Evening star., 1922-12-22
JUDGE DENIES PLEA
T0END MINE CASE
Petition for 'N0t.GuiIty"
Verdict Turned Down at
Herrin Trial.
DEFENSE TO OFFER ALlBI
Lawyers Summon Many Witnesses
to Deny Allegations in
Murder Charge.
DEFENSE TO OFFER ALlBI
Il, the Associated Press.


MARION, ILL.,, December Emotions
hled by the defense asking that the
court direct a verdict Of mot guilty
were denied today at the trial Of five
men on charges of murder in connec-
ton with the Herrin riots.
The motions of the defense. twenty
in number, specifically named twenty
three of the states witnesses and
asked that all of their evidence be
stricken from the record.
Judge D. T. Hartwell, after sover-
ruling the motions, instructed the
Jury that a conversation with Bert
Grace. related by D. j. NJ. Balance,
in which the witness had quoted Grace
as having boasted that he had pre-
vented one of the men shot down at
the Herrin cemetery from getting a
drink, was admitted only as it applied
to Grace.
The court also ruled that testimony
in which Mrs. Otis Clark, wife of a
defendant. was identified by a wit
ness as having been seen in the
crowd shortly before c. K. Mcdowell.
superintendent of the mine. was
slain. should be considered only in re
lation to the defendants other than
Clark. as a wife's testimony could
not be used against her husband.
State Rests Case.
The defense was ready today to be-
gin Introducing testimony which, it
was announced. would be designed to
prove an alibi for each of the accused
men. The several hundred witnesses
summoned were in court, but it was
problematical as to- how many of
these would be called to the witness
stand before court adjourns tomorrow
evening over the holidays.
The state rested it's case yesterday
afternoon, and adjournment was
taken to permit the defense to gather
its witnesses.
A w. Kerr. of counsel for the de-
fense in a statement yesterday
afternoon said he would seek to prove
that the accused men could have had
no part in the killings. He asserted
that the defense would seek to i'm
peach testimony given by several
states witnesses that they had seen
the defendants with guns the day of
the rioting or had seen them shooting
at some of the victims.
Under the Illinois law there are no
degrees of murder and the jury will
be compelled to return a separate
verdict for each of the defendants
and also. If it finds them guilty, to
fix the penalty, ranging from one
years Imprisonment to death.
The holiday recess will be until
January 2.
After eight days spent in the in
PRODUCTION of evidence. the prosecu-
tion rested yesterday at the trial of
five men charged with murder in con-
nection with the Staying of twenty
non-union miners during the Herrin
riots last June.
Survivors on Stand.
In the testimony of its last few wit
nesses the state completed its rela-
tion Of tho events from the time three
in truck from Carbondale ) the Les
ter mine on the morning Of June 81, to
the attack on the mine that afternoon,
when three union miners were killed, the
surrender under white flag the next
morning of forty-eight men in the pit
and the Staying Of twenty Of the pris-
oners.
All five defendants have been pointed
out in court as having been seen with
guns during the riots, and several Of
down some Of the victims. During the
course Of the presentation of the states
case, four Of the survivors of the trage-
dy have taken the stand and described
the scenes of horror which they said
accompanied the killings.
The cross examinations by the de-
fense have been brief and apparently
designed to bear out its contention
that the non-union men In the mine
and their employees had melted the
riots for the purpose of having state
troops called out to protect the pits;
that the guards in the mine were
armed, and they disregarded warn
ings that the operation of the mine
would result in outbreaks.
In their GROSS examination. at
torney's for the defense repeatedly
referred to the non union workers
in the mine and the guards as
"scabs." "gunmen." private detec-
tives' and spies"
Guards Ridiculed.
A. W. Kerr. chief counsel for the
defense. said he expected to prove
that the guard or gunmen" were
the aggressors in the riots and
brought on any attack that was
made upon them by their acts of
provocation and challenge.
testimony of Donald M. Ewing. Chi
that the defense would prove that
the incident he related of the refusal
to give water to the men shot at the
Herrin cemetery never took place.
that Bert Grace, a defendant, had no
Connection with 1t, and that while Mr.
Ewing testified that he reached the
cemetery at 1880 o'clock. evidence
would be introduced to show that the
bodies Of the men had been removed
almost. an hour previous to that time.
Mr.. Kerr also stated that the testi-
mony Of DIR. Shipman. who testified
as an eyewitness Of the death march
from Herrin to the cemetery, would
ha fmpeached and evidence introduced