The sun., 1898-03-02
SHERIFF MARTINS STORY.
,,s rERSION OF the RIoTING AND
Mo suOOTING At LITTIMER.

,.uyrsBARRE, Pa, March l.-Sherin Martin
~, ,bc s,nnd in his own defence to-day In tho
VI w., ~ himself and deputies for the Lattimer
',.o,ir, ON Sept. 10 last. He made an excel
~, vyiiness. lie was calm, well collected. and
~. "a Mia story In n straightforward manner. 1t
"a, an excellent impression, and seemed to
N N..rv conviction with it. The jury followed his
~o.ds with the closest attention. and absolute
'r"oo rroyailed In tho crowded courtroom
Ths chief pointu Of the Sherih's testimony
~. TINT in response to the demands OF the coal
,orn,nies in the IIazleton region for protection
~ tbcIr threatened properties he had gone to
A.. c,tv OF Ilazleton and had sworn In men rs
s,nu,ies whom he had every reason to believe
A. hc good, trustworthy citizens; that he had
,r,rr,sscd upon them not to use their firearms
.ni,ss there was the direst necessity to save his
=, their lives: hat his life was In danger when
Al. aenuties shot at battimer. but that he had
~, given the order to fire; that he had never
,,,n oble TO find out who had given tho order
to hre.
Mr. Mrr,in's testimony was not given until
,oward the middle OF tho afternoon session.
.rd his cross.examination had not been con.
,irded when court adjourned in the even.
rc The morning session was taking
mn with hearing tho testimony OF some
~ tho minor witnesses as to occurrences
,ust before and after the shooting and with
o,bcr little odds and ends. William Fl. Taylor,
an artist employed on the Wilkcsbarre Times.
aid that on Sept. he had marched with tho
,,,ikcrs all day and had taken photographs
~ them at various places. These photo
,rsnbs were produced in court and Of.
,erei in evidence. A picture OF the scene
At McAdoo showed large asscmblage
NJ ueope. most of whom were armed with largo
,lubs Thomas A. Harris, bookkeeper for Calvin,
pardee s. Co. at Lattimer. succeeded Taylor on
the stand. He said that on Sept. he had seen
the strikers come. There wero about seventy
Ave of them. Many OF them had clubs and iron
bars, One man in the lead fred his revolver in
the air and then a man standing next to the
witness fired both barrels OF his shotgun over
thc strikers heads and they ran away. As they
we're going he heard one OF them say:
You have had your day to-day. but we will
come back tomorrow with 5000 men,.
On the afternoon OF Sept. 10 the witness, who
had been sworn in meanwhile as a deputy. was
At No 3 breaker with some other deputies
when they heard that the sheriff was coming
Officer Cook. Calvin Pardec. Jr.. and John kulp
were walking along the railroad track they
There is going to be a fight"
Then they went on toward the Sheriff and his
men, The witness then heard two more shots
and then volLey. When the witness and the
The time that had elapsed was less than half
minute.
hgh Traction Company, In Hazleton. the next
witness, said that ON tho afternoon OF Sept. 10
he had acted as motorman on n special car
that went TO West Hazleton;, There he saw one
OF the street. another company across the
street and the strikers on the, other side.
Tho strikers nearly m al had clubs ,oo5 Or
When the strikers had left on their way to Lat
timer the deputies boarded his car and he took
them to Lattmer. At Harleigh the car passed
carried clubs. The deputies left his car II the
entrance TO Lattimer. and he took the car to
On his return. when he was still almost 600
yards from the line of deputies. he heard a vol
Icy. When he camc to the scene he saw the
deputies assisting the wounded.
Sheriff Martin was then called to the stand
After saying that he had been clected Sheriff Of
Luzerne county in tho fall OF 1895 and had gone
his commission and proclamation and put them
In evidence.
