You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday September 27, 1914
From the Appeal to Reason: Helen Schloss, "A Most Dangerous Character," Freed
Miss Schloss in jail during Little Falls Textile Strike
In yesterday's edition of the
Appeal to Reason we learned that Miss Helen Schloss, now of the Ludlow Tent Colony, was once again taken into the clutches of the military. This time, however, in spite of being described as "a most dangerous character" by Captain Shelly of the Eleventh U. S. Cavalry, the Nurse of the Ludlow hospital tents was set free:
Helen Schloss Freed
"A most dangerous character," was the way Captain Shelly of the Eleventh United States cavalry described Helen Schloss as the two sat facing each other in the little railroad station at Ludlow turned into a court for the trial of the trained nurse who refused to stop picketing.
Small Helen in a white-duck suit, her smiling, sun-browned face topped by a mass of wavy, black hair, was but three days out of jail and here she was back again in the clutches of the law and at outs with the United States army sent to maintain the peace of John D. Rockefeller in southern Colorado.
"I had to make it my business to follow her around," testified the tall officer in khaki and polished tan riding boots," and I heard her ask the Greek as he goes off the train if he was not ashamed to take the bread out of the mouths of strikers-if he was not afraid to woke in a scab mine where he might be blown up at any time. She used the word scab-it is very objectionable; you will find it so by looking in the dictionary." declared the scandalized officer.
"Terribly Dangerous!"
"And you say she is a dangerous character?" interjected the little district attorney.
"Certainly, yes," snapped the captain. "Why, she called out to the strikers across the road so that every one could hear, 'Oh, boys, look here! Here's a scab going to work in the mines.' And that," said the captain stiffening up, "caused all the strikers to laugh and applaud her. All of which, I submit to the court, makes her a most dangerous character," the captain repeated with increased emphasis, "a most dangerous character."
Other soldiers with automatics strapped to their hips were put on the witness stand and reiterated the dangers which hung over the peace of the state of Colorado so long as this trained nurse was allowed to interview scabs.
The little district attorney followed up this charge of the military with confidence. He knew his judge-a weigh boss in a scab mine-and the dangerous Miss Schloss was pictured in colors to bring conviction from any friend of Rockefeller's.
The court in the little railroad station, filled with a crowd of sympathetic strikers, their wives and children, took on a depressed air. There was no hope. Nothing could save their little lady of the hospital tents from being carried away again to the foul cell in the Trinidad county jail, nothing but-
The judge instructed the jury as a faithful weigh-bossman of a coal company should. The jurymen retired to the baggage room of the station to consider. The little district attorney whispered to the judge what was to e done to the culprit after conviction. A baby patient of Miss Schloss' burst into a flood of tears-"was her dear nurse to be taken to prison by the wicked soldiers?"
Then the jury returned, and the foreman read the verdict-"Not guilty!"
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The same edition of the Appeal describes life in the rebuilt Ludlow Tent Colony under the rule of the United States troops:
The Rebuilt Ludlow Tent Colony
What Martial Law Means
Martial law under the United States troops in Colorado means-Well, it means all that any capitalist-minded man can desire, as the following account of what occurred last Saturday morning at Ludlow is proof:
Down the road to the tent colony of the striking miners marched a troop of soldiers under the command of Captain Shelly. They were escorting under-Sheriff Zeke Martin and a bunch of deputies to make arrests called for under indictments issued by the late grand jury of selected gunmen.
Reaching the camp Captain Shelly ordered every miner to come out of his tent and stand in line.
Striking Miners of the Ludlow Tent Colony
Then this United States officer, under instructions from President Wilson to maintain peace between the operators and miners in southern Colorado, called upon every man to show his union card and tell his name.
All this was done so that Zeke Martin, the same Zeke who had led assaults on Forbes and other camps, might easily arrest any man that he was in search of. In short, the soldiers compelled the miners to identify themselves, to practically accuse themselves of crime, so that the wheels of the law under Rockefeller might roll easily.
