Consolation, August 16, 1944
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Contents
In Brief
Kentucky Mountaineers and the Four Freedoms 3
Harlan, Kentucky, a Scenic Paradise
TJie Mountaineer, an American Tradition
As Irvin S. Cobb Saw Kentucky
Mountain Hospitality
A People Extraordinary
Corruption Usually Short-lived
Harlan Gestapo Sweeps Down
Official Conspiracy in Action ,
Mayor Spreads “Fifth Column” Jitters
Eighty-four Days in Slop-encrusted Jail.
“Sedition” Through Jail Bars
. Officials Caught in Surprise Move
/That New York Lawyer’ Blamed
Harlan Hoodlums Halted
Officials Co-operate with Mobsters
Another False Charge Defeated
In Haddonfield, “New Hague” (N.J.)
A Collapsible Trailer
“Thy Word Is Truth”
“The Son of David” .
The Manufacture of “Saints”
What the ’Smokers Accomplish
The Reward of a Servant
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom” About Words
Theognostus of Alexandria v
Published every other Wednesday by WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N. Y., U. S. A.
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The Animals’ Caretaker and Friend
■V
IN The Reader’s Digest Alan Devoe narrates a couple of instances in which wild beasts showed their dependence on man and their confidence in him. One was an instance of where a game warden found a skunk caught in a trap in his den. The warden- slowly pulled the captive out of the hole, meanwhile talking to him in kindly tones. Then he carried him twenty feet to a clearing, and placed his knee on the spring to work the little fellow’s leg free. It was a fearful ordeal for the skunk, but he emitted no stench. When released he sat down and for several minutes massaged his paw to restore circulation. Several times he tested it to see if it would bear his weight. Finally he found he could walk on it, looked solemnly at his deliverer for a moment, and then walked off into the brush, f
The second instance was that of a forest fire. A buck came upon two fire wardens, headed directly towards them, and then snorted and stamped the blackened ground. At length the wardens discerned that he wanted them to follow him. They did so and found that his fawns had been burned to death, but that his faithful doe, held to her post by mother love, had stayed by her young until her coat had been seared, her legs terribly burned and her eyes had been blinded. The buck had come to his divinely ordained source of help, man. As soon as she was dispatched he went on his lonely way.
A third story, not in the Digest, is that of a seal, stripped of his fur, that came to his tormentors, who had abused their position as the animals’ caretaker, and by his pathetic conduct so aroused their pity that they killed him. Wounded deer, when they were dying, have looked upon their killers with such reproach as to make old hunters for ever give up the chase.
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—-Matthew 12:21, A.R.V.
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Volume XXV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, August 16, 1944 Number 650
Kentucky Mountaineers and the Four Freedoms
Religious Intolerance Driven from
tt'XTOU folks have done a much big-
-t ger thing for the one hundred thirty million people in the United States than you did yourselves as individuals,” \ wrote a well-known attorney of Somer-\ set, Kentucky, recently to one of Jehovah’s witnesses in the “Blue Grass State”. “The fight you folks waged forced the Supreme Court of the United States to take back water in some cases, and to make new announcements in other cases. You folks have done much for the cause of human freedom, liberty, and right to worship God according to one’s own conscience, and the right of peaceful assemblage. The people generally owe your organization much, because you have done much for them. Your fight won for them the above-mentioned rights. Your fight helped a whole lot of people who did not deserve it.”
In the mountain section of southeastern Kentucky, a place traditionally famous for its bloody feuds, a “fight” is not unusual, but the “fight” that this honest lawyer was referring to was one of the most unusual battles in the history of the Kentucky mountains, and in timO’ to come will be recognized as one of the most important. This was a fight of the people of Kentucky against a subtle and
Jehovah’s witnesses In the rugged mountain section of Kentucky have fought fiercely to maintain their freedom and to break the shackles of dictatorial intolerance which certain officials in Harlan county and vicinity sought to saddle upon them. This Is the absorbing story of their victorious four-year struggle, painted on the vivid background of the nation’s most colorful locality.
Nation’s Most Colorful Locality
crafty attempt by the enemies of liberty to destroy the cherished rights of freedom of expression and freedom to worship Almighty God. No two things are dearer to the heart of a Kentuckian than these two freedoms, and it is little wonder that they fought with such determination, using all possible legal means to protect these rights.
The battle began in 1940 when a group of small-scale politicians in Harlan decided to “run Jehovah’s witnesses out of the county” by means fair or foul. They soon exhausted the fair means and resorted to the foul. What took place thereafter could happen only in the mountains of Kentucky. The staunch and unflinching devotion to the principles of right and righteousness maintained by these citizens of the mountain country throughout the controversy is indeed an eloquent tribute in itself. It is only necessary to orient the account by a general description of its colorful and fascinating setting, '■l
Harlan, Kentucky, a Scenic Paradise
Nestling in the heart of the Cumberland mountains, Harlan county embraces within its borders the highest peaks in Kentucky. Crystal-clear mountain streams vein the rugged surface of the
timber-covered mountainsides studded J 'n _ ■■ '■ p 1 ■
with shimmering white waterfalls and towering rock formations. The mountains slope down into verdant valleys unbelievably enriched by centuries of silt. Here the. scenic beauty of America finds some of its proudest perfection. The town of Harlan is no less picturesque and interesting than its splendor-ous setting. The town, located in the valley between the Big and the Little Black Mountain, at the confluence of the
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three forks of the Upper Cumberland river, was a backwoods village for more than 100 years after its settlement in 1819 by a small company of Virginians under the leadership of Samuel Hoard (Howard). It was almost isolated from the rest of the world until, in 1910, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was induced to build a spur track to the town to exploit its rich coal and lumber resources.
