The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-01
Indicted for Bringing
Armed Men into State.
ATTORNEY PLATT ALSO
At the ZeigIer Mines Machine Guns
Raining Bullets Over the Sur
rounding Country Swept by
Powerful SearchIights Gives
Life Some Color.
(By the Associated Press.) }

ST. Louis, Mo-, Nov. 30.-A special
to the Post-Dispatch from Duquoin,
Ills, says that it became known there
Letter was indicted on three counts on
the charge of bringing armed men
into the State, contrary to recently
passed statutes. No attempt has been
made to serve the capias or to arrest
Letter. because States Attorney Scott,
who will retire tomorrow, wishes to
leave the case over for his success
Sor.
Indictments have also been re-
turned against Attorney Henry r.
Platt, of the Zeigler Mining Company.
The charge is taking armed men
through the State without permission
from the governor. There are three
counts in the indictments.
The punishment for the offence on
which the two men have been indicted
is confinement in the penitentiary for
from one to five years with no fine as
an alternative Union miners and
railroad men in charge of the cars on
which it is alleged imported miners
rode and were guarded by armed men.
were the witnesses before the grand
jury.
Members of the executive board of
the United Mine-Workers say that len
iency was given Letter and that no one
outside of the grand jury room knew
that indictments had been returned
until the Information leaked out to-
day.
Thus far in the zeigler trouble one
man has been killed. That was on
November 16 when a car load of
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. A
few have been waylaid and beaten but
they We're not in Zeigler. They We're
men who had gone to some of the
nearby towns Wwhere liquor is sold.
For these assaults only one arrest has
been made and the prisoner proved an
alibi and was released.
Attorney Platt says the attacks on
Zeigler had grown so bold and ha
become so desperate that Sheriff Stein
found it necessary to call out the mill
tia. All was quiet last night.
n Regular Fortress.
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
wide. 1t is a tight board fence about
fifteen feet high. At each end at
diagonal corners are block houses in
each of which is d 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. 1t only re-
quircs one shot for the men behind
the machine guns to get into action.
They send bullets into the trees five
hundred yards away like hail. Platt
says these shoots from the machine
guns have been answered promptly
But the corwning feature about
the stockade is the use of a powerful
searchIisht placed on top of the water
tank 154 feet above the ground With
the aid of this light perfect view of
the country for a mile around may be
had, thereby affording the man be-
hind 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 time Letter
has borne the expense of deputy
sheriffs employed by Sheriff Stein. as
many as $50. They have been paid
il is said, So per day.