T-Bone Slim

• Name — T-Bone Slim • Birth Name — Matti Valentin Huhta • Born — February 14, 1880 • Birthplace — Ashtabula, Ohio • Died — c. 15 May 1942 • Place of death — New York City • Occupation — * Writer • hobo • labor activist • dock worker • Spouse — Rosa Kotila • Children — 4

T-Bone Slim was a relatively frequent nickname. In addition to Matti Huhta, the nickname T-Bone Slim was also used by the miner William Vann, the labor organizer Al W. McBride, and various other unidentified individuals, often transients.

Huhta was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, to Matti and Johanna Huhta, Finnish immigrants from Kälviä, Finland. In 1902, he married Rosa Kotila of Ashtabula, with whom he had four children. The marriage ended when the children were young, and he left Ohio in 1912, having no further contact with Rosa or the children. Huhta worked briefly as a reporter for the daily News-Tribune in Duluth, Minnesota but resigned after an editor "misquoted him and balled up his article" about an Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) mass meeting. According to one account, this was when he joined the IWW or "Wobblies", as they are sometimes called. Huhta contributed numerous articles and songs to IWW publications over a period of twenty years and was widely regarded as one of the union's finest writers. He was a regular columnist for Industrial Solidarity and later wrote for the Industrial Worker and Industrialisti. In addition to his writing, Huhta supported himself in various ways. His experience working on docks and barges around the country had by the mid-1930s garnered him a position as barge captain in New York City.

On May 15, 1942, at 5:45 pm, a patrolman found a body floating near Pier 9 on the East River. The body had been in the water for about four days, and showed no obvious signs of external injury. The case was ruled a drowning, and police speculated that the person had been drunk, fallen in the water, and drowned. The body was identified as T-Bone Slim, but the records do not state who identified it. The body was not claimed, and was buried in a pauper's grave on Hart Island.

• IWW Songbook 1920 • Power of These Two Hands 1922 • Starving Amidst Too Much 1923

• "Wherever you find injustice, the proper form of politeness is attack." • "Always keep yourself fit to serve mankind. Watch yourself, do not watch the boss. Never exhaust yourself — there is nothing more disgusting than a man staggering home from work 'dog-tired', helplessly falling into a chair to have his child remove his shoes; then grabbing a hasty feverish supper; saying good-night to his family and rolling into bed half-washed, to repeat the same thing three hundred and twelve times per year, or until sickness puts a stop to his mad career." • "Tear Gas: the most effective agent used by employers to persuade their employees that the interests of capital and labor are identical." • Only the poor break laws—the rich evade them.