The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-21

Then tfaAs lslI bad, and, there being poor
market for coal, received instfueti0us rom
Mr. Wilson, the manager, to lay on the NO.
seam enflfely and make up tho payroll fof the
man working IN II, which did, ana the men
wers paid OF today. The No. miners decided
that hey shouid share mp the work af the stope.
They az the miners - : body did 20, but It was
really tho No. men, because they arc the ma
1osity. and few Of their friends In No. l. The
maloF1ty Of the men In No. 1 seam and In the
otope wero willing 70 60 70 work, and Say 20. but
they were afraid Of personal violence. In NO.
- that time there wers scventy-fye miners, IN
No. seam twenty-four minen, and In the stops
1hfsty-four miners. Thus the No. men were ID
tie majority, and BY intimidation brought the
Others into line with them. Dividing up the
work meant at the outsids from four TO six days
work month for every man, and the company
preferred 70 Give the men In No. ! and the stope
: chsncc 20 make living and ave . little In
preference to having lot Of men ont at the Oh
bows and unable to pay their board bills.
The charge that transferred men 70 Nost4 ana
3 because they were sntaRonistic to me, with
lie intention Of shutting those seams down, 10
IN emphatic lie On the contrary, they were
constantly worrying me TO give them work In
No because the digging II easy and they could
make Sl5o in four hours there. The reason
why No. 4 was stopped Is that the roof 10 good
and would stand for few months with very
little attention. The roof In No. u very bad
and has TO be worked every day and to have
constant care to keep It up. It Il Of snch a ma
tufs that unless u Il tmbered nearly al over Il
comes down, q Il II composed Of inferior coal,
elay ana bone six feet thick, and 1t would Be
unbusinesolike impractical and suicidal to allow
Jack, Tom and Harry to 60 IN and work tho coal.
leroQuires careful men and the same men to
work u steadily. The No. coal u the best We
haso rot Ct present, and Il 70 much cheaper for
che company TO work this steadily every day
than 70 work Il - We have been doing lately,
Nfteen Or twenty days month. The letting
out Of thcss men II no unusual proceeding. Il
q common ID The East, and 10 done wherever
skefe q mining camp.
Mr.. Parker claims that the men in the
ttope and No. seam would go to work
but for the threats and intimidation of the
discharged men, and it il to protect them
that he has asked for police protection.
He said:
We hare no Pinkerton men here. We look to
ne county for protection and do not propose to
look 70 any outside body for aid. / am very
eos1y e has come TO the point that free Amcri-
oanG cannot work here. I never agreed to the
division e work last October. Iput on night
shift and threw ont many men after the creek
broke thwu8h Into the mine, instead Of divid-
Ing mp and give each man . full day. While
have bean here the men have made more money
ana have had better times than ever before, and
1 am veTy sorry they cannot work peaceably and
teepect the agreement they made with
Nc last August II looks very
much q II the men Of Gilman don't know how
- mnke IN agreement, or when they do mako
enc they have mot honor enough to keep 1t.
Y1enty Of men In camp can swear to that agree.
ment being accepted IN open session, and the
men had copy Of Il
Mr.. Parker attributes the quiet payday
y the presence Of the deputies, but says
that last payday the men acted like lot
ofdemons, breaking through the partition
e the pay-car and raising pandemonium.
Disinterestod citizens who are acquainted
with the miners In No. seam and the
stope ridicule the idea that they wish to
return TO work, and dcnounce the bring
Ing IN Of the guards a. . reflection on the
law-abiding character of the people.