Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-05-11

Be Done to Both Sides-lnterest in
the Case is Worldwide.
Boise, Ida.-By overruling the mo-
ton of the defence for a bill Of par
ticulars setting forth what overt acts,
If any, there were to connect the ac-
cused with the murder of EX-Goy.
Steunenberg, Judge Fremont Wood of
the district court of Ada county has
cleared the way for the trial Of Will
liam D. Haywood, secretary of the
western federation of miners.
Judge Wood held that the request of
Haywood's counsel for more explicit
statement of the charges against the
prisoners came too late, regardless of
whether it might have been entertain
ed at an earlier stage of the proceed
ings.
In cases where bills of particulars
are allowable, Judge Wood, who is to
preside over the trials of the accused
miners, declared the motions must be
made before the indictments are
pleaded to and before the cases are set
for trial.
Haywood is the first of four men ac.
cused of completely in the Steunenberg
murder to be tried. The others, Moy-
er, Pettibone and Orchard, the last of
whom is said to have made a confess
sion, will be tried as circumstances
dictate, following the conclusion Of
the proceedings against Haywood.
The prisoner, his counsel, and the
attorney retained to present the case
and plead the cause of the accusing
state, are ready for the long ordeal in
court.
The first, and one of the great tasks
of the court, is to procure a jury, and
that will be commenced Thursday
morning, as soon as Sheriff Hodgin
has iutoned the formal cry opening
the court. Estimates of the time nee
essary to select II men good and true
vary, but few place the time under
three weeks.
The victim of the Caldwell assassin
alton, long a conspicuous figure in the
political life of the state, was person
ally known to hundreds of citizens of
Ada county, and personal alignment
and partisanship on the labor ques-
ton, in which the prisoner and his
co-defendants were for long time aC-
tive leaders, is general, so that it is
at once a difficult task to find men
free from the disqualifications that
unfit them for the high duty of a juror.
Many men who knew the commun-
ity we'll and who add to their calcula-
ton the further handicap of appre-
hension of future violence for revenge,
take the extreme view that it will be
impossible to get a jury, but the
weight of opinion is against this eX
treme conclusion.
There is yet no indication of the
scope of the case which the state will
seek to prove against Haywood. 1t is
naturally assumed, however, that at
torneys Hawley and BOrah will seek
to make the showing as to the alleged
conspiracy as broad as possible, with
out endangering it upon appeal, as
suming that there is a conviction.
Discussing this phase of the case, one
of the counsel for the prisoners said:
1.-The broader the scope of the case
offered by the state, the better we
shall be satisfied"
The residents of Boise seem salts
fed that equal justice will be done,
and they are content to let the matter
be threshed out in a court of law.
This city is far removed from the
mining country, railroad communica-
tion with the mining district being
circuitous and in some instances all
but unavailable.
Ada county, in which Boise is situ-
ated, is a county of large agricultural
interests. Irrigation has made the
land wonderfully fertile, and farming
is the great industry. Labor unions
are practically unknown to the farm
ers. 1t is from among these farmers
that the jury may be selected.
There is nothing on the surface at
present to indicate any feeling in the
county either for or against the pris-
oners. The day has been one of per-
feet summer conditions, the sun at
monday having a touch of July
warmth in its rays.
While the authorities of the county
and the state have undoubtedly laid
careful plans to meet any emergency
which may arise, they do not propose
to act until they have to.
The streets are patrolled only by
by the regular platoon of the city po-
lice force. The people are occupied
by their business and social pleasures.
and there is nothing to indicate that
the trial, which has created such wide
spread interest throughout the world
is about to begin in this city.