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Joe Hill Narrative Script
Written by Ken Verdoia
Continued from Previous Page (1):
Narrator:
More than ten years in the United States. . .his songs now printed by the I-W-W headquarters in Chicago. . .Hill remains a mystery as 1913 draws to a close. He is reported to be in Mexico during that nation's revolution. . .he is reported on picket lines during a longshoreman's strike in San Pedro. . .and in the forests of the Northwest during a lumber strike. He's arrested for vagrancy in Southern California. . .a standard charge against wobblies. . but is released. He spends time in a Christian mission flophouse. He is often seen--but never photographed. His first adult picture will be taken in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1914.In 1914, Utah had been a state for less than twenty years. headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--more commonly referred to as the Mormon Church-- the territory of Utah had a troubled relationship with the nation and the federal government in the previous fifty years. Unique church practices involving politics. . .the economy. . .and the very unique practice of polygamy had left the Mormon people at odds with an increasingly impatient federal government. Federal crackdowns reached a breaking point in 1890. . .and thevMormon church took steps to shed the image of somehow being un-American. Polygamy was the first to go. . .but for many observers, doubts of Utah and Mormon national loyalty lingered.
Thomas Alexander:
The church had to show that it was loyal to the United States, that it was not a subversive organization.
Narrator:
One area the Mormon church was able to display unquestioned loyalty was in business affairs. Church leaders. . .once relegated to primarily church-owned businesses. . .were now actively involved in mining, railroad and other private enterprises.
Michael Quinn:
LDS church leaders were very American in their attitudes toward the effort to unionize. And when I say that, it is the LDS church represented a leadership group. And leadership groups throughout the United States without exception, were anti-union. They regarded unions as disruptive of social order.
Narrator:
Utah lashed out at attempts to unionize mine workers. And, once again, the industrial workers of the world were identified as the most clear and present danger.
Salt Lake Tribune Quote:
As for the I-W-W, that organization is fast getting to be a universal menace to the public peace. A standing threat against the good order of the community everywhere. Where ever its membership appears, there are riots and fighting.--The Salt Lake Tribune, 1913.
Narrator:
The Wobblies were viewed as driving forces behind strikes that had gripped copper and coal mines in Utah. When the I-W-W attempted to deliver verbal attacks against mine owners in downtown Salt Lake City in 1913, the wobblies were severely beaten by private guards hired by the mines. It was a scene played throughout the Mountain West.
Smith:
I see the Rocky Mountain states as a colony in our own country. it is supplying raw materials from companies who were outside-owned and most of the profits went outside. And the political game the companies played was to work with the state legislatures and the political structures and the national guard to keep the workers under control. And so it was hand-in-hand with the workers being under the thumb of the companies and the political structure. And the national guard, if needed, was there to actually put down strikes. And they did in Utah. And they did in every other Western state too.
Narrator:
The reasons are lost to passing time. Then in 1913, Joe Hill came to Utah. He worked for a time in the mines of Park City. . .but fell ill, possibly with pneumonia, and ended up in the hospital. He drifted into the Swedish community centered in a suburb of Salt Lake City. The general Utah climate was not conducive to being known as a wobbly. . .so Hill apparently kept a very low profile. it was anonymity that would not last long.
On Saturday, January 10th in the new year of 1914, John G. Morrison was closing his small grocery store less than a mile south of the heart of Salt Lake City. Morrison's son--also John, but known by his middle name of Arling- -was helping to sweep up. Freezing temperatures kept the foot traffic light through the area. it was almost ten o'clock.
(Sound-up of gunshots)
Seventeen-year-old John Arling Morrison was dead. His father--John G. Morrison died minutes later. the crime stunned Utah, and dominated local newspaper coverage the next day. Police announced with certainty that one of the gunmen had been wounded by a shot fired by young Arling Morrison before he died. And one of the highest ranking police officers in the city said the motive for the murders was revenge- - - revenge for Morrison's bygone days as a member of the city police force. Police Captain John Hempel even claimed Morrison had foretold his death just days before the shooting.
A.J. Hempel:
He told me, John I have only five hundred dollars left of the money I made in this city from mighty hard work, and I would gladly give it up if I could have my name blotted out of the police department records. I have lived to regret that I was ever a member of the force. Morrison lived in constant dread of men he had arrested when he was a policeman. --Captain A.J. Hempel, Salt Lake City Police.
Ron Yengich:
He had told individuals that there was someone in the neighborhood that was out to get him. Indeed there was one, and at that time, the prime suspect. A man named Frank Z. Wilson, who had recently been released from the Utah state prison. A man Morrison had arrested, and who had a vendetta and had apparently sworn it out against Morrison.
Narrator:
Salt Lake City police records fail to confirm that Frank Z. Wilson was arrested by Morrison when he was a police officer. but a compelling bit of concrete evidence implicating wilson was the testimony of a streetcar conductor. Minutes after the murders, a man boarded a streetcar near the Morrison store. The conductor said the man seemed injured. When brought to police headquarters to look through photographs, the conductor conclusively picked this picture: a photo of Frank Z. Wilson, who had been released from the state prison only months earlier. Police fanned out... looking for evidence, and arresting anyone wounded, and virtually anyone who looked suspicious.
