Born in 1879 and executed this day in 1915 - JOE HILL: Born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden, the labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World learned English during the early 1900s working various jobs from New York to San Francisco. His most famous songs include The Preacher and the Slave, The Tramp, There is Power in a Union, and The Rebel Girl. In 1914, John G. Morrison, a Salt Lake City area grocer and former policeman, and his son were shot and killed by two men. The same evening, Hill arrived at a doctors office with a gunshot wound, and briefly mentioned a fight over a woman. Hill, accused of the grocery store murders on the basis of his injury, was convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. Hill said that he had been shot in an argument over a woman, whom he refused to name. The doctor reported that Hill was armed with a pistol. Considering Morrisons past as a police officer, several men he had arrested were at first considered suspects; 12 people were arrested in the case before Hill was arrested and charged with the murder. The pistol supposedly in Hills possession at the doctors office was not found. Hill denied that he was involved in the robbery and killing of Morrison. He said that when he was shot, his hands were over his head, and the bullet hole in his coat — four inches below the exit wound in his back — seemed to support this claim. Hill did not testify at his trial, but his lawyers pointed out that four other people were treated for bullet wounds in Salt Lake City that same night, and that the lack of robbery and Hills unfamiliarity with Morrison left him with no motive. President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, the Swedish ambassador, and the Swedish public all became involved in a bid for clemency. It generated international union attention, and critics charged that the trial and conviction were unfair. Following an unsuccessful appeal, political debates, and international calls for clemency from high profile people and workers organizations, Hill was executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915; his last word was Fire!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:11:09 +0000
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