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The Daily Worker
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
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Philadelphia police disrupted a Workers' Forum meeting on Dec. 3, arresting speaker Juliet Stuart Poyntz for alleged seditious language criticizing Coolidge and Hoover, but released her after three hours without charges amid a campaign against the Communist Party.
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POYNTZ MEETING
IN PHILADELPHIA
Captain Charges Used
"Seditious Language"
About Coolidge
Grafters Rally to Cal
Hustle Crowd Hearing
Election Analysis
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 3.-Taking time off from the daily toil of collecting graft from bootleggers and gamblers who have piled up an estimated $13,000,000 in bank deposits here, the police changed their routine long enough last night to break up a meeting of the Workers' Forum, at which Juliet Stuart Poyntz was speaking on "The Problems of the Working Class in America Today."
The meeting was held at the Grand Fraternity Hall, 1626 Arch St. Before the meeting began about six police were seen loitering suspiciously about the entrance. They entered when the meeting opened and about 20 minutes later were joined by 20 more, some of them being plainclothes dicks.
Charge Sedition.
Poyntz had just launched into her speech and was analyzing the recent elections, in which she characterized Coolidge as "a messenger boy of Wall Street," and Hoover as a "servant of American imperialism," when the police made a rush for the platform.
"You are using seditious language," blustered a police captain. "Such attacks on government officials are sedition!"
The police then declared the meeting dissolved and drove the audience out of the hall into the street, manhandling many of them. They took Poyntz to the police headquarters under arrest.
Forced To Free Poyntz.
She was held there for three hours, with the police officers trying to force replies as to whether or not she had said that Coolidge was "a weak-minded puppet," together with other alleged "seditious expressions." Poyntz refused to answer questions without the advice and presence of counsel, so after three hours of head-scratching, the police were forced to release her without filing charges.
The attack on the meeting is part of the campaign of the Philadelphia police against the Workers (Communist) Party, carried on during and since the elections, as a result of which many militant workers have been jailed.
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Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Philadelphia
Event Date
Dec. 3
Key Persons
Outcome
meeting dissolved; audience driven out and manhandled; poyntz arrested and held for three hours, then released without charges; part of broader campaign jailing militant workers.
Event Details
Police broke up a Workers' Forum meeting at Grand Fraternity Hall where Juliet Stuart Poyntz spoke on working class problems and recent elections, criticizing Coolidge and Hoover; captain charged seditious language; audience ejected; Poyntz arrested but refused to answer without counsel.