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Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 12, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June
As the federal trial of the I. W. W. leaders continues in Chicago, we find through the reporting of Harrison George that evidence against Fellow Workers Fletcher and Ashleigh is non- existent. This fact was noted by Attorney Vanderveer in his request for dismissal of charges against them:
“What has Ben Fletcher ever shown to have done,” said he, “except that he got married and wrote in for his week’s wages?”
“Overruled,” said Landis.
“Whatever Charles Ashleigh might have done last year not one word of evidence is brought to show it and your honor knows as little about it as of the Angel Gabriel,” said Vanderveer.
“Overruled,” said Landis.
Judge Landis on the
Non-Submissive State of Mind
Another question fought over was Vanderveer’s motion to expunge from the record certain so-called “disloyal” acts and utterances under claim that they were acts of individuals not in furtherance of any possible conspiracy. “These acts,” said Landis, in overruling the motion, “although not criminal in themselves, nor apparently carried out by any plan, may tend to show a state of mind and therefore are admissible as evidence to be considered by the jury.” In comment Vanderveer said, “If this theory holds, nobody is safe and I, for one, want to take to the woods.”
From The Ohio Socialist of July 9, 1918:
THE I. W. W. TRIAL
[Part II]By Harrison George
[Continued: Testimony of Mr. Frank Milward,
Superintendent of the Aloha (Washington) Lumber Co.]On being recalled to the stand next morning, June 18th, and after finishing with questions from counsel, Judge Landis took a notion to do some investigating on his own account and-waving aside the anxious objections of [Prosecutor] Nebeker, he spoke to the now-worried lumber boss.
[Judge Landis questions Milward:] “Just a moment. Sit down. You mentioned a figure of $33 a thousand in talking about lumber, didn’t you?”
A.-I haven’t any recollection.
Vanderveer-I did, your honor.
Landis-Was it spruce or fir?
A.-Spruce.
Q.-When was this price of $33 in force?
A.-Your honor, I don’t like to go back into the things-it has gone up-I think in 1916 we got about that much for spruce.
Q.-For aeroplane construction?
A.-Yes.
Q.-What do you say it is now?
A.-Spruce has gone up in price-if you will let me explain-we are getting on an average today, about $75 a thousand.
Vanderveer-You said $90 yesterday.
Landis-What I want to know is, what has happened to your spruce to make it worth $90 today, where it was worth $33 two years ago?
(After must evasion, which vexed his honor, the witness finally had a happy thought).
A.-Well, logs cost two and a half times as much.
Q.-Why is that?
A.-Why, I only know that the increased cost of production-
Q.-Well, now, tell me what that is?
A.-Well, labor is double in price. (After much verbal stumbling Milward stated that labor previously paid $2.00 for ten hours, now cost $4.00 for eight hours).
Q.-Now, when was this $4.00 for eight hours fixed?
A.-I do not like to tell you the date, because I have forgotten it.
Q.-Well, about when was it?
A.-This spring (1918)-cannot that be taken from the record-I don’t remember.
Q.-Well if you don’t know-you were there; can’t you tell within thirty days of it, when you went on the eight-hour shift?
A.-I would say it was about the first of April.-(1918, after the I. W. W. strike on the job).
Landis-All right. Anybody any questions?
Vanderveer-And for your specification spruce you get $105.00 and $110.00 a thousand, don’t you?
A.-We do.Two or three [*] persons who had scabbed during the lumber strike were brought in to tell their misfortunes. Said misfortunes consisted of exceptionally itchy underwear noticed after refusal to participate in walkouts made by whole crews-non-union men as well as I. W. W. crews. Nebeker contended it was a powder called “cow itch,” while Vanderveer suggested that the bunkhouse vermin had merely concentrated upon the scab because he was the only victim remaining after the walkout. Anyway, the scabs didn’t know positively what the cause was-so the trial for seditious conspiring went merrily on and the story of the pro-German lice is a matter historians and solemn judges may review and ponder over.
It was on June 19th, at 4;50 p. m., after a long day of reading I. W. W. arguments against “militaryism” (which is the way both Nebeker and Porter pronounce it), that Nebeker turned to Landis and said, “Your honor, the government rests.” The jurors were told to spend the following day as they pleased as they would not be needed and court adjourned until 1:15 p. m. the next day, when counsel for defense was expected to make motions for dismissals.
