The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-07-11

Last Tuesday 1900 men were emnlovad
on street and sewer improvements az 81 I'D
per day, but then 1850 struck for an adj
vance OF IS cents per day. The contractors
refused to accede to the demand and the
strikers have since assembled daily and
marched through the city, trying to in
t1m1date the other laborers to Join them
There were many recruits each day. and
the mob finally increased to 9, 500 or 5, QUO
There had been ugly rumors of the de-
termined attitude of the strikers all Satnr-
day and preparations had been made by
the police department for any emergency.
At 1850 p m. Superior street between Six
teenth and Seventeenth avenues west was
lined with strikers and spectators, por-
haps 200 In all This number was grad
ually Increased until the thOroughfars
seemed black with men Officer Clements,
who was OIL duty there, recognized many
| OF the men as those who were among the
mob that raided the police on Friday,
and anticipating trouble from, them
he telephoned the officers ut the
West End headquarters to turn out and
guard the men who were at work in front
OF the National iron works The police on
duty at that time numbered twenty-four.
the greatest number at any one time dur
ing the day being only twenty seven. From
$3.50 until o'clock the police experienced
no trouble with the aSrikers, and many of
the spectators went away thinking tho
trouble was over for the day.
At O'clock the head of a new line of
strikers was seen on Third street coming
around the corner of Sixteenth avenue
west Twenty minutes later they halted on
the corner Of Twentieth avenue and Supe-
rtor street, where they were addressed by
one of. the ringleaders, whom they
cheered Justify. The police, noticing this
marched In body from the National iron
works along Michigan street to Twelfth
avenue, where they halted They had left
only two or three officers to guard the
working-men Soon after reaching Twen-
tieth avenue they heard yell
from the strikers, who had been
afternoon. It seems that they had taken
advantage of the absence of the police to
drive the working men out of the trenches
Their yell was answered by the larger body
OF strikers at Twentieth avenue who i'm
mediately started on run. The officers
also fastened toward the trenches at
Eighteenth avenue.
The first assault of the day occurred
when the strikers began throwing rocks at
the officers 1t is said by some that Officer
Walkov1ak was shot in the leg before the
police fired on the mob. The officers, who
had formed in two squads in front of
the Peterson and Koff blocks. CON-
menced firing with revolvers right and
left This was returned by volley from
the strikers Shots continued to be ex-
changed for fully thirty minutes, showing
that the strikers were we'll armed The
police stood their ground, but their Oppo.
nents were scattered A band of nearly 100
men were fortified behind the breastwork
of dirt which had been thrown up from the
sewer and at every opportunity they
jumped up and fired at the police, who
made good target at close range. In a
short time Captain Mclaughlin put them
to flight In the meantime the police had
kept up constant fire on the strikers who
were on Superior street, and with deadly
effect Many who were nothing more than
spectators received serious injury. A boy
of IL named Tom Fitzsimmons was shot in
the abdomen. He was picked up by another
spectator and in another moment the latter
had finger shot off. Ed Johnson, who came
here from Michigan just six days ago, had
run forward from Superior street to throw
stones at the police He turned, and when
half block away was shot through the brain
by bullet from rifle in officer Benson's
hand. Houses for two blocks were COM
pletely riddled with bullets, the same pane
Of glass in many instances. having half
tvzen holes The police after awhile were
Reinforced by Company X, State militia,
who did good work in clearing the street.
During the fray the policemen stood their
ground like heroes and poured q steady
and CALLING fire into the crowd of strikers.
Between the ranks of police and strikers
Duluth's intrepid. mayor, John B. Suthpin,
pushed his way and the firing ceased. He
told the strikers to clear the streets and go
to their homes. Hundreds lodged away
around the corners of adjacent streets and
then rush was made by the strikers to
carry of their wounded.
The following ringleaders have been ar
rested: Eric Lundgren, Joseph Frank,
Carl Carlson, Swan Hendblom, Adolph
Phick .,-,.s<ss.s, ..-,....,... ~ .-. -,
Every thing is in an unsettled state; po-
ice and militia and scores of specials are
patrolling the west-end streets All
saloons are close d in that end of the town.
Tho houses on the north side of Superior
street, from 1913 to 1705, are rtddled with
bullets. and plate glass windows are full
of bullet-holes. At 1905 large number of
rifle shots pierced the building, the people
taking refuge in the cellar stairway while
the shooting lasted
servant girl visiting in Finnish settle
ment heard number of men telling about
arrangements to burn some buildings She
told the sheriff, and one of the men has
baen arrested and the houses designated
are closely watched