State v. Mizis

• Decision Date: 12 June 1906
• Citation: 48 Or. 165,85 P. 611
• Parties: STATE v. MIZIS.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

85 P. 611

48 Or. 165

STATE v. MIZIS.

Supreme Court of Oregon

June 12, 1906

Appeal from Circuit Court, Douglas County; L.T. Harris, Judge.

Anton Mizis was convicted of riot, and he appeals. Affirmed.

The defendants, together with James Pilantes and Anton Mizis and three others, whose names were to the grand jury unknown were indicted for riot. They were all Greek laborers, engaged with some 75 or 80 of their countrymen in repairing the track of the Southern Pacific Company at or near Glenbrook, a station about 30 miles south of Roseburg. They were under the charge of foremen and lived in "outfit cars," which, for about a week prior to the commission of the alleged crime, had been standing on the siding at Glenbrook. About 10 o'clock on the night of October 10, 1905, an extra freight train "headed in" on the siding to clear the main track for the north-bound passenger train then about due. It coupled onto the outfit car nearest the switch and pushed it and those connected with it down against the other cars with such force and violence as to cause considerable damage to the furniture and belongings of the occupants. This so enraged the Greeks that a large number of them rushed out of the cars, ran down the track toward the freight train armed with guns, pistols, and other firearms and began a general fusillade at and in the direction of the freight train and its crew. The fire was returned by one of the brakemen, who secured a gun from a house nearby, and some shots were fired by the foreman. There were fired in all from 75 to 100 shots. During the difficulty the wife of the foreman was killed and one of the Greek laborers injured. The passenger train arrived a short time after the difficulty commenced, when it ceased, and the Greeks returned to their cars. The freight train then backed down to the nearest station and the county officers at Roseburg were notified of the trouble, and the sheriff sent a posse in charge of a deputy to the scene of the difficulty, who arrested and brought all the Greeks to Roseburg, where they were confined in a warehouse guarded by the state militia who had been ordered out by the county judge at the request of the sheriff.

The circuit court, with a grand jury, was in session, and the grand jury, after an investigation of the matter, returned an indictment on the 19th against the defendants for riot charging, among other things, that being armed with dangerous weapons, namely shotguns, pistols, and rifles, they made a felonious assault with such weapons on Jesse L. Woodson and Jesse McCulloch, the engineer and fireman of the freight train, by shooting at them. The defendants were arraigned and given until the next morning at 8:30 o'clock to plead. At that time they appeared by counsel, entered a plea of not guilty, and moved for a change of venue, on the ground that they could not expect a fair and impartial trial in the county. This motion was supported by and based upon the joint affidavit of the defendants and the affidavits of Mr. Voicly the deputy consul for Greece, residing in San Francisco Andrew Papageogopulos, and John Marandas, two Greeks residing in Portland; the latter being a labor agent of the Southern Pacific and Oregon Railroad & Navigation Companies.

The affidavit of the defendants states that they are natives of Greece employed by the Southern Pacific Company and had been so employed for a long time; that there is a strong prejudice among the people of the county against them and their fellow countrymen being so employed, and that such feeling was greatly intensified by the trouble at Glenbrook, that immediately after such trouble they, in company with other of their fellow workmen, were arrested and brought to Roseburg, where they had since been confined and held in custody under guard of the militia; that a large number of persons were in attendance upon the circuit court at the time they were taken to Roseburg, and that the matter of the alleged riot had been discussed by every one in the city, and reports thereof, garbled and in the main untrue, had been carried all over the county by persons in attendance upon the court and by the daily and weekly newspapers of the county and of the city of Portland; that by such means the alleged riot had been given great publicity throughout the entire county to the prejudice of the defendants; that members of the regular panel of jurors had been in Roseburg since the difficulty and had, as affiants believed, conversed with the witnesses for the state and other persons pretending to know the facts in relation thereto, and had freely expressed opinions concerning the same prejudicial to affiants; that, on account of such reports and of the publicity given the matter, there is great prejudice in the county against the affiants; and that they could not obtain a fair and impartial trial therein. Mr. Voicly says in his affidavit that he came to Roseburg in response to a telegram advising him that 84 Greeks in the employ of the Southern Pacific Company were under arrest; that upon his arrival he found them confined in a warehouse guarded by the militia; that he made diligent inquiry among the prisoners and citizens of the county and ascertained that there is a strong prejudice against the defendants, on account of which it would be impossible for them safely to go to trial; and that he did not belive a fair and impartial trial could be had in the county. Papageogopulous states that he came to Roseburg on the 11th of October after the difficulty at Glenbrook; that when he first came he secured a room at a hotel, but when it was discovered that he was a Greek he was compelled to vacate and was unable to obtain another until aided by the sheriff; that during his stay in Roseburg he had found a prejudice among the people against the Greeks so intense that in his opinion the defendants could not secure a fair and impartial trial in the county.

