Some Assertions And Denials

IMPORTANT ISSUES

Involved in the Trial of Debs et al. for Contempt.

CASE WILL BE FOUGHT TO THE END.

Going to the Supreme Court if the Government Wins Before Judge Woods--Matters That Are Involved in the Trial and Contentions of the Lawyers for Each Side Briefly Stated--The Notable Case Begins at Chicago.

CHICAGO, Sept. 6.--Of grave moment in the opinion of many will be the final outcome of the proceedings begun before Judge Woods, of the United States court, when President E.V. Debs and his fellow officials of the American Railway Union appeared to answer why they should not be punished for contempt in having violated an injunction issued out of the federal courts. Involved in the issue of the case are the scope and jurisdiction of federal judges in matters of importance in which the courts have recently established a new method of procedure. Its final adjudication will determine how far the federal courts may go in the use of the injunction and power to punish for contempt.
Will Go to the Supreme Court.
To a degree the right of trial by jury in certain criminal cases will be settled by the decision of the court of last resort. As the leaders of organized labor believe, the liberty of the citizen and the federal guarantee that he shall not be deprived of his freedom without due process of law are inextricably involved in the apparently simply question of whether Debs and his associates are guilty of contempt of court. Should Judge Woods decide against the defendants in the case on hearing there is no doubt but it will be carried to the supreme court of the United States and every point in the controversy will be fought to the bitter end by able counsel. Debs, his associates and legal advisers contend that the judicial methods employed during the late labor troubles are illegal and unconstitutional.
Claim of the Defendants.
It is held that for a judge to issue an injunction restraining persons from committing crimes for which the statutes provide penalties, and then, in the event that the offense be committed, to summon the offender before him and send him to jail for contempt of the injunction, is a subversion of the law. As well, they assert, might a court send out an injunction against burglary, and then, the burglary having been committed and the culprit caught, the judge should send him to jail for contempt instead of trying him before a jury for the crime of burglary. 
Purpose of the Inter-State Law.
The adoption of this doctrine would, it is claimed, do away with the jury trials altogether and vest all power in the court. It is further contended that the use of the injunctional methods under the power supposed to be conferred on the courts by the interstate commerce law is a perversion of the statute. The interstate commerce act is not a riot gun act to quell disorderly mobs, but an effort by the government to bring railroad corporations doing interstate commerce within the jurisdiction of the law. To this the government replies that the language of the interstate law covers the case and that is all that is necessary.

SOME ASSERTIONS AND DENIALS.

Government Alleges and A.R.U. Leaders Deny a Conspiracy.
The bill of the government and the railroads asking for an injunction charged that Debs and his associates had formed a conspiracy to obstruct interstate commerce and the United States mail trains. The labor leaders assert that this is untrue; that no such conspiracy existed; that the American Railway Union was an organization entirely within the law and peaceable in its aims and purposes, and that should the practice of injunctions and contempt inaugurated in the federal courts during the late strike be sustained by the supreme court labor organizations would be crushed out of existence by courts.

To these arguments the lawyers for the government will oppose the contention that only by drastic restrictive measures could the mobs be controlled, and that American Railway Union officials having begun the conflict of which lawlessness became an incident should be held responsible. So that the momentous questions of the power of the courts, the rights of the citizen in certain contingencies, the possibility of the continued existence of labor unions, the construction of the interstate commerce law, and the relation of the judiciary to the people are involved in the case now on hearing before Judge Woods.

The Court room was crowded when the case began, and there was quite an array of counsel on each side. Outside the railing sat many of the members of the American Railway Union. Among them were Vice President George W. Howard, Secretary Keliher and L.W. Rodgers, three of the four principal defendants. E.V. Debs was not in court until noon and was looking ill. The proceedings began with the testimony of Manager E.A. Mulford, of the Western Union Telegraph company and the introduction by him telegrams sent or received by American Railway Union officials subsequent to the injunction.

The defense moved for a trial by jury first thing, but the judge overruled the motion of the present. He said: "I don't think this case differs from other contempt cases, and I will for the present overrule your motion. I will hear from you, if you wish, on this point later, but I think I'll hear some of the evidence first." He thought the case easy to settle. "The gist of the question here is whether these respondents in violation of the order of the court, interfered with mail trains and interstate commerce."

A sensation was caused when it was shown that the last clause of the noted "buy a gun" telegram was a message to personal friends, and that it had been left out of the message as filed with the court, and a mild attempt was made to show that the government was not acting in good faith, but Milchrist disclaimed any purpose of garbling the telegram, and Judge Woods said: "Now, I read that telegram in the newspapers and I don't think it amounted to much. The expression is an old one. I heard it years ago in the west. 'Save your money and buy a gun' was a common saying. 'Take care of yourself' is about the meaning of it."

Mulford produced all the telegrams, but there was nothing to show who authorized them. They were all paid for by the American Railway Union on daily bills. All the more important telegrams have already been published. One signed by E.V. Debs was in pencil. It had been sent to W. F. Smith, Grand Junction, Colo., in reply to one from him stating that he knew that officers were ready to serve the injunction on him and asked for instructions. It was dated July 3, and said: "It will take more than injunctions to move trains. We are gaining ground everywhere."

