It was a trial by this court that the murderers dreaded, and to escape which they made a trial by jury the condition of their surrender. When the motion was made to substitute the miners’ court it fell into their midst like a thunderbolt. They regarded a trial by the mass as certain of conviction as a trial by jury would be of acquittal, not because the latter would be any less likely than the former to perceive their guilt, but because fear of personal consequences would prevent them from declaring it. Men whose identity was lost in a crowd would do that which, if they were known, would mark them as victims for future assassination. The friends of the prisoners showed the estimation in which they regarded this consideration when they openly threatened with death every individual who participated in the trial. They anticipated that, as none would dare in defiance of this threat to act upon a jury, all proceedings would be suppressed, thus renewing the license for their continued depredations. The statement of the motion by the chairman was the signal for a violent commotion among the roughs. One long howl of profanity, mingled with the most diabolical threats and repeated discharge of pistols, filled the room. Many shots were turned from their deadly aim by timely hands and discharged into the ceiling. Knives were drawn and flourished in the faces of prominent citizens, accompanied with threats of death in case the motion prevailed. The scene was fearful in the extreme. The miners in different parts of the crowd could be seen getting their guns and pistols ready for the collision which at one stage of the tumult it seemed impossible to avoid. At length the repeated cries of the chairman for order, and the earnest voices of several persons who were desirous of discussing the proposition, allayed the noise and confusion, so that they could be heard. The guilt of the prisoners was so palpable that the people deemed any sort of a trial which would not speedily terminate in their condemnation a farce. A very large majority were in favor of a miners’ court, because they foresaw that any other form of trial afforded opportunity for escape. Three hours were spent in determining the question. Many short, emphatic arguments were made. In the meantime the disturbance made by the roughs waxed and waned to suit the different stages of the discussion. Shots at one moment and shouts at another betrayed their approval or disapproval of the sentiments of the speaker. I had from the first made myself offensive to my own immediate friends and intimates by pertinaciously claiming for the prisoners a trial by jury, and mounting a bench I embraced an early opportunity to give, in a few pointed words addressed to the assembled miners, my views. I reminded them of the constitutional provision which secured to every one accused of crime a trial by jury. It was a law of the land, as applicable on this as on any other occasion. The men were probably