The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939 Page: 324
446 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
attempt to defeat the law, and, if it is possible, to render it null
and void of effect, and therefore we most earnestly and em-
phatically protest against any interference with the law by the
authorities at Washington, there being no provision in said
law that we were aware of to warrant any such interference.
We call upon you, as the chief executive of the Nation, to see
that the law is not tampered with, but carried out to the full
extent, the same as if the defendant was a person without in-
fluence of a syndicate backing him up in his law-breaking
schemes, as we have reason to believe he is being backed up by
certain interested and influential persons.
We hope you will give due consideration to this protest and
not interfere or allow of any interference with the law, and the
decision of the Judge, but use your influence to see that the
law is fully carried out, and the penalties collected by those whose
duty it is to see that they are enforced.
We can only surmise from incidental items what went on behind
the scenes in Washington. In the files of the Federal Court of the
Austin District is the following letter written by Mr. F. A. Reeve,
Acting Solicitor, United States Department of Justice, to Mr.
Andrew J. Evans, United States District Attorney for the Austin
District, under date of August 29, 1890:
At the request of I-Ion. Gilbert A. Pierce, United States
Senator from North Dakota, you are authorized to cause a stay
of execution upon the judgments obtained in your District
against Gus Wilke et al, until February Term, 1891, provided
the interests of the Government will not be prejudiced by such
course.
Why should the Senator from North Dakota have been inter-
ested in the plight of a sub-contractor of Austin, Texas? Presi-
dent Harrison showed no sign of awareness until the week before
he went out of office. On March 8, 1893, the Clerk of the District
Court in Austin received information from Washington that Mr.
Wilke was liable for no more than $8,000.00 and costs.
But the Granite Cutters' Union had their own means of dealing
with recalcitrant employers when they were of as little impor-
tance as the sub-contractor on the Texas Capitol. In 1889, Mr.
Wilke had tried to make peace, going to the National offices in
New York and asking how he could "square up" for he was "tired
of fighting the Union." Opinion in the Union was divided as to
whether he should be fined $1,000.00 or $500.00. It was voted to324
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939, periodical, 1939; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101107/m1/352/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.