The Alaska daily empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1912-1926, 1920-05-07
HISTORY or
WOOTTON CASE
IN ARIZONA
Incidents Which Brought
Bisbee Man to Trial;
Wootton Was Acquitted

J TOMBSTONE, Ariz,. April ~ CAS-
scciated Press Correspondence
Harry Edward Wootton, hardware
dealer of Bisbee, Arizona, was the
first of more than 200 defendants
to be tried On the charge OF Kid
naping in connection with the de-
portation of 1,186 striking copper
miners and their sympathizers from
Bisbee to Columbus. New Mexico,
July IL, 1917.
| In Arizona, the penalty for Kid
naping is Imprisonment for not less
| than one and not more than ten
/ years.
The story of the deportations as
| told in a report Of the mediation
commission appointed by President
Wilson. and headed by Secretary of
Labor William B. Wilson, is briefly
as follows:
Early on the morning OF July II.
the sheriff and a large armed force
presuming to act as deputies under
the sheriff's authority, comprising
about 1000 men rounded up l.l86
men in the Warren district, put them
aboard a train, and carried them TO
Columbus, New Mexico. The author
tiles at Columbus refused to permit
those in charge of the deportation
g lea.e the men there and the
train carried them back to the desert
town of Hermanas, New Mexico
nearby station. The deportees
were wholly without an adequate
supply of food and water and shel
ter for two days. At HermaneS, the
1eported men were abandoned the
guards who had brought them, and
they were left to shift for themselves.
The situation was brought 10 the
attention of the War Department
and on July IA, the deporteaS were
escorted by troops to CollmpuS,
where they were maintained by the
Government until the middle OF
September"
The defense sought to be made by
the attorneys on behalf of Wootton,
who was specifically charged Win
kidnapping Fred w. Brown, now dep
uty sheriff of Cochise county. but
at the time of the deportation, a
representative of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, was that the law
of necessity justified the violation
of the statute law. Captain Harry
G. Wheeler. veteran of the Spanish
| American War, and of the Great War
who was sheriff OF Coehise coah1s
at the time of the deport atoms
and who repeatedly assumed fuii res
nonsibility for them, declared on the
witness stand that he decided upon
the deportations as the only means
of safeguarding the lives ana prop
ertv of the people of the warren
district and of protecting tn" inter
ests of the United States Government
The strikers were attempting 70 tie
I'M an important part of the ccan'iy +:
copper output and were therefore
iniuring the country and hil1efihe
If in the prosecution OF rs Wal
AGAINST Germany, Capt. Whealer ties
titled.
After considering the question tof
nearly two weeks, Judge Samue' l.,
Pattee ruled that the defense would
he permitted to show condltlohs III
the warren district in an effort 70
establish that the law of necessity
would apply The court declined u
hermit Wootton's attorneys ia adduce
evidence as to the nationwide anti
government conspiracy alleged by
them until the foundation for such
evidence had been laid by proof OK
MANAGING conditions in The Warren
district.
It was not long however, before
tho issue of what County Attorney
Robert N. French, who conducted
the prosecution termed a. W. w.
ism" was injected into the case
For example, the defense introduced
in evidence photostatic copies o.
alleged. /. w. w. documents tending
TO show that the strike called IN the
warren district June rs, 1917, was
designed more as an aid to the mine
strike IN Butte, Montana, then IN
force. than as means OF securing
better conditions for the miners OF
the Warren district.
The trial began February z over
five weeks were consumed IN Tue
selection of jury the actual taxing
of evidence beginning March ~.
80