United States v. Anderson, 6505-6538.

• Decision Date: 23 February 1939
• Docket Number: No. 6505-6538.,6505-6538.
• Citation: 101 F.2d 325
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. ANDERSON et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

101 F.2d 325 (1939)

UNITED STATES v. ANDERSON et al.

Nos. 6505-6538.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

January 17, 1939.

Rehearing Denied February 23, 1939.

Geo. I. Haight, of Chicago, Ill., and A. M. Fitzgerald, of Springfield, Ill., for appellants.

Welly K. Hopkins, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., and Marks Alexander, of Springfield, Ill., for the United States.

Before EVANS and SPARKS, Circuit Judges, and LINDLEY, District Judge.

SPARKS, Circuit Judge.

On December 8, 1936, forty-one persons, including the thirty-four appellants, were indicted by a United States Grand Jury in the Southern Division of the Southern District of Illinois. There were two separate indictments against all the defendants. The first indictment, hereinafter referred to as the mail indictment, charged a conspiracy under section 37 of the Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C.A. § 88,¹ to violate section 201 of the Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C.A. § 324.²

The second indictment hereinafter referred to as the antitrust indictment, charged the violation of section 1 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1.³ The first count of this indictment charged that the Progressive Miners of America were organized on or about September 2, 1932, and immediately thereafter sought to prevent the operation of all coal mines within Illinois, by miners other than Progressives, and to require all owners of Illinois mines to employ Progressives; that in order to carry out that purpose, appellants, with others, engaged in a conspiracy in restraint of trade, that is to say, they conspired to obstruct, retard, prevent, and interfere with the transportation in interstate commerce of express, passenger and freight, including coal, over four specified railroad lines; their objects, among others, being to obstruct, retard and prevent the interstate transportation of coal mined and handled by non-Progressives, and to prevent such transportation, by intimidating such operators, miners and railroad employees by damaging and destroying railroad property, equipment and personal property, thus rendering such transportation more hazardous.

Count 2 of this indictment averred the same facts with respect to foreign commerce. Both counts alleged that in carrying out the conspiracy appellants bombed and burned railway bridges, lines, trucks, trains, freight and motor cars.

The court overruled appellants' amended motions to quash, and pleas of not guilty were interposed. It denied appellants' motion, filed nine days before trial, for leave to withdraw their pleas of not guilty in order to interpose a demurrer to the indictments. It denied appellants' motion for a bill of particulars under the mail indictment, and granted in part and denied in part a like motion addressed to the antitrust indictment. On the Government's motion the actions were consolidated for trial; appellant Gent's motion for a separate trial was denied, and appellants' motion to require the Government to elect the count of the consolidated indictments upon which it would rely was overruled, and it was not again renewed. No exceptions were saved to any of these rulings except to the court's denial of leave to withdraw pleas of not guilty in order to interpose demurrers.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty as to all appellants on all counts, and the court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict, that is to say, on each of the two counts of the antitrust indictment, there was a sentence of imprisonment for a term of one year and a fine of $5,000. On the mail indictment there was a sentence of imprisonment for a term of two years and a fine of $10,000, and the sentences were to run consecutively.

The record in the case is voluminous and it is neither practical nor necessary to excerpt it at length. There is substantial evidence to support the following preliminary facts: Prior to 1932 there existed in Illinois practically but one labor union for miners, the United Mine Workers of America. The owners and operators of coal mines in the same territory were associated in what was known as the Coal Operators' Association of Illinois, for the purpose of bargaining with representatives of the United Mine Workers. On March 31, 1932, the labor contract which had theretofore existed between the two expired by its own terms, and negotiations leading to a new contract were in progress. These were of a protracted nature, due to the desire of the operators to lower the wage scale, and the reluctance of the miners to accept a reduction. It resulted in a contract signed by the union officials, but this was afterwards rejected by a referendum vote of the workmen. Another contract was then submitted to the vote of the rank and file. The ballots of this election were stolen, and there was some evidence that the theft was carried out by parties who desired the approval of the contract. The president of the United Mine Workers and the Operators' Association, then, without referendum to the members, signed a new contract on August 10, 1932, which was practically the same as the one last submitted by referendum.

