Hellraisers Journal: Local Boise, of Socialist Party, Defends Comrade Bill Haywood Against Charges Made by Local Yuma

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Quote BBH, IU Socialism w Working Clothes On, NYC Cooper Union Debate w Hillquit, Jan 11, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 3, 1912
Local Boise (S. P. A.) Defends Big Bill Haywood

From the International Socialist Review of June 1912

BBH w Tom Mann, ISR p882, June 1912

Approve Haywood.-Just because our Com. Wm. D. Haywood happens to lay some stress on the industrial field, we are told by Local Yuma, Arizona, that he is unfit for the executive committee. We, Local Boise, take exception to this and declare that if Haywood is unfit for the executive committee we had better disband the Socialist party and tell Carl Marx to turn over in his grave, since by such an act we would proclaim to the world that the bona fide workers were not able to be a directing head. Local Yuma, in the desert of Arizona, seems to have a spirit in its ranks. This spirit seems to be able to go thousands of miles to report the words of a man who, maybe, is little to its liking. If Com. Haywood transgressed the holy word, why doesn’t Local New York, in whose territory Com. Haywood is said to have desecrated the Socialist party [Cooper Union Speech of Dec. 21, 1911], we say, why doesn’t New York move to recall Com. Haywood? Perhaps Com. Hillquit and others, who are always in New York, have too much influence there, and as they love Com. Haywood the New York local overlooks whatever Com. Haywood says. We rather think that the gods of our party make the faith in New York, but only the rank and file of Yuma, Arizona, believe it. Comrades, we, Local Boise, have had the good fortune to know Com. Haywood at close quarters. We saw him suffer day by day in the damp jail in this city. We saw him heroically withstand the slaughter of bloodthirsty lawyers and all for our cause. Comrades, we know that Com. Haywood is a true Socialist. His dues are paid in the Socialist party, and above all he never flinches from his duty to the working class, our class. If the referendum proposed by Local Yuma should carry, a smile of pleasure would spread itself over the face of every enemy of Socialism. We, Local Boise, call on all true comrades to snow under the proposed recall and thereby keep Com. Haywood where he was duly elected by a big majority.

MICHELE CIMBALO.
SEWELL H. CHAPMAN,
Local Boise Press Committee.

[Note: re Tom Mann, the Review states:]

Tom Mann Sentenced.-Tom Mann, the industrial union labor leader who inspired over a million English miners to strike a few months ago, has been sentenced to serve six months in jail for calling upon the troups during the recent coal strike to refuse to shoot down strikers or their sympathizers. Comrade Mann defended himself and asked no mercy of the court. The charge against him was “inciting to mutiny.”…..

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Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Eugene Debs and Emil Seidel Nominated to Head Socialist Party Ticket

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Quote EVD, Law ag Working Class, AtR p1, Apr 29, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 1, 1912
Socialist Party of America Nominates Eugene Debs and Emil Seidel

From the International Socialist Review of June 1912:

EVD and Emil Seidel, ISR Cv, June 1912

Note: This issue of the Review covers the National Convention of the Socialist Party of America extensively, devoting 25 pages to that coverage and including many drawings and photographs of delegates and visitors. The convention was held at Indianapolis, Indiana, beginning Sunday, May 12th and ending Saturday, May 18th. Debs and Seidel were nominated late in the day on May 17th.

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Ralph Chaplin on West Virginia and His Undying Hate for Industrial Tyranny

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Quote Ralph Chaplin, US Flag Arrogated, Chg IWW Trial, July 19, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday July 28, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Testimony of Ralph Chaplin

Report from Defendant Harrison George:

Ralph Chaplin, Leaves, 1917

Ralph Chaplin, defendant, artist-poet, and editor of “Solidarity” during 1917, took the stand on the morning of July 19th, 1918, and gave an account of how his life’s events had influenced his conclusions upon industrial and political questions. Born in Kansas thirty years ago, he had studied art at night-school while working during the day-time in the darkroom, “Spot-knocking” photographs. Later, another boss, knowing he was a “scissor-bill,” had him pledge $10 a week out of a $16 wage to invest $500 in the boss’ business. When that was paid in, the boss told him to go to hell and got another victim. This $500 was recovered because Chaplin was a minor when the contract was made; so he took this and started into business for himself with the ambition to be “independent.” But—he found a trust controlled all supplies and he was unable to buy anywhere and had to quit. So he went back to the easel, working for wages.

He then went to Mexico for one year and noted the extreme poverty of the peon class under the Diaz regime. Coming back, he had worked for the Chicago Portrait Company until the artists struck against conditions there. When that strike was lost he went to West Virginia, where he did artist work in the coal mining region. For several years previous he had been an enthusiastic member of the Socialist Party, “soap-boxing” and writing articles.

