Early11th circuit lawyers and
mob rule on the Rosebud
The residents of the Rosebud, who had arrived for settlement only
9-10 years earlier, were dramatically affected by that war.
The homesteaders came from a vast array of
places, countries and ethnic backgrounds. They lacked the cultural interaction
that many areas of the nation had enjoyed excepting the newly transplanted
Bohemians and a large part of German farmers in Gregory County who would be
questioned about their patriotism by the 100 percent America firsters.
They were different, but they had a great
driving force to show that they were not. In dealing with this dilemma many
adopted an attitude of “America First” and if you didn’t follow the America
first philosophy you were a traitor.
Many of those “firsters” became Home Guards
and super patriots. An attitude which even to this day results in the blind
following of our government leaders under the slogan,” my country right or
wrong”.
My heritage entertains a different
philosophy.
My great grandfather, George Riley Knapp,
was a commissary sergeant endearingly called a” bummer” who fought with Sherman
to the sea in the civil war. His commanding officer was General Kilpatrick, not
so lovingly called “Kilcavarly” by his troopers.
Sherman of course scorched the earth of
the south, marched his army of 90,000 men over 600 miles to Savannah thence
north to Appomattox, a campaign in which he lost only 600 men. In the war over
all in which 620, 000. soldiers were killed.
In my home town of Madison SD a group of
“Home guard super patriots had captured a conscientious objector and were in
the process of tar and feathering him when he was rescued by the old cavalry
civil war veteran who taking charge of him promised to shoot any sob who
interfered That was my great grandfather at 88 years of age
My mother’s father was all German. Like
most German farmers he was successful. During WW1 the local Hutchinson county
draft board headed by a young Irish attorney drafted every hired man he hired.
The local attorney’s office was painted yellow by grandfather’s son. Needless
to say the son was sent on the next train to Camp Funston and the local attorney,
being a super patriot, continued to draft those who showed German sympathy
Now that you know where my sympathies lie
let me tell you my story of Rosebud lawyers during the Great War.
Much of Dakota, including the Rosebud, was
settled by German farmers.
How could they be loyal Americans if they
spoke German?
Governor Norbeck had a problem on his
hands. It was two fold.
Not only were these farmers hard working
and successful they were German and they had become a segment of the population
that was ripe for membership in the Non Partisan League.
What to do.
Dealing with the German language problem
was easy.
Norbeck had appointed a “South Dakota
Council of Defense” and that body had appointed councils of defense in every
county. There was no statutory authorization giving the Governor such power.
That didn’t bother not least of the entire attorney’s of the Rosebud.
The State council of Defense on June 1, 1918
passed an order: Prohibiting the use of the German language in public or quasi
public meetings also in all educational institutions. They also passed a
resolution “which prohibits the use of
the German language to assemblages of three or more persons upon any public
street , in depots, upon trains, in public places of business except in cases
of extreme emergency, such as death, severe illness , fire, or call for
police.”
A question of permits to allow the
speaking of German was left to the local County councils of defense.
Unchecked, the local cities such as Bone
steel, Herrick, Burke, and Gregory with the queen city of the Rosebud, Dallas
leading the way established their own Home Guards.
Here is how Gregory County Council dealt with
the German language problem.
Gregory County News- Dallas SD August 22,
1918
‘Wm Haight, proprietor of what has been
termed the pro German store in Gregory, was next on the carpet. It was shown
that customers were allowed to talk all the German they pleased in the store
and a consequence the loyal citizens of Gregory were becoming incensed over
this flagrant abuse of the Council of Defense order.
It was shown that the property was in
danger of destruction and that the personal safety of Haight demanded some kind
of action by the council of defense. It was finally decided, Haight agreeing,
that the store be closed, and the stock and the store is now in charge of
Deputy Sheriff Huston”
Not to be outdone, Fairfax convened a
meeting the Council of Defense as reported by the Dallas Gregory County News on
Sept 5, 1918.
At such meeting numerous persons were
brought before and examined relative to speaking German in public.
The following persons were given an
opportunity to donate $25 to the Red Cross and chip in to defray the cost of
the proceeding after promising not to speak German again.
