People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1894 — DEBS ARRESTED. [ARTICLE]

DEBS ARRESTED.

The Leader of the Great Strike a Prisoner of Uncle Sam. Taken in Custody with Seventeen of HU Fellows on Charge* of Conspiracy Against the United States—Released on 810,000 Ball. FEDERAL GRAND JURY ACTS QUICKLY. Chicago, July 11.—Eugene V. Debs, president, George W. Howard, vice president, Sylvester Keliher, secretary, and L. W. Rogers, director of the American Railway union, and fourteen of their followers are in the toils of the United States court. Tuesday the special grand jury impaneled before Judge Grosscup returned an indictment against them for conspiracy to impede the United States mails. Debs, Howard, Keliher and Rogers were admitted to bail, to appear for trial in October, in the sum of 810,000 each, which was furnished, William Fitzgerald and William Skakel becoming bondsmen in each case- The other fourteen have already been arrested and most of them are under bonds given to United States Commissioner Hoyne. The books and papers of the American Railway union were seized by an order of the court, issued at the same time that its bench warrants for the arrest of these men were placed in the hands of the United States marshal. Debs took his arrest coolly and claimed he was innocent of wrong doing, but characterized the seizure of the papers of the union as an outrage. The men indicted were: Eugene V. DebstGeorge W. Howard, Sylvester Keliher’ L. W. Kogers, James Murwin, Lloyd Hotchkins, A. Plazypak, H. Elfin, J. Hannan William Smith, John Mesterbrook, Edward O’Neill, Charles Nailer, John Duffy, E. Shelley, Fred Ketchum. John W. Doyle, William McMullen. When Judge Grosscup took his seat in court Tuesday the work of selecting a jury was begun and soon ended. The following were sworn in as members of the jury: August Meyer, Bureau'county; Peter Case, Elmhurst; G. B. Norton, Lockport; L. A. Carey, Ingleton; Levi Casselman, Lombard; William Barber, Naperville: R. F. Wheaton, Wheaton; J. C. Starr, Belvidere; J. W. Eddy, Aurora; Emory Abbott, Geneva; J. Lucy and J. B. Wilson, Ottawa; I. Potter, De Kalb county; JI. W. Wormley, Shabbona; J. C. Whitney, Lake Zurich: W. H. Grossi eck, Hebron; G. W. Brewer and W. A. Sanborn, Sterling; B. Smeltzer and John Worth, Dakota. Judge Grosscup sele-ted W. A. Sanborn as foreman, and proceeded at once to read his charge, which was very lengthy. It was expecte i that he would specially call the attention of the jurors to President Debs, of the A. R. U., Put this he failed to do. The Indiana leader s name was not mentioned. The charge was sweeping enough to cover offenses of all kinds from the tampering with a switch to the hooting of a mob as directed against the militia. Under it almost anybody could be indicted who had in any way assisted in bringing about the present crisis. Judge Grosscup had a word of. praise for labor unions. He said they were necessary and that their purpose was good, but when they interfered with the rights of others they exceeded their pre ogatives. Conspiracy was clearly defined. Continuing the court told the jury they were empowered to send for persons and papers and books whenever such should be needed and to apply to the district attorney or his assistant at any time, or to the court, for instructions as to the law.

The jury then filed out and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and marched into the room devoted to their use.' The case against Debs and other leaders of the strike, implicating them for conspiracy, had already been prepared by Attorneys Milchrist and W alker. It was based on some of the public utterances of Debs and other leaders, and these were strengthened by the. original orders in writing sent out by Debs, directing men on different railways to quit their work and thus stop the running of mail trains. The jury was in session only a few hours before returning the indictments. Bench warrants were at once issued. Marshal Arnold at once went to the Leland hotel and arrested Mr. Debs, who offered no resistance and uttered no word of complaint. The others were arrested at the headquarters of the American Railway union in Uhlich’s hall. A number of his deputies appeared at the headquarters of the American Railway union in the Ashland block and seized a large bundle of official documents belonging to the organization. It was said that among these were a number of private letters addressed to Mr. Debs, which he had not seen and which had not been opened. All these were carried off to the office of District Attorney Milchrist and locked up with those taken from the Leland hotel. The indictment is drawn under section 5,440 of the United States statutes. That section reads as follows: •‘lf two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against th,e United States, or to defraud the United States in any manner, or for any purpose, or one or more of such parties do any acts to effect the object of the conspiracy, all the parties to such conspiracy shall be liable to a penalty of not less than SI,OOO or not more than SIO,OOO and to imprisonment not more than two years.” An amendment to the section makes the punishnjent a fine of not more than SIO,OOO and imprisonment not more than two years, or both, in the discretion of the court.