The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-02-10
SHERIFF SHOT FIRST.
Testimony Regardingthe Signal For
the Massacre at Lattimer.
THE JUDGE WARNS THE JURORS.
Instructs Them That Should They Re-
ccive eThreatening Letters They Must
Hand Them over to the District At
torney-Deputies' Thirst For Blood.

1nstructs Them That Should They Re-
ccive Threatening Letters They Must
Hand Them Over to the District At
torney-Deputies' Thirst For Blood.
Wllkesbarre, Pa, Feb. 10-When court
opened yesterday for the trial of Sher-
if Martin and his deputies Judge
Woodward spoke to the jurors about
receiving letters bearing upon any
point In the trial. He said: 'If you re-
ceive any letters with reference to the
trial. whether anonymous or signed, 1t
Is your duty to hand them over to the
district attorney, and you must not
allow them to make any impression
upon your mind"
The first witness was John Your
shekowicz. one of the Harwood strik-
ers. He said that on Sept 8 the strik-
ers held a meeting at Harwood, and
they understood that il they could get
the Lattimer men to Join them they
would win the strike. They decided
not to carry anything having the SEM
blance of weapons. and to behave
quietly and peaceably. At West Ha-
zleton they met the sheriff and the
deputies, who pushed them around
with guns and hit several of them.
One man, and the witness at this juno
ture pointed out Deputy Ario p. Platt,
tore down the flag. At Lattimer the
sheriff stopped them. hit two men In
the front rank. and tried to shoot his
revolver. 1t snapped twice, and then
exploded. Right away there was a
volley of shots from the deputies, and
many of the strikers fell. "A bullet
passed through my hat" the witness
continued land then fell and lay
down until there was no more shoot
ing. Then ran away" AZ
Steve Jusko, whose arm was broken
and head cut by blows of a rifle in the
hands of deputy at West. Hazleton.
stated that at the time of the assault
he was behaving in an orderly manner
and saying nothing. Afterwards, he
said, the deputies put him in the lock-
up for two days. and then he was
taken to the hospital. He was laid up
for two months.
Michael Popso was recalled and put
through strong cross examination.
The only feature of Importance which
developed was the fact that after the
sheriff had told the strikers to disperse
they continued on their way to Lat.
timer.
Lewis Kitzski told how, on arriving
at West Hazleton with the strikers,
two deputies seized him by the coat,
hustled and pushed him around and
tore his shirt. He said number of the
men were SO frightened by the action
of the deputies in threatening them
with their guns that they ran home
and did not march to Lattimer "At
Iattimer," the witness said the sher-
iff asked for the committee, and while
= man was looking for the three COM
mitteemen the sheriff pulled two fell
lows out of the line and tried to fire
his revolver. l started to run at once,
and dropped down behind little stone
about 80 yards away. There was vol
ley, and then lot of separate shots,
and they came so thick arount where
] lay that I ran further and got into
q shanty, but the deputies fired on the
shanty and bullet went through my
hat On cross examination he admit
ted that the sheriff had told the strik-
ers n no n,e. and that they dis
ebeyed ant marcned on to Laltlmer.
i1ilery BONN, ana undertaken OF
Eezleten, who buried 1S of the victims,
Eaye :heir names and described, their,
wounds saying all were shet III the
back except one, who had bullet In
his forehead.
John Ardreaski told the same story
as many others about the meeting on
the night before the shooting. the
march to West Hazleton, what occur
red there, and the march to Lattimer.
Ee said that after the shooting the
sSr!i& and t<o men ran right out of
the line Of dspIse and upon the rail-
road track, cryn" out, Come back, You
-, and We'll fix you to the :ieeing
strikers, at the sage time shooting
two OF th.ee times. The witness point
ed out Frank Clark as one of the dep
nsies with the sheriff. He could not
identify the other.