Smith:
Joe Hill is shot the same night as the Morrison murder. He's shot in the chest. He gets on a street car, he goes to a Murray doctor whose name is McHugh, Dr. McHugh, for treatment of his wound.
Narrator:
In Frank McHugh's treatment room in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray, Utah, a gun falls from Hill's pocket.
Frank McHugh Quote:
I asked him how he came to be shot, and he told me that he and another fellow had quarreled over a girl, and that he struck the other man who retaliated by shooting him.--Dr. Frank McHugh
Smith:
McHugh reads the paper the next morning, reads about the murders of the Morrisons and calls the police and says, "Look, I treated a guy last night that had a gunshot wound. Check him out."
Narrator:
Police kicked down the door of Hill's bedroom in the home of Swedish friends. As Hill reached across the bed, police shot him in the hand, thinking he was reaching for a gun. Instead, he was reaching for his pants.
Hill Quote:
I asked to be taken to a hospital, but was instead taken upstairs to a solitary cell and told I was charged with murder and had better confess right away. I did not know anything about any murder, and told them so. They still insisted that I confess, and they would take me to a hospital and treat me, which I wouldn't do. I finally pulled through because I made up my mind not to die.--Joe Hillstrom
Narrator:
Police announced that they were convinced Joe Hillstrom was actually Frank Z. Wilson. And they said Hillstrom was refusing to explain how he was wounded on the very night of the Morrison murders.
Salt Lake Tribune Quote:
If he was innocent, they argue, he would be eager to tell them how and under what circumstances he was wounded, and tell them where they might corroborate his tale.--The Salt Lake Tribune.
Narrator:
When Hill refused to offer an alibi, he was identified as the prime suspect in the Morrison murders. At a preliminary hearing a series of witnesses failed to conclusively identify Hillstrom as one of the men who entered the Morrison store just before the shooting. But his chest wound and his silence convinced the court to try Joseph Hillstrom for murder.
Hill Quote:
I have no witnesses in favor of my case at the present time, and I have no further statements to offer at the present time. my case will be presented when it comes before the district court--Joe Hill trial
Narrator:
The Morrisons were buried on January 14th. More than 500 mourners formed a procession through Salt Lake City to the nearby cemetery. Joe Hillstrom was held in the city jail for six months before the start of his trial on a murder charge. His affiliation with the Industrial Workers of the World remained unknown. . .except for a handful of local wobblies who visited him in his cell.
Yengich:
The local here in Salt Lake City, when he is arrested, goes to him and says we'll help you out. And he says, and this prior to the preliminary hearing, he says, "I don't want your help. I don't want you involved. I don't want to bring the union into this, basically.
Narrator:
Hillstrom was faced with the prospects of defending himself, until he was approached by a local attorney, named F.B. Scott, who offered to represent him without charge.
Hill Quote:
Seeing that the proposition was in perfect harmony with my bankroll, I accepted his offer.--Joe Hill
Narrator:
The trial opened in June of 1914 in district court for the state of Utah in the imposing city and county building of Salt Lake City. Morris Richie sat as the judge, and E.O. Leatherwood, the local district attorney, would handle the prosecution. Hillstrom would be tried on one count of murder- -the shooting death of the father, John G. Morrison. Just as the trial was underway, the Salt Lake Tribune broke the story that Hillstrom was no ordinary defendant.
Salt Lake Tribune Quote:
Hillstrom is the author of a score of poems and songs, many of which have been adopted by the I-W-W organization, and have been sung all over the country. That is why the I-W-W is financing his defense, and why so many I-W-Ws are present at the trial.--The Salt Lake Tribune.
Smith:
I think as it became clear that Joe Hill really had baggage. . .I mean, he was an I-W-W, he was a political person, and there became a big defense to save him, then I think the whole thing changed from Mr. Leatherwood's standpoint. He could see a political career developing here for himself, and took advantage of it. There was personal ambition on top of a rather meager legal strategy.
Narrator:
To convince the jury, Leatherwood was forced to rely on circumstantial evidence. That someone had been wounded by the Morrisons. . .and that Joe Hill had a wound. That the Morrisons had been shot with an automatic handgun, and that Hill had been seen with one. And he would try to use the testimony of several people to establish that Hill or Hillstrom, was one of the gunmen who entered the store the night the Morrison's were shot. But Leatherwood also had an unlikely resource in the courtroom. The prosecution's best weapon may have been the conduct of Joe Hill.
In the early stages of prosecution, Hill jumped to his feet to fire Scott and co-counsel E.D. MacDougal, claiming they were incompetent.
Hill Quote:
May I say a few words? I have three prosecuting attorneys here, and I intend to get rid of two of them. I wish to announce that I have discharged my two lawyers! --Joe Hill
Smith:
Increasingly he was painted as a radical. And what he did there simply furthered that impression.
