I.W.W.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2925, 10 November 1916, Page 6

I.W.W.

OPENING OF THE TREASON TRIALS GLIMPSE OF SINISTER WARFARE A' NEFARIOUS GANG / [The following very complete report (from the "Sydney Morning Herald") of Die prosecuting counsel's address nt the opening of the treason trials of twelve members of tho I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the AVorld), gives nn interesting glimpse of the methods of this nefarious organisation.] Mr. Lamb, K.C., was the prosecuting attorney in chief. The warrant on which the accused were arrested consisted of seven foolscap sheets of typewriting. lfc alleged that they, not regarding tho duty of their. allegiance, but wholly withdrawing the love, obedience, fidelity, and allegiance ivhich every true and faithful subject of the King did and of right ought to bear, at Sydney,' on September 14, 1916, and on other days, before and after that date, f eloniouslv and wickedly compassed, imaginea, invented, devised, or intended to levy war against the King within the State of New South Wales, in order by force or restraint to compel him to change his measures or counsels. It also alleged that they conspired to raise, make, and levy insurrection and rebollion against the King; that they did feloniously and wickedly conspire to burn down and destroy buildings and shops in Sydney and elsewhere in the State ; that they prepared and manufactured a chemical with intent to employ the same in furtherance of the burning down of buildings and'shops; that they placed and'deposited a chemical with inflammable material in certain shops and buildings with intent to burn down and destroy them; and that tiey endeavoured to put force, or restraint upon the Parliament of New South Wales and that' they endeavoured to intimidate or overawe Parliament.

, Case ; for the Crown. Mr. Lamb said the charges arose out of the fires which occurcd recently in this city, which, it was alleged, wore caused by the accused for the purpose of coercing tho Government of this country in respect of several difficult matters, one of which was in rcspcct of the burning question of the day— conscription. Tho crimo with which these men—who aro all memßejn 'of tho Industrial Workers of tho World— mere charged, was ono of tho most serious crimes known to law. It was without parallol in.the annals of crime in Australia. It was a crime committed against the people of Australia; it was a crime of far-reaching effect. It was a crime by means of which tho lives' of men, women, and children in this .Stato wero placed in deadly peril. It was only by accident that there was not enormous loss of lifo. Some of tho men deliberately set fire to shops in which wore many customers purchasing goods. Happily, thero was no loss of lifo. Had there been, these men would be standing charged with murder. Theso crimes throw out of employment many men and women in this city. Tho destruction of property ran into tho region of a quarter of a million pounds. If all the fires which wero started by the accused had burned tho damago would have run into something in tho region of a million pounds.

Charge of Sabotage. All theso men wore members of the 1.W.W., which preached, by pamphlets and openly in tho Domain, the doctrino of what is known as sabotage. Some of the men were associates of a notorious Gorman, who had escaped from internment camp. This German was harboured, for a considerable time, in their lodgings during the month of July. Tho fires ranged between June and August and into the month of September. How far these acts wore due to direct German infhienco it was impossible to provo directly, but presumption might bo drawn from the fact of the association of these men' with our enemies. These men, it would bo shown, adopted tactics which wore pleasing to our enemies. They even went to the length of having this escaped German's identification marks removed. They forced a person, at tho point of tho revolvei', to do this work. Tho crimo with which the accused, wero charged was a deliberate one; it was premeditated. _ It was fiendish in design and devilish in ingenuity. It was, carefully planned, and carried out in cold-blooded callousness. It was a crime difficult to detect. 'It was a crime deliberately advocated by pamphlets founa on tho premises occupied by members of the 1.W.W., and advocated by some of tho men now charged and openly declared by speeohes in the Domain to be part of the deliberate policy of the I.W.W. Sabotage seemed to be the god of these men.

As had been stated By the accused, their 'object was to destroy property' doing it regardless of the lives of their fclloiMitizens and of the fact ' that many people would be thrown out of employment, aud regardless of. the enormous injury to -those whose property, suffered. The'charge was one of treason-felony. It would bo proved that the accused might also be charged with arson and conspiracy. The present charge was laid under Section 12 of the Crimes Act, 1900. It might be supposed that the levying of war would 'be limited to fio-ht-ing between two sets' of "solcliers, but ic had been decided that levying war meant, under Section 12, that if people were guilty 0 f acts 0 j violence against the King.and his subjects, or iP they endangered the lives of the subjects in an endeavour to make the .Government change its actions, they were guilty of war. ' In the present instance the accused endeavoured to coerce the Government to abandon the prosecution of certain members of the 1.W.W.; to force the Government to release Barker, and to force the Government to abandon the policy of conscription. Many of these fires took place -after Mr. Hughes's great and memorable speech, and wlien his voice was ringing throughout the country with its call to patriotism, they preached destruction to their fell<ni> men. One of the avowed objects for which sabotage was practised was to secure the release of Barker, bno oftheir members, who had been arrested for crimes against, his country, and sent to gaol_ on May 4. An. attempt had certainly been made to secure Barker's release- in . a legitimate _ way; but when these representations failed, sabotage was resorMi to. The first fire was aimed at the Government, and an attempt was made to force tho Government to abandon their policy in respect of conscription. The attempts commencccl after tho momorable speech of that great statesman and . patriot—the Prime Minister of Australia. 'While the country was wringing with tho voice, of Mr. Hughes, calling to the patriotism of the country; while his speeches were burning into the hearts of all true patriots, a firo not very far from that Courthouse was raging'. . Alleged Burning Down of Sydney.

