Tag: Everett Massacre

Hellraisers Journal: “The Truth About the I. W. W.” by Harold Callender, Part II from the International Socialist Review

Janet RayeFrank Little
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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 January 5, 1918
Reprinted from The Masses: Part II-Harold Callender on the I. W. W.

From the International Socialist Review of January 1918:

The Truth About the I. W. W.

By HAROLD CALLENDER

EDITOR’S NOTE: Harold Callender investigated the Bisbee deportations for the National Labor Defense Council. He did it in so judicial and poised and truth-telling a manner that we engaged him to go and find out for us the truth about the I. W. W., and all the other things that are called “I. W. W.” by those who wish to destroy them in the northwest.-The Masses.

[Part II]
—–

WWIR, IWW WNF Truth, ISR Jan 1918

—–

Perhaps the funeral tribute to Little by the working people of Butte may be considered the reply to the warning which the lynching constituted. About 7,000 marched to the cemetery, representing most of the labor unions of the city. As the casket was lowered into the ground the last thing seen was a pennant of the Industrial Workers, bearing the words, “One big union,” lying across the coffin. At the headquarters of the mine union there hangs a photograph of Little, and under it, “Frank Little, victim of the copper trust, whom we shall never forget.” When I saw James Rowan, secretary of the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union, in the county jail at Spokane, Wash., he wore on a lapel of his coat a button bearing a picture of Little and the motto: “Solidarity.” Behind him sat a youth in khaki, fingering a rifle and watching him as he talked.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Harrison George Claims Victory on the Mesabi

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, Saturday January 6, 1917
From the Mesabi Range, Minnesota, Comes News of Plea Agreement

The International Socialist Review of January 1917:

MN16 Gunthugs on the Mesabi, ISR Jan 1917

Victory on the Mesaba Range

By HARRISON GEORGE
We were all ready to go to press when the following telegram came in. We feel sure all REVIEW readers will be interested in the brief sketches that follow:
Virginia, Minn., Dec. 15, 1916.
Tresca, Scarlett, Schmidt, Mrs. Masonovitch, Orlandich, [F]reed, Phil Masonovitch, Nikich, Cernogorovich year sentence each. All cases against Gilday, Greeni, others dismissed. Full statement will follow. Funds needed here meet honor bound obligations. All committees rush balance funds on hand here. All together for freedom Everett and all class war prisoners.
Ettor, Gilday, Flynn.

CARLO TRESCA, who was born in Sulmona, Italy, in 1879. Entering the labor movement at an early age, he became editor of a Socialist paper in his native town when he was only twenty years old. By 1904 he had shown his worth by being many times sent to prison on political charges. In 1903 he was elected secretary of the largest labor organization of Italy, the Syndicate of Firemen and Railroad Engineers. In 1904, however, he was given choice of eighteen months penal servitude or ten years exile for political offenses, and, choosing exile, he landed in America in August, 1904. As organizer and editor he continued his fight for labor, now being editor of an Italian paper in New York, LL’Avenire [L’Avvenire]. Jailed for months on different occasions, he was attacked by an assassin, who is said to have been an emissary of the Italian consul in Pittsburgh and his throat badly slashed. In the last six years Tresca has taken part in all big strikes of the I. W. W., which involved Italian workers. Lawrence, Little Falls and Paterson are only a few of the many strikes where thousands cheered when Tresca stood before them. Now he is on trial for murder. The witness against him has said that when a certain remark was made by another speaker, Tresca smiled and said, “Good, good!” For a smile and one short word, twice uttered, Tresca has been charged with murder!

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Hellraisers Journal: “The Voyage of the Verona” by Walker C Smith for the International Socialist Review

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Q: “Who is your leader?”
A: “We are all leaders!”
-Industrial Workers of the World

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday December 4, 1916
From Seattle, Washington – FW Smith on Everett’s Bloody Sunday

In this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review we find Fellow Worker Walker C. Smith’s description of the tragic voyage of the Verona:

The Voyage of the Verona

By WALKER C. SMITH

FIVE workers and two vigilantes dead, thirty-one workers and nineteen vigilantes wounded, from four to seven workers missing and probably drowned, two hundred ninety-four men and three women of the working class in jail—this is the tribute to the class struggle in Everett, Wash., on Sunday, November 5. Other contributions made almost daily during the past six months have indicated the character of the Everett authorities, but the protagonists of the open shop and the antagonists of free speech did not stand forth in all their hideous nakedness until the tragic trip of the steamer Verona. Not until then was Darkest Russia robbed of its claim to “Bloody Sunday.”

