Then we’ll sing one song of the One Big Union Grand,
The hope of the toiler and slave,
It’s coming fast; it is sweeping sea and land,
To the terror of the grafter and the knave.
-Joe Hill
Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 1, 1916
All Over the World – Fellow Worker Joe Hill Gets Grand Send-Off
The body of Fellow Worker Joe Hill will find its final resting place all over the world as the delegates to the Convention of the Industrial Worker of the World leave Chicago today with some 600 packets of the the martyr’s ashes in their pockets. Envelopes of parchment containing the ashes of Joe Hill were handed out to the delegates at a memorial meeting held Sunday November 19th on the first anniversary of the murder by the State of Utah of our rebel songwriter. Four of those packets were cast upon the waters of Lake Michigan on November 25th in a ceremony which included Big Bill Haywood and members of the local Marine-Transport Workers I. U.
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of November 20, 1916:
I. W. W. DELEGATES GIVEN HILL’S ASHES
TO SCATTER.
—–Parchment Packages Distributed at Massmeeting
to Keep Green the Memory of
an Executed Member.
—–
That Joe Hill’s name shall not die, delegates to the tenth convention of the I. W. W., the Industrial Workers of the World, were given parchment packets yesterday containing Hill’s ashes, with instructions to scatter them where they wished. In all there are 600 packets. At the memorial meeting in West Side auditorium yesterday 150 delegates in the audience of 1,500 were presented with envelopes.
Joe Hill was shot in the Utah state penitentiary a year ago yesterday for the murder of a groceryman for which he was convicted on circumstantial evidence. President Wilson twice interceded for him and his last telegram to Gov. Spry asked an entire reconsideration of the case. Yesterday speakers called Hill a martyr.
Among the foreign delegates who were given packets were Charles Carter, Philippine islands; K. Taro, Japan; J. R. Webster, Australia, and A. B. Prashner, England.
———-
[Photograph added.]
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of November 26, 1916:
HILL’S ASHES CAST ON LAKE.
—–I. W. W. Members Hold Exercises in Memory
of Leader Executed in Utah.
—–
Four parchment packets containing a portion of the ashes of Joe Hill, I. W. W. leader, who was executed a year ago in Utah for murder, were opened by “Big Bill” Haywood, chief organizer for the I. W. W., at Chicago avenue and the lake yesterday afternoon. One packet, that of the Marine-Transport Workers’ local, was thrown into the lake by a delegate from that body.
A week ago Hill’s ashes were divided into 600 portions. These were distributed among the delegates to the convention of the Industrial Workers of the World, who will bring them home to their locals. The I. W. W. claims that Hill was a martyr.
The ceremony at the lake front marked the close of the tenth convention of the I. W. W.
———-
[Photograph added.]
The International Socialist Review Honors Joe Hill:
SOURCES
Proceedings of the Tenth Convention
of the Industrial Workers of the World
Held at Chicago Illinois Nov 20 to Dec 1, 1916
(Search with: “Joe Hill”)
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=gjI4AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA3
Note: the convention ended at 5:35 pm on Dec 1, 1916 with the singing of “Hold the Fort.”
The Chicago Daily Tribune
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Nov 20, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/28714161/
-Nov 26, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/28714440/
The International Socialist Review, Volume 17
-ed by Algie Martin Simons, Charles H. Kerr
Charles H. Kerr & Company,
July 1916-June 1917
https://books.google.com/books?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ
ISR Dec 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA327
IMAGES
Joe Hill Memorial Edition, LRSB, March 1916
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ASongs_of_the_workers_9th_Edition.pdf&page=1
Joe Hill, ashes envelope front & back
Joe Hill, Haywood’s letter re ashes, Jan 3, 1917
http://garagecollective.blogspot.com/2010/12/little-packet-containing-ashes-of-joe.html
Joe Hill, Ad for Songs, Proceedings IWWC Ending Dec 1, 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=gjI4AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA157
Joe Hill, In Memoriam, ISR Dec 1916
Joe Hill, My Last Will, ISR Dec 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA326
See also:
WE NEVER FORGET: Fellow Worker Joe Hill, True Blue Rebel
-by JayRaye
http://www.caucus99percent.com/content/we-never-forget-fellow-worker-joe-hill-true-blue-rebel
Research on Joe Hill’s ashes in New Zealand: a sneak peek
-by Jared
https://libcom.org/forums/history-culture/research-joe-hills-ashes-new-zealand-sneak-peek-17122010
Hellraisers Journal: Joe Hill Memorial Edition of Little Red Songbook Published by Cleveland IWW
http://www.caucus99percent.com/content/hellraisers-journal-joe-hill-memorial-edition-little-red-songbook-published-cleveland-iww
Letter to Fellow Workers from Big Bill Haywood
We have tried to carry the will of our martyred
Fellow Worker into effect.
….Yours for Industrial Freedom, W. D. Haywood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Hill’s Ashes – Otis Gibbs
The Ballad of Joe Hill – by Phil Ochs
I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night – Bruce Springsteen
We Will Sing One Song – Six Feet In the Pine
Lyrics by Joe Hill
https://joehill100.com/songs-of-joe-hill/
WE NEVER FORGET
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~