Page:Cole v. State (214 Ark. 387).pdf/9

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ARK.]
COLE AND JONES v. STATE.
395

rendered our opinion as reported in 211 Ark. 836, 202 S.W.2d 770. In that opinion we said:

"Facts incident to the difficulty between Campbell and Williams are set out in the opinion of October 7, 1946. There is substantial testimony in the record before us that Cole was on the scene where a group of strikers had gathered to await exit of Williams and others from the mill, five of the employees having remained at work. Cole carried a club, or walking stick. He told Willie Brown to go ahead, that they were not after him—but, inferentially, were waiting for Williams. Jones said, Come on, boys, and strikers flew up like Blackbirds and came fighting."

Did the defendants "encourage, aid and abet the unlawful assemblage?" Witnesses testified that the defendants spent most of the day of December 26th at the place where the labor dispute was in progress. That an act of violence was agreed upon is shown by the testimony of the witnesses, Bishop Jackson:

"Q. You say you were down at the tent that morning? A. Yes, sir. Q. When these defendants here, Louis Jones and the others, were in a discussion and were talking about talking to the men that were working? A. Yes, sir. Q. And they agreed that if they didnt talk right, they were going to whip them? A. Yes, sir."

In other words, on the morning of December 26th the defendants participated, aided, encouraged and abetted in an agreement with others to the effect that the workers (Otha Williams, et al.) would be whipped if they did not agree to quit work. That this assemblage was "unlawful" is shown by the evidence of the violence that was performed in the afternoon of December 26th in keeping with the plan made that morning. The witness Willie Brown testified that, as he was leaving work that afternoon:

"Q. Did you start on across the street? A. Yes, sir. Q. All right. When you got started across thestreet, did any of them say anything to you or any of the men you were with? A. Yes, sir, Louis called Otha—