San Pedro, then the main Los Angeles-area port, was the scene of a tremendous class conflict in the 1920s centered on the docks, with strikes and free speech fights facing a murderous Klan and complicit cops. One of the most notorious incidents was the June 14, 1924 assault on a benefit at the local I.W.W. hall to raise funds for the funeral to tow workers recently killed on the job. Full of children who were performing, the dozens of Klan and associates assaulted participants, kidnapped others–later to be tarred and feathered–wrecked the building and scalded with boiling water and group of children, hospitalizing a number of them. Included among the victims were the he Sundstedt family of single mother Lizzie and her three children, the oldest of which, 12-year old May, was severely burned. Lizzie died a month and a half later, in part due to the effects, and was given a martyr’s funeral to which May attended with her siblings while carried on a a stretcher. The father being AWOL, concerned Fellow Workers took on the task of helping the children over the following years. Below is a dossier of Industrial Worker articles on the raid, its background and its aftermath; free speech and and police collusion; Lizzie Sundstedt’s death, funeral, and an update on the children from several years later.

Dossier of the June 14, 1924 Klan Assault Upon the San Pedro Wobbly Hall from Industrial Worker.

‘Record of San Pedro Raid.’ Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 31, June 21, 1924.

MOB SCALDS 4 CHILDREN, MAIMS 50 MEN, KIDNAPS 7; POLICE STAY NEUTRAL

Authorities Make No Effort to Identify Mobsters, But Start Story About Plot to Dynamite Morgue Where Sailors Lay Dead to Cover Up Their Failure to Act

While the police force remained “neutral,” a mob in San Pedro. California, scalded Lena Milos, nine years old, from head to feet, sent 20 men and women to the hospital, dangerously wounded another 30 people, took seven men, loaded them into a truck, carried them out into the country and there beat them, tarred and feathered them and abandoned them in the night to perish or live; and all this by a mob of 150 persons, about 20 of whom wore the uniform of U.S. sailors, while those injured were enjoying their Saturday night release from toil.

In the midst of an entertainment, this mob burst into the hall of the I.W.W. in San Pedro and began with axes, pick handles and gas pipes to wreck the place. Women and children were gathered for pleasure and a portion of the mob overturned the contents of a coffee urn upon them. Little Lena Milos lies in the hospital scalded from hair to heels, three others are less dangerously scalded, one of these is a boy. Names of none of these victims have been reported by the Associated Press or other news agencies. After this savage prank this mob proceeded to break up and loot the place. They dangerously wounded 20 and injured 30 of the peaceful merrymakers.

And all for what purpose? To say that Jake Hammond and the forces behind him, enraged by the determination of the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union to retain the advantages they had won for sailors and longshoremen in San Pedro harbor were responsible for this incitement, is too feeble, but what other cause may there be? Coincident with the San Pedro raid arrests were made in Eureka of a number of peaceful members of the I.W.W., including the branch secretary. In San Francisco after the raid in San Pedro, the Marine Transport Workers’ hall was raided, 12 men were arrested and the office of the California Branch of the General Defense of the I.W.W. was raided and two men were arrested. Vagrancy charges were lodged. All this points to a certain conclusion.

When the raid on the San Pedro hall was made there were no assertions of any other purpose than vengeance. More than two months ago the chief of police of San Pedro issued a public statement in which, after a similar raid by regularly appointed policemen, while a hooded mob looked on, he advised the police of San Pedro to remain neutral in the struggle between these hooded mobsmen and the I.W.W. He called the mobsmen, citizens in tones of deep respect. His advice resulted in the tragedy of Saturday night.

Method and vengeance combined in this raid as is shown by the fact that after the wrecking of the hall, the carrying off the furniture and burning it in the street, certain elements of the mob drove away in a truck with Tom Sullivan, L.J. Greene, Joe Lopez, Herbert White, Robert Bigelow and two others.

These were taken out into the wilds, stripped, beaten, tortured, tarred and feathered and then abandoned, helpless in the night, weak and incapable of proper self care, and all because these ruffians want what they call “Americanism,” and the men they maltreated want better conditions in labor generally and especially upon Jake Hammond’s lumber schooners they demand decent quarters, sufficient food, pay fit for respectable workingmen, opportunities to marry and have children. Just these, no more, are the forces behind this latest disgrace upon civilization.

While the mobbing on Saturday night was in progress no special reason was alleged. On the following Sunday when the horror of the deed was arousing all decent people, these mobsters, and these policemen who had remained “neutral” thought up an excuse and Monday morning the Associated Press carried the following:

“SAN PEDRO, Cal., June 15. (By the Associated Press). Threats to blow up the morgue containing bodies of 48 victims of last Thursday’s explosion aboard the U.S.S. Mississippi, said by police to have been uttered by radicals, whose hall was raided and wrecked by sailors here last night, caused a strong armed guard of civilian and naval police to be thrown about the building early today.

“The guard was placed as the result of information to police to the effect that members of the Industrial Workers of the World planned to dynamite the morgue in retaliation for the attack on their meeting place.

Sailors Avenge Insult

“The raid was said to have followed disparaging remarks made by radical orators about the men who perished in the Mississippi’s No. 2 turret.

“Of the 50 men in the I.W.W. raid, about half wore naval uniforms. A boy and three girls were scalded when the raiders overturned a coffee urn on them. One man sustained a scalp wound when he registered.

Treated Them Rough

“The raiders attacked with clubs, broke all windows, tore down doors, drove out the alleged I.W.W. crowd and carried the furniture to the street, where they made a bonfire of it.

“The sailor guard were armed with riot guns and rifles.”

Under date of Saturday, June 14, the correspondence from the General Defense office brought to the Industrial Worker the following:

“The terrible catastrophe aboard the U.S.S. Mississippi, is regarded by the press as the greatest peace-time accident in the U.S. Navy. It is indeed unfortunate, that 48 lives should be lost over some slight defect in the mechanism, or whatever the cause of the disaster might be attributed to.

