Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-09-17
Marching Miners Brutality
Slain by Deputies.
OVER A SCORE KILLED
Dead and Dying Coal Delivers
Fall Like Ten Pins.

District, the Scene of q Bloody
misunderstanding Held to Have
Been without Provocation and Re.
venGeful Cries Arise-rroops Are
Called Out to Preserve Orier.
Twenty-Five strikers were killed, thir-
teen fatally injured and between sixty
and seventy more or less injured near Hu-
zletOn, Pa, Friday. by deputy sheriffs I'M
der command of Sheriff Martin, and. the
dispatches Say, without sufficient
provocation to warrant even u
clubbing. The entire region is
wildly excited over the affair, and
citizens of all classes are talking Of what
they consider a terrible outrage. An in
dignation meeting was held ut night. and
Governor Hastings has been asked to or
der an investigation. and in the meantime
to place the command of the deputies in
other hands than those of Sheriff Martin.
The citizens also ask that the deputy sher-
ills concerned in the affair be discha ..sed
from ali authority and disarmed. They
say the local police force is quite COM
petent to take care of the strikers if any
disturbance occurs. Governor Hastings
called out the Third Brigade of the State
militia i'll order tn prevent further blood
shed.
Following their general custom, the
strikers assembled Friday morning and
marched to the Halle mines. The men
were at work there. but were forced to
quit. From there the march VAS taken
up to I.atimer. The men walked without
any special organization, much as any
body of men would Traverse a road. They
were elated by their success in driving
out the men ut the Halle mines and their
feeling of jubilation. combined with their
antiquity for the operators, had some
what aroused them. The road the men
traverscd was the public highway.
AS they reached the outskirts Of the
mining village of Latimcr the marc'lers
were met by Il crowd Of deputies, under
Sheriff Martin. They were the usual
kind of deputies, men and boys out OF
work. The strikers were ordered to halt.
Being on IL public highway the strikers re.
fused. With little ceremony they kept
walking, muttering imprecations on the
men with rifles.
Firing Is EeEun.
SUDDENLY one of the special officers
raised his rifle and fired point blank ut the
miners. 1t was the signal for Il fusillade.
The men and boys who were wearing the
steel badges of deputies fired volley after
vollcy into the marchcrs. Several fell
dead at the first volley. The Mortified
cries of the miners could not drown the
steady "crack." ''crack" of the rifles. The
miners stnod terrified for a moment, the
leadcn balls moving down their COM
rades. A few shots were fired back.
Then, yelling and crying, they broke and
ran for the woods.
The scatter of tire marchcrs did not stop
the firing. AS they fled in terror the dep
uties spread out, each one seemingly pick
ing his man, and shot the fleeing men.
The strikers staggered and fell i'll every
direction. Bodies of the killed lay here
and there on the road and in the bitches.
Piteous cries in foreign tongues came
from the injured. some of whom were
vainly trying to crawl to shelter. Plead
ings to the deputies to cease firing min
gled with the cursingsi of the less injured.
THE injured in the woods crawlei away
to safety. When the deputies has ex-
hausted the magazines of their rifles they
ceased firing and some turned their atten-
ton to the wounded and carried many of
them to places where they could be more
comfortably treated. The deputies seem
ed to be terrOr-stricken ut the deadly en-
ecution of their guns.
The people of Lntimcr rushed pell-mcll
to the scene, but the shrieks of The
wounded drowned the cries Of the sym.
pathizing and half-crazcd inhabitants. As
soon as the news of the shooting reached
Hazlcton there was CONSERVATION. With
in ten minutes the streets were blocked
with excited people. Trolley ears on the
I4atimer line were sent to the scene of
the killing, and doctors and clergymen re-
spondcd promptly.
Along the bank of the trolley road men
lay in every position; some dead, others
dying. Three bodies, face downward, lay
along the incline. and three others were
but a short distance way. On the other
side of the road as many moro bodies lay.
The scli0OlhOuse was transformed into a
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
wounded men were loaded into the wagon.
All along the hillside wounded were found
on the roadside and in the fields. Many
Others who had been carried to a distance
could not hG found.
WV VI Nv StithSES, III Ills uylnE state.
ment said that there were no weapons of
any kind among the marchcrs, for before
leaving HARDWOOD on the tramp acros, the
mountain Il meeting was held and resolu.
lions passed %forbidding any person to car
ry weapons. This fact was verified by
not finding any weapons on those who
were killed or wounded. The dead were
searched and no weapons were found on
them. Sheriff Martin in a detailed state.
ment Of the affair admits that lie gave the
command to fire.
Told In q Few Lines.
Prince Bismarck is suffering from neu.
rolCia NJ tho faco