The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-02
SITUATION AT ZEIGLER.
What Effect the Presence OF Militia
men Will Have IL Not known-In-
dictments Against Joseph Letter and
Attorney Platt.

St Louis. November 3o.-A special
TO the Post-Dispatch from Duquoin.
H., says that IL became known there
today that three weeks ago. Joseph
Letter was indicted on three counts
on the charge o. bringing armed men
into the state, contrary to recently
passed statutes. No attempt has been
made TO serve the capias or TO ar
rest Letter, because States Attorney
Scott, who will retire tomorrow, wish
es to leave the case over for his sue
cessor
Indictments have been returned
| against Attorney Henry r. Platt, of
the Zeigler Mining Company. The
charge is taking armed men through
the state without permission from the
gogvernment. There are three counts
in the indictments.
The punishment for the ofrense ON
which the two men have been>indict-
ed is confinement in the penitentiary
Tor from to years with no fine as
an alternative. Union miners and
railroad men in charge OF the cars
on which Il is alleged imported miners
rode and were guarded by armed men.
were the witnesses before the grand
fury.
Members Of the executive board of
the United Mine Workers say that
leniency was given Letter and Platt
and that no one outside OF the grand
jury room knew that indictments had
been returned until the information
leaked out today.
Thus far in the Zeigler trouble one
man has been killed. That was on
November 10th. when a car load or
miners were being imported and the
car was fired on from ambush. one
Austrian being fatally shot.
There are no records of any other
person even having been injured. 4
few have been waylaid and beaten but
they were not in Zeigler They were
men who had gone to some of the
nearby towns where liquor is sold
For these assaults only one arrest has
been made and the prisoner proved
an alih and was released.
Attorney Plat says the attacks IN
Zeigler had grown so bold and had
become so desperate that Sheriff Stein
found it necessary to call out the mil
tia All was quiet last night.
Just what effect the presence of the
militiamen will have upon the strike
at the Zeigler coal mines remains to
be seen. At Zeigler the stockade Is
about 500 feet long and four hundred
feet wide. 1t Is a tight board fence
about fifteen feet high. At cash end
at liagonal corners are block houses
in each of which is a machine gun.
As soon as the darkness approaches
these guns are placed IN readiness
for an attack. They are used too,
Attorney Platt says, every night.
There is probably no denying the
fact that some shots are fired into the
stockade from ambush. It only re-
quires one shot for the men behind
the machine guns to get In action.
They send bullets into the trees five
hundred yards away like hail. Plat
says these shots from the machine
guns have been answered promptly.
But the crowning feature is the
search light placed on top of the
water tank 154 feet above the ground.
With the aid of this light a perfect
view of the country for a mile around
may be had, thereby affording the
men behind the machine guns a good
aim should the light uncover any OF
the enemy
The strike has been IN progress for
nearly five months. having been de-
clared on July 10. Since that time
Letter has borne the expense OF Dep
uty Sheriffs employed by Sheriff Stein
as many as $50. They have been paid,
il is said, SO per day.