The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-09-10


Of the leading lawyers of North
Carolina to help burn IS men.
DR.. H. R. Mcconnell of the Gas
tonia Sanitarium is the first wit
ness called by the prosecution, (His
institution refused to admit dying
woman striker several months ago
unless it first received payment in
advance.)
Q.-You treated Chief Aderholt
before he died?
Al did.
Q.-Can you illustrate the place
where he was shot?
Al could better if l had the
use Of model. (But where will
they get model on such short no.
tice? naive spectators ash them
selves. But just leave it to the in
genuity of the prosecution; they'll
get model that'll make 'em all
.est set up and take noticeD
ALL eyes turn to the door open
"A ing from the counsel room. A
court attendant is trundling in a
dummy, covered by a long, black
shroud. Drama. Suspense. .
Well show these union people! De-
Tense lawyers jump to their feet
and object to this tawdry spectacle,
intendedsto keep aflame the lust for
the blood of the textile workers and
their leaders.
Further objections, but the shroud
is nevertheless removed by Solicitor
Carpenter, and there, before a thou
sand eyes, stands the life-like figure
Of Chief Aderholt, who died in the
service Of the mill owners. The
dummy is logged out in a natty,
blue uniform; there's the shiny
badge of authority, and, cooked at
the appropriate angle Of "the law"
is the black felt western hat. Blood
appears to be dripping from the
white collar.
Finally, after the ghost has been
literally pushed into the faces of
the IL jurymen, the judge finally
sustains the objections Of defense
counsel and the model is dragged
out, while spectators whisper their
disgust at this cheap exhibition.
The examination is continued.
The doctor testified this morning
that the shot which killed Aderholt
came directly into the back. Nc
Call of the defense questions him.:
Q.-But a few days ago, when
counsel for the defense questioned
you in Gastonia, you said that the
bullets may have come from an
angle. Now, when were you telling
the truth--then, or now? (The
dignified doctor, an M. D. from the
University of Maryland, squirms in
the witness chair)
A.-Well, you, uh, see, at that
time l was not under oath, but now
| am. {.
(This was but the beginning of a
flood of contradictions which prose-
cution witnesses got themselves
into during the course of the day.
THE procession of prosecution wit
nesses-all willing to swear to
most anything-began early, and
continued during the entire day.
These included Otto Mason and his
wife, whose house is adjacent to
the union hall DR.. H. R. Mcconnell
of Gastonia who testified, among
other things, that the chief was
dead; A. j. Roach, the drunken
deputy who was shot and wounded
after he and his companions had at
tempted to massacre the workers in
the union hall and tent colony on
the night of June 7th.
Johnston D. Mccall, the rotund,
bald, bespectacled lawyer for the
defense is questioning Mason, a
prosecution witness who knows his
piece by heart las they all did,, but
it doesn't save from from contradic-
ting himself time after time.
"Tll ask you," Mccall demanded,
eff it is not a fact that the first
shot fired there that night was a
pistol shot fired by one of the
policemen and that the bullet struck
the union hall"
More questions, the full impli-
cations of which will become even
more clear when defense witnesses
began to tell what they saw, heard,
experienced: strikers-men, women
and children terrorized: murderously
beaten, choked; company thugs,
Committee Of 10o," throwing rocks