Tag: The Labor World

Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Vagrancy Law Targets Striking Coal Miners, No Penalty for Lock-Outs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday February 2, 1918
State of West Virginia – Targets Strikers with Vagrancy Law

From the Duluth Labor World of January 26, 1918:

STRIKERS ARE TERMED LOAFERS
—–
West Virginia Law Makes Idle Men Subject
to Arrest for Vagrancy.
—–

WV Miners Strike, Gunthugs, Labor World, Sept 1, 1917

WHEELING, W. Va., Jan 24-Men who go on strike in West Virginia are liable to arrest for vagrancy under the new vagrancy law rushed through the last special session of the legislature. The law provides, under penalty of arrest and sentence for vagrancy, that able-bodied men, between the ages of 16 and 60, must be employed in some lawful, useful and recognized business or occupation whereby they may earn a sufficient income to support themselves and those legally dependent upon them.

A number of strikers already have been arrested under new law. The restlessness of organized labor in West Virginia is conceded to be the impelling force that necessitated an extraordinary session of the legislature to pass this law.

[Says a West Virginia labor official:]

Under the guise of attacking the loafer, the state legislature created the most effective instrument for the breaking of strikes.

The sinister aspect of the law is to be seen in the fact that no penalty is provided for the man who withholds work from others eager for the opportunity to earn. Lockouts are legal, while strikes are criminal.

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Hellraisers Journal: Widows and Orphans of Monongah Crying for Bread; One-Half of Coal Camp’s Breadwinners Are Dead

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote, Paul U Kellogg, re Monongah, Labor World, Jan 11, 1908
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday January 16, 1908
Monongah, West Virginia – Hunger Reigns with Breadwinners Dead

Who among us could ever forget the following from journalist Dorothy Dale reporting from the devastated town after the great mine disaster:

Please letta me work, lady; gotta getta money…Please you get something for me, I can do.

A little hand touched my arm. The curl-framed face of a girl of 10 years looked into mine.

[She said pitifully:]

You know mans all dead. Boys all dead. Only girls left to work.

From The Labor World of January 11, 1908:

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS CRYING FOR BREAD
—–
Entire Burden of Every Industrial Disaster Falls
Upon the Poor Wage-earners’ Family.
—–
Bread Winners Killed By Wilful Negligence of
Their Employers, the Union Smashers.
—–

Monongah MnDs, Tots Beg for Work, Ptt Prs, Dec 10, 1907

In the appeal issued by the Monongah Relief Committee it is stated that of the 3,000 inhabitants of Monongah the mine disaster destroyed one-half of the breadwinners. Two hundred and fifty wives, 1,000 children and many unborn children are left without means of support. The company has declared that the families occupying these houses may remain in them until other provision is made for them and in other ways has been generous in its attitude, but it states that operations cannot be resumed at the damaged mines until these houses are available for the new force. $200,000 is asked for by the Relief Committee to meet these needs. Commenting on the situation Paul U. Kellogg, special representative of Charities and The Commons, says:

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Duluth Labor World: “Women Convicts Sold,” Dark Age Practice Persists in Alabama

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WEB DuBois quote 1901, Slavery Convict Lease

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday December 26, 1917
Birmingham, Alabama – Women Convicts Sold for 15 Cents a Day

`
From the Duluth Labor World of December 22, 1917:

WOMEN CONVICTS BEING SOLD
FOR 15 CENTS A DAY
—–
Vicious Practice of the Dark Ages
Still Obtains in Alabama.
—–

Clarissa Olds Keeler, Convict Lease System, 1907

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec. 20.— Women convicts in this state are sold to contractors for 15 cents a day and are housed in filthy stockades while candidates for the governorship talk of the “gradual” removal of this glaring evil, declares the Monthly Bulletin of the Alabama state federation of labor.

