Hellraisers Journal: Darrow and Richardson Meet in Chicago to Plan Defense of Haywood and Moyer
will not go to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
Tuesday April 17, 1906
Chicago, Illinois - Attorney Clarence Darrow Meets with Richardson
From the Chicago Inter Ocean of April 13, 1906:
CHICAGO MADE PIVOT FOR
MINERS' TRIAL
-----Attorneys for Defense Meet Here to Form Plans
for Saving Haywood and Moyer-
Anarchists' Case Precedent for Prosecution.
-----Plans for the legal defense of William D. Haywood and Charles Moyer, who are charged with the assassination of Former Governor Steunenberg of Idaho, were discussed yesterday by their general counsel, E. T. Richardson of Denver and his associate in the case, Clarence Darrow, at the latter's office in the Ashland block.
It was decided that the first step in the case would be to go before the Supreme court of the United States and take an appeal against the decision of the Idaho Supreme court, wherein the writ of habeas corpus for the release of Haywood and Moyer had been denied, and for this purpose Mr. Richardson left last night for Washington. He will ask the Supreme court to advance the case on the calendar and set the hearing for an early date, at which time Clarence Darrow will present the argument for a reversal of the decision of the lower court.
Anarchists' Trial Affords Precedent.The authorities of Idaho will follow the same line of prosecution in their effort to fix the guilt of the crime upon Haywood and Moyer that was adopted by Illinois authorities in the prosecution of the Chicago anarchists in the Haymarket riot case. They will proceed on the theory that the utterances and writing of the two officials of the Western Federation of miners led to the assassination of Steunenberg and will ask for the death penalty for the defendants on circumstantial evidence.
A conferenced was also had by Attorneys Richardson and Darrow, with local labor leaders, at which it was decided, in view of the enormous cost of the defense which would involve bringing witnesses from all parts of the United States to Idaho, that a campaign for a defense fund under the direction and control of the American Federation of Labor be inaugurated.
It is understood that a call for funds will be sent out from the American Federation of Labor to all affiliated unions, requesting them to donate liberally.
A corps of detectives has been employed to trace the career of all the state's witnesses, and to secure evidence upon which to base an appeal for a change of venue from Shoshone county, which was Stuenenberg's [Steunenberg] home. It is also certain that the funds from which the expenses in the case will have to be defrayed must come from unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, as the Western Federation is in serious financial straits.
SOURCE
The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois0
-Apr 13, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/34518337/
IMAGES
Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case, Darrow, Richardson, 1907
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=832
Moyer and Haywood, Wilshire's Magazine, 1906
pdf! http://darrow.law.umn.edu/documents/Wilshire_Mag.pdf
Unraveling the Facts from the Errors in the Inter Ocean's
Coverage of Darrow-Richardson Meeting
While we can't be sure who wrote this article for Inter Ocean, it sounds somewhat like the voice of Luke Grant, the paper's labor editor. The meeting between Darrow and Richardson did take place, and was reported by several other papers of the day. It does appear that the attorneys did settle on the strategy of appealing the habeas corpus case to the U. S. Supreme Court, also widely reported.
However, there are many errors in the article:
Governor Steunenberg was from Caldwell, Idaho, and was murdered at his home there. Caldwell was the county seat of Canyon County and that is where legal proceeding were taking place at this point in the case. Shoshone County, Idaho, is well to north of Canyon County.
The Day of the Rope, Black Thursday, June 21, 1877.
``````````
Most accounts of the history of the Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case agree that the strategy of the prosecution was based upon the Molly Maguire Cases of Pennsylvania from the the late 1870s and not upon the famous Haymarket Case of Chicago. The detective on the Haywood-Moyer Case, James McParland, was the same Pinkerton Agent who had engineered the frame-up of the Martyred Miners of Pennsylvania. McParland was using that same strategy in Idaho in order to send the leaders of the Western Federation of Miners to the gallows.
For example, this Pinkerton Agent was NOT claiming that Harry Orchard, the actual murderer, had merely been inspired by the writings and speeches of the WFM leaders, but that Orchard had been directly ordered by the so-called "inner circle" of the WFM to commit various assassinations, including that of Governor Steunenberg.
