The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-20
By SASHA SMALL

DRIDGETON, N. J. is a very or
- binary town-it might be any
where in the United States and the
open hearing indicting Seahrook,
two justices of the peace and few
Of the Vigilantes, was largely in
progress at the Moose Hall last
Sunday when we arrived. The hall
was damned to the windows in spite
Of the terrific heat. About TOO
people. In the front rows sat
mothers with wriggling babies. Along
the sides sat the young people.
Boys and girls of about 17-Italian
and Negro sitting side by side. Wit
ness after witness rose to testify
helped along by questions from Is
Serman, International Labor De-
tense attorney.
Tom Crawford, tall and lean, very
black, worked on Seabrook Farm
since 1928, describes how he and a
few other strikers we're locked up
in the refrigerator box which the
deputies just changed into another
jail house. He tells Of the so-called
trials held right in Seabrook's Of
flee by Justice j. Ellsworth Long
who does whatever Seabrook tells
him. He tells of the three armed
thugs Seabrook had on the premises
and hid in the cellar when other
strikers arrived with warrants for
their arrest.
Mrs. Helen Beterrelli took her two
kids up on the platform with her.
In very broken English she related
how tear bombs were thrown by
Belford Seabrook, son and heir of
Charles Seabrook, right up on the
porch on top of the two kids. Those
bombs were peculiar gas bombs.
They made the two kids sick for
couple Of days and when Mrs.
Beterrelli went to get the doctor
for her kids, more bombs were
thrown into the house and set fire
to the bed (she had the sheets with
her with big holes burned in them.
When fellow strikers tried to put
the fire out cops chased them away
and threw more tear gas.
DR.. Fairchild, professor of eco
Monies at Bry Mawr, testified. She
described her conferences with Sea-
brook and her attempt to stop the
tear gas attack by calling the at
tention Of those who were throw
ing it to the children. She described
the whole attack that started with
an attempt to drive truck load
of beetS into the cannery. When
the truck was driven up on the
scales, three young Negro women
picketS ran up to it and began to
pull few punches of. with their
hands. They were fallen upon by
thugs. Young Ella Roberts had
had her forehead split open with
pick handle welded by Jack Saun-
ders, the most degenerate and bru-
tai of the thugs.
This Saunders was fired as a
deputy of Cumberland County for
his bad record But the Upper
Deerf1eld township committee made
up Of farmers like Seabrook ap-
pointed him as special constable to
handle the strike.
ONLY stenographic record could
do justice TO the testimony of
the youngsters who told about cut
ting down the electrified barbed
wire set up by Seabrook to keep
strikers away from the cannery, of
how they used to work for II cents
an hour before the first strike, be-
fore the Union, and now they get
% cents and 80 cents an hour and
how they abolished child labor
which used to pay five cents an
demeanor for holding court in the
boosted of the $40 day they were
getting and how they pointed out
strike leaders to the cops, how Sea-
brook announced that the best
method for breaking strikes is clap
ping all the leaders in Jail.
The hearing was militant and
spirited. 1t found all five de-
PENDANTS, who were called upon to
defend themselves, guilty. A war
rant was sworn out for the arrest |
of Charles Seabrook. Charge: mis-
deamor for holding court in his
own office, violating the laws of the |
state of New Jersey.
The fragrant violations of all laws
and all constitutional rights on Sea-
brook Farms would take columns to
list. People were sentenced to jail |
without hearings. Duplicate war
rants were issued for the same
charge. Vivian Dahl was arrested |
five times; three times on identical |
warrants of disorderly conduct |
and twice for conspiracy.
QUT it is only after you see Sea-
u brook farms that you realize how |
all this terror is possible.
1t is feudal manor in every
sense of the word. Its $500 acres
stretch over about Is miles. You
ride and ride over bumpy roads |
and it is still Seabrook farm. Scat