Joe Hill
DESCRIPTION: The singer "dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, Alive as you and me." He points out that Hill is dead. Hill replies, "I never died." The singer describes the details of Hill's death; Hill answers, "What they forgot to kill Went on to organize."
AUTHOR: Words: Alfred Hayes/Music: Earl Robinson
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (music copyright; the words are older)
KEYWORDS: death dream labor-movement lastwill
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1879-1915 - Life of Joel Emmanuel Hagglund, known as "Joe Hillstrom" or "Joe Hill."
1902 - Hill emigrates to the United States
Jan 10, 1914 - The Salt Lake City robbery/murder for which Joe Hill was arrested
1915 - Execution of Joe Hill for the murder
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Arnett, p. 175, "Joe Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, p. 95, "(Joe Hill)" (1 fragment)
DT, JOEHILL
ADDITIONAL: Sam Richards, "The Joe Hill Legend in Britain," essay in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993, pp. 316-331 (1 full text plus excerpts and fragments, 1 tune0
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Joe Hill" (on PeteSeeger39) (on PeteSeeger48)
Notes: Lori Elaine Taylor wrote an essay, "Joe Hill Incorporated: We Own Our Past," which appeared in Archie Green, editor, Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993. According to p. 26,
* Alfred Hayes's poem was first pubished in New Masses and then in a Communist anthology, Proletarian Literature in the United States
* Hayes gave a copy of the poem to Earl Robinson in 1936. Robinson set it to music to supply a song for a "Joe Hill campfire" that evening.
* The song spread across the country that summer.
* Reportedly Alfred Hayes "avoided association with the song througout his life," but Robinson was proud of it; he recorded it in 1941, and had earlier played piano on Michael Loring's recording. The song became even more popular after Paul Robeson recorded it.
Earl Robinson, shortly before his death, counted translations of the song in twelve languages.
Taylor suggests, p. 33, that it is this song more than anything else that accounts for the Joe Hill legend. Another part of the legend is due to Big Bill Haywood, Hill, according to Taylor, wrote to Haywood, "Don't waste any time mourning -- organize!" Haywood shortened this to the memorable "Don't Mourn -- Organize!" -- which proved a billiant slogan.
Green's book also contains the Sam Richards essay "The Joe Hill Legend in Britain" mentioned as an "Additional" entry above. It supplies evidence that this piece has actually gone into oral tradition -- and notes on p. 320 that this song about Hill is more popular than any of Hill's own songs except perhaps "The Preacher and the Slave." Richards in fact believes (p. 326) that this may be the most popular labor song in Britain today.
Richards mentions on pp. 320-321 that Paul Robeson premiered his version of the son in 1947 in Salt Lake City itself. That must have been something to see....
The innocence of Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, "Joe Hill," is such an article of faith in the folk community that it was stated as fact in the earlier editions of this index. This even though the sources containing this song knew so little about the case that different sources gave different dates for his execution.
An honest assessment has to admit uncertainty. Facts are sadly few -- indeed, little is known of Hill's dozen years of freedom in the United States; even before his death, he was legendary enough that he is said to have been part of far more labor actions than any man could possibly have participated in. He rambled -- but probably not as much as the tales imply. Presumably he worked at least some of the time, but records of this are few. All that is really certain is that he was the best and most important songwriter for the IWW.
The story of his execution is even more troubling.
What is known is that a murder took place in early 1914 at a grocery store in Salt Lake City. John G. Morrison and his son Arling were slain. Arling managed to kill one of the attackers; according to Morrison's surviving son Merlin, he shot another in the chest. The killers left without actually taking anything.
Hill later turned up at a doctor's with a bullet hole in his chest. It was a clean injury; the doctor treated and released him.
Still, when the police looked for a killer, they found Hill with an injury that fit the description, and he had no alibi. Arresting him was certainly not unreasonable; how many guys were there in 1915 Salt Lake City (the city of the conservative, law-abiding Mormons) with bullet wounds in their chests?
The problem was not the arrest but the trial. Hill attempted to defend himelf, all the while claiming the trial was fixed. This is probably overblown, but certainly the judge was prejudiced against him, and allowed the prosecution undue liberties. Hill, a non-lawyer, didn't know when to protest. No evidence could be presented to directly connect Hill with the murder (Merlin Morrison could not identify him), but with the city convinced he was guilty, and with no alibi except a vague claim about a woman's honor, he was naturally convicted.
One of those convinced that he should die was the governor of Utah. So the various calls for clemency and a new trial were denied. He was executed on November 19, 1915. He had written that he didn't "want to be caught dead in Utah," so his body was cremated and the ashes sent all over the country as a rallying point.
A good summary of the case is found in the December 2005 issue of American History magazine. Author Ben Lefebvre sums up the whole case pretty well: "Whether Hill was guilty of murder or not, he clearly did not receive a fair trial, one that might have credibly determined the truth" (p. 62).
It does seem that few people actually want the truth. I visited Amazon.com in trying to find good additional sources to allow further research. The reader reviews were absolutely useless -- clearly most of them had already decided their opinions, and they reviewed the books positively or negatively based on what *they* think happened.
A mild example of this occurs in Sing Out! magazine, volume 27, number 5 (1979), p. 39. which mentions the attempt, on the hundredth anniversary of Hill's birth, to win him a pardon. It mentions the holdup, and it mention's Hill's bullet wound. It does not mention the eyewitness testimony that one of the robbers was injured, nor does it describe how feeble Hill's alibit was, nor does it describe his attempts to represent himself. Thus, while it never quite says that Hill was innocent, it makes the case against him appear much weaker than it actually was.
The Richards essay cited above lists several books about Hill's life and trials. Richards himself thinks that Hill's conviction was on "very slender circumstantial evidence." (We should note that circumstantial evidence is now known to be generally more reliable than eyewitness evidence. The weak point in the evidence, if anything, is the eyewitness testimony to what went on during the fatal robbery.) Ralph Chaplin published an account that was largely hearsay. Wallace Stegner felt Hill to be guilty. Philip Foner is certain Hill never had a fair trial. - RBW
File: Arn175
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