Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1897-09-15
MINERS SHOT DOWN.
IMPOSSIBLE TO GIVE THE COR
RECT NUMBER KILLED.
Attempted to March Down the Public
Road and Were Fired Upon by Deputy
shcrins-No Necessity for Such Action
Declare the Citizens.

Declare the Citizens.
Hazelton, Pa, September 1.-THE
strike situation reached terrible crisis
on the outskirts of Latimer yesterday
afternoon when band of deputies
under Sheriff Martin fired into an infu
rated mob of miners. The men fell
like so many sheep, and the excitement
since has been so intense that no accu-
rate figures of the dead and wounded
can be obtained.
Reports run from fifteen to twenty
killed and forty or more wounded. one
man who reached the scene last night
counted thirteen corpses. Other bodies
lie in the mountains between Latlmer
and Harleigh. Those who were not
injured took their dead and injured
friends into the woods and an esti-
mate is impossible.
The strikers left Hazelton at O'Clock
yesterday afternoon, announcing their
intention to go to Latmer. When this
became known band of deputies was
loaded on trolley car and went whirl-
ing across the mountain to the scene
where the bloody conflict followed. On
reaching Latimer they drew up in line
at the end of the village just as the
strikers approached.
Sheriff Martin went out to meet
them. The men drew up sullenly and
listened in silence until he had once
more read the riot act. Then low NUT
terings arose among the foreigners and
there was a slight forward movement
Perceiving this the sheriff stepped to-
ward them and warned them not to
march. Some one struck the sheriff
and the next moment there was com
mand to the deputies to fire. The guns
of the deputies instantly belched forth
terrible volley. The report seemed to
shake the very mountains and a cry of
dismay went up from the people, The
strikers were taken entirely by sur
prise, and as the men toppled over each
other those who remained unhurt
stampeded. The men went down be-
fore the storm of bullets like ten pins,
and the groans of the dying and wound
ed filled the air. The excitement that
followed was simply INDISPENSABLE. The
deputies seemed to be terror stricken at
the deadly execution of their guns, and
seeing the living strikers fleeing like
wild and others dropping to the earth,
they went to the aid of the unfortu-
mates whom they had brought down.
The people of Latimer rushed pell
nell to the scene, but the shrieks of the
wounded drowned the cries of the sym
pathizers and half crazed inhabitants.
A reporter who soon afterward reached
the scene found the road leading to
Latimer filled with groups of fright
ened Hungarians. Some surrounded
dying companions and others fearful of
pursuit, chung to the newcomers and
begged for protection. At Farley's no.
tel there We're two men lying on the
porch, both shot in the head. One had
three bullets in him. All along the road
the wounded men who We're able to
selves and sought the shade of trees for
protection, but there was no need of
that then. Approaching the place
where shooting occurred people were
met wringing their hands and bemoan-
ing the catastrophe. They could not
talk intelligibly and it was with the
greatest difficulty that information
could be cleaned. Along the bank of
the trolley road men lay in every posi-
ton, some dead, others dying.
Three bodies, face downward, lay
along the incline and three others were
but short distance away.
On the other side of the road as many
more bodies. The school house was
transformed into a temporary Hospital
and some of the wounded were taken
there. All along the hillside wounded
men were found ON the green, ON the
roadside and in the fields. Many Others
who had been carried TO a distance
could not be found.
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