Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-11-24


Homestead strikers charged with
murder, was called for trial to-day, in
the criminal court room, before Judge
Kennedy. Critchlow is charged with
killing T. j. Connors, on July 9th, dur
ing the riots at Homestead The case
attracted large crowd, and all Home
stead seemed to be in the hall, but an
effort was made to keep the crowd from
the room. The prosecution was repre-
sented by District-attorney Burleigh,
Messrs. Patterson, Robb, Knox and
Beck, and the defence by Messrs. Argo
of Sioux City; Erwin of St. Paul; Mar
shall, Montooth, Riordan, Brennan and
Cox.
Critchlow was brought into court at
9.30 and was finally arraigned and
pleaded not guilty.
A MOTION TO QUAsH THE ISDIcTMEET.
AT this point W. j. Brennan moved to
quash the indictment, and also the array
of grand jurors, because said grand jury
was not impartially drawn; that the
slips, or rolls of paper, containing the
names of the jury were not uniform,
those deposited by Judge Slagel being
of different sizes and differently folded
from those deposited in the box by the
jury commissioners, those deposited by
Judge Slagel being turned down at one
corner, and those deposited by the com
missioners being turned down at the
corners, so that it was an easy matter TO
discriminate. OF the q grand jurors,
IL were those whose names were de-
posted by Judge Slagel; and of the go
of the panel of the petit jurors, 26 of
them were of those whose names were
deposited by Judge Slagel. Mr.. Bren-
nan said he did not wish to reflect on
any one, but there was fear that the
drawing may not be fair and impartial.
District-attorney Burleigh was of
opinion that the motion to quash came
too late. The defendant has pleaded,
and has thereby waived any right to
move to quash.
Judge Kennedy-We will let your
motion be filed. Mark it overruled.
The court ordered the motion filed
and refused it. The selection of the jury
was then commenced.
The trial was resumed at o'clock
this afternoon.
THE CASE OF THE COMMONWEALTH.
Distrlct-attorney Burleigh opened the
case for the commonwealth. He began
by stating that the indictment was No.
"a, against sylvester Critchlow and
others for murder for the killing of T..
j. ConnOrs on July 9th, 1892.
"Fhe case differs in no respect from
any other murder case. There was one
ingredient which was not present in the
usual cases. The jury could find Il
verdict Of guilty in the first degree, in
the second degree, of voluntary man
| slaughter or acquittal." Here Mr..
Burleigh explained what constituted
the ingredients of murder and of man
slaughter. He said that great care must
be taken by the jury not to mistake or
confound malice as in court with the
ordinary acceptation of the term.
lie said that if the commonwealth
| proved that CritchlOw acted with
| savagery, with reckless disregard Of
social duty, with mind fatally bent on
killing, malice is understood. There
| another element in the case to be de-
ycloped. "fhe law says that malice of
any one man toward crowd of people
| covers harm done to any one in that
crowd. This malice toward class is
the same as malice toward one. Also,
| should several persons discharge guns
into crowd and only one man be killed,
each and all the persons discharging the
| guns are equally guilty of murder. But,
! if original intention does not appear,
and the defendant is present, it is man
slaughter, even though done heedlessly.
RIOT.
some thing more A riot is a tumultu-
Gus disturbance against the public peace
| by three or more persons. 1t must be
shown that the disturbance vas accom-.
panied by some outward violence or in
tention thereto. When riot takes place
to redress private grievances, and killing
| is done, all persons engaged are guilty
| Of murder, even though they are not all
rs individuals, specifically parties to the
| killing. Their presence is sufficient evil
| dence, for they must, at their peril, abide
| the consequence, who, unlawfully, by
their presence, encourage the killing.
THE TWO BARGEs.
"What are the facts in the case? We
| will show that we are not trying trea-
son or anything in connection with the
strike. We are simply trying the case
of the commonwealth against Critchlow
for the murder of Connors. We will
show you that there were two barges
on the 9th of July sent to Homestead
on n perfectly lawful errand, with no
unlawful design against any one. That
the barges were fired upon every one
knows, and during the entire day
missiles of death were hurled down on
the barges with the manifest intention
of killing everybody in the barges.
BEHIND THE STEEL BARRIcApE.
ave will show you that L. j. Con-
nors, a young man lawfully there, was
shot, and in such manner as to cause
death. We will show you that Critch-
low was present, had gun on his
shoulder and was behind the steel barri-
cade shooting his gun down upon the
barges; that he was in such place as
| the bullet came from as to cause Con-
moIs' wound. We will show you that
from the position Critchlow was in he
could not discharge his rifle in any other
way than toward Connors. If We show
this, from the laws, then, gentlemen of
the jury, | ask you if Critchlow does
not stand guilty of some crime?
"The case will be prosecuted by the
| public officials Of this county No pri-
vate person will be allowed to interfere
in this lamentable affair. The Common
wealth seeks no victim, only justice.
The district-attorney will try only to
honestly, truthfully and cautiously in
vestgate with you the truth or falsity OF
the charges contained in the indictment.
| This is our sole object"
THE FIRST WITNESS.
1 nr MnK annn Of ha IVast