The Mountaineer, an American Tradition
The hearty mountaineer people of this section of,the country have been the subject of many a journalist, and the butt of countless jokes, almost all of which grossly misrepresent the facts and portray an exaggerated picture of the rural Kentuckian. Though they may not be as learned in the so-called culture of “modern civilization” as those in the urban areas, they are mentally keen and uncommonly alert. The debauchery and filth of large cities is wholly foreign to the pure atmosphere and vigorous life in these virgin mountainsides. Most of the people are honest, frank and trusting, which characteristics, strangely enough, have been misconstrued by the unfamiliar city dweller as an indication of ignorance and crudeness. But, contrary to this mistaken notion, the good people of the Kentucky mountains are, as a whole, one of the most solid blocks of wholesome Americans in all the Union. Their concept of honest, fair dealing and respect for Almighty God is far above that of more “civilized” people of the country, Toward strangers and friends alike, their humble and generous spirit is unequaled.
In 1875 the population of Harlan was 10 families. Theirs was a rough existence-, but nonetheless a happy one. Elmon Middleton, in his book Harlan County, gives a vivid description of the environment that gave birth to the present generation:
Surrounded with mountains which formed almost: an impenetrable barrier, with inadequate roads that were little more than animal paths, impassable most of the year, the inhabitants were deprived of the newer methods of living that were rapidly developing in the more accessible regions of the country. Hedged in as they were, they retained until the early twentieth century the old methods and customs brought into their country by the early settlers of the eighteenth century, while, in the meantime, the rapid development of the high standards of living was spreading all about them, even far to the west of their secluded habitation. Organized law was *
slow to rise into ascendancy in this sparsely settled region. Each man’s honor, together with his skilled use of his rifle and backed up by the other members of his family, remained for a long time the highest law he recognized, while the county government was slowly gaining in power over the clannish settlers.
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As Irvin S. Cobb Saw Kentucky
Kentuckians are tremendously proud of their state, and always unhesitatingly show a spirit of aggressiveness when it is criticized. As the late Irvin S. Cobb observed:
Hint that so far as the eye can observe, Kentucky seems to lag behind neighboring states in the matter of a definite good road program. Again his reply is ready: why, when once he has halted anywhere at all in Kentucky, should a man crave facilities for traveling further ? Isn’t the spot where he has •stopped a sufficient earthly paradise for a normal man’s desire? ■ I. 11
Mr. Cobb gives a colorful description of this mountain section of Kentucky;
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The eastern end of the state is the mountain-I „ ■ "
। ous or perpendicular end. Here, from the ‘ beginning of things until comparatively recently, resided the congenital feudist and the incurable moonshinist. The latter still exercises his hereditary calling in a cave or i . .
| creek up a cove, with a measure of corn to J feed his still, and a mossy place under a tree for the customer to lie down on after-ward; but the gentle bushwhacker has almost j entirely quit whacking. Either he is taking a postgraduate course in chair bottoms at
J the Frankfort penitentiary or he has been i fatally “forty-foured” and now sleeps in the ; family burying ground on the slant of the , Cumberland hills, with his booted tbes stick-( ing up at the lower end of the mound to save the cost of a footstone.
s But however accustomed he may be I to the use of his rifle on his neighbor, the Harlan mountaineer is very tender-
1 hearted and kind. The story is told of a stranger that, one cold day, went into the grocery store at Harlan and pushed his way to the stove in the middle of the room. A dog happened to be sleeping on the floor where he wanted to stand and he kicked the animal to one side. Immediately, a tall, lanky mountaineer leaning on the counter straightened up and, glowering at the stranger, declared menacingly, “Hyar, stranger, if you kick that dog agin, in twelve months from now you’ll be dead exactly one year!”
Mountain Hospitality
Unlimited hospitality is the creed of the mountains. The best that the roughest cabin perched precariously on a hillside can offer is none too good for a traveler who may need overnight shelter or a meal. In spite of the fact that much superstition and religion have blighted the otherwise peaceful life of the mountaineers, they are still a reverent and God-fearing people willing and anxious to learn of the teachings of Christ.
Jehovah’s witnesses, carrying the message of Christ’s kingdom into the isolated rural areas, seldom find a house
where' they are not welcome. Whether the people are moonshining, feuding or working, they are nearly always glad to lay aside what they are doing and listen to Jehovah’s witnesses tell of a better condition on this earth. Almost invariably the minister is treated with the greatest respect and concern by all members of the family. T. - > " 1 L - - — '
One of Jehovah’s witnesses who spent many months calling on the people' in this mountain territory relates an interesting experience he had while calling from house to house in a valley near Harlan where a feud was in progress. Most of the residents of the valley were “neutral” in the feud, and even though the sharp ring of rifle fire between the feudists could occasionally be heard above the sound of the Bible lecture * ■
being played by the minister on his portable phonograph, the “neutrals” would never seem to notice and would make no comment at all as to the merits of the controversy that was raging near by. To have done so would have meant a violation of their neutrality, perhaps a fatal violation.
Several days later, when the shooting had subsided somewhat, the minister called at the cabin of the leader of one faction of the feudists. He was cordially invited to step in. Rifles and guns of various descriptions, carefully “primed” and loaded, were still about the room. Of course, the mountaineer had already “heered tell” that one of Jehovah’s witnesses was in the valley, and his delight at having the minister as his guest was unconcealed. The mountaineer immediately dispatched his wife to “fetch a couple chickens”, and one of the older children to “tidy up the younguns”. It was suppertime, and no excuses could prevail upon him to let the minister depart without his supper. The meal was served according to the strict rules of mountain formality, which forbade the wife or the children to eat at the same e f
table, while the minister was discussing the purpose of his visit with the man of the house. After the meal/the .mountaineer and his wife ushered the minister into the front room of the cabin, where an eager discussion of the Bible proceeded with obvious pleasure. The children were brought in and were allowed to listen to the discussion, but only upon a strict condition of silence. For the time being, the feud was completely forgotten.
A People Extraordinary
It is interesting to note that Harlan county is one of the few counties in the United States where prohibition against liquor is rigidly enforced, despite the fact that Kentucky is famous for its whisky and Harlan is located in the heart of the “moonshining district”. The reason for this is born of long and bitter experience. In times past, whisky has been the cause of much of the feuding and bloodshed among the people. Furthermore, the mountaineers were never very careful to obey the federal statutes regarding the distillation of whisky, and there were endless prosecutions. In his own peculiar and frank way; he would argue/“The land’s mine; the crop’s mine. Why can’t I make whisky the same as bread?” To avoid all this difficulty, local prohibition laws were enacted and enforced, but these laws haven’t completely discouraged the mountaineer’s love of whisky.
