Huntsville gazette., 1886-05-08
men on shed kept up a plunging fire.

Policemen and strikers shot at each other
at a distance of twenty PAGES, yet, so de-
fective was the craftsmanship of the lat
ter, that not an officer was hit.
While the firing was the hottest, the
Twelfth street patrol wagon, laden with a
dozen men, ratified down the street. The
officers ran to the rescue of their COM
rades, who, in many instances, were in
hand to hand combat.
Reinforced by the Twelfth street con.
tingent, the handful of men from Hyn.
man street, raced up the grade to the
road. Here they formed in line, twelve
abreast, under a desultory fire from win
dows, roofs and sheds, and charged
east on the street car tracks.
The rioters at first made
sullen resistance. They faced the APP
preaching officers and the slender glitter.
ing line of revolver barrels held on alevel
with their heads as though it was all
play. But when the hurrying officers
curled the index finger of their right
hands and a streak of fire as long as
telegraph pole flashed through the air,
there was an exciting hegira and a general
go-as-yOu-please race for cover.
During the charge Officers Pat Kelley
and Kaiser were badly hurt. The former
was hit in the head with brick and the
right hand of Kaiser was crushed by a
stone. The patrol wagons of the Lake
| street, Twenty. second street, Harrison
street and Desplaines street stations fol-
lowed each other in quick succession
Although the rioters had been driven
from the Mccormick works, they still
lined Blue Island avenue from Robey
street to Western avenue.
to ba do nol,
the lines, they were made the targets for
all kinds Of missiles; the officers were
compelled to duck their heads to escape
injury.
When the last patrol wagon had emp
tied its load at the factory, Captain O'Don-
nell ordered that the streets be cleared.
The two hundred officers were again
drawn up in line and commanded to
make the charge. In the midst of an
annoying fire the men left the yards and
plunged right and left. Revolvers cracked
continuously, and occasionally the loud
report Of bltnderbuss or ancient shot
gun loaded with slugs split the air.
Four strikers dropped during this
charge, two of them being shot through
the groin. They were picked up by COM
rades and borne away before the police
COulu ONCItdhC UuClis OuS VI tiiC flStlilio
was a boy. He was shot while in the
act of throwing a stone. Five men caught
him as he fell and bore him to the car
barns, where he called for drink of wa
ter. 1t was given him, and then he
moaned piteously and begged to be taken
home. An express wagon was secured
and the dying boy placed in it. His COM
rades would not give his name.
JOCoph DaPhVk nf 42o West SpVnn-
teenth street was the other striker who
was shot in the groin. He was placed in
a patrol wagon and taken to his home.
Officer Casey went into the house to
learn the nature of the mans wounds,
and while he was there between three
and four hundred excited men and
women surrounded the house demanding
the officers blood. The men in the pa
troll wagon grew nervous and drove the
vehicle nearer the sidewalk. When Off,
Ger Casey emerged from the house the
crowd surrounded him and cried
'LYNCH HIM! QUARTER HIM!"
Casey ran down the steps OF the houst
and hurried toward the wagon. One man
attempted to throw moose around his
neck, and forty others discharged revol-
vers after him. Bullets whistled all
about him, and one cut the skirt of his
coat. Just as the mob was about to at
tack the officers in the wagon, second
patrol wagon came to the rescue. Jos.
Hess, the man who tried to cast lasso
over Casey's head, was captured and
taken to station-house.
After the streets in the vicinity Of the
Mccormick works had been cleared the
Objectionable scabs employed there were
marched out into Blue Island avenue and
told that they would be escorted to their
homes by the police. They we're pale and
their knees knocked together as they
walked. One hundred officers were placed
on either side of the scabs, and in this po-
sition they marched toward the city. AS
thev passed high board fence near the
entrance to the Mccormick yards an old
man with a gun nearly six feet long crept
to one corner of the barrier and dropped
upon his knees. He lhen took deliberate
aim at one of the officers and fired. The
charge went wide of its mark and tore
hole as large as a mans hand in board
standing near the street. The aged an
archist then skunk out Of sight.
As the procession marched east on
Blue Island avenue, the walkers were
jeered in a most exasperating manner.
Women, with bare arms and red hand
kerchiefs tied about their heads, screamed
imprecations from windows; children
hid behind chimneys and pelted pebbles
and eggs at the objects of their venom,
and from time to time bricks and stones
were hurled at the officers and "scabs"
by men secreted in the attics Of the
many small buildings on the line OF
march.
When the procession reached the cor
eer of Ashland and Blue Island avenue,
fully sixty thousand people were massed
along these thoroughfares and upon the
housetops. The cry of "Rats" and
"Scabs" was continuous and deafening.
At times the officers were compelled to
charge to the right and left in order that
the procession might pass. The women
were even more obstreperous than the
men. They ran out into the cutters and
shook their fists and spat at the scahs.
The latter tried to smile, but they could
not. They hugged each other as though
they expected to be swept away by some
unknown agency.
st five O'Clock. the fag end Of the pro-
cession reached the Blue Island avenue
viaduct. But seven scabs remained, the
rest having been escorted to their homes