The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1891-04-11
The Strikers in the Coke Region In
Pennsylvania Engage in a
Midnight Ri0t.
They Make q Raid on the Prick
Works and Are Driven
Back.
The Guards Fire Two Rounds and
Kill Seven and Wound
About Forty.
The Raiders We're Armed with Re-
volvers, Stones, Clubs and
Determination.
The Dead were Left on the Ground,
and the Wounded Car
ried Away.
The Coke Region Aroused.

The Coke Region Aroused.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa, April 2.-Om-
inous signs of the gathering of a storm in
the coke regions have been observed by
experienced strikers here for some time,
and at two o'clock this morning they TO-
cused and burst with sudden fury at the
Norwood plant, whichI has proved
such a bone of contention between the
strikers and their employers. The fight
was brief and deadly. Two rounds of
cartridges were fred by a band of IS
guards and seven of the charging mob of
strikers fell dead, while at least forty
others were wounded, how badly cennot
be definitely stated, as they were taken
away by their companions. The strikers
killed instantly by the fire were:-Creszo
Bitero, an italian, of the Tarrs, sh t
through the breast; John Eudora, of the
the STANDARD, single, shot through the
brain; Antonio Rist. a Pole, single, of
the Standard works, shot through the
head; Jacob ~Schucaskey, a Pole of the
Tarrs, shot through the brain, married,
wife in Poland. James Prochte, q. Pole.
single, of the Tarrs, shot though the
head; Valentine Zeidel, a Slav, of the
Donnelly, shot through the jugular;
Paul Dchannis, a Slav, of the Standard,
shot in the head, single. The attack on
the Norwood plant was we'll planned
and conceived and headed by men de-
termined evidently to intimidate the
men working there once for all. At
II o'clock, small bodies Of strikers
began to gather on the hill. AS usual
during a raid, they were
ARMED WITT REvOLvERs.
stones, iron bars and everything obtain
able. Headed by their drum corps,
they marched first to the Standard works,
where they deliberately destroyed both
the telephone and telegraph wires so
that word of their coming could not be
sent to Norwood. While at the Stand
ard works they incidentally destroyed
anything movable they might find. The
strikers created all the noise possible
from the surrounding hills, intending to
apprise those of their fellow strikers in
the vicinity of their intentions to raid.
Their march to the Standard works had
been been but a heller shelter affair,
each man of the five hundred in line
merely making all the noise possible in
order to increase their number for a
more desperate raid on Norwood, where
it was known that IS guards had been
placed, with orders to fire if necessary.
Some time after two o'clock this
morning the guards at Norwood
heard from Standard that q raid
was imminent. Now the frightened men
left at the Standard had plucked up
courage enough to repair the wires and
warning reached the Norwood plant
none too soon. As the noisy band of
strikers now numbering fully twelve
hundred men approached that plant,
their outcries ceased, their drum corps
was silenced and the ugly crowd gath
cred in a bunch on the black hills over
looking the plant, for moments parley be-
fore attacking the plant they knew to be
we'll guarded by determined men. There
was
A MOMENTS ~HEsITANCY,
but the fact that they we're twenty to n
strong encouraged the strikers and they
quietly separated, one large detachment
advancing on the works by the main
road, while others scattered over the
brow of the hill, and shortly after 8
o'clock, at a given signal, they all moved
down on the works. The night was of
inky blackness; but the guards were ap-
prised of the movements of the attacking
party by confused mutterings in a for
eign tongue, or subdued orders from the
leaders. Under the orders OF Captain
Loar, IS guards stood quietly in line be-
fore the works. their Wlnchesters peace
fully Eat rest" Suddenly a break was
made by the advancing mob toward the
fences Of the company. A stern order
to halt was given; but the only atten-
ton it received was the firing of three
shots by members of the mob, which
whistled a warning close to the heads Of
the impassive guards, each of whom was
we'll drilled and was simply there to obey
orders. After the shots were fred by the
strikers, they turned and made q dash to-
ward the stables of the company, without
firing q shot. The guards were ordered
to follow and the command was again
given the strikers to halt. They only
retreated further down the road and an
swered the order with yells and threats.
Again was the command given and again
came the hooking answer, and the o7der
to fire was given by Capt. Loar.
THE voL1EYs FROM THE w1NcHEsTERs
were we'll directed and but few rounds
were necessary to drive the frightened
rioters back into the hills where hun
dreds of their fellow strikers had gath
cred in anticipation of assisting in the
raid, but not in q battle with such q de-
termined band of guards. The firing on
both sides continued hardly three min
utss. The volleys from the guards had