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{{Short description|1968 civil disobedience in Maryland, US}}
{{ infobox war faction
| name = Catonsville Nine
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| native_name_lang =
| war = the [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|Opposition to the Vietnam War]]
| image = The Catonsville Nine 9.jpg
| caption =
| active = 1968
| ideology = [[Anti-war]] [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[leftism]]
| leaders = [[DanielPhilip Berrigan]]<br/>George Mische
| clans =
| headquarters =
| area = [[Baltimore]] ([[Catonsville, Maryland]])
| strengthsize = 9
| partof =
| previouspredecessor =
| nextsuccessor =
| allies =
| split =
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}}
 
The '''Catonsville Nine''' were nine [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] activists who burned [[Conscription|draft]] files to protest the [[Vietnam War]]. On May 17, 1968, they wenttook to378 draft files from the [[draft board]] office in [[Catonsville, Maryland]],<ref>{{Coord|39.2705|-76.7390}} Catonsvilleand draft board, , 2nd floor at the Knights of Columbus</ref> took 378 draft files, broughtburned them toin the parking lot in wire baskets, dumped them out, poured over them homemade [[napalm]] (an incendiary used extensively by the US military in Vietnam), and set them on fire.<ref>There exists news footage of this action, shot by [[Baltimore]]'s [[WBAL-TV]].</ref>
 
==List of the Nine==
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| title = Catonsville Nine Incident
| side3 = <!-- please do not assign "sides" until the situation with the agents provocateur has been resolved in reliable sources, per pillar policy [[WP:V]]: -->
| partof = the [[Oppositionopposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|Opposition to the Vietnam War]]
| image =
| caption =
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| goals = Destruction of [[conscription]] cards
| methods = [[Arson]], [[theft]], [[protest]]
| status = Ended, [[Peace movement|movement]] still active.
| result = 378 draft records destroyed<br/>Possible saving of lives from conscription
| side1 = {{bulleted list|[[Baltimore County Police Department]]|[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|[[Selective Service System]]}}
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| arrests = 9
| detentions =
| charged = [[Philip Berrigan]] & [[Thomas Lewis (activist)|Tom Lewis]] (3.5 years)<sup>1</sup><br/>[[Daniel Berrigan]], Tom Melville, and George Mische (3 years)<br/>[[Mary Moylan]], [[Marjorie Bradford Melville]], David Darst, and John Hogan (2 years)<sup>2</sup>
| fined = $22,000
| casualties_label = Injuries and arrests
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}}
The Nine were:
*Father [[Philip Berrigan]], a former [[Josephite Fathers|Josephite]] priest ▼
*Father [[Daniel Berrigan]], a [[Jesuit]] priest
▲*[[Philip Berrigan]], a former [[Josephite Fathers|Josephite]] priest
*Br. David Darst, a [[De La Salle Christian Brother]]
*John Hogan
*[[Thomas Lewis (peace activist)|Tom Lewis]], an artist
*[[Marjorie Bradford Melville]], a former [[Maryknoll]] sister
*Thomas Melville, a former [[Maryknoll]] priest
*George Mische
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==History==
George Mische and Father Phil Berrigan were prime organizers of the Catonsville Nine. The organizing process was very democratic, with interminablelengthy meetings and "who'svoting in,by who'sraised out" handraisingshands.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}
 
===1967 Custom House raid===
On October 17, 1967, Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis raided the Baltimore City Custom House and [[Plowshares Movement#Pouring of blood|poured blood]] on draft records as part of "The Baltimore Four" (with [[David Eberhardt]] and James Mengel) and were out on bail when they burned the records at Catonsville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://c9.digitalmaryland.org/page.php?ID=3|title=The Catonsville Nine File : Resistance|website=C9.digitalmaryland.org|accessdate=24 October 2018}}</ref> (The first documented action against draft files is reputed to have been by Barry Bondhus in Minnesota, who, along with other family members, carried [[human waste]] into a draft board and defaced draft records.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.selective-service.org/barry-bondhus-case.htm | title=Selective Service Fight | accessdate=September 3, 2012}}</ref>)
 
