THE PROSECUTION
The King County Court House is an imposing, five story, white structure,
covering an entire block in the business section of the city of Seattle.
Its offices for the conduct of the county and city business are spacious
and well appointed. Its corridors are ample, and marble. The elevator
service is of the best. But the courtrooms are stuffy little dens, illy
ventilated, awkwardly placed, and with the poorest of acoustics. They
seem especially designed to add to the depressing effect that invariably
attends the administration of "law and order." The court of Judge
Ronald, like many other courts in the land, is admirably designed for
the bungling inefficiencies of "justice." Yet it was in this theater,
thru the medium of the Everett trial, that the class struggle was
reproduced, sometimes in tragedy and sometimes in comedy.
To reach the greatest trial in the history of labor unionism, perhaps
the greatest also in the number of defendants involved and the number of
witnesses called, one had to ascend to the fourth floor of the court
house and line up in the corridor under the watchful eyes of the I. W.
W. "police," C. R. Griffin and J. J. Keenan, appointed by the
organization at the request of the court. There, unless one were a
lawyer or a newspaper representative, it was necessary to wait in line
for hours until the tiny courtroom was opened and the lucky hundred odd
persons were admitted to the church-like benches of J. T. Ronald's
sanctum, where the case of State versus Tracy was on trial.
Directly in front of the benches, at the specially constructed press
table, were seats provided for the representatives of daily, weekly and
monthly publications whose policies ranged from the ultra conservative
to the extreme radical. Here the various reporters were seen writing
madly as some important point came up, then subsiding into temporary
indifference, passing notes, joking in whispers, drawing personal
cartoons of the judge, jury, counsel, court functionaries and
out-of-the-ordinary spectators,--the only officially recognized persons
in the courtroom showing no signs of reverence for the legal priesthood
and their mystic sacerdotalism.
Just ahead of the press table were the attorneys for the prosecution:
Lloyd Black, a commonplace, uninspired, beardless youth as chief
prosecutor; H. D. Cooley, a sleek, pusillanimous recipient of favors
from the lumber barons, a fixture at the Commercial Club, and an
also-ran deputy at the dock on November 5th, as next counsel in line;
and A. L. Veitch, handsome in a gross sort of a way, full faced, sensual
lipped, with heavy pouches beneath the eyes, a self-satisfied favorite
of the M. & M., and withal the most able of the three who by virtue of
polite fiction represented the state of Washington. From time to time in
whispered conference with these worthy gentlemen was a tall, lean, grey,
furtive-eyed individual who was none other than the redoubtable
Californian detective, Malcolm McLaren.
At right angles to this array of prosecutors the counsel for the defense
were seated, where they remained until the positions were reversed at
the close of the prosecution's case. Chief counsel Fred H. Moore,
serious, yet with a winning smile occasionally chasing itself across his
face and adding many humorous wrinkles to the tired-looking crow-feet at
the corners of his eyes; next to him George F. Vanderveer, a strong
personality whose lightning flashes of wit and sarcasm, marshalled to
the aid of a merciless drive of questions, were augmented by a smile
second only to Moore's in its captivating quality; then E. C. Dailey,
invaluable because of his knowledge of local conditions in Everett and
personages connected with the case; and by his side, at times during
the trial, was H. Sigmund, special counsel for Harry Feinberg.
Seated a little back, but in the same group, was a man of medium height,
stocky built, slightly ruddy complexion, black hair, and twinkling blue
eyes. He was to all appearances the most composed man in the courtroom.
A slight smile crept over his face, at times almost broadened into a
laugh, and then died away. This was Thomas H. Tracy, on trial for murder
in the first degree.
To the rear of the defendant and forming a deep contrast to the
determined, square-jawed prisoner was the guard, a lean, hungry-looking
deputy with high cheek bones, unusually sharp and long nose and a pair
of moustachios that drooped down upon his chest, a wholly useless and
most uncomfortable functionary who could scarce seat himself because of
the heavy artillery scattered over his anatomy.
The court clerk, an absurdly dignified court bailiff, a special
stenographer, and Sheriff McCullogh of Snohomish county, occupied the
intervening space to the pulpit from which Judge J. T. Ronald delivered
his legal invocations.
The judge, a striking figure, over six feet in height and well
proportioned, of rather friendly countenance and bearing in street
dress, resembled nothing so much as a huge black owl when arrayed in his
sacred "Mother Hubbard" gown, with tortoise-shell rimmed smoked glasses
resting on his slightly aquiline nose and surmounting the heavy, closely
trimmed, dark Vandyke beard.
To the right of the judge as he faced the audience was the witness
chair, and across the whole of the corner of the room was a plat of the
Everett City Dock and the adjacent waterfront, together with a smaller
map showing part of the streets of the city. The plat was state's
exhibit "A." Below these maps on a tilted platform was a model of the
same dock, with the two warehouses, waiting room, Klatawa Slip, and the
steamer Verona, all built to scale. This was defendant's exhibit "1."
Extending from these exhibits down the side of the railed enclosure,
were seats for two extra jurors. The filling of this jury box from a
long list of talesmen was the preliminary move to a trial in which the
defendant was barely mentioned, and which involved the question of
Labor's right to organize, to assemble peaceably, to speak freely, and
to advocate a change in existing social arrangements. Capital was lined
up in a fight against Labor. There was a direct reflection in the courts
of the masters of the age-long, world-wide class struggle.
The examination of talesmen occupied considerable time. Each individual
was asked whether he had read any of the following papers: The
Industrial Worker, The Socialist World, or the Pacific Coast
Longshoreman. The prosecution also inquired as to the prospective
juror's familiarity with the I. W. W. Song Book and the various works on
Sabotage. Union affiliations were closely inquired into, and favorable
mention of the right to organize brought a challenge from the state. The
testing of the talesmen was no less severe on the part of the defense.
Fifty-one talesmen were disqualified, after long and severe legal
battles, before a jury was finally secured from among the voters and
property owners who alone were qualified to serve. The jury, as
selected, was rather more intelligent than was to be expected when
consideration is taken of the fact that any person who acknowledged
having an impression, an opinion, or a conclusion regarding the merits
of the case was automatically excused from service. Those who were
chosen to sit on the case were:
Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher;
Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, then working for
himself; Mrs. Louise Raynor, wife of a master mariner; A. Peplan,
farmer; Mrs. Clara Uhlman, wife of a harnessmaker in business for
himself; Mrs. Alice Freeborn, widow of a druggist; F. M. Christian, tent
and awning maker; Mrs. Sarah F. Brown, widow, working class family;
James R. Williams, machinist's helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J.
Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. The two
alternate jurors, provided for under the "Extra Juror" law of
Washington, passed just prior to this trial, were: J. W. Efaw, furniture
manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams,
carpenter and member of a union.
Judge Ronald realized the importance of the case as was shown in his
admonition to the jury, a portion of which follows:
"It is plain, from both sides here, that we are making history. Let us
see that the record that we make in this case,--you and I, as a
court,--be a landmark based upon nothing in the world but the truth. We
may deceive some people and we may, a little, deceive ourselves; but we
cannot deceive eternal truth."
On the morning of March 9th Judge Ronald, the tail of his black gown
firmly in hand, swept into the courtroom from his private chambers, the
assembled congregation arose and stood in deep obeisance before His
Majesty The Law, the pompous bailiff rapped for order and delivered an
incantation, the Judge seated himself on the throne of "Justice," the
assemblage subsided into their seats--and the trial was opened in
earnest. Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black then gave his opening
statement, the gist of which is contained in the following quotations:
"You are at the outset of a murder trial, murder in the first degree.
The defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, alias George Martin, is charged with
murder in the first degree, in having assisted, counselled, aided,
abetted and encouraged some unknown person to kill Jefferson Beard on
the 5th of November, 1916.
"* * * As far as the state is concerned, no one knows or can know or
could follow the course of the particular bullet that struck and
mortally wounded and killed Jefferson Beard.
"* * * The evidence further will show that the first, or one of the
first, shots fired was from the steamer Verona and was from a revolver
held in the hand of Thomas H. Tracy.
"* * * As to the killing of Jefferson Beard itself the probabilities
are, as the evidence of the state will indicate, that he was killed by
someone on the hurricane deck of the Verona because the evidence will
show that the revolver shots went thru his overcoat, missing his coat,
and thru his vest, and had a downward course, so that it must have come
from the upper deck. The evidence will show that Thomas H. Tracy was on
the main deck firing thru an open cabin window.
"* * * Of the approximately 140 special and regular deputies of
Snohomish County about one-half were armed, some with revolvers, some
with rifles and some with clubs.
"* * * When the fusilade had come from the I. W. W.'s on the Verona, a
portion of the deputies ran thru a door into this warehouse,
(indicating): a portion of them went into that warehouse, and used some
of the knotholes there, and some shot holes thru which they could see, *
* *"
Black then gave a recital of the lumber trust version of the events
leading up to November 5th, bringing in the threats of an alleged
committee who were said to have declared "that they would call thousands
of their members to the city of Everett, flood the jails, demand
separate trials, and tie up and overwhelm the court machinery, and that
the mayor should consider that they had beaten Spokane and killed its
chief, killed Chief Sullivan of that city, that they had defeated
Wenatchee and North Yakima, and now it was Everett's turn."
"* * * That in furtherance of their threats that they would burn the
city of Everett, that a number of mysterious fires took place, fires
connected with some person who was opposed to the I. W. W. * * * And in
addition, the I. W. W. members were arrested at different times
preceding this trouble on the 5th of November and phosphorus was found
upon their person either in cans or wrapped up.
"* * * At different times, the evidence will show, Sheriff Donald McRae
and other peace officers of the city of Everett, including Mayor
Merrill, received anonymous letters, and also received direct statements
from the I. W. W. that they would get them; and, as one speaker put it,
he says 'Sheriff McRae will wake up some day and say '"Good morning,
Jesus!"'
Black continued his recital of events, admitting the "Wanderer"
incident, but he tried to sidestep the criminal actions at Beverly Park.
"Now, there happened at Beverly Park an incident that the State in this
action doesn't feel that it has anything to do with this particular
cause."
Ironical laughter at this juncture caused the removal of several
spectators from the courtroom. So disconcerted was Black that he
proceeded to give away the real cause of action against the I. W. W.
"The I. W. W. organization itself is an unlawful conspiracy, an unlawful
conspiracy in that it was designed for the purpose of effecting an
absolute revolution in society and in government, effecting it not by
the procedure of law thru the ballot, but for effecting it by direct
action. The I. W. W. meant to accomplish the change in society, not by
organization as the labor unions hope to get higher wages, not to get
into effect their theory of society by the ballot, as the Socialists
hope, but that they expressly state that the election of a Socialist
president will accomplish no good, and that sabotage should be employed
against government ownership as well as against private production, so
that directly they might put into effect their theories of government
and society."
The defense reserved the right to make their opening statement at the
close of the prosecution's case, thus leaving the state in the dark as
to the line of defense, and forcing them to open their case at once.
Lester L. Beard and Chester L. Beard, twin sons of the deceased deputy
sheriff, testified as to the condition of their father's clothing,
Attorney Vanderveer drawing from Lester Beard the admission that his
father was an employment agent in Seattle in 1914.
Following them, Drs. William O'Keef Cox, H. P. Howard, and William P.
West testified to having performed an autopsy on Beard and described the
course of the bullet upon entering the body. Dr. West was an armed guard
at the land end of the City Dock on November 5th, Dr. Cox was also on
the dock as a deputy, and Dr. Howard carried a membership in the
Commercial Club. They were the physicians present when the autopsy was
performed.
The next witness, Harry W. Shaw, a wood and coal dealer of Everett,
admitted having joined the citizen deputies because of a call issued by
the sheriff thru the Commercial Club. Shaw went to the dock on November
5th, carrying, as he claimed, a revolver with a broken firing pin which
he had hoped to have repaired on that Sunday on the way to the dock. He
was close to Beard when the latter fell and helped to carry him from the
open space on the dock into the warehouse. He afterward accompanied
Beard to the hospital in an automobile and returned to the dock with
Beard's unfired revolver in his possession. He swore that he had seen
McRae sober three times in succession! When asked by Attorney Moore he
gave an affirmative answer to this pertinent question:
"You knew that the matter of the enforcement of the city ordinances of
Everett was peculiarly within the powers of the police department of the
city, didn't you?"
Owen Clay was then called to the stand. Clay had been made bookkeeper of
the Weyerhouser Mill about a year and a half before this, and had been
given a membership in the Commercial Club at the time. He was injured in
the right arm in the trouble at the dock and then ran around the corner
of the ticket office, after which he emptied his revolver with his left
hand. Attorney Vanderveer questioned this witness as follows:
"Who shot Jeff Beard in the right breast?"
