A Union lecturer came to town.  The meeting was well attended.  A vigilance committee of provocateurs and business men was in the audience.  At the close of the lecture those gentlemen started to pass the signal for action.  Elmer Smith sauntered down the aisle, shook hands with the speaker and told him he would walk to the train with him.

The following morning the door to Smith’s office was ornamented with a cardboard sign.  It read:  “Are you an American?  You had better say so.  Citizens’ Committee.”  This was lettered in lead pencil.  Across the bottom were scrawled these words:  “No more I.W.W. meetings for you.”

In 1918 an event occurred which served further to tighten the noose about the stubborn neck of the young lawyer.  On this occasion the terrorists of the city perpetrated another shameful crime against the working class—­and the law.

Blind Tom—­A Blemish on America

Tom Lassiter made his living by selling newspapers at a little stand on a street corner.  Tom is blind, a good soul and well liked by the loggers.  But Tom has vision enough to see that there is something wrong with the hideous capitalist system we live under; and so he kept papers on sale that would help enlighten the workers.  Among these were the “Seattle Union Record,” “The Industrial Worker” and “Solidarity.”  To put it plainly, Tom was a thorn in the side of the local respectability because of his modest efforts to make people thing.  And his doom had also been sealed.

Early in June the newsstand was broken into and all his clothing, literature and little personal belongings were taken to a vacant lot and burned.  A warning sign was left on a short pole stuck in the ashes.  The message, “You leave town in 24 hours, U.S.  Soldiers, Sailors and Marines,” was left on the table in his room.

With true Wobbly determination, Lassiter secured a new stock of papers and immediately re-opened his little stand.  About this time a Centralia business man, J.H.  Roberts by name, was heard to say “This man (Lassiter) is within his legal rights and if we can’t do anything by law we’ll take the law into our own hands.”  This is precisely what happened.

On the afternoon of June 30th, Blind Tom was crossing Tower Avenue with hesitating steps when, without warning, two business men seized his groping arms and yelled in his ear, “We’ll get you out of town this time!” Lassiter called for help.  The good Samaritan came along in the form of a brute-faced creature known as W.R.  Patton, a rich property owner of the city.  This Christian gentleman sneaked up behind the blind man and lunged him forcibly into a waiting Oakland automobile.  The machine is owned by Cornelius McIntyre who is said to have been one of the kidnapping party.

“Shut up or I’ll smash your mouth so you can’t yell,” said one of his assailants as Lassiter was forced, still screaming for help, into the car.  Turning to the driver one of the party said, “Step on her and let’s get out of here.”  About this time Constable Luther Patton appeared on the scene.  W.R.  Patton walked over to where the constable stood and shouted to the bystanders, “We’ll arrest the first person that objects, interferes or gets too loud.”