It is not pretended that they were in the same state at the time the crime was committed. Not a shadow of crime rests upon them other than the alleged confession of a self-confessed criminal. These are facts, Mr. President, and in view of these facts we would be craven indeed if we allowed our brothers to be made the victims of such an infamous conspiracy without doing all in our power to save them. Every step thus far taken against these men has been in violation of law, and the purpose of the whole proceeding is so apparent that any man with eyes can see it. In this connection, Mr. President, when the question of law and order is raised, I beg of you to remember that we are dealing with corporations that have usurped the powers of state governments; that defy the legally expressed will of the people, as in Colorado, where a majority of forty-six thousand votes was overridden and treated with contempt; corporations whose crime-inciting shibboleths are: “To hell with the constitution”; “To hell with habeas corpus.” These corporations rule the states and we have had evidence enough to know how they treat law when it interferes with their predatory program. We are not in favor of violence, but seeking to avoid it. The facts prove it. We are not objecting to a fair trial, but to a packed jury and a corporation court and the consummation of a criminal conspiracy. “Thou shalt not kill!” This applies to capitalists as well as workingmen. If Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were capitalists instead of workingmen we should still do our utmost to see that they were given a “square deal.” Murder in any form is abhorrent, but most terribly so when committed under the forms and in the names of law and justice. Wendell Phillips said that John Brown would have had twice as good a right to hang Governor Wise as Governor Wise had to hang John Brown. All we are asking and insisting upon is that our accused brothers shall have the protection of the law, a fair hearing and just verdict, and upon that issue we are prepared to go before the American people. Respectfully yours, EUGENE V. DEBS. December 2, 1859 _Appeal to Reason, November 23, 1907_ This is the immortal date upon which John Brown was led to execution. Louisa M. Alcott on that day christened him “Saint John the Just.” On that same day Longfellow wrote: “This will be a great day in our history; the date of a new revolution, quite as much needed as the old one. Even now, as I write, they are leading Old John Brown to execution in Virginia for attempting to rescue slaves! This is sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind, which will come soon.” How prophetic these words! Within a month the mutterings of the storm were heard in the land, and within a few months it broke forth in all its fury. December 2, 1859, had spoken!