Evening star., 1935-09-27
MOONEY FRAMED,
BILLINGS SWEARS
Utility Company Agent Urged
Him to FaIsity Evidence,
He Says.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, September az
Little Warren K. Billings charged yes
terday that he and stocky Tom
Mooney. sentenced to life terms for
the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness
day bombing, were framed" by a
private detective.
Testifying in MONEYS latest bid for
freedom, a habeas corpus hearing,
Billings said Martin Swanson. special
agent for public utility, asked him
appear against Mooney in connection
with the bombing of power line in
volved in labor trouble.
Billings asserted he refused and
Swanson saw him at police head
quarters and told him:
You were a damned fool for not
going along with us and help convict
Tom Mooney (of the tower bombing)
and save yourself from being sent to
the penintentiary or being hung for
something you haven't done"
Materials in Cellar.
Edward c. Nolan, labor leader who
was accused of taking part in the
bombing but who never was brought
to trial, shouted his explanation Of the
fact that chemicals which police had
taken to be bombing materials had
been found in the cellar of his home
after the parade blast
The prosecution originally theorized
that the bomb, which killed 10 and
injured 40 persons. was fashioned in
Nolan's cellar and planted by Mooney
and Billings.
Police, searching the cellar. said they
found some "saltpetre,' substance
that looked like black powder and an
other chemical.
The "saltpetre. Nolan testified to-
day. was EPSON salts.
Nolan, like Mooney, an iron moulder,
said the powder was a trade material
used in welding.
L want you to know all those
things in the basement were mine, u
Nolan shouted. and they can't be
hung on Tom Mooney. They
tpolice) didn't ask me about the ma
oCA AoAo. Ivy JAoS JliAAltSN w Vic
conclusion they we're saltpetre, pow
der. etc. They just wanted to indict
somebody in this case and they
did it
Billings. who. attorneys stressed, is
here solely as witness. talked volubly
and smoothly without interruption.
Promised a Job.
Telling about his meeting with
Swanson, he said: Swanson said he
was sorry he had to send me to prison
in 1918 and said he might be able to
get me a job. He took my address
and left.
L saw him next day in response to
TO several officials Of the Pacific Gas
6s Electric Co.
One of the men he introduced me
to gave me an employment blank
Later he produced poster offer
ing a $4,000 reward for the appre-
hension of any one in connection with
the bombing of power transmission
lines. He asked me how well I knew
Mooney and when I last saw him. He
told me all that would be necessary
would be for me to go into court and
say I knew Mooney and that Tom
had told me he was the man who had
dynamited the towers"
Billings said he told Mooney of the
incident. He said Swanson became
angry and threatened to get" him
later.
Mooney seeks freedom from prison
via the habeas corpus route on the
contention the prosecution violated
his constitutional rights in his trial
that he was convicted on false testi-
mony.
Billings said Swanson was with OH
GERS who arrested him four days after
the Preparedness day bombing. He
was taken into custody at a San
Francisco hospital, where he said he
was waiting to have a prescription
dlled.