Joe Hill, alias Joseph Hillstrom, alias Joel Hagglund, was a blond, secretive man with a long, thin face, originally from Sweden, who came to Utah in 1913. When asked about himself he would only say that he was a "citizen of the world, born on the Planet Earth."
He arrived in New York City in 1902, worked in factories and mines as well as on farms and waterfronts as he made his way West to California, where he joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1910. The group (nicknamed "Wobblies") was considered a radical and revolutionary organization that was the inspiration for the "new left" of a later generation.The last chapter of Gibbs Smith's definitive book on the legendary labor figure is entitled, "Joe Hill will never die." The book was
published 20 years ago, yet Joe Hill, the legend, continues to grip the labor movement with remarkable tenacity. (Smith will talk about it, as well as his 20 year career as a publisher of Peregrine-Smith Books, at the University of Utah's Marriott Library Auditorium at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17.)
For instance, Utah labor leaders and a committee of sympathizers recently announced plans to commemorate the life and death of Joe Hill on Sept. 1, 1990, almost 75 years after this charismatic labor leader was executed in Salt Lake City. There will also be an academic conference, probably two days long, so that scholars can present papers and re-examine the case.
Even Pete Seeger has agreed to perform at a free open-air concert to be held that night at Sugarhouse Park, the site of the old Utah State Prison where Hill was shot by firing squad, Nov. 15, 1915, for allegedly killing two people during a robbery of Morrison's Grocery Store, then at West Temple and 800 South.
The killing occurred on Jan. 10, 1914, as John Morrison, a former police officer turned grocer, and his two teenage sons were preparing to close the store. The door burst open and two men, masked with red bandana handkerchiefs and armed with pistols, rushed inside. One of them shot Morrison dead.
Seventeen-year-old Arling Morrison used a gun to hit one of the men, who then fired at least three times, killing the boy. The other son, 14-year-old Merlin, escaped with his life. The two gunmen ran from the store, taking nothing. Two days passed before Dr. Frank McHugh, a physician whose office was located about three miles from the Morrison store, told the police that Joe Hill had visited his office that night, suffering from a gunshot wound.
McHugh asked Hill how he had been injured, and he said that he and another man had "quarreled over a girl, and that he had struck the other man, who retaliated by shooting him." Hill said that he wanted to protect the girl and that he was as much to blame as the other man.
Allegedly, Hill gave a different confession to McHugh after the doctor had read about the murder. He then admitted killing the two Morrisons, saying, "I'm not such a bad fellow as you think. I shot in self-defense. The older man reached for his gun and I shot him and the younger boy grabbed the gun and shot me and I shot him to save my life. . . . I wanted some money to get out of town."
The physician did not give this additional testimony during the trial, allegedly because he was a Socialist and did not believe in capital punishment. The trial attracted international attention because of Hill's ties to the workers' group who made Hill a martyr earmarked for unjust punishment because of his politics and revolutionary labor songs, the most famous lines being, "Workingmen of all countries unite, side by side we for freedom will fight." As Smith says, without those songs, Joe Hill would probably have been just another forgotten migrant worker. But contrary to popular opinion, Hill was not a prominent labor leader even in the workers' group. As Vernon Jensen, another Hill scholar says, he did not organize Utah construction workers as some have said, and he won no strike here. In fact, there was no strike won in Utah in those days.
The renewed interest in Hill this year is fascinating. Smith says the legend continues because "it is useful to people, as a tradition for the labor movement. The labor movement needs a history and Joe Hill serves that purpose as a martyr and organizer and songwriter. He can serve as a restatement of a legend in every generation."
As to Hill's guilt or innocence, Smith says, "I still don't know any better today about that." He still considers the evidence purely circumstantial and maintains that a court of law today would never convict him. "But most people who are interested in the legend today don't know anything about the facts of the case."
Legends are better off that way.