The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-24
The HLEsboro Decision

Question: Why did the lawyers for the Hillsboro
defendants agree to a compromise in the case7 By
accepting compromise the lawyers for the de-
PENDANTS belted the honest coal miners who looked
to them for help-Ilinois Worker
Answer: Because of the widespread interest in
the Hlls0oro case and because of the complex
nature Of the issues involved, the department is
printing the official statement Of the Chicago Dis
trict Of the International Labor Defense in reply to
the question. The statement follows:
1t must be understood, in the first place, that it
was not the attorneys who settled the case. This
was done jointly by all the defendants and the In
ternatonal Labor Defense. The lawyers only en-
tered into negotiations with the prosecution. The
latter made several proposals. some five of them,
before the last offered. These included the
sentencing Of five Of the defendants to year in the
penitentary on the treason charge; the sentencing
Of Jan Wittenberg and John Adams alone, who were
not from Montgomery County; and so on.
The prosecution was anxious at the time Of the
arrests to sentence all the defendants. But due to
mass pressure and the exposure Of the county off,
Gals in pamphlet by the LID, the prosecution
was forced to retreat. The people in the county
started to object to spending money for the trial
We took advantage of this.
But from the beginning to the end Of the case
we stood for the acquttal of all Of the fourteen
defendants This is proved by statements in the
Chicago press which came out at twelve O'Clock on
the day Of the trial. They said that "the defense
in the treason in Hllsboro did not accept the
proposals made for parole of the defendants and
the case is to be called to trial this afternoon"
We had large following, but the question Of an
acquittal was not certain. BY accepting the pro-
posal (Which was very much modified due to the
pressure Of the defendants) We made many friends
in the county, who would have come out against us
if we had refused and gone on with the trial The
thing to remember is that the treason charge, the
so-caled violation Of the Illinois Criminal Syn
dicalist Law, was dropped. This was a victory for
the defendants.
The prosecution wanted to put the defendants in
jail but they felt the pressure Of the workers and
people Of the county. In order to avoid the respon-
sbility for the case, they wanted to show that the
defendants would not accept parole, although they
had been given plenty of opportunity to 90 free
We felt that We were in position where a parole
Of the nature that was offered a parole of nine
months on plea of not guilty, was the best that
we could get. If the trial had actually taken place
there was no certainty that we could get the de-
PENDANTS off
Our lawyers were not "belittling' the coal miners
The lawyers did very little Of the work 1t was the
defendants who settled their own case The twelve
defendants who came from Montgomery could have
gone scot free il they had accepted the falling Of
Wttenberg and Adams. They were the coal miners,
and it was they who decided unanimously that all
were to be free none" We are very proud to
record this fact especially since one Of the twelve
is a member Of the Socialist Party
1t is true that the case ended only in a partial
victory. 1t was not entirely won To win greater
victories, is necessary for all workers in Illinois
regardless OF their political opinions to join the
night to repeal the Criminal syndicahst Law. We
ask the comrade who asked the question to help
send delegates to the mass conference to be held in
Springfield for the purpose of repeating this anti
working class act