The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-31
Declares Conditions In Lawrence Worse
 Than In Russia
NO PARADE AT FUNERAL
impoverished Mill Hands Deny That Their Fellows Are
 DGSerting
Especial from United Press.

Especial from United Press.
 Lawrence, Mass, Jan. Maybe conditions in Russia are worse than in Lawrence, but l doubt it," said Joseph J. Ettor, strike leader, as he sat in his cell here, today, where he was held accessory to the murder of Anna La Pizza. hit by a stray bullet, Monday night.
 Some foolish, misguided man fired a pistol into the ground The bullet hit stone and glanced into the crowd. I was not near the scene and do not know the man who fired the shot This is a trumped up charge. The fact of the matter, as every sen sible person will see, is that the mill employers want to get me out of the
 'sThese employers have been fool ing these peop.e, who are under fed, nnder paid. under educated. textile workers, for many years. They thought they were so much putty and that they could mould them into a pigs ear if they wanted to. They know that they can't fool me, buy me or sidetrack me by any of their usual ge mes and so they have me
 When l came to Lawrence from New York, the day after the workers stl uck, because they could not live pay, I was warned that the employers would get me and l have expected it ever since.
 ''They sent private detective to my office and tried to plant sticks of dynamite in my desk. There were too many people around so they planted it in the store next door. It was such a bungIing job that they did not dare arrest me then, but that was their object Now they have trumped up this charge.
 'If I am ke~t here someone else will lea these downtrodden people and they will win despite the Russian n rethods of the emnIoyers and police Sne newspapers here and in Boston nave lied consistently and regularly about conditions here. They have these strikers are mainly foreigners, they are a band of aSSasSinS, of an- archists, and that, instead of the strike being a great industrial tragedy it IS a frolic of 25,OoO wild-eyed ter
 'tBut you can see for yourself where liam M. Wood, president of the wool trust, began to call for militia the very day the strike was declared. He was yelling violence and the peaceful Demonstrations of these strikers, on their own streets, was called mob rule.' Some kids broke some mill win- terror by the newspapers. The state sent 300 militiamen, armed with pis- tols, clubs, rifles, bayonets and Cat ling guns into the town, to overawe
 Still, even with this temptation, there was no violence by the workers WCTLny or the name. A DOIlI1clan working for the mill owners in realty then used private detectives to plant dynamite to precipitate violence where there was none- It was all a big con- spiracy to break up a righteous strike.
 The shooting of the woman, for whose death I am blamed and in Jail, today, was a pure accident, unfortu- nate and regretted by every striker in this town. had no more part in it than William M. Wood did in Bos-
 Now they know they can't cheat me, can't fool with me, and they want to get me cut of the way. The whole police machinery of the state wreck the hope of these strikers. They don't want a union to have any pow CT in this state. They want, and would frankly admit it, to deal in dividually with their employees
 ''Tbey have succeeded in driving these people to the brink of despera- ton by their unholy methods in the past 10 years and they know that when union comes and these people | fight as a unit for fair treatment, the 1 sway of money despotism will be at an end
 'T will try to lead this strike from | this cell, if I have any chance. I | will be helped by others. New men l will spring up to lead this fight. There | are enough honest men in this coun- | try ready to take the chance to fill | this jail. All I ask is that the great | American public be not deceived by l the lying press and the smooth words l of the men who have Wrung their | wealth from the IifebIood of these | suffering strikers"