The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-09-22

and instead Of us all being acquitted through
the influence of Gen. HARRISON, as is alleged
in campaign documents on the authority OF
Mr. Crawford, the three Flora men entered
pleas OF guilty within an hour AFTER IL was
announced that Gen. Harrison had volunteer
ed TO prosecute us, while I myself knowing
my innocence, entered IA plea OF Guilty."
HirrisOn's course during the trial wnicn ioi-
lowed showed that he was entirely. uevoiu "i
any feeling of respect or sympathy. LOT Cue
strikers. Surrounded as lie was by high
officials of Il wealthy corporation. at the bar
of one of the highest and most powerful
courts of the land, entirely at home because
versed in the la n and The rules ana usases
Of the court. and standing ~ he did AT the
very head Of the bar. he displayed a spirit OF
the greatest contempt for us poor beings who
sat before him, fresh from our prison cells.
three already convicted on their own plea OF
guilty, and another unfortunately at MS
mercy. We needed a friend Mt this particular
time. We needed u strong anu powerful
friend. We needed a friend with influence
at the bar of the court and in high piace-ln
fact. we needed precisely the kind oil y irlehu
that Mr.. Crawford and certain campaign uoc-
nlmcnts claim Ben Harrison was to the strlk-
ers. But we did not find that friend In Ben
Harrison; on the contrary, this same Ben
Harrison was so bitter, Vindictive, unjust
and unfair in the fight he volunteered 10
make against me as well rs the others, tnat
Notwithstanding the fact that there was not
"tS " q vi ctttho ~
guilty of any wrong. yet he secured my con.
victiOn and had me placed under bond OF
Sl 900 to keep the peace. This Dalderdash
talk, therefore, about Harrison being friendly
to the strikers of 1871 makes me tired, as IL
would any man with my personal experience
and ce' tain knowledge Of his true position.
lSignedl JOHN REEVES.
Concerning the conviction of W. N.
Sayer, who was placed under a 20, 200
bond, Mayor Caven denounced the act,
saying that "Sayer had done all i'll his
power to keep order. He had talked
with me, and together we have met the
men, and they, after hearing us, have
done as we requested"
HARRISON WAS RELENTLESS.
The recent claim that Gen. Harrison
ever interceded for these men, whom,a s
we see, he had aided to put in prison
cells, IS false. The papers in the Uni
ted States court at Indianapolis, show
that a petition for their release was got
ten up by Judge John Il. Scott, of
Terre Haute, Ind; taken to the differ
ent prisons where they were confined,
signed by them in his presence and
with a letter asking for clemency from
w. X. Mexican presented by him TO
the court, but nothing appears to o
that Harrison ever for II moment
changed his attitude toward these men
from that day to this-Or for that mat
ter toward laboring men in general.
On the other hand the attitude, so just
ly taken by the strikers against Gen.
Harrison at the close of their troubles
in 1877 will not be changed until their
last ballot shall have been deposited
against him i'm November next.
On July 81, 1877, the trades unions
of indianapolis held q meeting and
passed resolutions declaring that their
sy mpathies were with the railroad
men. Condemning the railroad corpo-
ratiOns of the country and denOuncing
the shooting down of men, women and
children; and the meeting
Resolved, That in the future we ,as voters,
totally refuse to support In any manner
whatever, the men now engaged in this city
in putting down the strikers by armed force,
and those who side with the railroad COM
panies in this struggle.
This, though severe, was very just
on Benjamin Harrison, but the labor
organizations of Indiana have been re-
solving and voting against him ever
since, and when his record is once
known to their co-laborers throughout
the country they, too, will join the col
umn, and one universal resolve, our
wide county over, will be made to vote
against sending this persistent enemy
Of laboring men TO the white house.
l have rccited a record bristling with
facts which must sting the conscious
ness of workingmen like the lash Of
scorpions, | have painted no fancy
sketch, | have not drawn upon my |
s.~ 60. 10 aal nnnr n.U /
Gen. Harrison. | have placed Gen.
Harrison in attitudes deliberately |
chosen by himself. We see him first
in the posture of swollen, pOmpous
arrogance, vengeful AS an autOcrat, de-
nouncing w~orkingmen driven to des-
peration by oppression and bidding
them, as il they were chaItel slaves, TO
return to their tasks. We hayc seen
him counselling armed force and
threatening vengeance if his words OF
terror were disregarded. We have
heard his fife-attuned voice calling
men TO arms and have seen him in bal
tie array tramping up and down the
streets of Indianapolis trigged out ia
sword and cap and shoulder-straps at
the head of All armed force iInpatiently
awaiting orders to make the streets red
aud slippery with the blood of work
lugmen. And when, by wiser
sells, the storm had passed and not "a
life was lost nor a dollars worth of
property destroyed, we have seen this
man Harrison, with vengeance map
peascd, and the fires Of his wrath un-
quenched, enter the courts and vOlun-
teer his services, and with sleuth-hound
ferOciiy pursue his victims until they !
were behind prison doors and prison
bars. In all this dark and repulsivc
II cord, bleak and ruthless, there is o
to Gen. uarrisOn's credit one word of
sympathy for these Impoverished
worKingInen, 40 word of kindness
betokenIng u noble soul, no tone in
harmony with suffering, not one ex-
preston to nelp The down -trodden 10 -,
hold up their beads in the conscious
independence of an American citizen. :
make no appeal TO the passions of
men. If the blouscs OF the railroad
mel of 1877 are without rents made by
bullets and bayonets, no feeling of
gratitude is due to Benjamin Harrison.
If a striker for justice escaped a felOm's
cell il vas not because Gen. IIarrison'S
tongue was silent, and if the mad pas
sions of men in 1877 did not glow like
heated steel, their escape from fire and
slaughter is not due to any pacific
words or acts of Benjamin Harrison.
Around him, in the homes of his
neighbors, were empty dinner buckets
and empty llour barrels. The cry was
for bread and meat, for clothes, for
the necessaries of life. Harrison did
not hear the cry. 1t was drowned by
fife and drum and the tramp OF soldiers.
IL il the conclusion that wOrkingInen
will vote for him? Will workingnen
forget, ever forget, when the swelling
veins on his brow throbbed with the
hot blood of his vengeance2 There are
wrongs which to forget makes forget
iulness a crime. The vices Of men
should be as monumental as their
Virtues