State v. Zanker
| Decision Date | 14 February 1930 |
| Docket Number | 27,763 |
| Citation | 229 N.W. 311,179 Minn. 355 |
| Parties | STATE v. FRANCES ZANKER AND OTHERS |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Defendants appealed from a judgment of the municipal court of Minneapolis, Fred B. Wright, J. convicting them of disorderly conduct. Affirmed.
Strikers convicted of disorderly conduct.
Defendants were strikers. They went to the home of Norma Christensen, a coemploye but a nonstriker and a nonunion member. They marched back and forth in front of the Christensen home carrying a large banner bearing these words:
"Norma Christensen, strike breaker, lives here, who is lowering wages and lengthening hours for employes in the city of Minneapolis."
People gathered about. Resentment was expressed. Responding to a neighbor's call, police interfered. Held that defendants were guilty of disorderly conduct in violation of a city ordinance the specific provisions of which are mentioned in the opinion.
Disorderly Conduct, 18 C.J. § 2 p. 1216 n. 12; § 14 p. 1221 n 94.
Arthur LeSueur, for appellants.
Neil M. Cronin, City Attorney, and Arthur P. Jensen, Assistant City Attorney, for the state.
Defendants appealed from a judgment convicting them of disorderly conduct. The conviction was under a city ordinance which provides that "any person or persons who shall make, aid, countenance or assist in making any * * * disturbance or improper diversion, and all persons who shall collect in bodies or crowds in said city, for unlawful purposes or to the annoyance or disturbance of the citizens or travelers" shall be punishable, etc. [Minneapolis Ordinances, 1872-1925, p. 760, § 2.]
Defendants were former employes of the Northbilt Leather Craft in Minneapolis and had been on a strike for about three weeks prior to September 5, 1929, the date of the alleged offense.
Norma Christensen, age 17, an employe of the same cornern, and a nonstriker and nonunion member, was living with her parents at 3340 Thirty-fourth avenue south. This home was in the residential district where homes were owned by the working class.
Defendants went to the above address in an automobile which they parked, and while there two of them remained in the car while the other two get out of the car and produced a banner bearing these words:
"Norma Christensen, strike breaker, lives here, who is lowering wages and lengthening hours for employes in the city of Minneapolis."
They carried the banner back and forth in front of the Christensen home about eight minutes. Mr. Christensen ordered them off the sidewalk, and they then continued marching back and forth in the street in front of the house. The police, responding to a neighbor's call, found 15 to 20 people gathered and "a lot of young people came up close." There seems to have been quite a bit of excitement. As the police took them away a bystander remarked: "I hope you get what's coming to you."
The claim is that the facts do not constitute a violation of the ordinance. Much is said in appellants' brief about...
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