===1968 Catonsville incident===
On May 17, 1968, the Nine went to the Catonsville office of the [[Selective Service System located at the Knights of Columbus building]] on Frederick Road. TheThey grouprestrained enteredan theemployee secondwhile floor office of the SSS and proceeded to throw hundreds of draftgathering records into wire bins.,<ref name="c9.digitalmaryland.org">{{cite web|url=http://c9.digitalmaryland.org/page.php?ID=2|title=The Catonsville Nine File : The Action|website=C9.digitalmaryland.org|accessdate=24 October 2018}}</ref> One SSS employee, Mary Murphy, attempted to save the draft records but was restrained by one of the Nine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0514-catonsville-nine-20180509-story.html|title=My mother was the antagonist to the 'Catonsville Nine'|first=Mary Lou Murphy|last=Quaid|website=Baltimoresun.com|accessdate=24 October 2018|archive-date=13 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713091425/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0514-catonsville-nine-20180509-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> AfterThey collectingthen the records,took the Nine set firebins to the recordsparking withlot homemadeand [[napalm]]set infire the parking lot of theto buildingthem.<ref name="c9.digitalmaryland.org"/> WhileThey the records were ablaze, the Ninethen recited the [[Lord's Prayer]] and explained theirto reasoningnews forcrews that they were protesting the [[Vietnam War in Vietnam]]. InThree thehundred end,and 378seventy-eight draft records were destroyed by fire; it is unknown whether or not the destruction of these files saved any lives of young men being drafted into the Vietnam War.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catonsville9.org|title=Catonsville Nine -– 50th Anniversary Commemoration|website=Catonsville9.org|accessdate=24 October 2018}}</ref>
 
Five Baltimore County police officers arrested the nine on site. While they were in jail, the group sent an apologetic letter and a basket of flowers to the one clerk, Maryon Murphy,duty whoat wasthe restrainedoffice during the event.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://c9.digitalmaryland.org/artifact.php?ID=CLCN001&PT=8&VW=S|title=The Catonsville Nine File : The Catonsville Nine File : Collection|website=c9.digitalmaryland.org|accessdate=24 October 2018}}</ref>
 
The Catonsville Nine were tried in federal court October 5–9, 1968., Thedefended lead defense attorney was [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] legal iconby [[William Kunstler]]. They were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of [[Selective Service]] files, and interference with the [[Selective Service Act of 1948|Selective Service Act]] of 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8977019992891102745&hl=en&as_sdt=2,5|title=United States v. Moylan, 417 F.2d 1002 (4th Cir. 1969).|website=Scholar.google.com|accessdate=24 October 2018}}</ref> They were also sentenced to a total of 18 years' jailin timejail and a fine offined $22,000. Several of the nine—MaryMary Moylan, PhilPhilip Berrigan, DanDaniel Berrigan and George Mische—wentMische "underground" when it came timefailed to show upreport for prison—in other words, the [[Federal Bureaubeginning of Investigation|FBI]] had to try to findtheir themsentences. Father DanDaniel Berrigan caused considerable embarrassment to FBI Director [[J. Edgar HooverFBI]] by popping up and giving sermons andat thenvarious fadingevents backwhile into thea "underground"fugitive.
 
Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote, of the Catonsville incident: "Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children..." The whole of his statement is in ''The Trial of the Catonsville Nine''.
 
Large demonstrations occurred outside the Federal Courthouse on [[St. Paul Street-Calvert Street|Calvert Street]] during the trial. The trial came soon after the events of the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago where considerable violence took place. The Nine's trial, with religious people involved, made the overall peace movement a bit harder to dismiss since protesters in Chicago consisted of younger, student and [[Students for a Democratic Society|SDS]], [[Weather Underground]], and youths with long hair.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
 
Both the judge, [[Roszel C. Thomsen]], and the prosecutor, [[Stephen H. Sachs]], realized the historic proportions of the event but allowed little leeway to the defendants' arguments. In these early trials of such actions the government always overcharged and always tried to keep the trials to "nothing but the facts," i.e., did the Nine destroy files or did they not? The Nine, on the other hand, often referred to a higher law that they were following—God's moral law—as well as such precedents as the [[Nuremberg war crimes trials]] after [[World War II]]. They called several expert witnesses. At one point, prosecutor Sachs quipped that "the government is not a balloon attached to the consciences of the Nine."{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
 
