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Show ill3 Iw sir H III if S fcMF A 1 w IC 1 01 i- . ZT-. I ' FRANK K. NEBSKER, Salt Laker, who prosecuted prose-cuted I. W. AV. defendants, and, below, "Big Bill" Haywood, Hay-wood, hief of defendants . in Chicago trial. : S'&p 1'- X U Mt v i ! "-. y rpJ i f ('Z 1 i i ( ? v ' jT llbilLL Oil : Only One Hour Required j to Arrive at Formal Verdict ; Defendants Face Severe Sentences. ! ! Conspiracy to Disrupt War Program Embodied Embod-ied in Four Counts; Salt Laker Prominent, CHICAGO, Aug. 17. One hundred leaders of the Industrial Workers of, the World were found "guilty, as charged in the Indictment," by the jury after one hour's deliberation at their trial for conspiracy con-spiracy to disrupt- the nation's war program pro-gram late today. Arguments for a new trial will be heard next week. The defendants, including William D. ("Big Bill") Haywood, general secretary- j treasurer of tlie 1. W. V., the highest I position in the organization, face a mini- ' mum penalty of twenty-seven years in prison and a ? 1 0,000 fine each. led e ral Judge K. M. I -an d is, In his charge to the jury, withdrew the fifth and last count of the indictment, which charged conspiracy to violate the postal laws and particularly that section excluding exclud-ing from the malls enterprises in tho nature na-ture of schemes to defraud. The remaining four counts of the indictment in-dictment specifically charge violation of the espionage act, the sect Ion of the criminal code prohibiting interference wllh tho civil rights of citizens, tho selective service act and the conspiracy sliitutc. DEFENSE DECLINES TO ARGUE CASE. The close of the cae. which ha a been before tho court for 13S days, was sudden. sud-den. Two minor wit n esses testified at the morning session, and following thorn J-rank K. Nebeker of .Salt Lake City, chief counsel fur the govern men t, began his closing argument, for which he was allowed two hours, but consumed scarcely half of' that time.. Then Ceorgo K Vandervcer, head of the defense legal staff, to the surprise of all in the courtroom, court-room, declared that ho would submit Ihfi case to the jury without making a closing statement. In hi closing argument, Attorney Nebeker' said: "You have been engaged in one of (ha most epoeh-mikfng trials in tho history of the country. "The wisdom of tho laws of this country coun-try Is not at Issue. We obey the decisions de-cisions of the highest court , and tha t in tho only way tht a republic ran live. Anything that strikes at that la a dangerous dan-gerous thing. "The wisdom of the decisions of f f in courts of this country Is not at issue. The. indust rial system Is nnt on trial ; t hla ease, is not against any interests of Inmost Inm-ost workingnifTi, nor a:;aint any patriotic labor organization. And no effort is be- Ing made by the government to jurM i fy mot) violence, the j;is:",-e deport a ' ion, or other lawjc: -s a-ts. STRUCK AT BASIS OF U. S. GOVERNMENT. "At its very start the I. W. W. slnjrk at the found a lion of ou r cf ernutf nt. Ir, it not peuiiMr that in every slate, of I he union these fellows got into I rou !'' In a iiti.le tyvn an oi'Iinaive is i.j :-:..(-. I. Th J. W. W. violate, it and :-ay thry are gojn to violate it. "The dof;u merits; issued by the defendants defen-dants themselves a rc e n o u y h to c A v j t them. When you consider I be defi ionr, made by the witnesses on the ,ta: and compare thm with what LItv have written writ-ten and tiio books m'y authorized, the c'jn of the govt. ; jinr-m is complete." After toe iiijl.r jc; ir-ns of J ude 1 iraj!;--, the jury rciireij ul i:V) p. m. and Jo.-t. one hour later annuuneed that lis veidlet was ready. The court was hastily assembled as-sembled aad the, verdict v,-a.s lead el r,.2", p. in. Th'ie v, as no demonstration :he defendants were r t i;rnvl to 1 1 t r t elis afl'-r ,lu(h:e Land'.s h;.