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War
Utah Historical Quarterly
Vol. 38, 1970, No. 2
War
THE BUSY LIFE of the Greek immigrants with its perplexing folklore and customs was a curiosity to the natives. Although they regarded all aliens, and especially the newer ones — the Greeks — as far inferior to themselves, they had begun to accept them as part of the new pattern of life. Newspapers in Bingham, Magna, Price, and Helper made note of Greek Christmas and Easter celebrations, referred to the men as "the Greek boys," and did not often make a point in criminal cases of emphasizing their nationality.
But with the beginning of World War I and the continuing influx of immigrants, fear of the "foreigners" grew. The words "un-American" and "unpatriotic" took the place of earlier epithets. In the eastern United States, Greeks volunteered in great numbers and some became heroes. The Greeks had been in the East longer and had become established. Greek aliens in the West were still laborers and few of them could read American newspapers well. In all of Utah Greeks expressed willingness to serve if they could return to Greece to fight with their own people, also on the side of the Allies. To serve with soldiers whose language they did not understand appalled them. Their life was still one of Greek boardinghouses, Greek labor gangs, and Greek coffeehouses.
In Salt Lake City, Greek consul G. A. Papailion arrived to "organize the Greek colony in the interests of the war." A month later in Bingham the "Greeks of camp" brought a company of soldiers from Fort Douglas for a "patriotic Greek pageant" that raised $700.00 for the war. In Winter Quarters Greek miners bought $9,000 worth of Liberty Bonds at a rally _ four Greeks subscribed to a thousand dollars each. All through Carbon County, Greek miners held "Get Out The Coal" rallies.
The majority though were reluctant to enter the United States Army for three reasons. They believed that as aliens they were not required to serve. (In Bingham the exemption of aliens from army service brought fears that "the camp would be left in the hands of the foreigners.") They believed that the Greeks were given higher quotas to fill. And, they felt that Greek nationalism was again at stake. In Carbon County this reluctance to join the army was the beginning of years of ill feeling and violence against the Greeks.
At their March Independence Day celebration in Price, the Greeks followed patriotic speeches relating the Greek struggle against the Turks with expressions of loyalty to the United States. In late July the draft call was sent to 801 men, of whom 221 were Greeks. Only forty of the Greeks were citizens or had taken out first naturalization papers. Rumors began that the Greeks were balking at the size of their quota. The August 9 issue of the News Advocate said, "First indications were that a large number of Greeks were willing to enlist even if they could not be forced to do so. Later indications are that most will claim exemptions." Succeeding issues of the two Price newspapers carried lists of five to ten Greeks who had enlisted, but a far larger one of those who had asked for exemption because of their alien status.
On August 16, an article by Tom Avgikos, a young Greek businessman in Helper who later served in France, appeared in the News Advocate. Entitled "Why The Greeks Don't Volunteer," the author extolled Greek bravery throughout history and said Greeks would not commit themselves until they were told what would happen after the war to the Greek provinces "now under the yoke of the Turks, English, and Italians. Will the Greeks take part in war to help big nations steal Greek lands? The allies must make themselves clear first. Greeks hate Kaiser but can't fight him for national reasons."
Greek nationalism was incomprehensible to the Americans. They saw no reason for Greeks in America to be concerned with the Greek islands, Macedonia, and Thrace that had not been returned to Greece following the Revolution of 1821 and the Balkan Wars. That Greek immigrants feared the war would again result in powerful nations cutting up portions of Greece under the guise of being her protectors, appeared like subterfuge to the Americans. Immigrants were told often enough in print to leave their love of country, customs, and language at Ellis Island.
By winter anger against the Greeks had grown dangerously. Newspapers took part in the denunciations.
As hysteria against Germany mounted, the Greeks began enlisting, but their initial reluctance was not forgotten. Newspapers specifically mentioned a Greek or Italian's nationality when reporting a crime. Coffeehouses drew concentrated suspicion. In Carbon County the cost of their licenses was increased to $200.00 a year. Proprietors threatened to close their businesses; the "Greek boys in camps" complained that the coffeehouses were the only places to pass the evening; Stylian Staes, their advisor, asked the licensing board to define a coffeehouse.
In Salt Lake City in a fight between four Greeks and four Americans, a Greek killed Bruce Dempsey, brother of Jack Dempsey, the fighter. The murderer was described as having reddish hair and as being a Greek. Red hair being uncommon among Greeks, he was easily identified and captured in a Layton farmhouse by a posse headed by a Greek detective, William Cayias.
The Salt Lake Telegram reported the crime and the capture of the Greek in inflammatory accounts and added what the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune called an invitation to a lynching:
The following evening several hundred men gathered and listened to speakers demand a lynching. The entire force of city police and of prison guards arrived where "Sergeant Pierce's men cleared the sidewalk by honeyed persuasion, tempered with just enough display of determination to convince the crowd that stronger measures might be resorted to if necessary."
The Greek version of the killing differs: The fight began over attentions paid by the Greek to Bruce Dempsey's sister. Greek Town residents joined the search for the killer, but when talk of lynching went through the city, they armed themselves and appeared at the gathering with their own form of "honeyed persuasion." Two Greek servicemen at Fort Douglas turned a cannon to face the city and threatened to bombard it if their countryman were lynched.
In Price just before the Armistice, a Greek was brought to court to face charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He had given a girl, just under age, a ride in his car and neighbors had seen him "flirting" with her. A crowd gathered outside of the Price courthouse where the Greek had been taken by a posse. A clamor began to lynch him.
Greeks of Price sent calls to their countrymen in all the coal camps. P.O. Silvagni rallied the Italians saying, "If it's a Greek this time, it'll be an Italian next." The streets of Price swarmed with gun- and knifecarrying Greeks and Italians. A small army of wild-eyed Cretans rushed in from Castle Gate. The crowd quickly dispersed.
The traditional antagonism between Greeks and Italians, the roots of which reach back to the sack of the Greek Holy City Constantinople (Istanbul) by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and to the long Venetian rule of Greece, dissolved in times of danger. They stood united against mutual enemies.
During the war Greek men kept Liberty Bonds in their pockets to show in times of danger. A Greek youth from Helper, Utah, passing through a small town in Idaho found himself eyed by the natives. That night as he watched a newsreel in a theater, war scenes flashed on. He was attacked by the audience and taken out to be hung. His Liberty Bonds saved him.
The war ended with 350,000 American casualties, 548,000 United States residents dead from the influenza epidemic of 1918, an enormous shortage of food and materials, and "aliens who had not done their part."
The four years of war in Europe had delayed return to Greece for many men. The added years in America had begun to dim their goal of repatriation. Life in America no longer had an air of temporary interlude. Greeks now flocked for citizenship papers only to be denied them. For many years those who had claimed exemption because of alien status had their applications rejected for five years. American citizenship had now become important to the Greeks whose native land would never recognize them as citizens of any other country.
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