A History of Organized Felony and Folly - The Clarence Darrow ...

A History of Organized Felony and Folly
workers, set forth that the women were warned by union
men in person, or by word sent by proxy, on dates between
September 24 and October 2, 1919, inclusive, that their
husbands would be killed if they persisted in working for the
Illinois St3el Co. Each of the affiants tells of being awakened
from s'oep at hours ranging from 11 o'clock, P. M., to
3 o'clock, A. M., by the sound of breaking glass, and found
that their homes had been stoned, windows broken, etc.
Caroline Larson, Nellie Person and Antonia Melcher,
wives of steel workers, made affidavits that men had called
at their homes on September 28, 1919, and warned them that
their husbands would be killed if they did not stop working
for the Illinois Steel Co.
Louise Sterling and Josepha Weuzer, wives of steel
workers, deposed that on September 28, 1919, threats were
made their houses would be burned if their husbands did not
stop working for the Illinois Steel Co.
Mrs. Michalina Zaniewski deposed on oath that two men
came to her home on September 24, 1919, and told her if she
did not get her husband to quit working for the Illinois Steel
Co., "they would cut his ears off; that they also threatened to
place a bomb under the building in which she lives, and blow
it up."
The foregoing statements made under oath are a few of
scores of similar ones embodying threats to kill, to destroy
homes at night by fire or explosives, to multilate living bodies
and other acts that one would not expect except from the
cruelest Indians in their most atrocious moods.
Few of these threats, of course, were carried out, but their
great numbers and the general similarity in their
nature show that they could have resulted only from a prolonged
and systematic campaign.
Arch-Criminal as Business Agent
How far the public can rely on the labor unions to punish
their criminal officials and members, as Samuel Gompers advocates,
is shown by the re-employment of J. J. McNamara,
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