The Nome nugget., 1901-10-25
ln fhe Case of United States
 Against Griffin.
CHARGED WITH RIOT
One of the Men Who Engaged In the Glacier Creek Demonstration on the rlOrning of August IS Tells Why It Was Made.

The jury in the case of the United States vs. J. w. Griffin, charged .with riot, after being out b hours, failed to agree and were discharged. As stated in the last issue of the NUGGET, the case was stubbornly contested. At ! o'clock. Tuesday evening the case was given to the jury. At 10 o'clock We'd nesday morning they came into court and stated that they could not agree. The jury stood six for conviction and ,six for acquittal, although the first ballot is said to have stood seven to five for acguittal.'
 There is an inside history to this Glacier creek "riOt" business that has never been told generally, although it is we'll known to many people. A we'll Known business man, who is now on the outside, and who participated in the '"riot" on the morning of August l5, is quoted as saying: ''I was there myself. not to break the law, but to see that the rights of men and tprcperty were not trampled beneath the feet of lawless men. It is well-known fact that, when Judge Moves, on August F, left for the States, he left judiciary matters in mixed condition. It is . fact we'll knswn that Judge Moves deep sea orders still further com plicated matters, that were already in 8 bad way. The Glacier creek benches were~ shere of -sontertions asa is>was known, too, that band of land pirates gore robbing valuable gold-bearing land in defiance of law and the rights of the men who owned-it.
 fIt wasthen that meeting was held in Nome to devise ways and means of protecting the ground in controversy from being footed. A plan was agreed upon and q time set. l was strongly in favor of going to Glacier creek. un- masked, but I and some others were oyerruled,the majority thinking that it would be better. to mask ourselves. l still think it~Was4 a. mistake. Had we gone unmasked all of as could have been identified perhaps; all of us at least could have Surrendered when proceedings were instituted against. us. lam not sorry for the part took; the only regrettable thing in the whole occurrence being the shooting eff the m&n Corners iu the leg.
 "Under the strict interpretation Of the law, there might have been an un- lawful assemblage on Glacier creek on the morning of August b, as has been charged, but claim that this unlawful ,assemblage's' object was not to dis regard the law, but to see that right triumphed and that the rights of men were respected. In the early days on the Yukon, in the absence of legally constituted courts, miners meetings were the only tribunals, and their de- crees and edicts were enforced by the msn.who composed the tribunals. In Nome, on August 15 last. we had been left without court, and the action of that court, inissuing conflicting orders, had created chaos; , therefore, the miners acted for themselves, and I am glad they did"
 It is further averred that nens of the principals in the ''riot" were indicted by the grand jury: in fact, it is even stated. .thafsrot one of those who have been indicted took any part in the pro ceedings.
 The case against Mir. Griffin has been postponed until next spring, upon the showing made by MT. Griffin that material witnesses are absent from the district.