The AFL did get behind the defense of the leaders of WFM. This part was true. The United Mine Workers of America, the largest member-union within the AFL at that time, had contributed $5,000 immediately after the arrest of Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone. Up to the arrest, the AFL had exhibited extreme hostility towards the WFM due to the leading role that the WFM had played in the founding of the Industrial Workers of World.
It seems that the leaders of American Federation of Labor realized that, if the leaders of the Western Federation of Miners could be hanged for the actions of some crackpot or agent provocateur within their ranks, then the life of each and every labor leader in the nation could easily be placed in similar jeopardy.
I'm not sure, however, that the WFM was having financial difficulties at the time. I seem to remember that a statement had been issued around that time that they had, on hand, over one million dollars with which to defend their leaders -can't put my hands on that right at the moment. In any case, the WFM Convention is coming up in May, and we will soon learn more about the financial affairs of the mighty Western Federation of Miners in the year 1906.
SOURCES
Luke Grant as labor editor of Inter Ocean
http://www.gompers.umd.edu/dociwwreport.htm
Shoshone County ID
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshone_County,_Idaho
Canyon County ID
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_County,_Idaho
Caldwell ID
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell,_Idaho
Governor Steunenberg of Caldwell, Idaho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Steunenberg
Gov Altgeld's Pardon, preface by Lucy Parsons, 1915
https://archive.org/stream/govjohnpaltgelds00illi#page/n0/mode/1up
Hellraisers Journal: "Man Who Broke Up Molly Maguires [so-called] Says Labor Leaders Will Die."
http://caucus99percent.com/content/hellraisers-journal-man-who-broke-mol...
American Federation of Labor v Western Federation of Miners
(AFL accuses WFM of "ingratitude and hostility" for the role played by the WFM in founding the Industrial Workers of the World.)
-Labor World of Duluth, MN- Aug 1905 - Dec 1906:
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=Minnesota&...
Hellraisers Journal: Gaylord Wilshire Calls for General Strike to Free Moyer, Haywood & Pettibone -by JayRaye
http://caucus99percent.com/content/hellraisers-journal-gaylord-wilshire-...
If the working class of America do not make their protest sufficiently vigorous to prevent the possibility of this judicial crime, then the execution of Haywood and Moyer may be the beginning of a series of executions of labor union leaders from one end of the country to the other.
[Gaylord Wilshire]
IMAGE
Black Thursday (June 21, 1877): "The March to Death"
from Frank Leslies's Illustrated Newspaper, Jul 7, 1877
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/maguires/imagesmollies.html
Comments
WE NEVER FORGET
WE NEVER FORGET
John Kehoe
Alex Campbell
Mickey Doyle
Edward Kelly
Hugh McGeehan
Thomas Munley
James Carroll
James Roarity
James Boyle
Thomas Duffy
John Donahue
Thomas Fisher
Patrick Hester
Peter McHugh
Patrick Tully
Peter McManus
Charles Sharpe
Denis Donnelly
Martin Bergan
James McDonald
WE NEVER FORGET
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Very cool, JaeRay. You sure know your stuff. I read the news
report and then was amazed that you were able to correct the report - from 1906 no less - with better facts!
Listening to the Balladeers now while reading through your never forget list of names, trying to honour their memory. The corporatists never change their stripes, do they? They want to enslave the world and kill everyone who doesn't fall in line promptly. We progs cannot reason with them. They only understand power, like any kindergarten bully.
I've taught my kids very practically to stand toe to toe with school- and life bullies and smack them down. It's all they understand. They work out and take martial arts to be able to do just that, whenever it is needed. Life is very much harder for people who allow bullies to rule them. Vivre Libre ou Mourir ("Live free or die") was the motto during the French Revolution and it's just as applicable today.
I must say that I am close to despair over today's progressives. Having spent all my life as the lone prog in conservative milieus, I come to hang out with other progs here in retirement. It's lovely to have similarly-minded folks for company here on c99. But they're not exactly ready for action, are they? Conservatives are ready for battle at the drop of the proverbial hat. Mostly wrong-headed and destined for failure action, but ready they always are. Progs mainly talk. A lot. But my word, they are gun-shy, so to speak. I'm for nonviolent resistance first and foremost. But the word is "resist," eh!
JayRae, do you know where the more action-oriented progressives hang out online?
