Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
FW Marciionas Petkus
Martyr of the Philadelphia Sugar Workers’ Strike of 1917
By February 21 of 1917 the strike at the Franklin and McCahan sugar refineries had been on for several weeks. At about 5:30 p. m. that afternoon, police were escorting scabs home from the plants when they were met by strikers and their wives, led by Florence Sholde who threw pepper into the faces of the scabs and police.
Wobbly Historian Bob Helms picks up the story:
The crowd grew and the confrontation escalated into a pitched battle of bricks and pistol shots, involving hundreds of union supporters. FW Sholde was arrested for inciting to riot (police agents supposedly had spotted her earlier in the day urging militant action at a meeting), and scores of people were injured on both sides, but Martin Petkus was killed by a single bullet in the chest and fell across a railroad track….
The news reports say that he was one of the striking Franklin workers, that he was “known among them as a giant of strength and courage,” and that the police found an IWW membership card in his pocket. He was recognized by all as a leader, and accordingly his funeral was a formidable event.
Petkus’ body lay in state at the Lithuanian National Hall (still standing), which was the headquarters of MTW IU #510 at that time, and on February 26th he was carried to St. Casimir’s Lithuanian Catholic Church, a dozen or so blocks away, with a crowd of about 10,000 accompanying his casket. Little girls wearing red dresses sold red carnations to union supporters.
From the Philadelphia Evening Ledger of February 26, 1917:
THRONGS LINE STREETS AT STRIKER’S FUNERAL
—–Thousands Watch Procession as Body of
I. W. W. Leader Is Borne to Church
—–
MANY TRIBURES AT BIER
—–Several thousand persons, including many strikers and their wives and children, were massed along the streets today in the sugar-strike zone when the funeral procession of Martinas Bedaeziczia [ Marciionas Petkus], I. W. W. leader, killed by a policeman’s bullet in rioting last week, passed from Lithuanian Hall, 928 East Moyamensing avenue to St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church, Fourth and Wharton streets.
The police estimate that fully 10,000 persons participated in the funeral procession. Each participant in the funeral cortege wore a red rose, purchased from the I. W. W. strike committee for ten cents. The proceeds of the rose sale will be used to defray the funeral expenses.
There was no demonstration of any kind along the route of the procession. Scarcely a sound or a movement came from the thousands who watched the hearse pass by with its burden. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the wives of many of the strikers who stood at the curb with their infants in their arms. For the most part, the faces of the men were stolid after the manner of the Polish people. They showed their feeling by their calm. Many of them did not seem to be looking at the cortege at all, but gazed elsewhere in a brooding manner. There was no demonstration, even when the procession passed the Moyamensing avenue and Dickinson street station. The bullet that killed Bedaeziczia was fired by and unidentified policeman from this station. Many of the strikers had places of vantage on house roofs; others stood in doorways, or peered out of windows. In the procession were more than 200 negro longshoremen, who went on a sympathetic strike three weeks ago. The longshoremen wore red roses and also I. W. W. buttons.
More than two hundred uniformed policemen were scattered along the line of march, and forty or more plain clothes men from City Hall mingled with the crowds and watched for trouble.
It is estimated by the police that between 11 a. m. yesterday and 10 a. m. today more than 15,000 persons viewed the body of Bedaezicia as it lay in state in Lithuanian Hall. Following are some of the inscriptions on floral tributes which were banked about the coffin:
Fallen In the Workingmen’s Struggle
We Never Forget
Our Brother
From Your Brethren
A striker carrying an American flag led the procession. He was followed by a band of twenty pieces which played Chopin’s funeral march. Six flower girls, wives of strikers, preceded the hearse. St. Casimir’s Church was soon packed to its capacity, and the police were obliged to push their way in. There was a solemn high requiem mass, with the Rev. J. J. Kaulkis officiating. Interment was in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County. Many strikers and their wives went to the cemetery in special trolley cars.
———-
Variations on Names for FW Petkus
Finding the actual name of FW Petkus would not have been possible without the work of Bob Helms, and I, therefore, offer my hearty appreciation for his research. It was his work that enabled me to find FW Petkus at Find-a-Grave. Carol Ann Kern Boyd posted the memorial for FW Petkus in October of 2006. She has since passed away. Her memorial page can be found here:
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40370936&MRid=46808391&
As with many other immigrant workers, the press was none too careful with getting the name of FW Petkus right. Here are some of the names I found published in the press of the time:
From Kept Press:
Mario Quenas Detkabze
Martinas Bedaeziczia
(and several others!)
From IWW Press:
Martynas Petkus
Martinus Petkus
Martin Petkus
Marciionas Petkeviczia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
Name: Marciionas Petkus
Age: 28
-from Find a Grave
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16019775
“A Wobbly Martyr’s Grave” by Bob Helms
https://libcom.org/library/wobbly-martyrs-grave-bob-helms
Evening Ledger
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Feb 26, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/162305689/
IMAGES
WNF, M. Petkus, Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16019775
WNF, Marciionas Petkus, IWW, Funeral Phl Eve Ldg Feb 26, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/162305689/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal, Friday February 23, 1917
-Food Riots in New York & Philly as Mothers Refuse to Maintain Good Public Order While Children Starve
(Scroll down to “One Man Killed..Philadelphia”)
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-food-riots-in-new-york-philly-as-mothers-refuse-to-maintain-good-public-order-while-children-starve/
Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 9, 1917
-Mass Funeral Held in Philadelphia for I. W. W. Martyr, Marciionas Petkus
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-mass-funeral-held-in-philadelphia-for-i-w-w-martyr-marciionas-petkus/
“War on Waterfront” by Peter Cole
https://libcom.org/history/war-waterfront-chapter-4-wobblies-waterfront-%E2%80%93-interracial-unionism-progressive-era-phil
Industrial Worker of Nov 1913, “In November We Remember”
(Scroll down to page 6.)
https://iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWNovember2013.pdf