Tag: Wichita KS

Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Class-War Prisoners of Kansas Assigned to Outside Work at Leavenworth Penitentiary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal -Friday December 26, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – I. W. W. Prisoners of Kansas Will Work Outside

From The Leavenworth Post of December 22, 1919:

WORK AT PRISON
—–
All Were Assigned to Outside Work
By Deputy Warden This Morning…
—–

IWW KS Class War Prisoners, CW Anderson 14801, Leavenworth Dec 18, 1919—–

The twenty-six I. W. W. received at the federal prison last week following their conviction in Kansas City, were assigned to work by L. J. Fletcher, deputy warden, this morning . They were “mugged,” dressed in and assigned to permanent cells last Saturday.

IWW KS Class War Prisoners, Frank J Gallagher 14802, Leavenworth Dec 18, 1919—–

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Class-War Prisoners of Kansas Assigned to Outside Work at Leavenworth Penitentiary” →

Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Insanity & Death

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Ralph Chaplin, When we claim our Mother Earth, Leaves 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 11, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part V & VI of Series by W. D. Lane

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

IWW KS, Uncle Sam Jailer by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–
IWW KS, Investigation by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–

[Parts V & VI of VI.]

V

Several times in this account I have referred to the jails described as having been “chosen” by the United States government for the confinement of prisoners awaiting trial. Let us see what justification there is for the use of this word.

The thirty-four men held under the Wichita indictment were originally taken into custody November 21, 1917. These men were all engaged in the oil industry in Kansas. They were, for the most part, young men, some of them married, some not. Judging from their names-Anderson, Boyd, Gordon, Forbes, Stark, Sapper, Barr, Poe, Gossard, Davis, etc.—many of them were of American or Allied extraction; some foreign names were among them, but only five, so far as I learned, were accused of being enemy aliens. The indictment against them charged violation of the espionage law, the food control law and the selective service law.

On March 10, 1918, a motion to quash this indictment was filed by their attorneys. No ruling on this motion was ever made. The attorneys stood ready, therefore, to go to trial on September 24, the day set. To their surprise, a new indictment was returned on that very day. This was drawn on lines similar to the previous Chicago indictment, which had resulted in sending nearly a hundred I. W. W.’s to prison for terms varying from a few days to twenty years. The attorneys could not at once accept trial on this new indictment, and so they were granted until March 10, 1919, in which to plead.

The men who, in September, had already spent ten months in jail awaiting trial, thus faced another five and a half months of confinement. Miss Lowe, their attorney, undertook to find as comfortable jails as possible, in which, she hoped, they might be allowed to spend the winter. They were then in the Sedgwick county jail, having been transferred to it for the trial. Sheriff Sprout, at Hutchinson, agreed to take twelve of the men, and the sheriff in Winfield, where there was a modern, sanitary jail, agreed to take sixteen. Thinking that she had thus arranged accommodations for twenty-eight, Miss Lowe reported her action to the United States district attorney, Fred Robertson, who was prosecuting the case. Mr. Robertson turned a deaf ear to her plea. In vain did she dwell upon the physical condition of the men and the consequences of spending another five months amid overcrowding and filth. Mr. Robertson said that prisoners had no voice in choosing their places of incarceration, and declared.that he intended to ask Judge John C. Pollock, judge of the United States district court for Kansas, to have all of the men placed in the Wyandotte county jail in Kansas City. This was one of the worst in the state.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Insanity & Death” →

Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Sedgwick County Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Ralph Chaplin, When we claim our Mother Earth, Leaves 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 10, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part III & IV of Series by W. D. Lane

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

IWW KS, Uncle Sam Jailer by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–
IWW KS, Investigation by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–

[Parts III & IV of VI.]

III

Another jail chosen by the United States for the confinement of its prisoners awaiting trial is the Wyandotte county jail at Kansas City, Kan. I shall not go into detail about this. As at Topeka, the men are kept in an inside stockade or “tank;” this has fourteen or sixteen cells and a somewhat larger bull pen than the other. The pen is artificially lighted. Little attention is paid to ventilation. Although there were upwards of thirty men in the jail at the time of my visit, only one of the thirty-six windows was opened wide and another was opened about two inches. The men complained bitterly of the cold nights, a complaint that I could readily understand when I saw what was provided them for covering. For two nights I had been cold underneath three thicknesses of blanket and a spread, and on one of these nights had got up and placed my overcoat over me. Yet these men had a single blanket apiece, which they could fold at most into two thicknesses.

