The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-03-22
(By Charles w. Ashleigh)

! 10y CHdflcS w. ASnlelSn)
In crowded courtroom the battle
for the life OF Thomas H. Tracy, the
workingman charged with the murder
of jefferson Beard at Everett, Wash,
on November 5, is now proceeding.
Thousands of workers are awaiting
eagerly the news of this, one of the
greatest labor trials III history
| Where Did That First Shot Come
From?
OF course, the witnesses for the
state have all stated that the first
shot came from the boat. But there
their unanimity ceases. AS to where
it came from-what portion of the
vessel-and the moment when it came,
| they contradict each other most sat
isfactorily. Also, none of them have
seen the shot or the shooter, they
have only heard it! The grilling of
the defense attorneys, Moore and
Vanderveer, sadly confused some of
the witnesses. One of them, Tucker,
fatty contradicted his former testi-
mony in the important matter of
where he thought the first shot came
from. When faced with his earlier
statement he denied it, thus discred-
iting the court stenographer.
On the evening of October 80, Al
worllingmen, coming to Everett with
the object of holding street meet
ing, were met at the dock by a mob
Of vigilantes, armed and with auto
MATES. The workers were loaded
into the autos and taken out to Bev-
erly Park, on the outskirts of Everett,
where they were made to run the
gauntlet and were severely beaten up
This outrage the prosecution had no
desire to see revealed, and the cross
questioning of the first few witnesses
elected no information. Mr.. Booth,
however, caused a thrill to run
through thee curt when he stated that
he had taken part in the procession"
Everett He said that he had taken
no part in the gauntlet running be-
cause "he would not participate in
beating up" virtual admission that
the others had done the beating up.
What About the Rifles and Shotguns?
The defense had also quite a fight
before the fact began to emerge that
the citizen-deputies were armed, not
only with revolvers, but with rifles
and shotguns. The first state witness
to acknowledge that he had even seen
such things on November 5 was
Judge Bell of Everett, who was dep
uty. He said first that he had seen
men with long barreled guns-he
didn't know whether they were rifles
or shotguns-dOwn at the dock. Later
he denied this same fact, although the
stenographic report showed plainly
that he had SO stated, but still adj
mltted that he had seen them at the
Commercial Club. To have gone so
Tar, with only the first half dozen
witnesses out of a couple of hundred
which the prosecution has on it's list
is to be counted as definite progress
for the defense.
The prosecution had subpoenaed ].
A. Mcdonald, the editor of the In
dustrial Worker, and Herbert Mailer,
secretary Of the Everett defense com
mittee, to help them prove their con-
tention of conspiracy, The object of
the state was to show by letters, tele-
grams and newspaper articles that
there was a conspiracy afoot which
eliminated in the death of Deputy
jefferson Beard, in which conspiracy
Tracy was an abettor. 1t is once
more the vicious legal doctrine of con-
struetive or indirect crime, by which