Harlan politics is just as distinctive as their prohibition laws. In the democratic south, they have traditionally voted republican. When the Civil War divided the north and south, the people in Harlan county found themselves likewise split. They were divided into three groups: the Confederate sympathizers, the “armed neutrals”, and the Unionists. Although no major battle took place in Harlan county, skirmishing parties from the opposing armies of the Confederates and Unionists soon discovered that in certain valleys in Harlan county they Were regarded as friends, and on the other side of the ridge, as foes. In jinfriendly territory the soldiers invariably were harassed by uncommonly accurate rifle fire from ancient-type weapons in the hands of hidden mountaineers.
Corruption Usually Short-lived _ _ _ _ .
The trusting mountaineer is altogether too prone for his own good to accept the demands of his leaders rather than to reason out the matter for himself. He is saved only by his own astute sense of perception, which usually stops corruption before it gets too far.
This spirit of meekness has caused the mountaineer much difficulty and sorrow in times past. Many times their leaders have wrongfully inflamed them to mob spirit to commit acts as vigilantes against certain individuals in the community, only to have it later develop that the leaders were only grinding their own axe, and that the victim was innocent of wrongdoing.
As will be seen, certain politicians in Harlan, inspired by religious intolerance, sought to capitalize on this very characteristic of the people in an effort to stamp out the work of Jehovah’s witnesses in that town. But the politicians forgot to take into account the fact that the people of Harlan are (godfearing people of good-will, and religious persecution has never had and never will have any toleration in their county. The shrewd, earnest and successful fight of the people against this effort to limit their freedom to worship God is now a part of the history of Kentucky.
Jehovah’s witnesses in Harlan
In 1940 the Harlan company of Jehovah’s witnesses was composed of a congregation having a regular attendance of between 20 and 25 persons. Most of these persons had lived in that section of the country all their lives, and, as is the case with towns the size of Harlan, the smallest details of their affairs were generally known in the community. Furthermore, there was nothing secret about the meetings of the congregation. Everyone knew that Jehovah’s witnesses
[ met twice each week in a room furnished j to them by the county officials in the [ local courthouse, for the purpose of holding regular studies of the Bible with | the aid of Watchtower literature. For ; months these meetings were widely ad-\ vertised throughout the county, and it ‘ is safe to say that there was no other gathering in Harlan that was better i known among the people.
The fact of the matter is that the meeting was becoming too well known, and liked, to suit the fancies of Harlan’s mayor, Dr. L. 0. Smith, and his chief henchman in office, Daniel Boone Smith, ; the “Commonwealth’s attorney”. As both these men later admitted, they considered themselves the “higher powers” in that locality, and as such the exclusive ; repositories of Harlan county “law”. Anyone who might be so indiscreet as to i doubt the limitless authority of this | sovereign office usually found himself I the turnkey’s guest in the city jail, on » one charge or another. These officials ! had always been rather skeptical of the well-organized and progressive activities of Jehovah’s witnesses, but it was not
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> until they discovered that Jehovah’s witnesses were telling the people of God’s purpose to establish a righteous government for the benefit of men of good-will on earth under the kingship of Christ Jesus that the matter became a definite issue. To them, this was not only rank apostasy, but was open insurrection, and they proceeded to deal with it accordingly.
Just about that time the local newspaper came out with the headlines concerning the capitulation of the government of France to the Nazis of Germany, and this afforded the opportunity that the officials needed to inflame public opinion so as to smoke-screen their real purpose. Why not make Jehovah’s witnesses the public scapegoat for this adversity of the war? Why not charge them with treason “His Honor” turned pale at the sheer genius of his own idea, and then, in a frenzy of excitement, forthwith launched his campaign to whip up the public passion against Jehovah’s witnesses.
Harlan Gestapo Sweeps Down
Accompanied by a small task force of deputies, the mayor descended on the home of Mr. Louis Beeler, a long-time resident of Harlan and one of Jehovah’s witnesses. Finding Beeler not at home, he ordered the deputies to loot the house for anything that looked as if it might pertain to Jehovah’s witnesses. Then, wild-eyed, he bounded off to search for Beeler, screaming hoarsely to everyone he met along the way that he was tracking down a gang of “dangerous German spies”. He soon found Beeler walking amiably along the street, and immediately placed him under arrest. Bellowing so that everyone within a two-block radius would, be sure to hear, he demanded that Beeler tell who was the “leader of Jehovah’s witnesses”. Unhesitatingly, Beeler said that Christ Jesus was the only leader of Jehovah’s witnesses. At this the-mayor increased the intensity of his obscenity and deprecations and dragged the bewildered Beeler back to his house, where the deputies were standing triumphantly over a stack of books, papers and phonograph records they had illegally and wrongfully taken from the house.
As a dramatic flourish for the benefit of the surprised crowd that had gathered, the deputies then cautiously searched Beeler’s person as if they expected to find a machine gun or a grenade cached away in a hidden pocket. Their search produced nothing more dangerous than a lead pencil. At this the mayor gasped, as if that was indeed a very suspicious circumstance, and then angrily started to hustle his prisoner away. But an actor never leaves the stage, if he can help it, without a final grandstand play; so the mayor, just as if he were answering a curtain call, suddenly stopped and announced that he was an “ex-service man” and that he was going to force Beeler to salute the flag. Beeler started to explain his regard and proper respect for the flag and the things it symbolized, but he was cut short by several vicious blows to the face that staggered him.