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Hey Gerrit, thank you as always for remembering our martyrs.
And thank you for your kind words. The newspapers, then as now, often played fast and loose with the facts. If Luke Grant wrote this, then he had an agenda, for he was not only the labor editor of the Inter Ocean, but an agent for Samuel Gompers in the AFL war against the IWW. The WFM was still part (the largest part) of the IWW at this time. So that could be why Grant might want to paint the WFM as weak and broke.
Now Gerrit, about your remarks about progressives not being ready for action, and specifically progressives here at C99, I don't think that generalization is entirely fair. Many people here at C99 do a lot more than "hang out" online.
Furthermore, blogging is an important activity in this day and age, getting actual true facts published online is a form of activism. And folks here do write about other types of activism that they are involved in.
I've been extremely encouraged to see the younger generation coming out and getting active in the Bernie campaign. What we need to do now is to find ways to keep that activism going, whether or not Bernie is elected President.
Love it that you have your kids in martial arts. Most martial arts teach respect as the first way to avoid a fight. Also standing tall and being assertive with bullies. Actual fighting should be an absolute last resort. That fits my philosophy to a T.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Thanks, JaeRay, that's a good corrective to my impatience.
I forget that many folks do their thing and come to c99 to unwind and chat about the day and it's crapola. I shall work to remember that. My impatience is probably more a matter of being frustrated with my own "handicaps." "We see the world, not as it is, but as we are." You're right - and I asked the right person!
Fascinating to hear of the agendas of the various reporters. Nothing ever changes, eh? :=) And yes, we must work on our long memory. As a veteran and as the son and grandchild and great-grandchild of veterans, I was raised within a subculture that prized the long memory. So I appreciate the long memory as it relates to progressives - socialists, workers, feminists, activists, justice-seekers, and environmentalists, etc.
Thank you my friend,
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
My theory on why so many liberal vets don't get active...
is that whole thing about "Ain't gonna study war no more".
It's bad out there, I totally agree, but very easy in this day and age to close your eyes and concentrate on only what matters to you personally.
And thanks for reminding me I need to get down to one of the Local Dojos for my son soon. (Been recommended several times he take martial arts, and I've been holding off due to his temper, which has now subsided considerably.)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Look Again
I was a Marine 60 years ago and I learned some karate later, but I've learned over the years that the best way to beat the bastards is to let them get off balance and make mistakes and become easier to defeat. Overconfidence is a wonderful thing to take advantage of. The 1% are really showing their true selves now and people see it. The mask is off and people are finding it's even worse than they thought. It's taken a whole lot longer than I like for the masters of the universe to stumble and start to fall. But I think they have.
Last I looked 800 people had been arrested in Washington and the news is starting to get out. The "media" is controlled but it isn't leak proof. The point I'm really making is that folks are still willing to be pepper sprayed and arrested. And there are a lot of us. Look at the rallies for Bernie all over the place. People were just waiting for someone to give them a rallying point, and Bernie has done just that. He's smart and I think his slogan of "not me us" has been in his mind since the civil rights days. I remember those days too. Interesting times as the Chinese say.
If this movement is as powerful as it looks, we are about to take a roller coaster ride. It won't be pleasant but it could accomplish what the country needs. I think we might surprise ourselves. Let's hope so.
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
True dat, DMW. You will love what martial arts does for your son
It builds not only skills, but confidence, discipline, and most importantly, good judgement. And the kids see great, great role models at the dojo. It does wonders. And don't be shy: put your daughter in when you can. My girls take no crap from anyone.
Girls need martial arts. I grew up in a conservative culture, where women were idolized in public (and all manner of bad things happened behind closed doors) and placed on pedestals (and in kitchens, sigh). No boy or man would dare to raise a hand or be rude to a girl/woman. Another fellow would simply clout him on the spot. Nowadays, it's a dog damned free-for-all. Girls supposedly have more rights and freedoms, but the boys don't know their place anymore. They're absolute pigs. There are no rules and the boys take full advantage. Not with my girls. They clout any boy any size. We don't have much money. But we save for this all year long. And there's help available for parents like us when money gets real tight.
Best wishes mate,
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Gerrit & DMV, ty for great conversation in Hellraisers today!
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons