Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-02-04
MINERS SIDE
BEGINS AGAIN
Rebuttal Testimony Being
Heard by Arbitrators.
Squire McKeIvy Takes Up
a Lot Of Time and Fails
to Satisfy the Commission.
e. j. Curry on the Stand.

e. j. Curry on the Stand.
Yesterday was the fifty-seventb day
to its work. A number of, witnesses
were heard in rebuttal, but according to
this mornings Philadelphia Record
when, where, how and by whom old man
how much Martin Murphy earned in an
Olyphant mine, are two deep, dark mys-
teries that the commission will never
solve, whatever else it may accomplish.
pages Of the testimony before the com
mission, but no two stories agree in any
of the essential particulars.
Daniel f. McKelvy, a Halle township
justice of the peace, was one of the
witnesses called yesterday. He was
charged with rioting, assault and sew
eral similar offeBses during the strike,
all OF which charges were afterward ig-
nored by the grand jury. That he took
an active part In the strike was a fea
ture OF his testimony, in the course of
which he showed how much he had
done for their cause from the beginning
to the end Of their struggle. He told of
his night watches on the hills round
about Hazeton; his councils with the
strikers; his warnings and his speeches
| He denied that he had ever neglected
his duty as justice of the peace. He
then undertook to describe the assault
upon Scheidt, but did nothing to un-
tangle the mystery.
In the course of bis testimony Squire
McKelvy described the assembling of
| the great mobs that form, as il out of
the ground, in all parts Of the coal field
| He had proceeded very well with this
recital when it dawned upon him that
this subject had not been touched upon
before, and he suddenly stopped. Pressed
by Judge Gray to continue his narrative,
| Squire McKelvy evaded all direct ques-
tions, muddled the matter with mean
ingless diagrams. and finally Judge
Gray dismissed him from the stand
AS many as 1000 men have been form
ed in procession in less time than it
would ordinarily take regiment of
trained soldiers to break ranks and
form company front" Where the men
came from, how they reached the scene
aud who directed their movements are
matters that none of the soldiers in the
| field at the time were ever able to ex-
plain, even to their own satisfaction.
McKelvy was doing real well with his
explanations when he stopped short
Martin Murphy, two score lawyers,
Daniel j. Mccarthy and dozen experts
endeavored to untange the tangle that
twisted Martin Murphy so that he was
in the year 1901, when, in his own soul,
as he said himself, he knew that he
earned only S574 1917, or thereabouts.
James FL. Torrey produced bale of
books "touchin' upon and appertainin
to" the earnings of Murphy, which he
admitted did not set Martin straight or
put the company in true light, but
which met the requirements of the com
mission experts on the one side and the
miners experts on the other side, yet
failed TO satisfy Martin Murphy.
Martin appeared on the scene with
grmy sheet of paper, which proved
beyond all doubt that Martin Murphy
and Michael Reddy earned a total of
81, ,92S5 81 and that two laborers were
paid a total of S7sO.24 out of this, leav-
ing $574 1871 for Murphy aud the same
amount for Reddy. The experts, how
ever, would have none of this 'fgger-
ing" and the commission was compelled
to shelve the proposition along with the
Scheidt mystery.
The next witness in Importance at
Yesterdays session was E. j. Curry, of
South Centre street, who produced the
figures at which Freeland merchants
sold their goods in 1901 also the figures
charged at Markle & Co.'S store for the
same class of goods at the same time.
Mr.. Curry's figures averaged 124 per
cent less than those of he Jeddo firm.
Asked what he knew about mine
workers being compelled to deal at COM
pany stores, the witness said 81 saw a
letter from Mr. Walk, who runs the
Marke store, to one OF my customers
requesting him to deal where he worked
or work where he dealt"