The San Francisco call., 1908-12-24
Ordered TO Serve Sentences of
One Year, Nine Months and
Six Months Respectively
Judge Wright Says Defendants
Boldly Try to Break Down
Laws Tribunals
Especial Dispatch to The CALI

4uI6C OulCldlS OF the AlQeIl-
,an federation of labor,
Samuel Gompers, president;
John Mitchell, vice president, and
Frank Morrison. secretary, were ad-
Judged today to be guilty of contempt
by the supreme court of the district
Of Columbia for violating an injunc-
tion forbidding the publication of
! boycott notice against the Buck stove
and range company OF ST Louis.
Gompers was sentenced to serve
zone year, Mitchell nine months and
Morrison six months in the district
Jail The defendants have appealed
and are out on bail pending a decision
by the district court OF appeals, first
as to the legality Of the injunction
itself, and when that is decided, as to
the question Of contempt.
Famous Case Reaches Crisis
By these proceedings the most
famous labor case in the history of
the United States courts has been.
brought to crisis. 1t was within the
power OF Judge Wright, who handed
down the decision, to send the men
10 Jail at once, but he tempered JUS
tice with mercy on the understanding
that they were not of the character of
people who would run away, and that
they, too, were fighting for what they
conceived to be principle, although.
in the opinion of the court, they were
guilty OF an organized attempt to
break down all the courts of the coun-
Try.
All the defendants were in court
when sentence was pronounced and
notice of an appeal 10 the district of
Columbia appellate court was filed,
Gompers being released on $1,000
bond, Mitchell on $4,000 and Morrison
on $1,000.
The wife and daughter of Gompers
heard the sentence and were visibly
affected.
Gompers Sheds Tears
With tears coursing down his
cheeks President Gompers heard the
order which condemned him to prison
for year.
Mitchell and Morrison seemed
stunned, although Mitchell appeared
10 be the least concerned. Asked if
he had anything TO say why sentence
should not be passed, President Com
pers declared that he had not con-
sciously violated any law There was
much he would like TO say, but he
would not do it at that time He
added, however, that this is a strug-
gle of the working people for the
right 1t is struggle of the ages, a
struggle OF the men of labor 10 throw
of some OF the burdens which have
been hesped upon them, TO abolish some
OF the wrongs and TO secure some of
the rights too long denied"
Mitchell and Morrison told the court
that they Endorsed what Gompers had
said.
Arraignment Is Scathing
Judge Wright's decision, which con-
sumed two hours and 20 minutes in
reading. was a scathing arraignment.
Everywhere the court said. 'alI
over, within the court and out, utter.
rampant, insolent defiance is heralded
and proclaimed; unrefned insult, coarse
anront. vulgar indignity, measure the
litfgants conception Of the tribunals
due. wherein his cause still pends."
The laws command has been," he
said. ito stand. hands off until justice
for this matter can be ascertained,"
but he said there had been studied,
determined. defiant conflict -'precipitat-
ed in the light OF open day between
the DEGREES OF q tribunal ordained by
the government of the federal union
andssf the tribunals of another fedora
tor grown up in the land"
one or the other. he declared, must
succunb, for those who would unlaw
the land are public enemies"
The Bucks company's prosecution of