The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-07-26
ANSWER FOR DEBs.
ATTORNEYS OUTLINE THE DE-
TENSE OF THE A. n. U.
1t Is Denied That the officers and
Director Ordered the Strike or
That TheyCounsellcd Amy Hut
Peaceful Measures. +, s

Director Ordered the Strike
That TheyCounsellcd Amy Eut
Peaceful Measures. !
Chicago, July 24.-What is considered /!
by labor leaders and their counsel to h.,
one Of the most Important legal battles
in the nations history was begun il the |
United States circuit court yesterday |
When President Drhs, Vice PreSiu ut |
Howard, Secretary KELLER and Director |
Rogers, of tic American Hallway union, |
ly their attorneys, W. W. Erwin. $. s.
Gregory and G.. 5. barrow, filed their !
answer to the contempt rule issued by the |
court aganst them last week, and came
themselves into court to answer. The
policy of the defense will he t., question
the right I'd power of the court 10 Is
sue iujunctions like that obtained by
the railway companies against Debs auu
his associates and 'hen imprson those
enjoined if the Injunction be violated. 1t
will be .ontenled that what the court
has done amounts to Il Us:irpnlicn OF
power not given to the federal judiciary
by the constitution The defense will
follow closely tn, lines of the report of
the Boz tner committee of congress which
investigated the injunction aud contempt
proceedings by Judge Jenkins. Labor CT
carnations throughout the country will
contribute money to defray the expense
of this legal struggle. The American
Federation Of Labor has given 81 900.
Other associations will follow and the
contest will be carried to the bitter end.
If the supreme court declares the in
junction and contempt method to be
good law congress will be asked, local
labor leaders say, to amend the statutes
and curb the power of the courts, and
every candidate for COL gress will be
asked to pledge himself for such reform
The defendants admit that the Ameri-
can Hallway union is a. voluntary asso-
iatiun of which many thousand employs
were at the time of filing said bill, and
still are, members; that the defendant,
Eugene V. Debs, is president of said as
ISOLATION, and George r. Howard, vice
resident; Sylvester KeliEer, secretary
and treasurer, and L. w. Rogers, one
of the directors, and that all of said de-
PENDANTS were and are directors Of said
association.
They deny that it was at any time the
purpose and object of said American Rail-
way union OF of its officers OF directors
thereof, or of these defendants OF either
or any of them, to concentrate the power
and jurisdiction of said American Rail-
way union under one official management
and direction with power to order
strikes or q discontinuance of the ser
vice of such employees at any time that
the board of directors OF the American
Railway union should elect to do so, as
alleged in said informs ton CT otherwise.
and they ;,llegc that by the organization
of the said American Railway union
nil MI ho Il
1inuetl by the vote of the majority of the
embers of s,lcll American Hallway
,rion cnroyed in the service affected by
airy such strike. and that the only power.
authority OF office of the sold officers Oh
directors of said American Railway union
o.. of these defend; is OF either of them
in respect to said matter, was to notify
the members of said American Railway
union in the service concerned in such
strike of the action taken by such MAJ
jority. They deny that they ordered tie
strike, as they had not that power.
The defendants admit that upon some
of said lines Of railway there was -xer
cised upon the part Of some persons tt
the defendants unkD wn, violence a"lins;
persons and property They deny tina
Trey or airy of hem have any knowledg
sufficient to form belief rs to the com
mission of the specific acts of violence
in said information set forth, or an!
thereof, and upon infor nation and belle
they deny that any member Of the Ameri
can Railway union in any manner par
ticipated in said act Of violence or any O
them.
Further in the answer the defendant
plead not guilty, and allege that as 500
as the injunction was served upon then
they consulted attorneys and learuc
from them what they could rightfuly q
without violating the order of the cour!
Also that nothing was done contrary t
the advice of attorneys, and that ther
was no intention to violate the injunctio
or act in defiance of its authority.
After the reading of the informatio
against the prisoners by the district u
torney and the hearing of the answer a
read by the defendants lawyer, Attorne
Erwin moved formally that the defend
ants be dismissed. He also asked ths
the government elect whether it woul
try the prisoners on the original indie
n ent or ON the injunction. Judge WOOD
replied that the government would elet
by going on and Attorney Gregory b
gan his argument in support of the N
ton to dismiss the bill
Couldn't Give Bail.
Chicago, July 21.-Only two of the mt
indicted by the federal grand jury ga
bail in the United States court to-da
Most of the day was consumed in ma
ing out bench warrants against the i
dicted The men who gave bail were
G. Hanahan, vice grand master of t
Brotherhood firemen, and August
Hodges, one of the Brighton Park stri
ers. Bench warrants for all the men
dicted were handed to the marshal to
served They numbered seventy-thrt
Hanahan is charged with intimidati
and endeavoring to induce u fireman
leave his cab.
Dcbs, Howard, Keliher and Roge
figure in five of the indictments In o
of them they are charged with conspiri
with Hanahan. In another they !;
charged with conspiring to obstruct int
state commerce, and in the other they
joined as conspirators with others W
committed lawless acts. Debs and t
other OfficnrS arc o1roa1y ,,pdar 01O n