The day book. [volume], February 15, 1913, 2, Image 5

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

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ed shrewdly on the precedent at
Los Angeles to discredit the pro
test of the strikers.
One man foresaw the possibil
ity of proving criminal conspir
acy Joseph C. Pelletier, district
attorney of Suffolk county,
Mass., then seeking the Demo
cratic nomination for governor.
In the heat of a preliminary
campaign, while assailing the
machine candidate a very rich
manufacturer Dist, Atty. Pelle
tier indicted William M. Wood.
Now that political opportunity
has passed, will the district attor
new of Suffolk county prpse
cute really prosecute.
Five months ago the grand
jury voted indictment. On Feb
ruary 2, 1913, Seth Low, former
mayor of New York, publicly de
manded that William M. Wood,
et al., be tried without further de
lay. And then and not till then
was the date of trial set for
March.
Now is there to be a real trial
an Indianapolis trial?
Joseph C. Pellitier, who alone
can make it one and upon whom
are the eyes of the entire nation
has always proved himself, as
I see it, an adept at legal soph
istry. Why was the famous Cracker
will case, in which convictions
for jury fixing would have jailed
several of the wealthiest men in
Boston, "nolle prossed" thrown
out of court without trial? Who
will answer me this question?
Why have the now five-year-old
city of Boston "coal steal"
cases in which leading politicians.
were notoriously implicated,
never been brought to trial?
And next what will happen to
the Wood case?
BY SAMUEL GOMPERS
The people of the United States
demand that William M. Wood,
head of the great, overbearing
wool trust ,now charged with be
ing involved in a dynamite con
spiracy, be treated in exactly the
same manner that any other pris
oner, charged with a similar of
fense, be treated. This whether
that prisoner be drawn from the
ranks of capital or from the ranks
of labor.
It is high time that Wood be
brought to trial. If he is guilty
of the crime with which he is
charged he should receive his
deserts without delay; if he is in
nocent he ought to be afforded an
immediate chance to clear his
name.
The manner in which this case
has been handled is in striking
contrast with the manner in
which cases against workingmen
are handled.
The McNamaras, when they
were only suspects, were kid
naped and rushed to Los Angeles.
William M. Wood and the men
charged jointly with him of a
conspiracy against the working
men of Lawrence have remained
at Liberty and have not even been
hauled as yet before a bar of jus
tice !
If William Wood, backed by a
great, grinding money power
actually tried to discredit poor,
unprotected working men by