OCTOBER 14, 1939 1. Meeting called to order by Chairman, Paul Ocheltree-8:30 o'clock. 2. Motion made that the Chairman appoint an executive committee to rent office space and hire stenographer or sufficient help to have someone on duty at all times. Voted on and carried. 3. Motion made that this organization be known as Associated Farmers of Madera County, carried by majority vote. It was agreed 4. The different ways of protecting the pickers was discussed. that the pickers must be protected while at work and in their cabins. 5. Pickers voiced their willingness to work if protected from radicals. OCTOBER 15, 1939, 3:00 O'CLOCK 1. A request that the Sheriff have additional deputies to protect the pickers who want to work, which is assumed is approximately 95 per cent. 2. Motion made and agreed that this request be put before the Supervisors. Executive Committee.-Ray Andress, Paul Ocheltree, M. G. Hughes, Bob Martin, Floyd Nelson, O. L. Baker, Sherman Thomas. Motion made that this Committee work to keep down any violence. Work with county officers. Finance Committee.-L. Stone, J. Q. Buffington, Phil Koch, L. Lakin, Tom Welch, W. D. Gallery, W. L. Weaver, Gene Hayes, Ben Hages. (2) LIST OF GROWERS ATTENDING MEETINGS EXHIBIT 13061 (Copied from the files of Growers Emergency Committee, Madera, under subpena, 2/9/40, LWW) (Copied from the files of Growers Emergency Committee, Madera, under subpena 2/9/40, LWW)-Continued. (Copied from the files of Growers Emergency Committee, Madera, under subpena 2/9/40, LWW)-Continued. Gin A. C. Bonita A. C. Madera 1,500 66 A. C. Madera A. C. El Nido A. C. Chow- Prod Dairy A. C. Dairy- A. C. Skaggs A. C. Bonita A. C. Skaggs A. C. Bonita A. Dos Glen Warner. T. A. Bullard. A. L. Bowles. Joe Thomasson 583 R2. L. De Kolk. F. De Kolk. 0. C. Stunert. D. M. Henderson. A. C. Chow- Farm R. C. Weaver. A. C. Dairy A. L. Baker-471-R3.. A. C. Skagg Albert Miller.. Fresno B. E. Bishop-583 J1. Sherman Thomas. A. C. Madera A. R. Burkhart. 450 A. C. Dos 37 A. C. Bonita (3) SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES REFUSED ACCESS TO MEETING EXHIBIT 13062 MADERA, CALIFORNIA, October 16, 1939. MEMORANDUM To: Mr. Henry H. Fowler, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee of Committee on Education and Labor. From: James E. Heath, Jr., Associate Counsel, Luke W. Wilson and Jack B. 89562-41-pt. 71—————11 At about 8:00 P. M. this date we went to Memorial Hall, opposite the sheriff's office in Madera, California, where growers of Madera County were assembling for a meeting. At the entrance to the hall we were stopped by J. Q. Buffington, a member of the Growers' Emergency Committee which had been set up several days ago. Mr. Buffington was recording in a ledger he held the names of the men entering the hall. We asked Mr. Buffington if the meeting was public and whether we could attend. He referred us to a man standing nearby, who identified himself as Ted Marston, Managing Editor of the Madera Daily Tribune and one-third owner of that paper. We in turn identified ourselves to Mr. Marston, showing him our credentials. We expressed a desire to attend the growers' meeting, inasmuch as we were in Madera as observers for a United States Senate investigating committee. Mr. Marston told us that the meeting was private, but that as far as he was concerned we could attend. He said, however, he would not be responsible for our safety, and suggested that we discuss the matter with Sheriff W. O. Justice. We then left Memorial Hall but were unable to locate the Sheriff. C. AFFIDAVITS OF WITNESSES TO STRIKE INCIDENTS (1) MASS ARRESTS, OCTOBER 12, 1939 EXHIBIT 13063 AFFIDAVIT OF ANNA PARKER STATE OF CALIFORNIA, County of Madera, ss: Mrs. Anna Parker, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: About 9:30 the morning of Thursday, October 12, 1939, sixteen cars of us pickets left the Madera Park. We drove around the county in front of some ranches and picketed. At about 2:00 in the afternoon we were about four miles southeast of Chowchilla when some deputies and the Chowchilla constable pulled up alongside the caravan and stopped it. They went along and looked at all the drivers' licenses and told them they was under arrest. They said that all the cars, with everybody in them, should follow them into Madera. We drove on into Madera and went to the Madera County Jail. When I was taken into the jail, someone put my name down in a book and a deputy took me and shoved me in a cell with about forty men. I stayed there for about an hour, and a deputy took me out of there and put me upstairs in a cell with about ten women. There was plenty of room in this cell so that they could have put me in there in the first place. About 1:00 Saturday afternoon, October 14, 1939, we was all released. ANNA PARKER, Personally appeared before me this 15th day of November, 1939, Anna Parker, who swears that the above statement is true and correct to the best of her knowledge and belief. [NOTARY'S SEAL.] My Commission Expires June 21, 1943. CHARLES F. PRECIADO, (2) ATTACKS ON PICKET LINE AT DAIRYLAND, OCTOBER 19, 1939 EXHIBIT 13064 AFFIDAVIT OF CONCE P. BREWER STATE OF CALIFORNIA, County of Madera, 88: Conce P. Brewer, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: My address is P. O. Box 42, Chowchilla, California. I have lived in Madera County for more than one year. I picked cotton the day before the strike started in October, 1939. After the strike started, I went out in picket caravans on three different days. On Thursday, October 19, 1939, I went from Madera to the Dairyland District with about 35 other pickets. We arrived a little before noon and started to picket a cotton ranch by walking up and down in front of it. None of the pickets went off the public highway or onto any private property while they were picketing and none went onto any private property until they were chased by the farmers. A crowd of farmers gathered near where we were picketing. They were armed with clubs, chains and at least two guns, either rifles or shotguns. A deputy sheriff searched some of the pickets for arms. He did not find any. He did not take away the farmers' weapons. As the farmers gathered, I took down the license numbers of some of their cars. The ones which I wrote down were: Attached to, and hereby made a part of, this affidavit is the piece of paper upon which I wrote these license numbers on Thursday, October 19, 1939, while on the picket line. After the deputy-sheriff searched us, he told us to leave because the farmers had come to fight us. We told him that we had not come out there to fight. Very soon a large number of farmers arrived in a string of cars. As these farmers arrived, they all started after us pickets. They told us to get in our cars and leave, and we tried to get away as we were greatly outnumbered. I stood up on the running board of my car, and one farmer came at me. He had a length of trace chain about eighteen inches long in his right hand, and swung at me with his left fist. I kicked him after he swung at me. One of the other farmers in the crowd surrounding my car grabbed my leg after I had kicked the farmer, and threw me across the road. As I landed, four farmers jumped on me. The most active one of these four was a man I had noticed driving a 1938 Ford pick-up truck with license number 7L5589, 1939 California, following our cars of pickets as we drove from Madera to Dairyland. This same man had driven up to the place where we were picketing in his pick-up truck before the farmers jumped us. While I was lying on the ground I was struck on the shoulder once with a length of chain and kicked and pounded many times. Finally the farmers let me up, after one of them had urged them not to kill me, as I had been beaten enough. They told me to run. I asked for my car and they said, "To hell with your car, we'll burn it." Then they chased me up the road. As I ran from these farmers, one other farmer kicked my feet out from under me. I got up and got away down the road. I was later picked up and driven back to Madera, where I went to the Madera County Hospital for treatment for the injuries I had received. My nose was severely |