Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-02-21

and as he lay still the sweat was in
beads on his forehead. and Judge Wood
ward ordered the tipstaves to open
windows that fresh air might come to
the witness, whose face was gray and
pinched, the once muscular hands of the
pick-swinging miner wasted to bony
talons.
Bernard Ruman is this victims name
He has not moved his body or limbs
since three bullets from the deputies
guns tore into him, grazed his spinal
column and made him a paralytic for
life. Eut of such vital Importance die
District Attorney Martin consider Ru
mans testimony that he had brought
him from Hazleton hospital at the risk
of his life. The story told by Ruman
was simple one, so simple that even
Lenahan did not have the heart to
torture Ruman with a long cross-eXami
nation. SO he asked a few questions.
and then told him that was all.
The release, however, was meaning
less to the sufferer, and he lay pinchng
the stretcher and biting his lips in agony.
until they carried him from the warm
court room into the cool court yard.
Humans words, spoken through an
Interpreter were: II was in the crowd
of strikers. When we reached Lattimer
| saw Sheriff Martin advance and take
hold Of a man. After some words the
sheriff shot him, and then as the man
clung to the sheriff'S clothes, the latter
hit him on the head with his revolver
and he fell to the ground When the
general firing began l started to run
| had just climbed over the railway track
when bullet struck me in the back,
and | fell. As l lay on the ground
was shot twice through the legs. | have
not been able to move since" This
statement remained unchanged after
the crosS-eXamination
b. C. Laubach. a baker of Freeland,
said he was in Lattimer in September
last. Had been through the town and
was at the side Of the fence near the
first and second house at the time of the
shooting. He was one of the few Ameri-
can witnesses and his testimony was i'm
portant. He showed the jury on map
where he stood about fifteen or twenty
yards behind the deputies. He said:
"The deputies were formed in line
before the miners arrived. The miners
were one~quarter OF a mile away when
the deputies formed. The miners came
down the road quietly and had no
weapons. They got within 100 yards OF
where | stood. Others were behind
They walked four or five abreast. A
man marched in from: carrying a flag.
Sheriff Martin walked out towards the
men. 1t looked to me as if they crowd
ed around him. | saw no sculle, The
crowd did not stop. moved on. | did not
see any weapons with Them
What else did you see?" asked Mar
tin.
"The first thing l heard was some one
call fire. | don't know who it was. 1t
sounded to the right of me somewhere =
did you know any of the deputies?"
Il know Bill Raught." The witness
went down and pointed out Raught and
continued:
II heard William Raught say that he |
had five or seven shots fired. He was
putting cartridges in his gun at that
time. The man who was talking with |
him said he had emptied his gun. They
were showing cartridges into their guns
at the side"
"Can you point out the other deputy?"
81 could not. l never seen him be-
fore or since"
"Did you see the deputies running
down the alley shooting?"
Il saw two deputies running down |
the alley shooting, They shot in the
ground aud in the air. The firing had |
then almost ceased. The firing lasted
about half minute. 1t sounded like
There were first three |
regular shots.
What did the miners do?"
cat the first they did not seem to
know what to do, but soon they began
running across the railroad"
On cross-eXaminattOn the witness said |
he worked for his brother. He said he |
heard the Lattimer people say they ex-
pected the strikers. He admitted he did |
not want to meet the strikers. He |
wanted to be on the safe side. He said |
he did not see the sheriff after he went |
into the crowd until after the shooting. |
The witness was carefully examined
by Mr.. Lenahan, and the jury seemed |
to take deep interest in the testimony. |
Laubach said he did not see Raught !
cross the road except to remove a
wounded man from the trolley tracks
The witness gave very impartial test-
mony. the most important part of which |
was to show how often some of the depu-
ties fired.
Another riddled victim was Andrew
Slabodick who was shot three times