Fred Witmus, Jacob Forman,Alberet Kreuger,
Mike Diez,Fred Benz,Geo Ellwanger,Dan Schlacht and Jacob Kosh.
The local Lutheran pastor was called
before the board and accused of holding holiday services in German. Silent night (Stille Nacht) had even been
sung in its original German A charge which he admitted together with admitting
that he had kept a picture of the Kaiser in his study until his son destroyed
it.
Mrs. Peter Stelle was charged with
exploiting her German sympathy A cherished likeness of the Kaiser and his sons
was presented to the council and turned over to the Fairfax Home guards for
appropriate action.
The problem of foreign language and
parochial education did not disappear with the end of the war.
None of our erstwhile Rosebud lawyers
question the right to limit free speech. For that matter the South Dakota
lawyers, with few exceptions, made any objection.
In 1922 five states including South Dakota
closed any loopholes in previous laws forbidding teaching in public or private
schools in any language other than English.
The Missouri synod of the Lutheran Church
and a Polish Catholic parish of South Omaha appealed to the Supreme Court of
Nebraska where they were rejected and thereafter appealed to the US Supreme
Court in the case of Nebraska v Meyer
On June 4 1923 the US Supreme Court ruled
that such foreign language prohibition in schools was unconstitutional
Of significance was a further ruling by
the US Supreme Court in 1925 declaring an Oregon law passed at the instigation of
the KKK and Masonic bodies unconstitutional? The law required that all children
between the age of 8 and 16 receive a public education
Thus the Supreme Court brought to an end
the movement to impose legal restrictions on the use of foreign languages
The imposition of such language
restrictions had been championed by “super patriots, xenophobes, champion of
public school education, and later such organizations as the American Legion
and Masonic Orders”
In fact the students of Yankton high
school were highly praised when they threw all the German language books in the
Missouri River as they sang the Star Spangled Banner.
Thus did the Supreme Court clarify and
enlarge American freedom.
Now these local Home Guards took their
work very seriously. In August of 1918 “Major” A.T. Ware of the Dallas home
guards printed this Notice “
I have received Orders from General
Crowder to make immediate report on the home guard organization under my
command. It is now compulsory duty for every man of draft age (18 to 65) to
drill a certain number of hours in each week. In pursuant to that order I
hereby command all men draft age to be present at the Armory in Dallas, Friday
evening August 30”
If you think that these fellas didn’t
exercise their authority over the general public consider this:
In the Dallas paper of October 10, 1918
they printed the following notice:
Whereas, it has been called to the
attention of the Executive Committee of the Gregory County Council of Defense
that various and in some instances exorbitant prices are being asked by
cornhuskers, and
Whereas after investigation of the prices
being for such labor in other areas of this state as well as adjoining portions
of Nebraska , it is
ORDERED
That a price of not to exceed 10cents per
bu be paid for corn husking where the yield per acre exceeds 35 bu and where it
exceed 25bu the price shall not exceed 9c per bu
HS Jarvis
J.F Frame Secretary
J.F. Frame was a local Burke attorney
would later be appointed a Circuit Judge of the 11th circuit.
Non Partisan League and Home Guards
Independent party affiliation was not new
to South Dakota.
In its first statehood election Republicans
had 34,497 votes, Democrats 18,484 and Independent s 24,591. As shown by the
race for Governor
In fact the Independent vote was far more than the Democrat
vote until a Fusion Candidate,
Andrew E Lee, was elected in 1898 The Independent Party was disbanded and Republicans
returned to power with a two to one vote over Democrats s in 1902
This continued until the uprising by
voters which resulted in the formation of the Non Partisan League. Don’t forget
that women could not vote until 1920 nor were Indians allowed to vote.
In 1916 the right of Women to vote in SD
was denied 58,000 to 53,000
Peter Norbeck elected in 1916, setting the
stage for his “Home Guard” extra judicial appointments.
