“I heard early this morning that the strikers were going to march to the breaker at Lattimer and compel the men there to quit work.  I resolved to intercept them, and, if possible, prevent them from reaching the breaker.  One of my deputies told me that the strikers would probably be heavily armed.  I got my deputies, seventy in number, to meet a certain place.  They were all armed.  I told them to keep cool under all circumstances.  The trouble began at 3 o’clock.  I met the marching column.  I halted the miners and read the proclamation.  They refused to pay attention to me, and started to resume their march.  Then I called on the leader to stop.  He ignored my order.  I then attempted to arrest him.  The strikers closed in on me.  The acted very viciously, kicking me, knocking me down, and trampling upon me.  I called upon my deputies to aid me and they did so, but were unable to accomplish much.  I realized that something had to be done at once, or I would be killed.  Then I called the deputies to discharge their firearms into the air over the heads of the strikers, as it might probably frighten them.  This was done at once, but it had no effect whatever on the infuriated foreigners, who used me still rougher and became fiercer and fiercer, like wild beasts rather than human beings.  The strikers then made a still bolder move and endeavored to surround my eathe force of deputies.  I fully realized that the foreigners were a desperate lot and valued life at a small figure.  I also saw that parleying with such a gang of infuriated men was entirely out of the question, as they were too excited to listen to reason, and that I and my deputies would be killed if we were not rescued, or if we did not defend ourselves.  I then called upon the deputies to defend themselves and shoot, if they must to protect their lives or to protect the property that they had been sent to guard.  The next second there were a few scattered shots fired, and a moment later the entire force of deputies discharged a solid volley into the crowd.  I hated to give the command to shoot, and was sorry that I was compelled to do so.  But I was there to do my duty, and I did it as best I knew how.  The strikers were violating the laws of the Commonwealth, and flatly refused to obey the proclamation that I read to them.  They insisted on doing violence and disobeying the law.  The scene after the shooting was simply terrible, and I would have willingly not had it occur, but as a public official, I was there to see that the law was obeyed, and merely did my duty.  Some of the foreigners fell over dead and others badly wounded; some were rushing about hither and thither, seeking a place where they could be shielded from any more shots; others were aiding their wounded companions to places of safety, while here and there could be seen men turning away from some one who was badly injured or else dead.  The entire crowd of foreigners, as soon as the volley had been fired by my deputies, turned and started to retreat.  They rushed off in all directions as fast as they could run, taking as many of their dead and wounded with them as they were able to carry during their hurried retreat.  The excitement at the time was awful, and I would not care to go through another ordeal of the kind for a fortune.”

- Sheriff James Martin, report to The Sun on September 11, 1897, given before speaking to his lawyer (in all future accounts he would deny that he gave the order to fire)

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