I am going to stick to my principle no matter what may come.
I am going to have a new trial or die trying.
Yours for Fair Play,
JOSEPH HILLSTROM
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Wednesday October 13, 1915
From The New York Times: O. N. Hilton to Meet with Swedish Minister Ekengren
The New York Times of October 7th reported the arrival of Orrin N. Hilton, attorney for Fellow Worker Joe Hill. Mr. Hilton was passing through New York on his way to Washington D. C. for a meeting with the Swedish Minister.
HOPES TO SAVE HILLSTROM.
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Counsel Will Ask Swedish Minister
to Make Plea.
Judge O. W. [N.] Hilton of Denver, counsel for Joseph Hillstrom, the I. W. W. song writer, who was convicted of murder in Salt Lake City, arrived in this city yesterday and left for Washington last night with the records of the case, which he will lay before W. A. F. Ekengren, the Swedish Minister to Washington.
Hillstrom was to have been shot by a firing squad on Oct. 1, but was reprieved by Governor Spry of Utah at the request of President Wilson, who asked that the execution of the sentence be postponed until the Swedish Minister should have an opportunity to present his view of the case.
The fact that Hillstrom is a Swedish subject was only brought out three weeks ago, and the request for a reprieve was made by Minister Ekengren after he had received some of the papers in the case from I. W. W. leaders of New York.
Judge Hilton said he would try to induce the Swedish Minister to make a request through the State Department for a commutation of sentence, and that he thought such a request would be granted by the Pardon Board of Utah, although no precedent existed for such a request from the representative of a foreign nation.
[Photograph added.]
Mr. Hilton and Minister W. A. F. Ekengren met together on October 7th and 8th and, it is reported, came to an agreement on how to proceed in their efforts to save the life of Joe Hill who was granted a sixteen day reprieve of his death sentence on September 30th, the night before he was scheduled to face a firing squad. Exactly what that plan is, we do not know at the present time. We have heard, however, that Big Bill Haywood, General Secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World, is in full agreement with the plan.
Joe Hill: "A Few Reasons Why I Demand A New Trial" (Continued)
On October 4th, the Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News published a long statement by Fellow Worker Joe Hill which Hellraisers is republishing in three parts. Today we present the the Third and final part of the statement. The statement was prepared by Joe Hill for the Utah Board of Pardons in order to explain his reasons for insisting upon a new trial rather than commutation. Solidarity will also republish FW Hill's statement in its October 16th edition.
From the Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News of October 4, 1915:
HILLSTROM'S STATEMENT [Part 3]
SAW ATTORNEY M'DOUGALL.
A few days after that hearing an attorney by the name of McDougall came to see me at the county jail. He said he was a stranger in town and had heard about my case and would be willing to take my case for nothing. Seeing that that proposition was in perfect harmony with my bankroll, I accepted his offer. I will say for McDougall, though, that he was honest and sincere about it and would no doubt had carried the case to a successful finish if he had not got mixed up with that miserable shyster Mr. Scott. Before my trial, I pointed out the fact that the preliminary hearing records had been altered, but they said that the said record did not amount to anything anyway, and that it would do no good to make a holler about it.
Then the trial commenced. The first day went by with the usual questioning of jurors. The second day however something happened that did not look right to me. There was a jury of eight men entered the courtroom. They had been serving on some other case and came in to deliver their verdict, which was one of "Guilty." Then the court discharged all the jurors and they all started to go home, but then for some reason Judge Ritchie changed his mind and told three of them to come back and go up in the jury box to be examined for my case. I noted that these men were very surprised and that they did not expect to be retained for jury service. I have therefore good reasons to believe that they were never subpoenaed for the case, but just simply appointed by the court. One of these men, a very old man by the name of Kimball was later on made "foreman" of the jury.
During the course of the trial I was surprised to see that some of the witnesses were telling entirely different stories to the ones told by them at the preliminary hearing and I then asked my attorney why they did not use the preliminary hearing records and pin the witnesses down to their former statements. They then told me that the preliminary hearing had nothing to do with the district court hearing and that they did not amount to anything. They did however use said records a little but only for a bluff.
After I had watched this ridiculous grand stand play for a while I came to the conclusion that I had to get rid of these attorneys and either conduct the case myself or else get some other attorney. I therefore stood up the first thing in the morning one day and showed them the door. Being the defendant in the case, I naturally thought I should have the right to say who I wanted to represent me but to my surprise I discovered that the presiding judge had the power to compel me to have these attorneys in spite of all my protests. He ruled that they remain as "friends of the court" and that settled it.
Mr. Scott went after one of the state witnesses in a way that convinced me that he really could do good work when he wanted to. After he got through with this witness (Mrs. Seely) he came up to me and said: "Now then how did you like that?" I said: "That's good, but why didn't you do some of that before?" "Well-er-" he hesitated, "this was the first witness we had marked for cross-examination." If that is not a "dead give-away" then I don't know anything. It will be noted that Mrs. Seely is one of the last witnesses for the state.
