Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-01-30


the Whole Passenger service Necessarily
Includes the Mail-L'mits of the Prose.
cution's 0uestions-Testimony of MyrOn,
Beatty, Hurley. and Others-Strike Order
Signed by Debs.
CHICAGO, Jan. 30-When the court try
ing the conspiracy case against +. V.
Debs ct al. adjourned Monday there was a
question Of testimony left for the judge
t. decide which promised, il decided for
the defense, to close the case in n hurry,
| as !: would so construct the prosecution
| in their inquiry Of witnesses that it would
be impossible to prove conspiracy at all.
| Judge Grosscup delivered his decision
when court convened yesterday, and its
Importance as affecting the chances OF the
| defendants for acquittal was recognized
| instantly, and its influence on the defend
ants and their counsel was marked for
the time being. In fact it saved what
there is of a case for the government. Con-
spiracy is charge hard to prove unless
there is a sympathetic jury, and to have
ruled for the defense would have made it
impossible in this case.
What Judge Grosscu' said.
1.-The Indictment in this case" said
| Judge Grosscup, charges tie defendants
with conspiring tC obstrIct and rctH-,.
| the mails of the United States. ! Gn not
know that it is necessary fGr the govern.
ment to prove that the agreement was in
| terms to obs,ruct the mails; if the effect
of the conspiracy was To ohstTUct the
mails it would be sufficient. II the
| natural f,la and ulnn-r ',ia
result of an agreement to stop all trains
should be to stop the mail trains the gov
| eminent may prove such substantial
| agreement. Whether this agreement was
lawful or unlawful is the question ON
| which the line of battle will be fought.
| Cannot Restrict the Prosecution.
'If il was the purpose and intent that
the purposes should be accomplished 10y
| unlawful means. by violence, and laying
! hold of the trains or any other means
| that would clearly be unlawful, then the
| effect of such an agreement would he to
stop the United States mails. l do not
see where the government can be re-
! strictcd in showing that one of the agree
| ments was TO stop the trains or what was
| done by the party receiving the order from
| the officers of the American Hallway I'm
| ion. L will permit the government to
|
| ton of that order, but not what he said
| outside of the execution of such order.
! The conspiracy 10 stop all trains includes
the stoppage of the United States mails"
| Order Was Signed by Debs.
The witness Myron was prevented by
the defense from telling what he said to
an engineer whom he was ordering out.
| Myron had received an order to take
| charge OF the strike and the principal OBJ
| ject OF the government was to find out
| who signed that order. The witness said the
order simply told him to take charge of
| the strike in the name of the convention
| of the 4. X. L. and he did not have the
| order, having bucned it. Wallace Rice, to
whom the order had been shown by Ny
| ron. was then called. He testified that he
had made a copy of the order for a morn
ing paper when he was serving as a re-
porter at that time. The order was signed
| by Debs, kclihcr and Sullivan and was
| to the effect that o. NJ Myron was au-
thorized by them To tissue orders to the
employees of the Illinois Central" and
that those obeyiny him would ''be pro-
tectei by the American Railway Union"
Puts Hanalan in a Had Light.
George Beatty was then called. He had
been a locomotive engineer in the employ
of the Grand Trunk road ut the time of
the strike last summer. On the 18th of
June he was on his engine standing at
/ Englewooi. Hanahan came to him and
asked him what lac was doing there, then
! told him to leave the engine or in less
than an hour he would be killed. Hama
han said: I'VE burned the Panhandle
yards ana wc'll pay our respects to these
yards, too j. g. Trail, who had been
brakeman ON Beatty's train and who was
on the engine with Beatty when Hama
han came, corroborated the testimony of
| the preceding witness
| Hanahan denied the statements of
both men. He said he tried to induce the
men to leave because he was afraid they
would lie hurt by the strikers
| Tie 'Em Up Mail OF No Mail.
NJ. Z. Hurley, who had been an engineer
on the Rock Island road, testified to the
fact OF the meeting of employees of the
Rock Island and Others, held June -,
which was addressed by Debs. Howard
and a man named Lovejoy Each of these
speakers had said that the American Rail-
way Union was strong, vigorous and in
good standing and would surely win its
fight. They asked the Rock Island en-
ployes to join them and help to stop the
running of Pullman ears. Debs had
said: Mail trains or no mail trains, cut
off all PullIrans and tie up the roads,
| Under Cross-Examination.
Everybody jumped up and threw hats
into the air and yelled out that they
would strike. They did strike the follow
ing morning ut . O'Clock. The witness
then told how on June 80 he had seen
Nerwin throw switch and derail an en-
CINE and one car at Blue Island Cross
examination of the witness brought out
that he served during the latter part of the
strike deputy United States marshal.
barrow took nearly an hour TO show that
the present testimony of the witness was
contradictory to his testimony given sew
eral weeks ago in the contempt case be-
fore Judge Woods. Witness did not re-
member the exact words of his former
testimony, but thought it had been poorly
reported.
The balance of the day was taken cp by
testimony regarding the meeting at Blue
Island, where Debs, Howard, and others
urged the Rock Island men to strike
Nothing material was brought out.