Soapboxers, including leading I.W.W. figure Walker C. Smith thrown into the Denver bullpen.

‘I.W.W. Agitators Jailed in Denver’ from Solidarity. Vol. 2 No. 37. August 26, 1911.

(Special to Solidarity.) Denver, Colo., Aug. 17. Local union No. 26 had a taste of Russianized America on Monday night, Aug. 14, when Fellow Workers Carl Rave and Walker C. Smith were thrown into the city bullpen.

The whole affair was a frameup by enemies of the I.W.W. but it failed of its purpose, that of preventing street meetings.

Fellow Worker Smith was on the box handing hot shots to the enemy, despite the continued interruptions of a drunk placed in the crowd. This drunk had been led away from the crowd several times, no uniform police being around, and each time was brought back by opponents of the I.W.W. Upon being led away for the fourth time he was advised to return by one Dr. Hamilton of the Victor Hotels a cheap lodging house just ad joining the corner of 18th and Larimer streets. Upon returning and recommencing the disturbance the drunk was taken across the street by fellow worker Carl Rave In crossing the street car tracks, the drunk, being already heavily over loaded, stumbled and fell into the adjoining gutter. Dr. Hamilton immediately secured an officer, several appeared as if by magic, and had Rave arrested claiming he struck the man. Fellow Worker Smith ceased speaking and crossing the street, offered his services as a witness. An officer grabbed him making the remark “Witness nothing! You come along too!” Fellow Worker Mrs. Smith told the officer to take her and baby into custody, claiming she was guilty if her husband was. The officer refused to do this.

Rave and Smith were then taken to the city jail, carefully searched for dynamite and dangerous weapons, and were thrown into the task. They were kept ex-communicado, no one being allowed to see them, no messages allowed to be transmitted, and all offers to bail turned down by the police officers in charge. The cell into which they were thrown had sleeping accommodations for less than a dozen people, but the prisoners were 28 in number. In this filthy, unsanitary, foul smelling, vermin infested hole the men were forced to sleep without any blankets or bedding whatsoever, in company with drunks in every stage of filth. One man in particular had such a stench coming from his person that even the strong nosed jailers were forced to make him take a bath in the morning. The ordinance of the Board of Health did not seem to be in force for upon the floor, the toilet and the faucet for drinking purposes, were seen the vomitings of the drunks, the hawkings of consumptives and liberal splashes’ of tobacco juice. The recently enacted laws regarding public drinking cups did not seem to be effective for one battered and greasy tin cup was supplied for the entire bunch.

The gentle reformers are hereby directed–to the city jail. There is enough cleaning up necessary there to occupy their attention for a considerable period.

In the cold, grey dawn of the morning after, the prisoners received a heavenly mixture called hash, generally supposed to be comebacks from one of the local restaurants; a boiled spud without salt; a chunk of punk and a greasy tin cup containing a dark looking concoction labeled coffee. A liberal sprinkle of cockroaches completed the meal This is given the prisoners twice each day at a total cost of 12 cents per man. The city is supposed to pay 35 cents Where does the difference go? The prisoners were cooped up in the mess hall–just about one-third the size of the sleeping quarters–until those who were to be tried were called out. At 9 o’clock Rave was taken to court but Smith was thrown back into the “cooler.” Only then were persons allowed to see Smith. The police at last realized that they had picked up a hot brick and Smith was released without having been brought before the chief of police, the judge or any of the “high up” fraternity. The release, by a strange(?) coincidence, took place at the exact time that Rave was demanding Smith’s presence as a witness. The police declared that Smith had been released and his whereabouts were unknown. Despite the fact that the testimony of witness proved the affair to be a set up job, and also showed that the drunk was not roughly handled, Rave was fined $5 and costs. This was paid by the local as certain events showed it best to pursue such course at present.

Smith is seriously considering a suit against the city for damages on account of false imprisonment, loss of position, etc. and is advised by one of the attorneys in the McNamara case, who at present is in Denver that he has an excellent case.

No complaint was filed against Smith when arrested but in the morning the charge was said to be vagrancy, notwithstanding the fact that he had nearly $15 in cash on his person, a bank book showing a balance and was working until the arrest caused him to be fired. Mrs. Smith gave the police captain her opinion in plain language and asked him “If working 9 hours a day makes a man a vagrant, how long would he have to labor to be a workingman?”

On Wednesday, Smith was called before the Fire and Police Board, where he received much kind advice from the “city dads,” which did not seem to change his ideas on industrial unionism as he continues to speak every night as before.

The persistent agitation of Local 26 in Denver is creating a widespread sentiment for industrial unionism and the effectiveness of the work can be shown in no clearer way than by the manner in which the organization is being fought.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1911/v02n40-w092-sep-16-1911-Solidarity.pdf