davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

worker as the group wended its
way to the cars which were to take
them to the four corners of Amer
ica, 'it was wondcrful-wonder-
full"
The gathering at Toronto, which
preceded the visit to the falls, was
as curious as the excursion itself.
No meeting Of sighted people en-
gagged IN work of similar character
could have been more interesting.
These were all remarkable people,
Tor 1T takes character and force to
lmpel the blind to travel. The aver
age blind, while their more am
bltlous brethren were making their
way to Toronto against difficulties
which few sighted people would
brave, were sitting at home in back
parlors, or grinding away at their
daily toll at rug looms or broom
machines. These visitors to Toronto
were the progressive blind, and they
showed it in every action. They
were alive to the fingertips. Thev
listened to the speeches with tense
eagerness. They entered into every
discussion with fervid interest, some
times with passion. They applauded
with enthusiasm, and laughed easily.
In the intermissions the hall and
corridors buzzed with excited con-
versation and the crowd was in con-
slant motion. Everybody was every
body else's friend. There was no
clique, no division into party lines.
although there were many differ
ences of opinion. Every blind per-
son who could see a little was will
ing to help those who could see less.
Totally blind persons were eager to
help blind ones who were less adroit
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

BILE, yet it was done He will not saw
how it was done. He stops at lust the
most interesting point, like contin
ued story. Perhaps his secret is too
valuable.
After the dictograph was installed
new difficulties arose. Owing t. the
position of Fickert's desk between two
great arched windows there was al
ways a great deal Of noise from the
street below, and at the receiving end
Of the wherever that was
one couldn't make out a thing. 50
special sound transmitting devices and
improvements had to be invented for
the purpose. At last all this industry
was rewarded and the Federal agent
began to "listen in." He kept record
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
A Federal Dictograph TListened in' for Mooney

dinner, getting him drunk, and grad
ually making him communicative.
"Does he drink" asked Fickert.
ooh. YES" said Mulhall; she drinks
all right" o,,...
been thinking of scheme fellow
told me about. There's a certain
kind of dope you can get to put IN
their drink without them knowing IT,,
and they say that if a man never
told the truth before, he viii tell 1t
when he gets that dope inside OF
him"
Cunha then entered the room.
Fickert said to him. 1--WE got list
of fifty fellows who visited Mooney,
and all of them have been indicted.
That C d fellow Shannon
some people can't keep their
mouths shut.
There was some unintelliglble
muttering on the part of Fickert.
Finally, he broke forth with, THAT
s. of a b Griffin presiding
Judge at the trial of Mooney #
it wasn't for him we would have had
Mooney showed right off at the end
of the trial"
At 1888 a. m. Fickert arrived and
said to Lyden, Il got a telegram re-
questing 1000 copies OF my reply TO
the mediation commission, and ]
don't know whether I have them"
Lydon said, "l'd send them, Chief,
if you had to mortgage your home.
Why, C d it, Chief, this Boil
shevik business is getting to be a
big thing, and something has to be
done"
Il wish had those C d
letters which were published in con-
nection with Mooney" said Fio4ert.
"Id say 1t is now known that
Mooney was visited while in jail by
Trotzky, Mother Jones. Minor, Es-
mond and others. I'd put ;-fter
each name Indicted at Sacramento,
Convicted at Chicago, Charged with
MURDER and so forth
At 9:27 a. m. Ficllert called for
the stenographer and asked her to
bring him ''that letter evidently
the one dictated the day before to
Welch. When she had brought the
letter. ne dictated the following, to
be added to it:
Fifty I. ". VS. under indict-
ment at Sacramento for crimes COM
mitted in California during the yea
confessed that Mooney and man
by the name of Johannsen, who was
appointed Federal government .nedi
ator in recent strike, and who Is
an anarchist and I. ". W, were
two Of The men who gave them 50
much for each job they committed
This man Johannsen has been under
Indictment for some time in the
Federal courts for being 49,. ac
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
Fickert attacked

