Dear Miss Addams,
In a New York paper I saw about your visit to the Mayor on behalf of [Isaaks] & his friends who have been so cruelly outraged by the mob. Of course I need not tell you how glad I was & that it was no more than I expected from you.
I know both [Isaaks] & his son also Miss Julia Mechanic, and of course I presume they will be inquiring for me to help defend them. Of course I would gladly avoid this if I could. I have stood in front of mobs so long that my heart is weary and my head sore [page 2] but I do not see anything else to do and shall not avoid what seems to me to be my duty. I see by todays paper that Emma Goldman is now under arrest. I never knew her but there is not the slightest excuse for her arrest. Still under the law of the Anarchist case I do not see why it is not possible to convict if public opinion goes now as it doubtless has & will. I do not know how much you care to do or will feel it your duty to do but it seems to me & for me that I have no right to try to save myself when the injustice is so great as here. It may be necessary for every friend of justice to use all our influence in every direction including raising money for if they try to convict it will be a hard and dangerous fight. [page 3] Under the law as it now exists, if a jury believes that a speech of Miss Goldmans or an article of [Isaaks] or a speech of mine or any other person's caused the shooting they can hold such persons guilty. I know that [Isaaks] & his boy have worked hard by day, works or set their type at night to keep their little paper running. I know that Miss Mechanic is a dress maker who sews by the day & pays in her small wages to keep the paper alive. I know they are perfectly innocent of any crime and are in great danger of suffering for their opinions--which right or wrong are for the uplifting & improvement of the world. What I specially want from you now is that you see these people especially [page 4] Miss Mechanic, whom I knew particularly in the Kropotkin meeting--and if they want me, to say that I shall be ready to do all I can for them. I had planned to stay away until Oct. 1st and do not need to hurry back, but will be there then. I prefer that it be not given out publicly that I am connected with the case & I should gladly help employ others in my place, still when the time comes if I am wanted and needed I will be on hand. I have not written any one else about this & shall not but will ask you to see them and I do this because I know you have already seen them & I also know that you believe in justice. I think if a long campaign is needed as in the Anarchist case Miss Johnson ought to be asked to attend to corresponding to raise funds [etc]. I may be unduly alarmed but I feel that the power of capital will try to stamp out [page 5] all radical thought & utterance and will go to any length to accomplish it. Some lawyer not connected with the radical movement could do more to help them, if we could only get such lawyer, but it must be a good one, one with the wisdom of the serpent & the gentleness of the dove, and this is a rare combination -- for lawyers. Am here with my boy who is at Dartmouth & will stay for a week or ten days.
Sincerely your friend
C.S. Darrow.
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