The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-07-28
THE MOONEY CASE.


 deayCred to acquaint himself with the particulars of the Mooney case who is not fully certain that not only are all the defendants innocent but that they are the victims of the most atrocious effort to prostitute the forms of law and judicial procedure to the ends ot those interests which have made a speciality of union crush ing for the past decade in Califor- mia. The Industrial Worker firmly believes and has good reason for the belief that not in the whole course of the trial has there ap- peared one reliable one wholly hon. est. one non-criminal witness that would by his testimony fasten the guilt upon the defendants.
 On the contrary while the prose- ,cution laid claims to prove many things against them, they proved nothing, but they did produce wit ncsses, who were ready to swear al most anything and yet who so con- tradicted one another that their whole testimony was not worth the paper upon which the court steno- graphers wrote il down.
 Moreover in what country in tine world has there ever been such an array Of men and women brought to swear the lives of men and wo- men away as in these trials? Wome of the under world, the allies of crooks and pimps, men who were unmentionable degenerates, dope Bends. thieves and pick pockets-it was no wonder that when Fickert turned to his man OXman and held him up before the court. he did so almost pridefully that he at least an honest and a wealthy Cattleman from Oregon. And Judge Griffin admits that it was upon the testi- mony of this wealthy and respect able cattloman from Oregon that the conviction of Tom Mooney was obtained Today we Know the na- ture of that cattleman. We know he was no such thing. We know he was a professional witness in a railroad damage suit; we know that he was a welcher in land frauds in Illinois; we know that he was not near the scene of the explosion when he swore he was; we know that he is a dead beat who borrowed money on fraudulent aotas anl tie associate of red light crooks whose alliance with him has been matter since the trial of newspaper nOtorle- ty: we know finally that he sought and did secure the evidence of an other man to bolster his own and we know that he wrote and wired for that assistant to come to him and we know that an endorsement on such a dispatch intimates that the charges are to be paid by the state.
 In all this outrageous proceedings the state did not act as if it had bona fde case The world knows well that if men are guilty of such a crime as the bomb explosion they ar2 charged with. there will be nc need to resort to the testimony of all criminals and crooks to SC cure evidence.
 The testimony which Fickert and his assistants secured to hang Mooney and the rest is such that nc fairmnded man would use to hang yellow dog. The people know this and their minds have revoltec against the infamy that was being perpetrated in the name of law ant order in San Francisco.
 Some men express wonder ant horror that the courts should bt
 ecoming so bitterly regarded by labor. They wonder why the ofhci als whose duty it is to enforce tho law are becoming regarded as the enemies and not the friends of the people,. Some may deny that this condition exists, but turn to the pages of the labor press, the great est and the least of these publica lions and consider what means tht exceedingly scathing criticisms which appear therein. And do no forget that these papers express the opinions Of the masses. They do for more effectively than the great