“However, the newspapers of the country are giving columns to the affair. There will be probes of all descriptions and the accident will be investigated from every angle. Should the cause be found to lie in the mechanical equipment, rest assured that the best brains of the country will be called to remedy the defect at once.”

This story then went on to comment upon the speed with which remedy would be found for the fault in naval mechanism and how slow were the improvements in prevention of mine disasters.

Contrast these two statements, one by the defense secretary and other belated excuse that the mob stormed the San Pedro hall because of threats to dynamite the morgue where 48 dead sailors lay. These sailors were brothers of other workers, they were of the working class and whatever be the faults of the I.W.W. ill feeling toward its own class was never one of the defects.

In the fact that the Associated Press could carry all this detail about the landing of a guard for the dead and omit the names or even the number of the workers injured in the raid tells who owns, and runs the press of the United States and is a commentary sufficiently severe upon the administration of justice in California.

So commonplace it is that a workers’ hall should be raided during a little entertainment that the news agencies never bother even to get the names of the injured or to tell of such a matter as that seven men had been carried out into the wilds and when the Associated Press story was published it was not known whether these men had survived.

While all these things are happening the 150 persons who raided the hall and the band who took the seven out into the wilderness are receiving congratulations on the streets of San Pedro, and the police “remain neutral.”

***

‘The Cause of the Raid’ by Alfred Kohn. Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 32. June 25, 1924.

What is the San Pedro outrage? What led up to it?

Who is responsible?

A little girl child scalded lies in the hospital. Fifty men and women are seriously hurt. Seven men were carried off by an organized mob, maltreated and humiliated, tarred and feathered and left in the wilderness.

The peaceful meeting room of a law abiding labor organization was invaded, windows and doors were smashed, the furniture burned up.

Did this happen in some far away uncivilized country? It did not.

Did it happen in some small place, where the number of available policemen and deputies was too small to cope with a mob? It did not.

It happened in San Pedro, the harbor port of Los Angeles, California.

This is the same San Pedro, for which the Los Angeles Police Department could spare 600 policemen, when they went down there on May 12, 1923, for the callously avowed purpose, openly so announced, to break up a peaceful, orderly strike (so orderly, that when Captain Plummer, in charge of the San Pedro station during this strike was complimented on keeping order during this strike, he admitted that he did not deserve any credit for it because “The I.W.W. kept order”) found no policemen available to stop this disgraceful outrage.

What kind of men were these, whom a paid and organized mob, not a body of angry citizens by any means, were allowed to carry way out into the country and tar and feather them?

This article would be altogether too long if I would write about all of them. I shall just describe the youngest of them–Robert M. Bigelow and will add, that I could. truthfully speak just as favorably about every one of the rest.

ONE TYPICAL MEMBER

Robert M. Bigelow is the son of a Southern Attorney and comes, if you can speak of such, of pure American ancestry on both his father’s and mother’s sides for at least six generations back.

Robert Bigelow has worked for several years at the carpenter trade, long enough and is far enough advanced to draw almost journeyman’s wages and is the sole support of a mother and sister. He has a frank, open face and is and looks about as clean-cut as can be.

Through industry and self-denial, never failing, though, to do his part physically and financially in the class struggle, he has almost paid for a decent home in Los Angeles (though only 22 years old) and has acquired a considerable equity in some valuable acreage.

He never used liquor in his life and does not use tobacco. He would no more think of cussing than I would of flying.

The physical comforts he provided for his mother and sister are far outweighed by his loving care for them and his loving kindness towards his own and all his fellow men.

Dissipation of any kind is unknown to him.

He had only three interests aside from his work: His folks, his violin and the class struggle.

And this is the kind of men the big interests of San Pedro were allowed with police  connivance to have mobbed and tarred and feathered.

PLOT UNDERLAY PROSECUTION

Now this kind of thing does not just happen and I shall show in the following what led up to it and who is responsible for it.

Primarily responsible is Jake Hammond through his tools the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, who in turn control the police department, in fact the county and city government of Los Angeles county and city.

Directly responsible are three men. Chief August Vollmer, Assistant Chief Hilf and Captain Hagenbaugh of the San Pedro Police station.

This I know is a serious accusation to make, but let us see whether such a charge is born out by the facts.

After the Armistice, when big capital, realizing that the espionage act could no longer be prostituted for labor crushing purposes, had a subservient California legislature (also in many other states) pass the criminal syndicalism law and after many convictions on perjured stoolpigeon testimony thought they had the situation well in hand by 1921.

This is not the time or place to prove that this was persecution and not prosecution and that the authorities knew they were sending innocent men to prison.

RETALIATE FOR STRIKES

The Hetchy-Hetchy and Edison strike opened the eyes of the master class to the fact that in spite of all the persecution the I.W.W. had been steadily growing, especially among the construction workers.

Thereupon criminal syndicalism persecutions started on a previously unheard of scale. In Los Angeles county alone in the first 10 months of 1923. 77 men were tried for criminal syndicalism, of whom 33 were sent to San Quentin and Folsom, all of whom since won their appeal, the higher courts of California admitting that all those convictions were absolutely unjustified.

About 1,100 men were arrested on minor charges, 95 per cent being acquitted and yet in spite of it the I.W.W. kept growing for instance from about 300 members in Los Angeles county in the fall of 1923 to about 4,000 nine months later.

In the meantime the I.W.W. had started such a publicity campaign all over the state of California that it became increasingly difficult to obtain convictions, after we had presented our side of the case to the public.

The last 33 going to trial for criminal syndicalism in Los Angeles were dismissed because with an enlightened public opinion further convictions seemed impossible.

MAY DAY STRIKE RECALLED

On the other hand the April-May strike of 1923, when San Pedro harbor was tied up 100 per cent and the five-day strike of August, 1923, which although absolutely unorganized and not even voted on or ordered by a business meeting, put the shipping trust to their wits end, showed the growing power of the I.W.W. and if the employing class of California was to continue to pay half in cash and half in climate, prostitution of the courts and blacklisting having failed, other means had to be adopted.