"I don't know."
"Did you do it?"
"I don't know."
"Thank you! That's all," said Vanderveer with a smile.
The next witness was C. A. Mitchell, employee of the Clark-Nickerson
Mill. He testified that he belonged to Company "B" under the command of
Carl Clapp. His testimony placed Sheriff McRae in the same position as
that given by the preceding witness, about eight to ten feet from the
face of the dock in the center of the open space between the two
warehouses, but unlike Clay, who testified that McRae had his left hand
in the air, he was positive that the sheriff had his right hand in the
air at the time the shooting started.
W. R. Booth, engaged in real estate and insurance business, a member of
the Commercial Club, and a deputy at the dock, was next called. Attorney
Cooley asked this witness about the speech made at an unspecified street
meeting. Vanderveer immediately objected as follows:
"We object to that as immaterial and calling for a conclusion of the
witness. He does not know who was speaking, nor whether he was
authorized to do it, or brought there by the Industrial Workers of the
World, or a hireling of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' society. It
has happened time and time again that people are employed by these
capitalists themselves to go out and make incendiary speeches and cause
trouble, and employed to go out and fire buildings and do anything to
put the opposition in wrong."
When questioned about McRae's position on the dock, Booth stated that
the sheriff had both hands in the air. This witness admitted having been
a member of the "Flying Squadron" and being a participant in the outrage
at Beverly Park. He named others who went out with him in the same
automobile, Will Seivers and Harry Ramwell, and stated that A. P.
Bardson, clerk of the Commercial Club, was probably there as he had been
out on all the other occasions. He said that he would not participate in
the beating up of anyone, and that when the affair started he went up
the road for purposes of his own. He was asked by Vanderveer as to the
reason for continuing to associate with people who had abused the men at
Beverly Park, to which he replied:
"Because I believe in at least trying to maintain law and order in our
city."
During the examination of this witness, and at various times thruout the
long case, it was only with evident effort that Attorney Vanderveer kept
on the unfamiliar ground of the class struggle, his natural tendencies
being to try the case as a defense of a pure and simple murder charge.
W. P. Bell, an Everett attorney representing a number of scab mills, a
member of the Commercial Club and a deputy on the dock, testified next,
contradicting the previous witnesses but throwing no additional light
upon the case. He was followed by Charles Tucker, a scab and gunman
employed by the Hartley Shingle Company and a deputy on the dock. Tucker
lied so outrageously that even the prosecution counsel felt ashamed of
him. He was impeached by his own testimony.
Editor J. A. MacDonald of the Industrial Worker was called to the stand
to show the official relation of the paper to the I. W. W. and to lay a
foundation for the introduction of a file of the issues prior to
November 5th. A portion of the file was introduced as evidence and at
the same time the state put in as exhibits a copy of the I. W. W.
Constitution and By-Laws, Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Sabotage
by Walker C. Smith, The Revolutionary I. W. W. by Grover H. Perry, The
I. W. W., Its History, Structure and Methods by Vincent St. John, and
the Joe Hill Memorial Edition of the Song Book.
Herbert Mahler, former secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. and at the
time Secretary-Treasurer of the Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee,
was next upon the stand. He was asked to name various committees and to
identify certain telegrams. The unhesitatingly clear answers of both
MacDonald and Mahler were in vivid contrast to the mumbled and
contradictory responses of the deputies.
William J. Smith, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company was
then called to further corroborate certain telegrams sent and received
by the I. W. W.
As the next step in the case prosecutor Black read portions of the
pamphlet "Sabotage" by Smith, sometimes using half a paragraph and
skipping half, sometimes using one paragraph and omitting the next,
provoking a remonstrance from Attorney Vanderveer which was upheld by
the Court in these words:
"You have a right to do what you are doing, Mr. Black, but it don't
appeal to my sense of fairness if other omissions are as bad as the one
you left out. You are following the practice, but I don't know of an
instance where there has been such an awful juggling about, and it is
discretionary with the Court, and I want to be fair in this case. I want
to let them have a chance to take the sting out of it so as to let the
jury have both sides, because it is there. Now, Mr. Vanderveer, I am
going to leave it to you not to impose upon the Court's discretion. Any
new phases I don't think you have the right to raise, but anything that
will modify what he has read I think you have the right to."
Thereupon Vanderveer read all the omitted portions bearing upon the
case, bringing special emphasis on these two parts:
"Note this important point, however. Sabotage does not seek nor desire
to take human life."
"Sabotage places human life--and especially the life of the only useful
class--higher than all else in the universe."
With evidences of amusement, if not always approval, the jury then
listened to the reading of numerous I. W. W. songs by Attorney Cooley
for the prosecution, tho some of the jurymen shared in the bewilderment
of the audience as to the connection between the song "Overalls and
Snuff" and defendant Tracy charged with a conspiracy to commit murder in
the first degree.
D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett, next took the stand. He endeavored to
give the impression that the I. W. W. was responsible for a fire loss in
Everett of $100,000.00 during the latter part of the year 1916.
Vanderveer shot the question:
"From whom would you naturally look for information on the subject of
fires?"
"From the Fire Chief, W. C. Carroll," replied the mayor;
"We offer this report in evidence," said Vanderveer crisply.
The report of the Fire Chief was admitted and read. It showed that there
were less fires in 1916 that in any previous year in the history of
Everett, and only four of incendiary origin in the entire list!
The prosecution tried to squirm out of this ticklish position by stating
that they meant also the fires in the vicinity of Everett, but here also
they met with failure for the principal fire in the surrounding district
was in the co-operative mill, owned by a number of semi-radical
workingmen at Mukilteo.
The mayor told of having been present at the arrest of several men taken
from a freight train at Lowell, just at the Everett city limits. Some of
these men were I. W. W.'s, and on the ground afterward there was said to
have been found some broken glass about which there was a smell of
phosphorus. The judge ruled out this evidence because there were other
than I. W. W. men present, no phosphorus was found on the men, and if
only one package were found it would not indicate a conspiracy but might
have been brought by an agent of the employers. This was the nearest
the prosecution came at any time in the trial in their attempt to
connect the I. W. W. with incendiary fires.