Dazed, Beeler was dragged on to the city hall and shoved into the mayor’s office, where he was violently grilled and abused further. Quoting from Jesus’ words at Matthew 18:6, Beeler finally warned the mayor, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged,about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” The mayor leaped back, snarling that no one could threaten his life and get by with it. Pulling out a blackjack he advanced on Beeler, fuming, “Don’t give me any more of that d---- stuff! Hl blackjack your ears
down!” Now in a demoniacal rage, the mayor finally ordered him to be thrown into a, cell, and, evidently recalling the drama of Pilate’s commands concerning Jesus’ grave, additionally directed the chief of police to put a chain and padlock around the cell door and post a guard over it 24 hours a day to make certain that he did not communicate with anyone. 4
Official Conspiracy in Action
Shortly Mr. Lindell Carr, one of the local congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses, appeared at the mayor’s office to see what could be done to secure Beeler’s release. Instead of giving him any encouragement in this connection, the mayor challenged him to try to secure the prisoner’s release, and boasted that he intended to completely stop the work of Jehovah’s witnesses in Harlan county. Later that evening the police raided Carr’s home, arrested him for “sedition”, and threw him into the same cell with Beeler.
On Monday, the following day, the friends of the two prisoners vainly searched for legal counsel, but found that all the lawyers in the vicinity had! been intimidated to the extent that noil one was willing to handle the case. Atl the “examining trial” the mayor sta-| tioned himself at the dooj of the courthouse to trap any of Jehovah’s witnesses | that might come to court to assist Beeler' and Carr. Elihu Hurst, a resident of j Harlan for sixteen years, and the “com- i pany servant” or minister in charge of ] the Harlan company of Jehovah’s witnesses, was the first to walk in. The j mayor immediately pounced on him and 1 jubilantly crowed, “Consider yourself ] under arrest, Elihu!” The hearing was] postponed until the next day and Hurst was thrown into jail with the other; two prisoners.
The highlight of the hearing in the'] court the next day was a speech by' Mayor Smith in which he “revealed” that; the literature Jehovah’s witnesses were distributing was “Communistic” and that they were a “fifth column” in the county. Evidence ? He grimaced wryly and picked a carefully wrapped package out of his case. “This,” he confided, “was found in Elihu Hurst’s house last night, and is not only evidence, but is proof positive!” With that, he gingerly unwrapped the package and held up before the startled gaze of the judge five ordinary road maps of the filling station variety. He pointed out with a nervous finger that these maps had been marked into blocked - “territory sections” which included not only the residential and business area of Harlan proper, but also all the roads, highways and coal mines in the vicinity. Elihu Hurst explained that he had divided the maps into territory sections to enable the local company of Jehovah’s witnesses to conduct their house-to-house witnessing activities in a systematic manner. The mayor immediately branded this as a subterfuge, and in a voice that shook with all the desperation of a man watching a fuse burn close to a charge of dynamite under his feet, he declared that this was a plot of a foreign enemy agent to blow up all the bridges, roads and mines in Harlan.
“I aim,” he blustered, “to run down all of them and prosecute them to the full extent of the law!” The mayor’s conception of “the law” was well illustrated by his next statement addressed to Jehovah’s witnesses, “We are going to cause you to salute the flag if we have to get a mob to do it with!”
That afternoon three more of Jehovah’s witnesses were arrested and thrown into the miserably hot and unsanitary jail on charges of sedition.
Mayor Spreads “Fifth Column” Jitters
Matters were now reaching a fever pitch in the town, and the mayor, determined to excite the people even more, rushed to his office and dictated a desperate appeal to the governor of Kentucky. In grossly exaggerated terms he informed the governor that he had uncovered a gigantic plot engineered by Jehovah’s witnesses to blow up the bridges and roads in the county, and had actually, confiscated the maps they had prepared for this purpose. He added that he feared a great disaster and implored the governor to send in armed troops to guard the roads, bridges and mines from these dangerous “spies”. Fortunately, the governor knew the good citizens of Harlan county well enough to realize that they would not dynamite their own property, and he refused to take action, but probably put the letter in his “crank correspondence” file.
Undaunted, the mayor next called in a local newspaper reporter and gave him a “press release”. He announced that he was organizing a vigilante group of all young men in the county to combat “fifth column activities” in Harlan
J* county, and he urged all legionnaires and other “patriotic citizens” to join his mob. Still not satisfied, he telephoned police officers in surrounding communities in his capacity as a reserve officer of the army, and warned them to be on
the lookout for these “fifth columnists” that had “drifted in from New York”. In response to further demands, the State Highway Patrol had to send a special investigator to see the mayor, who was now urging them to assign a . patrol car to cruise the highway leading into Harlan and keep a close watch on the bridges and railroads, particularly during the time of the sedition trial of Elmer Hopkins. With all this clamor, it is small wonder that some of the people in the neighborhood began to cast jittery glances out their windows at night before retiring.
Harlan's “Higher Powers”
Stoop to Conquer
During this time all of Jehovah’s witnesses except one were still in jail, unable to post appearance bonds set at $5000.00 each. All efforts to secure legal assistance failed, and their plight looked hopeless. Finally the prisoners were brought before the county court for another “hearing”. But despite this cheering designation of the proceedings, the defendants soon realized that they were not the ones who were going to be heard at all. Instead, the prosecuting attorney, Daniel Boone Smith, commandeered the occasion. Drawing himself up like a pouter pigeon, he began his revilement of Jehovah’s witnesses, their beliefs and their God in the same old nauseous pattern that hundreds of boneheaded bigots before him have used. Sneering at the Bible, he asserted that he could prove almost anything from the Scriptures. “I can take the Bible,” he scoffed, “and prove that Jesus Christ was a horse thief!”
As he drew near the climax of his railings, he suddenly snatched up the Bible and read the passage at Bomans 13:1 to the court, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Then, interpreting the Bible in the same manner as he would have to in order to
prove that Christ Jesus was a horse thief, he declared that the “Harlan County Law” was the higher powers that Jehovah’s witnesses and everyone else had to obey. The judge was convinced, and he forthwith set the bond of all the I 1 .
defendants at $10,000.00, an obviously impossible sum. The prisoners were hauled back to the jail.