In the 1918 election
Norbeck 51,175
Dem 17,858
Ind 26,380
Constitutional amendments passed which
were parts of the NPL agenda
Granted suffrage to women
Permitting State to mine and sell coal
Authorized state to engage in works of
internal improvement
Contract for state indebtedness for
internal improvement
Empowered state to engage in
hydro-electric development
Allow State to manufacture and sell cement
Allow State to engage and sell hail
insurance
Allow State to own and operate elevators,
warehouses, flour mills and packing plants.
Enactment of Richards’s primary law
The Reps and Dem were scared stiff of the
NPL.
In 1920 NPL out polled Deems and in 1922
the combined vote of Deems and NPL was 20,000 votes more than the elected Rep
Governor.
By 1922 NPL became known as the farmer
Labor party and by 1926 with the election of Democrat lawyer Bill Bulow the NPL
was dead.
Bulow, a graduate of Michigan law school,
started proactive with Joe Kirby in Sioux Falls and later moved to Bereford
South Dakota
Bulow would later serve two terms as United
States Senator, and Tom Berry .a West River cowboy. (Father of Baxter Berry,
who you will hear about later when Georg e and a young Rick Johnson with help
from Sam Masten defended him in a notorious murder trial) succeeded Bulow as
governor.
Bulow was known as a
cracker-box humorist and a bull's-eye tobacco spitter, drawling, beaked Bulow
won the moniker of "Silent Bill" by speaking on the Senate floor only
six times in two terms.
List of characters Home Guard
County Council in Gregory in Gregory
county led by J.R. Cash with P.J. Donahue and J.F. Frame as members. Prominent
lawyers all J.R. Cash would later be appointed Circuit Judge by Norbeck. P.J. Donohue was a noted orator and father of
Parnell and J/F. Frame would also become a Circuit Judge.
Cash became a notorious sentence. Arlo
Horst, proprietor of Arlo’s bar in Mission was sentenced to 10 years for
statutory rape. This at a time when the SD Federal judge considered statutory
rape on the reservation “as a mere social indiscretion”
Rosebud Bar legend has it that when Judge
Cash asked Arlo if he had anything to say, Arlo looked up and said “You are
awfully free with my fucking time.”
Opie Chambers of Dallas was the most
prominent and outspoken member of the Dallas Home guards. along with Jury,
McLain and OM Sinclair, SE Lindley,
Protest against the Non Partisan League
erupted in Gregory County in the Spring of 1918
Considering the NPL’s entire platform was
passed by the enactment of the Constitution provisions Norbeck and his Democrat
adversaries knew they were in serious trouble with the electorate.
They immediately embarked on a program of
tying the SD NPL to be the arm of German sympathizers and were not 150% true
Americans.
(Sound familiar?)
No place did it become more apparent than
right here on the opened portion of the Rosebud.
Notwithstanding he had no statutory
authorization to do so .Norbeck established a State Council of Defense which
appointed County wide Councils and in turn each city on the Rosebud had its own
Council of Defense.
The Rosebud became the focal point of the
fight between the powers that be against the intrusion of the NPL into their
political bailiwick
In early March of 1918 an altercation
between the Home guards and the organizers of the NPL occurred in Gregory.
The NPL men were attacked, their luggage
sacked and rummaged and they were forced out of town to Burke where they were
jailed overnight and placed on the train the following morning to Sioux City
and told not to get off until they were out of South Dakota.
While there are different versions to the
events perhaps the statement given by Opie Chambers in the Gregory paper of
March 21st makes the point of mob rule most effectively.
He stated that they confiscated the papers
of the NPL organizers and what they found proves how unpatriotic they really
were.
All who examined the NPL pamphlet found it
to be seditious
Quoting from the pamphlet Opie Chambers
related:
“We
therefore urge before proceeding further in support of our European allies,
insist that they, in common with it, make immediate public declaration of terms
of peace , without annexation of territory, indemnification, contributions or
interference with the right of any nation to live and manage its own affairs,
thus being in harmony with and supporting the new democracy in Russia in her
declaration of these fundamental principle”
“To
conscript men and exempt the blood stained wealth coined from the suffrage of
humanity is repugnant to the spirit of America and contrary to the ideals of
democracy”
“We
declare freedom of speech to be the bulwark of human liberty, and we decry all
attempts to muzzle the public press or individuals upon any pretext whatsoever.
