Denver labor bulletin., 1915-05-22
ROBERT UHLICH ON
TRIAL FOR MURDER
President Miners Union Pass
ing Through Usual Farce
Elisors Appointed By Judge Selects
Open Venire Jury; Demand Human
Treatment for Prisoners in Jail

Robert Uhlich, president of Trinidad
Miners Union, was placed on trial in the
district court of that city this week,
with Judge CRANKY c. Hillyer presiding.
He is the same judge who presided over
the Lawson and Zancannelli trials. A
panel of fifty veniremen selected by two
elisors appointed by the Judge We're
brought into court Tuesday morning and
the task OF choosing jury for the case
began. which is a mere matter of form,
for the verdict is decided upon before the
trial begins.
Uhlich il specifically charged with
numbering" Mack Powell. mine guard,
at Ludlow, October Q, 1913
When the May term OF the Trinidad
district court opened Monday three main
defendants, strikers, selected by the As
sistant State Attorney Frank C. West,
were jointly accused in three alleged
murder cases incident to the strike will
be tried in the following order:
Robert Uhlich, May IL.
William Snyder. May 27.
Patricio Anaya, June I.
Want Cases Tried in Order.
Before the cases were set Attorney H.
N Hawkins. representing over hun
county jail or out on bond, stated that
he wished to be heard
This morning" he said, "the cases on
this docket Were called and set except
for the 80 odd cases in which myself and
associate counsel appear, and in which
Assistant Attorney General West ap-
pears for the people.
Now | feel that these cases should be
taken in order as they appear on the
docket and set or dismissed
1t then appeared that the order in
the docket book might have been made
arbitrarily by the clerk. Hawkins then
said;
In any event there are a number OF
men lying in an unsanitary jail and they
have been there for many months. We
ask that their cases be set for trial be-
fore those OF the men out under bond.
In the case OF Alec Lowe here. we
submit that the 5000 bond asked by
the state attorney is excessive
Over s4oo,ooo in Bonds.
1t was then shown that Lowe. whose
wife had testified for the defense in the
Lawson trial, had been working in the
mine at Ramey as a machine runner
since last December; that he had two.
children. His bond was fixed at $1,000.
over Stoo,VVo III DOnd- nave been put
up in these cases." said Hawkins, and
there are still - of these men in Jail
by the process of severing and try
ing one defendent out of IL. with some
fifty cases on the docket, with ten days
necessary to a case. it would take some
ten wears to try these men in Jail and
we submit that their bonds should he
reduced to reasonable amounts.
Court Asks for Information.
ut is one thing to keep a man under
high bond when there is some cxpccta-
tion of bringing him to trial and quite
another thing where there is little or no
probability OF trial"
The court then asked TO be furnished
with detailed information concerning the
names OF the men in jail, how long they
had been there, the charges against them
and like matters.
y. J.. Davis OF Ag,iilar. who had been
III Jail . months under several murder
charges and couple OF larceny acusa-
tions. was able to secure 10000 in
bonds and was released.