Fundraising Materials For Thomas Mooney And Warren Billings, 1935-38 Mooney, Thomas Antiquarian & Scholarly

"Without Your Aid I Am Not Only Helpless But Hopeless" [Mooney, Thomas (1882-1942)]. [Billings, Warren K. (1893-1972)]. [Fundraising Materials for Thomas Mooney and Warren K. Billings]. New York and San Francisco, 1935-1938. 2 leaflets, 4 letters and press releases, 3 in transmittal envelopes with small donation cards or receipts, sizes from 3-1/4" x 6-1/2" (folded) to 11" x 8-1/2" (unfolded). Light toning, fold lines, address cut out of one envelope, one letter with autograph signature of Thomas Mooney. $350. * This archive collects fundraising material printed by the Tom Mooney Molders' Defense Committee, the National Mooney-Billings Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union. Mooney and Billings were labor leaders and political activists who were framed as murderers after an anarchist's bomb exploded during the San Francisco Preparedness Day parade in 1916. Mooney was sentenced to death; Billings to life imprisonment. Their case became a cause celebre among liberals, labor activists and defenders of civil liberties, among them Felix Frankfurter and Clarence Darrow. After 22 years of petitioning and publicity, they were released in 1939. Issued from approximately 1935-1938, these materials encourage supporters to raise awareness and donate funds. Several are addressed to Kate Kelsey, a Philadelphia resident who donated one dollar to the Tom Mooney Molders' Defense Committee in 1937 and received a typed letter signed by Mooney with "grateful thanks and profound, proletarian appreciation" for her donation.