A tense moment in this sensational trial came during the testimony of
Mayor Merrill, when young Louis Skaroff was suddenly produced in court
and the question flashed at the cringing witness:
"Do you recognize this boy standing here? Do you recognize him, Louis
Skaroff?"
"I think I have seen him," mumbled the mayor.
"Let me ask you if on the 6th day of November at about ten o'clock at
night in a room in the City Hall at Everett where there was a bed room
having an iron bedstead in it, in the presence of the jailer, didn't you
have an interview with this man?"
Merrill denied having mutilated Skaroff's fingers beneath the casters of
the bed, but even the capitalist press reported that his livid face and
thick voice belied his words of denial.
And Prosecutor Lloyd Black remarked heatedly, "I don't see the
materiality of all this."
Merrill left the stand, having presented the sorriest figure among the
number of poor witnesses produced by the prosecution.
Carl Clapp, superintendent of the Municipal Waterworks at Everett, and
commander of one of the squads of deputies, followed with testimony to
the effect that sixty rifles from the Naval Militia were stored in the
Commercial Club on November 5th. At this juncture the hearing of further
evidence was postponed for a half day to allow Attorney Vanderveer to
testify on behalf of Mayor H. C. Gill in a case then pending in the
Federal Court.
On several other occasions Vanderveer was called to testify in this case
and there were times when it was thought that he also would be indicted
and brought to trial, yet with this extra work and the threat of
imprisonment hanging over him, Vanderveer never flagged in his keen
attention to the work of the defense. It was commonly thought that the
case against Gill and the attempt to involve Vanderveer were moves of
the lumber trust and Chamber of Commerce directed toward the I. W. W.,
for in the background were the same interested parties who had been
forced to abandon the recall against Seattle's mayor. Gill's final
acquittal in this case was hailed as an I. W. W. victory.
Upon the resumption of the trial the prosecution temporarily withdrew
Clapp and placed Clyde Gibbons on the stand. This witness was the son of
James Gibbons, a deceased member of the I. W. W., well and favorable
known in the Northwest. James Gibbons was killed by a speeding
automobile about a year prior to the trial, and his widow and son,
Clyde, were supported by the I. W. W. and the Boiler Makers' Union for
several months thereafter.
Clyde Gibbons, altho but seventeen years old, joined the Navy by
falsifying his age. Charity demands that the veil be drawn over the
early days of Clyde's training, yet his strong imagination and general
untruthfulness are matters of record. He was shown in court to have
stolen funds left in trust with him by Mrs. Peters, one of the persons
against whom his testimony was directed. It is quite probable that the
deceit about his age, or some other of his queer actions, were
discovered and used to force him to testify as the prosecution desired.
The following testimony bears out this idea:
"Who was it that you met at the Naval Recruiting Station and took you to
McLaren?"
"I don't know his name."
"Well, how did you get to talking to this total stranger about the
Everett matter?"
"He told me he wanted to see me in the judge's office."
"And they took you down to the judge's office, did they?"
"Yes, sir."
"And when you got to the judge's office you found you were in Mr.
McLaren's and Mr. Veitch's and Mr. Black's office in the Smith
Building?"
"Yes, sir."
Gibbons testified as to certain alleged conversations in an apartment
house frequented by members of the I. W. W., stating that a party of
members laid plans to go to Everett and to take with them red pepper,
olive oil and bandages. Harston Peters, one of the defendants, had a gun
that wouldn't shoot and so went unarmed, according to this witness.
Gibbons also stated that Mrs. Frenette took part in the conversation in
this apartment house on the morning of the tragedy, whereupon Attorney
Moore asked him:
"On directing your attention to it, don't you remember that you didn't
see Mrs. Frenette at all in Seattle, anywhere, at any time subsequent to
Saturday night; that she went to Everett on Saturday night?"
"Well, I am quite sure I saw her Sunday, but maybe I am mistaken."
The judge upheld the defense attorneys in their numerous objections to
the leading questions propounded by prosecutor Black during the
examination of this witness.
Clapp was recalled to the stand and testified further that Scott Rainey,
head of the U. S. Naval Militia at Everett, had ordered Ensign McLean to
take rifles to the dock, and that the witness and McLean had loaded the
guns, placed them in an auto and taken them to the dock, where they were
distributed to the deputies just as the Verona started to steam away.
Ignorance as to the meaning of simple labor terms that are in the
every-day vocabulary of the "blanketstiff" was shown by Clapp in his
answers to these queries:
"What is direct action?"
"Using force instead of lawful means."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, either physical force, or conspiracy."
"You understand conspiracy to be some kind of force, do you?"
"It may be force."
When asked where he had obtained information about sabotage, this
witness said that he had looked up the word in Webster's Unabridged
Dictionary, a work in which the term is strangely absent.
Clapp was the first witness to admit the armed character of the deputy
body and also to state that deputies with guns were stationed on all of
Everett's docks.
After excusing this witness, Cooley brought in copies of two city
ordinances covering street speaking in Everett. One of them which
allowed the holding of meetings at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore
Avenues was admitted without question, but the other which purported to
have been passed on September 19, 1916, was objected to on the ground
that it had not been passed, was never put upon passage and never moved
for passage in the Everett City Council.
Richard Brennan, chauffeur of the patrol wagon, A. H. Briggs, city dog
catcher, and Floyd Wildey, police officer, all of Everett, then
testified regarding the arrest of I. W. W. members during August and
September. Wildey stated that on the night of August 30 four or five
members of the I. W. W. came away from their street meeting carrying
sections of gaspipe in their hands. This was thought to be quite a blow
against the peaceful character of the meeting until it was discovered on
cross-examination that the weapons were the removable legs of the street
speaking platform.
David Daniels, Arthur S. Johnson, Garland Queen, J. R. Steik, M. J. Fox
and, later on, Earl Shaver, all of whom were police officers in Everett,
gave testimony along somewhat the same lines as the other witnesses from
Everett who owed their jobs to the lumber trust. They stated that the I.
W. W. men deported on August 23rd, had made threats against McRae and
several police officers.
Ed. M. Hawes, proprietor of a scab printing and stationery company,
member of the Commercial Club and citizen deputy, gave testimony
similar to that of other vigilantes as to the trouble on November 5th.
When asked if he had ever known any I. W. W. men offering resistance,
Hawes replied that one had tried to start a fight with him at Beverly
Park. Having thus established his connection with this infamous outrage,
further questioning of this witness developed much of the story of the
brutal gauntlet and deportation. Hawes told of one of his prisoners
making an endeavor to escape, and when asked whether he blamed the man
for trying to get away, answered that he thought the prisoner was a
pretty big baby.