Everett Massacre, Verona Returns to Seattle, ISR Dec 1916

Early Sunday morning on November 5 the steamer Verona started for Everett from Seattle with 260 members of the Industrial Workers of the World as a part of its passenger list. On the steamer Calista, which followed, were 38 more I. W.W. men, for whom no room could be found on the crowded Verona. Songs of the One Big Union rang out over the waters of Puget Sound, giving evidence that no thought of violence was present.

It was in answer to a call for volunteers to enter Everett to establish free speech and the right to organize that the band of crusaders were making the trip. They thought their large numbers would prevent any attempt to stop the street meeting that had been advertised for that afternoon at Hewitt and Wetmore avenues in handbills previously distributed in Everett. Their mission was an open and peaceable one.

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Hellraisers Journal: Seattle’s Kept Press on IWW “Song of Hate” & Joe Hill Memorial Edition of Songbook

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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My body? Oh, if I could choose,
I would to ashes to reduce
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flowers then
Would come to live and bloom again.
This is my last and final will,
Good luck to all of you,
-Joe Hill

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Hellraisers Journal: Friday November 17, 1916
Seattle, Washington – “Christians at War,” a Blasphemous Song?

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer makes clear that the I. W. W. song, “Christians at War,” is blasphemous song and a “song of hate.” The “Intelligencer” warns that the song is found in the I. W. W. Songbook dedicated as the “Joe Hill Memorial Edition” and goes on to describe Fellow Worker Hill as “an I. W. W. sympathizer.” We proudly point out that Joe Hill was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World. FW Hill was a world-famous songwriter, a poet, an artist, and a true blue rebel, dedicated to the principles of the One Big Union of all the workers.

WE NEVER FORGET

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of November 15, 1916:

IWW "Hymn of Hate", Stt P-I, Nov 15, 1916 (UW 100)
1-Front cover of the I. W. W. Book of Songs, containing the “Hymn of Hate” and other seditious [?] verse. The volume is inscribed “Joe Hill Memorial Edition,” The “Joe Hill” being the notorious Joseph Hillstrom, an I. W. W. sympathizer who was executed in Utah for cold-blooded murder. The I. W. W. sought at the last moment to prove as alibi for the murderer, but the [attempt failed?]. Spry [Governor of Utah] declined to interfere, and the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the court was carried out. This I. W. W. book of songs is sold [?] in the Seattle local and wherever the organization is allowed to exist.
2-“Christians at War, “ a blasphemous song set to the music of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” which was sung by the Seattle I. W. W. when they invaded Everett and fought the battle that resulted in six deaths, Sunday, November 5.

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Hellraisers Journal: IWWs Held in Seattle, Charged with Murder, Transferred to Jail in Everett

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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They came, that none should trample Labor’s right
To speak, and voice her centuries of pain.
Bare hands against the master’s armored might!—
A dream to match the tolls of sordid gain!
-Charles Ashleigh

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday November 15, 1916
Seattle, Washington – I. W. W.s Transferred to Everett

From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of November 11, 1916:

41 I.W.W. TAKEN TO EVERETT
ON MURDER CHARGE
—–

Men Accused of Firing on Everett
Citizen Deputies Removed
Without Protest.
—–
COUNSEL FOR DEFENSE ARRIVES
IN SEATTLE.
—–
Claim Will Be Made That Everett Men
Killed or Wounded Were Struck
by Bullets Fired by Members
of Their Own Posse and
That No Shots Came
From the Verona.
—–

Special to The Post-Intelligencer.

Jail at Everett, WCS

EVERETT, Nov. 10-The forty I. W. W.’s arrested when the steamer Verona docked at Seattle Sunday following the battle on the Everett dock, who were charged yesterday with first-degree murder, were brought back to Everett under a heavy guard tonight, taken off the car and taken to the county jail without as many as six people on hand to watch it. It was feared in Everett that there might be a crowd here at the interurban station when the special car came in and extra precautions were taken to keep the time of the arrival of the car secret. So well was it kept secret that the only persons on hand when the car, with every blind down, reached the station at 7:40 that no one but a deputy sheriff and two city plain clothes men were present.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Seattle Union Record: IWW Not to Blame for Everett’s Bloody Sunday

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Song on his lips, he came;
Song on his lips, he went;—
This be the token we bear of him,—
Soldier of Discontent!
-Charles Ashleigh

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday November 14, 1916
Everett’s Bloody Sunday: Making Facts Known in Interest of Justice

From the Seattle Union Record of November 11, 1916:

I. W. W. NOT TO BLAME FOR FIGHT
—–

Prominent Attorney Investigating Case Believes
“Citizens Committee” Is Entirely at Fault
in Everett Affair
—–

By THOMAS R. HORNER

IWW Label, 2nd Conv, Sept 17-Oct 3, 1906

So many untruthful statements have been published concerning the I. W. W. trouble last Sunday [November 5th], at Everett, that in the interest of justice the facts should be made known, and when the facts are known the public will see that the blame of the trouble rests wholly on the “Citizen’s Committee,” organized by the mill owners to put down by force and bloodshed the Shingle Weavers and Longshoremen’s strike at that place.