Eighty-four Days in a Slop-encrusted Jail
Several days later a relative of one of the men appeared and offered to pledge his property for the bond. Although it was worth more than $90,000.00, it was large enough to secure the release of only one prisoner, Elmer Hopkins, and the rest were held in jail. As soon as he was released, Hopkins immediately set about trying to secure the release of those still imprisoned. But the mayor had already anticipated that Hopkins might make some such attempt, and promptly had him re-arrested on the same charge and thrown back into jail. It seems that during the time Hopkins had been out someone had mysteriously delivered a copy of Kingdom, News, a publication exposing religious gangsters and mobsters, to every home in Harlan. The mayor had read the article, appropriately applied it to himself, and was black with rage. He accused Hopkins of having made this attack on his character, and vowed to “fix” him. However, the mayor was doomed to disappointment. When Hopkins was brought before the court for arraignment, there was absolutely no evidence that he was the one who had distributed the papers, and the judge was forced to turn him free.
By this time the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society had arranged for an attorney to come from Atlanta, Georgia, to assist the beleaguered Christians. This attorney managed to persuade a local lawyer to co-operate with him in filing habeas corpus proceedings in the county court, and, after several days’ more delay, the prisoners were again taken from their cell into court, where they were given brief opportunity to plead for their freedom. Needless to say, however, their pleas fell on deaf ears, and once again they were thrown back into confinement.
During the court proceedings the local attorney that had been retained to represent the prisoners started to say something in behalf of his clients. Boone Smith, the Commonwealth’s attorney, leaped from his chair and bawled fiercely, “You shut your mouth up! I’ll see you down on the street. You just keep on monkeying around. I helped you make a living, and I will see that you don’t handle any more cases in my court!” Unfortunately, the bluff was successful and the attorney withdrew from further representation of Jehovah’s witnesses, leaving them without any local counsel whatsoever.
All of the local agents of professional bonding companies were similarly intimidated, and diligent effort to secure bond failed. It was apparent that the four men were unable to raise the exorbitant appearance bond themselves. This situation was well known to the court at the time the bond was set, and with the further knowledge that the next regular term of the criminal court would not be held for three months, which meant that the prisoners would have to remain in their unspeakably foul cell all summer awaiting trial unless bond was posted. However, after indictment was returned on August 21 the $10,000 bond was reduced by half, thus enabling them to raise bond and be released, after 84 days in the slop-encrusted cell. When September came Boone Smith deliberately secured a three-month postponement of the case, well knowing that he did not have any evidence with which he could convict them of sedition.
Persecution Spreads to Somerset
The news of the crusade against Jehovah’s witnesses spread rapidly. Only a few days after the trouble began at
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< /Harlan, the officials at Somerset, Ken; tucky, a small mountain town not far from Harlan, proceeded to clap Mr. Frank Speerless and his wife into jail on the same pretext that Mayor Smith / had used. There was no evidence against the pair, and, to avoid any risk that the J court might dismiss the charges on that > ground, the prosecuting attorney,’ Rus; sell Jones, appeared at the “examining ' trial” with a special assistant for the [ occasion, one Gladstone Wesley, an > alleged representative of the so-called i “American” Legion, and leading pro: ponent in the Kentucky legislature of the sedition statute under which the i arrests had taken place. The reason for is. Wesley’s presence was soon manifest. [ Shortly after the trial began he took the floor and began in true rabble-rousing f fashion to shout fabulous misrepresenta-[ tions concerning the beliefs of Jehovah’s [ witnesses, and to ridicule same with f boisterous insults. “We are satisfied with c this government,” he screamed in tones I most nearly resembling an air-raid siren, j “and we don’t want any government set [ up by Christ!” His face contorted with 'j malice and rage, he finally pointed at the defendants and shrieked, “And these two ; people ought to be thrown in a dungeon until the flesh rots from their bones or
• be put in the electric chair!” The prosecuting attorney, catching the spirit of ; the occasion, had a ^better idea’; in childlike gibberish he suggested that all of Jehovah’s witnesses be put in a leaky boat and shoved out to sea.
With the violent clamor of these two expert rabble-rousers becoming louder by the minute, it is difficult to say what might have happened had it not been for the kindly intercession of a local freedom-loving and law-respecting attorney who volunteered his services just at the right moment. Righteously indignant, he severely lectured the would-be mobsters on the necessity of maintaining the rights secured to the people by the Constitution and eloquently demonstrated that the prosecutors were the ones who were guilty of undermining the law, and not Jehovah’s witnesses. This restored reason to the proceedings to some extent, but, nevertheless, the judge viewed the charge of preaching the gospel of Jehovah’s kingdom so tremendous that he set their bond at $5000.00. For seven grueling weeks Mr. and Mrs. Speerless were held prisoners, unable to furnish this bond, while the officials continued to intimidate and threaten all persons suspected of sympathizing with them.
“Sedition” Through Jedi Bars
Just at this time Jehovah’s witnesses were holding a nation-wide convention at Detroit, Michigan, and a telegram of greetings, sent from the Pulaski county jail by Mr. and Mrs. Speerless, was read to the assembly. One of the convention-ers, Mr. Everett Henry, heard this telegram read and resolved to stop by the jail on his way home, give these two ministers a word of encouragement, and see that they were provided with the new publications released at the convention. Upon his arrival he found that the police had taken away all the Watchtower literature from the prisoners, and had purposely imposed the strictest sort of confinement. Under the watchful eyes of the guard, he was unable to hand them the new releases during his visit, but, after he had finished, he slipped around to the back window of the jail and passed the literature through the bars to them, much to their delight.
Had he given them a hack saw, a file, a gun or a bomb, the effect would not have been greater than it was when the constable a few minutes later discovered what Mr. Henry had done. Immediately a general alarm was sounded and all police in the area were put on the alert to intercept him. Soon the report came from a town in the next county that they had caught Henry and were bringing him back. Acrid-smelling disinfectant was sloshed about over the vermin-ridden floor of one of the cells in the county jail, and in a few minutes the door was slammed with a sound of finality behind the unfortunate Henry, who joined Speerless and wife for a prolonged stay in the filthy jail.