And here Captain Hagenbaugh, who had taken the place of Captain Plummer in charge of the San Pedro police station appears on the scene.

We do not know whether he got a gold watch and other emoluments, like it was proven Chief Oakes and Captain Plummer did for breaking the May strike by lawless violence under the guise of law, but he proved himself, wittingly or unwittingly, (if unwittingly he must be more ignorant than the law allows) a perfect tool of the shipping and power interests.

After several ineffectual efforts to break up the organization through numberless petty arrests and persecutions a statement appeared in the papers that the authorities were going to break up the I.W.W. by any means, before there could be another May strike. In March at one of the entertainments at the I.W.W. hall 18 police officers, partly plain clothes men, partly in uniform appeared and stayed for about and hour and a half, some few all evening.

They objected to nothing, as there was b nothing to be objected to, conducted themselves as officers should, arrested no one in the hall and only one member outside of the hall, who was released the next morning.

POLICE POWERLESS

Everybody had a good time and the police finding that no attention was paid to them, and that the evident effort to spoil the entertainment by their intimidating presence had failed left quietly without saying anything to anyone.

The next day an article appeared in the San Pedro Pilot, claiming to give an interview with Captain Hagenbaugh, in which he was quoted as stating that he had half his force at a meeting of the I.W.W. and found himself helpless. He then called on the citizens of San Pedro to assist the police in counteracting the activities of the I.W.W. This also, though the attention of Assistant Chief of Police Hilf was called to it and the damage it might do if not corrected, was not contradicted.

The result of it was first the Ku Klux Klan parade with the avowed purpose of mobbing the I.W.W. out of San Pedro into which we will not go in detail here.

At that time pressure was brought so vigorously and from such prominent e sources, that police protection was at hand e and made mob action impossible. The fact that the police knew that at least some of us were ready and prepared to defend ourselves at the time may have had quite a bearing on this protection.

Followed then several attempts to kidnap some active members of the organization, a which were fortunately frustrated and the a raid on the I.W.W. hall several months ago.

RAIDED BY POLICE

At this raid police officers first drove the I.W.W. members out of the hall and we affirm in spite of official whitewashing police officers in uniform and in plain clothes assisted in the vandalism at that time and none of them made any effort to stop it.

The next night when a meeting was held a mob of a thousand gathered. Many of them probably were attracted by curiosity. Hundreds of automobiles were gathered outside and about 50 hoodlums entered the hall on mischief bent. Captain Hagenbaugh, Assistant Chief of Police Hilf and Chief Volmer had been notified in advance, and h the San Pedro police station had been advised by telephone. While the meeting was in progress trouble was only averted by the presence of mind of the chairman and the speakers. This meeting culminated in the kidnaping of Fellow Worker Randall Altrow.

When all these things had been allowed, when although everybody knew that the police department had been furnished with the numbers of the automobiles engaged in the kidnaping and with a description of the leader of the kidnapers and no arrests had followed, this was a notice to the employing class that they would be allowed to a get away with anything and not be molested.

To make assurance doubly sure Captain Hagenbaugh issued a proclamation telling his policemen that the whole thing was a s matter between the I.W.W. and the citizens, that the police should keep neutral t and advised those organizations opposed to t the I.W.W. to get together.

The letter, which was published in all I.W.W. papers at the time, was a direct, poorly veiled incitement to mob violence and a notice that any hired mob of hoodlums egged on by the master class would not be interfered with.

As the happenings of last Saturday show h the police kept their words to the lawless element, the employers of San Pedro, I accuse the Los Angeles Times by deliberately lying reports and by careful stimulation of responsibility for the outrage of t June 14.

NEWSPAPERS ARRAIGNED

I accuse the other Los Angeles papers, with the possible exception of the Record, of the same guilt.

I accuse all the Los Angeles papers by their cowardice in not protesting against the first raid and destruction of property and the kidnaping of young Fellow Worker Randall Altrow of having contributed to the scalding of poor little Lena Milos and all the other violence and the culmination thereof in the tarring and feathering of peaceable, decent workingmen.

I accuse Chief Vollmer and Assistant Chief Hilf, by putting the seal of their approval on destruction of property and kidnaping without arrests of those engaged in the kidnaping and the deliberate white-washing of the officers implicated in the raid and vandalism of several months ago! and by their failure to interfere last Saturday, as more guilty of the lawlessness and outrage perpetrated on this day than any of the hired hoodlums and fooled dupes directly concerned in it.

I accuse Captain Hagenbaugh by his actions, his uncontradicted interview and the dastardly letter previously referred, as more guilty and more responsible than any other individual.

POLICE CAN NOT AVOID GUILT

This is proven if the police were there and did not act or if as most likely the police, who always in the past were present at every I.W.W. entertainment were a strangely absent.

Details about the outrage and the brutality practised and the harm done still is missing. What we have told are provable a facts.

All this violence will fail of its purpose. These outrages will no more discourage, divert or stop the I.W.W. than they could at stem the ocean tides. What will the people of the state of California do about it?

We wait for the answer and believe when the truth has been made known it will be given in an unmistakable manner and the neglect of duty, the vicious violence and the conspiracy between the authorities and the exploiting class of Los Angeles will prove a boomerang and a failure like all their previous efforts.

***

‘San Pedro Story Told.’ Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 33. June 28, 1924.

BEFORE HALL WAS RAIDED TWO HOMES WERE ENTERED AND OCCUPANTS BEATEN UNMERCIFULLY BY TERRORISTS.

The following is a true list of the injured during the raid on the I.W.W. hall, June 14:

Mrs. Sunsted, 1711 South Leland St, Arm and leg in bad condition. Doctor’s care.

Lillian Sunsted, age 8, scalded both legs. May Sunsted, age 13, scalded legs and body. Hospital.

