Tag: Pettibone v Nichols

Hellraisers Journal: Summary of Moyer-Haywood-Pettibone Case From Current Literature: Kidnapping and Supreme Court

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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If they hang Moyer and Haywood,
they’ve got to hang me.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 7, 1907
Current Literature on Moyer-Haywood-Pettibone Case, Part I

HMP, re Undesirable Citizen, June 1907

HMP, NYC Moyer Haywood Protest, Current Lit, June 1907

—–

WHAT Mr. Debs, once a Socialist candidate for President, calls “the greatest legal battle in American history,” is now in progress in Boise City, Idaho. Fifty special correspondents of newspapers and magazines from all parts of the country hastened last month to the little city to report the case, and the telegraph company installed ten additional circuits to handle the press of business. Boise City itself is not excited. It has not furnished any of the defendants, nor any of the lawyers, nor the victim whose murder is the cause of all this excitement. All it furnishes is the jury to try the case. But the country at large is furnishing the excitement. The President of the United States has been involved in a heated controversy over the character of the defendants. The United States Supreme Court has rendered a decision which is likened by Socialist orators to the Dred Scott decision of half a century ago. Thousands of men have been parading the streets of many cities—50,000 in New York alone according to The Herald’s estimate—waving red flags, singing the Marsellaise, denouncing the Supreme Court and assailing the President in terms of bitter reproach. And a collection of $250,000, according to some estimates, has been gathered from the members of labor unions to insure for the defendants in this trial an adequate defense.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Reveals: Roosevelt Read “Undesirable Citizen” Letter to Supreme Court Justices

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Ring Out May Ninth, O Bells of Labor;
Ring out O’er all the Nation;
This Day They Heroes Consecrate
to Thy Emancipation.
-Appeal to Reason, May 5, 1907

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 5, 1907
“Undesirable Citizen,” Eugene V. Debs, Takes on President Roosevelt

From page one of the Appeal to Reason of May 4, 1907:

COLLUSION BETWEEN ROOSEVELT
and SUPREME COURT
—–

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
—–

HMP, EVD v Roosevelt, AtR, May 4, 1907

The one point of the most vital character in the kidnaping cases is the collusion of President Roosevelt and the Supreme court of the United States, clearly indicated in the dispatches from the white house published in the capitalist press. Read carefully the following extract from the Washington Post of April 4th:

It was ascertained at the white house yesterday that when the president wrote to Chairman Sherman (Oct. 8th, 1906), the letter which was made public yesterday, denouncing Harriman, he expected it would be made public at the time. He authorized Sherman to show it to Harriman, and the republican chairman did so. It was immediately afterward that a friend of Harriman came to Washington and assured the president that the railway magnate had not made some of the statements attributed to him by Sherman. For this reason, it is said, the president did not make public the letter then.

HE DID HOWEVER, SHOW IT TO MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, WHO MADE THE ANNUAL CALL UPON HIM THAT DAY WITH THE COMMENT THAT HE BELIEVED SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT HE DENOUNCED TOO FREQUENTLY WEALTHY EVIL-DOERS AND DID NOT CONDEMN OFTEN ENOUGH MEN OF THE HAYWOOD AND MOYER TYPE. HE, THEREFORE, TOOK CONSIDERABLE PLEASURE IN DEALING COLLECTIVELY WITH HARRIMAN AND HAYWOOD AND MOYER, ALL OF WHOM WERE MENTIONED IN THE SAME CATEGORY IN THE SHERMAN LETTER.

 

Here we have the most startling and extraordinary disclosure, inadvertently made to cover up another Roosevelt exposure, in the political history of the United States. We see the president before the supreme court pronouncing his condemnation upon three citizens on trial for their lives, in a state case which may, and probably will, be appealed to this same supreme court, and whose members are to finally decide whether these three citizens shall live or die. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Reveals: Roosevelt Read “Undesirable Citizen” Letter to Supreme Court Justices” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Industrial Union Bulletin on Roosevelt’s Square Dealings with Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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The labor giant has slept long,
but is now awakening.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 14, 1907
From The Industrial Union Bulletin: Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”

IUB, Official Publication, IWW, April 13, 1907

The official publication of the Industrial Workers of the World yesterday discussed the remarks of President Roosevelt regarding the citizenship qualities of Comrades Debs, Moyer and Haywood, and included the statement of Bill Haywood, made in response to being termed an “undesirable citizen” by the President of the United States on the eve of his trial.

