Czolgosz Indicted

Grand Jury Holds Him for Murder in First Degree.

     BUFFALO, Sept. 17.—Leon Czolgosz, alias Fred Nieman, was indicted yesterday afternoon by the grand jury of Erie county for the crime of murder in the first degree, in fatally shooting President McKinley at the Pan-American grounds on Friday afternoon, Sept. 6.
     The prisoner had been removed from the Erie county penitentiary, a mile distant, to the jail, across the street, under a heavy guard. After the indictment was reported he was brought to the courtroom through a tunnel that connects the city hall and the jail. The prisoner was brought in shackled to Detectives Geary and Solomon and surrounded by a guard of police. The crowd surged forward as he entered, but were made to resume their seats. Czolgosz looked somewhat unkempt with a 10 days’ growth of beard on his face. His eyes roamed about the room in short, sharp glances, but were always downcast. He never looked the judge or the prosecutor in the face.
     The district attorney asked Czolgosz if he had a lawyer. No answer was elicited. He was asked if he wanted a lawyer. No answer. “You have been indicted for murder in the first degree. Don’t you want a lawyer to defend you? Look at me and answer,” Mr. Penney yelled at the prisoner. But he stubbornly refused to make any response.
     The district attorney then respectfully requested Judge Emery to appoint counsel to defend the prisoner. The judge tried to get Czolgosz to make application, but his queries were met as stubbornly as were Mr. Penney’s. The court then appointed Hon. Loran L. Lewis and Hon. Robert C. Titus to defend the prisoner, stating that these men had been suggested by the Bar Association of Erie county.
     Czolgosz was then removed as he had come. Outside the crowds surged toward the prisoner, but he was quickly surrounded by a cordon of police under Captain Regan and removed to the basement and thence through the tunnel to the jail.
     District Attorney Penney announced that he would immediately notify Justices Lewis and Titus and allow them time to see the prisoner and prepare their line of defense. The district attorney will notice the case for trial on next Monday morning at 10 o’clock in part III of the supreme court, that being the opening day of the September term.