On this , 19 November 1915, Joe Hill, Swedish-American Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union member and songwriter was executed by firing squad
On this , 19 November 1915, Joe Hill, Swedish-American Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union member and songwriter was executed by firing squad for a murder most historians believe he did not commit. During his life, Hill wrote many songs such as 'There is Power in a Union', 'Casey Jones - the Union Scab' and 'The Preacher and the Slave'. The latter song is the origin of the phrase "pie in the sky", which is promised by preachers to starving working people: "You will eat, bye and bye,/In that glorious land above the sky;/Work and pray, live on hay,/You'll get pie in the sky when you die." In Hill's final letter to IWW leader Bill Haywood he wrote: "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize." He also told Haywood: "I don't want to be caught dead in Utah", and requested that he be cremated, and his ashes used to replenish the earth. Large crowds attended h...