==Aftermath==
Tom Lewis had been sentenced to six years for a prior protest one week after Catonsville, and had three and a half years added to be served concurrently.<ref name="Dowty">Dowty, Morgan. "Incendiary Etchings: Tom Lewis and the Catonsville Nine,", ''Art in Print'', Vol. 7 No. 3 (September–October 2017).</ref> Fr. Daniel Berrigan was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison to begin on April 9, 1970. According to Anke Wessels, director of Cornell's Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy, "On the very day he was scheduled to begin his prison term, he left his office keys on a secretary's desk in Anabel Taylor Hall and disappeared."<ref name="Aloi">{{cite news|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April06/berrigan.0406.html|title=Legacy of Activism at Cornell|last=Aloi|first=Daniel|date=4 April 2006|work=[[Cornell Chronicle]]|publisher=[[Cornell University]]|accessdate=19 September 2010}}</ref> Cornell marked Berrigan's impending imprisonment by conducting a weekend-long "America Is Hard to Find" event April 17&ndash;19, 1970,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/newscornell?a=d&srpos=33&cl=search&d=CDS19700416.2.8.1&e=--------20--21----America+Hard+to+Find-all|title=Weekend Activity Schedule Set|author=Stuart Lipton and Joseph Masci|work=Cornell Daily Sun|volume=86|number=120|date=April 16, 1970|accessdate=2010-10-12}}</ref> which included a public appearance by the then-fugitive Berrigan before a crowd of 15,000 in Barton Hall.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/newscornell?a=d&d=CDS19700420.2.1.2&e=--------20--1-----all|title=Thousands Hail Berrigan and Peace|work=Cornell Daily Sun|volume=86|number=122|date=April 20, 1970|accessdate=2010-10-12|last=Solowey|first=Fred|page=1}}</ref> On August 11, 1970, the FBI found and arrested Berrigan at the home of [[William Stringfellow]] and Anthony Towne.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19701218.2.15&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------|title=Grand jury indicts two for hiding Dan Berrigan |authoragency=Associated Press|work=Cornell Daily Sun|volume=87|number=63|date=December 18, 1970|page=3|accessdate=May 8, 2017}}</ref> He was released from [[Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury|Danbury prison]] in 1972.<ref>{{citationCite news |last=Lewis |first=Daniel needed|date=May2016-05-01 2017|title=Daniel J. Berrigan, Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism, Dies at 94 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/nyregion/daniel-j-berrigan-defiant-priest-who-preached-pacifism-dies-at-94.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Lewis was released in 1971.<ref name="Dowty"/>
 
The "Nine" inspired many other anti-draft and anti-military actions in the 1960s and 1970s, including the [[Milwaukee 14]], [[D.C. Nine|D.C. 9]], [[Silver Spring Three|Silver Spring 3]], [[Chicago Seven|Chicago 8]], [[Harrisburg 7]], [[Camden 28]]. Participants sometimes remained at the scene to be arrested, sometimes they departed in order to avoid arrest. It is unknown how many persons were not drafted because of these actions.
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?446301-1/qa-joe-tropea-skizz-cyzyk ''Q&A'' interview with Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk on their documentary ''Hit & Stay'', June 17, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]}}
{{As of|2009}} the movement had morphed into athe continuing [[Plowshares Movement|Plowshares movement]] with an emphasis on nuclear weapons. The so-called "Plowshares"group's actions, along with the Catonsville Nine and earlier actions, have been detailed online by [[Jonah House]].
 
