Indicated Packers have New Plea
January 27, 1906
Summary
Workers plea for presidential immunity from further prosecution by the federal government in dealing with interstate commerce.
Transcription
Indicated Packers have New Plea
Claim President’s Letter Makes Them Immune From Persecution
Will offer it as Evidence
Chicago, Jan 23.-- President Roosevelt had been made the central figure around which revolves the entire case involving the pleas of the indicted packers for immunity from further prosecution by the government on charges of being in a conspiracy to restrain interstate commerce.
Attorney William J. Hynes, for the defendants, in closing his open statement before the jury hearing the immunity please, read an excerpt from a letter written by President Roosevelt to Attorney General Moody in the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe rebate case. This letter was a part of the communication between the two men called for by congress some time ago.
This letter is taken by the packers as an admission by the president that the department of commerce and labor and the department of justice worked together to indict the packers, supporting the contention of the packers on which they rest for immunity. The defendant packers will endeavor to interject the letter into the case as evidence, just as if the president were here and testified concerning it. That part of the letter read by Attorney Hines, and which will be introduced by the defendants if possible as evidence from President Roosevelt, follows.
“With my approval, the department of justice, with the assistance of the department of commerce and labor, has for some months been endeavoring to find out whether or not they can obtain evidence of such willful and deliberate violations of the injunction by any individual. If the grand jury now sitting in Chicago finds an indictment against any individual connected with the packaging corporations, it will be because in their judgment such legal evidence of the violation of the injunction had been laid before them/”
The letter is purported to be signed by President Roosevelt and is taken by the defendants by the defendants as proof of their contentions.
“That letter is a public document, and we will introduce it as evidence in this case,” said Attorney John S Miller, one of the packers’ attorneys, “If the government contests it, we can, of course call for an original.”
Claim President’s Letter Makes Them Immune From Persecution
Will offer it as Evidence
Chicago, Jan 23.-- President Roosevelt had been made the central figure around which revolves the entire case involving the pleas of the indicted packers for immunity from further prosecution by the government on charges of being in a conspiracy to restrain interstate commerce.
Attorney William J. Hynes, for the defendants, in closing his open statement before the jury hearing the immunity please, read an excerpt from a letter written by President Roosevelt to Attorney General Moody in the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe rebate case. This letter was a part of the communication between the two men called for by congress some time ago.
This letter is taken by the packers as an admission by the president that the department of commerce and labor and the department of justice worked together to indict the packers, supporting the contention of the packers on which they rest for immunity. The defendant packers will endeavor to interject the letter into the case as evidence, just as if the president were here and testified concerning it. That part of the letter read by Attorney Hines, and which will be introduced by the defendants if possible as evidence from President Roosevelt, follows.
“With my approval, the department of justice, with the assistance of the department of commerce and labor, has for some months been endeavoring to find out whether or not they can obtain evidence of such willful and deliberate violations of the injunction by any individual. If the grand jury now sitting in Chicago finds an indictment against any individual connected with the packaging corporations, it will be because in their judgment such legal evidence of the violation of the injunction had been laid before them/”
The letter is purported to be signed by President Roosevelt and is taken by the defendants by the defendants as proof of their contentions.
“That letter is a public document, and we will introduce it as evidence in this case,” said Attorney John S Miller, one of the packers’ attorneys, “If the government contests it, we can, of course call for an original.”
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Emma Roberts
Citation
“Indicated Packers have New Plea,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed October 9, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/144.