Winkle v. United States

• Decision Date: 09 July 1923
• Docket Number: 6285.
• Citation: 291 F. 493
• Parties: WINKLE et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

291 F. 493

WINKLE et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 6285.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

July 9, 1923

Injunction restraining interference with employees of railway company whose former employees were on strike, in going to and from their work or remaining at such work, or threats or suggestions of danger, violence, or personal injury against them, etc., was violated by assaulting one who had accepted employment in place of striker because of such fact even though, before the assault, he had left the employment.

Clif. Langsdale, of Kansas City, Mo., for plaintiffs in error.

Charles C. Madison, U.S. Atty., of Kansas City, Mo. (S. M. Carmean Asst. U.S. Atty., of Kansas City, Mo., on the brief), for the United States.

Before LEWIS and KENYON, Circuit Judges, and TRIEBER, District Judge.

TRIEBER District Judge.

The plaintiffs in error were on a trial to a jury found guilty of contempt of court, having been charged by information with violating an injunction granted by the court below in an equity cause pending therein entitled Chicago & Alton Railway Co. v. International Association of Machinists et al. The terms of the injunction, alleged to have been violated, set out in the information, are:

'Not to interfere in any manner with the employees of the complainant in going to and from their daily work or in remaining at such work, except by such peaceful persuasion as announcing the so-called strike and requesting and persuading employees and would-be employees not to work for the complainant, but such persuasion shall not be by profane, abusive, libelous or threatening epithets or threatened injury and shall not obstruct any unwilling listener or importunately follow his steps.

'Not to interfere in any manner with persons desiring to go into or upon the buildings or property of complainant for the purpose of working for the complainant, except by peaceful persuasion.

'Not to make any threats or suggestion of danger, violence or personal injury of any kind against the employees or would-be employees of complainant, or the members of their families, and not to commit any act of force or violence or any injury against any such person or the members of his family or his property.

'Not to interfere by violence or threats of violence in any manner with any person desiring to be employed by the complainant.'

It then charges:

'That on or about the 28th day of August, 1922, at Slater, Saline county, Mo., the defendants, L. F. Winkle, L. R. Johnson, Barney Mayfield, Max Bates and Emmett Todd, whose true first names other than above set forth are to this affiant unknown, then and there being, within the Western District of Missouri, and within the jurisdiction of this court, did then and there unlawfully, willfully, knowingly and contemptuously commit contempt against the dignity and authority of this honorable court with intent then and there to disobey, resist and violate the lawful orders and decree as contained in said injunctive order aforesaid, and willfully obstruct its lawful processes by acts and conduct as follows:

'That on said 28th day of August, 1922, at Slater, Mo., the above-named defendants, acting in their own behalf, together with others to these affiants unknown, and aiding, assisting, combining, conspiring and agreeing with the persons so enjoined, as aforesaid, did then and there by force and violence seize one G. H. Gifford, who was an employee and a would-be employee of said Chicago & Alton Railway Company at Slater Mo. and did force him into a certain automobile and convey him against his will to a place remote from the place of his employment, and did at said place brutally assault, beat and bruise the said G. H. Gifford, and did take from said G. H. Gifford money and other valuables belonging to him, and did command him to cease his employment with the said Chicago & Alton Railway Company and commanded him to leave Slater, Mo., and not return, with intent thereby to frighten, coerce and intimidate the said employee and would-be employee to leave the employment of said railroad company, all in disobedience, resistance and violation of the lawful orders of this court and in contempt thereof, contrary to the authority and dignity of this court and the laws of the United States.'

The charge against one of the respondents was dismissed at the trial for insufficiency of the evidence against him.

The evidence on the part of the government tended to show that the employees of the railway company's machine shop were on a strike, and that Gifford, the person assaulted and robbed, was at the time and had been for some time prior thereto in the employ of the railway company, having taken the place of one of the striking employees at Slater, Mo. He testified that--

At 11 o'clock a.m., of August 28th, he quit work at the shops having obtained five days' leave of absence to go to Kansas City, Mo. Another employee by the name of Gibbons accompanied him. Before leaving he drew part of the money from the chief clerk of the company, which he had on deposit with him, no part of which was for wages. He left between $300 and $400 of his deposit with the company at the time. He drew $35 and had $1 of his own. The money he drew consisted of two $5 bills, and the balance in silver and dollar bills. He changed the two $5 bills, five paper dollars, and $5 in silver for a $20 bill from George Cole, a colored man. On the way to the depot they were stopped by a picket, who asked him where he had been. He told him: 'I had worked at the railway shop and was on my way to Kansas City. ' He told me I would have to see Winkle. I asked him why, as I was not a union man, and he said 'Winkle was the big boss of the union and see what he wanted to do with me. ' Another man came up, who was trying to bully me, and we went to see Winkle. Winkle called us scabs and asked what I was going to do, and I told him I was going to Kansas City. He threatened me about coming back to work and I told him I wouldn't. Just then a car drove up with Mayfield in a Buick. Seven or eight other men came up, when Winkle said, 'If you want to get out of town, get...