Douglas Daily Dispatch

FELON

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government of the United States, believed in the principles of the was not in favor of the overthrow of the government and had not studied books on socialism or communism.

The questioning then led Billings over his activities during the time since he was 17 years old. He told Judge Preston he had chosen the easiest mode of living and that he had been arrested in New York, Salt Lake City, Brooklyn and Sacramento on various charges and suspicions.

The prisoner named John Wilson, secretary of the electrical workers union in San Francisco prior to the 1916 bomb blast, as his employer on a job in which he was to ascertain the number of guards on the Pacific Gas and Electric company's transmission lines in the bay region.

Billings was vague as to how much he was paid for this work but he said it was "about the amount I received as an employe of the shoe factory where I was employed part time as a shoe cutter."

When asked if he knew why Wilson wanted information about power line guards Billings said the Pacific Gas and Electric company was involved in a strike at the time and that strike sympathizers wanted to "tear down" the lines.

When asked how this was to be done, Billings said he understood long chains were to be thrown over the wires, attached to automobiles and pulled down.

"How about dynamite?" Judge Preston asked him.

"Not to my knowledge," Billings said.

Meets Mooney

It was during his employment at the Franklin Heyman shoe factory in San Francisco, Billings said, that he met Mooney through leaders of the shoe workers union, among whom, he said, was Ted Hooper.

Billings said a shoe workers strike was in progress at the time and that he gathered information at the factory for strike leaders.

Judge Preston questioned Billings closely on the latter's knowledge of how to handle dynamite.

Billings said he learned something about this while employed as a "powder monkey" in a quarry at Strawberry valley Utah.

"Then you are pretty well informed about dynamite, aren't you? Judge Preston asked.

"No," Billings replied, "I wouldn't say that."

"Do you want us to go away from here thinking you didn't know what was in that suitcase you took to Sacramento in 1913," the judge asked.

Billings said he thought it contained a glass bottle of narcotics and that he did not feel he was privileged, as a messenger, to open the suitcase.

Judge Preston delved to considerable depth into Billings' association with Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, who were deported from the United States as anarchists, and with certain other persons who Billings said expressed similar ideas about participation of the United States in the World war.

Billings told of attending a meeting in Dreamland rink in San Francisco two days before the 1916 preparedness day parade and of hearing speakers denounce the United States' entry into the war.

Billings said he did not know what these persons planned because he "was only hired."

Forgets Paper

When asked why he had not applied for a parole instead of a pardon and prove by his works that his opinions had changed, Billings said it had always been his opinion he "wouldn't get one."

The witness was then questioned closely about the "Blast," a publication said to have been issued by Berkman and Mooney prior to the parade bombing. Billings said he did not recall reading the paper. He was given a file of the "Blast" to study as a "memory refresher."

HURLEY DENIES BILLINGS' CHARGE.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 (AP)—State Senator Edgar S. Hurley admitted he had met Warren K. Billings "at meetings of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers linesmen's union local (of which Hurley was a member) a couple of times in 1913 and I met him on those occasions," the senator said.

"I don't recall even seeing him in 1914."

"I never hired anyone to carry dynamite."

"I can't imagine what his purpose can be in making such a charge, unless some one has gotten to him in an effort to divert the vote in my campaign for re-election to the state senate."

Twice Quizzed.

Activities of Hurley have twice been under investigation.

His connection with labor organizations and reputed friendship with Tom Mooney was investigated in 1919 by Charles M. Fickert, then district attorney. Fickert said that he had had a letter written some 60 days before the Preparedness day bombing in which Mooney wrote Hurley, arranging for a meeting to obtain the legislator's advice.

A senatorial probe in 1925 looked into charges that Hurley and State Assemblyman Edward J. Smith had demanded $5000 from a wealthy Chinese herb doctor to use their influence in killing a proposed Chinese herb bill. Both legislators were exonerated after a stormy hearing.

Hurley, for 12 years a member of the legislature, is seeking re-election from Alameda county.