Lloyd and Fellow Reds Get Prison

1920

ALL TWENTY ARE CONVICTED OF REVOLT PLOT.

Penitentiary and Fines Meted Out to Millionaire Agitator and Comrades.

William Bross Lloyd and his nineteen fellow advocates of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" were found guilty of sedition in Chicago by a jury in Judge Oscar Hebel's court.

All were sentenced to imprisonment. Some received jail sentences. Others — including Lloyd — were sentenced to the penitentiary, some for one year and others for an indeterminate sentence of from one to five years.

In addition to prison terms, Lloyd and two others were fined $2,000 and two were fined $1,000 each.

The reading of the verdict found the defendants not unprepared. They had expected conviction, and when the first verdict was read finding Lloyd guilty, all made brave attempts to smile. Some succeeded. As each in his turn heard his fate, a look of nervousness appeared, hut soon thoughts of "martyrdom" apparently drove away the glooms. During the polling of the jury they seemed unconcerned.

The defendants and the penalties inflicted follow:

Prison Sentences and $2,000 Fine.

William Bross Lloyd, Winnetka millionaire, sergeant-at-arms in Communist Labor party convention, organizer, backer and leading spirit in the "movement."

Ludwig Lore, New York, editor of Class Struggle; helped draft constitution.

Arthur Proctor, Chicago, owner of Clarion book store, meeting place of radicals; member of county committee.

Prison Sentence and $1,000 Fine.

Max Deddacht, San Francisco, Cal.; member of the National executive and platform committee.

Jack Carney, Duluth, Minn.; member of National executive committee, editor and publisher of Truth.

Indeterminate Prison Sentences.

L. E. Katterfield, Dighton, Kan.; brains of organization, national organizer, practically prepared party's platform.

Edgar Owens, Moline, Ill.; State secretary; helped draft constitution.

L. K. England, Moline, Ill.; member of State committee.

Niels Kjar, Chicago; member of National executive committee and Cook County propaganda committee.

One Year in Penitentiary.

Samuel F. Hankin.

Morris A. Stollar, Chicago; member of county executive committee.

James A. Meissinger, Chicago; member county executive committee.

Charles Krumbein, Chicago; member of county executive committee.

Samuel Ash, Chicago, lawyer; one of organizers.

One Year in the County Jail.

Perry Shipman, Rock Island, Ill.; member of State committee.

Dr. Oscar J. Brown, De Kalb, Ill.; organizer, delegate to National convention and member of platform committee.

Edwin Firth, Indianapolis, Ind.; national delegate and organizer.

Dr. Karl F. Sandberg, Chicago; organizer and delegate to national convention.

Niels J. Christensen, delegate to national convention and member international relations committee.

John Vogel.

Plea of Prosecutor.

In his closing address Frank Comeford, special prosecutor, told the jurors that their verdict would answer the question in the first line of "The Star Spangled Banner."

"The people are waiting for your verdict," he said. "At another time the People waited to see if the flag of the United States had come down. They will wait tonight to see if you, the jury, hauls down the Stars and Stripes.

"If you find these defendants innocent in view of the uncontradicted testimony, then tear down the picture of Washington from this courtroom and put up the picture of Lenin; go to Springfield and tumble over the monument to Lincoln and in its place put Trotsky in marble; haul down the American flag from this courthouse and hoist the red flag; blot out from the memories of our children the National anthems and teach them to sing the 'Red International;' scrap our Constitution; clean Arlington of its headstone and build a new National cemetery; remove the dust of the anarchists from Waldheim and the dust of Czolgoscz from Buffalo; gather the dust of Benedict Arnold and build a new National cemetery."

The trial of Lloyd and his associates began May 10. Fifty-two court days were occupied in the selection of a jury.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.