Mr. Steve Rodin, 294 12th St., beat up at home. Doctor’s care.

John Rodin, age 9, scalded both legs and arms. Hospital, bad condition.

Catherine Rodin, age 5, scalded all over body. hospital, bad condition.

Mrs. Raconich, 289 10th St., scalded legs. Liene Radonich, age 10, slightly bruised. Lena Milos, age 10, bruised and scalded. Hospital.

Antoinette Careich, age 12, 332 14th St. Hand cut by glass.

Mrs. Carcien, slightly bruised.

Andrew Kuleis, age 12, 192 W. 12th St., scalded both legs.

W. Powell, age 44, beat over the head.

Ray Wilbur, age 27, bodily injured by blows.

Oscar Persson, age 23, head split, several stitches. Doctor’s care.

Henry Martin. age 22, hand badly cut. Doctor’s care.

M. Tonning, age 30, beat over head and eye.

A. Anderson, age 25, ankle bruised.

John Pemberton, beat over head.

M. Oshanyk, age 40, arm cut by glass.

Richard Engstrom, age 35, 219 Center St., split lip. Doctor’s care.

Otto Johanson, age 38, bodily injured.

Y. Flores, age 25, beat over eye.

Antonio Hernandes, age 34, 35 Harbor Boulevard, leg cut by flying glass.

Joce Rodila, age 4, 35 Harbor Boulevard, foot scalded.

Dorateo Exposito, age 31, teeth knocked out, tarred and feathered.

L.J. Greene, age 23, tarred and feathered.

Tom Sullivan, age 30, clubbed unconscious, tarred and feathered.

F.M. Molena, age 34, forced to drink a quart of castor oil, tarred and feathered.

Robert Bigelow, age 24, tarred and feathered.

Herbert White, tarred and feathered.

Nine members of the crew of the Standard Oil tanker beat up.  Names not known at present.

In addition, we are convinced that there are still more to be added to this list, but we have been unable to locate same up to the present time.

Eyewitness Tells of Assault Upon I.W.W.

Some of the incidents in the San Pedro raid were unusual even for thugs. All pretense that the affair was the result of anger on the part of the sailors has been exposed by the facts that the raiders began their operations on two places outside the hall. Eyewitnesses will tell the story.

Before the assault on the hall the private home of the owner of the hall was entered and two men almost murdered. Two little children were wounded here and the woman of the house was manhandled.

Both men were sitting on the porch when the mob came up. When asked what was wanted they answered with clubs. Both men were driven into the parlor where the mother and children were abused.

During this time a guard stood on the front porch with the muzzles of their guns pointed at the I.W.W. hall as if ready to fire upon any who might leave the hall. In another home where two members of the I.W.W. lived the same tactics were repeated.

Then came the rush upon the hall, which is better described in a letter from George Speed than by any other. This letter was personal to his long time friend, the editor, who in the interests of the organization has taken it upon himself to publish it.

WHAT SPEED SAYS

“The raid upon the San Pedro hall was like a bolt out of a clear sky. Those who raided, did not wait to open the doors but smashed in the doors and windows and slugged whoever was within reach. I, being at the further side of the hall, escaped with a slight wound on the shin, caused by my being thrown down in the wild rush over the chairs, amid the shrieks of little children. Thirty-six were known to be injured.

“I was booked for the tar and feather party, but Robert Bigelow was mistaken for me. They took him with the words, ‘Now, we’ve got the long-legged speaker.” While I am glad I did not meet their fate, I regret that another should have to suffer and more so, as he is not well, having just been released from confinement in jail. “I spoke on the street, Monday night, before a large crowd some of whom were more or less hostile but I managed to hold the attention of the crowd for more than an hour, while I told the story of this dastardly act. Threats were made against several of the active members and wild rumors were flying around. But we collected $57 at this meeting. It was thought best for me not to speak on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday, while still in bed, some of the boys came to me with the tale that the house was to be raided. The next night, three policemen were on guard. Since then we have slept in the house and the police have been on their usual beat.

“On Wednesday, I spoke again and collected $38, and I feel that I made a fine impression on the increasing crowd. On Thursday we had, according to the press, a crowd of 700. Quite a number of the big business men of Los Angeles were present though the press stated that we would not be allowed to hold the meeting. That afternoon, one of the boys came to me and begged me not to speak, that a friend had told him that a concerted effort would be made to 2 mob the meeting and get me. One was arrested for trying to slip something in the a pocket of the chairman, but the meeting went along smoothly and I received the best of attention.

“Conditions are still tense here and it is hard to predict the outcome of this struggle but so far we are holding our own and have not receded an inch.

“I have canceled my trip to Klamath Falls and intend to stay here till the finish. On the 21st I am going to speak at a big mass meeting in Los Angeles.”

All telephone wires were cut within a radius of two blocks of the San Pedro hall before the raid began.

According to reports little Lena Milos was not scalded by the overturning of the coffee urn, but was thrust into or against a cauldron of boiling water. She is in a dangerous condition.

These deeds took place during an entertainment to gather funds to bury two fellow workers.

While the songs were at their height and without a word of warning, the brutal mob, led by the tools of “King Hammond” to smashed down the doors and broke in upon the peaceful gathering. Wielding clubs and axes they terrorized women and children and demolished the furniture and fixtures.

Over in one corner stood a small counter a where refreshments were being served and about this, were grouped a number of women and children. Two of the mob, seeking perhaps to receive extra praise for their night’s work, rushed over and upset a large pot of boiling coffee, scalding the children. After breaking up everything that was a breakable, the mob proceeded to build a huge bonfire of the remains of the furniture, about which they danced with savage glee.

Nor did this satisfy the atavistic impulse of these savages, so they seized upon Fellow Workers Tom Sullivan, L.J. Greene, Joe Lopez, Robt. Bigelow, Herbert White, F.W. Martiz and Abuo. Threw them into a truck and drove 41 miles to Santa Anna canyon, where they administered a severe beating and then applied a coat of tar and feathers. They then drove off with the clothes belonging to the fellow workers, leaving them to suffer from their wounds and to get back as best they could.

