St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-25
BLACK EYE FOR Mr.. DEBS.
THE DICTATOR AND HIS ASSOCIATES
REMAiW IN JAIL.
JUDGE WOODS AGAINST THEM.

Bill Erwin Makes a Plea for the
Labor Leaders, and Is Fol-
lowed by the santa Fe Coun-
sci, Mr.. Bancroft-The Court
Refuses to Discharge the De-
fendants.
CHICAGO. July 24.-Debs and the
other officials of the A. R. U. met with
decided reverse today in their fight
against the prosecution for contempt in
the United States court. The court de-
cided that the answer filed by the de-
PENDANTS Is not a sufficient reply to the
hearing Of the contempt, and the motion
of their attorney that they be discharged
was overruled. Tomorrow morning the
court will hear the evidence OF the gov
ernment to sustain the contempt charge
and the defendants will be given an
opportunity to produce evidence in
their defense.
The argument in the case was finished
shortly before O'Clock this afternoon;
the decision of the court was announced
by Judge Woods after he had conferred
few minutes with his colleague, Judge
SGrosscup. In substance Judge Woods
said:
THE main point alleged is that COLI
tempt case like this is a criminal pro-
ceeding. and the motion is TO discharge
the respondents on the ground that
their answer denying the contempt is
al, T& =, hot "A ii1Cr
like this is criminal technically, but not
essentially. 1t is an incident i'll the
main case in equity under the bill filed
by the government. No case has been
cited here in which the federal courts
have sustained the proposition put
forward by the attorneys for the re-
spondents. If anything should happen
to change our minds during the further
course of the case, the defendants will
have the
BENEFIT OF THE CHANGE.
''As it is now we are content to rule
that the answer is not complete. AS
the case is to be further examined, it is
we'll that all questions be kept as free
as possible from opinions from the
court, and we will therefore not give
any extended opinion"
Judge Woods then asked the at
torneys in the case to state how long it
would require 10 hear the evidence on
the charge of contempt. AS he did not
wish 10 remain in the city, he suggested
that the matter be referred TO master
in chancery to take testimony. The
suggestion met with the favor of the
counsel for the defense, but the law
yers for the government opposed it.
Mr.. MilchriSt said the evidence for the
government could be all presented i'll
day at the most, while Mr.. Gregory sug-
gested that the case he given to a
master with orders to report i'll thirty
days.
The court finally decided to go on
with the case tomorrow morning. with
the understanding that if it did not
make rapid progress it might be sent to
master at any time.
During the discussion, Edwin Walker,
special counsel for the gOvernme
made the suggestion that it was within
the power of the defendants te end the
trouble by declaring the strike off.
| They are still in contempt, and the gov
ernment is in possession of information
| that the Injunction is still being vio-
lated.
Judge Woods said that if there were
| further violations of the injunction, a
| supplemental information can be filed
and the guilty parties find themselves
in much worse position than they
| S,tI,a hn ErQ
denied that it was within the power of
his clients to declare the strike off, or
that any trouble which may exist on the
railroads is within their control. With
that the subject was dropped.
During the proceedings in the trial of
| President DebS and his associates today,
District Attorney MilchrISt called the
attention of the court TO the act of 1890
known as the
ANTITRUST LAW.
He read some OF Its provisions, stating
| that, If two or more persons cDnSplre ~
obstruct interstate commerce, they
shall be deemed guilty of an Offense
against the government, and shall be
proceeded against i'll the United States
circuit court in equity. The district
attorney said that under this law the
argument of the defense. that the bill
under which the injunction was issued
is void. falls to the ground. The bill
was filed under the act of 1890. There
is no doubt, Mr.. Milchrist said, that the
government has such pecuniary inter.
est in interstate commerce that it has
right to file such bill. The govern
ment maintains itself in part by the rev
enue derived from the postal service.
The greater part OF today's session
was taken up with the argument of At
| T.N,, IoF.,
frequently interrupted by Judge Woods
who questioned the attorney closely
Judge Woods was particularly inQuisi
tive in regard to the advisory character
of the a. r. U. officers duties.
"If the officers could not order
strike, but could advise the organiZa
TONS members" asked the Judge. ."why
could not the former advise the men tt
desist after the strike was in force"
ATTORNEY ERWIN
replied that the governments complain
contained nothing regarding advice. bu
simply charged the defendant with Or
dcring strikes.
"if the government meant advice
instead of 'ordering.'" said the attor
ney, ''it should have said 80. Our an
swer fully covers the case as started b,
the prosecution"
Attorney Bancroft, counsel for tn,
Santa Fe railroad. followed Mr.. Erwin
He attacked the answer of the defend
ants, claiming that it was insufficient
, His argument was exhaustive, payin.
particular attention to definitions O
the various kinds of contempt, both il
, law and in equity.
At the beginning of the afternoon ses
sion Mr.. Bancroft continued his argu
ment. He denied the statement of tn
lawyers for the defense that it is rul
in chancery that man accused of con
! tempt can purge himself of the cbarg
by sworn answer,
He said the answer of the defendant
, does not deny that the telegrams bear
Ing the name of Debs were sent, am
: the answer did not allege that they wer
, forgeries. If the defendants were ACT
/ ing in good faith, they would, in thei
answer, tell who had used the name O
Debs without authority. 1t was ais
their duty to see that the use of hi