"You thought he was a pretty big baby?" queried Vanderveer.
"Yes, sir."
"Or do you think the men were pretty big babies and cowards who were
doing the beating?"
The witness had no answer to this question.
"How much do you weigh?" demanded Vanderveer sharply.
"I weigh 260 pounds," replied Hawes.
Frank Goff and Henry Krieg, two young lads who were severely beaten at
Beverly Park, were suddenly produced in court and the big bully was made
to stand alongside of them. He outweighed the two of them. It was
plainly evident who the pretty big baby was!
Howard Hathaway, law student and assistant to the state secretary of the
Democratic Central Committee, was forced to admit his connection with
the raid upon the launch "Wanderer" and also upon the men peacefully
camping at Maltby. His testimony was mainly for the purpose of making it
appear that James P. Thompson had advocated that the shingle weavers set
fire to the mills and win their strikes by methods of terrorism.
Two newspaper reporters, William E. Jones of the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, and J. J. Underwood of the Seattle Times, were
placed upon the stand in order to lay the foundation for an introduction
of an article appearing in the P-I on Sunday morning, November 5th.
Jones testified that he was present at the Seattle police station when
Philip K. Ahern, manager of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, requested
the release of Smith and Reese, two of his operatives who had been on
the Verona. Underwood stated that upon hearing of the treatment given
the I. W. W. men at Beverly Park he had exclaimed, "I would like to see
anybody do that to me and get away with it."
"You meant that, did you?" asked Vanderveer.
"You bet I meant it!" asserted the witness positively.
The two reporters proved to be better witnesses for the defense than for
the prosecution.
Sanford Asbury, T. N. Henry, Ronald Johnson, John S. Donlan, and J. E.
Gleason, then testified regarding the movements of the men who left
Seattle on the Verona and Calista on the morning of November 5th. They
uniformly agreed that the crowd was in no way disorderly, nor were their
actions at all suspicious. The defense admitted that the Verona had been
chartered but stated that there were passengers other than I. W. W.
members on board.
The first witness from the Verona was Ernest Shellgren, the boat's
engineer, who testified that he was in the engine pit when the boat
landed and heard crackling sounds telegraphed down the smoke stack that
he knew an instant later were bullets. He was struck by a spent bullet
and ran to various places on the boat seeking shelter from the hail of
lead that appeared to come from all directions, finally returning to the
boiler as the safest place on the boat. He stated that he saw one man
firing a blue steel revolver from the boat, only the hand and revolver
being in his line of vision. The only other gun he saw was one in the
hands of the man who asked him to back the boat away from the dock
during the firing. He also stated that the I. W. W. men on the way over
to Everett comported themselves as was usual with any body of
passengers.
Shellgren was asked if he could identify John Downs or Thomas H. Tracy
as being connected with the firing in any way and he stated that he
could not do so. The defense objected to the use of Downs' picture, as
it did on every occasion where a picture of one of the prisoners was
used, on the grounds that the photographs were obtained by force and in
defiance of the constitutional rights of the imprisoned free speech
fighters.
Seattle police detectives, Theodore Montgomery and James O'Brien, who
made a search of the Verona upon its return to Seattle, testified to
having found a little loose red pepper, two stones the size of a goose
egg tied up in a cloth, and a few empty cartridges. These two witnesses
also developed the fact that in no case were regular bandages used on
the wounded men, thus establishing the fact that no serious trouble was
anticipated.
James Meagher, occupation "home owner," member of the Commercial Club
and citizen deputy, testified that a hundred shots were fired from the
Verona before a gun was pulled on the dock, one of the first shots
striking him in the leg. This witness was asked:
"Did you see a single gun on the boat?"
"No sir," was his mumbled response.
The prosecution witnesses disagreed as to the number of lines of
deputies stretched across the back and sides of the open space on the
dock, the statements varying from one to four files.
Chad Ballard, Harry Gray, and J. D. Landis, of the Seattle police
detective bureau, and J. G. McConnell, Everett Interurban conductor,
testified to the return and arrest of Mrs. Frenette, Mrs. Mahler and
Mrs. Peters, after the trouble on November 5th. The police officers also
told of a further searching of the Verona on its return. The defense
admitted that some of the members had red pepper in their possession and
stated that they would ask the judge to instruct the jury that red
pepper is a weapon of defense and not of offense and that murder cannot
be committed with red pepper.
Elmer Buehrer, engineer at the Everett High School, and citizen deputy,
gave testimony that was halting, confused and relatively unimportant. He
was prompted by the prosecution to such an extent that Attorney
Vanderveer at the close of one question said, "Look at me and not at
counsel."
"Look where you please," cried Cooley angrily.
"Well, look where you please," rejoined Vanderveer. "He can't help you."
It was apparent that the only reason for putting on this witness and
former witness Meagher was because of a desire to create sympathy thru
the fact that they had been wounded on the dock.
Edward Armstrong, master mariner on the Verona, testified that he had
thrown out the spring line and lifted out the gate when the firing
started. He fell to the deck behind a little jog, against the bulkhead,
and while in that position two bullets went thru his cap. Altho this
witness stated that he judged from the sound that the first shot came
from some place to the rear of him, his testimony as to the attitude of
McRae was as follows:
"I seen him with his right hand hanging on the butt of the gun."
"And that was before there was any shooting?"
"Yes sir."
As to the condition of the boat after the trouble he gave an affirmative
answer to the question:
"You know that the whole front of the pilot house and the whole front of
this bulkhead front of the forward deck leading to the hurricane deck is
full of B. B. shot, don't you?"
James Broadbent, manager of the Clark-Nickerson Mill, and a citizen
deputy, followed Armstrong with some unimportant testimony.
L. S. Davis, steward on the Verona, also stated that McRae committed the
first overt act in taking hold of his gun. He was asked:
"He had his hand on his gun while he was still facing you?"
"Yes sir. I could see it plainly," answered Davis.
[Illustration: Pilot house of the "Verona" riddled with rifle bullets
at Everett]
"That was before he started to turn, before he was hit?"
"Yes sir."
Davis was wounded in the arm as he was on the pilot house steps.
He was asked about the general disposition, manner and appearance of the
men on the Verona on the way over to Everett, and answered:
"I thought they were pretty nicely behaved for men--for such a crowd as
that."
