Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-02-06
The TRIAL WELL UNDER WAY.
The jury in the Martin Case Will
Have Much to Think About

11NfU III W uluk AUUuU
During Their Sunday Vacation.
Several Important Witnesses
Placed Upon the Stand Yester-
day, Among them John Egler, an
Officer of the United Nine Work
ers- Says He Informed the Sheriff
Twice That the Men Were I'm
armed and Had Come on a Peace
able Mission.
W1lkesbarre, Pa, February 5.-The
first week of the trial of Sheriff Martin
and his deputies ended to-day with the
case we'll under way and the jury hav
ing a lot of evidence to think about
over Sunday.
There was the usual crowd at this
mornings session.
The first witness, Michael Nicholson,
described the condition of some of the
wounded on the road near Lattimer.
One man died as he watched him; five
others whom he saw were badly
wounded The witness came upon a
dying striker and was joined by a man
named Costello. While they were try
ing to aid the man, deputy named
Alfred Hess came up and Costello,
with great indignation, said it was a
scandalous piece of work the deputies
had done, whereupon Hess replied
you shut up or | will treat you the
same way
The defense objected to this refer
ence to Hess, and the evidence was
stricken out.
The next witness. one of the most
important of those to be heard on be-
half of the commonwealth, was John
Egler, secretary of the Harwood union
of the United Mine Workers. He told
how, on the night before the shooting,
a meeting had been held at Harwood
and the men gathered there decided
to
MARCH OVER TO LATTIMER
I'll next day to show themselves to the
men at that place at the request of
these men. Witness got an American
flag and nailed it on long pole he
had cut. They agreed, he said, to
march unarmed and to behave peace
ably.
Speaking of the meeting with the
sheriff and deputies at West Hazelton,
witness said f'They rushed at us and
pointed their guns in our faces and
told us to stop. | explained to the
sheriff that we were just going to show
ourselves to the Lattimer men and
were going to do no harm to anybody.
The sheriff said: IF you get to Latti
mer you must kill me-" Burgess Jones,
of West Hazleton, said we could march
through the streets. and so the sheriff
and deputies went away and we
marched on to Lattimer."
The witness said that at Lattimer
he again told the sheriff they were not
armed and would behave themselves.
The sheriff pulled couple of the men
out of the ranks and drew his revolver,
and witness
SAW HIM TRYING TO SHOOT
one of the strikers. The revolver did
not explode, however, and then a
crowd formed around the sheriff. At
this time there was a shot and then
three or four shots, and at last a vol
ley. Witness fell down between two
men, but did not think the men were
shooting ball cartridges until he saw
one of the men bleeding. Then he got
up and ran with the rest and the bull
lets kept whizzing about his ears. He
saw lots of wounded men, but did not
go near the deputies, as he was afraid.
On cross-eXaminatiOn Egler admit
ted that when the sheriff told them to
dispense he said: 1--WE amt going to;
we are going to Lattimer."
After the DISCRIMINATION of Egler
the court adjourned until Monday
morning at 10 O'Clock.
District Attorney Martin address
ing the court, asked that the defend
ants be required to furnish bail or be
committed to jail.
"Their BAIL he said. has been for
feited since the last term OF court in
November when their appearance here
absolved their bondsmen. BY mis-
take their bail was not then renewed,
and we have discovered that they have
not been under bail since that time.
They are charged with the highest
crime on the calendar, and the court
should not discriminate between them
and the ordinary criminal. They
should either furnish bail at once or be
sent to jail
Judge Woodward said that he de-
PENDANTS should furnish bail on Mon
day.