The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-12

urRDER BY INJUNCTION.

After the first shock of the horror III
1Iazleton Pa. has passed, the people
begin to inquire where rests the re-
snonsibiIity for the death of a dozen
man shot down in cold blood in the
nublic highway. Every one of our mill
ions wants to know whether the kill
ing of these men was murder or exc
cution. If the former, there is stern
nenaltv that must be paid. AS far as
the reports sent in explain the matter,
there was no adequate occasion and as
little iustific alton for the act OF the
sheriff and his deputies We do not
know as vet how far the strikers re-
sorted to violence. We do know, for it
seems not to be questioned on either
side. that they refused to recognize the
authority of the law, or to obey It's
mandate. They were halted in their
progress. the proclamation ordering
them to dispense was read to them,
and they declined to submit. This, tech
nically construed, puts the men in the
attitude of actual rebellion against
their government We do not need to
add that rarely and almost never, ex-
cept in the midst of actual rioting is
the reading Of such a proclamation fol-
lowed up instantly with rifle shots
When there is actual mob rule in
city. and it is a desperate necessity
either to shed blood or to see all law
and order torn to shreds and cast to
the winds, military commander is
reluctant to give the dread order,
''Flre!" In case like this, where a
small body of men is marching along
a country highway, the quick response
of the bullet to an unwillingness of
the men to dispense is a brutal out
rage.
The statement made by Sheriff Mar
tin himself seems to cut away from
under his feet the last preteXt for his
hasty action He admits that the men,
highway, and that they had not COM
mitted any overt Act or conducted
themselves other than peaceably. At
one time he says that he gave the sig
nal to fire because he was in danger
of losing his life at the hands of the
strikers; and again he says that it was
not he, but SOM one else who gave
the fatal signal Putting all these Cir
cumstances together, it appears plain
that the shooting Was a rash and un-
warrantable act. even although the
victims invited it by their refusal to
obey the laws of their country.
We have to so back of this but one
step. however, to fix the real response
bility for the murder of twelve inno
cent men, and the arousing of a feeling
OF desperate anger and revenge that it
will take years to overcome In reali-
ty it is neither Sheriff Martin nor the
marching miners who ought to bear
the responsibility of this fell deed. The
stigma of it is fixed as a red badge of
shame upon the courts, whose infa-
NOUS injunctions are the direct cause
of this unhappy occurrence. 1t is net
Sheriff Martin. but the judge of the
district where this murder was DONE
who ought to be brought for trial
before the court over which he is ac-
customed to preside 1t is from the
mouth of the injunction that the bull
lets sped which have done these men
10 death; for, truthfully speaking, they
were absolutely within their rights
when they were marching along the
public highway, and the order to them
to dispense, although sanctioned by a
court. was an utter violation of the
rights guaranteed to every American
citizen by the federal constitution.
They were not trespassers; they
were not disturbers of the pub
lie peace. They were exercising
the universal right of assemblage, and
of passing to and fro upon the public
thoroughfare. They had committed no
act of assault upon the person or the
property of others.
That they may have intended. to in
terfere with the personal liberty of 9TH
er miners, and to compel them to leave
their posts, cannot be urged in sextenu-
alton. 1t is but a cover for that
yile and vicious system of using the
courts tc punish intentions, instead of
acts. that has stained the ground of
Pennsylvania with the blood of these
men. 1t is the courts that have so
aascd to usurp the place Of laws, and
10 build up an unknown and hated
Gcspotisn in this land, at which the
Finger of public seorn and condemna-