This publication says:

Under a recent date line, Escambia county, state of Alabama, rises to remark that Escambia county has made a most advantageous contract with a certain employing concern, where the county has leased its women convicts for two years for the munificent sum of 15 cents per day. Such things make us wonder if we are still in the dark ages, with all the blind ignorance of human instincts, with all the intollerant cruelty of the old savage slave dealer and buyer, and this happened in the enlightened state of Alabama. Women, sold into slavery to the highest bidder, to do whatever that bidder desires; work, slave, toil through the days; rest in stockades, filthy and unfit, for the nights; truly a picture upon which every Alabamian should look with pride; and candidates for the governorship favor the “gradual” removal of convicted persons from the mines and lumber camps.

For years and years labor has fought this system of slavery in the state. Governors have promised to abolish it, legislatures have promised to abolish it; the people have demanded its abolishment, but when it comes to weighing the human soul against the almighty dollar the dollar wins every time. Poor, indeed, must be that state which has to sell its legal slaves into involuntary servitude that it may use the revenue thus obtained to pay its teachers, to pay its officers, to pay its expenses in other ways, to pay the jurors who send the unfortunates to the mines; to pay the judges who pronounce sentence.

And not a man offers for office in the state but who will wink at this inhuman traffic in human souls; not one of them will come out flatly for the abolition of this traffic.

[Photograph added of “Crime of Crimes” by Clarissa Olds Keeler.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Bisbee Deportation Severely Scored by Report of President Wilson’s Mediation Commission

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 1, 1917
Washington, District of Columbia – Bisbee Deportation “Wholly Illegal”

The deportation of the striking miners of Bisbee, Arizona, carried out last July by the sheriff of Cochise county and about 2,000 of his armed “deputies,” was “wholly illegal and without authority in law, either state or federal.” So says the recently released “Report of the Bisbee Deportations Made by the President’s Mediation Commission.” The Commission was chaired by Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson.

William B Wilson, Sec of Labor, LOC ab 1913

From the Duluth Labor World of December 1, 1917:

COMMISSION CRITICIZES BISBEE DEPORTATIONS

WASHINGTON. Nov. 29.—Severe criticism of the persons responsible for the deportation of 1,186 striking copper workers from Bisbee, Ariz., and the Warren mining district July 12, is contained in a report of President Wilson’s special labor commission made public Saturday by the president.

The deportation was carried out by the sheriff of Cochise county and about 2,000 armed men, “presuming to act as deputies under the sheriff’s authority,” the report said, and “was wholly illegal and without authority in law, either state or federal.”

After extensive investigation of the causes and circumstances surrounding the copper mine strike, the commission found that the deportations were planned by a number of Bisbee citizens, including officers of the Phelps-Dodge and Calumet & Arizona mining interests.

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Montana: Pettibone Trial Delayed, Adams Trial Proceeding, Darrow in Idaho

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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To advocate peace with things as they are
is treason to humanity.
This is a class struggle and on class lines
it must be fought out to a finish.
-Ida Crouch-Hazlett

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 4, 1907
Rathdrum, Idaho – Jury Selection in Adams Trial

In Boise, the Pettibone trial is delayed until November 18th; and from Rathdrum, we find reporting on jury selection from The Labor World and from the Montana News.

From the Duluth Labor World of November 2, 1907:

George A Pettibone, Darrow Collection

PETTIBONE TRIAL DELAYED.
—–
Hearing Set for Monday Is Postponed
Until Nov. 18 by Stipulation.

BOISE, Idaho, Oct. 31-Attorneys for state and defense in the case of complicity in the murder of former Governor Steunenberg, today signed a stipulation that the trial, which was set for next Monday shall be continued until Nov. 18.

———-

[Photograph added.]

More from The Labor World:

Steve Adams, Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case of 1906-07, Darrow Collection


EDITOR OBJECTIONALBLE TO
ADAMS DEFENSE
—–

RATHDRUM, Idaho, Oct. 30.-The work of securing jurors to try Steve Adams progresses slowly. Most of today was taken up in the examination of L. G. Willis, one of the editors of the Coeur d’Alene Journal. The defense appears to be making a strong effort to get him off the jury. Attorney Clarence Darrow arrived yesterday and has taken charge of the examination of jurors. There are still 63 jurors in the box who have not been called.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Suffragist Alice Paul Sentenced to Six Months in Workhouse for “Obstructing Traffic”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We feel that we are not subject
to the laws of this court,
in the making of which we have no part.
-Alice Paul

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday October 26, 1917
Washington, D. C. – Rebel Alice Paul Jailed for Freedom’s Cause

Although the following report from the News and Observer scores Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party as “the laughing stock of Washington,” we nevertheless find therein the statement issued by Miss Paul and her supporters shortly after sentence was passed upon her.

