Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-02-04
TRIAL OF SHERIFF MARTIN AND HIS
DEPUTIES UNDER WAY.
STATE WILL PROVE THREATS.
SEVERAL WITNESSES RELATE THE
DETAILS OF THE TRAGEDY.
Maintain That the Strikers Were I'M
armed and That Many of Them
Were Shot in the Back
While Fleeing From
the Deputies.

NiikeSharre, IA, teD. 3.--laklnS or teS-
timony in the trial of Sheriff Martin and
his deputies began to-day il the LuZerne
county court.
Attorney McGahren presented the case
for the commonwealth. Mr.. McGahren told
how the strikers had started to march
from HaZleton TO Lattimer, and about the
deputies boarding the cars and going TO
intercept the men.
I'VE will prove" he said, that at this
point some of the deputies made threats,
that one of them said: III bet I'll drop
six of the strikers Another said: I
hope to get a chance to take pop at
some of them
Andrew Siver was the first witness called.
He is hungarian, but speaks excellent
English. He proved the death of Mike
Cezlak. saying that he saw him lying
dead on the road at Iattimer with bull
let in his head. Witness saw the sheriff
draw his revolver and heard it snap, and
then the shooting commenced.
The defense attempted to show that the
witness had been engaged in terrOriZing
men who did not want to strike to such
an extent that they were forced 10 join
the strikers through fear of injury. but
the court would not allow it.
The second witness was John Mahala,
who was, at the time of the strike, the
president of the Harwood local union of
the United Mine Workers of America. He
told of the meeting at which it was
agreed to march to Lattimer. at the in
vitation of the miners there, his counsels
of peace and the start the next day, all
the men being unarmed. At West Halle
ton. they We're stopped by the sheriff who
ordered them to disperse. Mahala protest
ed that they We're breaking no law. where
upon one of the deputies grabbed the
American flag he bore and tore it in
halves.
The sheriff pointed his revolver" said
the witness, "and threatened to shoot. The
deputies pushed us around with the muz-
zles of their guns and swore at us, and
one struck John Eustis twice with his gun,
cutting his head and breaking his arm in
two places. Then Burgess Jones, of West
Haz!eton. reconstructed with the sheriff.
saying that he could keep the peace with
out using any weapons; that he had con-
tidence in Us and would let us march
through the streets of his borough as
much as we liked The sheriff and his
deputies then boarded the cars and we
marched on toward Lattimer."
Witness was in the rear of the crowd
when the shooting commenced. He saw
ten dead men and number of wounded
lying in the road.
Rev. Father Richard Aust. pastor of the
St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic church at
llaZieton. chairman of the prosecuting COM
mittee, was called to prove that many
OF the strikers We're shot in the back. He
said he had examined number of the
dead. but could not tell in detail what their
wounds We're. He had buried thirteen Of
the dead.
Rev. Mr.. Carl Hauser. pastor of the Luth-
eran church at Fresland. said he had & ex-
was shot in the side or the back:
II boarded a car" he said which
brought. ten of the dead and a lot of the
There was a pile of rifles in a cornor.
said to one of the deputies Frank Clark
an am afraid of some of them falling and
You need not be afraid, he replied,
they are all empty now"
Charles Guscott, principal of the Lattimer
school, building about 600 yards from the
scene of the shooting, said he was teaching
school when he heard an unusual noise and,
going to the window. he found that a num-
from an electric car. They Wee deputies
IL He saw the deputies line up to the side Of
strikers were by this time some two or
three hundred yards away.
They were marching five or six abreast,
and were quiet and orderly. Witness could
not see that they carried any weapons. As
they drew nearer the sheriff advanced to
meet them. As he reached the first man a
dozen or so formed q sort of half circle
around him. He did not hear the sheriff
say any thing. nor did he see him read any
paper. a minute after the, line first
what was going on and got ahead of the
sheriff. AT that moment one of the depu-
ties stepped out of the line and advanced
whereupon one shouted: IF you do not
come back we will shoot you, too
The fellow jumped BACK into the line. and
almost immediately afterward the witness
heard shot. 1t came from the left of
the line of deputies. A moment later two
more shots We're fired and then came the
yolley. As soon, as the volley was fired
the strikers ran in all directions. Between
the road and the school house fifteen men
fell. struck down by shots fired after the
hrst Volley. He saw one man shot and
killed while running at full speed at a dis
tance of lC0 yards from the road The shoot
Ing continued for some two or three min
uteS. The witness did not see any of the
DEPUTIES leave the line and run after the
strikers to shoot them. He knew num-
her of the deputies. and saw them plainly
gust before the shooting occurred.
Guscott will continMe to-mnrrOM.