Foster : On Trial in Michigan [ May 1923 ] 1 On Trial in Michigan

St. Joseph, Michigan, scene of the “Red” trials, is a town of some 8,000 people situated on the shore of Lake Michigan about 60 miles by boat from Chicago or 100 miles around by railroad. It has few industries, depending for its sustenance upon the extensive fruit growing country surrounding, and also upon the heavy influx of tourists during the summer. It is the seat of Berrien County, in which is located, about 12 miles to the South, Bridgman, the village where the Communist convention was held last August. The raid upon the secret convention and the arrest of so many radicals came as a shock to this quiet community, far removed from the bitterness of the industrial struggle. Patriotic indignation ran rife. This hostile public sentiment the “Red” baiters, led by the agents of the Department of Justice, spared no pains to cultivate. Copies of the seized documents, especially those of a lurid hue, were given to the great press syndicates, which broadcasted them throughout the country. The local papers carried the news to the people of Berrien County. Allen O. Meyers, acting head of the Burns Detective Agency, came to St. Joseph and denounced the defendants before businessmen’s associations. The county convention of the Republican Party adopted a resolution of condemnation against us. Likewise the local section of the American Legion repudiated the Communists in vigorous terms. The tide of prejudice against the radicals ran high. It was under such unfavorable circumstances that the trial of myself opened on March 12th. The Labor Defense Council had provided an excellent battery of lawyers. At their head stood Frank P. Walsh, a fighter, a brilliant attorney and a national figure who lent tremendous weight to the defense. Then there was Humphrey S. Gray of Benton Harbor, Mich., but a couple of miles from St. Joseph. Mr. Gray is one of the richest men in the entire community, a banker, a capitalist, a prominent churchman, and an able lawyer. His affiliation to the defense, in the face of a hostile public opinion, was a courageous act and did much to break down the opposition and to raise the case to its proper status as a fight to maintain basic civil liberties. Finally, there was I.E. Ferguson, well known in radical circles as an attorney and expert on anti-syndicalism laws. His function it was to work out the law-