ABSTRACT
From the start, the authorities of San Francisco considered a few suspects in the 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing part of a collected conspiracy. The Tom Mooneys, Warren Billings, Israel Weinberg, and Edward Nolan, they alleged, worked together on the bombing and, as a result, should be tried together. The prosecution considered all of the defendants "indissolubly linked", and "the act of one is the act of all". This chapter explains a series of trials and appeals during the period of late 1916 to mid-1918. This series was demonstrated the legal complexities surrounding the case(s) and also the determination on both sides to convict or exonerate the group that is called as the "San Francisco Five". The Warren Billings trial was the first on the docket, slated to begin in October 1916. Billings' defenders remained stunned and quickly rallied behind him. The defense made a number of discoveries between the Billings conviction and the impending Mooney trial in January 1917.