Finally Henry was brought before the court for the routine “examining trial”. The charges were so manifestly preposterous that a local Presbyterian preacher, C. H. Talbot, not knowing where the tide of persecution might stop, asked leave of court'to say a few words concerning “religious freedom”. Leave was granted, and he sensibly urged the court to beware of hysteria and avoid destroying freedom for all the people in Somerset. To his great surprise and mortification, he was promptly labeled as a “fifth columnist” by the leaders of the persecution campaign, but before he could be clapped in jail along with Henry on charges of sedition he restored himself to good graces by making a statement in the local newspaper, “The papers said I defended the Witnesses. I didn’t do that at all. I don’t like those people; I don’t know anything about their doctrines; I wish they’d go away and I’d never have to hear of them again. All I did was to say that I didn’t think you could jail a man for the way he worships.”
Willie Johnson’s “Good Neighbor”
The witch hunt for Jehovah’s witnesses was now on full blast. The utterly unreasonable and villainous temper of the officials is well illustrated by their vile treatment of Willie Johnson, a local sharecropper and man of good-will toward Jehovah God. Johnson had lived in Pulaski county for 28 years, and no one in that section had a better reputation for honesty and hospitality than he did. He was unfortunate enough, however, to have for a neighbor one Joe Phelps, a deputy sheriff. Johnson had heard that the sedition trial of those being held in jail was.to come up shortly in the circuit court, and he inquired of his badged neighbor when it would likely be. During the course of the conversation, he gave the deputy a copy of the Watch tower magazine so that he could see for himself that there was nothing seditious about it. Instead of. reading it, the deputy immediately went before the grand jury, obtained a warrant for Johnson’s arrest, returned and hauled Johnson to jail. Like the others, a $5000.00 bond was also set for his release; a hopelessly exorbitant sum.
Johnson was never able to post the bond, professional bonding companies, because of fear of the officials, refused to lend their assistance, and he remained in jail for six consecutive months. He was turned loose only when the charge was withdrawn.
Officials Caught in Surprise Move
The situation in Kentucky was admittedly desperate, and was rapidly growing worse. To all appearances, law and justice had been entirely throttled by the chicanery of corrupt officialdom, or at least these outlaws in office thought they had suppressed it. But they didn’t reckon with the resourcefulness of the determined witnesses of Jehovah, whose general legal counsel, Hayden Covington, had taken charge of the situation. Instead of giving up and waiting for the December term of court, and the pleasure of Daniel Boone Smith, Covington immediately filed a complaint and petition in the United States District Court, and, under the provisions of a special statute, asked that these lawless officials be brought to account and thereafter enjoined from further depriving Jehovah’s witnesses of their civil rights secured by the Constitution. From then on things took place rapidly; so rapidly, in fact, that the startled officials hardly knew what was happening to their finely contrived scheme to banish Jehovah’s witnesses.
A special three-judge federal court was promptly impaneled at London, Kentucky, to hear the trial of the case. All of Jehovah’s witnesses who had
been arrested ini Harlan and Pulaski counties were on hand to give their testimony. Even Willie Johnson, who was still being held in the Pulaski county jail, was brought into court by special order, bound hand and foot with heavy iron manacles and under the attentive eye of a husky guard. The distraught officials realized that they were caught in a tight spot and were prepared fiercely to defend their actions, but Jehovah’s witnesses were equally determined to see that the whole story was brought into the open and the people’s right of freedom of worship preserved.
During the first day’s session of court I 93 exhibits were offered into the evi-I dence, representing specimens of each I publication that had been confiscated by the police from the homes of Jehovah’s witnesses. Then, one by one, each of the persons who had been arrested was put on the witness stand and questioned as to the circumstances of his arrest and the opposition of the officials to Jeho-. vah’s witnesses.
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! ‘That New York Lawyer* Blamed
j The attorney general for the Common-i wealth of Kentucky had been called in by the officials to defend the case in their i behalf, and he savagely attempted time and time again to confuse the witnesses by clever and vigorous cross-examination, but each time he failed. The honest and direct way in which these witnesses answered the questions of the attorney general only added to the already damning evidence against the officials.
“Didn’t your teaching and distributing of this literature arouse people to the danger that you would be mobbed?” thundered the attorney general at Louis Beeler.
“No, I don’t think it was the literature,” Beeler calmly replied.
“What was it that inflamed the people against you, if it wasn’t the literature ?”
“It was the mayor and them going up .and down the street hollering.” .
Obviously nettled by this embarrassing reply, the attorney general moved closer to the witness, and, pointing his finger at Beeler, snapped, “I will ask you if it isn’t true that the attitude of the people of that section who had been aroused by the dissemination of this literature was such that you people who had been spreading it around were probably safer in jail than out?”
“No,” drawled Beeler, “I never did see anyone but the mayor who did any ripping and running around and hollering; that was all I saw.” '
With that the attorney general exhaled deeply, sat down, and let the other witnesses go by without cross-examination.
As his last witness, Covington called Daniel Boone Smith, the prosecuting attorney, to the witness stand. Smith cockily admitted that he had prepared the indictments charging Jehovah’s witnesses with sedition, but his feathers wilted when Covington demanded that he read to the court the material in the 93 exhibits of the Watchtower literature upon which h<3 based these charges. Coloring visibly, Smith tried to sidestep the demand by claiming that his file of papers on the case had been thrown into the fire in the fireplace in his home by his young son in the middle of August. This excuse was not readily accepted by the stern federal judges, since it was painfully obvious that there was not much likelihood that the Smith household would need a fire to warm the house in the middle of a hot summer.
To save the disconcerted prosecutor obvious embarrassment, the court adjourned until the next day, instructing the witness to be prepared then to point out just what was seditious about the literature. Weakly, Smith objected that he dreaded the task of having to read all that literature, but the court had already adjourned and he had no alternative except to gather up the literature and stagger out of the courtroom under the load.
The town was small and there was only one hotel, in which all the partici-
pants at the trial had found lodging. That evening the light in the room occupied by the prosecuting attorney burned far into the morning hours, as he searched in vain through the literature for something that might sound seditious. To the great amusement of the lately imprisoned witnesses, the exasperated voice of Daniel Boone Smith could be heard through the thin partitions, blaming the mayor for their increasingly uncomfortable plight, to which the glum reply came, “Well, how was I to know they would bring in that d----lawyer
from New York!”
