The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-06-11

stick of dynamite at George Per-
shing was frustrated by the strik-
ers, but the police refused to prefer
any charges against Jones. Another
attempt was made by an armed mob,
headed by Armstrong, a mill owner,
to lynch Pershing, who escaped in
an automobile in the nick of time.
Fred Beal and myself were twice ar
rested at night on the streets of
Charlotte, ridden around in automo-
biles, searched and taken to the po-
lice station, threatened and ordered
to leave town. Threats were daily
occurrences. Policemen and plain
clothes detectives followed the strike
leaders everywhere.
All Of this terror failed, the union
continued to grow. The next step
of the mill owners was to institute
mass evictions, and more than 100
strikers families were thrown on the
streets in Bessemer City and Gas
tonia. j. Valentine, the first to be
evicted in Gastonia, declared in an
affidavit made out for the I. L. D.
Sheriff Lineberger, through his
agents and deputies, together with
the Manville Jenkes Corp, through
its agents and vice-principals, car
ried affiant and members Of his
family, some of whom were i'll, to-
gether with their household goods
and effects from his house and
placed them in the street and left
them there, on a rainy day, exposed
to the weather" This was done in
the case of more than 100 families.
But the strikers left their meager
belongings on the streets where they
had been placed by the Manville
Jenkes thugs and waited for tents
from the Workers international Re-
lief. A tent colony has now been
built on Union Hill where the evicted
strikers are living.
Race Issue Fails.
The next move of the mill owners
was to fall back upon the race is
sue. 1t is interesting that when the
Civil Liberties Union brought suit
against the Manville Jenkes Corp,
the mayor, chief of police of Cas-
tonia and the sheriff of the county,
that these people filed an answer
which was an open attack upon the
strike and which showed that they
all considered that the real crime of
the union was that it had dared to
call strike in the Manville Jenkes
mill. The suit was brought against
these authorities, charging them
with unlawfully breaking up picket
ing, with police brutality, etc. The
answer filed IL a charge against the
strikers that they favor race equal
ity, that they continued picketing
and that they organized the workers
into the union.
The defendants charged against
myself carl Reeve, representing
himself to be representative of the
International Labor Defense from
the state of New York, and purport-
ing to represent the striking employ
ees of the said union, has in his
speeches and addresses to said strik-
ing employees and others who had
assembled urged and told the said
audience to disregard the said ordi-
nance against picketing) and that
the said authorities could do nothing
with them, stating that he would
lead the parade himself"
The Charge Against Weisbord.
The charge read in court against
Weisbord, secretary-treasurer of the
union, is as follows: Recently the
said Albert Weisbord, in addressing
an audience Of striking employees
and others in the western part of the
city of Gastonia, advocated race
equality in industrial organizations,
urging and insisting that the colored
people be allowed, requested and
asked to join the National Textile
Workers Union on the same footing
a. the white RsQQlsA ara n N ia11e,