First. That Fickert IS in cous,sr.
association with men and interests y.
such nature as to render it incr.5;
BILE that he should be either impsr.i,,
or honest in the conduct Of a casa ..
this nature; that he is and has bss,
for some time past cooperating with
notorious jury and case fxers: tina,
for instance, he is equally guilty with
Pete McDonough in conspiring to fire.
wealthy man charged with crimes ..
degeneracy; and that he mas also been
working with the same notoricuslv
corrupt McDonougb and Ben Selig IN
save from conviction Dave Blaine, an
autom mobile tire thief These cases are
mentioned simply to illustrate his com.
mon practice, Of which abundant evi-
dence is furnished by this report.
Second. That Fickert and his ssso.
ciates have within the past month
framed, and conspired to frame, cases
with which it was his sworn duty n
deal impartially.
Third. That Fickert and his asso.
ciates, within the past month, have
conspired to fabricate evidence with
which to convict Mrs Mooney; and
that to this end they have attempted.
in the grossest manner, to intimidate
and blackmail a prospective woman
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
Further Indictments

"Fickert's desperate daily attempts to
bolster up cause which cannot for
moment stand an unprejudiced exami-
nation; his affinity for a man who Is
both d3credited judge and an IN
blushing representative of dstcnest
interests; his constant association
with, and dependence upon, a corrupt
corporation detectives; his passionate
personal hatred of the various defend
ants, and his determination to ruin
them, despite the fact that he, better
than any one else, knows that they are
innocent; his openly expressed con-
tempt, in the midst Of grea. var,
for the President Of the United States;
his total disregard for law; his al la
tion with and servile trucking TO,
the most bitterly partisan anti-lsbor
element of the Chamber of Commerce:
ms close personal friendship TO- Net'
McDonough, notorious briber Of iuries;
his illegal quashing of the David
Blaine Indictment for Bennie Sslig;
his attempted frame-up of Mrs. Judd
to testify against Mrs. Mooney-these
and similar questionable activities ap-
parently represent the chief business
and ordinary daily routine OF the pies
ent District Attorney OF the city and
county OF San Francisco. In the -.rics-
est and most literal meaning of the
word, anarchy reigns in the ofhce
which is supposed to be dedicated to
law and order"
The report Is entirely devoted 70
disclosures as to the character - the
never touched. That is: "Was Mooney
prosecution. The main question Isl
guilty 7"
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
case Made to Order"

ut wiil be apparent that these facts
which are all brought out exhaustively
in the present report, tend to supple
ment the revelations already made in
the Oxman letters, and that they con-
firm the impression, made unavoidably
by the weak and conflicting nature Of
the testimony in the bomb cases, that
practically the whole of Fickert's case
against Mooney, Billings, and Mrs.
Mooney was made to order
Thus the cases against these defend
ants had already fallen to pieces be-
fore the present investigation began.
1t only remained to demonstrate that
the weakness and dishonesty Of the
prosecutions testimony was not an &C.
cident, but was the result of con-
sistent policy of conspiracy and cor
ruption. Fickert is seen throughout
this report to be prostituting his Of
fee IN other cases precisely as he
prostituted it in. the bomb cases, and
If there was previously any doubt as
to whether prisoner whom powerful
interests desired to convict would re-
ceivc fair trial at the hands of TEX
crt there is now no doubt about The
matter whatever. The San Francisco
District Attorneys Office, thrown wide
open by this investigation, reveals the
public prosecutor, not as an officer OF
justice, but as conspirator against
justice. Fickert is shown setting the
guilty free and prosecuting the in
nOcent
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

complice in dynamiting the Row,
Iron Works, etc" 'si
At the end Mr.. Densmore write. .
terrific moral indictment of Flicker an,
his methods and associates as follow.
"The record establishes three s.,,
of facts, each of which has bea,;,.
upon the question at issue, namslr
whether Mooney and his fellow defend
ants received fair trials at the hand,
of the District ATTORNEY These thru.
sets of facts are.
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

