Violence

John H. Murphy sends three articles to President Roosevelt regarding violence committed as a result of the labor disputes in Colorado. These include “Died in Fear of Guards, Bullpen” about a mine owner who supported unions who committed suicide because he was afraid of being arrested; “Taken on Street and Sent Away” about a union official, Thomas Nelson, who was forced to leave his home; and “Men Beaten and Turned Loose” about men who were deported from their home and were beaten when they returned despite the fact they had special permission to do so.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

A man labeled “‘Independent’ Labor,” tied to a post labeled “Organized Tyranny,” is being whipped by a man labeled “Professional Entertainer.” In the background, a factory is burning.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-06-07

Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, as Don Quixote, sits in a chair, reading, with a sword in raised right hand, with visions of former (and current) presidents, as well as some of the social ills that he hopes to correct. Caption: Our esteemed Vice-President takes his candidacy seriously.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-05-24

John Mitchell and Samuel Gompers, representing the United Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor, are witches stirring a “dangerous brew” of labor violence in a cauldron labeled “Unionism” over flames labeled “Anti-Injunction Bill.” Steam rising from the pot is filled with threatening human figures and the words “Boycott, Mob Violence, Intimidation, Dynamite-Persuasion, Riot, Lawlessness, Anarchy, Parkism, Graft, [and] Incendiary Press.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-03-16

President Roosevelt stands at a flag-draped podium on the right, pointing to two men on the left, each with a foot on a female figure labeled “Law” lying on the ground. One man has papers labeled “Dishonest Corporations” and the other has papers labeled “Union Tyranny” and notes extending from his pockets labeled “Bribe” and “Graft.” On the front of the podium at which Roosevelt stands is a quotation: “If alive to their true interests, rich and poor alike will set their faces like flint against the spirit which seeks personal advantage by overriding the laws, without regard to whether this spirit shows itself in the form of bodily violence by one set of men or in the form of vulpine cunning by another set of men.” – President Roosevelt’s Speech, Sept. 7.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-09-30

Three men labeled “Riot, Lynching, [and] Violence” burn a female figure labeled “Law and Order” at the stake. She is bound to the stake with ribbons labeled “Prejudice” and “Defiance.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-07-22

A large, angry female figure representing Justice draws a sword labeled “Law and Order” as she strides toward striking union laborers who, taking the law into their own hands, are beating a “non union” worker and burning another tied to a tree. A factory is in flames in the background.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-03-25

A mob of labor union laborers charge up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. One man carries a flag that states “The (Labor) Union forever! The man who works when we won’t, is a traitor – Kill Him! Unions first, wives and children afterward. All men are equal and the man with brains must be kept down.” The man with the flag is fearfully pointing toward Columbia, who is standing defiant with a sword at her side, the “Declaration of Independence” in one hand, and the American Flag behind her. Caption: The Flag of Freedom will never be displaced by the Flag of Slavery.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-11-05

An angry mob of strikers with clubs, guns, and bricks pursues a man labeled “Independent Labor” who has fallen near his wife and child in front of the statue of Justice. Justice is bound with red tape labeled “Politics.” Her scales and fasces lie on the ground next to her feet.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-10-01

A female figure labeled “Arbitration” stands between a soldier labeled “Law & Order” and a laborer labeled “Strike” who is holding a bomb and about to throw a brick, with the words “Riot” and “Arson” appearing in the smoke billowing from a fire behind him.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-06-12

At a meeting in a Chinese mission, a collection is being taken up, “Contributions received here to save the foreign devils.” Five accompanying vignettes show how the United States is viewed by the Chinese, including “Kentucky feuds,” “Burning Negros at the stake,” “Labor riots,” “Anti-Chinese riots,” and “New York City government” where the Tammany Tiger is shaking down a citizen. A sign on a wall in the mission states, “Help the Heathen.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-11-21

Theodore Roosevelt encloses a letter from Bishop Currier as well as a copy of his reply. Roosevelt thinks every objection obtained in recognizing Victoriano Huerta when Woodrow Wilson came into office now obtains with ten-fold greater force against recognizing Venustiano Carranza. The good that would have come of recognizing Huerta will not be achieved by recognizing Carranza. Roosevelt thinks if Wilson is right in his action now, he should have taken the action two years and a half ago, which would have saved two years and a half of “pointless bloodshed.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-10-25

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt approves of the way Captain Harry O. Williard handled the conflict on the Navajo Reservation in a response to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt tells Governor Aycock that he wrote to Indiana Governor Durbin about mob violence and lynching because he thought writing to a northern governor would show that he was not looking at the matter from a sectional standpoint and his statement would be less likely to be misconstrued.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-08-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt shares with Maria E. Tobien that while those guilty of lawlessness in the West come from many nationalities, many are apt to be Native Americans. He speaks in general terms and allows for individual exceptions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-09-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

As per President Roosevelt’s request, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp encloses a letter that presents the facts about the conflict on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Leupp wrote the letter in response to a complaint from Edward J. Wilcox about how the situation was handled by Captain Harry O. Williard and William T. Shelton, the Superintendent of the San Juan Indian Agency. He knows that Roosevelt feels similarly that there are times “when it is necessary to enforce some salutary lesson by painful methods.” Leupp defends Williard’s and Shelton’s character and their actions in the conflict.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-05

Creator(s)

Leupp, Francis E. (Francis Ellington), 1849-1918

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp responds to a letter that Edward J. Wilcox sent to President Roosevelt criticizing the way that Captain Harry O. Williard handled a conflict on a Navajo Reservation. Leupp provides context for the situation and argues that Captain Williard was justified in his actions, adding that other Navajo on the Reservation are pleased with the outcome.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-03

Creator(s)

Leupp, Francis E. (Francis Ellington), 1849-1918

Captain Williard writes to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp about an issue that came to his attention recently. Father Anselm Weber notified him that the Indian Rights Association was protesting about Leupp and Superintendent William T. Shelton about their actions against Navajos that resulted in several being killed. Williard explains that he has become involved because he believes that he is responsible for the matter, and he defends the choices he made that resulted in the deaths.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-29

Creator(s)

Williard, Harry O. (Harry Ormiston), 1871-1939

Attorney General Moody will send the Assistant Attorney General to Colorado and Idaho to ascertains facts and make a full report to President Roosevelt in preparation for the possibility that the State of Idaho might ask the United States for help dealing with domestic violence.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-27

Creator(s)

Moody, William H. (William Henry), 1853-1917

J. J. Huckett urges President Roosevelt, on behalf of the Industrial Council of Kansas City, Missouri, to take action against the harsh policies of Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody and General Sherman Bell in the labor dispute in Colorado.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-12

Creator(s)

Huckett, J. J.