The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-21
A HORRIBLE CRIME.
Negroes. Charged with Attempting to
Commit Wholesale Murder. on Trial.

Commit w nOtcSuic MuuOcus Ou tssss'
"A trial of more than ordinary interest
IL now in progress before Judge Wood
ward Some months ago a Hungarian
boarding house on the Wilkes-Barre
mountain containing more than fifty
sleeping inmates was blown up with
dynamite. Four were killed and \
large number more or less severely In
jured. For some time this revolving
crime was involved In mystery. FINAL
ly seven negroes five men ana Two
Wpmen were arrested on suspicion
that pointed strongly to their guilt.
The accused are: James Miller. Nelson
Miller. Sarah Miller, George Burd.
Esther Brace. Frank Shafer ana
George Jordan. The two last named
made full confession to the detectives,
implicat ting all the others with them
selves In the crime. Dynamite cart
ridges had been placed at intervals
under the supports Of the building.
connected with an electric battery. and
when the inmates We're supposed 10 De
asleep the dynamite was exploded. The
connection was not perfect and only
part Of the cartridges exploded other
wise many more would have been
killed. The object was robbery
The persons elected to be tried Sc
parately, and Nelson Miller was placed
Shafer and. Jordan as witnesses, and
these two, who. by their own confess
sion. were the ringleaders of the gang.
will probably escape severe punish
ment, whatever fate overtakeS the
others. These negroes, or At least some
Of them. II Is said. We're brought into
this section from the south to work ON
the Wilkes-Barre and Eastern railroad
According to the story told by Shafer
and Jordan, about one hundred dollara
was secured after the explosion from
trunks belonging to the Hungarians.
The commonwealth has little substan-
tial evidence apart from the confess
sions of the two referred to. Whether
or not that will suffice TO convince the
Jury remains 10 be seen. A popularity
of the confessions by Shafer and Jor-
dan is that they do not attempt to
conceal their own part in the crime.
One admits that he planned the horror
and the other that he pulled the lever
OF the battery that exploded the dyna-
mite. These trials will probably not
consume very much time owing to the
limited number Of witnesses.
When court was opened yesterday
morning there was big crowd pres
ent with an unusual sprinklng of col
ored people who We're interested In the
case Attorney James L. Lenahan
opened the case for the prosecution.
and the first witness on the stand was
Contractor Sayre. the employer of the
negroes who committed the crime, as
we'll as of the Hungarians who were
killed. He said that ne knew where
the colored camp was located. and
where the Hun camp was, and showed
them on diagrams. Attorney Mulhall
objected to the diagrams on the ground
from,
but the objection was overruled and
the plans admitted as evidence.
The dynamite cartridges which had
not exploded were brought into and
identified by Mr.. Sayre as being the
unexploded ones under the building.
After being identified, they were GIN
gerly carried out Of the court room Mr..
Sayre told of his arriving on the day
Of the explosion and finding the shanty
wrecked. The building was l6x4O feet.
had three rooms down and four up
stairs. He said the charge In the
center had exploded but the three
charges in the corners had not gone
off. He had found parts of a trunk
and clothing about 100 feet from the
shanty. There were forty pounds OF
dynamite OF ninety cartridges which
were unexploded. Witness thought
that about twenty-five cartridges had
exploded. There We're sixty Huns In
the building, and II all the dynamite
had exploded, probably every person in
the building would have been killed.
On cross-examination Mr. Sayre said
ne employed from fifty to 100 men.
Nelson Miller was an expert in the use
OF dynamite. The dynamite had prob
ably been stolen from the tool box Of
his companion, which had been broken
open.
Charles Swartwood, of New York.
who was night watchman. discovered
the wire first. 1t led down to the track
where the battery was found under a
cart. He described the finding Of sew
eral bodies in the nelghborhood.
Superintendent Mitchell. of the Lc-
high Valley railroad. was called ana
he told Of finding the bodies Of the
dead. and bringing the wounded to the
hospital. Dr. Sweeney told Of the in
1uries Of the wounded, and Coroner
Perkins described the inquest
Mike BOlonicovitch, who was pres
ent in the house when the explosion
occurred, was next called to testify
He was the boarding boss and had
fifty-eight boarders besides himself and
his wife. He told OF the horrible crime
and Its consequences. The trunk which
was found 100 feet away was brought
into court, and will be used as evil
dence
Then Frank Shafer was called. He
Is one OF the negroes who confessed to
save his own neck. and his appearance
on the stand created considerable ex-
element. He told his story practically
as It appeared In these columns at the
time he confessed. Miller. he said. got
the dynamite from the Boston colliery.
and brought 1t up to be used in blowing
up the shanty In his original confess
sion Shafer said the dynamite
was obtained at the Boston
collIery. but yesterday he said
II was at the Keystone colliery
He told how Miller unfolded the details
of the plan. how he placed the dyna-
mite. one bunch Of cartridges under
each corner of the house, and one
bunch under the center. expecting all
to explode and kill sixty people. Shafer
also told how Miller laid the wires and
made the connections. and related the
story OF the explosion. Only one bunch
OF cartridges exploded. which resulted
In the loss Of only four lives and not
sixty, as the negroes had planned.
On the cross-examinatoon Shafer got
badly muddled up. He claimed to be
able to read. and said that he saw the