IS THIS A “SQUARE DEAL”?

HMP, Def Fund, IUB Apr 13, 1907

Nothing has happened in Theodore Roosevelt’s career as president of the United States that so entirely discredits his fitness for that position as the recent reference by him to Debs, Moyer and Haywood, as being “undesirable citizens.” The two latter are soon to appear in court and stand trial for their lives, yet the “chief magistrate” of the nation, oblivious to the ordinary rule that anyone charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proven, has made public an opinion that must be prejudicial to their interests. It is an outrage that ranks with the unlawful acts of the mine owners and McParlands of Colorado. Neither of these men has ever been convicted of any crime, yet their case is prejudged in advance of their appearance in court. It is a shameful and brutal spectacle.

IWW, Gen Sec Trautmann, Ex Brd St J, IUB, Apr 13,1907

The facts are these: The president addressed a letter to Congressman James S. Sherman in which certain matters in dispute between himself and the railway magnate, E. H. Harriman; entirely without warrant and apparently with the sole purpose of creating prejudice against Moyer and Haywood, he denounced the conduct of Harriman in the following terms:

It shows a cynicism and deep-seated corruption which make the man uttering such statements, and boasting, no matter how falsely, of his power to perform such crime, at least as undesirable a citizen as Debs, or Moyer or Haywood.

Fellow-worker Haywood, awaiting his trial in Idaho, gave out the following statement:

 

I do not desire to make an extended statement with regard to President Roosevelt’s reference to me in his letter to Congressman Sherman.

The president says that I am an “undesirable citizen,” the inference being that, as such, I should be put out of the way. His influence is all-powerful, and his statement, coming as it does, on the eve of my trial for my life, will work me irreparable injury, and do more to prevent a fair trial than everything that has been said and done against me in the past.

President Roosevelt is the leading exponent of the doctrine of “fair play and a square deal,” but his reference to me in his letter to Sherman demonstrates that he does not practice what he preaches.

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Hellraisers Journal: As he faces the gallows, President Declares Haywood to be “UNDESIRABLE CITIZEN”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 5, 1907
From the Montana News: Haywood Trial to Begin May 9th

HMP, Date Set Haywood Trial, Montana News, Apr 4, 1907

UNDESIRABLE CITIZENS

A letter, recently released by the President of the United States, was published in the Washington Evening Star April 2nd, wherein the President declares that Eugene Debs, Charles Moyer, and Bill Haywood are “undesirable citizens.” This follows by only one day the news that Fellow Worker William D. Haywood will go on trial for his life in Boise, Idaho, on May 9th.

The following is the relevant part of the letter written by President Roosevelt to Congressman J. S. Sherman on October 8, 1906 regarding the President’s feud with E. H. Harriman. The last paragraph of the President’s letter reads:

So much for what Mr. Harriman said about me personally. Far more important are the additional remarks he made to you as you inform me, when you asked him if he thought it was well to see Hearstism and the like triumphant over the republican party. You inform me that he told you that he did not care in the least, because those people were crooks and he could buy them; that whenever he wants legislation from a state legislature he could buy it; that he “could buy Congress,” and that if necessary he “could buy the judiciary.” This was doubtless said partly in boastful cynicism and partly in a mere burst of bad temper because of his objection to the interstate commerce law and to my actions as President. But it shows a cynicism and deep-seated corruption which make the man uttering such sentiments, and boasting, no matter how falsely, of this power to perform such crimes, at least as undesirable a citizen as Debs, or Moyer, or Haywood. It is because we have capitalists capable of uttering such sentiments and capable of acting on them that there is strength behind sinister agitators of the Hearst type. The wealthy corruptionist and the demagog who excites, in the press or on the stump, in office or out of office, class against class and appeals to the basest passions of the human soul are fundamentally alike and the are equally enemies of the republic. I was horrified, as was [Elihu] Root, when you told us today what Harriman had said to you. As I say,if you meet him you are entirely welcome to show him this letter, although, of course it must not be made public unless required by some reason of public policy, and then only after my consent has first been obtained.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs for the Appeal to Reason: Kidnapping Case Brought Before Congress

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Their only crime is
Loyalty to the Working Class.
-Eugene V. Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 12, 1907
Girard, Kansas – Eugene V. Debs Fights for Our Idaho Comrades

From the Appeal to Reason of March 9, 1907:

KIDNAPING CASE IN CONGRESS
—–

Appeal Succeeds in Placing Facts of the
Moyer-Haywood Case on Record
in Washington.
—–

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
Staff Correspondent Appeal to Reason.
—–

HMP, Pettibone Moyer Haywood, AtR, Feb 16, 1907

Washington, D. C., March 2.-At the opening of congress this morning, the Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone case was introduced, together with petitions for investigation and the dissenting opinion of Justice McKenna, of the supreme court. Senator Carmack, of Tennessee, presented the case on the floor of the United States senate, with the request that it be admitted to the records, and this was consented to.

