Joe Hill writes a letter explaining why he chose to defend himself, and throws scorn on Utah’s ‘law and order’ that would have him shot for a crime he did not commit.

‘I Have Lived Like an Artist; I Will Die Like an Artist’ by Joseph Hillstrom from Solidarity. Vol. 6 No. 295. September 4, 1915.

JOE HILL GAME SWEARS INNOCENCE

Doomed Man, in Letter to Salt Lake Telegram Editor, Declares He is “Goat.” States Emphatically He Knows Nothing of Killing of Morrison.

(Salt Lake Telegram, Aug. 22) From the death house at the state prison Joseph Hillstrom has written a letter to the editor of The Telegram laying his case before the people. It is the message of a man who is doomed and for whom there seems little hope. The date of his execution is little more than a month away.

Hillstrom closes his statement with this declaration: “I HAVE LIVED LIKE AN ARTIST AND I SHALL DIE LIKE AN ARTIST.”

Nothing but the action of the governor and the board of pardons can stay the hand of the executioner. Hillstrom’s case has been before the supreme court and the decision was against him.

He is now under sentence to be shot at the state prison Oct. 1, for the Morrison murder.

He declares emphatically, in his letter to The Telegram, that he is innocent.

Hillstrom’s letter was received by the editor last night. It was registered through the Sugarhouse substation, the return notice being marked on the envelope: “J. Hillstrom, state prison.” The letter in full is printed below:

State Prison, Aug. 15, 1915 Editor Telegram, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sir–I have noticed that there have been some articles in your paper wherein the reason why I discharged my attorneys, F.B. Scott and E.D. McDougall, was discussed pro and con. If you will kindly allow me a little space, I think I might be able throw a little light on the question.

There were several reasons why I discharged, or tried to discharge these attorneys. The main reason, however, was because they never attempted to cross-examine the witnesses for the state, and failed utterly to deliver the points of the defense.

When I asked them why they did not use the records of the preliminary hearing and pin the witnesses down to their former statements, they blandly informed me that the preliminary hearing had nothing to do with the district court hearing and that under the law they had no right to use said records.

I picked up a record myself and tried to look at it, but Mr. Scott took it away from me, stating that “it would have a bad effect on the jury.” I then came to the conclusion that Scott and McDougall were not there for the purpose of defending me, and I did just what any other man would have done–I stood up and showed them the door. But, to my great surprise, I discovered that the presiding judge had the power to compel me to have these attorneys, in spite of all my protests.

The main and only fact worth considering, however, is this: I never killed Morrison and do not know a thing about it.

He was, as the records plainly show, killed by some enemy for the sake of revenge, and I have not been in this city long enough to make an enemy. Shortly before my arrest I came down from Park City, where I was working in the mines. Owing to the prominence of Mr. Morrison, there had to be a “goat,” and the undersigned being, as they thought, a friendless tramp, a Swede, and, worst of all, an I.W.W., had no right to live anyway, and was therefore duly selected to be “the goat.”

There were men sitting on my jury, the foreman being one of them, who were never subpoenaed for the case. There are errors and perjury that are screaming to high heaven for mercy, and I know that I, according to the laws of the land, am entitled to a new trial, and the fact that the supreme court does not grant it to me only proves that the beautiful term, “equality before the law,” is merely an empty phrase in Salt Lake City.

Here is what Judge Hilton of Denver, one of the greatest authorities on law, has to say about it:

“The decision of the supreme court surprised me greatly, but the reason why the verdict was affirmed is, I think, on account of the rotten records made by the lower court.”

This statement shows plainly why the motion for a new trial was denied and there is no explanation necessary. In conclusion I wish to state that my records are not quite as black as they have been painted.

In spite of all the hideous pictures and all the bad things said and printed about me, I had only been arrested once before in my life, and that was in San Pedro, Cal. At the time of the stevedores’ and dock workers’ strike I was secretary of the strike committee, and I suppose I was a little too active to suit the chief of that burg, so he arrested me and gave me thirty days in the city jail for “vagrancy”–and there you have the full extent of my “criminal record.”

I have always worked hard for a living and paid for ever thing I got, and my spare time I spend by painting pictures, writing songs and composing music.

Now, if the people of the state of Utah want to shoot me without giving me half a chance to state my side of the case, then bring on your firing squads–I am ready for you.

I have lived like an artist and I shall die like an artist. Respectfully yours,

JOSEPH HILLSTROM

Salt Lake, Utah, Aug. 22

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/1915/v06-w295-sep-04-1915-solidarity.pdf