CRIMINAL ANARCHY

Northern Advocate, 4 May 1923, Page 5

CRIMINAL ANARCHY

. • 1 LAW TAKES EFFECT. AFTER JURY DEADLOCK. BUTHENBERG GUILTY. (Received 9.5 a.m.) | NEW YORK, May 2. At St. Joseph, Charles Rnthenberg was found guilty of criminal anarchy. Ruthenberg was charged similarly to Foster, who it is believed will be retried, the State believing that it secure his conviction. Ruthenberg will be sentenced on June 4. —A. and N.Z. One of the most unusual trials ever held in the United States took place at St. Joseph, Michigan, on April 5. It ; ended in a hopeless deadlock, the jury j' being six against six. The State of | Michigan attempted to secure the conviction of William Foster' for alleged I violation of the State law, making criminal anarchy a felony punishable by ten years' imprisonment. Foster was one of 32" alleged members of the : Communist Rtrty of who ; were arrested more than a year ago . during a secret conclave, at which, the i prosecution averred, plans were formu- ! lated, under the direction of the Rus- : si-an Soviet, for a proletariat revolution in America.. Foster's trial lasted : two months. Much sensational evidence, purporting to show the machina- * tions of Communists in America and the Soviet's furtherance of insidious , propaganda, was presented. The do: , fence, which did deny Communistic principles, declared that no violence, however, was advocated, and declared that the law was a violation of the constitutional right of free speech. The ; jury Avas discharged. The Judge ordered Ruthenberg, another of the aTrested men, to be tried on April 10.