A declaration of War does not repeal the Constitution of the US, and the
unwarranted interference of the military and other authorities with the rights
of individuals must cease.”
“While
engaged in righteous war against German imperialism why should the United
States aid England (help) any other country in their imperialist designs?”
“Let
us drag these questions out before the whole world and settle them before the
bar of public opinion. If the German people and government are now willing to
settle this war on the basis of the demands of our government, we should no
longer continue to war.”
“We
cannot know that we are not sending our young, strong capable men to die in the
trenches not for democracy, but for imperialism, unless the things for which
they fight be explicitly specified.”
Shall
we deny to the patriotic young men, the flower of our nation, who go to suffer
and die in foreign lands the reason for which they die?”
A
free press and freedom of speech are the bulwarks of human liberty. Rights
surrendered may never be regained; Therefore no attempt to muzzle the public
pres or individual upon any pretext whatsoever should be permitted. A
declaration of war does not repeal the constitution of the US and the
unwarranted interference of the military and other authorities with the right
of individuals must cease. It is the duty of those remaining to defend these
rights, not for themselves only, but also in the interest of the patriotic
youth battling in foreign lands, in order that they shall not have fought in
vain”
Here’s what the chairman of the Gregory
Council of Defense stated”
“After
such positive proof of disloyalty on the part of the organizers and sedition on
the part of the founders and controllers of such organization, it is feared
that any attempt to hold meetings to further the work of the organization in
Gregory County will result in riot and bloodshed, and acting in the interest of
America and for law and order I, Opie Chambers, Chairman of the Council of
Defense for Gregory County , South Dakota, do hereby order that no more public
meeting of said National Non Partisan league be permitted in said county and that no organizers for said NNPL be
permitted to solicit subscriptions in said county , and I further direct each
local or precinct chairman of said Council of Defense to see to it that no
meetings of said league be held and no solicitors of said league operate in
Gregory County, and I charge and direct the officers and members of the home
guard in the said county of Gregory to
see that any person or persons attempting to hold public meetings under the
name of the Nonpartisan League or any of its known branches, be arrested and
the I or whoever may be acting for me at my office in Dallas, be notified,
and that said party or parties be held
until appropriate action may be taken.
Signed
Opie Chamber County Chairman of Council of Defense.
March
16, 1918.
GOVERNOR NORBECK CAMES TO GREGORY COUNTY ROARING
LIKE A GALLOWAY BULL
Norbeck deposed Chambers the following May
and appointed H.H. Jarvis a Herrick Lawyer, as Defense chairman.
In late March Chambers has issued
announcement that if the NPL persisted in organizing and holding meetings in
Gregory County he would not be responsible for riots and that there would be
killings.
He Proclaimed:
“I have issued an order that no more:
public meetings of The NPL will be held in Gregory County”
Dated March 15, 1918.
Notwithstanding his firing by Norbeck
Chambers continued to speak at meetings around the county promising that he
would break the law and lead mobs to break up NPL meeting not matter what.
The NPL and Gregory county had reached
national attention.
President Wilson and Secretary of War
Baker issued a proclamation denouncing the mob violence.
Norbeck attended a meeting where A.L.
Putnam, a NPL candidate for Lt Gov attempted to question him. About the
proclamation
One paper reported:
“Putnam did not have a chance put the
question to the governor. No Galloway Bull ever bellowed more lustily than
Governor Norbeck. He bounced up and down and pawed the air”
Where were the supporters of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights when all of this was happening? Where were
the lawyers who are trusted with protecting our basic rights?
Where was J.R. Cash P.J. Donohue >JF Frame?
In May of 1918 Milo Sonner a farmer living
a few miles south of St Charles
was hauled before a Bonesteel Council of
Defense kangaroo court presided over by J.R. Cash, local attorney, and faced
charges involving his solicitation of membership in the NPL.
P.J. Donahue a democrat lawyer was placed
in charge of Sonner’s prosecution.
