Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-08

did the labor unions help You out
any?s
.sPhey afforded us material assistanc,
and you can say for all oil us that We re
turn our thanks to the Miners Union am
other labor organizations Tor the Interest
they took in our movement and their &C
ton IN endeayoiing to adjust the diff
Guilty.
MASTER ROSS TATEMEa
As The MINER has endeavored to dc
equal and exact Justice to both sides in th,
recent Montana Union ~stoppage. now thai
the matter has been adjusted. 1t will moth,
out of place to give the Substance OF an ii
terview with Master Mechanic Ross, tsilin.
his side OF the dispute With the engineers
. ana iremen OF heroad. Hlewa sfound 10 his
office at South Butte and spoke substan
italy as follows:
Il wanted to resign last Sunday but Mr.
Dickinson would not let me. But seeins
there WAS no other way out OF the diff
Guilty insisted this morning on resigning
This, / hope. will place me in q proper lipllt
: before the public. Now. as the tnsIl have
made their statements as to instances 81
!. oppression on my part, I think it only fan
= that my side OF these cases should be
placed befo,e the public"
With this Mr.. Boss took up Wednesdays
MINER, containing the statements 81 Mr..
De Camp about the men whom Mr. Ross
discharged, and began with the first on the
list, Engineer Llewellyn, whose engine hal
8 climbed q frog at Mill Greek.
"Llewellyn," said Mr.. Ross, sttook his
discharge like a man. He accepted the YER
dict without any protest. It is not 8
. common occurrence for an engine to Jump
the track.
/ The next case is that of Engineer Fitz-
gerald. The facts in his case are that he
got leave OF absence for ten days. During
this time he came to me and asked for 8
i letter recommending him for a position on
the Montana Central. | asked If he wished
to quit, and he repl ed nc. I thought it
would be wrong to give him the letter he
asked while he was in the Mon
tana Union's employ, as he might
and quit the Montana Union when it was
short. He told me he would not leave
without giving ten days notice. Under
I this condition | gave him the letter. He
I was off thirteen days, three days over time.
| sent a caller after him then whom he told
he was not ready for duty and would not
work. l told The clerk to make out his
time-eheck and to recall the letter OF recon-
mendation to the Montana Central:
AS to Hazlitt, he was not discharged for
knocking out a cylinder head, but he could
have avoided that il he had understood his
business. | examined the engine and found
the piston nae been working pack and
forward on the piston rod for over hall an
inch for at least thirty miles. He couldn't
locate where the fauit was.
"As to Bentley. / had hired him myself,
and always thought a great deal OF him
and do yet. He is q gentleman and very
different from the rest Of these men.
When l heard that he refused to turn his
engine on the Y at Anaconda and would
not move her, | had to 60 over there and
see what was the trouble., Bentley claimed
that he was not getting paid for doing
extra work. l told him he was getting
paid the same as the rest. Brennan,
who was there at the time, explained tc
me that Mr.. Peavy, my predecessor, nad
allowed the engineers two hours extra time
for doing this extra work. 1t was
something not known to the
Superintendent. and a private
arrangement he had made with
the engineers contrary to the rules of the
company. Mr.. Dickinson was absent in
Omaha at the time, so I told Bentley |
would take the responsibility o. paying him
this extra allowance until Mr.. Dickinson
returned in order to keep things moving
smoothly, but had no authority to do so.
Under these conditions Bentley went to
work. Mr.. Dickinson fixed the matter
satisfactorily when he returned. A short
time after Bentley a called and refused
to do the work agaiu and it was reported
to me by the train dispatcher aud [ was
compelled to let him go. I consider Mr..
Bentley q gentleman and a first-class en-.
glneer. he acknowledged he was in the
wrong and left.
1.-THE case of Fisher / don't consider
to comment upon as he had
been discharged from this and
the Union Pacific three or four times for
good cause, and he a Brotherhood engi-
neer. He told me the last time he got
back to work that he had no grievance
whatever. The men made q special re-
quest to Superintendent Dickinson to REIN
state him as a favor more for charity
than anything else. He was rein.
with the understanding that he
the yard, and was not to be allowed
on the road at all. This was
six weeks before took charge. After I took
L had occasion to take an engine
from Fisher and send it to Anaconda. Not
to send him with it as he had n
family here, and wanting to leave him at
gave him an engine on the road, -
contrary to Mr.. Dickinson's orders. | did
not know he had made them. however. He 4
got along all right for a short time and one '
lay after coming In he got into a quarrel
with the ~roIndhouse foreman about doing
work on the engine. He insulted him
and wanted to fight him. The latter
was q teaceabie man and to avoid
left Fisher and reported the mat
Ter to Inc. l sent for Fisher next morning
intending to suspend him for the language
lseu alter finding out the cause OF trouble. |
But he out-talked me and called the fore
nan some pretty hard names, so | thought \
would give his time as the quickest Way s
% end the trnuhln no " him ~ IotEo. E
Mr.. Shelby and he is now on the Central. E
Now as to John Meeks. He had be IN E
'ut three days and two nights. He made E
,hree round trips voluntarily, and was not e
lsked to make them. He came in on No +
30, at 5 p. M, and his engine when +
le came in Was OR cred to go right back. f
The hostler so informed him, but he re- E
'lied be would not Until he had seven \
sleep. The hostler SO informed me, L
nd l found no fault wi b Meeks for want .
ng rest. l had an extra man marked on
slate for an engine to work on the
Ill next morning, and said l would let
lay off and get some
!eep and use this extra man on his en- ia
inc. Meeks was to be called to take this II
xtra engine in the morning. | gave Mr..
leeks eleven and one-halt hours for rest. =
he caller called him next morning for this
ngine on the hill, and Meeks told him he +.
oUiA hoo 80 uut OH Gue NH, Unat he would
0 on his own engine. When I sent the ex. I
ra man on his engine l could It figure =
neither he would be pack next morning or
ext night, so | left these instructions in 1
rider to keep the engines all going. Meeks' I
ngine came in early in the morning, but I
as in bed and didn'tknow it. Myinten-
on was to use Meeks on the hill until
lch time as his own engine came
AID then l would relieve him and let Z
m take his W engine. II Meeks had got q
p when called for the hill engine, he would u
OF have got out OF the yard until I got II
,und when l would have replaced him on :
ia own engine and pu; the extra man on 4
he hill. | saw Meeks and asked WHY he }
nd refused to come when called. He told III
e he didn't propose to run anything but =
is own engine. [ told him il he had come
work on his own engine when called
onldh have arranged satisfactorily to him, d.
1T | couldn't let him go to work on "
count OF his refusal when called.
explained to him why l was
to ask him TO run
lie hill engine as I had no extra man to O
Ike it. had made the change SO that he Ca
ight get his rest. He asked when I would du
We him his time. [ told him 7 would Let