The Last Ballad(116)

No trace of Beal’s whereabouts has been found. The police worked during the night and into the morning to secure the arrests of other prominent members of the strike. Many suspects had fled the scene but were later apprehended. Velma Burch of Passaic, New Jersey, was arrested in a telephone booth in downtown Gastonia, phoning to New York. Sophia Blevin was arrested in Bessemer City at the home of Ella May Wiggins, a known striker. Wiggins was detained but later released when her alibi of nursing the sick wife of Richard McAdam, owner and operator of McAdam Mills, was corroborated by Mr. McAdam himself. Carlton Reed of New York City was arrested while attempting to board a train in Charlotte. Also arrested were the men who served as armed guards at the strike colony, namely Chesley Anderson of Gastonia, who has been identified by Deputy Officer Albert Roach as the man who shot Chief Aderholt. All are under arrest on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. With news of Aderholt’s death, the charge is expected to change to first-degree murder.

The trouble at the tent colony began Friday evening among the strikers themselves. It seems that disparaging remarks passed between them and a group of Negroes. Rotten eggs and other missiles were hurled, followed by a sort of free-for-all fight. Some say that the strikers themselves called the police department to help allay this quarrel.

When the police officers arrived on the scene, a voice was heard to yell, “Shoot the —— officers.” After being wounded, Chief Aderholt spent the night in serious condition at the Gaston Sanitorium as he fought for his life with his wife and children by his side.

However, at about seven o’clock this morning convulsions set in as a result of the puncturing of his lungs by gunshot. A short while later the chief suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, accompanied by other convulsions, and the end came shortly after 10 o’clock.

This great man will be mourned by many, and we will never forget his bravery. Nor will we forget the perpetrators of such a heinous crime that robbed him of his life.




Labor Defender July 1929

SMASH THE MURDER FRAME-UP!



Defend the Gastonia Textile Workers!

14 SOUTHERN TEXTILE STRIKERS

(Members of the National Textile Workers Union) CHARGED WITH MURDER FACE THE ELECTRIC CHAIR

8 OTHERS FACING LONG PRISON TERMS



The police of Gastonia, upon the direct orders of the mill owners, attacked the workers’ headquarters and their tent colony, fired shots into the tents, where women and children were sleeping and began shooting at the strikers and beating them with their guns. In the struggle which followed, Chief of Police Aderholt was killed. All the organizers and leading strikers, members of the National Textile Workers Union, have been arrested on a murder charge. The workers have been driven from their tent colony.

DEFEND THE RIGHT OF THE SOUTHERN WORKERS TO ORGANIZE!



RUSH ALL FUNDS to the NATIONAL OFFICE of the INTERNATIONAL LABOR DEFENSE

80 East 11th Street, New York, N.Y.


International Labor Defense,

National Office: 80 E. 11th St. NY.

I enclose $______ for Gastonia Defense.

I further pledge $______ per week.

Name ___________________________

Address _________________________

City and State _____________________



A RALLY HAS BEEN SCHEDULED IN GASTONIA, NC

ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

TO PROTEST THE TRIAL OF OUR INNOCENT BROTHERS AND SISTERS.



WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!





Gaston Transom-Times



Friday, September 13, 1929

Since June we have mistakenly believed ourselves rid of the Communist scourge that ordered the murder of Police Chief Orville Aderholt and the shooting of a number of brave officers in June at the Loray Mill. We found and arrested cowards like Fred Beal and other of their leaders and put them in jail. We tore down their tents. We demolished their headquarters. We thought we had flushed the Bolshevists from Gastonia and sent them packing to the dark slums of New York and New Jersey. Recently we learned that many of these same godless Bolshevists have relocated to Bessemer City, proving that even a snake with a severed head can still bite, can still spread poison, can still kill if given the chance.

Word has reached us that a great rally in support of the jailed Communists is to be held tomorrow in downtown Gastonia, a place that has had its fill of anarchy and bloodshed. Is more blood to be spilled? That is impossible to know, but if blood is to be spilled it must not be the blood of innocent, God-fearing Americans. If blood must be spilled, let it be the blood of those who seek to harm us, let it be the blood of those who murdered our beloved Chief Aderholt and wreaked havoc upon our peaceful city.

Tomorrow, we ask that every citizen—every husband, father, brother, officer, veteran—do everything in his power to confront these Communist agitators as they arrive in downtown Gastonia. We do not seek or desire violence, but we will not back down if violence is brought to our door. We will not allow more of our people to be murdered. We will not stand by quietly as our society is infiltrated once again.

PROUD AMERICANS, STAND WITH US TOMORROW AND HELP US PUT DOWN ANY INSURRECTION THAT SEEKS TO OVERTHROW OUR GOVERNMENT AND ALTER OUR WAY OF LIFE.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR BRAVERY.

NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP THIS NIGHTMARE BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE.

NOW IS THE TIME TO DO YOUR DUTY.