Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
Hellraisers Journal: Sunday December 16, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Defendants Appear Before Judge Landis
From the Kansas Pittsburg Daily Headlight of December 15, 1917:
I.W.W. DEFENDANTS FILLED
A COURT ROOM
—
BEFORE JUDGE LANDIS AT CHICAGO,
ACCUSED AGITATORS PLEADED NOT GUILTY.
—–
“American Bolsheviki Without Whiskers,”
as U. S. Lawyer Described Them,
Appeared to Answer Conspiracy Charge.
—–
Chicago, Dec. 15.-One hundred and three alleged members of the Industrial Workers of the World, probably the largest number ever assembled in one court room to answer the charges of conspiracy against the federal government, pleaded “not guilty” when arraigned before Judge Landis in the United States district court today.
In general appearance the defendants resembled a typical jury panel. There were exceptions, however, for among the I. W. W. there are not a few who pretend to literary merit. There are some who confess themselves poets, and a few are orators. These might be distinguished by the flowing Windsor tie and the soft collar of the artist or musician, by the stiff rearward brush of the hair, or, in one or two instances, by a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. One of the government lawyers referred to them as “the American Bolsheviki, without the whiskers.”
Innumerable bailiffs, secret service men, special agents of the department of justice, city detectives and policemen thronged the sixth floor corridors of the federal building. Even newspaper reporters had to get through three lines of guards to reach the court room. Those not known to the guards were given a cursory search for bombs or weapons, a procedure which led to some embarrassment for George F. Vanderveer of Seattle, of counsel for the defense.
Lawyer Had a Gun.
Ben A. Stern, Judge Landis’ personal bailiff, detected a suspicious lump in the lawyer’s hip pocket.
“Certainly I have a gun.” said Mr. Vanderveer, and he moved on into the court room with an explanation of his identity.
“I don’t care who you are, you can’t cart a cannon into this court,” said Stern, who thereupon delegated another bailiff to escort Mr. Vanderveer to the department of justice where the pistol was deposited.
A slight, pale woman, recognized by one of the detectives as one who had sung, like a medieval troubadour, outside the jail window where “Big Bill” Haywood was confined, was warned out of the building.
Besides Mr. Vanderveer, the defendants, who came from all parts of the country, were represented by Attorneys Otto Christensen and John L. Matzen. Oliver Pagin, Frank K. Nebeker and Claude R. Porter appeared for the government.
Counsel for the defense asked more time to confer with their clients and among themselves. The pleas were entered with the understanding that if counsel determined to argue on demurrers the pleas might be withdrawn on Jan. 3.
For the rest the procedure was simple. The clerk of the court read the names, struggling hard with some of them, and the defendant appeared.
“What is your name?” the judge would ask. The defendant would answer, giving the correct pronunciation.
“Do you plead guilty or not guilty?”
“Not guilty.”
With this the defendant would make his shuffling way through the crowded aisles back to his seat.
Arthur Gionavetti [Arturo Giovannitti], clear skinned, black hair brushed straight back and wearing one of the Windsor ties, appeared with genial suavity before the bar, like an actor sure of a pleasant reception. Ben Reitman, erstwhile anarchist and associate of Emma Goldman, who was a spectator, said to a reporter:
“Ah, there is a man, a great; that’s Gionavetti, the poet. He writes wonderful verse-he has a soul, an appreciation of the good and the beautiful.
“You should read his—”
“Order in the court,” a bailiff snapped, and Reitman’s encomium was cut short. Reitman has renounced the ways of anarchy and returned, he says, to the sober practice of medicine, which he abandoned ten years ago to follow the red flag against all governments.
The name of Abraham Rodriguez, of Lordsburg, N. M., proved as difficult for the court clerk as did his ignorance of English to Judge Landis.
Took Hint From Neighbor.
“Abraham Rodergawz,” mispronounced the clerk. The New Mexican, responding to a hint from a neighbor, went forward.
“What’s your name?” asked the court. Rodiguez looked blank for a moment and then comprehended.
“Abraham Rodriguez,” he said, with the correct Spanish twist, looking brightly at the clerk.
“What’s your plea, guilty, or not guilty?”
The defendant looked blank.
“Five years ago,” said the judge, “I could have asked you that in your own language. Are you guilty or not guilty, did you do it or didn’t you do it. Guilty or not guilty? Understand?”
The witness struggled and then said three distinct words:
“I not guilty.”
Attorney Vanderveer assured the court that Rodriguez knew what he was saying, and the roll call was resumed.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, of New York, one of the few out on bond, pleaded in a low voice. She wore a dark blue and very plain tailored suit, with a wide white collar.
Others of prominence among the defendants were Haywood [Current General Secretary-Treasurer] and Vincent St. John [Former General Secretary-Treasurer]. Few spectators were admitted as the court room was crowded with the unusual number of defendants.
[Note: Vincent St. John is no longer a member of nor involved with the Industrial Workers of the World, but stands accused as an I. W. W. leader nevertheless.]
———-
[Photographs added.]
Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, & Arturo Giovannitti
-who came from New York City to appear in court yesterday:
SOURCES
The Pittsburg Daily Headlight
(Pittsburg, Kansas)
-Dec 15, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/95946378/
American Political Prisoners:
Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts
-by Stephen Martin Kohn
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994
(Re St John, see pages 128-129.)
https://books.google.com/books?id=-_xHbn9dtaAC
Note: Cronaca Sovversiva lists Tresca as among those appearing in court on Dec 15th:
Cronaca Sovversiva
(Lynn, Massachusetts)
-Dec 22, 1917
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2012271201/1917-12-22/ed-1/seq-3/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2012271201/1917-12-22/ed-1/seq-4/
L’I.W.W. in tribunale
—–
Sabato, 15 del corrente dicembre sono comparsi davanti il giudice Laudìs della Corte Federale di Chicago, i centotrè membri dell’I. W. W. che nelle maglie della polizia americana caddero tra gli ultimi di Ottobre e t primi di Novembre.
L’accusa è di cospirazione contro io Stato, grave quanto generica e per questa sua elasticità capace degli oroscopi men lieti e delle previsioni più ottimiste
Google translates:
On Saturday, 15 December of the current December appeared before Judge Laudìs [Landis] of the Federal Court of Chicago, the one hundred and three members of the. W. W. that in the American police shirts fell between the last of October and the first of November.
The accusation is of conspiracy against the State, grave as it is generic and because of its elasticity capable of menacing horoscopes and the most optimistic forecasts.
The article includes this list of those who appeared in court on that date:
IMAGES
Big Bill Haywood, ISR, Nov 1917
https://archive.org/stream/ISR-volume18#page/n138/mode/1up
Vincent St John, Gen Sec-Tre IWW, Reuther, bf 1915
https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/13663
EGF Tresca Paterson, Giovannitti Lawrence, re arrest Sept 29, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/88277658/
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=5D1YAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA410
See also:
Tag: World War I Repression
https://weneverforget.org/tag/world-war-i-repression/
From the International Socialist Review of November 1917 (those arrested by time of publication):
WWIR, IWW, Names of Arrested, ISR, Nov 1917
https://archive.org/stream/ISR-volume18#page/n139/mode/1up
Annie Laurie – John McDermott
-Most of the Chicago IWW were held in the
Cook County Jail while awaiting trial,
the same jail where the Haymarket Martyrs had
awaited execution thirty years earlier.
This song was song by Alert Parsons for Lucy Parsons
on the eve of his execution: