New-York tribune., 1918-06-10

Mooneys were there two minutes he.
1ore the time when The explosion oc
CURED. The friends of Mooney were
Jubilant. II looked as if acouittal was
certain. Judge Griffin was praised
tor his fairness.
AS the prosecution was about to
close 1T brought on witness whose
name, up to that time, had not been
publlcly mentioned in connection with
the case, F. C. Oxman, biz, ruddv.
faced cattlcman from Oregon. about
sixty years old Oxman gave test;-
mony that directly connected Mooney
with the dynamiting. He descr;hea
seeing jitney driven bv Weinberr
drive up to the scene of the explosion
with Mooney and Mrs. Mooney, Billings
ana another man not identified. In
detail ne described the placing of the
sult case that contained the bomb
on the sidewalk. next to a building
when asked if he knew the number
OF the jitney he said he thought the ac
tlons of the men were suspicious and
he had written the number down II
was the number of Weinberg's ma
chine. ma
There was a deathly silence in the
courtroom, and only broken by wild
laughter from Weinberg.
OXman was not shaken in his testi-
mony. The only trouble with it was
that it was too accurate. When he
left the stand friends of Mooney knew
that conviction was inevitable.
Though the Attorney General ap
pealed to the Supreme Court for
new trial the Court furnished no re
lief '0
Some months after Mooney was con-
vlcted his wife was tried on the
charge of being implicated in the muir
of bo tor u,
explosion. There was great curiosity
on the part of the public as to whether
Fickert would call Oxman as a wit
ness. OSman was not called. Mrs.
Mooney was acquitted. Instead Of be-
ing released after confinement to Jail
tor about two years, she was held for
months on the technical charge of
numbering one of the ten. Then she
was released on bail
Weinberg was next tried. He was
found not guilty, and after an inter
val he was allowed to give bail.
Last December an attempt was made
In San Francisco to recall Fickert. He
received large majority of the votes.
The election was regarded as a great
vlndicaton for him.
Parade Caused Fight
To those unfamiliar with conditions
here it is extremely puzzling. But it
is not nearly so puzzling to those
who know of the bitter fight here be-
tween capital and labor. While plans
we're being made for the Preparedness
parade the San Francisco Chamber of
Commerce was working to break th..
control of the labor unions, maintained
for many years. For the purpose a
huge fund had been raised, said to be
million dollars.
, II There are questions of Importance
left unanswered in the case. Why
were no clews followed except those
that, directly or indirectly. implicated
labor? AS, at the time of the explo-
sion. our relations with Germany and
Mexico were strained, isn't it possible
the outrage was committed by sympa-
thizers with Germany or Mexico? Why
has the District Attorney been so So
licitous to protect Oxman? Why
hasn't the whole story of the way Ok
man has been brought into the case
been exposed? Is there any truth in
the story that Oxman was found by
prominent member of the Chamber
of Commerce? And why should the
Identity of this member be concealed
at any cost?
Some Of the workers here think an
effort may be made to put the case
out of the way and to bury Mooney
by a commutation Of the death SEN
tence to life Imprisonment.
If this course is taken the injustice
will still persist and be the cause of
grave disturbance
If Mooney is hanged the situation
will be critical. There is talk here
of a general strike.
Labor organizations all over the
country have been appealing to the
Governor Of California, and to the
President. At the convention of the
American Federation of Labor in st.
Paul next week the case will be the
subject of discussion.
The President has done all he can.
The decision is with Governor
Stephens.