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Vindicated by Federal Court
In court the next day, the erstwhile spirited prosecutor made a lame attempt to read “seditious passages” from the literature, but that which he read was so palpably legitimate that he finally blurted out that he was unable to produce anything more incriminating. Nevertheless, he declared that it was his intention to continue the prosecution of Jehovah’s witnesses until he was stopped by some judicial decision.
Jehovah’s witnesses then rested their side of the case, and the attorney general called his star witness, Dr. L. 0. Smith, the mayor of Harlan, to testify. Among other things, the attorney general asked the mayor whether or not he had ever demanded that any of Jehovah’s witnesses salute the flag. Evidently recalling the blackjack episode in his office and other similar instances where he had abused Jehovah’s witnesses, Smith admitted that he had used “some threats” with his demands in this regard, and then, adjusting the halo which he imagined was above his head, he justified his villainous brutality by saying that he acted only from motives of “love” for his dear friends whom he wanted to prevent “getting into trouble with this un-American stuff”. On cross-examina-tion, the harder he was pressed about his participation in the plot against Jehovah’s witnesses, the more infuriated he became. After a series of rapid-fire questions, tending to expose his agitation of the public, Covington queried, “You were pretty sore, were you not?”’
“Oh, not as mad as I am now!” was the explosive retort.
After the examination of a few other witnesses, the case was then submitted to the court. But before adjournment the court required the attorney general to stipulate that there would be no further arrests of Jehovah’s witnesses under the statute until the court had opportunity to enter a final judgment in the case, and also that he would arrange to have Willie Johnson released from the Pulaski county jail on bond. The Harlan officials saw the handwriting on the wall forecasting defeat, and they sulked from the courtroom with the bitter taste of frustration in their mouths. A few ■months later, the court announced its decision vindicating Jehovah’s witnesses and permanently enjoining any of the officials of Harlan from “arresting, imprisoning or prosecuting . . . Jehovah’s witnesses for or on account of circulating, selling or otherwise distributing in a peaceable and orderly manner” the Watchtower literature. The entire opinion was published in Consolation No. 569, issue of July 9, 1941, wherein it was hailed as a signal victory in the cause of freedom, r
Harlan Hoodlums Halted
Now forcibly restrained from misusing the authority of their offices by arresting Jehovah’s witnesses, the mayor and prosecuting attorney themselves did not have the courage to come out in the open and attempt to make any reprisal for their defeat. But this did not stop them from urging their cronies to do so. One Saturday afternoon, while Jehovah’s witnesses were engaged in peacefully distributing the Watchtower and Consolation magazines on the streets of Harlan, someone rounded up a few of the professional riffraff of the town to form a mob. Their best efforts could ■k
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‘ arouse only a handful of sub-normal hooligans, who marched down the main ' street of the town behind a man known ' to be the county’s most disreputable thug and gunman. As they would pass one of ? Jehovah’s witnesses standing along the : edge of the sidewalk they would roughly shove and jostle him in an attempt to cause a fight, all of which was accom-panied with profuse tobacco spitting and : cursing. Jehovah’s witnesses stood their ’ ground, and refused to be led into a brawl. Lacking inspiration, the mob ; soon folded up and disappeared. Another ’ victory for the courageous Kentuckians . in the cause of righteousness!
: Despite all these failures, it was ob-< vious that the mayor was not yet willing ’ to admit defeat and tolerate freedom in Harlan. However, his course of opposition to Jehovah’s witnesses and the con-stitutional guaranties of freedom came ; to an end with the event of his death in ‘ February, 1942. The glowing eulogy that the clergyman gave over the remains of the deceased mayor was exceeded in resplendence only by the sun, which 5 seemed thenceforth to shine brighter, f The following year, Daniel Bdone Smith, | the Commonwealth’s attorney, was put i to work in Uncle Sam’s army, but Jeho-t vah’s witnesses had little cause for ' rejoicing, for his successor in office, Bert Howard, soon proved to be of the same general stripe.
Officials Co-operate with Mobsters
To assist the church at Harlan, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society assigned two ministers to work with the company of Jehovah’s witnesses there in publishing the message of Christ’s kingdom. These two ministers, Mina Kinler and Eunice Lamson, both elderly ladies having seen many years’ faithful service in the ministry, soon were conducting Bible studies in more than a score of homes in Harlan and had more than they could do to feed those anxious to learn of Jehovah’s purposes toward mankind. One day in September, 1943, Eunice Lamson was returning to her home from one of these Bible studies, when suddenly two women, accompanied by a gang of school children from a near-by school, dashed out to the road where she was walking and seized her by the wrists. One of the children had a flag tied on the end of a stick, and this was hung directly in her face, while the children hooted for her to salute it. Miss Lamson tried to break loose from her captors, but this only afforded opportunity for her attackers to throw her down on the street and scatter her literature. By this time startled residents along the street called the police, but this in no wise discouraged the mob, one of whom shouted that she had “permission from the law” to whip Jehovah’s witnesses. The police arrived, and instead of dispersing the mob and protecting Miss Lamson from mob violence, they immediately placed her under arrest and took her to the police station.
Later she was arraigned before the judge of the Harlan County Court, and, surprisingly enough, charged with the crime of sedition! Bert Howard, the new prosecuting attorney, obviously profiting by the experience of his predecessor in office who had done everything to delay the hearings in court, demanded that the trial be held as Soon as possible. Miss Lamson objected, saying that she wanted a two weeks’ continuance to obtain legal counsel. “You can’t have two weeks’ time to prepare,” shrieked Howard. “You’ll send for some of those d----
communistic lawyers from Cincinnati or New York, like you did the last time!” The trial was immediately scheduled for the next day.
