Imperial Valley press., 1930-06-04
DEFENSE
QU|zzES
BARBER
CrOss-ExaminatiOn of
Prosecution With e S s
Started This Morning..
COUNSEL WRANGLES
Each Step of Alleged Rad
icals' Trial Is Bitterly
Contested.

After almost two and a half days
of direct examination by the dis
trict attorney, G. l.. Barber, the
first witness ror the state in the
trial of nine alleged radicals now
being conducted before Judge
Thompson ill superior court, was
given over to the defense attor-
neys for cross-examination. At 10
minutes to IL, the state relinquish-
ed the witness and the defense be-
gan its questioning.
A legal skirmish, won by the
state, got under way Immediately
when k. b. Henderson, chief of the
defense staff began his questioning,
trying to discover under whose di-
rection Barber had entered this in
vestigation. His repeated questions
brought objections from the district
attorney, as the defense attempt
ed to probe into Barber's actions
previous to his undertaking this
nvestisation.', These objections
were upE-ld by the court, upon
which the defense came out flatly
and stated that although it was the
general opinion that Barber WAS
under the direction of the county
officer, it was the contention OF
the defense that other interests had
hired him to undertake this work.
Heald replied that he had paid over
the money-that was what inter
ested him most.
Barbar was finally instructed by
the court to answer the questions
and testified that he was working
under the direction of the district
attorney. When asked by whom he
was first approached and where, he
at first refused to answer until the
court told him to- He then stated
that he had first come into contac t
with Walter Sibley Henderson
questioned him as to the source Of
his paychecks to which the state OBJ
jected and was upheld by the
bench, with the result that this
question still remains unanswered.
Barber further stated that he had
made frequent written reports to
Sibley of his activities and discov.
cries.
When questioned as to his en-
trance into the ranks of those
against whom he has been testify
ing the past two days, Barber stat
ed that at the time he had been
engaged by the county in construc-
tion work ON the county fair
grounds. He told how he had min.
gied with the striking lettuce work
er in the valley and would like to
hear more details about the Agri-
cultural Workers Industrial League
and its operations and asked for a
card of Identification to show that
he was working with them. This
card was issued. The remainder of
the morning session was occupied
by questions put by Henderson re-
gardlng certain meetings in the val
icy and Los Angeles, many of them
going into details regarding the
size of certain rooms and pertinent
matters.
Cross-eXamination of Barber con
tinued this afternoon.
Pamphlets Read
When court opened this morning
Barber took the stand again and
his direct examination by the state
vas continued. Since noon yester-
day the state had been reading
passages from certain books, pam
phlets and other written matter
pertaining to the aims and opera
tions of the communist party and
allied organizations, in an effort to
prove to the jury that such bodies
were Illegal. BY the time the wit
ness was turned over to the defense
for discrimination, some 80 such
pamphlets and other papers had
been summarized in this fashion.
Finally the direct question was
put to the witness: What was he
told regarding the aims and opera
ions of the communist party by
those with whom he had come in
q