With heads uncovered, swear we all,
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark, or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn!
-Jim Connell
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday November 21, 1916
Seattle, Washington – Funerals Held for Three of the Everett Martyrs
On Saturday, November 18th a public funeral was held for three of the five martyrs of the Everett Massacre of November 5th, known as Bloody Sunday. Those buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, in a service attended by thousands of Seattle citizens, were Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot, and John Looney. Their comrade, Abraham Rabinowitz, died singing “The Red Flag,” and that same song of courage was sung by the mourners as they threw flowers upon the coffins of the three young men, whose names are now added to roll call of Labor Martyrs.
WE NEVER FORGET
Charles Ashleigh Speaks:
Fellow Workers Honored:
From the Seattle Union Record of November 18, 1916:
I’m dying, boys, but don’t give up. Lift me up. I want to sing the “Red Flag” again..
-said Abraham Robinowitz [Rabinowitz]. As his name indicates, he belonged to the race long without a flag. Who will deny him one in death? He was shot in the back of the head by a high power rifle bullet.
Trying to sing, he breathed his last in the arms of his friend-himself an earnest-faced lad of 18 years. He, too, was hit in the back by a spent rifle bullet.
Is the lad or the man who fired from ambush, the more dangerous character?
Following is the song he tried to sing. It was written by James Connelly, the Irish revolutionists, who was executed by the English government for his activities in the recent uprising in Ireland:
The Red Flag
The workers’ flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft, our martyred dead;
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold
Their life-blood dyed its every fold.CHORUS:
Then raise the scarlet standard high
Beneath its folds, we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.Look ’round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise;
In Moscow’s vaults, its hymns are sung,
Chicago swells its surging song.It waved above our infant might
When all ahead seemed dark as night.
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We will not change its color now.It suits today, the meek and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place;
To cringe beneath the rich man’s frown,
And haul that sacred emblem down.With heads uncovered, swear we all,
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark, or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn!—–
Photo of the body of Hugo Gerlot, aged 22, an inoffensive sailor lad who was singing “Hold the Fort” when he fell on the deck of the death ship.
He was shot twice through the head, in both arms, in the hip and in the leg by the heavily armed ambushed deputies. Though mortally wounded he raised himself and tried to continue the song, but fell back dead.
Was he not a martyr for free speech.
Contrast his death with the published story of the alleged deputy on the dock, who when wounded raised himself on his arm to continue the murderous fire into the struggling mass of humanity on the Verona which was backing away from the city where constitutional rights have been disregarded so long.
—–
The funeral of these boys and one other victim of the “lawandorder” element will be held at the chapel of the Home Undertaking Company Ninth avenue and Union street, at 2 p. m. today. A large turnout of friends of free speech is looked for. Interment will be in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, on Queen Anne Hill.
———-
Note: The Red Flag was written in 1889, not by James Connolly, but by Jim Connell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
Seattle Union Record
(Seattle, Washington)
-Nov 18, 1916, articles on page 1 (009)
-Nov 25, 1916, article beginning on page 1 (016)
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
The Red Flag by Jim Connell, 1889
http://www.folkarchive.de/redflag.html
Jim Connell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Connell
IMAGES
Everett Massacre, Funeral Baran Gerlot Looney, Nov 18, 1916, UW
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
Everett Massacre, Funeral Felix Baran, Nov 18, 1916, UW
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/2
Everett Massacre, Rabinowitz & Gerlot, SUR Nov 18, 1916, UW 009
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
See also:
“Seattle Union Record” by Natalia Salinas-Aguila
“Owned by the Central Labor Council of Seattle” -AFL
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Union_Record_1900-1928.htm
Tag: Seattle Union Record
https://weneverforget.org/tag/seattle-union-record/
Tag: Everett Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/everett-massacre/
The Everett Massacre
-by Walker C. Smith
IWW, 1918
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31810/31810-h/31810-h.htm
Tag: James Connolly
http://caucus99percent.com/tags/james-connolly