Tell me where you were and what you did
when yor received word that you were wanted
In Luzerne county," began Mr.. Lenahan on the
direct examination.
u was in Atlantic City on Sept. L." replied
my chief deputy that trouble in the HaZlcton
region demanded my presence. and that my at
torney thought it best for me to como back at
once 10 Wikcsbarre. l did SO at once. and on
Monday went with my attorney to the office
o. General Superintendent Lathrop Of
the Iehigh Valley Coal Compnny. Besides
President OF the Cross Creek Coal Company.
Both men told me that their properties had been
damaged by riotous strikers. that they wanted
protection for them, and il any further damage
was done they would hold me responsible for 1t.
As It was said that there was also trouble at the
colleres OF the Lehigh and Wilteshare Coal Com
sknH hat ip,n npIn 7 ko
sent for. He came. and advised him to arbi-
trate with the men. Mr.. laval said he would
% aMn iS1', At, rDcv Mr. porr,. bov.v.r o,v,so,
me that had better go to Hazleton myself and
see ior myself how things stood there. went.
and at the station in Hazlcton met Mr.. Zerbcy Of
Ario Plat OF PHrdee & Co. told them
lnat had come therc TO preserve the
peace. and that did not want strikers
from other counties to come into Luzerne. Be-
lore had gone TO Lu2erne had some proclama.
lions printed. Mr.. Plat and Mr.. Zerbey both
y !ola me that their men. although satisfied with
the wages they were getting, could not work,
as they had been driven off by strikers.
tor As Tn was m not very wellacquaintcd in Halle.
t0n; '"sn Ia asked Mr Zeroey where could get good
mat Mr.. Thomas hall would be a good man to
40 in nat for nc. Iscnt for Mr. Hall and he came
r.t tpS @s coTSs wGss Of the nfternoon told him to
pended Oh not 10 lose their heads and he
PsoMied TO do so, Then l telegraphed to
4 ,H''''"cT VI NaTDOn ana ocOtt or Scnuyl-
III ~ 10 meet me in Iiazleton, as some of the
W., Inteatehed ColIieries were situated in those
counties. counties. They came. and we agreed to issue n
!oht !t Proclamation calling upon all rioters to
aiisperse and to obey the law. These prOclama.
''onS had published in the papers OF Hazleton.
lhat same night found eghtyscv men
'as .ssencted IN an empty store in HaZleton and
wore ,so them In as deputies. They were the men
hen fsn iqr me as posse by Mr.. Hall. asked
rem N n.her whether they were all citizens and they
" ", replied yes. ] asked them whether they
"odia assist me in preserving the peace and
'SEalh ihey all replied yes. Finally / asked
u oenl whether any compulsion had beon eXerted
~ y nPtesS them into service and they all replied
~: WI lhen administered the OATH"
.,,t mat INSTRUCTIONS did you give themi" in
frIupted Mr. Lenahan.
- told them to keep cool under all cir
y sboa, not to hurt anybody and not
iecesSary. | did not want any shoot.
ng or boodshed IL could avoid II. AS /
,aa ,aa heard that a crowd was coming the
mno ,eat aay from McAdoo, IL ordered my posse to
posI me at the same place the next morning at
hss,oock; They came and all had guns. Win
sSm ,een 10 40 cn not know. My orders to them had
h, Un 1ntho inc following day we met tho strikers at
Nc nc .rysthi Ridge stripping. They were begin
ns ny 10 throw stones at the men working there
oi ~, stopped them and told them they must
TJ III 40 that. Many OF them weTc armed with
mus oos' As ] thought there would be no
U'e r"ei troi3 Die, ! went home. Before I went |
I pIg"'ni u q q samuel Prco AS my chief deputy and
:, nnrr r., IL 81 and Thomas Hall as commanders OF
ooiihphnles. On the following morning ] was
az. eg 70 llrirton and swore in dcputiOs.
~ SSaou them the same questions and gave them
n,i",niip i1"ip ":dcFS l had given tho deputies at