-d r. nci J (Continued ou Paj;e Seven.) REBEKER CRTS 100 1.W.W. LEADERS (Continued from Page One.) that he would hear arguments for a new trial next week, the exact date to be set later. Before the instructions to the jury were read Jude Landis ordered eighty-three of the 100 defendants, who had been out on bail during the progress of the trial, taken inlo custody and searched to make certain that no weapons were brought into the courtroom. An extra police guard was on duty when court reconvened in the afternoon and every visitor was carefully , scrutinized before heing admitted. At 2 , o'clock the courtroom was crowded and scores of policemen, detectives and agents of the department of justice circulated i among the spectators as a precautionary ! measure. The I. W. TV', trial began April 1 and was one of tlie longest criminal cases on i record in this country. Tlie record con- j tains 30,000 typewritten pages, or 7,500,000 ! words. j Haywood Is Calm. There was no .sign of the disorder which had been predicted among the defendants in case of an unfavot able verdict. They sat as if stunned. 1 1 ay won J continued calmly to break into bits a toothpick which he held In his lingers while the venlict was read, and scarcely a man moved for several seconds after the final words were pronounced. "I certainly believed that Judge Lan-dis's Lan-dis's instructions to t he jury pointed to a clear a equittul," 1-1 a y wood remarked, a few minutes later. "Well, we can only make tlie best of it." " 'Nough said." was t be smiling comment com-ment of Attorney Nebeker. "It's line. I foci great about it. naturally. For a solid year I've lived with tins thing uppermost In mind every waking moment, and now I'd like nothing better than to jump on a t ra i n for my 1 mm o in Salt i k e C i t y . " Attorney Vanderveer had little to say beyond announcing thai he would attempt to obtain a retrial. 1 'reviously, however, he bad characterized .1 udv.e Land is' s in- structions to the jury as "clear, concise and fair." Separate trials were granted to four 01 the I. W. W. members arrested, but it Is believed improbable that the cases will ever come into court. The severances were granted to Joseph .1. JDttor, Elizabeth Burley Flynn, A. D-Kimball D-Kimball and Carlo Tresca. Twentv-three of the original 127 arrested ar-rested were dismissed. They were as fol- lJuHo Blanco. Arthur C. Christ, McGregor Mc-Gregor Cole, Ernest D. Condit, Roger S. Oilbo Stanley Desbiekl. H. A. Gilthcr, Arturb Oiovannitti, Harrison Haights, F. Humphrey, Otto Justh, James Keehan, Peter Kifkenon, Charles Krattiger Joseph Jo-seph Laukls, It. H. Munson, Haul Piki, Walter Keeder, Fred C. Ritter, Frank Reilly. Abraham Rodriguez, Harry Trotter and Salvator Zumpano. The fate of the syndicalist movement inAmerica, the government contended rested on the outcome of the trial or 100 Naders of the Industrial Workers of the' World for conspiracy to disrupt the nation's war propram. which began in federal court here on April 1, before Juripe Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The indictment against 165 men and : one woman, Elizabeth Ourley Flynn, returned re-turned by the September. 1917, grand jurv, charged the practice of sabotage, including the slowing- down of production and the wanton spoilage of material, propaganda for strikes to delay the output out-put of war munitions, and covert intrigue in-trigue ag-ainst military service. Forty Leaders Fled Forty of the indicted leaders, sensing the g-ovemnient's intentions after the sensational sen-sational nationwide raid and confiscation of records on September 5, preceding the indictment, fled from the country, or went into hiding and escaped capture. Miss Flynn and two other defendants were granted separate trials, and the charges against a number of others were dismissed for lack of evidence. Tlie five counts in the indictment specifically spe-cifically charged violation of the espionage espion-age act. the section of the criminal code prohibiting interference with the civil rights of citizens, the selective service act, the -conspiracy statute and the postal laws. The maximum penalty for conviction convic-tion on all five counts is thirty-one years in prison and a $10,000 fine. From the first day, when the group of defendants, some wearing long beards, the flowing tie of the poet, or sporting fa '.icy waistcoats, filed into court under hoavy guard, until final summing up to the jury, the defense laid special stress on thf contention that the 1. W. had no interest whatever in the war. "Our social system is on trial." asserted assert-ed George F. Vanderveer, chief counsel for the defense. "The I. V. W. is concerned con-cerned wholly in one aim the betterment of so.