JOE

HILL

Using the video from this website

http://www.kued.org/whatson/kued-local-productions/joe-hill , you will answer the
questions below and decide if Joe Hill was guilty of murder on the night of January
10, 1914.

“Don’t waste any time mourning… organize!”

- Joe Hill (songwriter for the I.W.W.)

THE IWW Click on the link above and watch the video from 14:15-25:45
to answer the questions below. You can type your answers directly on this
google doc.
1. What were the main goals of the I.W.W.?

2. In every state, the police always took the side of

________________________________. They would use
billy clubs and other weapons even firing on strikers.

3. In 1913, the Wobblies (I.W.W.) went on strike in Salt Lake City. Mine
owners sent in private ______________________________ to beat the strikers.
THE MORRISON MURDERS watch the video from 26:40-31:10 for the next set of
questions
4. The Morrison grocery store was less than ____ mile from the heart of Salt Lake
City.

5. Joe Hill (Hillstrom) was shot the same night and went to a Dr. in what city?
_________________, Utah

6. Hill (Hillstrom) was reaching for his ______________ when police shot him in
the hand.

THE TRIAL watch the video from 36:25-40:00 for the next 2 questions
7. The eyewitness testimony _______________________over time.

8. Merlin Morrison was an eyewitness to his father and brothers murders. One
journalist did not think he could positively identify Hill, why not?

Joe Hill refused to say how he got shot the night of the Morrison murders.
Many people believe he was fighting with a friend over a woman. Joe Hill was
sentenced to death by firing squad.
Many people believed that Joe Hill had not received a fair trial or that the
mining companies were behind his sentence, because he was so influential in the
labor union and they wanted to shut him up forever. Hundreds of people wrote to
Utah’s Governor asking for a retrial including Helen Keller and the President of the
United States, Woodrow Wilson. Many primary source letters can be found here:
Click on this link and read the “Clemency Plea” from Eugene V. Debs (he ran for
President 5x). http://local.sltrib.com/charts/joehill/letters/letters.html

9. Eugene Debs thought Hill was innocent. In your opinion, what is the strongest
piece of evidence from Debs letter? (Cite the letter, using quotation marks).

10. What is your verdict? Guilty or innocent? What evidence will you use to
defend your verdict?