Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-15
BRAIDWOOD BANDITS.

and Drilling.
[Braidwood June 12) Special to Chicago
Times.
This town has been intensely anxious
during the day, although all outward appear
ances have been quiet. Sometime since the
secret organization among the white miners
in the great colleries here determined to
make strike at about this date, on the
question of the employment by the large
driving of the colored men from the town
was contemplated.
To-day was settled upon as the one on
which action was to be taken, but for some
reason unknown to those outside the league,
the rising has been postponed, and now the
18th inst. is spoken of as the day on which
the demonstration is to be made.
That to-day was the day determined on,
and that postponement has been consider
ed wise, has been obtained from member
of the organization itself, who did not sup
pose that he was for moment giving any
information that could be used or published.
It is not SO stated, but it is believed by
those well informed, that the intending
strikers are waiting to hear of some develop
ments from Chicago.
It will be remembered that when the
miners strike occurred here last July,
number of
NEGROES WERE OBTAINED FROM RICHMOND, VA,
and other points South, to go to work in the
coal mines here, and that the opposition to
their employment raised the riot which it
took the military to suppress. Ever since
that time the feeling on the part of the
white miners toward the cclored diggers has
been very bitter, and small rows with I'M
pleasant results have been constantly occur
ring. The cOlOred men have made them
selves odious to the white miners and the
feeling of the whole town, authorities and
all, has been against them. So bad has it
become that scarcely week passes in which
some row between several white men and
some of the niggers does not take place, and
very often the white men, who carry no arms
on their persons, have been assaulted and
CUT BY THE NEGROES
with the razors which the mining people and
townspeople say they always have about
them. Whether this assertion be true or
not, it is certain that feeling between the
two classes runs very high, and that an out
break is expected daily.
Neither in the town or at the mine shafts
is there much talk about the matter, but it is
felt by all that a collision must occur very
soon. The feeling INDUCED in is all against
the Chicago, Wilmington & Vermillion coal
company. that employs at present about one
thousand men, about. four hundred of whom
are negroes. These negroes are armed, and
it is freely asserted that the arms that have
been supplied to them have been given by
the company, OF by the government through
the influence and at the request of the COM
pany, and considerable indignation is ex-
pressed thereat in certain quarters, while
men, it is thought to be wise measure to
keep the unruly white miners within proper
bounds.
There are some miners that have nothing
whatever to do with this trouble, in which
the master and the man
WORK ALONG IN SMOOTH, GOOD FEELING,
each caring for the other. OF such is the
mine of the Braidwood Coal company, which
employs about one hundred men, and no ne
groes; the Star Coal company, employing
about one hundred men and no negroes, and
one other. But the Chicago, Wilmington
| and Vermilion company, with it's thousand
-
razor clad ebony-it is on this company that
the Indignation of the white miner about
Braidwood is, it is alleged, firmly set, and
there is yet to be trouble.
For months past, companies of the white
! miners have been
DRILLING ON THE OPEN PRAIRIE.
! when the nights we're dark enough to cover
their actions. They drilled with long
wooden sticks instead of guns, but the drill
was as exacting as that required from any
military company. AS the evenings grew
longer and lighter, it did not suit them to
drill SO publicly, SO they arranged to drill in
| hall in the town. known as John Knell's
hall. During the immediate past they have
been carrying on their drill in the latter
place, and lately this white miners organi-
zation has, it is stated for fact on reliable
authority, been supplied with arms. No
less than
FIVE HUNDRED STANDS OF ARMS
have been placed in the hands of the league,
and they did not come directly, either.
They were shipped on the Rock Island rail-
road to Morris, and from that point they
were carried over the prairies in wagons
under cover of the night.
This is stated to be a fact upon most reli-
able authority, and in certain circles it is
freely talked about. In fact, the whole town
is at the present moment in feverish appre-
hension, in spite of the talk of the township
and municipal authorities, who, largely rep
resenting the miners interests as they do,
pooh-pooh the matter and affect not to be-
ieve it.
In the opinion of those qualified to give
very shaky sort of an administration. The
best proof of the assertion of the
ARMING OF THE WHITE MEN
can be found in the fact that either the gov
eminent, the companies, or their friends and
sympathiZers, have armed the black men. A
few nights since several hundred stand of
arms arrived and were, under cover of the
night, delivered at the G shaft of the COM
pany employing the negroes, as is stated by
townspeople.
These are very indignant over it. and they
express themselves in terms anything but
healthy to the colored brethren, whom they
don't want to see supported in this way to a
collision with the whites, whom they fully
sympathize with. Thus the matter stands at
present, and not only Braidwood, but the
four-mile distant city of Wilmington and
the surrounding country, is alarmed. As
early as last Saturday, the authorities
the Chicago, Alton & st. Louis railroad weref
informed of the impending danger, and they
are rapidly taking quiet but efficient steps to
protect their lines and the telegraph service.
Meanwhile the people of Braidwood, Will
mington, and all that vicinity, are anxiously
looking to the Governor of the State and the
military for prompt help in case of trouble.
Elect a Democrat.