The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-03
STRIKERS and POLICE
A Fatal Riot in the Pennsylvania
Coke Region.
Women Armed with Knives Fight
ing for their Husbands,

A Pittsburg Penn.) dispatch Of the Goth
says: A fatal battle occurred between the
Hungarian mob and posse of deputies and
special officers at the Morewood mines, near
Mt. Pleasant, tonight. One Hungarian is
known to have been killed and three or four
wounded. The Hungarians this afternoon
marched from Bessemer armed with
clubs, pistols and hatchets. They were
accompanied by women armed with knives
and stones. AS they approached the More
wood company's store they encountered
about fifty deputy sheriffs and uniformed
policemen. The latter were drawn up along
the edge Of a big ice pond. The Hungarians
pressed closely together and marched slowly
across the pond, bearing an American
flag and yelling Hungarian war cry.
Sheriff Stewart with an interpreter stepped
forward and told the mob that he had a war
rant for the arrest Of some Of them. He or
dered his posse to take them. The officers
surrounded tie strikers, who at once made
fierce attack. The policemen used their
clubs with terrible effect until somebody be-
est.
The women screamed and ran and the men
fought like savages, till the superior skill Of
the sheriff's men forced them to run. They
hurried across the lowland and up the hill to
their houses, from the windows Of which they
began fusillade with revolvers and rocks.
Part of the mob, which was 300 strong, retreat
ed up the hill and surrounded their leader,
Steve Stanne1, Hungarian of giant size.
Q,>o %t,a ofH
who returned it and forced them to retreat.
One officer, McRoberts, was surrounded by
the mob and terribly beaten. He dubbed his
way out, and in getting over the hill fell and
hurt himself badly, breaking leg
Thirteen Of the strikers were captured,
handcuffed and placed in special car, and
taken to Greensburg jail. The prisoners are
all Hungarians One of the attacking party,
named Jabalsk, was killed. As the Hun
garians scattered to their houses it is not
known how many of them are wounded,
though blood tracks show that some OF the
officers bullets did not miss the mark.
The hills around the Morewood works were
covered with spectators during the battle,
which occurred just before dusk. When the
fight was at its height, Father Lsmbing, Of
Scottdale, appeared and tried to make
peace, but was not successful. He had to
content himself with soothing the fright
ened women and children. The Hun
garian women fought beside their hus-
bands and brothers, and when driven to their
houses fought from the doors and windows.
None Of the sheriff's posse was injured seri-
ously. A consultation was held between the
operators and the sheriff, and it was decided
to raid the strikers at the Standard works
tomorrow. The hills are filed with enraged
Hungarians tonight, and further bloodshed
is feared
The Hungarians have been ar1ning them
selves for several day, and growing more and
more demonstrative. They are clamorous
for an advance in wages. The wages now
paid are twenty seven cents per wagon for
digging coal and ffty-fve to sixty cents per
oven for drawing coke. The demand is
thirty cents per wagon and sixty to sixty-ave
hold thirty-three and half bushels,
Thirty-six hundred Of the 10, 600 coke ovens
are shut down. This morning about 800
strikers again left Morewood and marched to
the Alice mines, where they found men at
work. They caught some OF them, stuck
their heads in the hot oven doors, removing
them only after they had promised not to go
to work again. They then marched to May.
field Mines. They chased the mine boss,
j. B. McCabe, from the yard after beating
him. They assaulted q boy named Ment0er,
and cut him badly about the head and face.
From thence they went to the Rising Sun
works, and forced the men there to join them
About o'clock they reached Scottdale. The
men marched down the street carrying fence
rails, clubs, pick handles, crowbars, gasplpe,
and other weapons. They visited the saloons,
and many got drunk.
A negro named Stewart fired shot at the
strikers, when they rushed to his house, broke
in the doors, and smashed everything in the
house. The negro barely escaped with his
life At Donnelly works the Hungarians
cleared out the yard and beat several OF the
men. Wherever the strikers have gone In
body they have left ruin behind. Smashed
oven doors, overturned coal cars, and broken
tools show the effect Of their rage
This evening another car load OF policemen
from Pittsburg were sent to Mount Pleas
ant, where they were sworn in as deputy
sheriffs The members Of the Fourteenth
and Eighteenth regiments OF militia, in Pitts
burg, have been ordered to hold themselves
in readiness to go to the coke regions at short
notice.
This strike is the most dangerous in the his
tory of the coke industry. The operators
have an entirely different class Of men to deal
with, as the Hungarians are at all times un-
manageable In former strikes this element
was not in the field, and the operators had
more intelligent men to deal with. A feeling
of insecurity prevails, and citizens near the
various threatened districts are arming kham-
selves and otherwise preparing to defend their
homes.
AN IMPORTANT MEASURE