Bisbee daily review., 1920-05-01


 Preliminary hearings were started l before Justice w. C. Jack. of Douglas, 1 on July II, 1919, and continued until September l7th. All of the defendants who appeared at the hearings were bound over for trial either upon their ! own request or without objection on the part of the defense. The longest hearing was that of the blanket com plaint, which contained the names of about 150 Douglas and Bisbee men. This hearing was held in a theatre in Douglas, the justice court being far too small to even accommodate the defendants. At the opening of the blanket hearing" as it was called, the cases of 30 of the defendants were dismissed by the state for lack of evi- dence. The blanket hearing" started on August 18th and continued until September 9th, of last year. when the defendants were bound over for trial after waiving further examination and asking that their guilt or innocence be decided by jury.
 Harry c. Wheeler, sheriff of Cochise county at the time of the deportations, was originally one of the defendants in the deportation cases. He was bound over for trial upon his own request when his preliminary hearing was called before Justice Jack in Douglas on September 15th last, but no infor- nation was ever filed against him in the superior court.
 The greater part of the time from the conclusion of the preliminary hear ings until the first of this year was taken up by attorneys for the defense in securing dispositions in Chicago, Butte, Salt Lake City and other places in the west concerning the activities Of the Industrial Workers of the World w. H. Burses, chief counsel, and Frank E. Curley, assistant chief counsel fol the defendants. were ac- companied by the county attorney MT. French, on this trip. The dispositions secured at that time and the letters, pamphlets, newspapers and other doc uments concerning the I. w. w, later became the most important features of the defense in the Wootton trial, being introduced to show the character and doctrines of the 1. w. w. The Industrial Workers, the defense con tended, had created at Bisi ee a situa- ton that was so threatening that the deportation was necessary to prevent 1 loss of life and property
 l Activities in the deportation prose- cution shifted to Tombstone, the coun- | ty seat. on January 21st, when 206 of the 210 defendants against whom in formations had been filed, were ar raigned in the superior court and en- tered pleas of not guilty. Judge Sam fuel l.. Pattee, of Pima county, had 1 been called ill to preside during the deportation litigation for Judge A. c. Lockwood, of Cochise county, who was disqualified.
 Trial of the cases was called on Feb ruary 2nd, of this year. It had been generally understood that Fred Sandt- lner, Phil Tovrea and James Boyd would be the first defendants brought to trial but, when the county attorney announced that the state was not ready to proceed with these cases, the trial of H. E. Wootton was ordered. Work of examining prospective jur. Iors was started the following day. The Cochise county jury list contained the names of approximately $500 qualified electors. Of this number 2500 were drawn before jury was secured and five weeks were consumed in eXamin- ing jury panels.
 At the beginning of the trial Judge Pattee ruled that any employees of any of the defendants in the deportation cases or Of any of the mining or other Icompanies who are defendants in civil suits growing out of the deportation, were disqLalifled. AS the centers of population in the county are Douglas and Bisbee, with large numbers of men at the former city being em- ployed in the smelters and thousands at Bisbee working in the mines. this ruling appre6aDly cut down the num- Der of men available for jury duty. On Februi ry 26, the tentative jury list of 24 talesmen was completed. During the day, however, one of the jurors, w. A. Lythe, who had been ill for several days. was excused. The next day another juror was passed to take his place. The question of loyal ty to the government during the war with Germany had been one of the subjects upon which the defense had closely quizzed the majority of jurors examined. Disloyalty charges had been made by the defense against P. | C. Haynie, of Douglas, and C. H. Man nus, of Sulphur Spring valley, two members of the tentative panel. These charges were reopened and, on March 1 l, resulted in Haynie and Mannus be- ing excused, leaving the panel again incomplete. The same day two other talesmen. L. A. Smith of Tombstone, and Walter F. Kines of Courtland were passed as jurors. as preparations were started for the introduction of | teStimony