In West Virginia he did much work on the “Socialist and Labor Star” at Charleston [Huntington], which paper became the spokesman for the U. M. W. of A. coal miners’ strike at Paint Creek and Cabin Creek. During this strike Chaplin acquired his hatred of the labor-crushing militia. He described to the jury the “Bull Moose Special,” an armored train, built by union machinists in the C. & O. shops, loop-holed for machine guns and rifles; a train that was manned by Baldwin-Felts detectives and commanded by Quinn Morton, a company superintendent, and in the darkness run through the strikers’ colony at Holly Grove, belching death to men, women and children.

Chaplin came out of that strike zone with undying hate for industrial tyranny. He had written many poems about that strike and Vanderveer read them to the jury: “What Happened in the Hollow,” “The Mine Guard,” “When the Leaves Come Out,” and “Too Rotten Rank for Hell.” The latter Vanderveer asked about. “Does it express your contempt for the prostitute newspaper men?” “Well,” said Chaplin, “a part of it.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Harrison George on the Chicago Trial, the IWW Preamble, the Magna Carta, and the Sab-Cat

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Quote H George, re Chicgo Prisoners to Court, OH Sc p1, June 11, 1918

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 14, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – The Sab-Cat Enters the Courtroom

From The Ohio Socialist of June 11, 1918:

A Second Runnymede
—–

By HARRISON GEORGE

WWIR, IWW Harrison George, ISR Jan 1918

It is no new thing-this struggle for human rights. Every morning we Chicago prisoners are taken in irons from the Cook County jail, the tomb of the old “Eight-Hour Movement,” and dumped into a gloomy court room of the Federal Building. How often have court rooms served as undertaking parlors for the aspirations of rebellious workers?

Here in the sepulchral atmosphere of the Law are gathered the class conscious social forces of this age in cut and thrust contest of Capital versus Labor.

Fathoming the shadows of the big room, our eyes discern an inscription within an arch among the mural decorations-“No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseized of his freehold or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or otherwise damaged, but by lawful judgment of his peers. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice.” Did Simon De Montfort and his followers, who forced he tyrant John to accept this Magna Charta at Runnymede, dream that six centuries later in a land whose boasted jurisprudence is based upon their great conquest, these words would lend a sanctity to such hypocritical persecution? We think of Ludlow and Lawrence, Paint Creek and Everett, of Bisbee and Butte-and we wonder why that inscription should not be painted out.

Throughout the month of April we I. W. W. men sat in the dock listening to the endless stream of questions and replies between lawyers and prospective jurors. Nebeker, the Copper Trust attorney, seeking always to constrain the issues and select employers; Vandeveer, for the I. W. W., groping in a basket of bad eggs for those the least bad, seeking to obtain men who have the social mind. “Industrial democracy”-“the class war”-“the right of revolution,” are phrases that flow like sparks from an anvil as Vandeveer, or Cleary, hammer home their questions and forged the tremendous issues. For here is a second Runnymede, and here the I. W. W. must enforce upon a tyrant master class the recognition of a new Magna Charta- the Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World..

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Hellraisers Journal: As Jury Selection Continues in Chicago, New York Tribune’s Full-Page Article Finds IWW Guilty, II

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Quote Ralph Chaplin"all the world that's owned", Leaves
-Ralph Chaplin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday April 17, 1918
As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press, Part II

Today we offer the conclusion of our two-part series featuring the article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune.

THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE

Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.

By Boyden R. Sparkes
Chicago, April 13, 1918.

[Part II]

WWIR, IWW Leaders BBH StJ BF etc, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

WWIR, IWW Leaders Sketched in Court by MM Evers, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

—–

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: As Jury Selection Continues in Chicago, New York Tribune’s Full-Page Article Finds IWW Guilty, II”

Hellraisers Journal: As Jury Selection Continues in Chicago, New York Tribune’s Full-Page Article Finds IWW Guilty

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The worst thief is he who steals
the playtime of children.
Join the I. W. W. and help put
the thieves to work.
-Big Bill Haywood

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 16, 1918
As Chicago Trial Continues, IWW Found Guilty by Kept Press

Today we offer Part One of the following article by Boyden R. Sparkes which appeared as a full-page spread in the April 14th edition of the New York Tribune. We will conclude tomorrow with Part Two.

THE I. W. W.: AN X-RAY PICTURE

Chicago Trial Shows Searing Sparks from the Anvil Where Industrial-Military Power is Being Forged Endanger Progress-
Sabotage, Malcontents’ Principal Weapon,
a Menace to Farm, Factory and Home.

THE I. W. W. PRINCIPLES AS SHOWN IN THEIR OWN CARTOONS

By Boyden R. Sparkes
Chicago, April 13, 1918.

WWIR, IWW, Sabotage Beware, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

OUT in the hill country of Oklahoma last August a group of tenant farmers and oil field workers were just a little too quick on the trigger, and what Federal officials believe was intended to have been a country-wide uprising of American “Bolsheviki” against the draft law was quelled almost before it started.

