New Britain herald., 1919-02-14
REDS MUST GO IS
ORDER OF COURT
Writ Of Habeas Corpus Refused in
Deportation Cases

| New York, Feb. 1.-THE writ Of
| habeas corpus for the IS Bolshevikt
| l. w. w, anarchists, public charges
! and plain immoral persons, held fol
deportation on Ellis Island, was dis
missed yesterday by Federal Judge
! John G. Knox because of lack OF any
specific proof that injustice or error
| had been made in the orders or de-
| portation
| 1t was understood that counsel for
| the men should examine the records
at Washington, and if any ground can
be found on which error can be
charged they may then make appl-
cation for individual writs of habeas
corpus.
| This decision was reached only after
! @ long argument in the federal court
Yesterday in which attorneys for the
| prisoners attempted to SHOW that tho
! mere fact that man belongs to this
l. w. w is not sufficient to cause his
deportation.
Unable to Substantiate Charge.
None of the attorneys, however,
could back this charge up by specific
facts and Ben Matthews, assistant
United States district attorney, argued
and Judge Knox held that a blanket
application for a writ of habeas cor
pus without knowledge of the facts
was to be frowned upon.
Judge Knox held that sufficient OBJ
portunity must have been given to the
prisoners at the points where they
were first held to enable them to
argue their cases, and that he could
not presume merely because of the
fact that blanket writ had been pro-
duced that the various federal author
tiles had been in error in ordering the
deportations. MI Matthews said that
as a matter Of fact six of the men now
on the island had sued out writs which
had been dismissed by courts in the
West.
Miss Caroline Low, who made the
application, said she did not know the
men mentioned personally, but that
she was acting in her general capacity
as counsel for the /. w. w. She and
the lawyers acting with her, however,
showed that when she went to Ellis
Island she was refused permission to
see the men and find out which Of
them wished to fight their deportation.
1t was shown that after 20 of them
had written a letter asking that S.
Walter Nelles, now taking part in the
Scott Nearing trial, defend them, the
letter had been held by Acting -Imn1i-
grafton Commissioner Uhl. Mr.. Uhl
later explained this by saying that the
letter had come from the West and
he supposed Mr.. Nelles knew that the
men had asked him to act for them.
Recht to Examine Records.
Charles Recht, who acted for Mr..
Nelles in the hearing, said later that
he would go to Washington tonight
or tomorrow and examine the immi-
grafton records, and that if he then
found evidence to Justify it he would
ask for individual writs Of habeas cor
pus. He said that he did not think
many of the men on Ellis Island now
really wished to fight their deporta-
ton, but he is positive that some do.
Commissioner Uhl also said that fully
so per cent. of the men want to leave
the country.
The chief objection to the writ was
that it was being used to gain evil
dence on which argument could be
made, a method which the United
States attorney lillened to lawyers Wis
.ting hospitals to gain cases. He used
the word soliciting" and pointed out
that Judge Hand had severely criti-
cized the attorney who acted in a sim
liar case.
The attorneys for the prisoners,
however. maintained that the condi-
tions were so peculiar in this case. in
asmuch as they had been denied &C
cess to men who were clients Of their
organizations counsel bureau. and to
the records in their cases, that they
were justified in the method of seek
ing the writ