The introduction of the conspiracy was a great surprise to most of the senators, but when the statement was made that the demand for an investigation was backed by two millions of organized workers, the unanimous consent which was necessary, and without which it would have failed, was given by the senate, excepting that Heyburn, of Idaho, requested that the decision of the supreme court be included with the dissenting opinion of Justice McKenna, to which no objection was made on our side.

The foundation is now laid for a congressional investigation and both senators and congressmen agree that, in obedience to the demands of organized labor, this will certainly to be authorized by the next session of congress. Senator Carmack has been particularly helpful in this matter and Senator Lafollette, of Wisconsin, has also treated me with great courtesy.

With this impending congressional investigation, which will develop all the facts in the conspiracy and reveal the whole horrible truth to the people, it is now perfectly safe to predict that Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone will soon have been rescued from the clutches of their kidnapers and would-be murderers and walk forth free men without a blemish upon their honor.

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Hellraisers Journal: Luella Twining Reports From New York on “Frenzy” of Central Federated Union to Save WFM Officials

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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If that is frenzy, I plead guilty
and I notify the Globe
I shall not soon recover.
-Luella Twining

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 13, 1907
From the Appeal to Reason: New York Workers Aroused!

Luella Twining of Denver can now be found in New York City assisting in the organization of the defense movement for Comrades Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone by the working men and women of that city.

From the Appeal to Reason of January 12, 1907:

NEW YORK IS AROUSED
—–
Working Class of City Organizing
Powerful Defense Movement
for W.F.of M. Officials.
—–

By Luella Twining.
—–

Luella Twining

New York, Jan. 4.-New York workingmen and women are demonstrating the solidarity of the working class. The second meeting of the Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone conference, composed of all workers who want to save their brothers in Idaho, irrespective of race, color, creed or politics, was more enthusiastic even than the first. Many new delegates were seated. Among the unions represented were the District Council of the Carpenters and Joiners, Central Federated Union, Brewers, Bill Posters, Typographical Union, Tobacco Workers, Bakers and Confectionary, Cloak and Suit Tailors, Cigar Makers, Butchers, Hat and Cap Makers, Beer Drivers, Beer Bottlers, Painters and Decorators, Steam Fitters, Bricklayers, Machinists, United Hebrew Trades, Sick and Death Benefit and Waiters. All of these trades were represented by more than one local, most of them by three or four.

The financial secretary reported the receipt of $2,760.20 for the “Defense Fund,” and $1,500 for the “Agitation Fund.” While we are laying particular stress on the necessity of money to carry on the trial, still we are setting forth also the necessity for agitation. We shall hold many meetings to warn the workers of the murder that is being planned in Idaho. We shall also distribute tons of literature setting forth the facts. New York City shall be buried in papers and pamphlets. Everybody shall know of this conspiracy, planned in New York, in that magnificent stone building on Broadway, and to be executed in that desolate, isolated region of Idaho. We do not intend to wait till our brothers are in their graves for the working class to say: “We did not know, we thought they would have a fair trial.”

The unions visited show intense interest. Many of them are holding special meetings for the reason that their by-laws do not permit them to give more than a prescribed sum. For instance, the “Sheet and Metal Workers” gave the maximum amount at their regular meeting. They held a special meeting the next week and gave $500. No unions before which speakers have appeared have refused to assist. All have displayed the greatest enthusiasm and expressed their indignation in burning words at the foul conspiracy to break up organized labor, and all resistance to capitalistic encroachment. They realize that Standard Oil, successful in ridding themselves of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone, would be like wild animals after having a taste of human blood, and thirsting for more. They know they would be the next victims.

The action of the Central Federated Union, in displaying such intense interest in the “Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone Conspiracy” was a hard blow for the prosecution. The Globe commented on it editorially, and said that the C. F. U. should not have allowed such statements to be made on its floor. They called me a “Maenad” (frenzied woman). I suppose that was for portraying the sufferings of Comrade Haywood’s invalid wife, also the agony she has endured during the long year in which her husband has been incarcerated in a cell, denied every right of an American citizen. If that is frenzy, I plead guilty and I notify the Globe I shall not soon recover. I am not alone. The C. F. U. all became “frenzied,” gave all they could and promised all moral support possible.

