The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-09-15
WHO Is RESPONSIBLE?
j. Mcbride, of MassillOn, Talks
About John G.. Warwick.
He Shows How Lies Are Being Told About
Warwick in Reference to the Mas
sIllOn Strikes.

W llO 10
date for Representative from Stark
County. In the course of conversation
the matter of the fight being made
against Mr.. Warwick, Democratic can
didate for Lieutenant Governor, on ac-
count Of the miners strike in the Mas
sillOn District in 1876, was spoken of.
and Mr.. Mcbride was asked what he
knew of it. Said he:
There are men in all parties who
will willingly resort to wholesale lying
If by doing so they believe they can Sc
cure the defeat of those politically Op-
posed to them, and to secure the defeat
of Mr.. Warwick this method has been re.
sorted to. The circulation of the report
that he was instrumental in bringing
the military. to the mines In the massi-
Ion District in 1876 was done purpOseley
tOscreate an impression npOn the minds
of wOrkingmen Of our State that he was
their bitter enemy. And special efforts
are being made to have our miners vote
against him at the coming election.
Those efforts, however, will prove fruit
less for the reason that Mr.. Warwick's
whole life among us has been one of
friendship, and upon more than one Oc-
casiOn his friendship has been tried and
found true, and il any man upon either
ticket deserves the support of the miners
that man Is Warwick"
WHAT HAS HE DONE FOR US?
"WelI, sir, in 1865, during the pro.
gress of strike in the TuscaTawas Val
ley, blacklegs were brought to our
mines, riot was the result, and some
forty of our miners were arrested by the
military which had been called out
They were not allowed to see any of their
friends to secure bail, and | may add
that outside of their own ranks friends
were scarce. They were about to be
thrown into Jail when j. G. Warwick
stepped forward and furnished security
for their appearance at Court, thus pre-
venting them from being locked up.
More than this, our men lacked the means
of paying for the services of a lawyer
to defend them, and Mr.. Warwick again
displayed his generosity by paying for
and securing the services of two of the
ablest lawyers in the State, John Nc
Sweeney, of Wooster, and Mr.. Letter,
Ex-Speaker of the Ohio House of Repre-
sentatiVes. 1t was through the efforts
of these men that our miners were
cleared. Some of those men are alive
to-day and will testify to the truth of
this statement. This action of Mr.. War
wick did not make him many enemies,
but on the contrary many friends
among our miners. Again in 1876 Mr..
Warwick bitterly opposed the bring
ing of blacklegs in his mine, but as he
had only One-eighth interest in the
mine he was OutVOted. He was openly
charged with doing this by his partners,
and also of prOlOnging the strike by sup
plying many of our miners with flour.
This they wanted stopped, but he con
tinued supplying them. This did not
look as though he was an enemy, and
when we remember that the riot not
,Ivyo of hid htnff hnf
partner, Mr.. Warrington. was nearly
killed, his superintendent wounded
with a pistol shot, and a number of
the blacRlegs injured. We would have
excused him had he displayed aud
maintained any bitterness towards us.
He had no bitterness, however, for no
sooner was the strike over than he WAS
found interceding for some of the miners
victimized by his partners, and many of
them secured work through him.
again, during the strike of 1879-80,
while other operators were engaged in
denOuncing their miners, not one word
of condemnation was heard from j. G..
Warwick. And when the strike was
over found myself selected by the oper-
atOTs as one of their victims. None of
them would give me a days employ
ment, simply because l had opposed
them in that fight, and faithfully en-
deaVOred to carry out the will of our
miners. Mr.. Warwick however, was not
among the number who we're deter
mined to push me to the wall, for in 1881
L announced myself as a candidate for
Representative, and mainly through
his influence secured the Democratic
nomination; and, although defeated
it was not his fault was. Other oper-
atOrs, Democrats and Republicans
rUnyly0d hard fn m Hafaof NyhH
he stood by me and by doing so incurr-
ed their displeasure. When you look
on these things in the light that view
them you can easily understand why
it Is that will both vote aud work for
the election of Mr.. Warwick. And judg-
ing him from his past record | do not
hesitate to recommend him to the work
ingmen of Ohio as a friend to labor, and
particularly to our miners, for whom he
has displayed his friendship"
"What about the charge that he was
responsible for the presence of troops
there in 1882"
"The responsibility of having troops
in that valley in 1876 | have and so
have our miners held rested upon A. T.
WikOff, then Adjutant- General of the
State. Just after the riot of Good Fri
day morning of that year the coal Oper-
atOrs demanded troops. Their demand
was strengthened by a requisition by
our Sheriff. Yet Governor Hayes ignored
both. He refused to send troops, but
sent his Adjutant- General, Mr.. WikOff,
his AttOrney-General, Mr.. Little, and
Andrew Roy, State Inspector of Mines,
to this locality to investigate and find
out whether troops were required or
not. Mr.. Roy had mass-meeting of
our miners called, and himself and Gen
eral WikOff attended. Roy stated that
a great pressure had been brought to
bear upon the Governor to have troops
sent here, but that he had persuaded him
to let General Wikoff and himself in
vestigate before sending them. Gem
eral WikOf addressed the meeting at
length, give US the contents of the riot
act, and, among other things, said our
miners had been grossly misrepresent-
ed to him, and that he had expected to
see some of them wearing horns. He
was pleased, however, to see that they
were as intelligent looking and appar.
emily as peacefully inclined as any body
of citizens he had met with in the State
He believed the riot was not maliciOusly
premeditated, but was caused by the
excitement of the moment. He said ne
could see no necessity Of having troops