United labor bulletin., 1913-04-17
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
OPPOSE DENVER POLICE
A Hundred In City JaiI---Many Get
Long Terms to Mediate Over
Free Speech---LittIeton to be
Headquarters rs---Hundreds Com
ing.
ST. JOHN ENGINEERS CAMPAIGN

The campaign In Denver Of the Indus
trial Workers Of the World Is fast crys-
taIizing into fight between the police
department and the organization. Over
a hundred have entered the city and
nearly all have been lodged In the city
bastiie and few who have agreed to
leave town have been released.
The movement against Denver began
several weeks ago when the !. w. w.
members sought to speak In Denver. Po-
lice Commissioner Creei allowed them
to speak where they pleased and to say
what they pleased. But later, when
creeI was removed, the !. w. WIS
sought to defame everybody and every
thing on the streets of Denver. and the
police department gave the, decision that
street speaking would not be allowed ex-
eept by persons holding permits. A few
Denver members Of the organization
were arrested, and then the call was
sent broadcast to send the hords to Den
yer. From California nearly q hundred
have made their way to Denver, and
since their defeat at the hands Of the
police, other hundreds are on their way
to Denver.
meeting of those who have their lib
erty was held in the Charles building
Wednesday evening. and decided that a
campaign would be made in this city
that would make the whole country take
notice. II was decided to appoint com
mittees OF six and name a chairman of
each committee. committee is to en-
ter the city each day from Littleton.
where the l. w. WIS are to be located,
and as fast as one committee is arrested
for street speaking another will be sent
to the city. and the supply will be fur
nished from the whole United States.
Each man arrested will demand jury
trial. and 1t is hoped by the l. w WIS
to so fill the jails Of the city that the
city officials will grant any request that
the l. W. WIS will make in regard to
speaking on the streets.
When the sixty members of the or
ganization arrived in Denver from the
West they were met near Petersburg by
about an even number of police, and
those who did not make their escape
were arrested for vagrancy and lodged
in the city Jail. They have been fed on
bread and water. and those who have
not made pleas of not guilty with an ex-
pressed desire to leave the city have
been given long Jail sentences The po-
lice propose to break up the movement
in Denver. and intend to put all the pris-
oners to work on Cherry creek. and the
police say that those who do not work
cannot eat.
Today two of the members attempted
to have the men arrested released from
custody, but they themselves were ar
rested when they went to the police de-
partment to make their proposal. They
were arrested because 1t was decided at
the meeting last night TO have the i'm
prisoned men released through such a
proposal. saying that the men would
leave the city; but II was intended when
the men were released to house them at
Littleton in a house already secured by
Samuel Ingram. local secretary. Vincent
St John, former member of the West
ern Federation of Miners. is the secre-
tary of the national organization. and is
directing the campaign from Chicago.
The members in Denver complain that
they are not getting sufficient notoriety,
and a press committee has been named
to get every bit of newspaper publicity
possible. The headquarters at 1907
Nineteenth street have been closed by
the police through the board of health.
and all the occupants of the place were
arrested.
1t is almost certain that the Industrial
Workers of the World are not going to
quit the, fight in Denver at this time. II
is believed that hundreds will come to
Denver and that the city will be flooded
with the fraternity that believes in di-
rect action and are opposed TO the Amer
ican Federation of Labor. The only
issue in the movement for free speech
in Denver is the issue made by the In
dustrialists.