Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-18
|CAROL|NAFLOGGERS
AGAIN APPLY LASH
TO UNION WORKER
Labor Speaking Stand Also
Reported Wrecked at
Kings Mountain.
7 TEXTILE MEN ARE HELD
ON MOB VIOLENCE CHARGE
Court Scores Disorders as "a Dis
grace to CASTOR County"
Dynamite Is Stolen.
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated PresS.
CHARLOTTE, N. c., September 18.-
Cleo Tessner was taken from an office
maintained in Kings Mountain by the
National Textile Workers Union during
last night and flogged, 1t was learned
here today. Tessner came to Charlotte
and reported to offlcials Of the Inter-
national Labor Defense. TesSner said
that three men took him from the
Office, claiming they had warrant for
his arrest.
A speakers stand erected by the
union in Kings Mountain and from
which union leaders addressed mill
workers every Saturday night was
dynamited a half hour before Tessner
was seized. The blast awakened most
of the people in the city. Otherwise
no damage was done by the explosion.
Tessner was arrested two weeks ago
on complaint of mill officials, when he
posted circulars inside the mill. County
Recorder Horace Kennedy found him
guilty of trespassing but gave him a
suspended sentence.
Ben Wells Again Chased.
Ben Wells, who was taken from a
rooming house in GaStonia 10 days ago
and fiogged, reported today an at
tempt was made last night to seize
him again, this time in Charlotte.
He said he was walking on one OF
the principal streets of the city when
an automobile drove to the curb and
he heard a man say, There he Is,
let's get him.
Wells said he ran, going to the
headquarters of the International Labor
Defense by a circuitous route. A state
ment was issued this morning by j.
Louis Engdahl, national secretary Of
the International Labor Defense, in
which he said: Hardly had the earth
filled In the grave of the martyred
mill worker Ella May Virgins before
;:le same Loray mill, GaStonia, MUIR
der gangs that took her life were
again active. One OF these sought
to kidnap Ben Wells for the second
time, appearing openly on the streets
of Charlotte Tuesday night. Wells es-
capped"
Legal Machinery idle. ~
Legal machinery in North Carolina
textile centers, which has been cloggcd
with charges ranging from kidnapping
and hogging to conspiracy to over
throw the Government and murder, all
growing out of strike violence, rested
month, preparatory to resuming its
dealing with strike cases later this
week
The courts became idle late yester-
day after Judge Thomas J. Shaw, sit
ting as a magistrate In lieu of grand
jury, ordered seven men, held as being
members of the mob which early last
week kidnapped three men afhliated
with the National Textile Workers
Union and flogged one of them. Seven
others arrested were released.
Those ordered held by Judge Shaw
were placed under $500 bail each.
Ben Wells, British Communist labor
organizer, and c. NJ. Lell and C. d.
Saylor, CASTOR County members of the
National TEXTILE Workers Union, from
Gastonia to a lonely spot in Cabarrus
County, where Wells was flogged. Judge
Shaw found probable cause after q
weeks inquiry for cherges Of kidnap-
ing, conspiracy to kidnap, assault with
a deadly weapon with intent to kill and
false imprisonment and arrest.
Seven Are Released.
Fourteen men originally were arrested.
but John Holly, G. E. jolly, Oscar
Goodman and DR.. Lee johnson, en-
ployes Of a cotton. mill; A. j. Roac,
former policeman, and T. A. Gilbert and
G. M. Ferguson, GaStonia policemen
were released.
Those held were A. q. Morehead and
William Pickering, superintendentS of
the Loray mill of the Manville -JenckeS
c. M. Ferguson, Gastonia policemen
Co.; Carl Holloway, Dewey Carver, Tom
Carver and Smiley Lewis, Loray mill
workers, and Horace Lane, Myers will
employe.
Judge Shaw in holding men for kid
naping denounced mob violence saying:
1.-THE evidence shows that only Is
persons were guilty of taking the man
(Wells) out and beating him. But the
others are just as guilty as the man
who carried him. The trouble with
mob lawlessness Is that If O person
joins in with the mob prior to the time
the crime Is committed, all entering
In the conspiracy are guilty whether
they had participation in the crime
or not"
Disgrace" to County.
"I said the other day tt.at all law
lessnesS is the same whether from mobs
of Communists. An example Of mob
law is that which occurred when the
woman was shot Saturday. want to
repeat again, don't care who Is con-
nected with 1t, but the kidnapping OF
these men and that which occurred
Saturday are a disgrace to CASTOR
County"
The Judge said he was convinced
Continued on Page 2, Column g.
TDAEElN IIHuT IMNEMTnQ