The San Francisco call., 1897-09-11
SHERIFF MAhTIA's s7oRr.
Claims He Bns attacked, bat Bears No
MARKS of Pfoience.

Claims He Bas attacked, bat Bears No
MARKS Of Pfoience.
W1LKESBARRE. Pa, Sept. 10.-Sher-
if Martin arrived home on the 7 O. clock
train from Hazelton. He was cool and
collected. ii was met at the train By his
legal adviser. The two got into a cab and
drove 10 the Courth ouse, where they were
closeted together for some time. The Sher-
III was reluctant to say whether he had
given the command to fire, but afterward
admitted that he had. The Sheriff's de-
tailed statements as follows:
II heard early this morning that strik-
ers were going TO the Breaker at Latimer
and compel the men there to quit " ork.
| resolved to intercept them and, if DOS
sble, prevent them from reaching the
Breaker. O2e of my deputies told me
that the strikers would be probably
heavily armed. got my deputie seventy
in number. 10 meet at a certain place.
They were all armed. l told them to keep
cool under all cir cumstances.
''The trouble began at o'clock. met
the marching column. l halted them
and read the proclamation. They refused
TO pay any attention and resumed their
march. Then 1 called to the leader to
stop. He ignored my order. I then at
tempted TO arrest him. The strikers
closed in on me. They acted very yicously,
kicking me, knocking me down and
trampling upon me. | called upon nv
deputies TO aid me and they did so, bat
they were unable to accom- plish much.
II realize that something had to be
done at once or / would be killed
called to the deputies to discharge their
firearms into the air over the heads of the
strikers, as it might possibly frigh ten
them. 1t was done at once, but it had no
effect whatever on the Infuriated foreign
ers, who only used me so much rougher
and became fercer and fiercer. They were
more like wild beasts than human beings
THE strikers then made still bolder
move and attempted TO surround nv
entire force of deputies.
81 realized that the foreigners were a
desperate lot, and valued life at a verv
small figure. / saw that parleying with
such a gang Off iuriated men was entirely
out of the question, as they were too ex-
cited to listen to reason, and that myself
and my deputies would he killed if we
were not rescued or if we did not defend
ourselves. then called upon the dep
uties TO defend themselves, and shoot If
they must to protect our lives or to pro-
tect the property that they had been sent
to guard.
1.-The next second there were a few scat
tered shots fired into the foreigners and
moment later the entire force of depu-
ties discharged a solid volley into the
CROWD. l hated to give the command to
shoot and was awful sorry that was COM
PEELED to do o, but / was there TO do nv
duty and did it as / best knew how and
as my conscience dictated, as the strikers
were violating the laws of the common.
wealth and fatty refused to obey the
proclamation that l read to them. They
insisted on doing violence and disobey .ne
the laws.
"The entire crowd of foreigners, as soon
as the voiley had been fired by my depu-
ties, 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 | would not 60