The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-04-05
RED HUNTS JAM ELLIS ISLE
)eb0rtees Rounded Ub BY Hundreds in Palmer D,ize
This is the fourth of six articles on
Ellis Island by A. ]. Liebling.
BY A. ]. LIEBLING
Times Special Writer


the cutter alongside Pier Sc. A
1.-THE sailor jumps out, makes fast.
A narrow plank is showed out.
Over it walk two workingmen
in worn clothes, caps. An immi-
grafton inspector in plain clothes
follows them. The sailors shove
a battered trunk over the plank.
Cast off"
The man with the rope leaps
aboard again, the plank has been
pulled in, the cutter moves up the
river under the stern of the tall
ship.
Lamar Costello, towering ex-
marine sergeant, chief of the
guards at Ellis Island, leans back
against the window frame in the
pilot house and speaks again in
his booming voice.
Three for the Champlain."
The cutter is delivery wagon,
the Hudson piers her route.
Anarchists and. members of
prescribed organizations (Commu-
niStS)" are among the human
packages she distributes. During
the last year f1fty-one were de-
ported from the United States.
The laws invoked during the
deportation delirium" of 1919 and
1920 remain on the statute books
and have in fact been strength
ened by least one decision since
those days when new plots were
discovered by government detec-
tiveS and reported to the news
papers every day.
DOLITICAL deportations are
l. based on an act passed on
Oct. Is, 1918, during the war.
which provides for the exclusion
of aliens who believe in opposition
to all government anarchists, or
who believe in the overthrow by
force or violence Of the govern
ment of the United States, or of
all forms of law, or the assault
ing of officers of any organized
government because of their Off
cial character, or destruction of
property, or sabotage.
A World reporter described Ellis
Islands most dramatic hour when
In the blackneSs of the early
morning, with a few selected gov
eminent officials and newspaper
men as the only witnesses, a ship
load of Reds who have been adj
judged enemies of the United
States began recently the long
journey to Soviet Russia.
There were 249 of them in all
246 men and three women"
That was Dec. 81, 1919. Follow
ing the armistice here had been
labor troubles the nation over.
Also, a number of bombs had been
sent through the mails. No clew
to their senders ever was found.
A great Red scare followed, pro-
noted by A. Mitchell Palmer,
Woodrow Wilson's attorney-gen-
eral, who claimed knowledge of
all sorts of nefarious plots. Six
thousand persons we're rounded
up in one raid, 1000 in another
The Buford deportees were head
ed by Alexander Berkman and
Emma Goldman, both anarchists
rather than Communists. They
believed they would find a warm
welcome in Russia.
With the departure of the Bu-
ford came a statement from the
department of justice that more
Soviet ArkS'' would follow until
the number of the $4,000 Reds in
the United States was consider
ably leSsened."
DUT the Buford was the last
- as it was the first mass de-
portation of radicals, partly be-
cause the Soviet union declined to
accept more deportations until it
was recognized by the United
States.
In this, according to Ludwig C.
A. K. Martens, the Soviet Ambas-
sador' of the time, the union was
influenced by Mr.. Palmer's prom
Use to dump 10000 lunaticS on it's
shores.
Today the immigration bureau
has list of several thousand
aliens to be deported to Soviet
Russia when diplomatic relations
are resumed. Most have been re-
leased on their own recognizance
and not a few have died peace
fully.
Martens, after repeated federal
raids on his Office and the failure
of numerous attempts to deport
him, departed because he felt he
was not wanted"-not a difficult
inference. The Soviet Ambassa-
dor" is now dean of college in
Russia.
Gregory Weinstein, one of his
associates, is said to be the Grover
Whalen of Moscow, conducting
distinguished American visitors on
their trips of inspection.
Bill Shatoff, a leather-lunged
table-pounder of the pre-war vii
lage, built the Turk-Sib Railway.
Berkman died embittered and
disowned by the Communists;
Emma Goldman recorded her dis
illusion in the autobiography she
published recently from her refuge
in capitalistic country.
The raids went on on such a
huge scale that all records of
many prisoners we're lost. and by
refusing to answer questions on
Ellis Island, the men made iden-
LITIGATION and Interrogation I'M
possible.