Denver labor bulletin., 1915-03-20
|zANCANNELLI IS
ON TRIAL FOR LIFE
Judge Hlllyer, Former Attor-
ney for Operators, Presides
ffesscutiea Depends Upsn ALLEGED Co.
fessisn Secured By Third Deffse Ter
tures While Held Incomnunicade


Wet l20 union officials and former coal
strikers in the courts of Las Animous
county, An answer rests in the outcome
of the first trial opened at Trinidad this
week II is considered the most import
ant criminal case in the history Of Las
Auimas county. Louis Zancannelli, an
Italian, is being tried on the charge Of
killing Detective George Beicher, captain
Of the Baldwin-Felts gang Of gunner,
imported from West Virginia by the coal
operators at the outset of the southern
coal strike.
Judge CRANKY Hiilyer, former attorney
for the coal operators and appointed
when n new judicial district was created
by the present legislature at request of
the c. +. & l. officials, is the presiding
Judge He denied the petition of Horace
\. Hawkins. attorney for the Mine
Workers Union. for the calling in of an
unpreiudiced judge to try the cases.
Zancannelli's case i called first because
the prosecution considers the evidence
against him strongest. and upon the ont
come OF this trial largely depends che
fate Of no others under indictment in
that county.
Depend on Alleged Confession
I; t. charged that Louis Zaneannelli
shot and killed Belcher on the main
street of Trinidad on the evening Of Nov.
20. 1918.
an alleged confession made by Zancan-
nelli in the city jail while military
prisoner, incommlnicado. Zareannelli Is
alleged 10 have declared in this confess
sion that he had been hired to commit
the crime by union leaders, among them
A. H. Mctsary, an International organizer
Of the United Mine Workers of America
In this alleged confession also. Zanean-
neiIi implicated in the plot man Dr.
s<ril.es1s ~. ~ ou>.ey~d mean uho i <11l
at large
Zancannelli. who was put through all
the fortunes known to third degree meth
cds while being held incommunicado by
officers of the state militia. is alleged
by the prosecution to have said that he
had been promised $1,000 il he would
kill Bclcher and other baldwin Felts de-
tectises who were active in the strike
at that time: that he had been paid the
sum of <25. and that the rest was to be
Forthcoming after the deed had been
committed.
Miltiamen Make Arrest.
BcIcher was shot down ms he stepped
ont OF drug store at O'Clock in the
evening Zancannelli was captured with
in few feet of the place where the
shooting took place by officers Of the
state militia, who were stationed across
the street at lhe Columbia hotel.
1t is upon this alleged confession that
the state expects TO prove its case OF
first degree murder against the miner
The defense will attempt to show that
the confession was extracted from Zan-
cannclli by third degree tactics employed
by the military authorities. and that he
made the confession in order to spare
himself the agonirs of an ordeal which
he claimed he passed through prior 10
the time he signed his name TO the al
legged confession.
II is anticipated that several days will
bc tssscn up in selecting jury. Special
venires OF 100 men were ordered to ap-
pear in court this Monday. and it is cx.
pccted that the attorneys for the state.
District Attorney J. j. Hendrick and
Special Prosecutor Jesse G.. Northcutt,
will exhaust great many percmptory
challenges before the jury is finally Sc
lccted
Some predict il twill be impossible to
impanel a jury in Las Animas county to
try this OF any other case growing out
OF the strike