May 8, 1914
MARIE GANZ IN PRISON, TELLS WHY SHE WOULD KILL JOHN D., JR.
Under Tacoma Times picture
Miss Marie Ganz, the young woman who threatens
to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr., charging him with being an accessory to the
murder of women and children of Ludlow. She says her act would be “execution”
for the murder of women and children of Ludlow. Mild, blue-eyed girl declares
public opinion has found him guilty.
(Marie Ganz, who was arrested for threatening the life of John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., was sentenced to serve sixty days in the workhouse on
Blackwell’s Island a few hours after this interview was obtained by Nixola
Greeley-Smith.)
BY NIXOLA GREELEY-SMITH
New York, May 8.—“The handwriting on the wall has appeared to John D.
Rockefeller, Jr.
“Let this modern Belshazzar read it and head the words:
“‘Thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting.’”
“Sweet Marie” Ganz the girl anarchist, tried for threatening to kill
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., because of his refusal to arbitrate the grievances of
his Colorado miners, made this declaration to me.
“Never before this, mark you, has the whole American people united in a
demand for atonement for the crimes of capital. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stands
convicted of being accessory to the murder of women and children at Ludlow! He
must answer for it to the American people. Like Belshazzar he sits at a feast
of plenty while his victims starve and die. And to him, too, have appeared in
letters of fire the warning: MENE MENE tekel upharsin. ‘You have been weighed
in the balance and found wanting.’”
The woman who uttered these fiery words is tall and blonde. She has the
figure of a cloak model. Her eyes are sapphire blue, and her cheeks are the
delicate pink of an Easter primrose. Briefly. “Sweet Marie” Ganz is a luscious
specimen of what the average man knows as a “peach.”
When she is not making speeches she is employed as a saleswoman. She
has a brother in the United States army. There are no Rockefellers in the army
so far as I know.
“You are awaiting trial for threatening to shoot Rockefeller, Jr., in a
public speech. Do you deny the charge?” I asked this extraordinary young girl.
“Do I deny it? Certainly not! I said it and I meant it,” Miss Ganz
replied in her slow contralto voice. “I said I would kill, and if I get the
chance I will make good on my words!”
“I consider that John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is guilty of the murder of
the women and children at Ludlow. But the courts would never convict him. They
will not even try him. But I am not afraid.
“If I should kill him he would be put to death for murder. I would
merely execute the sentence which the American people HAVE ALREADY PASSED ON
HIM, but which their courts are too timid to carry out.
“Why, the president of the United States lowered himself by sending his
representative to this man to ask him to accept mediation. And he refused the
president! This man—this accessory to the murder of women and children—stands
between thousands of men and the chance to work under decent conditions. Why
should he not be removed? Why should not an individual have the courage which the
courts lack? To kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr., would not be a crime but a deed
of courage and justice!”
“But if you should kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the elder Rockefeller
would still remain, “I interposed. “After all, John D., Jr., is merely acting
as his father’s agent.”
“Ah no,” Miss Ganz protested. “John D., Sr., is nearly 80. He is
senile. I understand that he has asked his son to yield to the president and
that he has refused to do so. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is the real criminal.
He is the man that must answer to the American people for the crime of Ludlow.”
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