The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-04


jury, but the court would not allow it,
saying IL was not cross-examination
Later the defense asked the witness IL
he had not been engaged in or known
of sundry cases of violence at the strk-
ers as the aggressors on the day of the
strike. This the witness denied. Each
case was cited with the name of the
man assaulted, the place and the cir
cumstances, but the witness had not
heard of anv of them.
The second witness was John Mahala,
a rather important parsonage, who was
at the time Of the strike the president
of the Harwood local union of the
United Mine Workers of America. On
the night before the shooting he called
a meeting at Harwood, he said, and
told those present that the men work
ing at Jatimer had asked If the Har-
wood men would march over the next
day and if they did so, the Latimer
men would join them. The meeting
agreed to march over, whereupon Ma
hala read to them the instructions of
the United Mine Workers union to men
on strike, cautioning them to attempt
no violence, to destroy no property,
make no threats, to carry no weapons
and to behave themselves like peace
able, law-abiding citizens. The next
morning, with Mahala at their head,
some two hundred and fifty men
marched out of Harwood for Latimer
They carried no weapons and were well
behaved. At Cranberry they were
Joined by other strikers and reached
West Hazleton some four hundred
strong. Here they were stopped by the
sheriff and his deputies, and Mahala
continued his story by saying: THE
sheriff told us to disperse and go home.
l said We had a right to march, that
we were unarmed and peaceable and
were breaking no law, and that we
wanted to see our friends in Latimer.
Then one of the deputies grabbed the
American flag / carried and tore 1t in
half. The sheriff pointed his revolver
at us and threatened to shoot. The
deputies pushed us around with the
muzzles 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.
BURGESS JONES DEMONSTRATED.
Then Burgess Jones, of West Halle
ton, demonstrated with the sheriff, say
ing that he could keep the peace with
out using any weapons, that he had
confidence 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 Latimer"
The witness said that after leaving
! West Hazleton he Went to the rear and
was in the rear of the crowd when the
| shooting commenced. He did not see
| any of ii but as soon as he heard the
shots he ran up to try and stop it. BY
the time he reached the front the shoot
! ing had ended. He saw ten dead men
| and a number of wounded lying in the
road. The witness was cross examined
very closely but only substantiated his
story especially about the men being
unarmed, orderly and peaceably in
| clined.
Rev. Father Richard Aust, pastor of
| st. Stanislaus Polish Catholic church
at Hazleton, who is chairman of the
| prosecuting COMMITTEES, was called to
prove that many of the strikers were
shot in the back. He said he had ex-
aminei a number of the dead, hut
could not tell in detail what their
wounds were. He hal buried thirteen
OF the dead and looked after number
of the wounded.
Rev. Carl Hauser,pastor of the Luth-
eran church at Freeland, and who
numbered among his congregation sew
eral of the dead and wounded, said
that he had examined several and
found all of them were shot in the
side Or the back. He gave an inter.
esting bit of testimony. II boarded a
car" he said, (which brought ten OF
] the dead and lot of the wounded from
the scene of the shooting. There was
a pile of rifles in corner. l said tc
one of the deputies, Frank Clark,
am afraid of some of them falling anG
exploding. You need not be afraid,
he replied, they are all empty now"
AN AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER.
Harry Dryfoos, an amateur photo.
grapher, who had taken several pic.
lures of the scene of the shooting, tes
titled to so doing and the photographs
were given to the jury for their exam.
ination. Then came one OF the most
important witnesses for the common
wealth, Charles Guscott, who is prin
cipal Of the Latimer school, a frame
building about six hundred yards from
the scene of the shooting and in full
view or all that took place on tn
eventful tenth of September at Lati
mer. Guscott said he was teachinl
school when he heard an unusual nois1
and going to the window he founC
that a number of men, some eight,
were alishting from an electric car
They We're the deputies Miss Coyle
mis- assistant, also watched them anC
while their attention was thus riveteC
the pupils rushed for the door and go
outside He saw the deputies line vi
across the road and then not satisfied
with the position they moved over t.
the side of the road and formed there
with rifles ready. The strikers were 10y
this time coming over the brow of {
hill some two or three hundred yard,
away. They were marching some flv,
and six abreast and were quiet and or
derly. Witness could not see that they
carried any weapons. They approach
ed slowly and as they drew near tn,
sheriff advanced to meet them. As h,
reached the first man a dozen OF $,
formed a sort of half circle around him
He did net hear the sheriff say any
thing nor did he see him read an,
paper. A minute after the line frs
stopped those behind pushed ahead I,