In Eureka the seat of California’s lumber industry, the anger of “King Hammond” assumed another form. During the course of a business meeting of I.U. 120, the sheriff came in with a warrant for the arrest of six fellow workers, this was just a few hours before the raid in San Pedro. Evidently the “King” is confident of his g control of the courts of Humbolt county. Hence, it is hardly necessary to use the more drastic means. The use of the criminal syndicalism law fully answers the purpose in the northern part of the state, and it is used with vigor to crush any signs of opposition to the inhuman methods of Hammond and his cohorts. Those on the warrant were Fellow Workers Collins, a Good, McKinnon, Maxey, Ambrosia and J.N. Johnson. Fellow Worker Collins, who is secretary in Eureka, was the only one apprehended.

In San Francisco Hammonds efforts proved farcical. Here the local press had been carrying absurd stories of bomb plots, etc. One in particular attempted to connect the I.W.W. with recent fires in local lumber yards. Seizing upon this as a pretext Hammonds regular agents in this port, Detective O’Brien and his partner, swooped down on the M.T.W. hall and arrested 12 fellow workers who were in there at the time. How men that had just arrived in port after being away for months and others who had never been here before, could have any possible connection with fires in San Francisco is something they did not attempt to explain. It seems that Hammond’s tools are not supposed to reason but merely obey orders.

After visiting the defense office and finding no one present but the secretary and his assistant, they proceeded to the hall at 236 Van Ness Avenue and quizzed the secretary who was the only one there. They then decided that they had covered themselves with enough glory for one day so they called it a shift.

Tuesday morning, however, when the case was called in court Police Judge O’Brien, who, by the way, has no use for the I.W.W., had difficulty in concealing his disgust while the brave officer told his story. The case was dismissed.

***

‘After San Pedro Raid Street Speech Resumed.’ Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 34. July 2, 1924.

The situation in San Pedro is becoming more and more serious and at the present time we are unable to state what the results may be of the climax. Big street meetings, under the auspices of the Industrial Workers of the World, with attendance of from 500 to 700 people are being carried on peacefully with George Speed as the main speaker. During his address he dealt with cold facts, how the master class, failing to crush the I.W.W. in a legal way have taken their last resort, that is, fighting the I.W.W. by mob action.

He showed how big business controls the press, and these, with their slanderous lies, succeeded in getting a mob composed of citizens and an element dressed in naval uniforms to raid and wreck the I.W.W. hall. George Speed mentioned that he was convinced that these boys were misled by the lying propaganda of the press. Speed’s talk also ran along the lines of industrial unionism, explaining why craft unionism must fail, or like in some cases where it has already failed.

Notwithstanding the large crowds, the meetings are conducted very quietly and with the 20 uniformed and about that many more plain clothes policemen mingled in the audience we feel that a violent outbreak from the opponent is not likely to take place. Fair collections are taken up for the victims of last Saturday’s tragedy. Up till today we have located 41 men, women and children who were more or less injured in the raid, 3 children being still in the hospital recovering slowly.

So far none of the raiders are under arrest, although a committee of I.W.W. went before Chief of Police Vollmer yesterday, giving sufficient testimony to convict, in our estimation, two San Pedro police officers of taking part in the wholesale wrecking, nevertheless they are walking the streets of San Pedro today.

Another instance of justice is herein described. One of the raiders was arrested, after being identified by four fellow workers, but the police were sorry and told us that we would first have to get a warrant. Returning with the warrant we found the prisoner released and nowhere to be located. Well, such is justice.

The fellow workers in San Pedro are busily engaged in investigating and also relief committees are functioning to take care of the many families in need as the result of the disaster. Up till today we have been able to cope with the situation by raising local funds and with Los Angeles assisting us. It is our belief that no funds will be needed from other states unless another violent outbreak should take place.

The newspapers are still putting out blaring headlines, such as “I.W.W. arm for war with San Pedro Klan,” and “Hoof and mouth disease spread by I.W.W.,” etc., but with the local press misrepresenting the I.W.W. street meetings to such an extent we feel that they are losing their power and the citizens of San Pedro are waking up to the fact that the I.W.W. are not sabotagers and bombthrowers but a pure labor organization.

Last night a rival meeting was held under the auspices of Sergeant Webber, San Pedro’s anti-radical orator, with an attendance of perhaps 900 people and 50 police officers. Webber pictured the I.W.W. as murderers, free lovers, etc. During his speech he made a remark that he incited a riot once and that he was not afraid to do it again. However, the meeting passed peacefully and as it adjourned no one was arrested although during the meeting a man was searched by officers. Seargent Webber said, “May my tongue rot in my mouth if I am a K.K.K. or if I am speaking for big business.”

The Three K’s had a blow out last night when they lined up 200 boys in their junior league. This meeting was advertised and as commanding Police Captain Hagenbaugh feared another raid on the I.W.W. he ordered all gunstores to stop the sale of firearms. An explosion on “Liberty Hill” during a parade of soldiers, sailors and marines caused another sensation in the press, who very cleverly try to connect this up with the Wobbly movement. However, it was proven that workmen engaged in removing Liberty Hill set off the charge of dynamite as a part of their daily work. No arrests were made.

(Paul Ware, X7684; Andy Lorier, X32660; Herbert White, San Pedro Publicity Committee).

***

‘Story of San Pedro Is Told by Fellow Workers.’ Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 35. July 5, 1924.

On Saturday night, June 14, in the I.W.W. hall, at Twelfth and Center Streets, San Pedro, Cal., about 300 working men, women and children, members and friends of the I.W.W. were assembled, where an entertainment, suitable to the occasion, was in progress; the proceeds of which were to defray the burial expenses of two of their own members, who had come to an untimely end in a railroad accident of a short time previous.

