The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-12-18
Arguments for the Government Are
Opened In the Dynamite conapir-
acy Case Against Forty
Union Iron Workers.
In Spite Of Sworn Evidence, Defend
ants Have BIandly Denied Ev-
erythIns When Placed Up
on Witness Stand.

limited Press Leased Wire Service. I
{ INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Dec IS,
Arguing In favor of long prison terms
for the forty union iron workers
charged with conspiracy and unlawful
shipments of explosives, Special AS
sistant District Attorney James Noel
opened for the government today.
Lies and explanations that don't
explain" he termed the defendants
denials of testimony and their inter
pretations of ambiguous or openly in
eliminating passages in official union
correspondence
The fact that some Of the indicted
men, against whom the strongest evil
dence lad been introduced were not
called in their own behalf was sar-
castically commented upon by Noel.
The defense feared TO add perjury
/ to their other officers" declared the
| special prosecutor. Perjury" was
his common qualification of the de-
malls given on the witness stand by
some of the defendants. Noel point
ed out the testimony of from two to
dozen government witnesses
against the unsupported denials of
the indicted labor leaders.
Ridicule was heaped on the claim
! of the defendants who swore they did
\ not see in their audits of the unions
books the $1,000 items paid to J. j.
\ Mcnamara and confessedly used by
HI
4 could no. have been alone in this tiia.
4 bolical plot to win the union shop at
4 any cost of human life and private
property declared Noel, emphasiz-
i ing the governments claim that the
/. executive committee at least was in
i the conspiracy. He referred to the
\ sworn identifications of Herbert
Hockin as purchaser of nitro-gly
Il cerine and dynamite and traced Hook
ms close Affiliations with the Other
i defendants.
i Detailed Celebrations of these
!. claims were expected to take up the
governments four-days of argument
; District Attorney Charles Miller viii
close for the government.
I'VE are not to consider whethel
, the fight of these men was just o.
unjust, but whether the laws of tn,
! I9country have been violated sait
Noel,
Noel opened with a general sum
mary of the alleged conspiracy from
its infancy and followed by connectin,
!. the various defendants with the plot
I He called attention to the letters writ
! ten by the defendants and said tina
: when men write about lawful propo
sitions they use plain language.
Since the arrest of the Nc
Namaras,'' Noel declared, there ha
T been only one explosion on structure
= steel work in the country. We hay
s shown that between 1906 and 191
e there were ninety-two explosions an
e not all against members OF the Ma
e tional Erectors Association. The COZ
!. spiracy was general"
2, Noel barely mentioned the struggl
l. between capital and labor.
There may be such thing as el
S thusiasm in crime" stated Noel re
u ferrina to Ortie McManigal's spirit i
Q his dynamitings, when conyentio
will rise and face the west in siler
TX prayer for one of the worst criminal
l. in history" Noel referred to tn
Milwaukee convention that voted j.
Of Mcnamara martyr,
Of cit only takes minute to Join
,g conspiracy" said the special prosec
or tor, referring to the four days Defen
ant Herman Seiffert was bushes
agent OF the Milwaukee local.