-ial condt' ions. This aim is sought by industrial instead of political methods." meth-ods." Swivel-chair Rule. From all corners of America the government gov-ernment summoned witnesses to suhstan-li.t suhstan-li.t t -1 eha:'gM thai the I. W. YV. crea ted a re. ii of terror in every section where t he organization boasted s" rencth ; that the memhtrs were under pledce to wre'k industries through the practice of sabotage sabo-tage ; t hat the established laws were overridden, and that af'er America bean w.ir on Germany a general conspiracy to I upset the country's war plans was entered en-tered in id. 1 "The 1, W. W. was, In fact, a 'govern ment within a government,' and was ruled over by its swivel-chair king, William Wil-liam D. Haywood? general secretary-treasurer," secretary-treasurer," said Frank K. Nebeker, .chief prosecutor, in addressing the jury. "The I. W. W. red flag of industrial freedom is only a mask for the red flag of lawlessness. Their own members have testified that the organization's policy is to continue waging war on industries until the employers throw up their arms in despair. Then will the I. W. W. rise up, according to their plans as outlined by witnesses, take possession of the earth and its machinery and thereafter rule the world." With witnesses and correspondents, Mr. Nebeker sought to show that during the early months of the war Haywood and other leaders directed a campaign against the selective service act and other war measures, from the Chicago general headquarters. Special attention was given the subject of sabotage, or direct action, and for nearly a month Claude R. Porter, special prosecutor, and Mr. Nebeker read Into the records I. W. W. printed matter and correspondence for the guidance of all workers, from the humblest servant to the plant superintendent. Included in this great mass of evidence were insructions for bringing about railroad congestion by the missending of freight, the wrecking of sawmills by driving spikes in timbers, the destruction of fruit orchards by placing copper tacks in the trees, and the spoilage of grain by stacking shocks upside down. Gardens in some districts were planted so that the foliage formed the design "I. W. YV." 4 Many of the 146 witnesses called by the government, some of them former I. W. W. members, told of "hi-jack" or strong-arm methpds of the organization, which included the intimidation of authorities author-ities in small communities. Sheriffs and police chiefs were locked in their own jails in some instances for opposing "wobbly" armies or failing to make proper prop-er provision for their care, it was testified. testi-fied. "Hi-jack" tactics also were used to increase membership, according to testimony. testi-mony. "Scissors-Bills," or non-members, were thrown from trains, locked in sheds, and in one California fruit district were stripped of their clothing, tied over barrels, bar-rels, placed in a small stream of cold water, and beaten with barrel staves until un-til they consented to become members, it was testified. To this and other testimony, the defense de-fense replied that the organization was not responsible for the acts of individual , members, that violence was never advo-vated advo-vated by Haywood. Vincent St. John, his i predecessor in office, and the members j of the executive board. "If you were buying some silk from a J dry goods clerk who happened to be an I. W. W.," said Mr. Vanderveer in speaking speak-ing to the jury on sabotage, "would that clerk be doing you and the public in general gen-eral a wrong to inform you that his employer em-ployer had mixed ground metal into the silk to give it more weight ? To so inform in-form you is practicing sabotage against the employer. Yet it is aiding , humanity." hu-manity." Some of the score or more defense witnesses wit-nesses testified that while the I. V. W. was strongly opposed to the draft act they did not enter into a conspiracy u oppose it, and that strikes a bout the country were intended only to improve working conditions and had no bearing on the war. Judge Land is permitted defendant s to deliver from the witness stand speeches they made from soap boxes and other improvised im-provised platforms during the early weeks of the war. J. T. ("Third -rail Red") Doran, one of the leaders on the western coast, made an impassioned address which continued four hours. The prosecution concluded its case on June 21. |