Marandas' affidavit was substantially to the same effect as the others. He attaches thereto articles from the Roseburg papers giving an account of the difficulty. One of these is from the Roseburg Review. It is headed: "Death in a Riot. Wife of Section Foreman at Glenbrook Killed. Is Mrs. John A. Petersein. Freight Train Jolts Cars Occupied by Greeks Who Open Fire--One Wounded by Brakemen"--and proceeds to say that, during a riot of Greek section hands, precipitated by the severe jolting of their cars by the freight train, the wife of the foreman was killed and a Greek injured; that the Greeks to the number of 83 were arrested and brought to Roseburg that day and were quartered in the Josephson warehouse, where they were closely guarded by the militia pending an investigation; that the body of the foreman's wife was also brought and taken to the undertaker's, where an autopsy was held; that complete and accurate details of the difficulty were hard to obtain, but according to reports the Greeks became enraged because the cars occupied by them were struck with unusual severity by the freight train, and armed with rifles, revolvers, and shotguns, swarmed out of the cars and made a rush for the freight train, and the engineer and fireman were driven from the engine by a fusillade of bullets which riddled the cab; that the rest of the freight train crew were obliged to flee for safety; that one of the brakemen ran to a nearby house, secured a rifle, and returned to the train giving battle to the Greeks, when he fired four shots, so the story goes, wounding one of the Greeks and causing the rest to disperse; that the foreman and his wife, attracted by the shooting, went to the door of their car to look out, when suddenly three shots were fired in quick succession, one of which pierced the breast of the woman, instantly killing her; that the identity of the person who fired the shot could not be ascertained, but the belief prevails that it was intended for the foreman and was fired by one of the Greeks as threats had been made against his life; that, as soon as the news of the riot reached Roseburg, a posse of 28 men and a deputy sheriff and the city marshal left in a special train; that when they arrived at Glenbrook they found the Greeks in bed and everything quiet; that the Greeks were brought to Roseburg and unloaded from the cars about noon and placed in the warehouse in charge of the militia, which had been ordered out for the occasion by the county judge at the request of the sheriff; that an autopsy on the remains of the foreman's wife would be held that afternoon and the inquest on the morrow.

Another article was from the Roseburg Plaindealer of the 12th, the headlines of which were: "Drunken Greeks Attack and Kill the Foreman's Wife. While under the Influence of Liquor They Create a Bad Disturbance at Glenbrook, with Disastrous Results." It states that seldom has Roseburg been more aroused than it was by the trouble at Glenbrook Tuesday night; that Foreman Petersein had an extra gang of Greeks surfacing the road, and they went on a big drunk, quarreled with Petersein, and finally cornered him in his car, and when he attempted to defend himself, shot and killed his wife who was at his side; that about that time an extra freight train came along and a regular warfare began, the engineer being kept busy dodging bullets until Brakeman Johnson got a rifle from the caboose and began firing in the air, when the Greeks scattered and the trouble soon subsided. It then gives an account of the sheriff's posse going to the scene of the trouble, the arrest and bringing of the Greeks to Roseburg on the special train; that by the time the train arrived at Roseburg a large crowd had congregated at the depot expecting to see trouble, but that the Greeks were meek and submissive and were not in a fighting mood; that the...