There are no limits to which powers of privilege will not go to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Saturday October 30, 1915
Chicago, Illinois - Miss Starr Brings Sad Report of Murdered Striker to Hull House
From the Chicago Daily Tribune of October 27th we find the story of how Miss Ellen Gates Starr informed Miss Jane Addams about the murder of Samuel Kapper, striking garment worker:
"ANGEL OF STRIKERS" BEARS NEWS OF KILLING TO HULL HOUSE
Miss Ellen Gates Starr tells Miss Jane Addams of pool of blood she saw,
and how calm and quiet seemed both strikers and police.
Ellen Gates Starr under arrest
during Henrici waitresses strike, March 5, 1914
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Miss Jane Addams
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It was some time after the shooting that Miss Ellen Gates Starr, "angel of the strikers," reached Hull house, where she lives. Miss Jane Addams was waiting in the large parlor near the main entrance. She had heard of the affair only a few minutes before.
"Did you see the shooting?" Miss Addams asked, breathlessly.
"I saw a pool of gore," replied Miss Starr.
"I had been at the Royal Tailors," Miss Starr continued. "I got off the car and saw the policemen and the crowd. The policemen tried to push me on, but I said: "I won't go until I find out about this. I am Miss Starr of Hull house." They didn't interfere after that." A group of young men gathered to hear the story.
"Who did the shooting? " asked Miss Addams.
"God knows," was the reply.
"Was it a striker who was killed?"
"Yes, it was," replied Miss Starr. "We tried to find his home, but failed. They gave us an address first and we went there in an automobile. It was the address of a Jewish preacher who dealt with deaf mutes. The man who was killed was a deaf mute, you know."
"Did he have a family?" asked Miss Addams.
"He had a mother. We were glad there was no one else. We went to the second address but that was wrong too, and we had to give it up. I don't know where they have taken the body."
[Continued below.]
[Continued from above.]
Bessie Abramowitz
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"Was there a riot?" asked Miss Addams.
"It was calm, remarkably calm," said Miss Starr. "Every one seemed calm, the strikers and the police. I went to the hall to find out what they knew about the affair. They didn't know who did the shooting. They were overwhelmed. Bessie Abramson [Abramowitz] took me by the hand and said, 'Miss Starr, you save our souls.'"
"Bless her little heart," said Miss Addams.
[Continued Miss Starr:]
They were quiet all through..They have been from the start. But it isn't safe-no safer for you than for me. They send down their sluggers and say there is a riot. They had a slugger at the Royal Tailors, and I'm certain there would have been trouble if I had not been there. I heard the slugger say he would scatter some of the strikers over the street. I told them I couldn't protect them all. There were eighty of them. I decided to go with the slugger and I told him I intended to spend the evening with him.
"What do they think of the shooting at headquarters?" asked Miss Addams.
"Bessie says it is a put up job," replied the other.
"It is strange there was so much blood," said Miss Addams. "A shot in the head usually doesn't make much blood."
"There was a pool this big (indicating a four foot diameter). They may have poured water on it. I don't know. They say there were five bullets in him. The bullets were flying around and the people were ducking their heads. I tell you, it isn't safe."
"I heard three shots," said a young man in the group, "and I saw a man run down Halsted street toward Hull House. The revolver was in his hand. I was in the barber shop, and I couldn't see what became of him."
"You were so calm when I first saw you," Miss Addams told Miss Starr, "that I was sure you did not know of the shooting."
"It may be that I have caught the spirit of the strikers," she replied. "They are calm, too."
"A strike is terrible when there is violence," said Miss Addams.
"I'm going back to headquarters," said Miss Starr,"to find out what they have learned since. I don't feel like sleeping."
She arranged her long cape over her coat and left Hull House with one of the young men. Miss Addams went up the stairs to her rooms.
~~~~~~~~~~
Hull House
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SOURCE
Chicago Daily Tribune
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Oct 27, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Ellen Gates Starr under arrest during
Henrici waitresses strike, March 5, 1914
http://blog.chicagohistory.org/...
Jane Addams, 1915
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Bessie Abramowitz, ab 1910
http://jwa.org/...
Hull House, 1910
http://blog.chicagohistory.org/...
See also:
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
http://www.hullhousemuseum.org/
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Pretty Bird - Hazel Dickens
Fly away little pretty bird
Fly, fly away. Fly away little pretty bird
And pretty you’d always stay
Fly far beyond the dark mountain
To where you’ll be free ever more
-Hazel Dickens
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