The toilets, located in an end cell, were dirty and had broken seats. The men ate their meals in their cells, after wards washing their own pans and dishes. The only places where they could wash these were in the bathtub or in the tub in which they washed their clothes. The smell of garbage was almost constantly in their nostrils, since the can for the refuse from their meals was kept inside the tank and was emptied only two or three times a week. It was full when I saw it and gave off a strong odor.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Sedgwick County Jail” →

Hellraisers Journal: Kansas Class-War Prisoners Held Nineteen Months without Trial; Oil Trust Is Real Prosecutor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———–

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 1, 1919
Kansas Class-War Prisoners Re-indicted Yet Once Again

From the Kansas City Workers’ World of June 27, 1919:

LIVES USED AS PAWNS
—–

POLITICIANS IMPRISON WORKERS IN GAME FOR OIL TRUST
FAVORS AND POLITICAL PREFERMENT
—–

WHO IS KEEPING THESE MEN FROM TRIAL?
—–
Men Held for Nineteen Months, Charge Oil Trust
Is Real Prosecutor.

WWIR IWW Remember the Boys in Jail, OH Sc p3, Aug 21, 1918

WICHITA, June 24.-Thirty-three men are still in prison, starting on their twentieth month, although on June 6th an order was filed in the District Court quashing all counts of the second indictment against them. Within a few hours of the filing of that order, District Attorney Robertson had gathered another Grand Jury and re-indicted the men on the same charges with which he has been unable to bring them to trial for twenty months.

Political Capital from Men’s Lives.

The men in prison charge that the Oil Trust is the real prosecutor in the case. This is substantiated by political gossip around Wichita, which runs to the effect that Robertson did not even draw up the indictments, that they were the work of the attorneys for certain oil companies. The political gossips are, however, most interested in Robertson’s candidacy for Governor on the Democratic ticket. They seem to take it as a matter of course that Robertson is connected with the Oil Trust.

When Robertson’s name was mentioned for Governor here recently, it immediately created a storm. He has few friends in this district, and now many prominent democrats are saying that Wichita indictments are purely for political capital, that he is keeping these men in prison in order to have a peg to hang publicity on to keep his name in the papers. They point out that while he has been very busy indeed giving interviews to the papers, trying to create sentiment against the men whom he has had locked up for nearly two years, he has not had time to draw an indictment against them under which a court would try them.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Kansas Class-War Prisoners Held Nineteen Months without Trial; Oil Trust Is Real Prosecutor” →

Hellraisers Journal: Kansas City Workers’ World: 23 Members of Oil Worker’s I. U. Languish in Kansas County Jails

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 23, 1919
Kansas County Jails – I. W. W. Members Languish in Hell Holes

From the Kansas City Workers’ World of June 20, 1919:

TO THE READERS OF THE WORKERS’ WORLD

WWIR IWW Remember the Boys in Jail, OH Sc p3, Aug 21, 1918

There are now, in three Kansas jails-Topeka, Lawrence and Ottawa-twenty-three members of the Oil Workers’ Industrial Union No. 450, I. W. W. who have been held for nineteen months under indictment in U. S. district court, second Kansas division.

Two indictments have already been returned against these men, but both were flimsy, and the defense attorneys were successful in having both of them quashed; the last one on June 7th in Judge John Pollocks court at Wichita, Kansas. But Fred Robertson, U. S. district attorney succeed in having a third one returned, also on June 7th.

The fact that two indictments were quashed plainly shows that these men are innocent of the charges brought against them; yet the prosecution seems determined to “rail-road” them to prison.

Since these men were jailed three of their number have gone insane and one has died; this as the result of the persecution to which they have been subjected.

