The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-02-04
LATTIWER
SHOOTING.
Damaging Evidence Against the Accused
hurderOus Deputies.
A SCHOLARSHIPS TESTIMONY
He Saw the Conflict From Beginning to
End, and Declares That the slaugh-
tered Strikers wers Peaceable
and Unarmed.

WllkeSDarre, IA, FcD. A-Ihe TAX
ing Of evidence in the trial of Sheriff
Martin and his deputies was begun in
the Luzerne county court yesterday,
after Attorney McGahren had present.
ed the case for the commonwealth.
John Swar, the first witness, was Sc
verely cross examined by Mr.. Lenahan,
but he made an excellent witness, kept
cool, replied slowly and deliberately and
strengthened his story in chief by the
numerous details which the defense ellie
tied. He remarked at one period of the
examination that he could not under
stand high toned English, meaning that
he did not know the meaning of some
Of the big words used by Attorney
Lenahan. This gave the defense an
opportunity to air it's humorous views,
and the commonwealth objected very
decidedly, saying to the court that the
case was of such Importance that it
should be conducted with dignity, n
there was no occasion for buffoonery.
The court reprimanded the defendants
attorneys.
The defense attempted to show that
the witness had been engaged in ter
rorizing men who did not want to
I M " buNlA al tAAtlAL mat AAC WIZ
forced to join the strikers through fear
of injury, but the court would not al
low it, saying it was not cross exam
nation. Later the defense asked the
witness If he had not been engaged
In or known of sundry cases of vio-
lence with the strikers as the agrees
sors on the day of the strike. This the
witness denied.
Tho ganOnH urftnnug yruG Tnhn Ma
hala, who was at the time of the strike
the president of the Harwood local
union of the United Mine Workers of
America. He old how. after his men
had decided to march over to Lattimer,
he had read the instructions of the ma
tional union cautioning them to at
tempt no violence, avoid threats and
destruction Of property, and to behave
peaceably. The next day, he declared,
while 400 men were peaceably march
ing through West Hazleton they were
intercepted by the sheriff n his dep
uties. The sheriff ordered them to go
home, and he insisted upon their right
to visit their friends in Lattimsr. one
of the deputies tore in half the Amer
lean flag he (Mahala) carried, and
another struck John EustOn with a
gun, breaking his arm. Burgess Jones,
of West Hazleton, demonstrated with
the sheriff, and the march proceeded.
Mahala was in the rear of the crowd
when the shooting began, and by the
time he had run to the front 1t had
ended, and ten dead men n a num-
Der wounded were lying in the roau.
Rev. Father Richard Aust, pastor Of
the st. Stanislaus Polish Catholic
church at Hazleton, who is chairman
of the prosecuting committee, was call
ed to prove that many Of the strikers
were shot in the back. He said he had
examined a number Of the dead, but
could not tell in detail what their
wounds We're.
Rev. Carl Hauser, pastor of the Luth-
eran church at Freeland, who num-
bered among his congregation several
of the dead and wounded, said that he
had examined several and found thai
all of them were shot in the side or
the back. He boarded a car after the
massacre, in which were ten of the
dead and several wounded. on his ex-
pressing a fear that some rifles piled
in the corne might fall and explode
Deputy Frank Clark said: You need
not be afraid; they're all empty now"
Harry Dryfoos, an amateur photog-
rapher, who had taken several pic
lures Of the scene of the shooting, tes-
titled to so doing, and the photos were
given to the jury for their examina-
ton,
Charles Guscott, principal of the Lat
timer school, a frame building about 600
yards from the scene of the shooting.
and in full view of all that took place
on the eventful 10th Of September at
Lattimer, was the next witness. Gus
colt said he was teaching school when
he heard an unusual noise, and going
to the window he found that a num-
Der of men, some 50, were alighting
from an electric car. They were the
deputies.
Miss Coyle, his assistant, also watch
ed them, and while their attention was
thus riveted the pupils rushed or the
door to get outside. He saw the dep
uties line up across the road and then
move over to the side Of the road and
form there, with rifles ready. The
strikers were by this time coming over
the brow of the hill some two or three
hundred yards away, marching five
and six abreast, and were quiet and
orderly. Witness could not see that
they carried any weapons. They APP
preached slowly, n as they drew near
the sheriff advanced to meet them. As
he reached the first man a dozen or
so formed a sort of half circle around
him. He did not hear the sheriff say
anything, nor did he see him read any
paper.
A minute after the line first stopped
those behind pushed ahead to see what
was going on, aud got ahead OF the
sheriff. At that moment one of the
deputies stepped out of the line and
advanced some ten or twelve PAGES,
as If he was going to leave the other
deputies, ~whereupon one shouted: IF
you do not come back we win shoot
you, too" The fellow jumped back
into h line, and almost Immediately
after the witness heard a shot. 1t
came from the left of the line of dep
uties. A moment later two more shots
were fired, and then came the volley.
The witness said that as soon as the
volley was fred the strikers ran In all
directions, and between the road and
the schoolhouse 10 men fell, struck
Town by shots fred after the volIey.
He saw one man hot and killed while
running at full speed at IA distance OF
a hundred yards from the road. The
ebppfIpu continued Top soma tur, ~,