"Any rough talk; any rough, ugly looks?"
"No sir."
"Any guns?"
"No."
"Any threats?"
"I didn't hear any threats."
"Jolly, good-natured bunch of boys?"
"Yes."
"Lots of young boys among them, weren't there?"
"Yes, quite a few."
Davis stated that three passengers got off at Edmunds on the way up to
Everett, thus establishing the fact that there were other than I. W. W.
men on board.
R. S. "Scott" Rainey, commercial manager of the Puget Sound Telephone
Company and a citizen deputy, was called and examined at some length
before it was discovered that he was not an endorsed witness. This was
the second time that the prosecution had turned this trick. Vanderveer
objected, stating that there would be two hundred endorsed witnesses who
would not be used.
"Oh no!" returned Mr. Veitch.
"Well," said Vanderveer, "a hundred then. A hundred we dare you to
produce!"
"We will take that dare," responded Veitch. But the prosecution failed
to keep their word, and deputy Dave Oswald of the Pacific Hardware
Company, who during the various deportations tried to have the I. W. W.
men stripped, covered with hot tar, rolled in feathers and ridden out
of town on a rail, and a number of his equally degenerate brother
outlaws were never produced in court.
Rainey testified that he had seen a quantity of murderous looking
black-jacks in the Commercial Club for distribution to the deputies. He
also saw men fall overboard from the Verona and saw none of them
rescued. He thought there were twenty-five men with guns on the boat,
and he did his firing at the main deck.
"And you didn't care whether you hit one of the twenty-five or one of
the other two hundred and twenty-five?" scornfully inquired Vanderveer.
"No sir," said the miserable witness.
The next witness called was William Kenneth, city dock wharfinger in the
employ of Captain Ramwell. This witness testified that there were
numerous holes in the warehouses that were smooth on the inside and
splintered on the outside, thus indicating that they were from shots
blindly fired thru the walls from within. On being recalled on the
Monday morning session of March 26th the witness said he wished to state
that he was unable to testify from which direction the holes in the
warehouses had been made. It appeared that he had discovered the bullet
marks to have been whittled with a penknife since he had last viewed
them.
Arthur Blair Gorrell, of Spokane, student at the State University, was
on the dock during the trouble and was wounded in the left shoulder
blade. He stated that he knew that McRae had his gun drawn before he was
shot.
Captain K. L. Forbes, of the scab tugboat Edison, next took the witness
chair. He didn't like the idea of calling his crew scabs for the
engineer carried a union card. When questioned about the actions of the
scab cook on the Edison, this witness would not state positively that
the man was not firing directly across the open space on the dock at the
Verona, and in line with Curtis and other deputies.
Thomas E. Headlee, ex-mayor of Everett, bookkeeper at the
Clark-Nickerson mill, and a citizen deputy, said he went whenever and
wherever he was called to go by the sheriff.
"Then it's just like this," said Vanderveer, "when you pull the string,
up jumps Headlee?"
This witness tried to blame all the fires in Everett onto the I. W. W.
and the absurdity of his testimony brought this question from the
defense:
"Just on general principles you blame it on the I. W. W.?"
"Sure!" replied the witness, "I got their reputation over in Wenatchee
from my brother-in-law who runs a big orchard there."
Lewis Connor, member of the Commercial Club, and his friend, Edwin
Stuchell, university student, both of whom were deputies on the dock on
November 5th, then testified, but developed nothing of importance.
Stuchell's father was part owner of the Eclipse mill and was said to
have been on the board of directors of the Commercial Club. These
witnesses were followed by Raymond E. Brown, owner of an Everett shoe
store, a weak-kneed witness who had been sworn in as a deputy by W. W.
Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club.
One of the greatest sensations in this sensational trial was when former
sheriff Donald McRae took the stand on Tuesday, March 27th.
McRae was sober!
The sheriff was fifty years of age, of medium height, inclined to
stoutness, smooth-shaven, with swinish eyes set closely on either side
of a pink-tinted, hawk-like nose that curved just above a hard, cruel
and excessively large mouth. The sneering speech and contemptible manner
of this witness lent weight to the admissions of his brutality that had
been dragged from reluctant state's witnesses thru the clever and
cutting cross-examination conducted by Moore and Vanderveer.
McRae told of his former union affiliations, having once been
International Secretary of the Shingle Weavers' Union, and on another
occasion the editor of their paper--but he admitted that he had never in
his life read a book on political economy.
He detailed the story of the arrests, deportations and other similar
actions against the striking shingle weavers and the I. W. W. members,
the recital including an account of the "riot" at the jail, the
deportation of Feinberg and Roberts, the shooting at the launch
"Wanderer" and the jailing of its passengers, and the seizing of
forty-one men and their deportation at Beverly Park. McRae's callous
admissions of brutality discounted any favorable impression his
testimony might otherwise have conveyed to the jury.
He admitted having ordered the taking of the funds of James Orr to pay
the fares of workers deported on August 23rd, but denied the truth of an
account in the Everett Herald of that date in which it was said that I.
W. W. men had made some remarks to him "whereupon Sheriff McRae and
police officer * * promptly retaliated by cracking the I. W. W.'s on the
jaw with husky fists."
Regarding the launch "Wanderer" the sheriff was asked:
"Did you strike Captain Mitten over the head with the butt of your gun?"
"Certainly did!" replied McRae with brutal conciseness.
"Did any blood flow?"
"A little, not much."
"Not enough to arouse any sympathy in you?"
"No," said the sheriff unfeelingly.
"Did you strike a little Finnish fellow over the head with a gun?"
"I certainly did!"
"And split his head open and the blood ran out, but not enough to move
you to any sympathy?"
"No, not a bit!" viciously answered McRae.
"Did you hit any others?" inquired Vanderveer.
"No, not then."
"Why not?"
"They probably seen what happened to the captain and the other fellow
for getting gay."
As to the holding of Mitten in jail for a number of days on a charge of
resisting an officer, and his final release, McRae was asked:
"Why didn't you try him on that charge?"
"Because when we let the I. W. W.'s go they insisted on him going, too,
and I said, 'all right, take him along.'"
"You did whatever the I. W. W.'s wanted in that?"
"Well, I was glad to get rid of them," remarked the sheriff.
