MAKER OF TROUBLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 11

MAKER OF TROUBLE

VANCOUVER AGITATOR ACTION AGAINST RESIDENTS KIDNAPPING CHARGE FAILS By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright VANCOUVER, Aug. 3 Seven leading.residents of Princeton, a suburb of Vancouver, who gave A. H. Evans, a Red agitator, a railway ticket and ordered him to leave the district, were acquitted to-day on a charge of kidnapping. Evans refused to take the oath, declaring that he was an atheist. Ho was forced to admit that under the guise of an organiser for the Canadian Labour Defence League ho had been working for a Russian style of Government for Canada. » Evans at present is on bail awaiting trial on a charge of sedition arising out of an address he delivered during a miners' strike in Princeton. STORY OF ABDUCTION RED SPIRITED AWAY PLACED ON BOARD TRAIN The following account of the kidnapping of Evans was received by Mr. S. E. Gregory in a letter from his brother in Vancouver, who was one of those concerned. "There is a lot of trouble in Priuceton again—another strike in the coal i mines," said the writer. "We have had j many meetings with tho miners, the ! coal company and a committee of the citizens, in an endeavour to get the matter settled. Wo have several Com- | munist agitators here who seem to con- | trol the miners and prevent an ap- ! proaehment. The Communist leader has | been very active and abusive to many of the leading citizens here, including myself, and in frequent- bulletins ho | publishes he makes infamous attacks upon us. I "Ten days ago he held a meeting at a small village 18 miles away. A number of us—2s or so —suddenly getting word of it drove over to the village that night, intending to take him from his meeting, but it was over when we arrived there. However, we soon found I that ho had gone to a private house j for supper, so we quietly surrounded I the house, entered, and then read him i a rough and severe lecture, demanding j that he get oirt of tho district and return to Vancouver.

"Wo meant to forcibly put him on the train, but as wo had 5J hours to wait and it vras 11 p.m., we drove to the next town, about 70 miles away. Some of our fellows returned to Princeton, but 14 of us continued on and a frightfully rough road it was —long stretches deep in water from overflowing streams, and another part deep in snow.

" We reached the hills overlooking tho town at 2.30 a.m. and lit a fire to warm ourselves by. Some of us in one car drove into the town to scout about for the police, and when we had-ascer-tained that there was no danger of interference we returned to the rest of our gang and then drove on to a small flag station five miles beyond the town. "There, later on, we flagged the train and put our Communist friend on board for Vancouver. Then we headed back to Princeton by another route and reached home, 16 hours after starting out, well tired by our trip. While wo were in the village the polico wero scouring the hills for the lost Communist and his kidnappers. "A week later Princeton was a real Chicago; the superintendent of the mine with about 60 of his employees came to Princeton with blood in their eyes. Ho searched out tho Communist secretary, a Russian, caught him in his cabin and administered a beating which was completely effective and the man yelled for mercy. Tho miners were shadowing the superintendent to seo that no trouble came to him afterwards.

"However, one of the Scottish minors, objecting to an abusive remark made to him by one of the foreigners, lashed out with his fist and was promptly stabbed by the foreigner, a .Slav, three timoe, and ho died in tho hospital. "We then got word that tho Reds had driven out along the road to ambush the fellows as they returned homo, so they had to return in a solid mass. Tho Reds were scared by their numbers and held off. Tho labour trouble is making business very bad." (