Send their dogs to bite our bodies
They will lock us in their prison
Carry it on, carry it on,
Carry it on, carry it on.
-Gil Turner
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 13, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Charles Ashleigh Reports on Tracy Trial
SEATTLE, Wash., March 8th.-The jury for the trial of Thomas H. Tracy, the first of the 74 men to be charged with the murder of Jefferson Beard at Everett on November 5th, has been selected. The attorneys for both sides have had a grim and keen struggle over the choice of jurors.
The following are the jurors who are to sit on this case: Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher; Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, now 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, workingclass family; James R. Williams, machinist’s helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J. Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. Under the new “Extra Juror” law of Washington, there are also two alternate jurors, who sit with the jury but have no voice except in the event of sickness or death rendering one of two of the twelve incapable of acting. The two alternates are; J. W. Efaw, furniture manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams, carpenter and member of union.
MAKE-UP OF THE JURY.
An analysis of the jury will reveal that it includes six women and six men; of the women, two are widows, two are wives of middle-class men, and two are wives of union workingmen. Of the men, two are union working men, two are ranchers and two are small businessmen. Of the two alternate jurors, one is a union carpenter and the other a manufacturer. Thus we have a very equal division of sex and class.
SOME SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
The questions put by the attorneys for the prosecution and the defense were revelatory of the larger aspect of the trial. Continually was the note of the class-struggle heard through the mufflings of legal red-tape. Seated in that court-room one could hear the rumblings of industrial strife echoed in the queries posed by the lawyers.
Every talesman was asked by the prosecution if he had read one or more of the following papers: The Industrial Worker, The Union Record, Solidarity, The Socialist World or the Pacific Coast Longshoreman. The answer was nearly always in the negative. The attorneys for the prosecution were anxious to discover whether the prospective juryman was a union man and the defense asked all those who were not wage-earners whether they belonged to the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association, the Commercial Club or other employers’ organizations.
PHILOSOPHY OF UNIONISM, INDUSTRIALISM AND SOCIALISM.
The various phases of the workingclass philosophy were introduced in the questions by the attorneys of the defense. For instance, on one occasion, Vanderveer asked a talesman:
“Do you believe in the right of a worker to quit work?” Answer: “Yes.”
“Do you then believe in the right of a number of workers to quit work collectively in the effort to obtain better conditions?”
Another question was as follows;
“Are you aware that, during the past years, there has been an increasingly severe conflict between workers and employers, the employers wishing to make as much profit as possible and the workers to obtain as much wages as possible?”
MANY JURORS DISQUALIFIED.
Fifty-one talesmen were disqualified for various reasons, the commonest being that of prejudice or fixed opinion. Long and severe battles were fought over some of the talesmen, one side being determined to retain them and the other equally determined to challenge.
Judge Ronald realized the importance of the case as was shown in his admonition to the jury, a portion of which I quote;
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.
TRIAL ATTRACTS MUCH ATTENTION.
Large crowds swarm daily in the corridor of the Seattle City-County building seeking admission to the trial. The reporters’ table was not sufficient to accommodate the extra number of newspapermen, from various parts of the country, including representatives of the labor and radical press, who sought admission to report the case.
THE FIRST TRIAL THE MOST IMPORTANT.
The case of Tracy is the most important of the series of 74 as the result of this one will affect all others. Now is the time for the working class to come to the support of the defense. Funds are badly needed and should be rushed at once. Let us free Tracy and his fellow workers! We can do it if the working class will help!
Funds are urgently needed. Send all donations to Herbert Mahler, Sec’y-Treas., Everett Prisoners’ Defense Committee, Box 1878, Seattle, Wash.
Protests and resolutions should be sent to President Wilson and to Gov. Lister, Olympia, Wash. Mass meetings should be held and publicity given to this case. Demand of your congressmen and senators that there be a Federal investigation into the tragedy of Everett, Nov. 5th. ACT NOW!
[Photograph of Tom Tracy added.]
SOURCE
Everett Defense News Letter No. 15
(Seattle, Washington)
-Mar 8, 1917 (049)
(Also source for images of head and foot of newsletter.)
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
IMAGE
Tom Tracy
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002672635;page=root;seq=222;view=image;size=100;orient=0
See also:
Tag: Tom Tracy
https://weneverforget.org/tag/tom-tracy/
Labor Press Project
Pacific Northwest Labor and Radical Newspapers
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/index.htm
About the Project: This site has been developed through the contributions of many people. Special thanks to the students in HSTAA 353 (Class and Labor in American History) who wrote the research reports; to Steve Beda who collected and digitized the newspaper pages with help from Jessica Albano, Glenda Pearson, and Suzi Freelund at the UW Library; to Brian Grijalva who designed an earlier version of this web site, to Fred Bird for much useful advice.
Note: information on all of the newspapers in Ashleigh’s report can be found at above link except for info on Solidarity which can be found here:
http://depts.washington.edu/iww/newspapers.shtml
The Everett Massacre
A History of the Class Struggle in the Lumber Industry
-by Walker C. Smith
IWW, 1918
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001106557
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carry It On – Joan Baez
Another beautiful version by Kate Wolf here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsRg0H60wJo
And of course Judy Collins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea-nRWrEDTs
Lyrics by Gil Turner, 1964
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161133