One fearless little woman, Mrs. Domeniski [Mrs. Maggie Dominiske] whose husband is in jail with Bob Uhlich, called on the assembled men to refuse to show their cards or to answer questions put to them by the officers. She was hustled away by the soldiers.
Zeke made four arrests.
Then he turned two loose because they were not the ones he wanted.
Prisoners, deputies and soldiers finally departed leaving the camp to consider the blessings of law and order in free America. Most of the campers were from foreign and "barbarous" countries and have much to learn.
[photograph added]
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Industrial and Political Action.
The workers of southern Colorado have realized through the industrial struggle of the past year the strength of labor in the industrial field.
Jails, bull-pens and unsanitary bastiles have been their homes for more than eight months, no trial, no bail, no pure air or sunshine, only bare and condemned jails; but the workers have turned.
In the miner' convention now being held in Trinidad there are three candidates for sheriff on the Socialist ticket-W. M. Waugh of Gunnison county, Charles W. Goold of Fremont county and G. F. Wilson of Las Animas county-the workers know that with Socialist sheriffs there would be no gunmen or company thugs in the coal fields and that peace would reign supreme.
That the coal barons' judge, McHendrie, must be recalled all declare. If the APPEAL TO REASON can face contempt of court proceedings the Socialists of Colorado are willing to stand back of the APPEAL and do their part. "On with the recall!" comes the cry from every part of the state. "Put the names of every voter on the mailing list of the APPEAL," is the general demand.
Without action on the political field the union finds itself facing the mine owners' judge, the mine owners' sheriff, and sees itself landing in the mine owners' jail.
E. H. H. GATES,
Sec'y Trinidad Recall Committee
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SOURCE
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
of Sept 26, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Helen Schloss in Jail in Little Falls
http://books.google.com/...
Ludlow Tent Colony, Rebuilt
http://margolis.faculty.asu.edu/...
Striking Miners of the Ludlow Tent Colony
https://www.du.edu/...
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Saturday September 27, 2014
More on Helen Schloss, and The Red Nurse by Michael Cooney:
From upstateearth.blogspot:
Socialists, Anarchists & the Little Falls Textile Strike of 1912
...A correspondent informed us that the following information on Helen Schloss had been posted by Bob Albrecht of Little Falls on Ancestry.com.
“Helen Schloss was born in Vilna, Russia, was the daughter of a rabbi, attended the Rand School (NYC), was a public health nurse in NYC, Malone, and Little Falls, NY. She was a Socialist, friend of Helen Keller. She was a union supporter and worked with Matilda Rabinowicz and Big Bill Haywood. Her arrest record follows her across the country. She also was a speaker at a NYC Suffrage Rally in NYC. She set up medic tents at strikes in Colorado and traveled to Russia with the Friends Service Committee around 1920. There she served as a nurse to those in the midst of the civil war. And then… her trail fades until her death in 1965. I can connect her to no one. Any help out there?”...
The Red Nurse by Michael Cooney
This novel tells the story of the Little Falls textile strike of 1912 from the perspective of one of its leading participants, M. Helen Schloss. She was a public health nurse and an active socialist before she came to Little Falls, New York at the invitation of a group of wealthy women. When workers at the Phoenix and Gilbert textile mills struck against wage cuts in October, she was ready to support them in every way she could.
The Red Nurse
-by Michael Cooney
Createspace Independent Pub, 2012
http://books.google.com/...
(see link also for image of book cover)
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The Rebel Girl - Hazel Dickens
She's the Rebel Girl, the Rebel Girl,
She's the working class, the strength of this world.
From Maine to Georgia you'll see
Her fighting for you and for me.
Yes, she's there by your side
With her courage and pride,
She's unequaled anywhere.
And I'm proud to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill and Hazel Dickens
"The Rebel Girl" as written by Joe Hill
http://www.folkarchive.de/...
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