The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-26
Yorker Describes Suit
Of Scabs against Bergof
BY a Worker Correspondent

BY Worker Correspondent
NEW YORK; happened to drop
into the Municipal Court at 5oth
Street short time ago and took
a seat in the courtroom for a while.
A witness was pickering with q
lawyer, Don't yell at me. can
hear we'll" The lawyer, bald as a
vulture, yelled even louder, I'm not
yelling at you, besides, doesn't
Bergoff yell at you2 You should be
used to it,"
Bergof? 7 knew the name. The
scab-herder who boasts Of breaking
strikes. The man who rounds up
hundreds or thousands of gangsters
whenever Big Business is threatened
Sure enough. There sat Bergoff.
surrounded by battery of four or
five attorneys, leaning back in his
chair. Sinking at the vulture- like
lawyer harsnguing the witness.
l listened to the testimony. The
witness Is saying that he scabs for
Bergoff and knows that the scabs
were not promised waiting and
travelling time" for the DAYS in
question. Quietly the LAWYER asks
him, DO you have gun on you?'
ana learns that he has. ASSUMING
an air of shocked amazement. the
lawyer rants on about private
citizens who come to court armed"
Sued for NOnpayment of Wages
| turn to my neighbor, a fat.
drool1ng individual and ask him
what the case is about. He explains
through the corner of his mouth
That BergoH is being sued by seven
teen strike breakers for wages he
mad refused to pay them. They had
Scabbed six days in the Bibbs Mfg
Co. strike in Georgia last September
and had been paid for only four
ana half. Besides, they had been
promised pay for time spent in wait
ing to be sent South and in travel
ing. They had been doubIe-crossed
Bergoff claiming that the company
had paid him only at the rate of
four and a half days per scab. "The
son OF bitch has been pulling this
stuff for 20 years and this is the
flrst time we put up fight" nv
informant says.
The next witness is Wilson, vino.
1t develops, is another of Bergoff's
faithful >scabs. Wilson gets excited
when he is asked whether he has
the reputation of being a stool
pigeon, and shouts to the LAWYER
croSs-ezamining him, That's your
monicker You're also a rat. know
who you're protecting" and leaves
the stand with a satisfied smile.
Bersof's lawyer who says never 4
word during all of these ouarrels,
next calls Bergoff himself to the
stand.
Bergoff on the Stand
The self styled King of the
Strike Breakers takes the oath and
sits down. He answers his lawyers
politely and smoothly. Yes. he
knows the presidents of all the rail-
roads personally. He once worked
for the District Attorney of New
York County. He's been in the
business" for many years and quit
to go to Florida where he lost sew
eral millions, The judge becomes
interested and discusses Florida
Real Estate with the witness off the
record.
Bergoff brags about his son, Earl,
who is now running the business,
the father acting, 'in an advisory
capacity He tells how he organ
ICES scabs, how they are also his
friends, he who consorts with rail-
road and bank presidents. Some
of his men he informs us, have
been working for him for years. hav-
ing bounced his son on their knees
as baby. He takes fatherly in
tereSt in the ScabS and is interested