Ready to defend her case, Miss Lamson appeared in court the following morning. At the last minute the prosecutor mumbled something about “dropping the sedition charge”, and thereupon arrested her on a new charge, this time “disturbing the peace”. She was then immediately taken to the magistrate’s court, tried, convicted, and
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fined. Blit, to make sure that she stayed in jail a good long time, a peace bond of $5000 was assessed, in default of which she was locked up.
A few days later legal counsel was sent to Miss Lamsdn’s assistance, and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus was filed. After much wrangling and more delay the prosecuting attorney found that he was in deep water on the whole matter, and recommended to the appellate court that the case be dismissed.
Another False Charge Defeated
It looked for a time as if peace might be restored to the scenic mountain community, but the officials were not yet willing to admit defeat. No sooner’had the jailer released Eunice Lamson from her filthy jail cell than the police brought in her companion, Mina Kinler, to take her place. By this time the officials were running low on suitable charges to place against Jehovah’s witnesses, and the best one they could hurriedly scrape up was a charge of trespass. It seems that a well-worn path crossed the railroad tracks that ran through the town, and someone had seen Miss Kinler crossing over this path. As everyone in town well knew, there was nothing unusual about someone’s crossing over this path; but some excuse for arrest was needed, and the officials seized upon this with the same vigor they would have manifested had they found her , robbing the local bank. She was thrown into the jail with the usual epithets, warnings and reviling that had characterized previous arrests of Jehovah’s witnesses. When she was brought to trial it was significantly emphasized that she was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. A conviction was promptly announced by the court, and a fine assessed just small enough to prevent an appeal from being taken. Again an attorney had to be sent from Cincinnati to file a habeas corpus proceeding in the county court. The petition was denied, and an appeal was made to the highest court in Kentucky. But before the appeal could be heard, she waj1 released from jail and the case wags closed.
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The obvious intent of these arrests. was to smear Jehovah’s witnesses in the: public eye and discourage them from: continuing with their work of bringing Bible truths to the people. But instead, of discouraging them, it made them all the more determined to carry on. Honest residents in the county, now thoroughly tired of the corruption of their officials* and disgusted with their vicious campaign of persecution, were now out-, spoken in their encouragement to Jehovah’s witnesses to “keep up the good work!”
High Court Renders “Coup de Grace”
The last bitterly contested round in the four-year battle for freedom came to an end last year, and again the wearied officials found themselves defeated. This time it was the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, that administered the final drubbing.
After the federal court had enjoined the further persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses under the sedition statute, the city council of Somerset called an emergency session in 1942 for the purpose of amending their peddlers license-tax ordinance so as to “get” Jehovah’s witnesses. Laying aside their duty to keep the peace and to protect the life and liberty of the people, the police were dispatched to doggedly “shadow” pioneer ministers Hazel Burford, Edith Bradford, Anna Seevers and others of Jehovah’s witnesses. Their orders were to arrest any of them that was caught distributing Watchtower literature without having previously secured a city license by paying a daily fee of $7.50.
Week after week these pioneer ministers were hauled to the filthy jail, “tried,’ and convicted. Appeals were immediately taken, but that did not in the least discourage continued arrests. Finally another federal injunction against th(
enforcement of the ordinance was sought, but not secured. Still battling with determination, Jehovah’s witnesses appealed from the decree denying the injunction. The officials, however, were unable to make good their objections on the appeal, and the order denying the injunction was reversed in the Circuit Court of Appeals. But any hopes the officials might have cherished to begin i anew wdth the arrests were stopped : short by the decision of the Kentucky ; Court of Appeals on October 29, 1943, I in which the ordinance was declared i unconstitutional. •
, The decision, styled under the title of : Anna Seevers v. City of Somerset, is ; written in the traditional freedom-loving spirit that characterizes the people of ■ Kentucky. In a special concurring opin: ion, Judge Sims stated that he “freely, ■ voluntarily and even joyously” followed ■ the decision *of the Supreme Court of the United States in coming to this conclusion, and said:
It is clear to my mind that this ordinance has no application to the activities in which appellant was engaged at the time of her arrest. The ordinance lays a license fee to be paid by an itinerant merchant or peddler, for selling or offering for sale merchandise or literature upon the public streets or by going from house to house in the city. It is true * she went from one house to another ringing doorbells, and when her summons was answered she played her phonograph and offered her book or pamphlet for which she received twenty-five cents, five cents or noth’ ing. But the facts in this record could not make her a peddler because she was not selling her literature for private gain, but according to her light, and belief she was following the example of St. Paul, “teaching publicly and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20) I would call her a colporteur rather than a peddler.
The sect to which appellant belongs, Jehovah’s witnesses, take literally God’s command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” She testified that her preaching Was done, by the aid of fhe phonograph and by the written distribution of “God’s Word”. . . . However strange this form pf ‘preaching1 may seem to those accustomed to receive the holy word from the pulpit, it occurs to most persons when they stop to think that almost since the printing press was invented, colporteurs have been engaged in evangelizing the world by the distribution of religious tracts. ...
If the ordinance should be considered as applying to the transaction in which appellant was engaged, it contravened both the state and federal • constitutions guaranteeing freedom of religion and must fall.
Then, alluding to the disgraceful intolerance of the officials that wrongfully had persecuted Jehovah’s witnesses, he lashed out:
God created man in His image and from that time hence man has been busy creating God in his image and prescribing dogmas and rituals by which God may be worshiped. The authors of the federal constitution knew how prone men are to impose their religious beliefs upon their brethren and to tolerate no other form of worshiping God except their own. Therefore in their wisdom, they wrote the First Amendment. . . .
A Victory for Freedom
The people of Kentucky have never hesitated to fight for what they believed to be right and just, and never have they fought more fiercely than when their liberties were infringed. Though the officials at Harlan and Somerset should have realized at the outset that it was a futile attempt to saddle a dictatorship on a people whose spirit is as free as the majestic mountains in which they live, these officials have certainly discovered by this time that their Hitlerlike putsch to shackle and regiment the conscience of the people has failed. The hard-fighting and determined Kentucky witnesses of Jehovah have indeed scored a major victory for their fellow citizens who desire to worship God in spirit and in truth.
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