The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-05-18
LABOR AC|TA7OR'S
1918CONV|CTIONA AS
DYNAMITER SHAKEN
Trial Judge and Surviving Jurors
Unite in Plea for Cali.
fornia Pardon
AFFECTS BILLINGS ALSO
Former Witness on Whose Tes-
timony Men Were 'mpris-
oned Now Say They Lied
BY PHILIP J. sINNOTT

San Francisco, May 18.-(NEA)-
Thirteen years ago he was strong.
youthful and energetic. Today he is
weak, white-haired. emaciated by
years of i'll health. A dozen years OF
prison life have broken him physical
", although his fighting spirit is still
as alive and vibrant as ever.
Tom Mooney, about whom those
two contrasting pictures are painted,
is still in prison. Some time this
spring, however. he may get out. For
Governor c. G. Young has promised
to make a thorough study of the so
pounds Of affidavits. briefs and other
documents that make up the records
on his case, and to take some defi-
mite action on his long standing plea
for q pardon.
It was in 1917 that Mooney entered
San Quentin penitentiary after
spending approximately q year In Jail.
He had been convicted Of first de-
gree murder. A jury found him guilty
Of hurting a bomb that exploded
along the line Of march in a great
preparedness parade here in July.
1916. killing 10 people and injuring IS
more.
Mooney was sentenced to death. In
1918 his sentence was committed to
life Imprisonment.
Judge, Jurors Join Plea
Since that time the Judge who
tried and sentenced him has become
convinced that Mooney is innocent.
Nine of the ten surviving members Of
the jury that found him guilty have
reached the same view. The San
Francisco police captain who handled
the investigation Of the bombing also
believes him innocent. Most OF the
evidence against Mooney has been
proved false.
So now. after II years Of imprison-
ment, MONEYS case comes up for a
rehearing. The most famous convict
in the country-the man whose case
has stirred comment and agitation
from one end Of the country to the
others at last about to find out
whether the world 1t large is ready,
now, to believe his constant protests
that ho is innocent.
Mooney was q labor 1eader-a radi-
cal AS such, he had plenty Of
enemies. In the early summer of
1916 he was in San Francisco. trying
to pull off a big street car strike. The
strike. for n reason Of another,
hung fire.
A few weeks after that came the
preparedness parade and the bomb
explosion. San Francisco was aroused
to . high pitch. A man named War
rem K. Billings. who had once served
q term for illegal transportation Of
explosives, was arrested: and a day
Or 50 later the police swooped down
On Mooney.
History Of Case
It is necessary. now, for the reader
% keep carefully in mind the next
steps In the conviction Of the two
men.
Billings was tried first. District
Attorney Charles M. Fickert and his
chief assistant, James F. Brennan.
produced as q witness one Estelle
Smith, who Swore Billings had called
ut her place OF employment. carrying
= suitcase. just before the explosion.
Her Identification Of him wa positive.
Ftckert and Brennan contended that
Billings suitcase held q bomb, and he
was speedily convicted.
Then Mooney went to trial. Lib
erals in various parts Of the country.
convinced that he had been arrested
more because Of his labor agitation
than because Of evidence against him.
raised q defense fund and sent the