Item Detail
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24274
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0
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0
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English
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To Be Found Dead in Utah
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Journal of the West
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Fall 2000
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39
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72-79
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"Joe Hill's short life encompassed song-writing, union organizing, striking against the 'big bosses,' fighting a strong church, and claiming a secret love affair that could have saved his life. Instead it ended before a firing squad in 1915. Hill's supporters felt his death came from his being a member of the Industrial Works of the World (the IWW, called Wobblies or Wobs). Cast by others as a cold-blooded killer, today a need exists to examine the reality of Joe Hill. At the least, Hill comprised an unusual mix: a drifter and labor leader, a musically oriented crusader who befriended proclaimed saboteurs. While waiting for his execution, Hill considered Utah to be the worst possible place to die, a placed controlled by the Church. Joe had identified the LDS and the mine-owning copper trust as the largest enemies of the IWW in Utah. Did these two organizations frame Hill and then press for his conviction?" [From author's introduction]