Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-02-21
A Picture from Life.

GEORGE LlPPARD, in his Quaker City,
administers in the following article, well.
merited chastisement upon certain manu-
fa cturers of the Smoky City, who un.
dertook to compel the poor girls in their
employ to labor for ss.elye or fourteen
hours day, when the law of Pennsylva.
MIA provides that ten hours shall be a..day's
work, and because the girls, when smart
ing under the wrongs of their oppressors.
committed technical offence against the
law, caused them to be indicted, tried and
convicted for riot. Let the reader remem-
Der that it is the prosecutors of these poor
girls who claim to be the friends of the Ia
boring classes-who are constantly making
exactions Of the government; and let itnot
be forgotten that it has been claimed that
it was through the influence of this class
that the Old Keystone was wheeled into
the ranks of the federal States.
PITTSBURGH IS Rich in historical men,
ories- Where the City stands at the pre-
sent hour, Fort Du Quesne stood nearly a
hundred years ago. And there was time
when Fort Du Quesne and the surrounding
forests exhibited an enHvening sight. Six
hundred men lay dead upon Braddock's s
field; Washington was fugitive with the
mangled form of Braddock in his care, the
savages were scalping tie wounded, splin-
tering the hearts of their prisoners at the
stake, and-perchance-dashing the brains
of little children against the rocks OF the
ravine. History is never tired of telling the
horrors which followed the defeat of Brad
dock. The savages had merry time oft,
drinking, scalping, burning them
selves with rum and blood. But the mem
ories of Fort Du Quesne are faded now.
Pittsburgh can lay claim to a complete
savage-ism, stultifed barbarity, which
the red cut-throats of Fort Du Quesne never
knew. Pittsburgh of the present hour-of
the year of Grace l849 stands out in bold
relief from the annals of barbarism. She
is no longer the Smoky City, but benceforth
she will be known as the Blot City the
blot of Pennsylvania, and of the very name
of Pennsylvania.
Let us briefly tell how Pittsburgh has
gained this name who helped her to gain
it-and for what reason it was gained
There was a trial lately in Pittsburgh
Girls from ten to sixteen years of age,
stood before the Bar of Court, charged -
in the language of the prosecutors with
"bloody outrage" They were Factory
girls. They had made public demonstra-
ton in favor of law passed by the Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania, protecting the La
borer (whether man, woman or child) from
the exactions of Capital. That law, as
everybody knows, stated that no one should
be forced to work more than "ten hours" in
day. This did not please the Factory
owners of Pittsburgh. Chock-full of Tariff
for others-they did not like a Tariff
when it was applied to stheir own pockets
They resolved that law or no law, the oper.
atives should work twelve hours day-as
many hours as suited the pleasure of these
Capitalists. The operatives struck-they
had procession--the girls mingled with
the procession. For this they were tried
Brought to the box of the Court like felcns
like felons they were convicted, and like
felons will be sent to Jail. Girls Of ten
gears in jaH in Pennsylvania, for refus.
ing to avork t,celrs hOurs day, an Pitts
burgh Factory--That is line fol
Pennsylvanians TO remember. Read il
Mothers, reflect upon it Sisters; bear it il
you can, men Of Pennsylvania. How were
they convicted' "By an obsolete lav