The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1915-09-16
Ford and Suhr

trlal OF FORD and Suhr
Eight men were arrested on the
field of Wheatland on August A. These
were held In Marysvile Jail until the
last week Of September without per
mission to see a single friend.
While these things were acting, an
IlW.W. speaker, August 7, was chal-
lenged In the Sacramento Plaza, at a
public meeting, as to whether the l..
W. w. would give these men legal de-
Tense. The answer was prompt. Four.
teen dollars was collected at that
meeting. Upon return to the I.W.W.
hall, Sim Powell, James Mccarthy and
Mortimer Downing were appointed as
the Hop Pickers' Defense Commit
tee" with full power to act None Of
these men wero better known than
the humblest of the prisoners. There
and then began the struggle. What.
ever mistakes that committee and
their successors in office made, there
was laid the foundations upon which
the LWW,, the A. f. of L., the Social
list party and unorganized labor gath
cred and fought as solid body.
Omitting the details OF the two
weeks sleeplessness of Suhr and his
two months ordeal under picked
band of Burns thugs, the beating OF
IN in hA ,,ha nftr
Jail of Nels Nelson-hanged with a
pillow slip-a pillow slip in Jail and
n jail so filthy that it was condemned
by the state board of health, and all
the other CHASTITY tales of the prosecu-
ton, this story will be confined to the
actual defense. 1t was at once seen
by the committee that the only chance
for the men was to get a change of
venue or trial in another county.
Judge e. p. Mcdaniel and District At
torney Edward Bonehead Stanwood
filed affidavits in their own court,
that they were unprecedented and unbi-
ased and could give the prisoners a
fair trial. Judge McDaniels went so
far as to say that he must consider
the expense to Yuba county and trial
elsewhere would increase the cost
In these circumstances the commit
tee built up what legal defense It
could, but always kept in mind that
the only real resource of the working
class prisoner of war is the solidarity
of the workers. 1t was on this broad
basis that all labor gathered and that
this case has become classical
On January ~, 1914, the trial of
Ford and Suhr, with Beck and Bagan,
began in Marysville. To show the
feeling of the county it may be stated
that w. H. Carlin, the special prose
cutor hired by the governor through
the attorney general, asked for the ac-
quittal of Beck and Bagan. On the
first ballot of the jury the vote was
nine to three for conviction of Beck
and Bagan. Bagan was accused and
identified as the I.W.W secretary of
the strikers. He could not read or
write and proved that he was not pres
ent, yet the vote was nine to three
for conviction simply because he was
arrested among those accused of hav-
ing aided the strike.
/ THE ACTION ON THE JOB
When this legal farce was conclud-
ed, January 81, by the conviction of
Ford and Suhr for murder in the Sec
ond degree, labor was prepared for
the natural program of the l. w. W.,
economic pressure upon the governor
of the state and all scissorbills for the
freedom of Ford and Suhr. 1t was the
cry of the committee, the soapboxers,
all unionists that the conviction and
Imprisonment of Ford and Suhr would
cost the masters more than the ran
som of king. How well this program
was acted is shown by the fact that
the 1914 crop showed a loss to the
masters of more than a million dol
lars.
Ford and Suhr and their three thou
sand fellow strikers were gathered
haphazard from the four corners of
the earth. Ford and Suhr were con-
victed of conspiracy. This committee
planned a noisy, defiant conspiracy
They preached, advocated and taught
sabotage openly and rebeliously. Ford
said, Don't slash down the hop vines,
and received hot lead and life sen
.tence. This committee showed how
by use of chemicals to make hops
stink worse than polecat, how to di
minish the crop of future years by
sowing Johnson grass and wild morn
ing glories, how to do anything and
everything which would hit the boss
in the pocketbook, and no man went
to prison for more than thirty days
and only four were even arrested.
At Wheatland when the army OF
gunner came out with pick handles