You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Monday August 3, 1914
From the Appeal to Reason: FW Ford in Marysville Jail, Now on Hunger Strike
Richard Ford and Herman Suhr, convicted of murder in connection with the so-called Wheatland Hops Riot of last year, are now serving life sentences. Conditions in the prisons are described as very bad, especially the food, which has led to Richard Ford going on a hunger strike. From this week's edition of the Appeal:
Richard Ford
Herman Suhr
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
FORD GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE
A dispatch to the San Francisco Bulletin from Marysville, Cal., states that Richard Ford, leader of the hop pickers, now in jail in the latter city awaiting the decision of the appellate court, is on hunger strike as a protest against the bad food that is served in the prison. Ford and Herman Suhr have been sentenced for life because of their connection with the hop pickers' strike.
According to the dispatch he refused food for two days, although the regular rations were taken to his cell. It is further reported that friends of his who tried to see him were denied admittance.
Sheriff Voss, who is in charge of the jail, led the attack on the hop pickers' mass meeting, in which four persons were killed and Voss himself was knocked down and trampled, suffering a broken leg. This probably explains the reason for the bad food served to Ford and Suhr. Voss is trying to get his revenge by torturing these boys.
Both Ford and Suhr were railroaded to prison on perjured evidence by Burns gunmen and spies. They are victims of Government by Gunmen. Not satisfied with having them thrust into prison and condemned to a living death, the California hop growers are trying to put into practice the torturous methods of the Spanish inquisition. Turner, who visited the Marysville jail, reports that conditions there are revolting and that the food served is worse than that given to hogs. Is it any wonder that Ford rebelled and chose starvation rather than death through rotten food?
The governor of California and in fact all of the state officials know that these men are innocent . The governor, however, is of the opinion that the people of California want the blood of Ford and Suhr. It is true that the capitalist press of that state has poisoned the minds of many people. But it is untrue that the majority of the people are against these men. The only trouble is they do not make their views known. It is, therefore, most urgent that the working people of California and of other states shall immediately notify Governor Johnson that they are opposed to the unjust imprisonment of Ford and Suhr. If you want to see justice done and two innocent men restored to their loved ones write your protest to Governor Johnson, Sacramento, Cal., at once. Do for Ford and Suhr what you would have others do for you if you were in the position of these men!
In the April 4th issue of Harper's Weekly, a long article by Inez Haynes Gilmore describes events leading up to the so-called Wheatland Hops Riot near Marysville, California. Gilmore was on the scene at the time of the hop pickers' strike and described the wretched conditions on the Durst Ranch. She also reported on the trials of Ford and Suhr. The article ends with her opinion of the outcome of the trials and the draconian sentences imposed:
... if Marysville wanted only to avenge the death of [District Attorney] Ed Manwell, why did it not try to convict [the men who actually did the shooting]? No. Marysville's orders were: “Avenge Ed Manwell, but pick for punishment the two men who also organized the hop pickers,” according to Mr. Carlin, “the arch-conspirators” from a, “nest of vipers.” In other words, two men who organized a strike which accidentally ended in violence are convicted of a conspiracy to murder. [We might argue here that the attack upon a peaceful meeting of strikers was, in fact, quite deliberate!]
And so Richard Ford, who tried to mend matters for the twenty-three hundred wretched hop-pickers on the Durst ranch and who had no gun on him at the time of the ensuing riot, goes to San Quentin prison for life. And Herman Suhr, quiet, hard-working, sober Suhr, who was not even seen at the meeting, whose only connection with the riot is that he telegraphed for organizers, due stamps, books, literature and “wobblies [members of the Industrial Workers of the World]." and who had no gun on him at the time of the riot, goes to Folsom prison, also for life.
For life! Think of it! For life!
This is a very important decision. It establishes a dangerous precedent. Now any man who organizes a strike from which killings accidentally result may expect to face a charge of murder. That is, if this decision is allowed to stand.
It is not necessary to say, perhaps, that the decision must not stand, that steps are being taken to obtain a new trial, that the sympathizers with the defence, by means of speeches, interviews, articles and mass meetings, are losing no time in arousing public opinion—in making of this second trial a national affair.
“ The world is so full of a number of things I’m sure we should all be——”
What? A: happy as kings?
Not yet.
THE HOP PICKERS OF THE DURST RANCH
NEAR WHEATLAND, CALIFORNIA
Hop Picker's Camp on Durst Ranch
Hop pickers in the fields at Durst Ranch
Mothers with their little hop pickers who work long hours in the hot sun
and must pay for each glass of water.
Hop Pickers On Strike at Durst Ranch
----------
SOURCES
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-of August 1, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Harper's Weekly, Volumes 58-59
Harper's Magazine Company, 1914
(search with "Marysville Strike"
http://books.google.com/...
-from issue of April 4, 1914
"The Marysville Strike"
by Inez Haynes Gilmore
IMAGES
Ford and Suhr
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Hop Pickers on Durst Ranch X4
https://reuther.wayne.edu/...
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
They'll Never Keep Us Down-Hazel Dickens
We’ve been shot, we’ve been jailed, Lord, it’s a sin
Women and children stood right by the men
But we got a union contract that keeps the worker free
And they’ll never shoot that union out of me
They’ll never shoot that union out of me, oh no
They’ll never shoot that union out of me
Got a contract in our hands signed by the blood of honest men
And they’ll never shoot that union out of me!
-Hazel Dickens
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Wed Dec 03, 2014 at 10:38 AM PT: Correction made: Ford was in Marysville Jail at this time, not San Quentin, according to the article in the Appeal. Hellraisers regrets the error.