These men who, as said, are innocent, yet who have been forced to be in jail for nineteen months, are anxious to secure bail and are taking this opportunity to appeal to all lovers of liberty to come forward and give whatever assistance you can.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Kansas City Workers’ World: 23 Members of Oil Worker’s I. U. Languish in Kansas County Jails” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Wichita Class-War Prisoners & “Hell Holes in America” by Upton Sinclair

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Ralph Chaplin, Mother and Boy, Lv Nw Era p4, Mar 14, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 14, 1919
Upton Sinclair Exposes the Barbaric Sedgwick County Jail

From the Appeal to Reason of May 10, 1919:

Upton Sinclair Page, AtR p4, May 10, 1919

Hell Holes in America

In the Amnesty Edition of the Appeal I reproduced a circular sent out by the I. W. W. boys, describing the terrible conditions in the Sedgwick county jail at Wichita, Kans. I made no investigation of their statements, but acted on my general impulse to believe the worst about American jails. Those which I have investigated in past times have disposed me to believe that nobody could possibly exaggerate their evils. But soon after this article appeared in the Appeal I received letters from several correspondents who reported that they had complained to the Governor of Kansas about the matter, and had received from him a report of a confidential investigation which he had had made into this Wichita jail. The report stated that conditions in the jail were excellent, and that all the accounts sent out by the I. W. W. were false.

Now the Governor of Kansas, Henry J. Allen, is a progressive politician and a gentle man. I feel acquainted with him from reading “The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me,” by William Allen White-Governor Allen being the Henry” of that book. So I began to feel real bad about what I had published, and made ready to apologize to Governor Allen, and also to the readers of the Appeal for the blunder I had made.

But I studied that report again and noted that the Governor’s investigator denied that the I. W. W. boys had been arrested for trying to call a strike of the oil workers. He said they had been arrested for hindering the prosecution of the war. I have encountered that official bunk so often that I know the type of mind that swallows it.

And then I recalled the many, many times in my life when I had followed the work of official investigators, in cases with which I myself was entirely familiar. I recalled, for example the statement given out about the county jail here in Los Angeles, that the prisoners had had lice brought in and put them on their bodies prior to my inspection! I recalled Major Louis L. Seaman of the United States army, who investigated the Chicago stockyards for Collier’s Weekly, at the time when the Appeal to Reason was publishing “The Jungle.” Major Seaman was a gentleman of undoubted integrity, and he reported that everything was lovely in that inferno of graft. You see, these gentlemen of undoubted integrity have their class point of view, and they let themselves be escorted around, and they only see what they are shown-and even then, most of the time they don’t realize what they are seeing!

So I decided that before I apologized to Governor Allen, I would inquire a little farther. I wrote to Caroline Lowe, a woman who has interested herself in the defense of political prisoners, and asked if she happened to know anything about this particular jail. In reply came a letter which speaks for itself and which I quote:

Regardless of any denial made by the Governor of the State of Kansas, I can testify of my own knowledge that the conditions not only in the Wichita jail but in the jail at the State capitol at Topeka, Kans., beggar description. The rotary tank in the jail at Wichita is a relic of barbarism. I have been in the jail many times and have seen this tank in operation.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Wichita Class-War Prisoners & “Hell Holes in America” by Upton Sinclair” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the New York Rebel Worker: “Wichita Defendants Go Back to Dungeons” by FW C. W. Anderson

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———–

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 20, 1919
Wichita, Kansas – I. W. W. Prisoners Appear in Court

From the New York Rebel Worker of April 15, 1919:

WICHITA DEFENDANTS GO RACK TO DUNGEONS
—–
Starve In Jail Awaiting Trial
—–

C. W. Anderson

The Rebel Worker of Apr 15, NY Tb p88, May 25, 1919

On March 10 the former Newton group were taken to Wichita for trial, as had the other boys a day or two before. On the 12th of March all defendants were marched to the Federal court. This first day in the squared arena was taken up with the selection of a jury composed almost wholly of “farmers.” At the end of that first day the 12 men who were supposed to judge us “guilty” or “not guilty,” consisted of one banker and eleven farmers. What would you have given for our chances?

Judge Pollack suggested that the jury be picked first of all so as to enable the empaneled men to either be accepted or sent home and not to be kept waiting while the arguments were heard on the bill of particulars, demurrers, and motion to quash the indictment.

