The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-05
MARIAN TRIAL.


"
she proved to be the most important
witness of the day. She was very brief
in nil her answers and exceedingly ner-
vous at first. She said she was stand
ing on the porch of the school house
and saw the deputies line up along the
roadside. Then the strikers approached
quietly and orderly. Size did not hear
any shouting. The sheriff stopped
them and some of them gathered
around him, but she did not see any
of them attack him. Some of them
cried go ahead" and few of the
strikers pushed past the sheriff. At
that moment a shot was fired, then
came another, and in an instant later
a crashing volley.
II saw men fall" said Miss Coyle;
"some of them ran toward the school
house and when they had got half way
they fell. do not know whether they
were shot just before they fell or if
they were wounded by the volley and
ran so far before their strength failed.
The shooting continued for about two
minutes and after the first volley it
was scattered.
II helped many of the wounded strik-
ers who fell near the school house. l
bandaged the wounds of some of those
who were shot through the arm or leg
and we carried one man shot in the
stomach and another in the chest into
the school house, gave them water to
drink and tried to make them comfort
able. There was blood all over the
school house floor, it was a horrible
sight
/ helped about twelve or fifteen of
the wounded and did not see any
weapons on any of them. While l was
helping them a deputy named Hess
laughed at me as he walked about
smoking a cigar. 1 said, You ought to
go to Cuba Another deputy, Clark,
laughed and / said to him, DO you
think you've done glorious deed to-
day?' / called two more of them
buns"
Miss Coyle made a good witness for
the commonwealth in her recital of all
this, but in the DISCRIMINATION she
also made a good witness for the de-
fense. The defense will try to prove
that the people of Latimer We're very
much afraid of the strikers and became
much alarmed when they heard they
were coming. sGuscott, the principal of
the school, had denied that his scholars
were frightened, but he could not ex-
plain very clearly why they had bolted
out of the school without being dis
missed. Miss COyle said on this point
just what the defense desired to get at.
THE CHILDREN FRIGHTENED.
She said shortly before o'clock
Miss Cora Heinbach came to the school
and said, the tsrikers are coming, and
! want my little sister to go home with
me- / excused the little girl and then
thought it best to dismiss the class so
they could get home before the strik-
ers came"
This will be strong evidence for the
defense as it will show that on the
Tuesday previous to the shooting, a
number of strikers were rioting in Lat
inner and terroriZed the residents.
While these were not the same men
who marched on the fatal Friday the
testimony will be valuable to prove
that in view of the rioting of Friday
the sheriff considered the lives and
properties of the Latimer people in
danger and felt he was justified in US
ing extreme measures to protect them.
DR.. John J. COrrigan, of Hazleton,
testified to the fact that he dressed
the wounds or some strikers as they
were being taken to Hahleton in a
trolley car. Several deputies were in
the car but said nothing to him about
the affair. Then the commonwealth
called stephen T. Adams, a travelling
man, by whom it hoped to prove that
some of the deputies while journeying
to the scene of the shooting made
threats that they would kill some of
the strikers. The witness said he
could not identify any of the deputies
on the car, as he was proceeding to
tell his story the defense objected on
the ground that as he could not iden-
tify any of the deputies it was not
proper evidence for him to state what
was said. There was long argument
and the court finally sustained the OBJ
lection of the defense, and the evidence
will not be heard.
Court then adjourned until the morn
ing.
The trial is expected to take four
weeks at least, as there are about $50
witnesses to be heard by the common
wealth, and nearly 200 for the defense.