The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-31
Current Events.

On the London DOCKS, nun Derlng dOou'
$4,000 but from them has extended 10 the
steyeiores, wstermen, lightermeD, river
sailors, carriers, mboat engineers and
enough smaller labor organizations belong
inc 10 the dock lsborers' union TO swell the
number 10 10000 men. To these must be
added vast number more Of vessel hands,
factory hands and others who are thrown
out of work by stoppsge on account of the
impossibility 10 get coal and other supplies
during the cessation of business on the
docks. The Thames Is as quiet as II com-
merce were unknown 20 London. The
docks are deserted and their gates barred,
Over 900 vessels lie moored 10 whsrves
awaiting csrgoes 10 be unloaded. Vast
stores of perlshable freight are already
ruined. 5000 tons of meat alone from
New Zealand are rottlng on the British In
dia Company's docks, and perishable fruit
beyond estimate Is decaying In the holds
of idle vessels.
The demands of the laborers seem to be
few and simple. They ask an average adj
vance of less than a half-penny an hour
simply that their pay for steady work shall
be pence, and pence for overtime, the
latter 10 be counted from p m. to a. m,
and they demand the abandonment OF the
contract system, under which sweaters"
take the contract TO load or unload vessels
and make money by squeezing down the
wages Of the men.
Thus far the strikers have quietly sub.
mitted 70 the leadership of one Of the heads
of their guild John Burns, who has been
able 70 keep them In order but when, on
Wednesday evening, II was announced that
the dock companies had peremptorily re-
fused the fiual compromise aifored by the
men, Burns Is understood to have express
ed his despair OF being able longer TO con
troll the men, ami there Is no cOncealing II
that the city is thoroughly alarmed. With
the 100000 idle men already involved, to
say nothing of their families and depend
ents, an outbreak might assume dimen.
slcns enormous beyond comprehension, or
course with such mob the police could
do nothing, and military control would
necessarily involve enormous bloodshed II
not serious revolutionary outbreak.
The bulls In the wheat market have
scored point or two during the past few
days In consequence Of dispatch that the
Vienna Congress of dealers, after careful
collection of statistics bearing upon the
subject, announce shortage Of over 300
000,000 bushels In the wheat crop OF the
world for the current year. A lively de-
mand for expectation from this country Is
therefore confidently counted upon.
A Rome dispatch of the 25th to the New
York Herdld announces positively that the
departure of the Pope from Rome has been
decided upon, aud that detailed arrange
ments have been made for his future resi-
dence In pain,
The strike of the coal miners nj Spring
Valley Is at an end. 1t Is ended by an or
der from w. l.. Scott, who substantially
owns the mines, 10 close them down for
six months at least; and az much longer
as II may take again to operate them profit
ably. The men demand IS CTS. a ton: Mr..
Scott says IS cts Is the highest he can pay.
At that figure he says his coal In Chicago
will cost him $177l9 ton, while Southern
Illinois coal sells In the same market AT
$l75. At 50 cts. a ton, the price lately
paid, the miners average 1871 a month at
Is cts. they would average $2S. less a
dollar or 80, Ia both cases. for the purchase
of oil, powder, sharpening tools, &c. The
men say, and truly, TO accept the wages Of
fered means starvation. Mr.. Scott with
equal force says to pay the wages demand
u.
Meantime II is said there Is great demand
for miners, at good wages, In Alabama and
Washington Territory, and free Transports
ton bsing offered them, the bulk Of the
Spring Valley miners will probably mi-
crate TO the new fields. But what about
poor Spring Valley? Despair says late
dispatch, sis stamped on the face of every
business man here, Property once high In
price can now be bought for song"
Quite a serious railroad accident occur.
ed near kinsman, Grundy county, Is miles
northeast Of Streator, at 8 o'clock on Mon
day morning The vestibule train on the
Santa Fee Road, from Kansas City to Chi
cago, heavily loaded with Grand Army
veterans on their way to Milwaukee, was
partly thrown from the track by the spread
ing of the rails, and two Pullman sleepers
and the dining car we're thrown down an
embankmen, 8 or 10 feet high, and num-
Der Of the passengers seriously hurt. The
dispatches to the Chicago papers say over
fifty were badly hurt, two or three fatally;
but gentleman from Kinsman, who was
at the wreck half an hour after II occurred
and knows all about II, informs us that but
10 were seriously Injured, and of these but
one perhaps fatally.
One of the most daring deeds on record
was that of a highwayman on the Goth,
who held up and robbed the stage between
Gogebic and Gogebic lake In Northern
Michigan AS the stage was running
along In dense forest, the man jumped In
front and pointing two navy revolvers at
the driver ordered him 10 throw up his
hands and halt, at the same time extend
Ing the same order TO four passengers in
side the coach, with the additional invita-
tion TO shell out, One Of the passengers
however, a Chicago man, who went down
into his pockets, Instead of bringing up his
pocket book hauled out revolver and
opened on the highwayman. The latter
returned the fire, wounding one Of the 10.
side passengers and fatally shooting Mr.
Fleischbein, of Belleville, Ill, who sat
with the driver, and tumbling off was left
10 be plundered and die In the road, while
the stage hurried on to Its destination. I'll
seems 10 be settled that the name of the
desperate Is Halliday, who not long ago
went through a railroad train In the same
region, who has for months been terror In
Norhern Wisconsin and is called the Jesse
James of the North. A large posse of
men Is now In pursuit of him, aided by a