Albemarle Strikers Guilty of Ignorance, Lead Astray by Union Leaders, Says Governor, Dec. 3, 1919

From The Hickory Daily Record, Wednesday, December 3, 1919

Bickett Commutes Sentences of Men

Raleigh, Dec. 3—Governor Bickett late last afternoon commuted the sentences of George Lineberry, Grady Boyd, Paul Austin, Duncan Solomon and Nick Simmons, charged with assault with intent to kill and conspiracy to prevent the enforcement of law from four months on the roads to fines of $75 each. These defendants were sentenced as the result of the riot at Albemarle, which Governor Bickett asserted in no uncertain terms was due more to the activities of outside agitators than to the men upon whom road sentences were imposed, with the announcement that he had commuted these sentences, Governor Bickett issued the following statement:

‘These defendants, together with 25 other prisoners, pleaded guilty at the November term of Stanly superior court to a conspiracy to prevent workers from entering a cotton mill to work on the morning of September 15, 1919. The defendants, Marvin I. Ritch and J.H. Graham, were sentenced to pay a fine of $500 and all the other defendants were sentenced to pay fines ranging from $75, downward, except the five defendants above named, who were all given road sentences of four months each.

“A petition is presented to me presenting that the road sentence against the above named defendants be commuted to fines. This petition is signed by all the county officials of Stanly county; by all the town officials of Albemarle; by the pastors of the churches; by the owners and officers of the cotton mills of the town, and by every representative citizen in that community, with whom I am personally acquainted. The evidence in the case discloses that these five men were more sinned against than sinning. They are not men of education, or of means, but are hard working men, and two outside agitators, one a lawyer and one a labor agent, came into court and pleaded guilty to the charge of urging these men to enter into this unlawful conspiracy. The judge who tried the case saw fit in his wisdom, which I do not question, to impose fines upon the chief conspirators, and I do not think that these ignorant people, who followed the advice of men of more education and more experience than themselves ought to be worked on the roads.

“The whole case illustrates how dangerous it is for our people to act upon the advice of outside agitators, who have no jobs in the community, who are not personally interested in the development of the business interests of the community, who have no particular friends in the community, and who have nothing to lose in case the community is stricken with business paralysis. Our people would do well before listening to any agitator to ascertain whether or not he proposes to lose his job when they lose theirs, to go hungry when they go hungry and when the go to jail to go with them. For these reasons the road sentence against each of the five defendants above named is commuted to a fine of $75. Each fine to be paid $5 cash and the balance in installments of $10 every 30 days.