The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1918-09-21
Especial to The STAR

He become known rs an "agi-
tator."
lie was marked rs danger
Gus" man.
He went on the employers
blacklist.
And he became one man whom
those opposing the labor move
mcnt wanted to get" lie arous-
ed their suspicion. opposition and
cnmity. as their interests were
affected by his activities.
II Is no secret that Mooney stir
red the bitter animosity OF the two
'lno6 powerful corporations I'm the
San Francisco district-the United
Railroads and the Pacific Gas and
Electric Co.
In the days shortly after the great
San Francisco fire. these two com.
panies were enneshed in the now ia
nous graft prosecutions" aimed at
the public service corporations &C
cused of bribing corrupt board OF
supervisors in the city and county.
Fickcrt Excited
The enmities engendered by the
trials. where Francis J. Heney and
Hiram johnson figured so promi-
nently. eliminated in the candidacy
Of Charles NJ. Fickert against Heney
to win the district attorneyship-
and settle the question whether or
not the prosecutions OF the big mon
eyed men would continue or not.
Fickert. who later became the
prosecutor OF Tom Mooney, won the
fight. won again. and won n recall
election sought to unseat him.
Entered Mooney radical labor
leader and a socialist-and anything
but lukewarm, no matter what he
fought for.
mooney espoused the fight of shoe
factory employees. discouraged and
disorganized. Mooney and his wife
plunged into the battle. Mooney had
a motorcycle. on which he followed
strike-breakers to their lodgings and
there demonstrated with them. In
an accident with an auto. he broke
his les. but this did not deter him.
Then Came Gas Strike
When the tide turned. the other
leaders said to him:
Tom. you've done all that you
could do. You've helped us to win.
Step out now. and let the rest Of us
adjust this"
Mooney eliminated himself. and
the strike was finally successful, the
employers yielding.
Shortly after that came the Pa.
cific Gas and Electric strike 1t
was n struggle fun OF hatreds. The
power corporations reputation is
that IT has never given in without
putting up a fight
Iron Moulder Mooney was active
in the cause OF the striking electric
workers.
Charges Filed
When dynamite explosions de-
stroyed property Of the corpora
4 ton. the company's representatives
charged labor men with these deeds
Of violence. while the unionists as
stouuy accused the corporations
sleuths with conspiring to do these
acts in order to throw the blame
on them.
The company's detectives filed
charges against Mooney. accusing
him of the dynamite plots. Twice
a jury disagreed: the third time he
was acquitted.
After this brush with the power
company, Mooney turned his atten-
ton to the trolley corporation of
San Francisco. directing a strike
then in progress.
Strike Fails
Immediately he was singled out
by Martin Swanson. ex-Pinkerton
man and chief detective for the
public service corporations, who, as
1t turned out, was to become his I'M
relenting Nemesis. Notices were
posted In the car barns, warning the
employees that Mooney, "a notorious
dynamiter." was trying to unionize
them and that any man. found
speaking to him. would be immedi-
ately discharged.
The strike. when It was called.
failed. Traffic was suspended for n
few hours. and then the men on the
cars went back TO work without
winning their point.
Mooney. not discouraged went 10
work again. organizing this time on
thoro-going scale. He visited the
car barns. He interviewed the men
individually. He card.indexed all the
carmen in the city.
Swanson After Him
Swanson. the detective. vowed to
get his scalp.
How bitter was the feeling OF the
corporations agents against Mooney
is shown by the fact that his wife
was publicly arrested in the act of
pinning a strike button on one OF
the employees.
And, in the meanwhile. consist.
emily carrying out his policy of aid.
ing wherever distressed workers
cried for help, he planned and strove
for the exoneration and liberation of
comrades in the Industrial struggle
accused OF crimes and imprisoned.
until all doubt as TO their guilt had
been settled.
In the world battle for industrial
freedom. he contended, the moneyed
interests have hesitated at nothing
to harass labor. The most potent
weapon, used by these interests. says
he, Is the criminal charge--the
branding Of an "agitator" as felon
and the framing" of evidence to
send him to the penitentiary.
When the Los Angeles Times
building was blown UP and the Nc
Namara brothers. Schmidt, Captain
and others were enmeshed in the
Burns evidence, Mooney took that
viewpoint until the Mcnamara boys
confessed and went to the penitenti-
airy.
Works for Defense
When Ford and Suhr. members Of
the /. w. w, were arrested in the
hop field riots in the Sacramento
valley, charged with murder. Mooney
l.,