The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-05-06
he Presidents letter folIows:
,'Thc White House.


NhsHlH6 loil, -. ", loVa.
my Dear Mr.. Henry,-WhcA you, In
company with Messrs. Coakley and
l,Iown, called upon me this morning /
read you the letter had written to
she Attorney General on March ID,
1906. AT your request / gladly send
you tine following extract from that
letter:
Our duty Is uf it should ever hap
pen that we had any power in the mat
teri TO see that exact justice Is done
these men. There must be no condo
nation of lawlcssneSs on our part even
If the lawlcssness takes the .or.n of
efforts to avcnge the wrongs done by
the lawlessness OF others. The sole
question as regards Haywood and
Moyer must be the question whether
or not they can be shown to be guilty
OF this particular act. and their legal
rights must be as carefully sateguarded
as those OF any other men. 1t is al
legged that they We're eXtradited from
Colorado in manner that amounted
to n betrayal of their legal rights. l
should like to have the district at
torney of Colorado and. If necessary
the district attorney of idaho, give
me such information as they can on
this point. l should like to get from
the district attorney of Idaho any in
formation that he can obtain as to
whether or not there has been the
slightest disposition shown by the au-
thorities in Idaho to act toward these
men in an unfair or improper manner,
or to deny them their legal rights.
"On the other hand, should like
to know whether there is any symptom
of miscarriage of justice in their
favor The Incorporate vio-
lence with which the socialistic or la
bor papers. like that of Debs, and,
am sorry to say. some labor organi-
cations, have insisted without any
knowledge Of the facts upon treating
these men as martyrs to the cause
OF labor has unquestionably resulted
in tremendous pressure being brought
to bear upon the authorities of Idaho
to discharge or acquit them, whether
guilty or innocent. So far as
the unions are anxious only to see
that exact justice is done theSe men i,
that they are given their full legal
rights and not condemned unless proved
guilty OF this specific act, they are
entitled to the cordial cooperation OF
all Just and fair-minded citizens. Sc
far as by an action, or by murderous
and treasonabfc language such as that
quoted above from Debs (and others),
they tend to bring pressure to bear
upon the State authorities and upon
the courts, to obStruct the course o.
Justice and to render it difficult to
convict the men If guilty, they are
equally without stint to be condemned
and anything that the Federal authori !.
ties can do. in either. event, to fur
ther the cause OF justice. is to be done.
I'm response to your question, 1t
is, I trust, needless for me to say, that
if at any time you or any one else
can submit to me any evidence show
ing that there has been a miscarriage
of justice for or against Messrs, Meyer
or Haywood which you believe 1t is
in my power to remedy, I will at once
bring such evidence to the attention
Of the Attorney General to have him
give 1t the fullest consideration, and
to take thereon such action, If any
as 1t may be In the power of the
Federal authorities to take
Sincerely yours,
'"TllEODORE ROOSEVELT."
May Yet Appeal to Him.
Delegate Coakley said tho commit
tee considered the interview satisfac-
tory. 1t was decided to forward q
copy Of the letter to counsel for the
indicted labor leaders, and le
them submit to President Roosevelt any
evidence they might have that there
l,o ,{co 80 4