One of tho men stated that if conscription were carried the I.W.W. would burn down Sydney. It was very easy to_ see that if all tho fires that had--actually beon started had progressed a great_ portion _gf Sydney

would certainly have already disappeared. This was the I.W.W. answer to tho appeal that Mr. Hughes had sent forth to tho manhood of Australia , to go out to battle against men who ) were destroying cities and' outraging women. At tho moment tho words of Mr. Hughes _ wefo illutninating tho minds of patriotis the blazing Co-opera-tivo Building was illuminating the skies over this city. At their anticonscription meetings some of the accused openly declared that tho way to oppose tho Government's conscription policy was by "systematic scientific sabotage—a .method by which the lives of hundreds of innocent men and women and children were endangered. One of the accused said, "We will teach tho Government to interfere with P.arkor and others." This man also said he had 'phoned the police, saying, "There is another of Barker's .fires gfiing; when aro you going to release him?" .Another of tho accused, 'referring to a sample of chemical said, "This is used for burning down places. Vol knew ■ that four or five places have already | gone, but there aro a lot more to go- ' As long as the I.W.W. is persecuted it will cost the capitalists £10,000 a day. , As long as Grant, Reeves, and I.arkia are kept in gaol it will cost th® capitalists .this amount." Shortly after that statement was made there were attempts to burn down 10 different shops and business places in this city. Fagm had also referred to these fires as having been sot alight in. consequence of Barker being kept in prison. A letter, written' by Reeve, and dealing with Barker's release, stated that tho I.W.W. had instituted a systematic, scientific course of sabotage, adding "Kittens will be born in big batches." On the pamphlets defining sabotage appeared the representation of a cat, and sabotage was often referred l to as "sab. cat," arid I.W.W. members frequently signed themselves as "Vonrs in revolt," and "Yours for 0.8. U." (one big union). .Counsel gave minutely the long list of places at which attempts to originate fires had been made, first showing that the praotice had been for someone to walk into a shop Towards closing hour; make a purchase, and drop cotton waste 6oaked with phosphorous and carbon bisulphide down in some imnoticed corner. How soon this material would burst into flame depended on. how soon .it- dried, ,and it was quite;possible that a fire would break out while a big shop was filled with customers. ! The Damage. Between June and August there were four fires in Sydney, the ciroumstances surrounding each being similar. Early in September attempts were made to start ten fires in Sydney, and in each case tho analysis showed that phosphorus had been . used. There were also other attempts; but of these tho police gave timely warnings or tho chemical did not operate as was expected. Sometimes it operated too 6opn, and sometimes too late. A demonstration would bo given in the Court, which would show that once tho chemical solution had evaporated the phosphorus which was on tho cotton'waste would burst into flames. Making a late purchase at a shop just before closing hour, one of the accused would lot a quantity of this wasto drop—with the results known. Thero had been_ four big fires in Sydney—Simpson's, Winn's, Stodman's, and the Public Supply (Cooperative) Stores. The damage amounted to £250,000, .and about 600 persons were thrown out of employment. A few minutes past 8 o'clock on June 16 an attempt was made to Bet fire to Mark Foy's premises. Two parcels of cotton waste- saturated with tho solution were found on tho premises. The material had lighted, but tho outbreaks wore discovered in time. Mr. Foy submitted tho material to his chemist, and it was found to contain phosphorus. At Simp--son's free store damage to the extent of £100,000 was effected, and it had been admitted by Fagin that this was the work of tho I.W.W. The damage at Winn's, in Oxford Street, amounted to £40,000,- and this had also been attributed by Fagin to tho I.W.W. At Stedman's £82,000 worth of damage was ■ done,and 270 people wore thrown out of employment, jiesides which the Grand .Central Hotel, adjoining, was damaged. It was intended to prove that this had been the work of Teen, who had cotton wasto and chemicals in his possession when arrested. On August 31, just when Mr. Hughes mado his great speech, the Cooperative fire occurred, doing damage to the extent, of £50,000. These fires, if they had totally destroyed the buildings in which they had been dieovered, would have dono damage to tho extent of £600,000, and would hare thrown over 900 employees out of work. Later on conscription.'became a burning question —certainly the accused did their best to make it so—and on September 7 Moore, one of the accused, was overheard by a detective to say "10 or 12 of the 1 should be let go together." Ho was standing near Mark Foy's at the time, and added, "This one must go." Two days later the attempt ,was mado on Mark Foy's at a time when, the shop was filled with customers. At Saxton and Binns', whoso property was valued at £70,000, and who had 300 employees, a parcel was discovered which, when it was taken into the manager's office, buret into flames. On the same day an attempt was mado at Itiley .Brothers', and the remains of the parcel smelt strongly of tho same chemical, and indeed, were afterwards found to contain- phosphorus.", At Brown and Co.'s furniture store in Cleveland Street burnt paper was found, and once again ■the analysis .disclosed phosphorus. On tho same day a fire started in Beard an dCo.'s premises, PaTramatta Road, but burnt itself out. Again' an analysis of the remains revealed phosphorus. Also on the am© day an attempt was mado on Bums, Philp No. 3 wharf, and had that fire run its course the damage would have amounted to £200,000. On September 9 an attempt was made at Buckingham's, in Oxford Street, cotton ' waste and cellnloid being found in the corsot department. When tho parcel was opened it burst into flame. On the day previous Nock, and Kirby's discovered a parcel in their shop in George Street, the premises beinc filled with customers at the time. If tho attempt had been successful the damage would have reached .£IOO,OOO. Next day Brennan's in King Street, Newtown, and one of Mick Simmons's shops wero attacked, but without success—so far as the accused were concerned.

