Newspaper articles

WILSON AGAIN ASK SPRY TO RECONSIDER CASE OF HILLSTROM

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17. - President Wilson to-day urged Governor Spry of Utah to reconsider the case of Joseph Hillstrom, the Swedish citizen sentenced to die next Friday for murder. The President sent to the governor the following telegram:

"With unaffected hesitation, but with a very earnest conviction of the importance of the case, I again venture to urge upon your excellency the justice and advisability of a thorough reconsideration of the case of Joseph Hillstrom."

Hillstrom is an I. W. W. worker, in whose behalf the President appealed to Governor Spry at the request of the Swedish minister several weeks ago, on the ground that Hillstrom had not had a fair trial. The prisoner was respited, but eventually resentenced. A few days ago Mrs. J. Sergeant Cram and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of New York again urged the President to ask Governor Spry to intervene. The American Federation of Labor, in convention in San Francisco, also asked clemency for Hillstrom.

Save Joe Hill

Joe Hill, a working class poet and revolutionist, lies in prison in the state of Utah, sentenced to death by capitalist law for the audacious and admirable crime of loyalty to his class. On October 1 - the date set for Hill;s execution - a shot is to be fired by the hired murderers of the law that will pierce not only the brave heart of Joe Hill but the heart of working class liberty this wide country over.

The persecution of Joe Hill is a clear case of infamous injustice. He was boldly railroaded by an unfair, farcical trial in a community where public sentiment was inflamed against him because he had been a conspicuous leader of local strikers. Joe Hill is accused of robbery and murder, but the truth is that he is sentenced to be shot simply because he dared stand with his class in revolt and refused to cringe before the exploiters of the workingman's toil.

Workingmen of the United States, if Joe Hill can be shot any of you can be shot for asserting your rights and resisting the oppression of your capitalist masters. If there is no liberty for Joe Hill, there is no liberty for you nor any workingman.

We call upon all workingmen of the United States to protest against the murder of Joe Hill, and by doing so assert their right to rebel against tyranny and struggle for better conditions for themselves and fellow laborers. Sit down immediately and write the governor of Utah, Salt Lake City, telling him in plain language that you consider the execution of Joe Hill to be rank murder, a blow at liberty and a crime against the working class of the United States. Write now, for October 1 is when our gallant brother is to be murdered - martyred to your and my cause.

WHO ARE THE TRAITORS?

When the Welsh miners struck for more wages English capitalists cried "Treason." "Truth," wrote George Eliot, "has rough flavors." Let us get the facts in this case and see.

According to Prime Minister Asquith himself, 217,000 miners answered the call for volunteers and enlisted, 20 per cent of the total recruits

and 50 per cent of all the miners of military age.

How did the coal operators show their "patriotism"? They showed it just as they always show it in England, America or any other nation - by boosting the price of coal and refusing to increase the wages of the miners. Now pick out the real traitors to England. Truly "truth has rough flavors" for those who live by rent, interest and profit.

"Editorial"

All over the country, democrats and republicans alike, are commending Governor Spry for the merited rebuke he handed President Wilson when the latter attempted to again delay the execution of Joseph Hillstrom, an I. W. W. convicted murderer. The President's action, which was absolutely unwarranted has cast a reflection upon the entire commonwealth of Utah and its judiciary. The only motive that we can assign for this egregious and damning blunder, one of the worst by the way, in all White House history, is that it was a political move pure and simple - one of the president's great plays to the gallery. The American voter is no longer the poor simpleton described by the late P. T. Barnum; therefore instead of winning favor with the public who abhor an execution, the president only succeeded in weaning their confidence and respect.

M Hardy J A M

AN APPEAL FOR HILL.

Editor Omaha Daily News:

In the state of Utah one Joseph Hillstrom (Joe Hill), a Swede, of rare courage and cleanest character, is in a few days to be executed.

"The state of Utah failed to establish a case. The prosecution failed to show a motive for the crime. The defendant was not identified by any witnesses. He was convicted on the flimsiest circumstantial evidence."

In vain I waited for his countrymen - and mine - the Scandinavians, to rise in a body and take action in his behalf. It must be that they are too occupied to pause long enough to prevent a countryman of theirs from being shot as a felon for another's crime.

Or do they think they are justified to omit coming to his aid just because his religion differs from theirs, or his ideas about astronomy?

Let each and every one of us, who believes in equality before the law for native and foreign born, rich and poor - but not in judical murder - right now telegraph or write a demand to Governor Spry of Salt Lake City, Utah, that Joe Hill be given another trial. H. MELL Mason City, Ia.

"Commutation denied Joe Hill. Joe declares innocence and says, 'I don't want a commutation or pardon. If you can't give me a new trial, that's all there is to it, I don't want the humiliation of a pardon or commutation. What I want is an acquittal.'"

By the time this paper reaches the reader, Joe Hill will have been either executed or, if letters of protest have had their effect, granted a stay of execution at the very least. If Joe Hill is murdered, with the sanctions of the law, another inerasable stain will be placed upon the bloody banner of class government in America. And there will be no intimation on the part of the powers higher up that the United States intends to "spare no word or act" in avenging this gross violation of human rights and flagrant insult to the flag that floats over the lands.

Wilson's Plea Wins Slayer a 2 Week's Stay

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SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, September 30.—On request of President Wilson, telegraphed today from Washington, Gov. William Spry granted a reprieve until October 16 to Joseph Hillstrom, sentenced t be shot tomorrow after having been convicted of murdering J. G. Morrison, a grocer and Morrison's young son here in January, 1914.

In his answer to the president's message, Gov. Spry says the reprieve is granted only because the president requested it, and he insists that the Swedish minister come here and make a personal investigation before October 16, as the Swedish vice consul here has gone thoroughly into the case and advised that he can find no reason why the Board of Pardons should change its decision.

The state constitution prohibits a reprieve beyond October 13, the date of the next meeting of the Board of Pardons.