Yengich:
When in doubt, blame your lawyer. It's nice to know that has existed in trials from the beginning. But it's interesting because he does this in front of the jury. And the judge, Judge Richie, basically lets most of it go on in front of the jury. And the credibility of Hill at that time had to reach an all-time low with these twelve men good and true.
Narrator:
Judge Ritchie refused to let Hill represent himself, instructing Scott and MacDougal to continue as attorneys.
Narrator:
The prosecution then set about reconstructing the events of the Morrison shooting, using peripheral witnesses to try and place Hill in or near the store at the time of the shooting.
Yengich:
The intriguing thing about it is virtually all of that testimony that comes in improves over time. From the preliminary hearing where the eyewitness identification is marginal at best, and in some cases non-existent, to positive identification by a number of these people during the course of the trial.
Narrator:
On the night of the murders, Phoebe Seeley had been walking with her husband near the Morrison store. She reported being roughly bumped off the sidewalk by two men hurrying in the direction of the store. When she testified in the trial, she said she was able to clearly distinguish facial scars on one of the men. . .scars that matched those of Joe Hill.
Vera Hansen had rushed from her home across the street after hearing shots fired in the Morrison store. She testified that one of the men was clearly injured. . .clutching his chest. . .and announced he had been shot. Another witness claimed she had watched from her window as the gunmen ran from the store. . .And that one was clearly hurt, moving slower than the other.
Narrator:
Having introduced testimony that placed Hill at the scene. . .and testimony that one of the gunmen had been shot by the Morrisons, prosecutor Leatherwood introduced his star witness. Thirteen-year-old Merlin Morrison took the stand.
Merlin had been at the store the night his father and brother were shot. When the gunmen entered the store, Merlin was in the back. When the gunfire erupted, he apparently hid behind boxes. When the shooting was over, he came out and discovered the bodies of his brother and father. A pistol near the hand of his dead brother, apparently raised in self defense. Merlin Morrison was the closest thing to an eyewitness to the crime.
Leathwood Quote:
Mr. Hillstrom resemble that of the tall man?
Merlin Morrison:
He looks the same.
Leatherwood:
Does this man's general appearance correspond with that of the man who shot your father?
Merlin Morrison:
Yes, sir.
Narrator:
One newspaper reported the testimony as a definitive identification of Joe Hill as the murderer.
Salt Lake Herald Republican Quote:
Scanning the defendant up and down carefully, the boy declared positively that in general build height form of body and shape of head, Hillstrom bears a striking resemblance to the taller of the two highwaymen--The Salt Lake Herald Republican.
Narrator:
But another reporter listening to the same testimony came to a different conclusion.
Desert News Quote:
Merlin Morrison could not identify Hillstrom as being the taller of the two bandits who shot Mr. Morrison. The boy could not identify the man's features, because the taller of the bandits wore a red handkerchief over the lower part of his face.--The Desert News
Narrator:
After introducing testimony about blood stains in the neighborhood, and Doctor McHugh's testimony on Joe Hill's wound, the prosecution rested. The Hill trial was playing before a packed courtroom. One of the most conspicuous members of the audience was the daughter of a past president of the Mormon church. Virginia Snow Stephen was an art instructor at the University ofU tah. . .and a proclaimed socialist. On her own, she contacted one of the West's most prominent defense attorneys, Orrin Hilton of Denver, and urged him to take the Hill case.
Virginia Snow Stephen Quote:
I am so firmly convinced of his innocence. The man who wrote the songs and composed the music that Joseph Hillstrom has simply could not be guilty of so brutal a murder as the killing of the Morrisons.--Virginia Snow Stephen.
Narrator:
Hilton agreed to take the case on appeal if necessary. . .and sent an observer to watch the trial play out. Hill's defense tried to poke holes in the prosecution's case. They produced an expert who was prepared to say there was no evidence that the Morrison gun had been fired that night. . .hence, a gunshot wound could not identify the assailants. The judge disallowed the testimony. They argued that Hill had been shot clean through the chest. If it happened in the Morrison store, where was the bullet? None was ever found. And the lead bullets of the Morrison gun would not have had the velocity necessary to pass through a human body.. .a bullet would have been found by Doctor McHugh in Joe Hill. Hill's testimony about how he was wounded was viewed as a critical piece of the puzzle- - -the opportunity to establish him away from the Morrison store.
Herald Republican Quote:
Abruptly and unexpectedly, the defense ceased introducing evidence. After a lengthy conference with the defendant, the defense rested its case without placing the accused man on the stand. -- The Salt Lake Herald Republican.
Attorney F.B. Scott Quote:
Hillstrom, from the beginning of the trial, insisted that he was going to take the witness chair. Owing to bad advice from someone else, at the eleventh hour he changed his mind and refused to take the witness chair.--F.B. Scott, attorney.
Yengich:
Hamlet never talks. And that kind of takes the wind away from the defense, and allows this idea of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to be more readily accepted by the jurors.