workers are employed in making
electric apparatus, many Of them
performing quite intricate opera
tiOns.
Ohio has a new movement for
improving blind children They are
lodged in cottages, and the girls are
taught to sew, en1broider, roast
meat, bake cakes, dust, clean house,
make clothing and do everything
which good housewife should.
The boys must make their beds, wash
dishes, NOW lawns, cut wood. milk
cows, hoe potatoes and do all things
which real homebuilders are expected
to do. Glasses also are held for the
mothers of blind children, who are
taught to do the kind of things
which make the lives of blind people
happy. Especially they are warned
against too much petting and pam
pering of the blind. One speaker
declared that there were hundreds
OF boys coming to the blind schools
who had never been taught to put
on their own shirts or take off their
own shoes. 1t was told that one
mother kept her blind son always in
bed because she thought it unsafe
to let him run around the house alone.
Mothers were warned to urge their
blind children to play with sighted
children and to do all the things
which these companions were able
to do.
Colonel L. H. Wallace. head of
the Evergreen Red Cross School at
Baltimore, declared that when the
blinded soldiers are through with
that institution it will be taken over
by civilians for use as a school for
the civilian blind. A Boston mil
lionaire has already put I'D
S 100000 for this purpose and
much more is in sight The govern
ment plans for the training of blind
soldiers in all sorts of vocations W; +;
be extended to the civilian blind.
What caused the greatest iubila-
ton was the new movement to talzo
the blind out of their stuffv bac,,
parlors, out of state institutions
out of and off street corners and
put them to work in shops and fac
tories Side by side with thu
sighted In Cleveland forty-five
btlnd persons have been so placed
and are doing splendidly. In Grand
Raplds thlrty-five are working. In
Detroit the movement is only six
months old, but twenty-five blind
people have been put to work in
cludlng one girl typist and dicta-
phone operator, who earns S17 q
week. Henry Ford EMPLOYS six
bind men at Sc day each. New
York and Chicago are not as vet
moving rapidly in this direction
The work is not encouraged hv
heads Of institutions, who fear that
the growing independence of thu
blind will empty the institutions ~
all but useless drones.
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

III SeltlHS ABOUT. IhCre was no
rudeness, no i'll temper, no selfish
ness.
Comparing Notes
Discussions at the convention
brought out scores of statements of
great general interest. In Toronto
there are two blinded soldiers who
are doing wonderful work as stenog
raphers and typists. They work by
means of a sort of typewriter which
embosses the stenographic signs Oh
heavy paper, so that the stenog-
rapher can read his notes with his
fingers. The signs are made by COM
blnations of raised dots instead of
ordinary pen strokes. The system
has nearly seven hundred different
combinations Of dots, and these two
men can work at speed of 100
words minute. They believe their
system better than pcn-writtcn stem
ography, because any stcnographer
can read the notes Of any other
and he can read his own notes
twenty-five years after writing them
as easily as though written on the
previous day. These men transcrjbe
their work on ordinary typewriters
as we'll as an average typist does.
In Boston there ere fourteen
young women who take dictation
from a dictaphone, and transcribe
1T on typewriters as accurately as
regular sighted typist does. In
East Orange, N. j., one factory
employs thirty-fve blind persons in
its office and shops. One girl typist
there has developed such delicacv Of
touch that she can file letters or
documents by the vertical system
without making more errors than
sighted workers. Most of the blind
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
I Resource}ui Man

Secretary Wilson had in his depart
ment a very rceourceful and social
minded man named John B. Densmore,
who had been solicitor of the Depart
ment of Labor and had just become
Director General of the United States
Employment Service. This work caused
him to be interested in I. w. WIS and
anarchists, and that appears to be the
reason why it was thought he might
be the very person to look into the
Mooney case for the private informa-
tion Of the government.
At any rate Secretary Wilson asked
Mr.. Densmors TO put some of his mind
on the Mooney matter, and in the
course of time Mr.. Densmore produced
the amazing document which was
brought to.light last week.
1t is report from John B. Densmore
TO the Secretary of Labor. Mr.. Dens-
mofe says he looked over the ground
carefully in San Francisco and found
it so delicate and treacherous that ha
resolved upon a deep and secret inves-
tigation.
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

