Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-04-15
MORE BLOODSHED
Deputy Sheriffs at East st. Louis Shoot
Several Persons.
Great Excitement Prevails Over the
Affair I'm Both st. Louis and
East st. louis.

St. Louis dispatches ofrhe 9th give the de-
tails of the riots and bloodshed attending the
strike in East st. Louis The morning Of the
9th opened with but little prospect of serious
trouble, although some strikers intimated that
some of the roads would find it less easy to
run trains than they had anticipated, and ear
ly in the morning the yards presented an ami
mated scene. The switch engines were run
ming backwards and forwards and trains were
arriving and departing without any interior
ference. This condition of affairs continued
till noon. 1t was thought the day would pass
without any demonstration from the strikers.
At that hour however, the trouble which
afterward grew to such alarming proportions
begun. A number Of strikers without APP
parently having formed any preconcerted plan
gathered at the relay depot and began discuss
ing the general situation. AS the time passed
the number was augmented until the original
knot of men increased to fully two hundred.
The discussion became animated and the crowd
more demonstrative until some one proposed
that they go to the Louisville u Nashville
yards and drive out the men employed there,
The cry ION to the Nashville yards" was caught
up aud the crowd advanced. As they proceed
ed their numbers again increased, some joining
the mob as spectators, Others in full sympathy
with the movement, until 300 to 400 were ad-
yancing towards the yards Arriving there
they swarmed into the yards and persuaded
the men at work to desert their posts. The
crowd remained in the yards for some time,
and though considerable excitement prevailed
no violence was resorted to Just at this time.
A Louisville 81 Nashville freight train was
slowly passing guarded by eight Deputy Sher-
ifs armed with Winchester rifles. In the
meantime crowds of men, women aud children
had congregated on Broadway, where the
Louisville g. Nashville tracks crossed the
streets and also upon the Broadway bridge
which spans Cahokata Creek, and in open
space to the east. Just as the train reached
the Broadway crossing the trouble began. The
crowds on the bridge began to yell and jcer at
the officers and it is asserted that stones were
| thrown which struck two or three Of them and
1t was also said that pistol was discharged.
The deputies Immediately leveled their rifles
and fired two volleys into the crowd on the
bridge with fatal result four men being
killed and one woman MORALLY wounded.
The greatest excitement Immediately prevailed
and pandemonium reigned. The crowd fed
| in every direction and when the deputies real
lied how fearful was the result of their fire,
| sought means of escape by rushing to the
bridge with view of fleeing to this city. At
the approach and just at the bridge tower on
the east side, they were met by Mayor Joyce,
| City Clerk Canty and a third man, who seized
the deputies guns and endeavored TO turn
them back. One of the deputies, in his terror,
fired upon the trio, killing a man named C. f.
ThomIso who stood between Joyce and Cai Z.
| ty. Some shots were fired by the remaining
| deputies at the approaching strikers
and all started over the bridge. The scene on
the bridge was of the widest confusion and
excitement. Coal teams and other teams with
| wagons were galloping westward, and the driv
| ers were shouting for all pedestrians and team
sters to run back. Women and men on foot
| were running towards the city, and waving
back all they met, while Immediately behind
came the deputies, pursued by the vanguard
of the crowd from East st. Louis. One of the
frightened guards threw his gun into the RIVER,
while another hid his weapon in wagon that
was in full retreat. On arriving in the city
the deputies went at once to the Chestnut
street police station, where after stating the
facts, they surrendered to the sergeant in
| charge and were taken to the Four Courts,
where they were placed in custody, after giy-
| ing the following names: P. G. Hewlett, John
| Hague, Sam Jones, John F. Williams, j. Lus-
ter, Stewart Martin, Geo. Marnell and w. F.
| Laird. About half an hour after the shooting
an excited and angry mob gathered in the
square between the city hall and police sta
ton. A man named Dwyer, a gambler, in no
way connected with the strike, became the
center of crowd who cheered the incendiary
statements which he uttered. He urged the
men to chang and kip and was in the midst
| of an appeal to the mob to follow him to the
| Ohio and Mississippi depot to hunt for deputy
shcriffs, when John w. Hayes, member of
the general executive committee Of Knights of
Labor and Knight of Labor Brown arrived
| from this side. Mr.. Brown, who travels with
the general board in the capacity of Knights
Of Labor organizer, mounted the stairs leading
to the police station, and yelled at the mob for
| attention, but the Infatuated men answered
him with s'Hang the ours % "Kill them!" Mr..
| Hayes, who was standing at Mr.. Browns side,
| turned to prominent Knight and asked him
| to introduce Mr. Brown to the mob as the rep
| rescntativc of the general executive commit
tee. The man replied in a frightened man
ncr: III do they will hang me-" Brown
| turned on him aud said: "Yes, if you don't
they ought to hang you" Then turning to
the mob, which kept up the cry to XIII, kill
| and burn" Brown began an imprisoned ap-
| peal for quiet, law and order, and by the sheer
| force of his carnestness riveted the ait ntion
Of the crowd, but only for few minutes at a
time, for they would break away from the
| spell Of his eloquence and take up their revo-
lutionary yclls. He said: "Men and brothers
for Gods sake keep quiet implore you; in
name of humanity, in the name OF the great
order Of the Knights OF Labor; in the name of
every law, both of the order and your country,
restrain yourselves and do no violence. Re-
member that you are our sworn brothers;
do not forget that you are Knights, and
that you are pledged to obey the
laws, orders and commands of your
committeeman" At this point Dwyer broke In
with "Ycs, why don't you talk for Jay Gould
and be done with it. They shot our men down
and you ask us to be quiet. say hang them. :"
The crowd took up the words crying "Burn,
kill and shoot" Brown pointed his finger at
Dwyer and asked him, "Are you a Knight OF
! LaDOrf' DWycr uouScu tue question: auu
yelled on, ''Kill the brutes." "Arc you all
| Knights of Labor, asks" said Brown. 'No,n
answered Dryer, "Im with them on every
thing you can bet." 81 knew that you were
not Knight said Brown. 81 knew that no
| Knight would talk as you do. Again, brothers,
appeal to you to b. calm and dspersc to
you homes. II you will not obey our laws re-
member you are foresworn, that you are nc
longer Knights of Labor. Brothers, beg OF
you to do nothing rash. What, on, what will
the Knights OF the country think Of youa Oh,
what will the whole world think of our great
orlcri Don't forget how hard we worked to
build UP our order. Oh. do not tear 1t down
in ruins by one rash acti All men who incite
you to strife are not true Knights Of Labor
They are worse than the detectives Of the rail
roads who are trying to hunt you down. Shun
them! Shun them as you would q murderer"
While Brown was speaking Committeeman
Hayes walked excitedy up and down the plat
form cxclaimlng in despairing manner, "0h,
my God, my God, wish this had not hap
pened.n His eyes were watery and he was al
most crying, and when he addressed the mob
after Browns harangue, his voice failed, and
he was obliged to pause for ut.erancc Hayes
speech was of the same tenor as Browns, as
was also that of O'Neil who followed HAYES.