The daily worker., 1929-08-13

unknown" and "as a result of the
activities of the officials of the
mine"
Coroner MCGOWAN and Foreman
Joe Boringer issued a statement
that the verdict of the jury repre-
sented the united sentiment of
Williamson County"
Gompers Helps Prosecution.
Samuel Gompers rushed to the aid
of the mining companies with a
published statement: 81 regret, yes,
resent the resort to violence in the
Herrin strike. This strike of the
miners is on such a high plane of
principle it must depend upon the
solidarity of action but need not and
ought not t. fall upon physical
force"
The Illinois Chamber Of Com
merce howled for the blood Of the
miners. On August % it sent a
circular letter to all business men
calling for funds to prosecute with.
1t got the funds. The grand jury of
business men speedily indicted 3S
miners on four counts. The trial
began, Dec. 13, in Marion, with a
selected group of the 38 indicted as
the first victims; they were: Otis
Clark, a local union official; Bert
Grace, Joseph Caranachi, Levi
Mann, and Peter Hitler. Hitler was
a taxi-cab driver, who had been a
miner. The others were miners.
D. T. Hartwell was judge. Sena-
tor Glenn and the Illinois attorney
general, Brundage, headed the prose
cution. harrington, after fumbling
with the case for time, decided
that he had to 60 through with it,
and sent Judge Angus Kerr, the
District II Qllinois) attorney, as
defense counsel. This same Kerr
afterwards, while still an employee
! of the U. M. W., was chief prosecu-
tor of the Zeigler defendants.
The defense took the stand Of the
coroner's jury, that the coal COM
pany started the battle, and the
miners defended themselves. At the
same time, it refused to admit that
any of the defendants actually on
trial did any shooting, and forced
the prosecution to try to identify
them as being among the group that
shot the prisoners during their at
tempt to break away. The specific
death for which they were tried was
that of the mine guard Hoffman,
killed in the cemetery.
Ordinary Murder"
The prosecutions argument was
that this was an ordinary murder
done through conspiracy of union
miners inflamed by a speech by
Clark, and that the dead union men
really fell during their criminal at
tack" on the mine. The prosecution
witnesses were practically all of
them scab survivors of the battle
(four) and business and professional
men of Herrin.
The defense witnesses were al
most all miners and farmers, eye
witnesses. The defense brought
overwhelming evidence that Hender-
son and Picovich were killed before
any fighting started; and that the
mine guards had set up a reign of
terror in the vicinity. The prosecu-
tion avoided this point as much as
possible.
There was a clear cut class divi-
sion between the prosecution and de-
fense witnesses, so much so that the
newspapers and the Associated Press
were forced to admit it, though Bit
terly prejudiced against the defen-
dants, and whooping up hatred for
them throughout the country in the
approved frame up style.
The verdict, rendered January 10,
1928, was mot guilty" The other
charges were dismissed.
The capitalist press simply went
wild with enraged hysteria. Brun-
dage issued a statement that the
verdict was due to "a condition of
terrorism in Herrin." John Lewis
international president of the union,
refused to comment. He had already
begun to issue his string of slanders
and villification of "The Red" Off
cials of the U. M. W. A. hastily
bought out the Lester interests for
twice what they were worth, and
with Lester thus stopped from ex-
posing his intrigue with these same
officials, Lewis began to declare
more and more plainly that the
whole "Herrin Massacre" was caused
by the Communists. He did this
even while some of the defendants
were still under indictment.
If ever workers stood at the edge
of the gallows, these Herrin men
did, with treason all around them in
the offices of their union. They won
because Of the hundred per cent or
ganization of the miners of Southern
Illinois, and because these miners
had militancy, and the fighting ira
dition. There were no stool-pigeons.
Spies had very little chance to oper-
ate. The jury was made up of farm
ers, who knew the miners, and knew
who to believe on the witness stand.
Like GastOnia.
The Herrin case shows many re-
semblance to that in Gastonia! the
company's reign of terror; the
striking back of the workers in omen