The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-03-30
WOMEN FOR SHIELDS.
THE RloTlNe BELGIAN STRIKERS
RECEIVE THE SOLDIERS BULLETS

In the Breasts of Their Eomen-A Reign
of Terror a; Half a Dozen Towns-Dia-
bolical Revei Round Burning Coal
Shaft-Foreign Notes.
BaussELs, March 80 Appeals for troops
have been made from Charleroi, Jumet, and
the surrounding country, and martial law
now exists The civic guards are worn out
and cal lave been made fer volunteers to
cefeni the st Gets The present strike has
resu { u in a furious uprising. The strikers
defy tie troops, destroy factories and stores,
assault peop.o on the sr cts, and loot resi-
dences ait shops. At Jumet they placed
100 women between their anks and those OF
tire troops, hut the latter fred and many
womea were wounded A reign Of terror
exists in the towns of Jumet Charleroi,
Chatelet, Chatelineau, La Louvierre, Giliey,
and IouiIet and the neighhorisg hamlats.
The strikers are without food and threaten
the destru. ton of the factories, mines, and
towns German agitators are said TO have
started the strikers
Rioters, Sunday night, att .cked AMI
burned a pott ry mandatory at Bandoar,
near Mons, They sue eodei in resisting the
-
three of the rioters.
The citizens OF Fleais seven miles north
east of Chareleroi, have armed themselves
with pltchforks, cubs and guns, and have
thus lar succeeded in defending their town
from piIlage. They drove one army of
rioters away by main force, dispensing it
utterly. Vigilance committees are beng
formed by the citizens in other places threat"
ened by strikers
A correspondent, writing of some of the
Genes enacted, says; AT midnight Sunday
night the sky was iliumined by two con
agrations One was the burning OF a
blast furnace and rolling mill, ten miles
east OF Chareroy; the other was a fire in a
coliiery about six miles to the northwest. /
rode to the latter place and saw scene
rivaling the gro.esiue horrors of Dante's
Inferno the hoisting Louise, Offices sheds
and elevated tramway had by this time
| been burned and their blaekened timbers
stool out like gigantic skeleton in the fierce
| freight Thousands Of tons of screened
coal wss smolieriug in a fire which gave
| ont long tongues of blue, sulphurous flames
which furnised an appropriate light and
| smell for the dial olical revelS The fends
| of this miniature he'll had fred the
| great shat by striking the cage
hl!ed with barrels of blazing pitch, to the
| lotion. 4 roaring column Oh fame arose
| straight from the mouth of the pit ii ty feet
| into the air. Occasionally some unusually
! large mass Of bdrning timoer would fall to
| the bottom A volcanic eruption of SPARKS
| would be shot up from the mine apparently
to the zenith, and lie followed by hercer
| flames Around this monument Of fire 3DI
| drunken men, and half-naked, besotted
women had formed ring by dining hands,
| AMI were executing a DEVILS dance, until
many dropped to the ground from exhaus-
ton and the effect Of the blazing fire upon
their brandy maddened brains One poor
| devil. hunchback, fell within the circle,
instead of outside, and was literally roasted
TO death Outside the great circle other
drunken women held babies up high orer
their heads to see the pretty fire. And
this was a mine which was in full operation
on Saturday, and to which every one OF
these drunken, dancing demons looked 70,
their daily bread
CHARLERoI, March 30 This city Mon
| day was vast military camp ilom which
| lying columns are operating in all direc
tons 1t is believed now that the worst i,
| over. me soNeIntae-t mas autnOrlIeu tnt
peaceable inhabitants OF the city IL arm
themselves and to use ever. means in theii
power to defend their dom Giles i'here i
a more confident feeling. The civilian pr
trolls and the troops ara oyermastering tn
| rioters.
The miners in the Flenn an | Borinag,
districts have gone out on a strike and hav,
destroyed the residen e of thu mine manage
by dynamite. In these districts there hav,
already been several conflicts bet seen tn
strikers and the troops AMI many have beei
killed on both sides Reinforcements hav
been sent to the scene from Mons.