At another place, only a few blocks away, in the same city, another meeting was in progress. But, at this gathering, the purpose was not so constructive. Instead, diabolical plans of destruction was the issue at hand. Persons prominently connected with big interests are said to have organized the violent and vicious attack on the I.W.W. entertainment which followed.

Those in attendance at the I.W.W. hall were innocently applauding Lena Milos, who had just finished a number on the evening’s program–suddenly came a crash of glass; all windows and doors of the hall were smashed. Instantly armed thugs came pouring in through every entrance.

Simultaneously others were breaking their way into the homes of workers in the homes of workers in the immediate vicinity.

The following story gives some of the most graphic incidents of this pernicious and unwarranted assault:

HAMMOND SHOULD REJOICE

Lena Milos, age nine years, at present lies on a cot in the Hill Side hospital at San Pedro hovering between life and death. Near her in the same place are the two children of Stephen Rodin, John and Kitty, only nine and five years of age, whose legs and bodies are literally cooked. This, the work of inhuman fiends who planned their destruction.

Lena Milos was pushed into a boiler of hot coffee which turned over scalding her from head to foot. Another five gallons of boiling water was thrown or tipped on a group of other little tots who were near. Two of those children are at a private residence, 1711 Leland avenue, suffering untold agonies. One of them, May Sendsted, aged 12, is not expected to live. No one is allowed to see her as she is in a house which is under quarantine for diphtheria.

To see those little babes swathed in bandages, their little faces pinched with pain, their fever flushed cheeks, stained with tears is a most pitiful sight. It would ever touch the hearts of the beasts who have terribly disfigured them for life. Oh, if they would only go and look at those poor little innocent victims.

PROFITS REST ON PAIN

Beautiful little Lena Milos, the Wobbly song bird, who only a few days ago was a pretty as any flower, is now a mass of ugly wounds and blisters. For five days she withstood the intense suffering, but on Thursday night at 12 o’clock suffered a relapse and for nearly 48 hours she lay unconscious in a state of delirium, living over and over again the horrible scene of June 14, when she was so savagely attacked by a mob of Morons who so horribly disfigured her. Before becoming unconscious she was asked if they deliberately scalded her, and this is the childish answer which she gave between sobs. “Yes, mama, I told him he was pushing me into the coffee and he said. That all right, you won’t sing at any more Wobbly entertainments, and he set me right into the coffee boiler.” This little girl had at first gotten out of the hall safely, but fearing harm might happen to her mother, who was inside, she went back in to save her. In her own words, “Mamma, I thought if you got killed in there, then I did not want to live and I went back in to get you.”

Another little girl about 13 years old, who was passing the hall, was struck over the arm and face with a club. It took nearly an hour to stop the blood.

YET MASTERS WINE AND DINE

Andrew Kuglis, nine years of age, and one of the bravest little lads in the world is in a very serious condition, he is suffering from burns. Both legs are practically cocked to the marrow from the knees down. When the mob first smashed in the windows, Andrew got out and ran as fast as he could, only to be overtaken by a man dressed in blue who threw a container full of hot fluid, evidently grease, on his bare legs. The boy kept up by fright, went on running for another half block, where he fell, and lay for over a half hour before someone found him and took him to a doctor. This little boy is bearing his burden courageously. It is heart-rending to see him when a stranger comes to visit. Like the other babe victims, his eyes move back and forth searching your face to see if you are a friend or a foe who has come bent on further disfigurement. Several other little kiddies are also suffering from fright and bruises of a less serious nature. Eleen Radnich, aged 12, has a broken finger. Her mother is limping around on crutches, the result of being trampled upon and burned. The hand of one girl after being scalded was trampled upon and it took a doctor nearly an hour to scrape and remove the dirt and gravel which was ground into the wounds.

It seems unbelievable to think that anyone would deliberately plan and perpetrate such a fiendish crime against little children, but facts tend to prove that such was the case, for the clothes of some of those burned are stained with grease that even after being washed is still there, and you cannot only see the grease but also smell it. It must be remembered there was no grease of any kind in the hall, as the only refreshments served at the entertainment were coffee and sandwiches.

ORGANIZED IN ADVANCE

The mob of brute monomaniacs came well prepared and likewise well organized bent on destroying the little children who took part in the I.W.W. entertainment.

This is the worst outrage against children ever committed in the United States with the exception of the Ludlow massacre. At that time it was the hirelings of the Rockefeller interests who poured coal oil on the tents of the striking United Mine Workers and burned the women and children who were in the tents to death. The suffering of those helpless victims was short, as death overtook them in a few minutes. But in San Pedro it is different. At the present time over a week has passed and the moans and faint little cries are still heard.

To go on describing the seriousness of what happened without mentioning the needs of our little sufferers would be negligence. Hospital and doctor bills must be met. It possibly will be months before some of them will be able to leave their beds. Skin grafting may have to be resorted to if the wounds do not heal readily. I ask you now dear readers to try and imagine those are your little girls and boys that are so horribly scared and cooked. In that case what would you do? No doubt you would give your life to save them and so would any other person possessed with normal human instincts. That is why I feel it my duty to ask all who read this to contribute at once as a duty not only to alleviate the suffering of our little parboiled victims already mentioned, but also to help prevent the destruction of other children of the workers in San Pedro.

MORE OUTRAGES INCITED

The atmosphere in this port is very tense at the present time. The Steamship Owners Association, in conjunction with the lumber interests, are seemingly in league with the daily press as well as the harbor police and are doing everything possible to incite the sailors of the Pacific fleet to commit further acts of violence and destruction. Nearly every night now one of their dupes, a man by the name of Weber, speaks on the corner of Fifth and Beacon streets spreading slander and lies made of whole cloth. So far their efforts have been in vain as the sailors as a whole are wise to the game of the profiteers and are taking no part in the situation. It is needless to say that the citizens of San Pedro are on the side of the workers, for they have witnessed the persecution carried on for the last two years against the I.W.W. by the police, and know it is they and the hirelings of the profiteers who are responsible and not the I.W.W. In addition to the above mentioned depredations the mob after clearing the hall by clubbing men, women and children (some into insensibility, many of whom are suffering from cuts and bruises and under the care of doctors yet) destroyed several hundred dollars worth of furniture including a piano, typewriters, desks, chairs and stage equipment by taking it across the street to a vacant lot where it was also burned.

