Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-12-20
pEBs SENT TO PRISON.

L
Judge Woods Declares Eugene Debs and
Other Directors of the American Railway
| Union Guilty of Contempt of Court I'm .
Lengthy Decision-Debs Sentenced to Six
| Months imprisonment and tho Others
| Three Months Each.
CHICAGO, Dec. 15.-Judge Woods SEN
fenced Eugene Y. Debs, the leader Of
the American Railway union strike, to
| six months in the county jail, as q
punishment for violating the iniunc-
ton issued by himself and Judge
Grosscup July last. The rest of the
men. with the exception of Mcvean. he
gave three months. In the case of Nc
Vean sentence is suspended. Sentence
| is not cumulative, covering the cases
of the government and the Santa Fe
road against the men. The same sem
tence is imposed in each case, but
both sentences begin and end at the
same time, December "a. The de-
PENDANTS are: E. v. Debs. president;
G. w. Howard, vice-president; Sylves-
ter Kel1iher, secretary; L. w. Rogers,
NJ. j. Elliot, James Hogan, VIM. Burns,
j. NJ. McVean, Leroy NJ. Goodwin.
The sentence is generally considered
| a light one. The case will be APP
pealed.
IL speaking of the decision Attorney
barrow, who represented the defend
ants, said:
1.-THE decision is bad law. but the
sentence is remarkably lenient."
Vice-President Howard said he was
prepared to expect anything. Presi-
| dent Debs was more cast down than
any of the others.
It was in the discretion of the court
| to sentence the man to any term of
| years he chose within constitutional
| limits and to impose any fine he thought
| fit.
Judge Woods wound up a long
opinion by saying: ''The object of pun
| ishment for contempt of court is to
| prevent further contempt. My conclu-
| sion is that the injunction was right.
Mr. Debs is more responsible than any
one else. He is man of marked abil-
ity and of strong character, and
| leader of these men. 1t was in his
power by merely lifting his voice to
stop all this disturbance. / shall,
therefore, discriminate between him
| and the rest of the defendants. I will
give MIR. DebS six months in the county
| Jail and the rest three months. This
sentence to take effect ten days from
now"
The Convicted Labor Leaders Hold a Con-
ference.
CHICAGO, Dec. 15.-The convicted of.
fcers and directors of the American
Railway union had a conference with
their attorney, Clarence S. barrow.
Attorney barrow said he did not think
there was any doubt that they had the
right of appeal, although an ap-
peal is not usual in such cases. The
! matter is one for argument, and as the
| question would have to be argued be-
| fore Judge Woods, the defendants
smile grimly when this method of OBJ
tanning their release is mentioned.
Another plan and the one that will
probably be adopted is to ask the SUI
preme court for a habeas corpus. So,
| it is by no means certain that the men
will have to go to Jail. 1t is assured
that they will not have to go by De-
cember "a, which is the expiration of
the ten days time given them by
Judge Woods in which to map out a
plan of action. Before ten days have
expired Attorney barrow will have
mapped out some line of procedure.
All the sentenced directors were pres
ent with the exception of Vice-Presi-
dent Howard. They were inclined to
look at the matter jocularly from
purely personal standpoint, but they
all deplore the blow which they claim
has been dealt organized labor by the
decision.
President Debs said: "Un1ess this
- =
tempting to have another strike. The
decision is fine invitation to the rail-
roads to reduce wages, and don't be-
lieve they will neglect to take advan-
tage of it. If they should do so God
help the poor employees. He will have
no recourse but to 'peaceably quit
work and peaceably starve. If he
asks anybody else to join him he will
probably be confronted by an injunc-
ton and put into Jail for year or SO.
This will stod every sort of strike.
The power of these United States
Judges is of the most autocratic char
acter. This whole country is ruled by
the railroads, and the United States
Judges but do the will of the corpora
tions.'
President Debs will go to jail at
Terre Haute, his home, if he goes at
all, and the others will be pretty we'll
scattered over the country, majority
of them preferring Chicago as a place
of confinement. James Hogan will Sc
lect Ogden, Utah, as a spot to spend his
captivity.
Vice President Howard took the sem
tence as a matter of course: sit was
the principle the judge wished to
crush-not' the men, and he has sue
ceeded admirably. There will be no
more strikes unless it is reversed, and
1 think it will be-
The board of directors of the Arneri-
can railway union has been holding
sessions in this city for the last few
days. Plans are being made to reor-
ganize the order and to form new local
unions all over the country. Notwith-
standing the rebuEe administered to
the union by yesterdays decision,
these plans will be pushed with as
much vigor as ever. F. w. Phelan,
who has just been liberated from jail
at Lebanon O.. where he was sent by
Judge Tafts for the part he took in
the recent strike, was in court yeste4-
day.
IN CONTEMPT OF COURT.
Milwaukee Men Send Encouraging Words
to Debs.
fon