Warren Billings
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Warren K Billings | |
|---|---|
| Born | Warren Knox Billings July 4, 1893 Middletown, New York |
| Died | September 4, 1972 (aged 79) Redwood City, California |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing |
| Criminal status | Released in 1939, pardoned in 1961 |
| Spouse | Josephine Rudolph |
| Parent | William Billings |
| Criminal charge |
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| Penalty | Death, commuted to life imprisonment |
| Partner(s) |
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| Details | |
| Victims | 50 |
| Date | July 22, 1916 |
| Country | USA |
| State(s) | California |
| Location(s) | San Francisco |
| Target(s) | Public parade |
| Killed | 10 |
| Injured | 40 |
| Weapons | Homemade bomb |
Date apprehended | July 26, 1916 |
| Imprisoned at | Folsom State Prison |
Warren Knox Billings (July 4, 1893 – September 4, 1972) was a
Biography
Early life
Billings was born in
Suspected dynamiter
In March 1913, Billings went to an employment agency for work. He was told there was an opening for a shoe liner at a shoe company that was on strike. He replied that he was no strikebreaker. This is when he was approached by a man outside the employment office who showed him a red card of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was invited to be a spy for IWW and accepted.[2] He would work in the factory to figure out how many shoes they were making. In this organization he met Thomas Mooney, who became his trusted advisor.
Billings was convicted and imprisoned for one year on a charge of possession of dynamite for the
His association with Mooney, who was a well known socialist and militant, strengthened the prosecution’s connection between Billings and the
Trial
Billings was arrested along with Thomas Mooney and his wife Rena and a driver named Israel Weinberg. The trials of both Warren and Mooney were being followed extensively and it is alleged that the witnesses were coached by detective Swanson and by the prosecutors, D.A. Charles Fickert and deputy D.A. Eddie Cunha. Billings and Mooney were convicted and were sentenced to be hanged. Shortly after the socialist party tried to expel Mooney and Billings. There was world wide outrage and US President Woodrow Wilson got involved and asked California Governor William Stephens to step in and reduce their sentence to life imprisonment, or at least stay the impending execution. Later, in 1926 a Committee for Pardon was organized for him.[1]
In prison
In 1918, Billings and Mooney’s sentence was changed to life imprisonment. Billings was active in prison as an assistant foreman in the prison shoe factory. He studied law and Latin. His studies in law would allow him to assist lawyers after his release. He also was in constant contact with a woman named Josephine Rudolph. He later married her in 1940. Mooney was let out of prison first and was pardoned. There were tensions between Mooney and Billings over money for Billings' pardon committee.
Release and later years
Mooney was released earlier than Billings, but in 1939 the Supreme Court, voted to free Billings without a pardon. He had served twenty three years, two months and twenty days in prison.
See also
- Arthur E. Briggs, Los Angeles City Council member, 1939–41, supported Mooney pardon which led to Billings pardon
- California courts of appeal
- Charles Fickert
- Communists in the United States Labor Movement (1919–37)
- Dreyfus affair
- Fremont Older
- Labor spying in the United States
- Labor unions in the United States
- Union violence in the United States
- Wickersham Commission
References
- ^ a b c "Warren K. Billings papers, 1899-1973". LOC Manuscript Division. The Library of Congress.
- OCLC 231139.
- OCLC 231139.
- ^ "U.S. At War: Death of Tom Mooney". Time. Vol. 39, no. 11. March 16, 1942.
- OCLC 231139.
- OCLC 231139.
Further reading
- ACLU, The Story of Mooney and Billings. Archived 2016-06-26 at the Wayback Machine New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 1928.
- Cockran, William Bourke (1917). "A Heinous Plot: An Expose of the Frame-up System in the San Francisco Bomb Cases Against Billings,Mooney, Mrs. Mooney, Weinberg and Nolan" (PDF). Chicago: Chicago Federation of Labor. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
- Minor, Robert (1917). The Frame-up System: Story of So-called Bomb Trials in San Francisco. San Francisco: International Workers' Defense League. .
- People v. Billings - Crime No. 667 - 34 Cal. App. 549 [Pacific Reporter]. Vol. 168. West Publishing Co. September 6, 1917. pp. 396–402 – via HathiTrust Digital Library.
- Federal Commission Condemns Frame-Up. San Francisco: International Workers' Defense League. 1918. .
- Mooney, Thomas J.; Billings, Warren K.; Chafee Jr., Zechariah; Pollak, Walter H.; Stern, Carl S. (1932). The Mooney-Billings report: Suppressed by the Wickersham Commission. New York: Gotham House. pp. 1–243. OCLC 808312546.
- Simkin, John (September 1997). "Mooney-Billings Case". Spartacus Educational.
- Simkin, John (September 1997). "Warren Billings". Spartacus Educational.
- Johnson, Jeffrey A. (August 24, 2017). The 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing: Anarchy and Terrorism in Progressive Era America. Routledge. pp. 1–198. ISBN 978-1317204008.
- "1916 Preparedness Day Parade Bombing, 1916-1933 - Photographs". California Digital Library. Bancroft Library.
- "Warren K Billings Portraits ~ 1929-1962". San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection. San Francisco Public Library.
- Allan Teichroew and David Mathisen. "Warren K. Billings Papers" (PDF).
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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