. E. M’ewen Describes Reign of Military Terror Against Miners in Colorado” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Peabody: “You don’t own this state-I am right here in the capital-what in Hell are you going to do about it?

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 30, 1904
Denver, Colorado – Mother Jones to Governor Peabody: “You Don’t Own This State”

Mother Jones Deported, DP P10, Mar 28, 1904Mother Jones was deported by the military on orders of Governor Peabody on Saturday March 26th. With other organizers of the United Mine Workers of America, she was put aboard a Santa Fe train bound for La Junta, Colorado, some 65 miles north and east of Trinidad. They were all given deportation papers which warned them never to return. Mother sat all night in the station at La Junta, and the next morning, with the assistance of a sympathetic railroad conductor, she was able to board a train to Denver. From her hotel room, near the Governors office, she wrote the following letter:

Mr. Governor,
You notified your dogs of war to put me out of the state. They complied with your instructions. I hold in my hand a letter that was handed to me by one of them, which says “under no circumstances return to this state.” I wish to notify you, governor, that you don’t own the state. When it was admitted to the sisterhood of states, my fathers gave me a share of stock in it; and that is all they gave you. The civil courts are open. If I break a law of state or nation it is the duty of the civil courts to deal with me. That is why my forefathers established those courts to keep dictators and tyrants such as you from interfering with civilians. I am right here in the capital, after being out nine or ten hours, four or five blocks from your office. I want to ask you, governor, what in Hell are you going to do about it?

Mother Jones

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Peabody: “You don’t own this state-I am right here in the capital-what in Hell are you going to do about it?” →

Hellraisers Journal: UMW Strike Leaders Mother Jones, William Wardjon, Joseph Poggiani and Adolph Bartolli Deported from Trinidad on Orders of the Governor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 29, 1904
Trinidad, Colorado – Coal Strike Leaders Deported on Orders of Governor Peabody

From The Scranton Republican of March 28, 1904

MOTHER” JONES AND OTHERS DEPORTED
———-
Major Hill Commanding State Militia at Trinidad
Causes Her Arrest on Saturday.

Mother Jones Deported, DP P10, Mar 28, 1904

DENVER, Colo., March 27.-Having received authority from the governor to act upon his judgment, Major Hill, commanding the state militia at Trinidad last night arrested “Mother” Jones, William Wardjon of Iowa, Joseph Pagini [Poggiani] and Adolph Bartolli, placed them on an eastbound train, and ordered them never to return to Trinidad or Las Animas county.

“Mother” Jones has been in Trinidad several months encouraging the strikers and counseling the driving out of non-union workers. Wardjon is an officer of the Iowa United Mine Workers who has been in Las Animas county for some time. He recently addressed a gathering of strikers advising that the non-union miners in the southern district be sent out in coffins. He further said that had such measures been taken here the strike would have been settled long ago. He called the Trinidad miners cowards, and said that if they had not shown cowardice and had done as he advised, the strike would not have lasted three weeks let alone three months.

A stenographic report of the speech was furnished Gov. Peabody before deporting Wardjon and others. Finding it was lawful and had been done in other states under similar circumstances, the government answered Major Hill’s request for authority to deport by placing the matter in the officer’s hands.

Pagini and Bartolli, who were deported with Wardjon and Mother Jones, are editors of the Italian Weekly at Trinidad, which was suppressed yesterday because of its rabid anarchistic editorials. President Moyer of the Western Federation of Miners, arrested yesterday for desecration of the flag, spent last night in jail at Telluride, being unable to secure bail.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

As can be seen from the above article, the kept press is always quick to accuse leaders of the United Mine Workers of America of inciting violence, yet violence committed against those same leaders by deputized private gun thugs draws no such criticism.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: UMW Strike Leaders Mother Jones, William Wardjon, Joseph Poggiani and Adolph Bartolli Deported from Trinidad on Orders of the Governor” →

Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Officials Plot More Deportations Including Mother Jones; W. F. M. President Charles Moyer Arrested for “Desecration” of the American Flag

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 28, 1904
Colorado Governor Peabody Plots Further Deportations from Strike Zones

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

From the strike zones of Colorado comes news of further actions being taken against strike leaders by Governor Peabody. In Trinidad, where the United Mine Workers are conducting a strike against the coal operators, the military is planning to deport Mother Jones and other leaders from the strike zone.

In the strike zones of Telluride and Cripple Creek, posters and flyers (see below) printed by the Western Federation of Miners and authorized by Charles Moyer, President, and Big Bill Haywood, Secretary-Treasurer, were distributed. As a result, Moyer has been taken into custody for “desecration” of the flag.

WFM Flag Poster CO America, BBH Moyer, Flag 1 n 2, Wiki n World Today p973, Aug 1904

From The New York Times of March 27, 1904:

TO RUN LABOR LEADERS OUT OF COLORADO
———-
“Mother” Jones and Mine Agitators
Among Those to Go.
———-

MINERS’ PRESIDENT ARRESTED
———-
Charged with Desecrating the American Flag
-Italian Paper Seized by Militia and Censorship Established.
———

Special to the New York Times.

DENVER. March 26.-Gov. Peabody and Attorney General Miller held a conference this afternoon at the Capitol, at which a programme of deportation was decided upon for Trinidad. After the meeting the Governor wired Major Hill to prepare to deport all non-resident labor leaders from the district.

A special train will be secured and the leaders referred to will be taken outside the State and left there. The names on the deportation slate include those of Mother Jones of Pennsylvania, W. R. Fairley of Alabama, William Wardjon of Iowa, Chris Evans of Indiana, and Edward [Charles] Demolli of Utah.

The local companies assert that if the miner agitators are taken out of the district two-thirds of the strikers will return to work. The fact that they are non-residents will prevent them from securing injunctions or habeas corpus writs, the privilege granted a citizens of the State.

At Trinidad to-day the office of the Anarchistic weekly paper, Il Trovotore Italiano [Il Lavoratore Italiano], was seized by a squad of soldiers and this week’s issue, which was ready for distribution, was confiscated. It is charge that the paper had incited strikers to violence. Major Hill has established a press censorship.

[Note: Il Lavoratore Italiano is an Italian-language newspaper published since 1902 in Trinidad, Colorado, which serves as the official organ of the United Mines Workers’ District 15.]

———-

OURAY, Col, March 26.-Charles Moyer, President of the Western Federation of Miners, was arrested here to-day on charge of desecrating the American flag, and started overland for Telluride.

President Moyer was arrested on warrant which charge that he used pictures of the flag with inscriptions painted between the bars as poster.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Officials Plot More Deportations Including Mother Jones; W. F. M. President Charles Moyer Arrested for “Desecration” of the American Flag” →