Don’t Mourn; Organize!
-Joe Hill
WE NEVER FORGET
Fellow Worker Roy J Horton-29
President of IWW Local 69
Salt Lake City, Utah
Fellow Worker Roy J Horton, 1886-1915
—
In Salt Lake City, shortly after midnight on October 31, 1915, Fellow Worker Roy Joseph Horton, President of I. W. W. Local 69, was shot down by “Major” Howell P. Myton, gunthug and lawman.
Fellow Worker Horton, 29, was talking with friends in front of a downtown bar when he asserted, “Any man who would pack a star is a dirty—–.” This remark was overheard by Myton who then confronted Horton, “What do you mean by those insinuations?”
“That is meant for you or any other —– who will wear a star,” Horton replied. Whereupon Myton pulled out his gun, stated “I’ll kill you for that,” and fired three shots at Horton. Two of the shots hit Horton as he staggered away with his back to Myton.
Fellow Worker Roy Horton died there on the sidewalk. Myton was soon thereafter arrested and taken to jail.
On Sunday afternoon, November 7th, Local 69 of the Industrial Workers of the World bid good-bye to their friend and fellow worker, Roy Horton. Ed Rowan and Mrs. Virginia Snow Stephen were among those who gave eulogies for the slain union leader.
The kept press was scandalized by the funeral given for FW Horton and noted that there was no mention of religion nor of the heavenly rewards awaiting the martyred union leader. Instead, those present concentrated on continuing the organizing work of the I. W. W. in behalf of the working men and women of Salt Lake City. On that subject, Mrs. Stephen stated that only through “organization and making use of such tragedies as the Horton case” will the working class ever get justice.
Theodore Petersen, a local jeweler, directed the services and delivered the first address.
Mrs. Virginia Snow Stephen, an active member of the Joe Hill Defense Campaign, also spoke at the service. Mrs. Stephen, a teacher of art in the University of Utah, played piano accompaniments, sang, and also spoke at the service.
Red Carnations were distributed to the men who placed the flowers in their lapels and later dropped them on the casket.
Mr. Peterson along with four more men sang “The Red Flag:”
Mr. Peterson than began his eulogy. Fellow Worker Horton was a good man, he declared, kind and honest, generous, loyal and upright. Roy J. Horton had devoted his life to the uplift of the masses; he was not a drinking man and did not carry a gun.
Edward Rowan insisted that Horton had been “murdered,” and further stated that he would be a coward if he were afraid to say so.
The Salt Lake Tribune of November 8, 1915 described the address given by Mrs. Stephen:
Mrs. Virginia Snow Stephen was the last to speak. She said that the “murder” of Horton was but a demonstration of a present-day system; that it was as bad and even worse than the murders in the European war, and that there were many, many “industrial fatalities” which were “murders,” in which hirelings were victims of the “master class.”
The service for Fellow Worker Horton concluded with the singing of two stanzas of the Workers Marseillaise.
The murderer, “Major” Myton, was meanwhile being celebrated as a hero by the local Elks Lodge.
Roy Joseph Horton was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. In 1991, the Joe Hill Organizing Committee erected a monument to his memory. (See above.)
It appears that FW Horton was active on behalf of the Unemployed during the winter of 1914/15. The New York Times of November 1, 1915, noted:
Last Winter he led a parade of 1,500 men to the State Capitol, were a demand was made on the Legislature for money with which to feed unemployed members.
The Ogden Standard of November 1, 1915 states that FW Horton was survived by his father in New York:
It has been learned that the dead man’s father, Charles W. Horton, lives at Penn Yan, N. Y., and a telegram has been sent informing him of his son’s death.
Sadly, I have not been able to locate a photograph of FW Horton.
I very much want to thank the Joe Hill Organizing Committee for honoring Roy J. Horton, Labor Martyr. Be sure to check out their great web site:
Joe Hill
by Gibbs M. Smith
Gibbs Smith, Sep 1, 2009 –
https://books.google.com/books?id=wFwsHQVuHVUC
The Man Who Never Died:
The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon
-by William M. Adler
Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Aug 30, 2011
https://books.google.com/books?id=nCwHDiXYMRMC
FindaGrave: Roy Joseph Horton, 1816-1915
(Also source for image of tombstone.)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=173185
“Roy J Horton, President of IWW Local 69, Shot Down on Salt Lake City Street”
-by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/01/1443195/-Hellraisers-Journal-Roy-J-Horton-President-of-IWW-Local-69-Shot-Down-on-Salt-Lake-City-Street
“Slayer of Salt Lake IWW Leader Hailed as Hero by Local Area Elks Lodge”
-by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/02/1443398/-Hellraisers-Journal-Slayer-of-Salt-Lake-IWW-Leader-Hailed-as-Hero-by-Local-Area-Elks-Lodge
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday November 9, 1915
Salt Lake City – Grand Send-Off to Local I. W. W. President
“I. W. W. Bids Good-Bye to Fellow Worker Horton, Murdered by Gunthug Myton”
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-i-w-w-bids-good-bye-to-fellow-worker-horton-murdered-by-gunthug-myton/
IMAGE
IWW Logo on Local 69 banner, Deseret Evening News, Aug 13, 1913
(search with: iww logo)
https://books.google.com/books?id=aZK-AwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
THE WORKERS’ MARSEILLAISE
Ye sons of toil, awake to glory!
Hark, hark, what myriads bid you rise;
Your children, wives and grandsires hoary—
Behold their tears and hear their cries!
Behold their tears and hear their cries!
Shall hateful tyrants mischief breeding,
With hireling hosts, a ruffian band—
Affright and desolate the land,
While peace and liberty lie bleeding?
CHORUS:
To arms! to arms! ye brave!
Th’ avenging sword unsheathe!
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On Victory or Death.
With luxury and pride surrounded,
The vile, insatiate despots dare,
Their thirst for gold and power unbounded
To mete and vend the light and air,
To mete and vend the light and air,
Like beasts of burden, would they load us,
Like gods would bid their slaves adore,
But Man is Man, and who is more?
Then shall they longer lash and goad us?
O, Liberty! can man resign thee?
Once having felt thy generous flame,
Can dungeon’s bolts and bars confine thee?
Or whips, thy noble spirit tame?
Or whips, thy noble spirit tame?
Too long the world has wept bewailing,
That Falsehood’s dagger tyrants wield;
But Freedom is our sword and shield;
And all their arts are unavailing!
Lyrics:
I. W. W. Songs To Fan The Flames of Discontent, 15 Edition, 1919
(Little Red Songbook)
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=vTlRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA10