Chief Justice Savage, in
his decision condemning the journeymen, broadened the charge to include
a conspiracy to raise wages and condemned both as "injurious to trade or
commerce" and thus expressly covered by statute.
The far-reaching effects of this decision came clearly to light in a
tailor's case the next year. The journeymen were charged with practising
intimidation and violence, while picketing their employers' shops during
a prolonged strike against a reduction in wages. Judge Edwards, the
trial judge, in his charge to the jury, stigmatized the tailors' society
as an illegal combination, largely basing himself upon Judge Savage's
decision. The jury handed in a verdict of guilty, but recommended mercy.
The judge fined the president of the society $150, one journeyman $100,
and the others $50 each. The fines were immediately paid with the aid of
a collection taken up in court.
The decisions produced a violent reaction among the workingmen. They
held a mass-meeting in City Hall Park, with an estimated attendance of
27,000, burned Judge Savage and Judge Edwards in effigy, and resolved to
call a state convention to form a workingmen's party.
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