The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-11-08

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Marion. ILL.,. Nov. 8 tBy the A.
sociatsd Pressy .Seventy seven men,
members Of the tinted Mine Workers
Of America, are scheduled to face
Judge d. J. Hartwell in Circuit Court
November g. charged; M 362. indict-
ments, with murder, conspiracy TO
murder. rioting and assault to mur-
der. =. -
The charges are the outgrowth OF
the killing Of 10 non-union men near
Herrin June 20, following the attack
on the Lester strip mine.
Ninety-two Of the indictments
charge murder, SO allege conspiracy
to murder, So dioting, and the remain
ing 81, assault to murder. -
The first case on the docket ac-
cuses 48 of the defendants of the muir
de, of Howard Hoffman of Hunting
ton, Indiana, steam shovel operator.
Judge Hartwell has Indicated that
this case, because of its position on
the docket, will be called to trial first,
although Attorney General Edward j.
Brundage, who directed the wodk of
the grand jury, said he preferred first
to try Otis Clark, the first man indict-
ed. charged with the murder Of C. K.
Mcdowell, the mine superintendent,
and the first mine man killed.
Since the original indictments were
returned the grand jury, at an ad-
iourned session, reindicted the 48 men
ramed jointly for the murder Of Hoff-
man, charging them with the murder
Of Ignace Kubinis, one of the nom
upion men wounded in the mine fight.
R,binis died in the Herrin hospital
after the first session of the grand
JuHy had recessed.
If the attorney general carries out
a threat to dismiss the joint indict-
ment for the murder of Hoffman rath-
er than go to trial with it first, the
next case up will be joint indictment
charging 18 men with the murder of
Antonio Mulkavich.
The Herrin troubles were the result
of an attempt to operate the strip
mine in the heart of strongly union
lied county during the coal strike last
summer.
In its formal report the special
grand jury which investigated the af-
fair declares that the rioting and
murders were the result of a con-
spiracy. This conspiracy, the jury
said, originated among the mine union
officials. Hugh Willis, of Herrin,
member of the state executive board
Of the union, who is under :.ldit tment
for murder and assault to murder,
was said to have guaranteed that "the
union will pay for guns and ammuni-
ton seized in IIsrrin hardware stores
before several hundred armed men
took up the march on the mine.
The grand jury did not return any
indictments in connection with the
fatal shooting of the union men the
afternoon preceding the riot. In its
report the grand jury stated that no
evidence justifying indictments was
offered.
According to a statement made by
allen Findlay, timekeeper at the
rhine, before the coroner's jury, c. X.
Mcdowell, mine superintendent, shot
two union men with high-powered
rifle as they were in the woods mad
the edge of the mine property. Fi.id-
lay told the jury that he saw the men
throw their hands in the air and fall
Immediately after Mcdowell fired.
Col. Samuel H. Hunter of the Illi-
Dols National Guard, testifying be-
fore E. ]. May, arbitrator of the state
industrial commission said that Mr..
Mcdowell, mine superintendent, was
instrumental in starting the trouble
Col. Hunter declared that Mcdowell
telephoned him the afternoon of June
21. the day before the riots, and said,
1--WE killed two or three union men"
Personal investigation developed that
men were shot down by Mcdowell,
Col Hunter testified.
The grand jury report incorporates
g telegram from John l.. Lewis, pres
;dcnt of the United Mine Workers of
America, sent to State Senator Will
liam Sneed, president of the miners
local here, concerning some of the
nnn at the strip mine. They were to
be treated as common strikebreakers,
Mr.. Lewis said, because the steam
shoveler's union to which they belong
ed had been outlawed by the Ameri-
can Federation of Labir.
Following posting of this telegram
in Williamson county, the grand jury
report says, preparations for the at
tack on the mine began.