The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-13
1t Had Not Been Loaded, and Dis
proves Deputies story that
Strik ers Fired First.
MAY BE BLOODSHED TO-DAY
NO PARADE WILL BE ALLOWED All
THE STRIKERS FUNERALS.
Government Troops Receive Orders
from Washington, and No March,
ing VIII BE Permitted.

HAZLETON, Pa, Sept 12.-The situation
here tonight is graver that it has been
at at any time since the bloody affray OF
Friday afternoon. There is strong reason
to fear a conflict between the strikers and
the military tomorrow and there is an in
dication that from five to seven thousand
more miners will join the malcontents.
Feeling continues high against Sheriff Mar
tin and his deputies, and the intensity of
the situation is such that a sudden turn
of the head or a word spoken above the.
ordinary tone brings a running crowd. The
soldiers are watchful and ready for any
emergency, and the people of the town
are in a state which may easily become
panic.
Dr. Thodorovitch, secretary at the Aus
trian consulate at Philadelphia, was par
ticipating in a meeting tonight, consider
ing methods of prosecuting the deputies.
He obtained affidavits from number of
the miners who were in Friday afternoons
affair which throws new light on the
shooting They declare. in substance, that
on the morning of that day a messenger
arrived at Harwood and asked the foreign
ers to come to Lattimer. as the employees
of colliery No. l at thai place were about
to strike Later a second message to the
same effect arrived and then the men
started over to Lattimer. AT Hazel colliery,
so the afidavits continue, Sheriff Martin
met them and warned them not to go
through Hazleton, but to go around the
other way. They did So but arriving at
the fatal bend in the road near Latti1ner
they again found themselves confronted by
the sheriff, this time backed by the army
of deputies. AS soon as they reached the
spot. it is declared, Sheriff Martin stepped
out and roughly grabbed the foremost man
by his coat collar. With his other hand he
thrust a revolver into his face and used
abusive language. The miner knocked the
sheriff's revolver arm from in front of him
and tried to wrench himself from the Off
cial's grasp. Almost instantly, the affidavit
says the order to fire was given. The
deputies were lined up in a hollow square,
the fourth side of which was formed by the
body of strikers This would possibly
count for the fact that so many were shot
in the back and side
In the office of the Leigh Traction Com
pany is a brown cutaway coat which one
Of the men now dead wore on Friday last.
There are three bullet holes in it-one
through the front, one through an arm ana
the third through the tails. In an inside
pocket was found a cheap nickel 32-caliber
Bulldog" revolver This had not been used
in the riot, because the chambers contained
neither empty nor loaded shells and it could
not have been fired before the man was
shot, because he would have had no time to
load it, 1t established that this is the
only weapon contained in the whole mob of
miners and the conditions indicate that the
first shot could not have come from their
side. There were three companies of depu-
ties, and one of these, made up of men
had had much trouble with the strikers on
previous occasions and were said to be in
a revengeful mood against them.
ANOTHER VICTIM DEAD.
The events Of to-day were the death of
another of the wounded-Jacob Tomashan-
tos, the eighteen -year-old boy who was shot
through the head. The announcement was
also made this afternoon by the hospital
doctors that six more will die, several per-
haps before morning. The four victims
buried to-day were Andrew Yureck Steve
Urich, John Futa and Mike Cheslon. Ten
more will be buried tomorrow, and here the
trouble is likely to occur 1t has been ar
ranged that the ten collins shall be carried
on the shoulders of the strikers from the
undertaker's shop to the front of ST. Jo-
seph's Church. In front Of the church a
platform is to be erected, on which it is the
can be viewed by the crowd. Then adj
dresses in Polish, Lithuanian and English
are to be made by priests and others. The
bodies will be carried inside and the pom
tifical high mass will be celebrated After
the services the procession will go to the
Polish cemetery, where eight Of the cot
in one large grave. 1t is the purpose to
acquire by subscription sufficient funds to
erect over this monument bearing the
names of the victims and a brief history
of the event. Seventeen societies, all bur
one made up of Poles, Hungarians and
others of the Slav race, and one of Irish,
General Goblin executes the intention he an
nounced tonight this whole programme will
be upset. II is feared that the men will re-
sent any interference with the disposition
of their dead.
Dr.. II. p. Lewandoski, of New York, rep
reSenting the Polish societies of that city,
arrived here to-day. He is empowered to
assist the strikers in every possible way:
to help them gain their demands from the
operators, and to arrange for the prosecu-
ton Of the sheriff and deputies. Later in
the day he said he had received word that
a check for 81 600 from the National Polish
Alliance, which recently met in Philadel-
phia, had been sent on for the aid of the
miners and that he has promises of addi-
tiOnal large subscriptions from New York
and other cities. There are l2 900 Poles in
the United States. A number of Polish
priests from New York. Buffalo and other
places are also expected to arrive to-mor-
row. The funerals to-day made a spectacle
of tragedy that, humble as were the acces-
sores, ndu III II SDlutlUlll2 lldl WAS almost
sublime. Euta and Urich had lived in Har-
wood and Yureck in Humboldt, but when
the procession was started the latter party
Joined the others and the cOrtege wound
its way through the mountain passes over
the dusty lanes into HaZleton and then into
St Joseph's Church, on the outskirts, where
Father Aust and Rev. DR.. Hauser held
brief services.
THE FUNERAL LINE
At the head of the line there was brass
band playing the dead march and with mu1-
fed drums. A heavy mist had crept over
the hills. A chill drizzle of rain was falling
and the scene. backed by the line of hills
and looming coal breakers, was weird and
gloomy. There were only few carriages.
but nearly one thousand men were in line
at one time or another and most Of them
continued until the end. After the first
hearse which was a white one, containing
the body of young Euta, came a closed car
riage with a man, two women and two
babies Five little ones none apparently
more than six or seven years old, We're
crowded into the next with two men. On
either side Of the hearse three of the dead
man s former companions walked with
bowed heads. The same detail was observed
with the other hearscs, and after q dozen
carriages and grocery and beer wagons,
loaded with Hungarian women. CAME tae
long line Of walking men and boys, march
st. Josephs Society were followed by those
of the Societa ltalia-Americano Di Muto