The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-22
PEACEFUL AT GILMAN
No Signs Of Violence Among the
Striking Miners.
THREATS AMOUNT TO LITTLE.
Charges Of Intimidasion siftsd down.
Arguments From Both Parties
TO the Controversy.

There were no more signs Of trouble at
Gilman yesterday than there were the day
before. and the reports that the striking
miners contemplated violence towards any
men who went to work seem to have been
based on exaggerated fears rather than any
serious threats or well-grounded appre-
hension. The deputy sherif1s patrolled
the railroad and the coal company's
property, but found no occasion to exer-
else their authority. The miners gathered
in knots on the streets, but did not offer to
modest any man, and, although they had
plenty Of money to squander, Friday hav-
ing been pay day. only two men were OBJ
served to be under the influence of liquor
and they were said by the miners to be
strangers in the town.
The first definite reason given by Super
intendent Parker for the application for
protection is the statement that George +.
Jarvis, engineer of the pumps at No. l
slope had received q threatening letter.
Mr.. Jarvis gave the facts of the matter to
the Posr-INrELLIGxNcER correspondent as
fellows: "When the grievance COM
mittee came to me with Sheriff
Woolery on Friday, I did not know
anything about any letter having
been received and told them had received
none. for that was the first knew about
it. Then two of the committee went over
70 my house and asked my wife about it
and she said the letter had been received.
Without waiting for further information
they went away and spread the report that
my wife and had told contradictory
liege any letter had been received. After
<Jrn 1nTk -, I
went home and asked my wife about it.
She told me that she found letter adj
dressed to me lying on the tool-chest in
the engine-house last Friday week and
opened it. 1t said that if l went down
the slope must beware of shots. 1t was
signed the X. Of L. She showed it to
Mrs. Saunders, next door to US, and asked
what she should do with it. Mrs. Saun-
ders advised her to burn it and say moth
ing to anybody about it and let her inquire
about it. Ny wife says that she did so
and said nothing to me about it, because
she did not want to wake me, as / was
sleeping at the time, and she kept it secret
afterwards because she did not want to ex-
cite me. / don't know who could have
sent it, but am satisfied that the letter
was SENT
The miners committee does not believe
that either Mr.. or Mrs. Jarvis ever received
such letter. They say that even if the
Knights Of Labor wished to use threats to
prevent any man from working, which
they deny, they would not threaten
Jarvis. When the strike was declared, it
was agreed to make no objection TO the
continued working of the pumps, as that
is necessary to keep the mines free from
water. The miners recognize the fact that
it is as much to their interest as to
that OF the owners to keep the mine free
from water, in order that it may be in lit
condition for them to resume work when
the strike is settled. 1t has always been
their custom not to interfere with the
bumpers when strike was going on.
Even if such letter was received, they
say that the writer was either some hot
headed fool, acting on his own response
bility, or practical joker or an employee
of the company who wished to manu-
facture an excuse for calling in the sheriff.
Another case of threatened violence was
sifted down to question of yeracity be-
tween the inundated and the intimi-
dator. John Cowell, brother-in-law of
Mr.. Crossley, the assistant foreman, was
the only man who wished to work in No.
l slope on March 13. when the strike began.
The other day, in conversation with
his neighbor, George Taylor, he said that
the best thing the discharged men from
No. vein could do was to 60 away and
get work somewhere else until that part
Of the mine was operated again. Taylor,
30 Cowell said, replied by applying an OPP
probrious epithet to him, and saying that
the first man that went to work would be
hanged. Mr.. Taylor happened to come up
when this statement was being made and
was asked whether it was true. He told
Cowell he was liar, but the latter reiter-
ated his statement. Thus it SINNERS
down to question of veracity between the
two men.
Superintendent Parker says that Henry
Reece, a miner in No. 4. said to him that
before they did get out they would s'do
for" him, but he does not attach any inn
portance to the words.
These are all the definite instances of
threats which could be found. and thew
seem to be no more than extreme expres-
sions of opinion by individuals, which
there was no intention of putting into ac-
ton. The miners committee denies that
any intimidation is contemplated, and
says that any man who wishes to work is
free to do so without interference from the
strikers.
The miners committee claims that it il
unnecessary to use threats or intimida-
ton, as the slope and No. men are unan-
imous in favor of striking. They deny
that the No. men were outvoted or in
Inundated in the meeting by the discharged
men from No. 4, but say, on the contrary,
that the slope men were invited to express
their views on the question of sharing up,
did most of the talking and were most en-
phatic in favor of the movement: in fact.
the proposal first came from them. A
number of the No. men were asked per-
sonally by the correspondent whether they
wished to go to work and whether thew
had been prevented by threats or intimida-
ton of any kind. They all replied that
they favored dividing up the work, had
not been intimidated, and several of them
laughed at the idea of intimidation.
The miners committee say that thew
we're misquoted in yesterdays telegram
from Gilman when they were made to saw
that Mr.. Parker had picked out men to
work in No. seam with the intention of
freezing them out. They do not make
that statement. They do claim, however,
that the men from the slope and No. 1
seam were in the majority, as they were
10 in total Of 500 men. The meeting
was not composed only of miners, but of
all the men employed in the mine, timber
men and laborers included They admit
that the members of the committee are all
discharged men from No. mine, but saw
that they were elected at the regular QUAR-