The I. W. W. did not go armed to Everett. They were admonished by their leaders to go unarmed. There may have been a very few who had weapons, but the vast number were without them. This statement is proved by a circumstance that cannot successfully be denied:

When the shooting occurred the boat had just been tied to the dock alongside, and about twenty feet from the broad side of the warehouse. There is unanswerable proof there were at least three parties of deputies entrenched so as to be comparatively safe themselves, yet so they could rake the boat from three angles.

Only Few Bullets From Boat

It is plain that practically all the shots that were fired from the direction of the boat must have struck the warehouse; yet the warehouse shows that only a very few bullets came from that direction. But the riddled condition of the boat shows that the vigilantes fired hundreds of times. Moreover, the splintered sides of the warehouse show that a number of shots were fired blindly from the inside of the north warehouse, where some of the vigilantes were ambushed, thus giving good grounds for the belief that when the trouble started they became panic-stricken and began madly to fire through the board sides, and possibly wounding their own men. At the same time they were firing blindly into a regular passenger steamboat without even distinguishing between “the dreaded” I. W. W.’s and the other passengers and members of the crew who were on board the Verona.

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Hellraisers Journal: Seattle Union Record Reports on Everett Massacre, Bloody Sunday is “Second Ludlow”

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
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 13, 1916
Seattle Central Labor Council to Support I. W. W. Defense

From the Seattle Union Record of November 11, 1916:

SEVEN DEAD AND MANY WOUNDED
IN SECOND LUDLOW ENACTED AT EVERETT

______________________________________________________

Central Labor Council to Co-operate in Mass Meeting
—–

seattle-union-record-reports-on-ludlow-may-2-1914

At the meeting of the Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity Wednesday evening the Everett situation was thoroughly discussed and a committee, consisting of Business Agent Charles W. Doyle, Secretary James A. Duncan and Editor E. B. Ault, appointed to co-operate with the committee defending the imprisoned members of the I. W. W. The committee was given power to act in the name of the council, and $100 was set aside for their use. In addition an appeal has been sent to each local to contribute to the defense fund, sending all money to the secretary of the Central Labor Council. The following resolutions were adopted:

Whereas, It appears to this council that, following a lockout and open-shop campaign by Roland H. Hartley and others of Everett, Wash., the police and businessmen of that city have attempted to ruthlessly and lawlessly suppress all street speaking and demonstrations by labor organizations, and that many unarmed men have been brutally beaten and terrorized, and the death of seven or more men and the wounding of many more, and

Whereas, A fair inquest should be held to fix the responsibility for this crime, and it appears that this has not been done, but that only witnesses favorable to the posse have been heard;

Therefore, we demand another inquest, free from control by the forces opposed to labor, and a change of venue, if that be necessary.

At a joint meeting of the committees representing the Central Labor Council and the I. W. W. on Thursday steps were taken to enforce the demand for a coroner’s investigation and plans laid for a mass meeting of Seattle citizens to be held Sunday, November 19, at 2:30 p. m. Place to be announced later.

______________________________________________________

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Hellraisers Journal: Mayor Gill of Seattle Comes to Defense of IWWs After Everett’s Bloody Sunday Massacre

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 November 10, 1916
Seattle, Washington-Mayor Gill Blames Everett Officials

Mayor Hiram C Gill, Seattle Archives

From the pages The Seattle Daily Times of November 8, 1916, we find Mayor Gill’s surprising defense of the some 250 members of the Industrial Workers of the World who were marched to jail in Seattle following the Massacre in Everett last Sunday. The Times characterizes the Massacre as a “riot” caused by the I. W. W.’s “invading” Everett, and is outraged by the humane treatment afforded the union men by Mayor Gill.

MAYOR GILL SAYS I. W. W.
DID NOT START RIOT
—–
Seattle Executive Places Blame
for Sunday Tragedy on
Citizens of Everett
-Gives Prisoners Tobacco.
—–

Providing the I. W. W.’s, whose attempted armed invasion of Everett last Sunday resulted in seven deaths and injuries to forty-nine persons, with every comfort possible, Mayor H. C. Gill yesterday afternoon personally directed the carrying of 200 warm blankets and an assortment of tobacco to the 250 prisoners now held in the city jail.

In this manner Gill replied to criticism in Seattle and Everett for not having stopped the I. W. W.’s from going to the Snohomish County city. He supplemented this today by assailing Sheriff Donald McRae, of Snohomish County, and the posse of special deputies [deputized company gunthugs] who met the invading I. W. W.’s at the boat.

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