At the appointed hour, on the 20th of June, the defendants being present, Vanderveer made a motion for dismissal in toto. “Overruled,” said Judge Landis. The prosecution “non-suited” eight defendants and they were released. Tardy justice was thus afforded to Roger Culver, [Abraham] Rodriguez, Harrison Height, W. E. Mattingly, Otto Justh, Joseph Landis and Walter Reeder.
Vanderveer moved the complete dismissal of eighteen more. “Over-ruled,” said Landis.
Next Vanderveer offered a motion to dismiss the third and fourth counts against some sixty defendants-being the “anti-conscription” counts-and the contention made that no testimony connected them with such a charge. “Overruled,” said Landis. Vanderveer fought over some individual cases. “What has Ben Fletcher ever shown to have done,” said he, “except that he got married and wrote in for his week’s wages?”
“Overruled,” said Landis.
“Whatever Charles Ashleigh might have done last year not one word of evidence is brought to show it and your honor knows as little about it as of the Angel Gabriel,” said Vanderveer.
“Overruled,” said Landis.
Another question fought over was Vanderveer’s motion to expunge from the record certain so-called “disloyal” acts and utterances under claim that they were acts of individuals not in furtherance of any possible conspiracy. “These acts,” said Landis, in overruling the motion, “although not criminal in themselves, nor apparently carried out by any plan, may tend to show a state of mind and therefore are admissible as evidence to be considered by the jury.” In comment Vanderveer said, “If this theory holds, nobody is safe and I, for one, want to take to the woods.”
Vanderveer read a judicial decision to the effect that connection “must be proved not assumed,” continuing, “and Mr. Nebeker must prove his theory that when Haywood says “No” he means “Yes” as he has asserted-the liberty of these defendants cannot be left to the guesswork of counsel-this is the law,” he shouted.
“Overruled,” said Landis. The writer is beginning to wonder if the I. W. W. are the only ones that may be accused of “disrespect for the law.”
There are now 101 defendants. Friday, June 21st, Pietro Nigra was sick and no court was held. The day following Albert Prashner sent down a doctor’s certificate declaring illness and further action was again delayed until Monday, June 24th.
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* Sadly, Fellow Worker George chose here to use a derogatory term for Asian workers which we decline to repeat. We are satisfied to call a scab a scab and to leave it at that. Interestingly, we have never found race mentioned when white workers are the cowards gone scabbing.
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SOURCE
The Ohio Socialist
“Official Organ of the Socialist Party of Ohio”
(Cleveland, Ohio)
-July 9, 1918
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/ohio-socialist/024-jul-09-1918-ohio-soc.pdf
IMAGE
WWIR, IWW Leaders Fletcher, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1918-04-14/ed-1/seq-28/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday July 11, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June
Chicago IWW Trial: Harrowing Story of Lumber Worker Tar and Feathered with Boss’s Approval
The I.W.W. Trial
-Story of the Greatest Trial in Labor’s History
-by one of the Defendants
-by Harrison George
—-with introduction by A. S. Embree.
IWW, Chicago, 1919
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100663067
Chapter VI, page 56
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d01368761a;view=2up;seq=58
Tag: Charles Ashleigh
https://weneverforget.org/tag/charles-ashleigh/
IWW Local No 8 MTW Button, Feb 1917
Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
“Local 8: Philadelphia’s Interracial Longshore Union”
by Peter Cole
http://depts.washington.edu/iww/local8iww.shtml
Ben Fletcher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Fletcher
Ben Fletcher, 1890-1949
http://libcom.org/history/articles/1890-19-ben-fletcher
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher – A Legacy of Solidarity
https://www.iww.org/history/biography/BenFletcher/1
Ben Fletcher:
The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly
Including Fellow Worker Fletcher’s Writings & Speeches
-by Peter Cole
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 2007
Note: Quote from M. Robbins, page 132
https://books.google.com/books?id=40xuAAAACAAJ
Matilda Robbins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_Robbins
Wobblies on the Waterfront
Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia
by Peter Cole
University of Illinois Press, Oct 1, 2010
https://books.google.com/books?id=3Ig6p1Z8MssC
Ben Fletcher by Carlos Cortez
Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher by Carlos Cortez
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