US event honors labor hero to many, murderer to others

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Swedish-born labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill is revered by many as a hero. To others, he was a murderer who gunned down a Salt Lake City grocer and his son and got what he deserved when he was executed by firing squad in 1915.
Duncan Phillips, center, performs a song by songwriter Joe Hill along with Morgan Snow, left, and Kate MacLeod at Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City. The event raised funds for a Joe Hill memorial concert planned for September in Sugar House Park. Hill was executed in Utah on Nov. 19, 1915, after being convicted of a murder many people believe he did not commit. (Jeremy Harmon/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) DESERET NEWS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, JOEHILL.SLTRIB.COM
Ahead of the 100th anniversary of his death in November, his admirers will gather this Labor Day weekend to celebrate his life. Hill is probably best known for being the subject of a poem turned into a song that Pete Seeger made famous in the 1960s called "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night."
"They framed you on a murder charge," croons Seeger, "Says Joe, but I ain't dead." The song was famously performed by Joan Baez at Woodstock and in more recent years by Bruce Springsteen and guitarist Tom Morello of the band Rage Against the Machine.
At Saturday's event, singer Judy Collins is scheduled to headline a concert. Hill became the lead suspect in the 1914 double murder because he was treated the same night for a gunshot wound to the chest. Prosecutors used that as evidence linking him to the killings. Hill reportedly told doctors that he was shot by a jealous friend in a quarrel over a woman, but he didn't present that alibi at trial.
Lori Taylor, a historian and one of the organizers of Saturday's concert, said new evidence uncovered by author William Adler cements Hill's innocence. Hill was assumed to be guilty because police of that era considered members of the Industrial Workers of the World union to be radical criminals, Taylor said. No motive was given by police.
Prior to his execution, Hill sent a telegram to a fellow labor leader that became a rally cry for supporters: "Don't waste any time mourning. Organize."