At the hearing in the Federal court in Enid, Okla., it was developed that forty-eight organizations under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World had planned a nation-wide revolution. The anti-draft rioters in Seminole, Hughes and Pontotoc counties began shooting just a little too soon, and posses of patriotic citizens had put 500 of them under arrest before many persons had been killed.

WWIR, IWW, Sabotage Sabots, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918

The men arrested belonged to organizations affiliated with the I. W. W., chief among these being the “Working Class Union.” The government is still trying to find out where the money used to purchase arms for the rioters came from.

It is the opinion of government attorneys that these I. W. W. leaders believed they would receive the support of the American Federation of Labor. Naturally any such hope was doomed to disappointment. But the government is still picking up threads of evidence that strengthen the belief that the American Bolsheviki leaders were prepared and hoping for a reign of terror in America that would have far outdone the Bolsheviki uprising in Russia.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Free on $25,000 Bond; Attends Talk by Robert Bruere Defending IWW

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It’s great to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 20, 1918
New York, New York – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Free on $25,000 Bond

In searching for the recent doings of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, we found her in the pages of the Chicago Tribune where we learned that she has posted $25,000 bond in the court of Federal Judge Landis. We next found her in New York City, where, according to the Buffalo New Age, she attended a lecture by Robert Bruere, one of the few defenders of the Industrial Workers of the World.

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of February 4, 1918:

I.W.W. LAWYERS READY TO
BEGIN DEFENSE TODAY
—–
Will Ask Landis to Quash Indictments
and Return Seized Papers.
—–

WWIR, Caroline Lowe IWW Lawyer, Chg Tb p13, Feb 4, 1918

Attorneys for the 116 alleged members of the I. W. W., already under arrest, will open their first great offensive today. They have been laying their plans for weeks.

They are to appear before Federal Judge Landis and ask demurers, make mentions to quash the indictments, and demand the return of all documents in possession of the government by attacking the writs under which the seizures of evidence were made.

Array of Legal Talent.

Charles E. Whiteside of New York, who represents a little coterie of indicted ones, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, alleged author of a book on “Sabotage”; Joe Ettor of Lawrence strike fame, and Arturo Giovanetti, will ask a severance for his clients. He arrived last night. These three on almost an instant’s notice produced cash bond of $25,000 each.

Prominent in the defense of the other I. W. W. members will be Miss Caroline Lowe of Seattle, a Socialist author. She is credited with having one of the keenest minds among the legal forces of the organization. George [F.] Vanderveer, also of Seattle, will lead in the fight…

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Hellraisers Journal: 50,000 Copies of “Sabotage” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Reported Seized by Feds in Chicago

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EGF Quote, I fell in love with my country, RG 96

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday January 2, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Books Seized by Federal Agents

50,000 “SABOTAGE” BOOKS SEIZED
IN I. W. W. RAID

Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

CHICAGO, Dec. 28.-Some of the results of the recent raid on headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World here were made known by Federal officials today. Among the tons of literature seized were 50,000 copies of “Sabotage,” a book by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, of New York, now under indictment for conspiracy against the government. Thousands of copies of another book called “Sabotage” by Emil Pouget, were seized.

Vast quantities of stickers inscribed “Don’t be a soldier-be a man,” new I. W. W. song books and plates from which they were printed also were taken.

The Michigan Central Railroad to-day sent warnings to all points on its lines giving notice of an alleged I. W. W. plot to destroy grain elevators during the holidays. As a result special police have been detailed to guard every grain elevator in Chicago.

——–

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From Behind the Bars of Cook County Jail, Big Bill Haywood Interviewed by Carl Sandburg

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If one man has a dollar he didn’t work for,
some other man worked for a dollar he didn’t get.
-Big Bill Haywood

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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday November 3, 1917
Cook County Jail, Illinois – Big Bill Haywood Speaks

From the International Socialist Review of November 1917:

HAYWOOD LONGS FOR “OTHER BOYS” IN JAIL
—–
Wants All I. W. W. Prisoners Brought Here—
“It Will Be so Homelike”
—–
By Carl Sandburg

Big Bill Haywood, ISR, Nov 1917

Thru a steel cage door of the Cook county jail, Big Bill Haywood today spoke the defiance of the Industrial Workers of the World to its enemies and captors.

Bill didn’t pound on the door, shake the iron clamps nor ask for pity nor make any kind of a play as a hero. He peered thru the square holes of the steel slats and talked in the even voice of a poker player who may or may not hold a winning hand. It was the voice of a man who sleeps well, digests what he eats, and requires neither sedatives to soothe him nor stimulants to stir him up.

 

The man accused of participation in 10,000 separate and distinct crimes lifted a face checkered by the steel lattice work and said with a slow smile:

Hello, I’m glad to see you. Do you know when they’re going to bring the rest of the boys here? We’d like to have them from all over the country together here. It would be homelike for us all to be together. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Behind the Bars of Cook County Jail, Big Bill Haywood Interviewed by Carl Sandburg”