I will now say something about the pistol which I had in my possession when I called at Dr. McHugh's office to have my wound dressed. That pistol was a "Luger" caliber 30, a pistol of German make. I laid my pistol on the table while the doctor dressed my wound and I thought that he would be able to tell it apart from other pistols on account of its peculiar construction. He said he did not know, however, what kind of pistol mine was. That was an even break and whenever I get an even break I am not complaining. He did not like most of the state witnesses commit perjury and is therefore in my opinion a gentleman.
There was another doctor, however, by the name of Bink [Bird], who dropped in while Dr. McHugh was dressing my wound. He only saw the pistol as I put it in my pocket, he so said at the preliminary hearing, but at the district court hearing he came up and deliberately swore that my pistol was exactly the same kind of pistol as the one that Morrison and his son were killed with.
As I said before, my pistol was a "Luger" 30. It was bought less than a month before my arrest in a second hand store on west South Temple street, near the depot. I was brought down there in an automobile by three officers and the record of the same was found on the books: price, date of sale and everything as I had stated. The books did not show what kind of a gun it was however and as the clerk who sold it was in Chicago at the time a telegram was sent to him to which he sent this answer: "Remember selling Luger gun at that time. Whats the trouble." I bought the pistol on Dec. 15, 1913 for $16.50. Anybody may go to the store and see the books.
Now, anyone can readily understand that I am not in a position where I could afford to make any false statements. I have stated the facts, as I know them in my own simple way. I think I shall be able to convince every fair-minded man and woman who reads these lines that I did not have a fair and impartial trial in spite of what the learned jurist may have said to the contrary. Now if you don't like to see perjurers and dignified crooks go unpunished, if you don't like to see human life being sold like a commodity on the market, then give me a hand. I am going to stick to my principle no matter what may come. I am going to have a new trial or die trying.
Yours for Fair Play,
JOSEPH HILLSTROM.
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[Photograph and paragraph breaks added.]
~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
Joe Hill
-by Gibbs M. Smith
Gibbs M Smith Inc, 1984
(copyright 1969)
https://books.google.com/...
The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-Oct 7, 1915
http://query.nytimes.com/...
Deseret Evening News
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
-Oct 4, 1915
http://newspaperarchive.com/...
http://newspaperarchive.com/...
The Letters of Joe Hill
-ed by Philip S Foner
Oak Publications, 1965
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
Orrin N Hilton
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/...
Joe Hill, International Socialist Review, Aug 1915
https://books.google.com/...
Scissor Bill"s Prayer
http://www.folkarchive.de/...
See also:
Search: NYT of Oct 1-31, 1915 w/ "Hillstrom"
http://query.nytimes.com/...
"The Legacy of Joe Hill"
http://local.sltrib.com/...
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Information from Archie Green via Gibbs Smith:
The Industrial Worker of March 6, 1913 announced that the new edition of the I. W. W. songbook (Little Red Songbook) would include eleven new songs. That edition of the songbook was designated as the Fifth Edition on the front cover. Nine of the eleven new songs were by Joe Hill, including "Scissor Bill" on page 17.
Scissor Bill - Bucky Halker
Scissor Bill
By Joe Hill
(Tune: "Steamboat Bill")
You may ramble 'round the country anywhere you will,
You'll always run across the same old Scissor Bill.
He's found upon the desert, he is on the hill,
He's found in every mining camp and lumber mill.
He looks just like a human, he can eat and walk,
But you will find he isn't, when he starts to talk.
He'll say, "This is my country," with an honest face,
While all the cops they chase him out of every place.
CHORUS
Scissor Bill, he is a little dippy,
Scissor Bill, he has a funny face.
Scissor Bill should drown in Mississippi,
He is the missing link that Darwin tried to trace.
And Scissor Bill, he couldn't live without the booze,
He sits around all day and spits tobacco juice.
He takes a deck of cards and tries to beat the Chink!
Yes, Bill would be a smart guy if he only could think.
And Scissor Bill, he says: "This country must be freed
From Niggers, Japs and Dutchmen and the gol durn Swede."
He says that every cop would be a native son
If it wasn't for the Irishman, the sonna fur gun.
CHORUS
Scissor Bill, the "foreigners" is cussin';
Scissor Bill, he says: "I hate a Coon";
Scissor Bill is down on everybody
The Hottentots, the bushmen and the man in the moon.
Don't try to talk your union dope to Scissor Bill,
He says he never organized and never will.
He always will be satisfied until he's dead,
With coffee and a doughnut and a lousy old bed.
And Bill, he says he gets rewarded thousand fold,
When he gets up to Heaven on the streets of gold.
But I don't care who knows it, and right here I'll tell,
If Scissor Bill is goin' to Heaven, I'll go to Hell.
CHORUS
Scissor Bill, he wouldn't join the union,
Scissor Bill, he says, "Not me, by Heck!"
Scissor Bill gets his reward in Heaven,
Oh! sure. He'll get it, but he'll get in the neck.
Steamboat Bill - Edward Meeker
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