The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1898-12-06
AN INDICTMENT.
Grand Jury Finds Bill Against Gov.
Tanner, of Illinois.
Manager Lukins, of the Chicago Virden
Coal Co., Indicted for Manslaughter-
Fifty Three Other Indictments
Made Against Rioters.

den riot grand jury made it's formal re-
port to Judge Z. r. Shirley at $50
Thursday evening. Judge Shirley
came down from Springfield, where he
was holding court, and held a short
half-hour session to receive this re-
port.
The grand jury dealt pertinently
with the affair, and as far as it was
able to ascertain, returned true bills
against the principal participants in
the tragedy of October ~ at Virden.
Ten indictments, involving 81 per-
sons, were returned. Against Gov.
John r. Tanner, governor of Illinois,
there are three counts for palpable
omission of duty and malfedsance in
Office. Fred w. Lukins, general man
ager of the Chicago-Virden Coal Co., is
charged with manslaughtec on two
counts. With Lukins, his deputies,
Frank Wilder, j. E. Siclles and J. II.
Smith, are indicted for the killing of
Joseph Gitterele, Mount Olive miner.
Sixteen Thiel guards are held for
riot.
In the indictments against Gov. Tan
ner, the complaining witnesses are
John Graham, Will Mitchell, William
Wilson, Clarence Ross and Charles
Stewart, employees of the Chicago-Vir-
den Coal Co. They testified that they
were intimidated and prevented from
fo1IovUipor +bai, 1ari+iro n 70 o,oY1 o1-,,,or+
by an armed body of men, num-
boring 1000, who un!awfully and
| felOniOusly were assembled in Virden;
that the governor had been notified by
the sheriff of Macoupin county that no
protection was to be had from the
county and was earnestly importuned
| for state assistance.
Judge Shirley fixed Gov. Tanners
bond at $500.
A. j. Roberts, the foreman of the
grand jury, who was also foreman of
the coroner's jury, is a Virden police
magistrate. He was strongly opposed
to indicting the governor.
In each of the indictments against
Gov. Tanner the omission of duty was
| identical: Failure and refusal to re-
spono to the call of Sheri Fl Davenport,
of this county, for military aid in sup
pressing. the riotous demonstrations of
| Virden coal miners-a riot which Gull
minated on October IL in bloodshed.
| The indictments were in brief as fol-
lows:
| 1. Failure and refusal to send troops
! to aid the sheriff in checking the
actions of a thousand or more men who
were preventing certain persons from
entering on their duties in the service
of the Chicago-Virden Coal Mining Co.
2. Failure and refusal to send troops
on the call of the sheriff to prevent
the same men from doing bodily vio-
lence to the same would-be employees.
3. Failure and refusal to send troops
to aid the sheriff in preventing the
same rioters from conspiring and COM
bining to do injury to the wOuld-be
employees.
The witnesses Endorsed on the back
of Gov. Tanners indictment are: f. w.
Lukins, P. c. Davenport, sheriff; John
Bronaugh, DR.. George, George Vest
lake, Thomas Appleton, the engineer
at the shaft; d. E. Davenport, deputy
sheriff; Jacob f. Elster, the company
storekeeper, who was nearly killed by
the strikers: DIR. Riffey and L. c. Dan
iels, the Chicago and Alton agent at
Virden.
The statutory limitation of the fine
is $1,000
SPRINGFIELD, Ill, Dee. 2.-When Gov.
Tanner was informed Thursday even-
ing of the action of the grand jury at
Carlinville he received the news with
Indifference and manifested no inter-
est in the particulars. He was asked
for an expression in regard to the mat
ter, but declined to talk about it, SIM
ply saying that he did not consider it
worth while to discuss the subject.
Attorney General Akin was asked to
give his opinion regarding the legal
effect of the action, in view of the sup
posed fact that the chief executive of a
state can not be proceeded against in
that way and can not be prosecuted
upon the indictments returned, but he
declined to say anything about the
matter further than he had not previ-
ously heard of the action taken by the
grand jury, and was not aware that any
such action was contemplated.
This is not the first time governor
of Illinois has been indicted. 1t is but
a few years since ex-Gov. Altgeld was
indicted in Champaign county as one
of the trustees of the University of
Illinois, ex-ofiicio, because the so called
flag law" was not observed at the uni
versity, but nothing ever came of the
indictment, which was soon afterward
dismissed.
| Al fiji cted Family.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Dec. 2.-Patrol-