Nine men, alleged leaders, were singled out by the mob, one who, lying unconscious, was thrown on the bottom of a truck with the others and were taken, escorted by the bloodthirsty thugs, through the city of San. Pedro and Wilmington unmolested by the police to a lonely spot in the Santa Ana Canyon several miles away where six of them were further tortured and then tarred and feathered and robbed.

We have in our possession some of the weapons which were used and they include baseball bats, chucks of bars, two by threes, whittled down at the ends in the shape of clubs, pieces of gas pipe and numerous others of every description. Immediate action urgent. Rush funds to Relief Committee. Paul Ware, Secretary, 567 W. 6th Street, San Pedro, Cal. George Crawford please write to John Albright, Box 365, Seattle, Wash.

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‘Arrests of I.W.W. in San Pedro Begun; Isolation of Scalded Children Ended.’ Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 36. July 9, 1924.

SAN PEDRO. Continued repressive measures of the San Pedro police authorities against the I.W.W. in this port resulted in the arrest last night of another group of members. The arrests were made at a street meeting at Fourth and Beacon streets, conducted by the Workers Party. Owing to the confusion caused by the sudden swooping down on the meeting by the police the Publicity Committee was unable to get the exact number of arrests and only a partial list of the names: Fellow Workers Paul Ware, L.J. Greene, G.M. Newby, Alex Jepson and Michael Taylor are known of the ten or twelve arrested. Several of the fellow workers were taken into custody while they were engaged in singing I.W.W. songs at the close of the meeting. These arrests were made under the Busick injunction.

Lavin, the Workers Party speaker, was arrested shortly after the opening of the meeting, but was later released when it was learned that he was not a member of the I.W.W.

A mass meeting is scheduled to be held tonight at Fourth and Beacon streets under the auspices of the Civil Liberties Union at which the Rev. Clinton J. Taft, Civil Liberties Union director, and other prominent speakers of Los Angeles, will speak. The speakers will plead for the rights of the I.W.W. to carry on organization activities in San Pedro and will denounce the atrocities perpetrated upon the members by the mob in the raid on the hall on the 14th of June.

At a general membership meeting held Sunday afternoon in the hall in Los Angeles action was taken transferring all the activities of the Los Angeles Publicity Committee to the Los Angeles Defense Branch. Martin Black, defense secretary, was given power to take charge of relief and publicity work in Los Angeles and to pick as many assistants as he may deem necessary to carry it on.

The quarantine on the house in which one of the scalded children was being treated was raised Friday and fellow workers who have been to see the child report parts of her body were literally cooked with the hot coffee thrown on her by the mob.

The arrest of Paul Ware at San Pedro, who was acting as relief secretary, has resulted in a temporary tie-up of some of the relief funds. It may be found necessary to arrange new plans providing for all relief funds to be sent to Martin Black, Los Angeles Defense office. A meeting is being arranged to adapt all future relief and publicity measures to conform to the changed situation resulting from the wholesale arrests in San Pedro. San Pedro Publicity Committee.

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‘Lizzie Sundstedt Dies’ from Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 45. August 9, 1924.

RAIDERS OF SAN PEDRO HALL ACCUSED OF MURDER OF MOTHER OF SCALDED CHILD

SAN PEDRO, Cal. At 1711 Leland Avenue, San Pedro, Cal., was May Sundstedt on her bed still bleeding and suffering from the effects of the scalds and brutalities done her by the mobsters who attacked her and several other children in the I.W.W. Hall, 50 days ago. It will be many weeks before this dear little child will be able to leave her bed. With her was her little sister and brother who were crying and between sobs they told that the best friend they had in the world was gone. The undertaker had taken their mother away this morning.

Mrs. Lizzie Sundstedt, 46 years of age, was beaten and bruised while trying to save her babes from the savages who were attacking the hall on June 14, when the oldest was disfigured and nearly killed. Since that fateful night Mrs. Sundstedt has not been well, although she nursed the burns and wounds of her two little girls as best she could. At the same time suffering herself from the effects of the clubbing she received at that time. The nursing and answering the calls of her two little burned babes added to the nervous shock she had already undergone. Gradually she weakened until at last the burden became too heavy, and after a few hours in bed with inflamed tonsils, a doctor was called, who performed an operation. Four minutes later Mrs. Sundstedt was dead. She was murdered by the raiders as certainly as if she had died in their hands.

For the past few years alone this mother worked at her home taking in washing that she might keep together her little children, for they meant more to her than life itself. Tonight Elmer, age 9, is being cared for by neighbors. Lilly, age 8, and May, age 13, are with friends in another part of the city. Although separated and saddened they hold and cherish a memory of their struggling mother that is beautiful. This little family was loved by all who knew them.

The funeral services will be held Sunday morning at 10 o’clock from the Cleveland Undertaking Parlors, Sixth and Pacific Streets, San Pedro, under the direction of her friends and the Industrial Workers of the World.

With this added burden to our treasury, relief and publicity is badly hampered until further aid is received from the outside.

(Los Angeles Branch General Defense, Box 1013, Los Angeles, Cal.)

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‘Workers Bury San Pedro Victim with Vows to Free World from Brute Mobs’ from Industrial Worker. Vol. 6 No. 46. August 13, 1924.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. Fellow Worker Lizzie Sundstedt, who was beaten and bruised by the mob of thugs who raided the San Pedro hall on June 14 and died on Aug. 1, was buried Aug. 3. All present renewed their purpose to free the world from brutes like the San Pedro mob.