McRae said that none of the men taken to Beverly Park were beaten on the
dock before being placed in automobiles for deportation, but on
cross-examination he admitted that one of the deputies got in a mix-up
and was beaten by a brother deputy. The sheriff stated that he took one
man out to Beverly Park in a roadster, and had then returned to Everett
to attend a dance given by the Elks' lodge.
In relating the events on November 5th, McRae's story did not differ
materially from that of the witnesses who had already testified. He
stated that a bullet passed thru his foot, striking the heel of his
shoe, and coming out of the side. The shoe was then offered in evidence.
He testified that another shot struck the calf of his leg and passed
completely thru the limb. Both these wounds were from the rear. His
entire suit was offered in evidence. The coat had nine bullet holes in
it, yet McRae was not injured at all in the upper portion of his body!
The sheriff stated that he fired twenty shots in all, and was then
removed to the Sister's Hospital while the shooting was still in
progress.
McRae then identified Ed Roth, James Kelly and Thomas H. Tracy as three
of the I. W. W. men who were most active in firing from the Verona. In
his identification of Tracy, McRae stated that the defendant was in the
second or third cabin window aft the door, and was hanging out of the
window with his breast against the sill and his elbow on the ledge.
Vanderveer then placed himself in the position described by the sheriff
and requested McRae to assume the same attitude he was in at the time he
saw Tracy. Upon doing this it was apparent that the edge of the window
sill would have cut off all view of Tracy's face from the sheriff, so
McRae endeavored to alter his testimony to make it appear that Tracy's
face was a foot or more inside the cabin window. This was the first
identification of Tracy or other men on the boat that was attempted by
the prosecution.
The sheriff stated that there were only twenty or twenty-five armed men
on the Verona, and he admitted, before he left the stand, that he had
told Attorney Vanderveer it was a pity that the spring line on the
Verona did not break when the boat tilted so as to drown all the I. W.
W.'s in the Bay.
Charles Auspos, alias Charles Austin, followed McRae as the state's
witness second in importance only to the ex-sheriff. The testimony of
these two was relied upon for a conviction.
Just why Auspos joined the I. W. W. will never be known, but his claim
was that he could not work in the Dakota harvest fields or ride on the
freight trains without an I. W. W. card. He was asked:
"When you did line up, you were then willingly a member, were you?"
"Yes sir."
"And you did not go to Yakima and come back to Seattle to fight for free
speech because you were compelled to do so?" asked Moore.
"No," replied Auspos, "there was no compulsion."
[Illustration: Arrival of the VERONA at SEATTLE]
Auspos stated that he was willing to take a chance in the fight for free
speech and that the worst he expected was something similar to the
happenings at Beverly Park. That he was not so willing in his testimony
was shown by the uneasy actions of the prosecution lawyers, who moved
from place to place around the court room during the examination of
this witness, with the view of having him look one of them in the eyes
at all times during his recital. At one time Black nearly climbed into
the jury box, while Cooley fidgeted in his chair placed directly in the
middle of the aisle, and Veitch stood back of the court clerk on the
opposite side of the court room, trying to engage the attention of the
hesitating witness.
The testimony was to the effect that Auspos had reached Seattle on
Saturday, November 4th, and had slept in the I. W. W. hall that night.
Next morning at about eleven o'clock he returned from breakfast and was
again admitted with examination for a membership card. A meeting was in
progress in the gymnasium but was too crowded for him to be able to get
in. There was no secrecy, however, just as there was no oath of fealty
demanded of a worker upon joining the organization. The witness claimed
that he and one of the defendants, J. E. Houlihan, were standing
together in the hall when "Red" Doran called Houlihan aside into the
gymnasium. Two minutes later Houlihan returned and said, "I made it."
"What did you get?" Auspos declared he then asked his partner, receiving
the reply, "A thirty-eight." Auspos claimed he saw Earl Osborne cleaning
a gun in the gymnasium that same morning, and there was a rifle or
shotgun in a canvas case in one corner. He said that men were breaking
up chairs to obtain legs as clubs and that he, with others, was
furnished with a little package of red pepper.
Regarding his actions upon the Verona the witness stated that he and
James Hadley came up the steps from the freight deck to the passenger
deck just as the boat was nosing against the dock and that he walked
across the deck to a point within three feet of the rail. His
description of the motion of McRae's hands differed from that given by
the deputy witnesses and was such as would indicate the drawing of a gun
from a belt holster. He testified that McRae swung around to the right
just before being shot, thus contradicting McRae, who had declared that
the turn he had made was to the left. The witness in a rather indefinite
manner stated that the first shot came from the boat. All the damaging
claims in the testimony of Auspos were severely shaken by the
cross-examination conducted by Moore, and Auspos finally admitted that
the only point on which he wished to have his evidence differ from the
statement he had made to Vanderveer prior to the trial was in the matter
of the firing of the first shot. Auspos made no attempt to identify
anyone on the boat as having a firearm.
During the examination some reference was made to "Red" Downs, at which
Judge Ronald remarked:
"I am a little confused. Did he say 'Red' Downs or 'Red' Doran?"
"There are two of them," responded Moore.
"Lots of red in this organization," cut in prosecutor Cooley, amid
laughter from the spectators.
Attorney Moore brought from Auspos the admission that the plea of "Not
Guilty" was a true one and he still believed that he and the other
prisoners were not guilty of any crime. Yet such are the peculiarities
of the legal game that an innocent man can turn state's evidence upon
his innocent associates.
After uncovering the previous record of Auspos, he was asked about his
"confession" as follows:
"Mr. McLaren and you had reached an understanding in your talk before
Mr. Cooley came?"
"Yes sir."
"The question of what you are to get in connection with your testimony
here has not as yet been definitely decided?"
"I am going to get out of the country."
"You are not going to get a trip to Honolulu?" asked Moore with a smile
as he concluded the cross-examination of Auspos.
"No sir," stammered the tool of the prosecution unconvincingly.
It was at this point that the prosecution introduced several additional
leaflets and pamphlets issued by the I. W. W. Publishing Bureau, the
principal reason being to allow them to appeal to the patriotism of the
jury by referring to Herve's pamphlet, "Patriotism and the Worker," and
Smith's leaflet, "War and the Workers."
The next witness after Auspos was Leo Wagner, another poor purchase on
the part of the prosecution. He merely testified that a man on the
Calista had said that the men were armed and were not going to stand for
being beaten up. Objection was made to the manner in which Cooley led
the witness with his questions, and when Cooley stated that it was
necessary to refresh the memory of the witness, Vanderveer replied that
the witness had been endorsed but a few days before and his recollection
should not be so very stale.
