Arizona republican., 1918-07-29
Where the People
 May Have Hearing
The Mooney Case
Phoenix, Ariz., July 27, 1918 The Editor, Arizona Republican.

The Editor, Arizona Republican.
 Dear Sir:
 l presume that when you wrote the last paragraph of your editorial in this mornings paper in regard to Mooney and the Bolsheviki (that paragraph in which you spoke of District Attorney Fickert's affidavit about Mir Frank furter's acknowledment ofshis belief in Moneys guilt. you did it before the news arrived which you have published in another column-the declaration of MT. Frankfurter giving him the lie? It is just such episodes as this which have raised such a doubt in the minds of a great many of us not at all con- nected with Mooney or the labor movement.
 It seems to me that you are hardly putting forth fairly the position taken up by the president.
 The people who consider that it would be very grave mistake to hang Mooney, including the laborites, con- siderable section of the general public, the commission appointed by the pres ident of the United States, the presi- dent himself and the judge who tried and sentenced Mooney, do not do so on the ground that they are sure of his innocence. They have not in the slight est degree any sympathy with the bru- tai, senseless and abominabIe crime of which he is accused. They are not con- cerned with Moneys personality. What they point out is this: That the industrial conditions in San Fran cisco preceding the crime made a fair trial of a labor leader a difficult and doubtful affair at best; that Mooney had been a prominent man in the labor movement; that the San Francisco chamber of commerce on the other hand, bitterly anti-labor, at once sub scrlbed an enormous fund to facilitate the conviction of the labor men im- mediately accused; that some of the most important witnesses to the iden- i tity of the prisoners were proven by the defense to be prostitutes or police stool pigeons-a class of witnesses easily obtained by a district attorney who is short on the evidence of decent people but feels that he ought to con- vict anyhow; and that in particular revelations cropping up after the trial in regard to the witness Oxman, though not technically affecting the verdict have raised the gravest doubts as to the good faith of District Attorney Fickert and his attitude towards the so- called slush fund.
 After the trial was over, certain let ters came to light showing apparently that OXman, the witness who had giv- en the evidence which was by far the most damaging against Mooney, had made an attempt to suborn perjury III Icorroboration of his testimony.
 It is true that OXman was tried for perjury and that he was not convicted but it is true also that he was pros ecuted by the very District Attorney tickert with whom he had been de- clared in collusion; and 1t is true thal his defense was that he had made a mistake in the identity of the witness he wrote to. It does not take a very rabid laborite to believe that mar who could make such an extraordinary mistake in identity as to invite (witf promises of big expense alloWances) as witness a man from Illinois who had never. been near the scene of the crime. could very easily have made { istake as to the identity of mar whom he never professed to have seer before the affair. It was no doubt witt some such notion in their minds tha the trial judge and the attorney gen Ieral of the state joined in recommend ing a new trial.
 The technical grounds for such new trial have been lacking evidently But the fact remains that the labo movement of this country and the la Dor movements of other countries, botl those allied with us and those at wal with us, everywhere would regard tn, execution of Mooney not as the jus punishment of common sordid mur derer,'' but the triumph of Mooney. industrial enemies pressing their ad vantage in the midst of the war: ant that a good many people altogethe outside of the labor movement. citizen, with every respect for our courts would feel that whatever the trutl may be, the suspicious which have beer aroused are to say the least extremel, unfortunate.
 Let me remind you of an even nor, famous case of the same kind Tn, bulk of the French people were for