Cash’s secretary, soon to be his wife, was
made the court reporter.
Needless to say Sonner was found guilty of
something or other and ordered to use the money he had collected for membership
in the NPL to buy War saving stamps.
Affidavits were afterwards filed which
stated:
On March 12th, 1918 Sonner and
a Mr. Nellermoe were holding a NPL rally at a hall in Herrick.
The hall was entered by a Mr. A Zorba and
a mob of 20 persons (including Tom Hoy, ancestor of Tex Hoy, who would give
warning to Sonner) who ordered and then threw Sonner and Nellermoe out of the
hall and busted up the meeting.
Mrs.Sonner was also at the meeting and in
attempting to help her husband stated that she was more patriotic than Zorba
since she had a brother in the trenches in France.
Zorba wheeled, grabbed her by the arm and
told her; “that if she had a brother in the US Army he was there as a German
spy.”
Thus two of the leading lawyers in town
found Sonner Guilty, made him buy Liberty Stamps and never bothered to do
anything to the mob which had forcibly broken up the meeting.
Oh yes- J.R Cash would become Circuit
Judge and his wife Claudia, would become his court reporter.
P.J. Donahue would raise a son, Parnell, who
would become Attorney General of SD.
The clashes continued;-lawsuits were filed
in federal court-suing Chambers and his cohorts.
Finally Norbeck acted (One month before
WW! Armistice)
Four seven months mob violence had reigned
on the Rosebud.
On Wednesday afternoon on October 9th,
1918 Governor Norbeck made a special trip to Bonesteel to guarantee law and
order for a meeting to be addressed by candidates that had been endorsed by the
NPL
The Governor first went to the Sheriff and
told him he wanted him to uphold law and order and that the governor meant what
he said.
The Governor then went to the Bonesteel
Home guards and told them that the NPL League meeting would be held and there
would not be another mob outrage in Gregory County.
And there wasn’t
Six husky Sanborn county farmers had
escorted the NPL candidate for governor to Bonesteel where they were met by
Gregory county farmer supporters
They had 100 farmer protectors and they
drove on to Bonesteel. where they found the hall too small and went to the
fairground and used the grandstand for their meeting.
Norbeck went even further he told the Sheriff
and 8 deputized Home Guard to accompany the NPL candidates at another meeting
in Dixon.
At the meeting a crowd of the Opie
Chambers people gathered outside the hall. The Sheriff then rose and deputized
everyone in the hall as his deputy-strode outside and told the mob what he had done
The mob silently crept away
At the meeting in Winner, the Tripp county
Sheriff told the gathered mob they could go straight to hell. Instead they sat in the audience an acted
like good citizens and listened to the speaker.
Thus did the mob rule come to a whimpering
end- and the end of the war itself would soon follow.
In the peace process that would follow
America would find out that its European allies weren’t much interested in
making the world safe for democracy.
If those who showed some
sympathy for German or NPL farmers were treated to the indignities offered by
the mob rule on the Rosebud- what happened to those Hutterites in SD who were
conscientious objectors.
Four Hutterites, Jacob Wipf
and three Hofer brothers, Joseph, David and Michael of the Rock port colony
wrre arrested for failure to sign army enlistment papers and were sentenced to
37 years in prison.
They were taken to Alcatraz
and put in solitary confinement where they were placed in dungeon like filthy
cells.
They were given no clothing
other than underwear and were only given a ½ glass of water every 24 hours and
no food.
They were beaten with clubs
and with arms crossed tied to the ceiling. After 5 days they were removed from
the hole. For the remaining 4 months at Alcatraz they were allowed only one
hour of exercise every Sunday.
After 4 months they were
transferred to Fort Leavenworth. They were exposed to much cold and were made
to stand at attention in the cold with little clothing. They were made to stand
nine hours each day with hands tied hanging with their feet barely touching the
floor
When their wives were finally
allowed to visit Joseph was dead and Michael died two days later
As an ironic gesture the two
dead bodies of Joseph and Michael were dressed in army uniforms before being
sent to the colony for burial.
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