The Washington herald., 1920-10-30
0BJECT0R ASKS.
AID0F WILSON
Conscientious Objjector on
Hunger Strike Wants
Murder Outright"
BELIEVES HE Is RIGHT
Quotes Legal and Moral Is
sue in Effort to Convince
Executive.
BELIEVES HE Is RIGHT


in the District Supreme Court Mon
day by Justice Bailey. yesterday
wrote the President and asked that
he be permitted to continue his
hunger strike without rorcible feed
ing
Letter to President.
In his letter to the President.
Salmon says:
Dear Mr.. Wilson:
On July -, while still confined in
the Fort Douglas prison. I went on
a liberty or death hunger strike.
For thirteen days I was allowed to
starve. Then the authorities began
to torcibIy feed me. Forcible feed
ing has been continued ever since.
although on numerous occasions I
have been allowed TO go without
food
Today is the 10th day of my
hunger strike. I still refuse to eat
and will continue to refuse to eat.
Since you will not release me, will
you be kind enough to murder me
solve the problem. it is murder on
the installment plan. the little bit Of
liquid food is merely a torture, each
day finds me a little weaker.
-CrIme Is Refusal to Kill"
As you know. my only crime is a
refusal to kill. DR.. Arthur P. Moves,
OF St EIizabeth's Hospital. is quoted
as follows: "Salmon's objection 10
serving IN the army was the result
of his own study OF the Bible and
not because Of the church of which
he is a member" I am a member
Of the Roman Catholic Church. Fr.
Joseph V. Mouoy, one of the most
learned among the Catholic clergy,
now stationed at the Sacred Heart
Rectory, klamath Falls, Ore, wrote
20 me a few days ago stating: I
pray for you. May God give you
all the nerve and courage that you
need. Though all the small folks
go back on you. Christ is with you;
that IS, if He meant those radical
and pacifst words with which the
pages Of the holy Gospels are fIled:
and OF course we know that He did
mean every single word. He and
His idea are still unknown TO the
EOFld.' I can quote many state
mems from Catholic priests to prove
the fallacy Of DR.. Noyes' assevera-
ton, but the foregoing should be
sufficient
The governments attempt TO
brand me a lUnatic has been foiled.
I was railroaded to this insane asy-
lUm three months ago today because
had gone on d hunger strike.
After more than two months daily
observation by the physicians fol-
lowed by an examination before a
beard composed of twenty-eight
mental specialists with the head Of
This insane asylum as the principal
lnterrOgator, I was officially de-
CLared to be sane. 1t has been TWEEN
ty-fOur days since I was declared
70 be Of sound mind. yet l am still
held in an insane asylum and con-
hned in a building set aside for in
sane criminals: approximately 18O
Of this type are herein segregated.
Says Two Issues Involved.
Two issues are involved. one legal
and one moral. I am illegally de-
tained- Rule gill of the Selective
Service Regulations proves that I
was Illegally drafted. for at the
time Of my attempted induction into
the military service I was at large
on bail pending an appeal from a
~sntence Of nine months in the Den
Yer County jail for refusal 10 an
swer the QUESTIONABLE. Being il
legally drafted a court martial was
pOwerIess TO try me, but might Is
right" in america so the court
martial tried me anyway. Nearly
two years ago Judge Pollock OF
Kansas City denied a writ of habeas
corpus, basins his denial upon the
rOntention that l had violated the
law in order to get a fourth class
classification The cOurt-martiaI
record shows that if I had not vio-
lated the law-that is. if 7 had not
refused to answer the QUESTIONABLE
I would have been put in fourth
class because of wife and widow
ed mother being dependent upon
me for support
My letter to the local board. which
IS part OF the record. informed
the board that although was legiti-
Tately entitled TO exemption ! would
not hide behind skirts but face the
issue squarely. \ few days ago
Judge Bailey, Of the District Su-
preme Court in Washington, re-
FUSED a writ Of habeas corpus on the
same grounds upon which Pollock
refused it.
Followed Conscience, He Ayers
Regarding the moral issue. In
your speech at the funeral Of the
American sailors killed at Vera
Cruz, you said: Y never vas under
fire, but I fancy ther are some
things just as hard to do as to go
under FIRE. I fancy il is lust as
bard to do your duty when men are
sneerinS at you as when they are
snoounG at you The cheers
OF the moment are not what a man
ought to think about. but the YER
dict Of his conscience"
Mr.. Wilson. I thought OF the YER
GIct Of conscience, and I followed
II. Ihat my conscience did not err
Is evidenced by the quotation from
Father Molloy and by other Cbfs-
tlan testimony. For more than
tWenty-nine months have been il
legally held 4 prisoner for doing
What you urged. I do not. however,
seek mercy. Nor do I condemn Won.
on the contrary. I respect YOU for
many reasons. It is clash of
IDEAS Truth will triumph. Do the
courageous thing. Mr.. President. and
n you honestly believe that l should
be imprisoned, then do not further
belittle yourself by continuing this
forcible feeding. for forcibIe feed
ing IS merely death on the install
ment plan. Do the job right and
starve me all at once. do nor
seek death, but I am ready to die,
and l would rather die than, through
the medium OF continued irpDriso,