Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-06-25
SHALL MOONEY DIE?
Facts in the Case of San Francisco
Labor Leader.

was hcinG held. Six people were in
stantly killed and about 10 were
wounded. of whom four subsequently
died. Arrests wcr" made OF Thomas
: J. Mooney and his wife, I,ena Mooney.
Warren X. Hillings. Israel Weinberg
and Edward ID. Nolan.
Tom Mooney was n moldcr by trade
and member of the moldcrs' union.
For many years he had been one o.
tn" most widely known labor leaders
on the Pacific coast. Mrs. Mooney was
II music teacher: Billings n youth o.
radical tendencies and follower OF
Mooney in labor agitation; Nolan also
was a friend of Mooney and n radical
labor leader OF lesser prominence.
Weinberg was n jitney driver. hired N
times TO convey Mooney and his as
sistants TO labor meetings He was
accused Of driving the automobile that
was said TO have carried Mooney and
the others to the spot where the bomb
was planted"
| Billings first was tried. convicted and
sentenced TO life Imprisonment. He
still protests his innocence. Mrs.
Mooney and Weinberg have been tried
and acquitted. Nolan has never been
put to trial. Tom Mooney was con-
victcd of first degree murder and SEN
tcnccG to he hanged.
Mooney insists that he had no hand
in the Numbering of those innocent
persons on that July day. He swcars
that he did not plant" the bomb. and
that he knew nothing whatsoever
about il until after the explosion had
hurled those men, women and children
into eternity.
| Mooney and thousands of labor or
EHniZation leaders insist that he is
being "railroadcd" TO the gallows he.
cause he was Il labor leader of pro-
nounccd ridicalism. They assert that
his life is sought because of his fierce
antagOniSm to the open, shop" pro-
Grimm" of san Francisco big business.
| They insist that he is innocent OF the
| preparedness bomb outrage. This be.
lief is not confined to persons living in
San Francisco. nor yet in California
alone II is held by hundreds of
| thousands Of labor men in all parts Of
| the United States and in other coun-
tries.
| That Mooney was not honestly con-
victcd and therefore should have n
n-w trial is the announced belief OF
the L. =. mediation commission, of
which Secretary of Labor W. B. Will
| son is chairman.
This also is the conviction of the
president of the United States.
On the other hand. Thornwall Null
IT, tiissata4s i!asiatta4s csa1.Erd4seArs
COZ and who was grand marshal OF
the parade that day. insists that
| Mooney is guilty beyond question of
doubt. Labor leaders, though, say
that Mutually is an arch-cncmy of
union labor
san Francisco's chamber Of com
mcrcc believes Mooney guilty, and
is opposed to giving him new trial. y
month or so before MONEYS arrest,
the chamber declared its intention to-
make san Francisco an open shop
town"
| District Attorney Charles \. Flick
crt. who prosecuted Mooney. processes
To hc sure of his guilt despite cvidcnc"
which has come to light since the
trial.
This evidence has to do with wit
ness named OXman. who sworc that
| hr saw Mooney and the other defend
ants near the spo, where the bomb
exploded shortly before the internal
machine brought death to parade
watchers. The testimony practically
linchcd the states case and the death
sentence came quickly.
| After MONEYS conviction there
came To light letters confcss"dly writ
ten 10y OXman prior to his having been
called to testify. The plain import of
these letters is an attempt by ONman
To Suhorn perjury in corroboration OF
vital testimony which hr was to give,
and which in fact. he did give against
Mooney. The cases against Mrs. Moon
cy and Weinberg fell 10 the ground.
and Nolan was not tried.
All these facts arc as told in the
report of the United States medical
commission, appointed 10y President
Wilson, in it's report TO the chief en-
rcutive of the United States.
Here follows few quotations taken
from that report:
There can bc no doIIht that Moon
ley WAS regarded as n labor agitator
OF malcvolcncc by utilities (mcan-
ing public service corporations) OF San
Francisco. and that he was the special
object of their opposition"
"Whcn Oxman was discrcditcd the
I>rrdict against Mooney was discredit
ed"
"Thc attorney general asked the
supreme court that. in view of the
OXman exposure. the case should De-
returned to the trial court for Il new
trial"
I'VE are in this war to vindicate the
moral claims OF unstaincd processes of
law. however slow ut times such pro-
,"sScs may he. These claims must hc
tempered by the fire Of our devotion To
them AT home.
Your commission therefore re-
Spcctrully recommends that the presi-
dent use his good offices to invoke
action by the governor of California
and the cooperation of its prosecut-
ing officers to the end that new trial
may he had for Mooney whereby guilt
or innocence may be put to the test ol
unqucstionablc justice"
The president Of the United States
has asked the governor of California
Ia commute Moneys sentence to life
Imprisonment. The governor cannot
grant Mooney new trial. This was
in the power of the California su
prcme court when II heard the appeal