Lots Alleged to be Drawn. It was curious to notice the secret methods followed by the conspirators. They would meet secretly 'at the I.W.W. rooms in Sussex Street, and adopt means to cover their tracks, and. prevent even themselves from knowing who it was that 'was doing the deadly work. At the 'I.W.W. rooms' would bg a foreigner, believed to he an Austrian. Lots were drawn as to who should carry on the particular ; fires,' the men using red and black discs. These were pub into a box. The man who drew the red disc would be told— in tho presence only of tho Austrian — what place lie had to burn down. No ono elso was allowed to bear the instructions given. When arrested. Fagin had in his possession two black "deuces" and ono red "deuco," from a card pack, and it was easy to imagine that these cards were used in certnin_ instances in place of the discs. Fnrjin also bad a skull oil his table, and when asked what it was. replied: " old Kino; George; don't vou recosnisc .him?" Counsel proceeded to outline the evidenco that had been collected against each accused, showing tho alleged participation of each in the crimes. Much of tho material that was used for burning down the buildings was discovered ill the possession of one or other of the men.'. Teen, JFagiiij ..Hqimltofc. and Beatty. lodged in^

a house kept by a Russian, and it was in that house that the escaped German internee had been harboured, and whero the tattoo marks ho had on his body were removed from him. ' The Crown would prove that Hamilton purchased bisulphide of carbon early in August; that Beatty ordered the chemical and called for it, and that Fagin purchased phosphorus. "When Fagin was .arrested cliemical was found in a bag which he said was his own property. Ho ivas heard to make statements that the distribution of tho chemical was done by Hamilton, Pagin, Boatty, and Teen. An overcoat which Teen was wearing at-tho time of his arrest was found to contain in one of its pockets a parcel of chemical and cotton waste. He told tlie police that this coat belonged to a man called Pope, and added that he did not know where Pope lived. As a matter of fact, the two of them lived together. Popo was brought to Teen, and although be admitted that tho coat was his, coiir tended that it bad no cotton waste or bottle of chemical in any pocket when Teen borrowed it. Mr. Lamb, referring to Larkin, said that on one occasion he was noticed by tho watching detectives to take a small bottle out of his pocket as he came outsido of the I.W.W. rooms, in Sussex Street. He was with a few friends, and, with the right hand, he went tnrough the action of sprinkling something from tho bottle on to his left palm, and then, quickly replacing the Bottle in lis_ pocket, threw up his arms above his head. At this action ho and his friends laughed in great glae. Apparently he was indicating how the doed of firing a building was done. On September 10, Reeve, in the course of a speech in the Domain, said:—"The master class will sleep uneasily in their beds. The summer is coming on. It will be hot inside, but it will to a sight hotter outside." Ho added that two years the people of Sydney knew very little about sabotage, but they understood it much better now, and would understand it better still later on. On September 17, in another speech, ho said: "Go slow, sabotage, and dircpt action are the reasons the masters don't like the 1.W.W." On April 2, Grant said that for ' every 'day Barker—who had been sent to gaol on March 29 —was kept in prison it would cost the capitalists £10,000. :,