CASE OF THE DEAD ANIMALS.

Debs' Note Asking the Panhandle Yardmen to Remove Them.
Mulford was temporarily excused, and John Brennock, who has the contract with the city to remove dead animals from the streets, was called. Brennock explained his business, and related how the Panhandle railroad was unable to move several cars of dead animals on account of the strike, when witness called on the mayor, who gave him a note to the Panhandle road to the effect that should the Panhandle people move the dead animal cars that they would not be interfered with.

The note sent by Debs was addressed to the Panhandle yardmen and said: "You will please execute the order of Mr. John Brennock with regard to the removal of dead animals. This is issued by order of the board of directors in the interest of public health. E.V. DEBS."

"The Panhandle people paid no attention to this," said the witness, "and after some days I went to the commissioner of public works, who went to the chief of police, and police were sent with me to insist on the cars being moved, and I finally got them out. The tracks were all clear at that time." One of the railway officials told Brennock to get Debs to move them.

The railway officials told witness they had only new men who did not want to take out the cars. Brennock said he did not ask Debs for men to move the cars, but for an order for non-interference.

SWALLOWED UP A TOWN.

Cave-in of a Pennsylvania Mine--Fifty Men Have a Narrow Escape.
LOFTY, Sept. 6.--The little mining town of Scotchvalley, in Lackawanna county near [   ] place, was swallowed up last night in one of the most complete mine cave-ins ever known in this region. The scene of disaster was on the slope of Mount Lookout, the score of houses comprising the hamlet being at the mouth of the shaft of the Mount Lookout colliery. The wildest excitement prevails throughout the region, and details are fragmentary. It is known, however, that the dozen houses on either side of the principal street of the hamlet are completely swallowed up in the gaping hole and nothing can be seen of the other buildings of the town but the roofs, gables and chimneys.

It is impossible to state accurately the number of fatalities, or if there are any. Rescuing parties are now exerting every means to release the occupants of the engulfed dwellings. One of the buried houses has taken fire. The cave-in was caused by the giving way of timber supports in the workings of the colliery. The inhabitants of the hamlet were startled by rumbling and reports like falling rock in the caverns of the mine many hundreds of feet below them. Report was followed by report, and accompanied by other tremors, and the village sank out of sight in the gaping cavity. 

Meanwhile some fifty miners were imprisoned in the colliery. They had been at work in another portion of the mine, and all means of exit had been completely wiped out by the cave-in. James Perrin, one of the oldest of the miners, got the men together, and started to lead them up through a tunnel, which had been used as an air shaft, but which leads to the surface through a series of steep slopes. The rescuing party on the surface had made an attempt to cut a passage through the mass of debris which blocked the main entrance.

Failing in this, some of the more daring of the rescuers came into this passage and came to where the imprisoned miners were struggling upward. The men were carried to the surface, where a great crowd of excited, panic-stricken people were awaiting them. Up to 9 o'clock last night all the persons who could be found have been taken from the ruins, although the full roll of those to be accounted for cannot be prepared at this writing.

AN ARCTIC PARTY GETS BACK.

Cook's Explorers Lose a Vessel, but No Life Is Sacrificed.
NEW YORK, Sept. 6.--The Miranda, bear-Dr. Cook's arctic party, left New York on the afternoon of Saturday, July 7. Her passengers numbered fifty in all. Most of them were scientists and sportsmen, but there were several who went for the benefit simply of the voyage and the pure northern air. The party was confined solely to men. The Miranda was chartered for two months and a half. The plans were, after stops at points in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, to cruise around Newfoundland and cross Davis' strait to the west coast of Greenland, where some of the scientists of the party could disembark and make explorations.

The party has just reached North Sydney, Cape Breton Isle, minus the Miranda, which ran on a rock and later sunk. No one was lost, but the Miranda not being available some of the party traveled 120 north of Sukkertoppen, Greenland, where there were some American vessels fishing. They obtained one of these, the Rigel, and on her safely made their way back to civilization and warm weather. The journey homeward was without incident other than adverse winds, the inconvenience of close quarters and insufficient provisions, only ten days' supplies for forty men having been placed on the Rigel and the addition of the Miranda's crew making ninety-one persons on board this little craft of 107 tons.

A Family in Hard Luck..
HOLLAND, Mich., Sept. 6.--Two months ago James Huntley's 20-year-old daughter Nellie shot and killed herself at the family home on South Market street. Three weeks ago his 22-year-old son married suddenly the girl he had wronged and who bore him a child within a few days. She was Mamie, the 16-year-old daughter of ex-Alderman Jacob Kuite, Sr. A week ago George lost two fingers and half his right hand in a bandsaw at his father's planing mill, and now his wife Mamie has shot herself through the heart, dying instantly.

Base Ball as She Is Proceeding.
CHICAGO, Sept. 6.--Scores made by the League base ball clubs are reported as follows: At New York--Pittsburg 0, New York 4; at Brooklyn--Cleveland 1, Brooklyn 2; at Washington--St. Louis 4, Washington 7; at Boston--Louisville 6, Boston 7; at Baltimore--Chicago 3, Baltimore 12; at Philadelphia--Cincinnati 6, Philadelphia 16.