The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1915-09-16
STORY OF CALIFORNIA;
RUSSIAN METHODS
THE WHEATLAND RIOTS
lFrom Solidarity

/ Successful defense OF INDUSTRIAL pIlS-
oners OF war must be on the job.
While the battle for the freedom of
Ford and Suhr has been waged in
the courts, hope has been placed only
In action at the point of production,
In reviewing the wheatland affair this
point must be kept In mind.
Three thousand people were gath
cred upon the burst Ranch, Wheat
land, August 3, 1913, to pick hops.
Gov Hiram w. Johnson, of California,
has publicly described the filth and
misery of this ranch as beyond the
power of the English language to tell.
Rebellion against such conditions was
natural and certain.
When this revolt against inhuman
surroundings took shape the authori'
ties replied by a planned raid upon the
strikers by drunken band Of depu-
ties accompanied by the district attor.
ney Of Yuba county. Four men were
killed. Dozens of men, women and
children were severely wounded. One
deputy was taken from a saloon In
Marysville, where he had been en-
gagged in drunken carouse for the
four previous days. This man was
killed. Another, Lee Anderson, a hop
head, fired the first shot, without pro-
vocation, without responsibility and
until now without rebuke, from any
legal power Anderson caused the
deaths and wounds of Wheatland.
Henry Dakin, another drunkard,
claimed the honor of the first shot,
but in this glory the evidence OF the
case disappoints this would-be man
killer
When the Wheatland tragedy oc-
Los Angeles. These killings happen
ed about six O'Clock in the evening.
Before seven o'clock Gov. Johnson had
ordered out the militia. In Sacrament
to, the I.W.W. local got out banner,
Let the Militia Pick the Hops" Po-
lice chased this placard from the
streets.
Dick Ford and Herman Suhr re-
manned with the strikers until the
morning of August A. Five companies
of militia We're then on the ground.
Ford then left for Winnemuca, New,
C,,h m hi N II.
ton.
cAPlTALIST-cLASS LAWLESSNESS
When the militia took charge other
posses of deputies came upon the
ground Even in that early dawn there
ranchers for the arrest and hanging of
Ford and Suhr. They were condemn
ed men even then. They were already
convicted Ford had counseled against
the slashing down of the hop vines.
This was used against him at the trial
as evidence that he had conspred to
murder Ed. MAXWELL Suhr was rec
ognized among the strikers only once
and on that occasion secured from the
commissary a loaf of bread for an old
rheumatic striker, but Suhr signed a
telegram to the San Francisco Bull
letin asking that photographer and
reporter be sent to the strike. He
also asked the surrounding l. w. w.
locals to send men and money to the
|, Wheatland strike as women and chill
dren were there starving. For these
things Ford and Suhr are in prison
for life. The hop head who fired a
!, shot amid a packed crowd Of women,
|. children and men is free to kill and
, MAIN again and again, SO long as his
efforts are directed against the work
ing class.
Immediately after the militia ar
= rived Yuba county, through Bonehead
/ Stanwood, the then district attorney
engaged the services of the Burns
, Detective Agency. Every jungle for a
, hundred miles around Wheatland was
combed for Weaklings, who might be
relied upon to give states evidence
: under the gentle persuasion of the
! Burns thugs About thirty men were
= arrested. All of these were tortured
/ Some were carted around the country
: sweated in Santa Rosa, Sacramento
l Martinez, San Francisco, Fresno and
Oraville. One man, Allen M. Johnson
became a troublesome witness for the
prosecution to have on their hands
With the active connvance of Judge
E. p. McDaniels, who tried the case oil
r Ford and Suhr, johnson was sent tc
the Stockton insane asylum. That he
: was a healthy, normal man is shown
: by the fact that he was released with
: in a month. His evidence, however
| was useless to the defence because
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