The second day in court, March 13, was taken up almost wholly by Attorney George F. Vandeveer for the defense on arguments for quashing the indictment, the return of papers illegally seized, and many other matters. Vandeveer was at his best and his talk was so clear cut and convincing that he held the attention of the entire court, including the judge, the entire period. The five counts of the indictment was literally torn to shreds.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the New York Rebel Worker: “Wichita Defendants Go Back to Dungeons” by FW C. W. Anderson” →

WE NEVER FORGET: FW James Gossard Who Died October 30, 1918, Awaiting Trial in Harvey County Jail, Newton, Kansas

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WNF, IWW Martyr James Gossard, Harvey County Jail KS, Oct 30, 1918

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

James Robert Gossard-25, IWW Martyr

IWW Emblem wiki

James Gossard was one of the members of the Industrial Workers of the World who were rounded up, in the fall of 1917, on the oil fields of Butler County, Kansas, and held under terrible conditions in the jails of Kansas while awaiting trial in federal court. Fellow Worker Gossard survived for about one year under these brutal conditions before dying of influenza and pneumonia on October 30, 1918, at Newton, Kansas, in the Harvey County Jail.

The story of his long ordeal is here told through newspaper and magazine accounts of the day.

From The Towanda News (Kansas) of December 20, 1917:

Arrest Four More I. W. W.-Four more I. W. W. were picked up by federal authorities in the Butler county oil fields and brought to the Sedgwick county jail [in Wichita]. They were James Gossard, John Gresbach, Morris Hunt and John Vagtch. There now are twenty-nine I. W. W. in the Sedgwick county jail.

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

The Sedgwick County Jail Described by Winthrop Lane

WWIR, In Here For You, Ralph Chaplin, Sol Aug 4, Sept 1, 1917

The Sedgwick county jail is the worst place for incarcerating human beings that I have ever been in. Built forty years ago, it has undergone additions from time to time, so that to day it is not the compact structure that many jails are but has many wings and cages. There are cells for approximately 100 prisoners. It is filthy with the accumulated filth of decades. No longer would it be possible to give the jail a decent cleaning. The metal floors are periodically “laraped” with black jack, a greasy substance the chief effect of which is to fill the corners with a coagulated mass of dust and floor sweepings, hardened by the glue-like action of the black-jack. The toilets throughout are covered with dirt. Many of them are encrusted with excreta and a few actually stink. The men declare that they do not dare to sit down on them, because of the vermin. [Drawing added. For more on Sedgwick County Jail and worse of it, see below at “See also”.]

Continue reading “WE NEVER FORGET: FW James Gossard Who Died October 30, 1918, Awaiting Trial in Harvey County Jail, Newton, Kansas” →

Hellraisers Journal: Federal Agents Move Against IWWs in Kansas Oil Fields, Fifty Arrested in Butler County

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

IWW on War and Class Solidarity, Dec 1, 1916

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday November 21, 1917
Butler County, Kansas – I. W. W. Oil Workers Seized by Feds

IWW Label, IWWC Proceedings held Nov-Dec 1916

A round-up by federal agents of members of the Industrial Workers of the World has commenced in Butler County, Kansas. Reports from Kansas indicates that most of those taken into custody were members of the Oil Workers Industrial Union. Butler County is located just east of Wichita. The county seat is located at El Dorado.

From The Topeka State Journal of November 20, 1917:

FEDERAL AGENTS START A ROUNDUP
I.W.W. IN KANSAS
—–
Fifty Arrests Made in Butler
Oil Fields Today.
—–
Starts Gigantic Drive Thru
Forest of Derricks.
—–

ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES CLEANUP
—–
“Workers” Won’t Get Chance to
Duplicate Okla. Trouble.
—–
Robertson, U. S. District Attorney,
Will See to It.
—–

Kansas City, Nov. 20.-A roundup of I. W. W’s in the oil fields of Kansas is to be made immediately, Fred Robertson, district attorney for Kansas, announced late today. Already more than fifty alleged I. W. W.’s were arrested in the Butler county oil fields today, it was announced.

The arrests today were made in the vicinity of Augusta by state and federal agents, it was announced. A tent alleged to have been used for I. W. W. meetings there was raided and a great quantity of literature was seized.

The purpose of the raids will be to rid the oil fields of the state of undesirables, federal officers say, and each man arrested will be examined as to whether he was registered.

The presence of alleged I. W. W.’s in the Butler county fields recently led to the placing of armed guards.

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Federal Agents Move Against IWWs in Kansas Oil Fields, Fifty Arrested in Butler County” →