Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-12-20

whel employed in the interests Of or
ganized labor in Il contest with an al
lance of rich and powerful corpor-
ations.'"
Judge Woods said the alleged advice
| of counsel neither justifies nor mitl-
pursuance of the advice. With all that
keeping the peace and being the
| first to arrest offenders, no one
was arrested and no effort was made
by strikers or members of the A. r. u.
to preserve the peace or to protect
property. On the contrary many of
them We're leaders In scenes Of violence
and disorder. If this strike, like 9TH
/ ers, was understood to be war, not nee
essarily of blood and bullets, but Il
conflict between contending interests,
In which strategy had to be employed
to keep the men in line, 1t was more
than a peaceful strike or mere cessa-
ton from work. Had it been only
| that, the injunction, instead of being n
i hindrance, would have been in their
/ hand the very weapon they needed to
enable them to suppress the violence
and disorder in which alone they saw
possible danger to the success of their
cause.
ut Is shown by the testimony Of two
or more witnesses that on the night OF
| June 90 Debs and Howard and Keliher
attended n meeting of the local union.
at Blue Island, n suburb of Chicago OIL
the line of the Rock Island & Pacific
railroad; that he and Howard each ad-
dressed the men; that on the next day
was inaugurated a condition of trr-
bulance' which witness declared he
did not believe could exist and not
withstanding the efforts of the United
States marshal, by reading the in
junction and otherwise to quell the
| disturbance, nothing was done until
the federal soldiers arrived. These
things directly followed, and in n
large measure, think 1t not unwar-
ranted to say, were the natural and
probable result of the speeches made
and counsel given to the men by Debs
| and Howard nt the meeting on the
night Of the Goth at Blue Island. Sug-
gestions calculated to incite the acts
of violence or intimidation were con-
| tained in many of the kilograms
which We're sent over the name of
Dcbs, for which, Notwithstanding the
averment of their answers to the CON
trary, 1t is no longer possible for any
of the defendants to deny some meas
ure of responsibility.
Iue TISuJ OI Hliu 10 Stflke pcnceii-
bly, and the right to advise n peaceable
strike, which the law does not pre-
sumo to he impossible, Is not qucs-
toned. But If men enter into n con
spiracy to do some unlawful thing, and
In order to accomplish their purpose
advise workmen to go out on strike,
knowing that violence and wrong will
be the probable outcome, neither in the
law or on morals can they escape re-
sponsibility.
pullman cars in use upon the roads
are instrumentalities of commerce.
and it follows that from the time of the
announcement of the boycott the
American Railway Union was commit
| ted to conspiracy in restraint Of in
terstate commerce, in violation of the
act Of July 2, 1890. and that the mem
bers of that association and all others
who Joined in the movement became
criminally responsible each for the acts
of others done in furtherance Of the
common purpose, whether intended by
him or not
'The officers became responsible
for the action of the men. and officers.
The actual conspiracy against the use
Of Pullman cars became conspii-r y
ngo.inst transportation and travel Dy
.l..road. Upon their own authority.
without consulting the local unions,
the defendants converted the boycott
into a strike, and with the aid of the
followers, some Of whom stopped at no
means between the drawing of coup
ling and the undermining of bridge,
whereby men would be hurled to
death. They pushed the strike to the
conditions which prevailed when the
Intervention of the court wns asked,
Nd tnI, In, tI,r av,I I.I
employment of military force to re.
establish peace and start again the ac-
tivities of commerce.
"Much has been said, but without
p,oof, of the wrongs of the workmen
at Pullman, of an alliance between
the Pullman company and the railway
managers to depress wages, and eeii-
orally of corporate depression, but 1t
is evident that these things, whatever
the facts might have been proved or
imagined to be. could furnish neither
Justification nor palliation for giving
up a city to disorder and for paralyz-
ing the industries and commerce of the
country. The decision of Judge Cald-
well has been referred to. but whl,,
that recognized the right of employees
to quit the services of the receivers. it
contained no warrant for intimidating
or abusing those who We're willing to
take employment, or for otherwise in
terfering directly, us the defendants
and their followers did, with the man
agement and operation of the road.
'"The court therefore finds the defend
ants guilty of contempt as charged, III
each of the cases. The same sentences
will be ordered III both cases, but II
is not intended that they shall be GU
mulative."