Eugene v debs trial

Their roles were to gather the evidence that potentially could be used in initiating criminal proceedings against Debs and the other speakers. Among the agents was James V. McCann, a soldier stationed at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe, Ohio, whose task was to photograph Debs delivering his remarks. You have never had a voice in the war. The working class who make the sacrifices, who shed the blood, have never yet had a voice in declaring war.

The Espionage Act had lowered the threshold for overstepping the legal boundaries of antiwar discourse. District Court in Cleveland, plans were placed in motion to arrest and indict Debs on charges of sedition under the act.

Two weeks later, on June 30, as Debs traveled through Cleveland to another speaking engagement, he was arrested and escorted to jail. Following the indictment, Debs fully recognized the severity of the charges. With his bail paid by Marguerite Prevey and a Cleveland comrade, A. Moskovitz, Debs was released. He returned home to Terre Haute to await trial.

The trial began on September 10, , in the U. District Court in Cleveland. The trial itself was swift considering its high-profile defendant. Witnesses for the prosecution testified. Exhibits were produced, including copies of the speech recorded by Steiner and the three photographs taken by McCann that not only showed Debs giving the speech but also, with a country in the throes of a world war, a bandstand devoid of any patriotic decoration.

After just two days, on Wednesday, September 12, the prosecution rested its case. Instead, they chose to let Debs himself address the jury. Knowing that his conviction was inevitable, Debs decided to use the opportunity to address the jury as a platform for the socialist cause and the right to freedom of speech. If there is a single statement in it that will not bear the light of truth, I will retract it.

I will make all of the reparation in my power. But if what I said is true, and I believe it is, then whatever fate or fortune may have in store for me I shall preserve inviolate the integrity of my soul and stand by it to the end. The boycott saw immediate results. Dozens of railroad lines were tied up, hundreds of thousands of workers were either fired or walked off their jobs in sympathy, and the boycott spread across the country.

Amidst the summer heat of Chicago in , tensions were rising between ARU strikers, state militia units under Illinois Governor Altgeld, and federal troops sent by President Cleveland. The strike had disrupted mail service, and angry strikers had destroyed mail service rail cars as well as hundreds of other rail cars , and because the mail was operated by the federal government, the President felt compelled to act.

Strikers were furious about the presence of military strike breakers, and on July 7th, the violence came to a head as National Guardsmen, after being assaulted by a group of strikers, shot into the assembled group, killing 30 people and injuring others.

Railroads began operating regularly, the strike broke down completely on July 20, , and with it the ARU. Just days after the strike ended, President Cleveland made Labor Day a national holiday. Debs was sentenced to six months in prison. While in prison, Debs found inspiration for the next phase of his life by reading the works of Marx and Engels, especially Das Kapital.

When he was released from prison he formed the Social Democratic Party out of the ashes of the ARU, but divisions in the party led him to seek out members of previous Socialist factions in the U. Debs is said to have been an incredibly engaging, passionate speaker, although no known recordings of his voice exist today.

When the U. Your honor, I ask no mercy, I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never more fully comprehended than now the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of freedom.

I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. Westenhaver on a charge of treason. The case of the Federal government was based entirely upon statements made by Debs in his speech at Canton, Ohio, recorded by a government agent stationed in the crowd. The minority are usually right. In every age there have been a few heroic souls who have been in advance of their time, who have been misunderstood, maligned, persecuted, sometimes put to death.

Long after their martyrdom monuments were erected to them and garlands woven for their graves. I cannot repudiate a sentence I have uttered.

I stand before you guilty of having made this speech. I do not know, I cannot tell, what your verdict may be, nor does it matter much, so far as I am concerned The most heroic word in all languages is Revolution. On September 14, he was sentenced to ten years in the Federal penitentiary. Taking advantage of his right to make a final plea to the court he said:. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Of course, no one could tell. Debs and all his executive board were indicted by the Federal Grand Jury for conspiracy. The criminal case was first put on trial. At the end of several weeks, and when the case was practically finished, the bailiff reported in that a juror was taken ill. We offered to go on with eleven… the government would not consent.