When this witness was asked what he was paid for his testimony he
squirmed and hesitated until the court demanded an answer, whereupon he
said:
"I got enough to live on for a while."
William H. Bridge, deputy sheriff and Snohomish county jailer, was the
next witness. He stated on his direct examination that the first shot
came from the second or third window back from the door on the upper
cabin. Black asked Bridge:
"How do you know there was a shot from that place?"
"Because I saw a man reach out thru the window and shoot with a
revolver."
"In what position was he when shooting?"
"Well, I could see his hand and a part of his arm and a part of his body
and face."
"Who was the man, if you know?"
"Well, to the best of my judgement, it was the defendant, Thomas H.
Tracy."
Under Vanderveer's cross-examination this witness was made to place the
model of the Verona with its stern at the same angle as it had been at
the time of the shooting. The witness was then asked to assume the same
position he had been in at the time he said he had seen Tracy. The
impossibility of having seen the face of a man firing from any of the
cabin windows was thus demonstrated to the jury.
Then to clinch the idea that the identification was simply so much
perjury, Vanderveer introduced into evidence the stenographic report of
the coroner's inquest held over Jefferson Beard in which the witness,
Bridge, had sworn that the first shot came from an open space just
beneath the pilot house and had further testified that he could not
recognize the person who was doing the firing.
Walter H. Smith, a scab shingle weaver, and deputy on the dock, followed
with a claim to have recognized Tracy as one of the men who was shooting
from the Verona. He also stated that he could identify another man who
was shooting from the forward deck. He was handed a number of
photographs and failed to find the man he was looking for. Instead he
indicated one of the photographs and said that it was Tracy. Vanderveer
immediately seized the picture and offered it in evidence.
"I made a mistake there," remarked Smith.
"I know you did," responded Vanderveer, "and I want the jury to know
it."
The witness had picked out a photograph of John Downs and identified it
as the defendant.
The prosecution then called S. A. Mann, who had been police judge in
Spokane, Wash., from 1908 into 1911, and questioned him in regard to the
Spokane Free Speech fight and the death of Chief of Police John
Sullivan. Here attorney Fred Moore was on familiar ground, having acted
for the I. W. W. during the time of that trouble. Moore developed the
fact that there had been several thousand arrests with not a single
instance of resistance or violence on the part of the I. W. W., not a
weapon found on any of their persons, and no incendiary fires during
the entire fight. He further confounded the prosecution by having Judge
Mann admit that in the Spokane fight a prisoner arrested on a city
charge was always lodged in the city jail and one arrested on a county
charge was always placed in the county jail--a condition not at all
observed in Everett.
Moore also brought out the facts of the death of Chief Sullivan so far
as they are known. The witness admitted that Sullivan was charged with
abuse of an adopted daughter of Mr. Elliott, a G. A. R. veteran; that
desk officer N. V. Pitts charged Sullivan with having forced him to turn
over certain Chinese bond money and the Chief resigned his position
while under these charges; that the Spokane Press bitterly attacked
Sullivan and was sued as a consequence, the Scripps-McRae paper being
represented by the law firm of Robertson, Miller and Rosenhaupt, of
which Judge Frank C. Robertson was the head; that the Chronicle and
Spokesman-Review joined in the attack upon the Chief; and that when
Sullivan was dying from a shot in the back the following conversation
occurred between himself and the dying man: "I said to him 'John, who do
you suppose did this?' He says, 'Judge F. C. Robertson and the Press are
responsible for this.' I said, 'John, you don't mean that, you can't
mean it?' He says, 'That is the way I feel.'"
Judge Ronald prevented the attorneys from going very deeply into the
Spokane affair, saying:
"I am not going to wash Spokane linen here; we have some of our own to
wash!"
C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing shop, aged 47, yet
grey-haired, brazenly admitted having emptied a shotgun into the unarmed
boys on the Verona. It was the missiles from the brand-new
shotgun--probably furnished by Dave Oswald--that riddled the pilot house
and wounded many of the men who fell to the deck when the Verona
tilted. Schweitzer fired from a safe position behind the Klatawa slip.
Why the prosecution used him as a witness is a mystery.
W. A. Taro, Everett Fire Chief, testified regarding the few incendiary
fires that had occurred in Everett during the year 1916, but failed to
connect them with the I. W. W. in any way. D. Daniels, Everett police
officer, testified to a phosphorous fire which did no damage and was in
no way connected with the I. W. W.
Mrs. Jennie B. Ames, the only woman witness called by the prosecution,
testified that Mrs. Frennette was on the inclined walk at the Great
Northern Depot, at a point overlooking the dock, and was armed with a
revolver at the time the Verona trouble was on. Police officer J. E.
Moline also swore to the same thing, but was badly tangled when
confronted with his own evidence given at the preliminary hearing of
Mrs. Frennette on December 6th, 1916.
Never was there a cad but who wished himself proclaimed as a gentleman;
never a bedraggled and maudlin harlot but who wanted the world to know
that she was a perfect lady. The last witness to be called by the
prosecution was John Hogan--"Honest" John Hogan if prosecutor Lloyd
Black was to be credited.
"Honest" John Hogan was a young red-headed regular deputy sheriff, who
was a participant in the outrage on the City Dock on November 5th.
"Honest" John Hogan claimed to have seen the defendant, Thomas Tracy,
firing a revolver from one of the forward cabin windows. "Honest" John
Hogan had the same difficulty as the other "identifying" witnesses when
he also was asked to state whether it was possible to see a man firing
from a cabin window when the stern of the boat was out and the witness
in his specified position on the dock. "Honest" John Hogan was sure it
was Tracy that he saw because the man had a week's growth of whiskers on
his face.
And this ended the case for the prosecution.
As had been predicted there were hundreds of witnesses who were endorsed
and not called, and almost without an exception those who testified were
parties who had a very direct interest in seeing that a conviction was
secured. But thru the clever work of the lawyers for the defense what
was meant to have been a prosecution of the I. W. W. was turned into an
extremely poor defense of the deputies and their program of "law and
order." From the state's witnesses the defense had developed nearly the
whole outline and many of the details of its side of the case.
When the state rested its case, Tracy leaned over to the defense lawyers
and, with a smile on his face, said:
"I'd be willing to let the case go to the jury right now."