From North Carolina’s Raleigh News and Observer of October 24, 1917:

ALICE PAUL HAPPY IN JAIL UNDER
THE CLAIM OF MARTYR
—–
She Will Serve at Least Half a Year Unless
There Is Un-expected Turn
—–

SHE WAS ILL WHEN FIRST PICKETS
WERE ARRESTED
—–
Congressional Union For Woman Suffrage or Its Successor
The National Woman’s Party
Considered More or Less a Fake Organization
Since It Started
—–

By H. E. C. BRYANT.

Suffragists, Alice Paul, Eve Pb Ldg p1, Philly, Oct 22, 1917

Washington, Oct. 23.-Miss Alice Paul is happy now that she is in jail, and can make the claim of martyr. She was ill when the first White House pickets were arrested, tried and sent to prison but as soon as she got well she began to try to force the authorities of the District of Columbia to recognize her as the leader of the lawbreakers. She was sentenced to six months for one offense and one month for another. She will serve at least a half a year unless some unexpected turn comes to free her.

The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage or its successor, the National Woman’s Party, has been more or less a fake organization ever since it started. Conventions have been held, and delegates “selected” from the “various States.” A few years ago, when a national convention was held here, and all the States were to be represented, the News and Observer correspondent went to the Columbia Theatre, where it assembled, to get a list of the North Carolina suffragists. The Tar Heel seats were filled with women carrying North Carolina standards but only one or two out of the score who “represented” the State had ever as much as passed through it. Most of the women claiming to be North Carolinians lived in the District of Columbia, where they were born. The “national convention” was made up of fake-delegates. Like the three famous tailors of Tooley street they met and resoluted.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Duluth Labor World: “Character Sketch Of Clarence S. Darrow”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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True patriotism hates injustice
in its own land
more than anywhere else.
-Clarence Darrow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 26, 1907
A Tribute to Clarence Darrow, Hero of Many Battles For Labor

From the Duluth Labor World of September 21, 1907:

CHARACTER SKETCH OF CLARENCE S. DARROW
—–
Great Lawyer Who Defended Haywood
Fought Many Battles For Labor.
—–
He has Ever Been On the Firing Line
In the Interest of Humanity.
—–

HMP, Darrow Addresses the Jury, OR Dly Jr, June 29, 1907

—–

Twelve years ago, when Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned as a result of his activities in the great railway strike in Chicago, Clarence Darrow became his legal champion. Three years later he defended Thomas I. Kidd and two striking woodworkers who were charged with having “conspired,” through their union, “to injure the business” of a great lumber company in Oshkosh, Wis. His arguments, which has been printed in phamphlet form and is pronounced by no less a critic than William Dean Howells “as interesting as a novel” resulted in the acquittal of his clients.

A more distinctive figure than Darrow’s, says Kellogg Durland, in the Boston Transcript, has seldom come out of the west:

He was born in the Western Reserve of Ohio. His father was an honest man. After qualifying for the church he gave up the cloth for a country store that he might “feel surer of what he was doing.” At 19 young Darrow was teaching school. One year of college life satisfied him. Early in his twenties he drifted to Chicago and studied law. All his life he has been a dreamer and happy in his dreams. He has the strength of a man of vision. As a lawyer he has wide reputation, for he has been the corporation counsel for a great railroad and the defender of men like Eugene V. Debs and Kidd in the famous woodworkers’ conspiracy case. Public life has always called him, but he has mostly been deaf to the call. “I want to make my living as a lawyer and devote my leisure to writing stories and essays,” he has pleaded almost peevishly. “And I want to write a long novel.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Grand Jury Refuses to Indict Mesabi Range Strikers, Teofilo Petriella Goes Free