It was the most impressive funeral the people of San Pedro have ever seen. Perhaps not so large as the funeral held in behalf of the sailors who were killed by the explosion on the battleship Mississippi. One must remember that was a national affair and cannot be compared with this. Never did the people of San Pedro witness a funeral for one from the ranks of the working class, so impressive and well attended.

It shows that the I.W.W. are still in San Pedro and intend to stay in spite of the police persecution, K.K.K.s, American Legion and murdering mob lackeys of the chamber of commerce.

Preparations were on such short notice and some of our most active members are in jail, so we couldn’t advertise the funeral as we wished to do. Hundreds of our members did not know of the death, let alone the funeral. But, as it was, the line was more than three-fourths of a mile

long. More than two blocks of marchers four abreast, carrying wreaths and flowers, led the procession and was followed by the hearse and pall bearers with about 100 automobiles following.

The marchers chanted the “Funeral March” and sang the “Red Flag” through the streets of San Pedro.

The procession formed at the Cleveland Undertaking parlors, where we were allowed to view the last remains of our brave Fellow Worker. We then marched down Sixth Street, through the main part of the city, then out the boulevard to the Wilmington Cemetery.

Beside the grave we sang the “Red Song,” then the Russian “Funeral March” was sung in Russian. Clinton Taft, head of the L.A. branch of the Civil Liberty Union, then gave a talk on the class struggle and of how appropriate the song of the Red Flag was at the funeral of one of the working class, and what it stood for. He urged the workers to solidify their ranks, so that they could better abolish a system of society that allowed and survived on such tragedies as the San Pedro affair. He was followed by a Finnish speaker, then E. Levine and F.W. Moffitt gave short talks on the unselfish character of  Lizzie Sundstedt and her life of struggle and sacrifice. How she fought against the existing unfair system, and struggled to keep her little family of three children together and still found time to devote to the class struggle. Arm loads of flowers were stacked on the grave and the red color was predominant.

Fellow Worker Sundtsedt left three little orphan children, May aged 13, Elmer 11, and Lillie 8. The eldest, May, is still confined to her bed from the burns she received at the hands of the mob in San Pedro. The doctor says it may be necessary to graft skin on her entire hip and thigh. She has now been confined in bed for over seven weeks and must lie continuously in the same position. She is a brave little soul and when asked, by one of the Fellow Workers, how she felt, says, “I’m all right, go on and organize.” She was taken to the funeral on a stretcher.

Her mother and little sister were also beaten and scalded in the raid. The mob that tarred and feathered men, beat women and scalded little innocent children, are now directly responsible and charged with the death of Fellow Worker Sundstedt and caused three innocent children to be left with no mother or father to provide for them.

Fellow Worker Sundstedt died from an infected throat caused from overwork, worry, necessary self-neglect in caring for her injured children. She loved her little ones and although beaten by the mob and physically unfit to be around herself, she alone was up day and night caring for her children.

Now, Fellow Workers, this has added a greater drain on our meager relief fund. There are other victims of the raid still in a very bad condition. Doctor bills must be met. The men in jail must have relief, not mentioning the publicity and defense work.

Almost daily men are being arrested for selling papers and speaking on the street. Two more were arrested last night. They were Frank Maxey and O. Person, charged with violation of the Busick injunction. So don’t forget that this fight is your fight. Write in for leaflets dealing on San Pedro, and send funds to Claude Erwin, Box 1013, Los Angeles, Calif. (Claude Edwin, Secy. L.A. Branch General Defense.)

***

NOTICE. August 20, 1924.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Axel Sundstedt, born in Finland and who left his wife and three children, aged 8, 11 and 12, three years ago, please notify either M. Tonning, Box 172, San Pedro, Cal., or Branch Secretary, Box 546, San Pedro, Cal. His wife died August 1 as a result of the mob action pulled off on June 14. The three children are left alone, and May, aged 12, is in a critical condition.

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The Sundstedt Children. Industrial Worker. Vol. 7 No. 88. June 19, 1926.

May Sundstedt is growing and eats heartily, but she does not gain much strength. She goes to school daily, when able, but there is a certain lassitude and her lower limbs do not respond and act as in a healthy child.

She has a cold most all the time, and, no doubt, this is caused from her condition and on account of the lower limbs being almost completely covered with scars. Her body cannot throw off the poison because where there is a scar there are no pores. I Her body and limbs from the waist down is a horrible sight of scars, and humps and hollows where flesh fell away and then healed over it.

The smallest Sundstedt girl is a healthy, growing child and goes to school regularly.

Elmer Sundstedt, the boy, is at a home in Sawtelle, for which the uncle (Mr. Howarth) has to pay $20 per month for his board and schooling.

There are about 50 boys in this home. It is run by the Lyons Club, an organization of actors.

He is growing and is healthy and likes the place, but he can only remain there until he is 14 years old (that is the age limit). He will be 14 in July, 1927.

Mr. and Mrs. Howarth (the uncle and aunt) are very fond of the three children and apparently treat them as if they were their own. The children are fond of them also.

Mr. Howarth is a wage worker and Mrs. Howarth goes out to work. It is hard on them to have this addition to their own family of four, and the extra expense of keeping Elmer in this home and buying clothes for the three of them is considerable.

Elmer has been barred from the local school due to a childish prank he committed and the prejudice of his teacher, because of his past connections with the I.W.W.) Mr. Howarth refused to send him four miles to the San Pedro school because of the K.K.K. prejudice and the general environment he would be subjected to.

So, after a careful search of homes and schools, he decided to try the Sawtelle boys home and has found it satisfactory, especially so since they have changed superintendents there; the latter one proving more satisfactory than the former.

Mr. Howarth states that as soon as it is time, he intends to teach Elmer the carpenter trade and is going to suggest to the teacher that they start giving him (Elmer) lessons in mechanical drawing. Mr. Howarth is a carpenter and Elmer also has a liking for tools.