==In popular culture==
{{Multiple issues|
{{In popular culture|section|date=October 2018}}
{{RefimproveMore citations needed|section|date=October 2018}}}}
*A book ''A Chronology of Plowshares Disarmament Actions'' (1980&ndash;2003) was compiled by Arthur Laffin.
*The Catonsville Nine and Baltimore Four were the subject of the 2013 documentary ''[[Hit & Stay]]'' by Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk.
*The 1971 play ''The Trial of The Catonsville Nine''—Gordon Davidson, Directordirector
*The 1972 film ''The Trial of The Catonsville Nine''—Gordon Davidson, Directordirector; Gregory Peck, Producer.producer
*A documentary film, ''Holy Outlaw'', about Daniel Berrigan—exists only on 16&nbsp;mm.
*A Documentarydocumentary about the "Plowshares 8"—''In the King of Prussia'' by Emile d'Antonio
*A documentary film about the event, ''[[Investigation of a Flame]]'', was produced in 2001 by the filmmaker [[Lynne Sachs]].
*The Chairman Dances' song "Catonsville 9 (Thomas and Marjorie)",<ref>{{cite web |title=Catonsville 9 (Thomas and Marjorie) |url=https://thechairmandances.bandcamp.com/track/catonsville-9-thomas-and-marjorie |website=Bandcamp |access-date=14 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CATONSVILLE NINE RESOURCES |url=https://www.catonsville9.org/resources/ |website=catonsville9.org |access-date=14 November 2022}}</ref> in which “Thomas and Marjorie are depicted on their drive to Catonsville with homemade napalm on their laps, imagining their marriage in and after prison.”<ref name="America Magazine">{{cite web |last1=Roden |first1=Renée |title=This band wrote a song in honor of Dorothy Day. Now their album could help make her a saint. |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/11/29/dorothy-day-canonization-chairman-dances-241923 |website=America - The Jesuit Review |date=29 November 2021 |access-date=14 November 2022}}</ref>
*[[Dar Williams]]'s song, "I Had No Right", from her album ''[[The Green World]]'', is about the trial of the Catonsville Nine.
*[[Adrienne Rich]]'s poem "The Burning of Paper Instead of Children" makes numerous references to the Catonsville Nine and includes an epigraph from Daniel Berrigan during the trial ("I was in danger of verbalizing my moral impulses out of existence").
*The song '"War No More'" describes the draft action of the Catonsville Nine. It was composed by Joe DeFilippo and recorded and performed by the R.J. Phillips Band. <ref name="Defilippo">''[https://soundcloud.com/user660132316/catonsville-nine-war-no-more-050117 Listen to War No More on SoundCloud]''.</ref>▼
*A 2013 documentary film, ''[[Hit & Stay]]'' by Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk about the 40-50 raids made by people of conscience against U.S. draft boards and [[The Dow Chemical Company]] between 1967 and 1971.
*The [[Chip Taylor]] song "Nine Soldiers In Baltimore", an inspirational account<ref>{{Cite web|last=folkmaster|first=Author|date=2015-02-13|title=CHIP TAYLOR – The Little Prayers Trilogy (Trainwreck)|url=https://folking.com/chip-taylor-the-little-prayers-trilogy-trainwreck/|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Folking.com|language=en-GB}}</ref>
*Indie rock band, The Chairman Dances, included the song "Catonsville 9 (Thomas and Marjorie)" on their 2016 album, ''Time Without Measure''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://store.thechairmandances.com/album/time-without-measure|title=Time Without Measure by The Chairman Dances|last=|first=|date=|website=Store.thechairmandances.com|access-date=}}</ref> The song's lyrics contain a fictional conversation between husband and wife Thomas and Marjorie Melville as they drive to Catonsville to take part in the burning of the draft files.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/01/the-chairman-dances-time-without-measure/|title=The Chairman Dances – Time Without Measure|last=Doyle|first=Jon|date=September 2016|website=Various Small Flames|access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref>
*A fictionalized depiction of the 1968 Catonsville incident occurs in the 2023 Showtime miniseries, ''[[Fellow Travelers (miniseries)|Fellow Travelers]].''<ref>{{Cite web |last=MacArthur |first=Greg |date=2023-12-02 |title=Fellow Travelers Episode 6 Recap: 13 Story Reveals |url=https://screenrant.com/fellow-travelers-episode-6-recap-story-reveals/ |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref>
▲*The song 'War No More' describes the draft action of the Catonsville Nine. It was composed by Joe DeFilippo and recorded and performed by the R.J. Phillips Band. <ref name="Defilippo">''[https://soundcloud.com/user660132316/catonsville-nine-war-no-more-050117 Listen to War No More on SoundCloud]''.</ref>
 
===''The Trial of the Catonsville Nine'' (play)===
Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote a play in [[free verse]], ''The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,'', about the trial. The version performed is usually an adaptation into regular dialogue by Saul Levitt. The play is based on a partial transcript of the trial.
 
In 1972 a film version of the play was produced by [[Gregory Peck]]. It cost $300,000 and Peck "lost every penny".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Peck's gamble|author=Mills, Bart|date=June 9, 1974|work=Chicago Tribune|page=h64}}</ref>
Mills, Bart. Chicago Tribune (1963-Current file) [Chicago, Ill] 09 June 1974: h64</ref>
 
In 2009, it was presented on a tour by a company called "the Actors' Gang" of [[Culver City, California]], founded by film star [[Tim Robbins]].<ref>David Eberhardt [http://davideberhardt.webs.com/actorsgangc9trial.htm The Play—''The Trial of the Catonsville 9''] at the writer's personal website</ref>
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* Berrigan, Daniel. ''The Trial of the Catonsville Nine''. Boston: Beacon Press, 1970.
* Harrison, Dorothy Lilja (2010). ''Peace, Be Still''. {{ISBN|978-1-4515-3745-1}}
* Peters, Shawn Francis. ''The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0199827855}}
* Polner, Murray -''Disarmed and Dangerous''
* Lynd, Straughton; & Lynd, Alice (Eds.) (1995). ''Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History''. Maryknoll, NYNew York: Orbis Books.
* Zinn, Howard -– ''A People's History of the United States''
* {{cite news|last=Mische|first=George|title='The Catonsville Nine' --– Righting distortion|url=http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/inattention-accuracy-about-catonsville-nine-distorts-history|accessdate=8 November 2013|newspaper=[[National Catholic Reporter]]|date=May 10–23, 2013|archive-date=8 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108101944/http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/inattention-accuracy-about-catonsville-nine-distorts-history|url-status=dead}}
 
==External links==
* [http://c9.digitalmaryland.org/ Fire and Faith: The Catonsville Nine File]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160601055114/http://www.investigationofaflame.com/ DVD on the Catonsville Nine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111001223542/http://www.brdaviddarstcenter.org/ A retreat center that honors the inspiration of Br. David Darst, one of the Catonsville Nine]
 
[[Category:Catonsville, Maryland]]
[[Category:Catholic Church in the United StatesMaryland]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic activists]]
[[Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists]]
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