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Authors: Paul M. Angle
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Hoffman, his testimony was of crucial importance. Under Duty’s questioning he related how he had reached Marion on the morning of June 22, hired an automobile, and proceeded to the strip mine, which he left almost immediately for the Herrin cemetery. There he found the six prisoners lying on the road, roped together. One of them, bleeding from a gash in the neck and a bullet hole in the abdomen, begged for water. When Ewing tried to give him a drink a member of the mob, armed with a rifle or shotgun, held him off.
Could he identify the wounded man who had asked for water? He could: he had seen him that afternoon at the Herrin hospital, where he had learned that his name was Howard Hoffman.
Could he identify the man with the gun who threatened him? Pointing a steady finger, and speaking in a clear, firm voice, Ewing answered: “Bert Grace.” No sound came from the crowded courtroom as Grace stared back at his accuser.
Cross-examination, detailed and severe, failed to shake Ewing’s testimony in any material particular.
On Monday morning George Nelson, who lived at MoakeCrossing, identified Otis Clark as one of the two men who led McDowell down the road to his death; another witness pointed him out as the leader who had urged the mob to kill the prisoners and stop the breed. In the afternoon Dr. O. F. Shipman, an eye-ear-nose-and-throat specialist of Herrin, took the stand. Again there was drama, for Shipman was the second—and last—state’s witness to establish a direct connection between the defendants and the death of Hoffman.
The physician said that on the morning of June 22 he had walked from his office toward the cemetery. Near the schoolhouse he met the mob with their prisoners, several of them bleeding and seriously injured. He described the march to the cemetery, the roping of the captives, the shooting when one of them fell.
QUESTION : “Did you see anyone you knew?”
ANSWER : “I saw faces of men whom I afterwards identified as Joe Carnaghi, Percy Hall, Leva Mann and Jim Galligan. I was within twenty or thirty feet of them. All had revolvers.”
QUESTION : “How did you identify Howard Hoffman, around whose neck you say the rope was tied first?”
ANSWER : “I saw him in the Herrin hospital and learned his name there.”
QUESTION : “Did you see who shot Hoffman?”
ANSWER : “I saw two.”
QUESTION : “Who were they?”
ANSWER : “One man whose name I do not know, but who was about five feet eight inches high, weighed about 160 to 170 pounds and had a wart or mole on the right side of his nose, under the eye. He shot every man, borrowing a gun from the crowd to finish up. A boy gave him some cartridges and he reloaded his gun and shot some more. He shot Hoffman in the neck. Hoffman raised up his head and said, ‘Men, men, what are you doing?’ ”
QUESTION : “Who else shot Hoffman?”
ANSWER : “Joe Carnaghi, whom I was close enough to, to touch, pulled an automatic revolver from his pocket and shot a round, then reloaded.”
The next two days were devoted to the testimony of four survivors of the massacre—Robert Officer (Lester’s timekeeper), and William Cairns, Patrick O’Rourke, and Bernard Jones, all guards. They told detailed and explicit stories of the morning of June 22, but only Cairns and Jones could identify any of the defendants as participants in the killings. Cairns placed Otis Clark and Peter Hiller among the mob who took the prisoners from the mine, and accused Hiller of murder at the powerhouse woods. He himself was wounded when he tried to get through the fence. Then, he continued:
“I fell down on my side. I saw one of our men standing by a tree bleeding and yelling. Every time he hollered someone hit him again. Finally I saw a heavyset man walk up to him and say, ‘You big son-of-a-bitch, we can kill you.’ He then fired a shot into the man and the man fell down by the side of the tree.”
QUESTION : “Who was the man that fired that
Could he identify the wounded man who had asked for water? He could: he had seen him that afternoon at the Herrin hospital, where he had learned that his name was Howard Hoffman.
Could he identify the man with the gun who threatened him? Pointing a steady finger, and speaking in a clear, firm voice, Ewing answered: “Bert Grace.” No sound came from the crowded courtroom as Grace stared back at his accuser.
Cross-examination, detailed and severe, failed to shake Ewing’s testimony in any material particular.
On Monday morning George Nelson, who lived at MoakeCrossing, identified Otis Clark as one of the two men who led McDowell down the road to his death; another witness pointed him out as the leader who had urged the mob to kill the prisoners and stop the breed. In the afternoon Dr. O. F. Shipman, an eye-ear-nose-and-throat specialist of Herrin, took the stand. Again there was drama, for Shipman was the second—and last—state’s witness to establish a direct connection between the defendants and the death of Hoffman.
The physician said that on the morning of June 22 he had walked from his office toward the cemetery. Near the schoolhouse he met the mob with their prisoners, several of them bleeding and seriously injured. He described the march to the cemetery, the roping of the captives, the shooting when one of them fell.
QUESTION : “Did you see anyone you knew?”
ANSWER : “I saw faces of men whom I afterwards identified as Joe Carnaghi, Percy Hall, Leva Mann and Jim Galligan. I was within twenty or thirty feet of them. All had revolvers.”
QUESTION : “How did you identify Howard Hoffman, around whose neck you say the rope was tied first?”
ANSWER : “I saw him in the Herrin hospital and learned his name there.”
QUESTION : “Did you see who shot Hoffman?”
ANSWER : “I saw two.”
QUESTION : “Who were they?”
ANSWER : “One man whose name I do not know, but who was about five feet eight inches high, weighed about 160 to 170 pounds and had a wart or mole on the right side of his nose, under the eye. He shot every man, borrowing a gun from the crowd to finish up. A boy gave him some cartridges and he reloaded his gun and shot some more. He shot Hoffman in the neck. Hoffman raised up his head and said, ‘Men, men, what are you doing?’ ”
QUESTION : “Who else shot Hoffman?”
ANSWER : “Joe Carnaghi, whom I was close enough to, to touch, pulled an automatic revolver from his pocket and shot a round, then reloaded.”
The next two days were devoted to the testimony of four survivors of the massacre—Robert Officer (Lester’s timekeeper), and William Cairns, Patrick O’Rourke, and Bernard Jones, all guards. They told detailed and explicit stories of the morning of June 22, but only Cairns and Jones could identify any of the defendants as participants in the killings. Cairns placed Otis Clark and Peter Hiller among the mob who took the prisoners from the mine, and accused Hiller of murder at the powerhouse woods. He himself was wounded when he tried to get through the fence. Then, he continued:
“I fell down on my side. I saw one of our men standing by a tree bleeding and yelling. Every time he hollered someone hit him again. Finally I saw a heavyset man walk up to him and say, ‘You big son-of-a-bitch, we can kill you.’ He then fired a shot into the man and the man fell down by the side of the tree.”
QUESTION : “Who was the man that fired that
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