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 17, 1907
Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike: Good News from the Front Lines

From the Duluth Labor World of September 14, 1907:

GRAND JURY REFUSES TO INDICT STRIKERS
—–
No Miscarriage of Justice in Duluth Courts.—
Won’t Practice Range Methods.
—–
Jury Practically Holds That Petriella Was
Justified in Protecting Himself.
—–

Mesabi Miners Strike, T. Petriella, Mpls Tb, July 27, 1907
Teofilo Petriella

The cases against the striking miners on the Mesaba range have fallen flat. When the Grand Jury took up the matter of the nine miners who were bound over on the charge of inciting a riot they listened to the evidence presented by the state, and then promptly, and very properly dismissed the matter by asking that the defendants be released.

Petriella too, who was bound over for carrying concealed weapons, was dismissed, and his $1,000 was returned to him.

One of the members of the grand jury in commenting on the cases said: “It was ridiculous to bring such frivilous cases before the grand jury.”

Judge Brady ought to see by this time that he is putting the county to needless expense in binding men over to the grand jury simply because hirelings for the Steel Trust bring them before him.

Petriella admitted carrying a revolver, but the jury thought he was justified, in view of the fact that newspapers on the range were threatening his life, advising tar and feathers, and demanding that he be driven from town. Petriella’s bail money was returned to him.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1907, Part II, Found on Minnesota’s Iron Range, and in Chicago, & Cincinnati

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday September 13, 1907
Mother Jones News for August, Part II: Travels to Chicago

Mother Jones, Tacoma Times, Sept 19, 1904

On August 21st, Mother left Duluth, Minnesota, after concluding her time in Northern Minnesota where she had been traveling the Mesabi Range in support of the striking iron miners and giving speeches alongside of C. E. Mahoney of the Western Federation of Miners. She next traveled to Chicago where she was found speaking in support of the Telegrapher’s Strike. At one union meeting she advised young woman on the issue of keeping company with scabs:

When you find these fellows sneaking back to work, keep him out if you can; if you can’t, renounce them and see that any fellow who calls on you carries a union card or else order him from your door.

Mother also made a short trip to Cincinnati in order to speak at Socialist Picnic in that city.

From The Cincinnati Post of August 23, 1907:

MJ, Ad Speech, Cinc Post p4, Aug 23, 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1907, Part I, Found in Arizona, Denver, & Minnesota’s Mesabi Range

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 12, 1907
Mother Jones News for August, Part I: Arrives on Mesabi Range

Mother Jones by Bertha Howell (Mrs Mailly), ab 1902

During the month of August 1907, we found Mother Jones in Arizona continuing her work on behalf of the Western Federation of Miners. After a brief visit to Denver to congratulate William D. Haywood on his recent acquittal, Mother turned up briefly in Chicago and from there she traveled to Minnesota’s Mesabi Range to support the W. F. of M. and the ongoing strike of the iron-ore miners of that region.

Today we present Part I of our Mother Jones News round-up for the month of August 1907. We will continue tomorrow with Part II.

From The Clifton Copper Era of August 1, 1907:

Mother Jones in Clifton.

The well known labor champion. Mother Jones, arrived in Clifton last Sunday evening and commenced on Monday with a series of open air meetings, which will be continued throughout the week. She is a white-haired lady of seventy years and has spent the most of her life in the interest of the laboring classes. She is the best feminine speaker that has ever appeared in Clifton and outside of a few strong remarks about companies her talks so far have been very mild, and not what was expected of her.

In some of her talks she drifted back into ancient history among the laboring classes and brought it out to the present time. The main object of her visit here is to give advice to the Mexican laborers, some of whom have taken part in the recent strike at the A. C. smelter. She is a rugged old lady and her voice is exceedingly well suited for the position which she occupies. She has had vast experiences with the laboring classes, having taken active part in almost every strike that has occurred in the United States.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1907, Part I, Found in Arizona, Denver, & Minnesota’s Mesabi Range” →