Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-06-28
THE KILLING IN SAN FRANCISCO

The question of the strength or weak
ness of the iron-molders strike in San
Francisco cuts no necessary figure in the
matter of the killing of Coogan by Kerr.
Nor are the issues upon which the strike
developed Of necessity involved in the
consideration of the tragedy of Thursday.
No matter whether the crowd of men who
assaulted Clausen and Kerr were Union
men or were hangers-on, the abstract ques-
ton of the guilt or innocence of Kerr
must be determined by the exact facts of
| the assault and the defense made to it.
We can trust the Courts to ascertain the
truth and do Justice
Ordinarily the RECORD UNION does not
choose to comment upon a case pending in
the Courts, but the one referred to appears
to be of character that deserves present
treatment. 1t is agreed on all sides that
Kerr and Clausen We're peaceably proceed
ing along the street; that, as if by pre-
concert, from fifteen to twenty men sud-
denly appeared from hiding places and
assaulted Clausen, non-union worker,
who claims to have been threatened with
violence by the Union men, and because
of which threats he had appealed to his
employer for protection, and hence Kerr
was escorting him to his work. That
Clausen was badly beaten, choked and
kicked by the gang of ruffians, and that
Kerr interfered to protect him, when he
too was set upon and choked and beaten,
and that thereupon he ran to his office for
assistance, but the door being fast and the
crowd pursuing him, he turned, drew a
weapon and fired, and that a young man
was killed by the shot who was at some
distance, and may or may not have been
engaged with the gang that set upon
Clausen. After the firing the rioters fled
in all directions and just who they were is
not known.
The head of the strikers movement dis
claims for his men that they instigated or
prosecuted the assault, but admits that by
passion some Of them may have been led
into it-that is, that the association may
not be able to fully control their men.
He agrees that Kerr has been held in
high esteem by the strikers and that they
had no ill-feeling against him, and hence
he thinks his men did not assaiI him. He
declares that his Union has denounced
and will continue to denounce resort to
violence. The facts thus recapitulated are
probably correct, since the statement con-
forms to the consensus, of testimony given
by those who.saw the ARRAY.
Such rufianly outrages as that referred
to are disgrace to our civilization and
the worst foes of honest labor, and cannot
under any circumstances be apologized for
or excused. Men must be permitted to
pass through the streets free from assault
in prosecution of lawful ends, and in the
cases where they are driven to the wall
they will be justified in using deadly
weapons in their defense no matter who
are the assailants Such seems to be the
case Of Kerr. The striking iron-molders
clearly see that such rights must be MAIN
tanned and that no possible grievance they
may have can Justify resort to violence.
That they have gone too far in maintain
ing picket lines about the foundries is the
public judgment. Such surveillance is a
menace, an interference and threat
against the public peace, and should long
ago have been broken up. The law that
guarantees strikers the right to leave en-
ployment and to organize to promote their
own interests guarantees to employers the
right to be free from annoyance, threat
menace and assault in the peaceful prose-
cution of their business. Both rights
spring from the same constitutional guar
antee. 1t follows, therefore, that, ire
spectiye Of the issues between the molders
and the founders, sympathy viii go out
for Kerr and Clausen and execration will
be the public judgment passed upon the
rufiians who assaulted them. Accepting
the disclaimer of the molders in all SIN
cerity, it is unfortunate for them and their
cause that gang OF men should have
assaulted Clausen and Kerr without provo
cation. The molders realize that they
viii find it extremely difficult to convince
the people that men having no interest to
no revenges to work and no
grievances against employers, assembled in
secret places at an early hour and from !
their ambush sprang upon their victims
for no other reason than pure deyilishness
and hence we say that the affair is
very unfortunate one for the strikers and /
will weaken their cause, however much /
they may protest that they were not privy
to the riot. The promoters Of the cause of I
labor owe it to the interests they represent
to prove before the world that the work
ingman is capable Of prosecuting what he !