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

NERDEB BY INJUNCTION.
After the first shock of the horror at
Hazleton Pa, has passed, the people
begin to inquire where rests the re-
snonsibiIity for the death of dozen
men shot down in cold blood IN the
public 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 a stern
penalty that must be PAID. AS tdr DIS
the reDorts sent in explain the matter,
there was no adequate occasion and as
little justification for the act OF the
sheriff and his deputies. We do not
know as yet 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 its
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, eH-
cent 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 a
city, and it is desperate necessity
either to shed blood or to see all law
and order torn to shreds and cast to
the winds, a military commander is
reluctant to give the dread, order,
"Firem In q case like this, where
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,
when he met them, were on the public
highway, and that they had not COM
mitted any overt Sact 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 I'M
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 bnt the judge of the
district where this murder was done,
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 disperse, although sanctioned by a
court. was an utter violation of the
tights 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 :extenu-
alton. 1t is but a cover for that
vile and vicious system of using the
courts to 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
aarcd TO usurp the place Of laws. and
10 build Up an unknown and hated
dcspotism in this land, at which the
Finger of public seorn and condemna-