To the ordinary mind--and certainly the minds of the prosecution lawyers were not above the ordinary--the social idealist is an inexplicable mystery. Small wonder then that they could not understand the causes that impelled the next witness, Abraham Bonnet Wimborne, one of the defendants, to answer the call for fighters to defend free speech.
Wimborne, the son of a Jewish Rabbi, told from the witness stand how he had first joined the Socialist Party, afterward coming in contact with the I. W. W., and upon hearing of the cruel beating given to James Rowan, had decided to leave Portland for Everett to fight for free speech. Arriving in Seattle on November 4th, he took passage on the steamer Verona the next day.
Prosecutor Black asked the witness what were the preparations made by the men on the boat.
"Don't misunderstand my words, Mr. Black," responded Wimborne, "when I say prepared, I mean they were armed with the spirit of determination. Determined to uphold the right of free speech with their feeble strength; that is, I never really believed it would be possible for the outrages and brutalities to come under the stars and stripes, and I didn't think it was necessary for anything else."
"Then when these men left they were determined?" inquired Black.
"Yes, determined that they would uphold the spirit of the Constitution; if not, go to jail. There were men in Everett who would refuse the right of workingmen to come and tell the workers that they had a way whereby the little children could get sufficient clothing, sufficient food, and the right of education, and other things which they can only gain--how? By organizing into industrial unions, sir, that is what I meant. We do not believe in bloodshed. Thuggery is not our method. What can a handful of workers do against the mighty forces of Maxim guns and the artillery of the capitalist class?"
"Did you consider yourself a fighting member?" questioned Black.
"If you mean am I a moral fighter? yes; but physically--why, look at me! Do I look like a fighter?" said the slightly built witness.
"Did you or did you not expect to go to jail when you left Portland?" asked the prosecutor.
"My dear Mr. Black, I didn't know and I didn't care!" responded Wimborne with a shrug of his shoulders.