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Hellraisers Journal: Little Henrietta Haywood asks, “Will They Hang My Papa?”-by Luella Twining

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday December 20, 1906
From the Appeal to Reason: The Cry of Big Bill’s Little Daughter

HMP, Henrietta by Twining, AtR, Dec 15, 1906

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Little Henrietta Haywood asks, “Will They Hang My Papa?”-by Luella Twining” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: U. S. Supreme Court Declares Kidnapping Legal (If Perpetrated by the State)

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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If they hang Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone,
they’ve got to hang me.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday December 9, 1906
U. S. A. – Governors Are Now Empowered to Kidnap Citizens

From the Appeal to Reason of December 8, 1906:

KIDNAPING DECLARED LEGAL
—–

U. S. Supreme Court’s Decision Upholds
“Peabody Civilization.”
—–

HMP, McDonald Gooding, Kidnappers of Feb 18, 1906

Chief Justice Harlan, in behalf of the United States supreme court, Monday, December 3, handed down a decision in the Moyer-Haywood-Pettibone appeal case, in which the court declined to release the officers of the Western Federation of Miners from the custody of the Idaho authorities, in whose keeping they have been since February of the present year. The prisoners asked for a release on the ground that they were illegally arrested in Colorado, kidnaped and carried into Idaho and there detained without due process of law. At the time of their arrest Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were charged with the assassination of ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg, who was killed on the night of December 30, 1905.

The appeal, taken from the Idaho courts, was argued by Attorneys Darrow and Richardson before the United States supreme court October 9 last. So important were the issues involved that the Washington tribunal sidetracked all other measures and applied itself to an immediate consideration of this Federation appeal.

While the decision, as announced, was not unexpected, the full measure of its meaning does not dawn on the inner consciousness until it is given mature and deliberate thought. Then it is seen that this decision is the culmination of as gigantic a conspiracy against the liberties of the working class as was ever concocted in the annals of time. It is the loud-sounding voice of challenge from the hired mouthpiece of united capitalism, determined to stifle the voice of those who would dare represent those who toil. It is the concrete command of the plutocracy to the radicals of the nation-“Thus far shalt thou go.”

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Hellraisers Journal: U. S. Supreme Court Rules Against Moyer, Haywood, and Pettibone in Habeas Corpus Cases

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 8, 1906
U. S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of State-Sponsored Kidnapping

Kidnappers Special by BBH, detail, AtR, May 19, 1906

The U. S. Supreme Court has ruled that kidnapping is legal as long as it is accomplished by the Governor of a state, or, as in the case of the kidnapping of Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone, done through a conspiracy between the Governors of two states: Colorado and Idaho. The lone voice for actual “law and order” upon the Court was that of Justice McKenna whose dissenting opinion states in part:

Kidnapping is a crime, pure and simple. It is difficult to accomplish; hazardous at every step. All the officers of the law are supposed to be on guard against it. All of the officers of the law may be invoked against it. But how is it when the law becomes the kidnapper?

When the officers of the law, using its forms and exerting its power, become abductors? This is not a distinction without a difference—another form of the crime of kidnapping distinguished only from that committed by an individual by circumstances. If a state may say to one within her borders and upon whom her process is served, I will not inquire how you came here; I must execute my laws and remit you to proceedings against those who have wronged you, may she so plead against her own offenses? May she claim that by mere physical presence within her borders an accused person is within her jurisdiction denuded of his constitutional rights, though he has been brought there by her violence?

[…..]

No individual could have accomplished what the power of the two states accomplished. No individual or individuals could have commanded the means and success could have made two arrests of prominent citizens by invading their homes; could have commanded the resources of jails, armed guards and special trains; could have successfully timed all acts to prevent inquiry and judicial interference. The accused, as soon as he could have done so, submitted his rights to the consideration of the courts. He could not have done so in Colorado. He could not have done so on the way from Colorado. At the first instant that the state of Idaho relaxed its restraining power he invoked the aid of habeas corpus successively of the Supreme Court of the state and of the Circuit Court of the United States. He should not have been dismissed from court, and the action of the Circuit Court in so doing should be reversed.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: U. S. Supreme Court Rules Against Moyer, Haywood, and Pettibone in Habeas Corpus Cases” →