Many members of the United Mine Workers were dissatisfied with this action, and on or about September 1, 1932, severed their connection with that organization, and instituted a new coal miners union in Illinois, styled the Progressive Miners of America. With but two or three exceptions all of the appellants were members thereof; one being the district president, and several others, at different times covered by this record, holding the office of members of the executive board, which was the governing body thereof. The state headquarters of the Progressive Union were at Gillespie, a city in the mid-western portion of Illinois, about fifty miles south and a little west of Springfield.

The acts and attempted acts of violence complained of centered in and around three separated areas of the State. The Springfield area was located a little west of the central portion of the State. It comprised Christian County and the adjoining county of Sangamon, of which the State capital was the county seat, and extended northwest and northeast from Sangamon County along the lines of the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway Company, and the Illinois Central Railroad Company. The Franklin area was located in the southcentral part of the State, about one hundred sixty miles southeast of Springfield. It comprised Franklin County and the adjoining counties of Jefferson on the north, Perry on the west and Williamson on the south. The Saline area comprised Saline County which joined Williamson on its east, and the southeast corner of Franklin.

There were four railroads involved in this controversy. The Big Four crosses diagonally the southeast corner of Illinois, passing through the northeast and southwest corners of Saline County, including the towns of Eldorado and Harrisburg, thence on to the Ohio River. There is also a short branch line of this road in Saline County, running west and northwest from Harrisburg to Harco. It is known as the Harco branch, and serves exclusively the three Peabody mines in Saline County. The Illinois Central extends, from Chicago, southwest through Springfield to St. Louis; thence southeast through southern Illinois to Duquoin in Perry County; thence east and south through Franklin County to Eldorado in Saline County, where it joins the Big Four. Another branch of the Illinois Central runs southwesterly from Chicago in the eastern and central parts of the State through Urbana, Centralia, and Duquoin in Perry County, and thence south to the Ohio. The Burlington railroad enters Illinois west of Springfield, and runs southeast to Centralia, crossing the St. Louis branch of the Illinois Central a few miles east of Gillespie; thence running in a southerly direction across the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, and Williamson, again crossing the Illinois Central in Franklin County between Duquoin and Eldorado. The Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway Company runs into Springfield from the northwest; from Springfield southward it operates for an approximate distance of fifteen miles over the Chicago and St. Louis division of the Illinois Central to Cimic, where the latter railroad crosses a short branch of the Chicago and Illinois Midland which runs east from Auburn to Taylorville, a distance of perhaps twenty or twenty-five miles.

During the time herein involved the Peabody Coal Company, an Illinois coal operator, was operating in Sangamon, Christian, Franklin, Saline and other counties where substantially all the ensuing troubles occurred. As a member of the Operators' Association, it had signed the contract of August 10, 1932, and had continued to operate under it, notwithstanding picketing and continued demands by the Progressive Miners. This contract permitted only members of the United Mine Workers Union to be employed, hence all employees who left that union and joined the Progressives became ineligible to continue employment with Peabody, unless they would re-affiliate with the United Mine Workers. The Progressive Union had like difficulties with other operators, including those operating the Bell and Zoller mines, Old Ben, C. W. and F., and the United Electric.

On August 18, 1932, after the Peabody mines had reopened under the contract of August 10, approximately 12,000 men, most of whom were Progressives, marched into Taylorville, in the vicinity of which four Peabody mines were operating, and picketed the mines and blocked the roads, stopping cars and beating the miners. As a result, these mines were closed for periods ranging from several days to several months. Continued disorders resulted in stationing National Guard troops in Taylorville in October, 1932, and these were reinforced as the situation grew more threatening. The troops were moved alternately between Taylorville and Springfield, as occasion required, during the latter part of 1932 and through the year 1933.

The Progressive Miners...