strong voiced, led a large group Of
blind people, whom she enthralled
by her vivid description Of the
scene. An artist by training, she
drew pictures on the backs Of the
blind folks hands almost as clear as
those which she produced with her
lips. She led them to spots where
the mlsts Of Niagara wet their
checks, where the winds OF the
cataract tossed their hair. The roar
made the blind tremblc. Its like
terrible storm in the woods, :"
whispered a white faced girl
At the edge of the river where it,
sweeps past Goat Island the blind
girls stopped and thrust in their
hands SO that they could feel the
rush of the current, the life of
Niagara. They picked stones out OF
the water to take home as memen-
toes of their wonderful experience.
Old men thrust in their canes and
felt the swirl Over the brink
could be seen the madly surging
pillows of the Niagara basin, the
precipitous walls of the gorge, gray
and green with rock and verdure,
and then the long river winding its
way through circling pools and
whirling rapids until it disappeared
as though by magic through a SEEM
ingly solid wall of greenery.
4 Word Picture
Miss Stone painted brilliant
picture Of this wonderful scene.
while the blind girls, wet by the
mist, swept by winds and smitten bv
the roar of the cataract, glowed and
palpitated with mingled delight and
awe
"Oh, y breathed a little factory
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

ME strangest tribute ever
paid to the splendor of
M Niagara was the visit of
more than one hundred blind
men and women, who saw not
single drop of the white masses that
toppled over the precipice but only
sensed it's wonders by that uncanny
perception which comes at last to
those who make their life's journey
through unending darkness.
No more curious spectacle was
ever seen beside the great cataract
than this gathering of sightless
people, who made their excursion
the last feature Of the great inter-
national pow-wow of blind folk at To-
ronto recently. 1tincluded people from
many walks in life and of every
social status. There was an aristo
crat from the first families of Vir-
ginia, who had driven from his
estate on the Potomac in his own
eight-cylinder Panhard; there was
millionaire from Eastern Canada.
whose fortune was founded by tun-
ing pianos and soliciting custom
from door to door. There was a
blind clergyman and a blind doctor.
There was blind teacher of ancient
history in a high school for sighted
children. There were many libra
rlans, many managers of the schools
Tor the blind, retired colonel in
the army, managers of state broom
shops. who used their good ewes to
guide their sightless brethren, and
there were all kinds of working
women and working men.
Real Democracy
But withal there was a democracy
of manner and a community of feel
ing which perhaps no other similar
gathering could show Women in
smartly tailored gowns and beau
tifully coiffed hair talked am;ca-
bly, to women gowned in coarse
grained cotton which bore the car
marks of long wear and home con-
struction. Young and old met on
equal terms. Well dressed, smooth
hammered young men laughed and
chatted with girls whose hands be-
tokened familiarity with the dish
mop and the washtub.
With the blind ill-titting costumes
or streaked faces are no handicap,
while silk and jewels have no attrac-
ton. If these are worn it is for the
inspection of sighted eyes only.
Among the blind they count for
nothing. These people, unhappy in
one great misfortune, are spared
many pang of envy or shame or
jealousy which falls to the lot of
those who can see their own poverty
and the opulence about them.
AS this strangely homogeneous
procession groped through the trees
along the rivers edge their express
siona did not differ greatly from that
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

of an equal number of sighted tour
lists. Many Of them showed no trace
OF interest or emotion. But others
seemed to sense almost fully the
beauties that lay everywhere about
them-thc wooded sides of the
gorge, the white fecked river wind
ing its way through circling pools
and whirling rapids, and disappear
ing as though by magic through
walls of rock and verdure, the
tumbling magnificcnce of the Nj
agara basin, the vast, white volumes
of water laundering over the preci-
pice, the pink-shot mists rising from
below, and the multitudinous roar
which seemed almost to shake the
heavens.
At the Falls
In some of the faces there was
the tragedy of lost hopes and suffer
AAi6 lOIS VII q WI Oul, jill some JI1c
dulness of lifelong monotony, but
in others delicacy and refinement
which solitude and thought so often
give. These more than any others
seemed to realize the wonder and
magnificence about them. They
approached the verge reverently
and gazed toward the cataract as
though they could see the rising
mists and the white pillows tum
bling to meet it. Most of them had
never before visited the great river,
but all had dreamed of it. All had
planned some day to see it. Per-
haps the effort had been a great
one, for pennies are often as dollars
to those whose eyes do not help
them in their earning.
Rosetta M. Stone, of Detroit, tall,
prettlly gowned, handsome and
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
The Dictogroph Says

