Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-31
WHEELER STANDS
PAT AND CLAIMS
DEPORTATION Of
MEN NECESSARY
Alleged UndeSirabIeS Gotten
Out of Warren Mining Dis.
triCt to Save Lives and
PrOpertyHe Says,
MADE HIS WILL; TOLD
DEPUTIES TO DO SAME
Believed the Peace Officers
Were Facing Great DAN
ger Had Heard Threats
of Dynamite Being Used,

10y MORNING JouRNAL spsetAL LEASED ~t~si
Tombstone, Ariz., March So
Admission that he trusted to
luck" as to whether the military
authorities at Columbus. N. NJ
would accept the men deported
under his orders from Bisbee,
Ariz., July 12, 1917, was made late
today by Capt. Harry c. Wheeler,
former sheriff of CochiSe county,
during ss-eXamination in the
trial of Harry e. Wootton, charged
with kidnapping in connection with
the deportations. The cross
examination of captain Wheeler
consumed the entire day and was
not completed at the time of ad-
journment.
In answer to questions by
County Attorney Robert N. French,
Captain Wheeler also admitted
that he took no record of the
names of the men who were de-
ported, that he did not know their
marital or other legal status, and
that he did not know who paid the
expenses of the deportations.
did you know that 81 of the
men shipped out we're soldiers and
sailors, that 472 were registered
for the draft, that 205 of them
had bought Liberty bonds, that
$40 were subscribers for Liberty
bonds, and that G66 were property
owners of Bisbee2" Mr. French
asked,
81 did not" Captain Wheeler re-
piled.
did you know that 900 of the
1,1S6 men deported were not /.
w W.'s?" Mr.. French persisted.
The witness replied in the
negative.
Deported Men Disloyal.
GAS a matter of fact, Captain
Wheeler was not the only gues-
ton asked of the men who were
rounded up in the Warren baseball
park before the deportation. are
you willing to go to work p" the
county attorney queried.
$50 far as ] was concerned,
it was not" Captain Wheeler
answered. 1.-The word work was
not mentioned by me. / do not
know what my deputies might
have done" The witness added
the vast majority of the men
deported were "dsloyal."
Asked what were his instruc-
tions to his deputies, of whom he
said he had sworn in about 1900,
the witness said:
"I told them we were facing
great danger. I informed them
that | had made my will, and ad-
vised them to wind up their own
affairs. l instructed them to wear
white handkerchiefs around their
arms so as to be able to distinguish
each other from followers of the
other side in case there should be
shooting in the streets"
Regarding his reasons for not
keeping the arrested men in tho
ball park instead of shipping
them out of the state, the witness
explained he could not keep his
deputies on guard over the men in
definitely, and that he had been
warned that the I. w. w. were
planning to pour into the district
in great numbers to aid their fell
lows who had been singled out for
detention.
Wheeler and French Clash.
There We're frequent clashes be-
tween Mr.. French and Captain
Wheeler.
On one occasion, when Mr..
French referred to the deporta-
tions as a felony" the witness re-
torted:
Il do not stand convicted of
felony. l asked you to try me,
but you refused"
When the county attorney press
ed a question as to detail. Captain
Wheeler replied with some feel
ing:
II am only human being.
After three years l cannot remem-
Der everything"
County Attorney French caused
a burst of laughter in the court
room when inquiring as to the
ages of the deporters, he asked
whether or not they were pre-
mature" men.
Captain Wheeler insisted
that the deportations were be-
lieved by him to be necessary to
save lives and property in Bisbee
as well as to protect the govern
ment of the United States against
the Vaccinations of its enemies.
He testified that he had heard of
threats to dynamite buildings and
commit other acts of violence. al
though he admitted that he knew
of no one who had been arrested
on such charges.
Among the incidents recited by
Captain Wheeler was an alleged
attack made by group of Fin
nish women on some men who
were on their way to work in the
mines. The women tore the mems
shirts and put bread crumbs down
their backs, the witness said.