The herald., 1897-09-11

dying. Three bodies, face downward,
lay along the incline, and others were
but q short distance away. On the
other side Of the road as many bodies
lay. The school house was transformed
into temporary hospital. and some Of
the wounded were taken there. The
colliery ambulance was summoned to
the place as soon as possible, and upon
its arrival two men, both shot through
the legs, were loaded into the wagon.
All along the hillside wounded men were
| found. on the roadside and the fields.
Many miners who had been carried to
distances could not be found.
| AZ soon as the news of the shooting
reached Hazelton there was consterna-
ton. Within ten minutes the streets
were blocked with excited people. The
Lehigh Traction company Immediately
started number of extra cars on the
Latimer line. and doctors and clergy
men promptly responded. The rush of
people to Latimer was so great that
the passage of vehicles along the road
was impeded.
Among the excitement the deputies
turned their attention to the wounded
and carried many of them to places
|
treated. Martin Roski, an intelligent
Hungarian from Mount Pleasant, who
was shot in the arm, was seen by a re-
porter, and gave this version of the af-
fair:
I'VE were going along the road to
Latimer, and the deputies were lined
across the road barring our passage.
We tried to go through them. and did
not attempt to hit or molest them when
they fired upon u.s. We ran, but they
kept on shooting at us while we ran.
It is, all their fault"
Citizens meetings were held at various
parts Of the city tonight. Opinion was
divided about the responsibility of the
shooting. At one meeting, held in Van
Wyckles' Casino, attended by bankers.
coal operators and prominent men, reso-
lutions we're adopted calling on Gov
ernor Hastings to send the militia here
Immediately. At another mass meet
ing, attended by thousands of people,
the sentiment was against bringing in
the troops here, and it is asserted by
those that know that there would be no
necessity for having the deputies here
MARTINS MOVEMENTS
wILKESBARRE. Pa, Sept. 1O-sher-
if Martin left for home on the Z o'clock
train for Hazelton. He was met at the
| depot by his legal adviser. The two got
| into cab and drove to the courthouse,
where they were closeted together for
some time. The sheriff was reluctant
to say whether he had given the COM
mand to fire, but afterwards admitted
that he had. The sheriff detailed state
ment is as follows:
II heard early this morning that
strikers were going to the breaker at
Latimer and compel the men there to
quit work. resolved to intercept them
| and il possible prevent them from reach
ing the breaker. One of my deputies
| told me that the strikers would be prob
ably heavily armed. I got my deputies,
seventy in number, to meet at certain.
| place. They were all armed. I told
| them to keep cool under all circum-
stances. The trouble began at 6 o'clock.
I met the marching column. I halted
them and read the proclamation. They
refused to pay any attention and re-
sumed their march. Then called to the
leader to stop. He ignored my order. l
| then attempted to arrest him. The
| strikers closed in on me. They acted
| very viciously, kicking me, knocking me
down and trampling upon me. called
upon my deputies to aid me and they did
SO, but they were unable to accomplish
much. realized that something had to
be done at once or I would be kiHed. I
called to the deputies to discharge their
| firearms into the air over the heads Of
kthe strikers as it might possibly fright
| en- them. 1t was done but had no effect
whatever on the infuriated foreigners.
The strikers then made still bolder
move and attempted to surround my en-
tire force of deputies.
II realized that the foreigners were
desperate set and valued life at very
small figure. ] saw that parleying was
of no avail as the infuriated men were
too excited to listen to reason, and that
myself and deputies would be killed if
we were not rescued or if we did not de-
| fend ourselves I then called upon the
deputies to defend themselves and shoot
if they must to protect our lives or to
protect the property that they had been
sent out to guard. The next second there
were few scattered shots fired into the
| foreigners and a moment later the en-
tire force Of deputies discharged solid
volley into the crowd. hated to give
| the command to shoot and was awful
sorry that was compelled to do SO. but
l was there to do my duty and did it
as 7 best knew how and as my conscience
dictated, as the strikers were violating
| the laws Of the commonwealth and fatty
refused to obey the proclamation that
read to them. They insisted on doing
violence and disobeying the laws
"The scene after the shooting was SIM
ply terrible, and I would willingly not
have had it occur, but as public official
l. I was there to see that the law was
cbeyed and lived up to, and merely did
my duty.
"The entire crowd of foreigners. as
soon as the voliey had been fired by my
deputies, turned and started to retreat
| They rushed off in all directions as fast
as they could taking as many of their
dead and wounded with them as they
were able to carry. The excitement at
the time was simply terrible, and l
would not go through another ordeal of
the kind for a fortune"
TROOPS ORDERED OUT
HARRISBURG, Pa. Sept. 1O.-Gov.
Hastings tonight ordered out the Third
brigade of which his son is commander,
and instructed Gen. Schall to hold the
First brigade in readiness. The troops
will mobilize at HaZelton and are ex-