Fickert said something about
Josephine and Lillian. "Now to-mor-
row morning" he said. eve want to
get hold Of indistinctl.
"She won't kick through" said the
man.
81 was led to believe that she was
to stand pat because of the $500
this fellow gave her." said Fickert.
"But the only question is to shut
her up for Nate Coghlan"
II know if we can get the story it
will be good one" said the man.
"Can we use any licorice in opening
up the jackpot with her?'
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03

between the ages of eighteen and
forty-fve. He then began debating,
as follows: "The following is a list
OF persons who visited Tom Mooney
after his Incarceration, including
Leon Trotzky, Bluma Krauss, Mrs
Skefington, Mother Jones'"
Here the dictograph is interrupted
witk denial by Densmore in brackets.
thus:
[Fickert claims that Mooney was
visited while in Jail by Leon Trotzky,
the famous Russian radical. The fact
is that Trotzky was not on the Pa
cific Coast at any time during
MONEYS incarceration. Mooney
never met the Russian; never, in
deed Heard Of him until the Rus
sian l. Jolution broke out. The story
is but another of the many ridiculous
and clumsy inventions of the district
attorney.
ssG-d D-d-'' etc
The dictograph record continues:
Fickert and johnson then dis
cussed various other persons, most
of whom Fickert characterized as
"s--s of b-s.' He referred to
one Of them as "a C id
Dutch $ Of a b"-h," but Just
who was meant could not be faith
omed. Fickert told of an account
book of the International Workers
Defence League the union labor or
ganization which is defending
Mooney, which he said he had some
where, though he could not put his
hands on it, and which showed they
had paid Kytka, the handwriting eX-
pert, $1,000. Kytka, by enlarging
photograph of a street clock 25,OOO
times, established an alibi for
Mooney; for this work he earned the
undying hatred of Fickert
Mulhal then confidentially stated
that he had a witness in view who
might turn out to be a very valuable
one for Fickert in the Mooney case,
and who could also probably be used
in the Sacramento cases. He then
went on to air his views as to the
best way to make this prospective
witness talk, saying that he would
devote couple of weeks to winning
his confidence by taking him out to
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
Congress at Last Forces Department of Labor Dvue Report
OF Its Agent, Densmore Who Set an Elaborate Trap
to Catch Fickert, the Prosecuting Attorney

of the conversations that went on day
after day in Fickert's Offices
Much of the record has nothing to do
with the Mooney case. 1t is vulgar and
personal. 1t will be of deep interest
to Fickert as a public document 1t will
probably necesstate some domestic ex-
plantations. Some of it is humorous.
The Federal agent solemnly reports
that Fickert's chair squeaks. He likes
sweetbreads and tenderloin He keeps
a scrapbook and is envious and amazed
when he hears what salaries are paid
in the New York District Attorneys
office.
He thinks the land is full of Bolshe-
wiki and anarchists and that they have
to be suppressed.
He thinks Paterson, N. j., is the red
dest town on earth.
And he thinks Mooney was guilty.
1t is impossible to set out the rec
ord in full, or even so much of it as
bears directly on the Mooney case, be-
cause it is very voluminous. Yet some
cross sections of the dictograph record
are interesting and illuminating, Just
torn at random from the context
The dictograph is talking:
New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
The Dictograph Enters

1t became necessary to install die
tograph in the private office of Charles
NJ. Flckert, the prosecuting attorney
who convicted Mooney of having COM
mitted the abominable bomb outrage
upon the preparedness parade in San
Francisco. killing ten persons.
The Bolsheviki of the whole world
have made Mooney symbol of capital
istic oppression Besides that, doubt
about Moneys guilt has been raised
in great many minds, radical and
conservative alike
But this is the tale Of the Federal
photograph.
Mr.. Densmore modestly says that
his feat is Of it's kind without parallel
in all the history Of sleuthing.
Fickert was no tyro. He knew all
the tricks himself. One would have
said that he was, perhaps next t.
Burns, the most difficult man il the
country to catch with a dictegraph.
HIS Office was on the topmost floor of
the Hall of Justice, behind double
barred door, to which there were only
two keys-his own and that OF his
secretary.
Netc Ways and Resources
But it appears that an agent Of the
Federal government has ways and re-
bone couldn't make out thing. So,
torney.
Ar. Qeaam0zs as2a it xsa iupuasi,