Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-15
HISTORIC OLD COURT HOUSE
Scenes Attending Days Trial in the Sheriff
Martin Case.
Judge Woodward a Handsome Man
Show Much Intelligence.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

tried for shooting the strikers at Hazleton,
has been the scene Of some noted trials.
There are so many foreigners in the
county of Luzerne that desperadoes of all
nationalities have been obliged to face here
at different times the twelve men, good
and true who have meted out life or
death to them. Not many years ago 1 wit
ressed the eScoriation of Red Nose Nike
in this very room. When on the stand I
saw the murderer quail and act the cow
ard when the damning evidences of his
guilt were suddenly produced before him.
And when the lawyers pinned him down to
his story they made him confess, with hes
itating and stammering words, the story
of his lying in wait, with two or three
Italian cutthroats, and his own share in
shooting down from ambush Mcclure the
paymaster and his companion, who with
S12. 100 to pay off the railroad workers, had
left only short hour or two before the
Wilkesbarre Bank His murderouS COM
panions robbed him of his share of the ILL
gotten treasure and fled to Italy, leaving
him to go to the scaffold an object of uni
VerSal eXecratiOn.
The Negro ShaeHcr Tried There.
In this room 1 listened to the testimony
of Shaeffer, the negro, who told the story
Of the conspiracy of the negroes to rob the
Hungarians who were working on the
mountain railroad, and the devilish cum
ming with which the Huns were hurried
to their fate by the dynamite exploded
under their boarding house by the electric
wires in the hands of Nelse Miller. Miller
died in Jail from disease before the day OF
execution.
1t is here that the sixty or more deputies
are being tried for the killing Of the TWEEN
ty-two strikers who braved them on that
fatal day. September 10.
The court room is about the center OF
the large brick court house, which occu-
pies prominent position in what is called
the public square" Of the city. The room
where the trial is held is about SO by 50
feet and about % feet high.
The long windows on each side of the
room admit an abundance of light, and
although the room has a high ceiling 1t
soon shows it's defective ventilation. A
dozen or so pictures, mostly OIL, are group
ed on the walls and show the features of
number of well-known judges of the coun-
ty, some living, some dead, who have dis
pensed justice in years past. and. If report
he true and the set features of some are
any indication of the truth of the report.
1.-The quality of mercy was not strained.
at least with some of the able jurists, in
their time.
Court assemblies about 10 o'clock in the
morning. Judge Stanley Woodward, pres
ident judge OF Luzerne county, who Is try
ing the case. appears promptly. The coun-
sci enter with equal readiness, and the
usual exercises that mark courts opening
enSue.
Judge Woodward is a handsome man,
about sixty years old, and COMFORTS him
self with dignity and fairness In front
of the judge and just below him are the
official reporters and court clerks. Off in
the extreme southeast corner table is
placed for the newspaper men. Two of the
New York papers are represented by sew
eral reporters and artists. The sketches of
the latter have been intolerable to every
one. Several days ago the presiding judge
administered a public rebuke for the aw-
full caricatures they have sent to their
papers as pictures of officials and jury and
for the inaccuracy of their reports. Next
to the newspaper men sit the jury, who
seem to be men of fair intelligence and
active attention.
In front of the judge, and rallied off from
the rest of the ROOM are the seats for the
attorneys and the counsel. The chief prose
cutting attorney is Col. T. r. Martin, just
elected district attorney In a republican
county a democratic ticket. 1t has been
whispered that the republican candidate
who was renominated was beaten in the
election last November on account of this
very shooting in September, the miners
and foreigners blaming him for allowing
the sheriff to go to extremities with the
strikers Col. Martin is assisted by John
McGahren, former district attorney; John
NJ Garman, now chairman of the demo-
cratic state committee OF pennsylvania,
and others. For the defense are John T.
Wilkesbarre; H. w. Palmer, an ex-attor-
ney general of the state; George S. Ferris
of Pittston, an able attorney, who has
been the sherff's attorney; George urqu.
hart of Wilkesbarre and others OF equal
ability.
Sheriff Martins Appearance.
Sheriff Martin, who is en- trial, is a large
man. with dark side whiskers and black
mustache, evidently a man of dcte-mina-
ton He sits with his counsel.
Just outside the attorneys railing and
back of it, to the right Of the room, are
seated the deputies. They are intelligent
looking and prosperous in appearance. The
public are seated back and to the side of the
deputies, and extend to the doors.
During the trial there is always notice
able constant coming and going, espe-
cially when some law point arises for ad-
Indication. The lawyers then work them
selves up to perspirat!on; a mass of law
books is sent for, and there is general
exodus of the curious. But when the wit
nesSeS are on the stand there is quoting
down and filling up of the empty benches.
Mr.. Glassick, the court Interpreter. has
been largely in evidence. Witnesses sur
viving the names of ZaDpas. Platak, Var
ich JantZa, Salinski, kelZkis, Joviski have
been on the stand and, besides testimony
we have had evidence of wounds received
by the witnesses in scars shown to the
jury and the lawyers. Some of the wit
nesses were asked to remove their shirts
and then show the scars of their wounds
on the back and sides of their bodies.
1t is point with the prosecution to show
that the strikers were shot after they had
started to run away from the deputies, who
fired. not to brighten, but to kill. There is
considerable asperity shown between OPP
posing counsel, and at one time a sharp
rebuke was administered by the court for
violent language INDUCED in.
Slavs Show Intelligence.
The Slavs who testified. as rule, mani
tested considerable intelligence, although
one gave the name of his native country
but could not tell where it was, nor could
any one alse locate upon any known spot OF
earth the outlandish name he gave.
To the iayman there seemed to be an I'M
necessary amount of testimony given to
corroborate that to which all agree, viz
that the shooting was done by the deputies