I now ask your honors frankly, if you, or any one that is dear to you, was condemned upon the
inconclusive, disjointed fragments of suspicion, misnomered by the state as evidence against this
defendant, would you say that you or they were justly condemned and that the crime charged
had been proved against you beyond a reasonable doubt?
-Orrin N Hilton
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Saturday July 10, 1915
Salt Lake City, Utah - Fellow Worker Joe Hill Denied New Trial, Moved to State Prison
Fellow Worker and I. W. W. songwriter, Joe Hill, who has been languishing in the Salt Lake County Jail since January of 1914, has been moved to the Utah State Prison. On the 3rd of July the Utah Supreme Court denied him a new trial, and he was immediately transferred to the state prison where he awaits re-sentencing.
Our Rebel Songwriter was found guilty of the murder John G. Morrison on purely circumstantial evidence in a trial conducted by Judge M. L. Ritchie and sentenced to be executed. Hill's attorneys, O. N. Hilton and Soren X. Christiansen, maintain that the trial was unfair and that Joe Hill should be granted a new trial.
The appeal was heard on May 28th at which time O. N. Hilton argued that: 1). there was a failure of identification; 2). the testimony was insufficient to support the verdict; 3). the court erred in admitting expert testimony; and 4). the defendant was without counsel.
It remains clear that Fellow Worker Joe Hill has not been proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; that no motive was ever established for the crime; that the killing appeared to be a revenge-killing and not the result of a robbery, and yet no prior connection between Hill and the victim was ever suggested, much less established; and that no positive identification was made of Joe Hill by any of the witnesses.
Judge Hilton concluded his remarks before the Supreme Court with a heartfelt plea for the life of Joe Hill:
I now ask your honors frankly, if you, or any one that is dear to you, was condemned upon the inconclusive, disjointed fragments of suspicion, misnomered by the state as evidence against this defendant, would you say that you or they were justly condemned and that the crime charged had been proved against you beyond a reasonable doubt?
Would you, or would you permit anyone dear to you to go to his death under the flimsy testimony and then say that you or he had been tried, fairly and impartially, according to the laws of the land, and in accordance with the safeguards provided by the constitution?
Of course, Joe Hill is
not someone dear to the Justices of the Utah Supreme Court. He is an active member of and songwriter for that radical class-conscious union, the Industrial Workers of the World.
~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
The Case of Joe Hill
by Philip Sheldon Foner
International Publishers Co, 1966
https://books.google.com/...
STATE v. HILLSTROM. No. 2764.
Decided July 3, 1915. (150 Pac. 935.)
https://books.google.com/...
Letter from Joe Hill to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
-July 7, 1915
Appeal of State of Utah vs Hillstrom
http://www.joehill.org/...
IMAGES
Joe Hill, IWW
http://www.freedomarchives.org/...
Orrin N Hilton
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/...
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LETTER FROM JOE HILL TO ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN
Salt Lake City
July 7-15
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Chicago Ill.
Dear Friend & F. W.
Rec. Your letter at the Co. jail. Was denied a new trial and was immediately moved to the State Prison where I am now. Will be taken down to the city pretty soon and re-sentenced. I have no comments to make regarding the decision. You know the details of the case pretty well and you may draw your own conclusions about it. I don't know if anything can be done to the case as I have not heard from Hilton yet. I was told though that the case could be taken to the U. S. Supreme Court just for the cost of having the transcripts made out which would not exceed $100.00, but I am not very posted on the subject myself & could not say for sure what it would cost. You see it would not be necessary to have a lawyer in Washington D.C. and thats why the expenses would not be so very heavy. Of course it would take two or three years before the case would be taken up because there are something like two thousand cases on the docket but if we could get justice that wouldn't make any difference. Even if I should die before the decision were handed down, I am only a drop in the bucket & this is a fight where individuals don't count. My right hand was shot all to splinters any way when I was arrested and it doesn't matter much where I go to but to tell you the truth I hate to lay down as long as there is a fighting chance.
Yours for the O. B. U.
Joe Hill
[Photograph added.]
SOURCE
The Letters of Joe Hill
-ed by Philip S Foner
Oak Publications, 1965
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGE
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, 1915
http://dp.la/...
See also:
Joe Hill + JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/...
For More on the Appeal:
Appeal to Utah Supreme Court
http://www.joehill.org/...
Foner on the Appeal by O. N. Hilton
https://books.google.com/...
For more on the Decision of
the Supreme Court:
Analysis of Court's decision by Philip Foner:
https://books.google.com/...
Report of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court
of the State of Utah, Volume 46
West Publishing Company, 1916
https://books.google.com/...
STATE v. HILLSTROM. No. 2764. Decided July 3, 1915. (150 Pac. 935.)
https://books.google.com/...
Appeal from District Court; Third District; Hon. M. L. Ritchie, Judge.
Joseph Hillstrom was convicted of murder. He appeals.
AFFIRMED.
O. N. Hilton and Soren Christensen, for appellant.
A. R. Barnes, Attorney-General, and E. V. Higgins and G. A. Iverson,
Assistant Attorneys-General, for the State.
Opinion of the Court by Chief Justice C. J. Straup:
https://books.google.com/...
Associate Justice J. Frick (Concurring):
https://books.google.com/...
Associate Justice J. McCARTY (Concurring):
https://books.google.com/...
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The Ballad of Joe Hill - Phil Ochs
Oh, Utah justice can be had
But not for a union man
And Joe was warned by summer early morn
That there'd be one less singer in the land
There'd be one less singer in the land
-Phil Ochs
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