Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-04-01
To
ATTACK WOMEN
CHARGE MADE IN
|. ". ". TRIAL
Mine Strikers Made Threats
Against the Womanhood
of the Warren District Be-
fore Being Oeported,
RADICALS ALSO CAST
SLURS ON OLD GLORY
Witnesses Tell of the De-
pIorabIe Conditions in the
Copper Mining Zone Dur
ing Strike in June 1917,


~ "e#nSa JousHAL SPECIAL LEASED wiRs'
Tombstone, Ariz., March S1.---
Slurs against the American flag,
threats against the government
of the United States. warnings to
men who were willing to work
that it was their last day." and
boasts that the women relatives Of
these workers would be attacked
shortly, We're alleged to have been
heard during the strike in the War
ren mining district beginning June
26, 1917. by miners who testified
today for the defense at the trial
of Harry f.. Wootton, charged with
kidnapping in connection with the
Bisbee deportations of July H.,
1917, Many of the threats, as re-
counted by the witnesses, were
couched in unprintable language.
Edward b. White of Bisbee, one
of the defendants in the kidnapping
cases now pending as a result of
the deportations, testified that he
had heard threats against the wom-
en- of the community, that he him
self had been menaced with sand
bagging because he persisted in
working during the strike, and that
he gave his wife shotgun for her
protection during his absence,
Regarding the experiences of
fellow worker, j. G. Bendixon who
later corrohorated part of Whites
testimony, White said:
"BendiXon, who was wearing an
American flag on the lapel of his
coat, was hailed by one of the pick
cts of the strikers, who said
- - you, you think that you
can hide behind that flag. Well, we
are going to show you how much
that - - ----- rag amounts
to-"
Bendixon's testimony omitted the
profanity. but corroborated that
part of Whites account that re-
ferred to hiding behind the flag.
White said that many vf the
strangers congregating in Bisbee at
the time of the strike had the ap-
pearance of "roughnecks," hard
boiled guys" and "bohunks," this
last term he defined, as meaning
dog eaters"
William G. Jeffries, another Bis
bee miner, who said he was a dep
uty sheriff at the time of the de-
testified that during the
two days Immediately prior to the
the situation began to |
appear threatening and that the !
faces of the strikers looked BLACK, |
as If they had the devil himself in I
them"
Il had no family and ] was not |
afraid for myself" Jeffries said. |
But | feared that the town would |
be blown up and that my friends |
might need help. So | remained in |
Bisbee in spite of the advice given
me by relatives to leave the dis
trict."
Jeffries testified he heard twol
pickets ask a workman on his way |
to mine in Bisbee to go out with
the strikers. When the man re-
fused, the pickets shouted to him
to go his way, but that that shift
would be his last" the witness
said.
Oscar Vein, of Bisbee. testified
Ut the time Of the deportations:
Things looked pretty bad" and
hat there were hard feelings"
among the men.
O. T. Smith, miner of Court
and Ariz., testified that eight
Mexicans working for him in the
mountains left his en-
Dloy following a visit by two we'll
iressed men of the same national
ty The defense was not permit
ed to show why the men left, w.
J. Gilmore, one of Wootton's attor-
leys, announced that Smith later
would be called for further eXam-
The morning session and part of
he afternoon session were taken
Up with the cross-exa mination OF
APT. Harry G. Wheeler, former
heriff of Cochise county, who has
epeatedly taken full responsibility
or the deportations. Captain
Wheeler testified that he gave his
eputies general instructions to de-
'ort dangerous or disloyal men,
'ut that he left the individual Sc
ections to the Initiative" of the
nen who aided him. |;
Sheriff Wheeler criticised the re-
'ort of President wilson's media
ion commission regarding the Bis
zee deportations as being "incor-
ect and misleading"