The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-17

to place persons within the guard house
The working force At tho Poorman aAd III
ger mines. ninety-six mon. were arreste,
to.dAy az they came OF shift, and mot ever
allowed to doff their wet clothes or get any
thing to eat before being marched off unde,
q guard Of regulars. Il 10 martial law will
. vengeance.
After all those in convenient places ar
found squads Of soldiers will be sent on
into the hills whore union mon are said Il
be seereted in deserted cabins. Judg,
Fraser and Postmaster Marsh, of Mullan,
have bean arrested, Fraser for incitinR rio'
and Marsh, who 10 a telephone operator
for circulating government dispatches. Ar
application has been made to have = perma
nsnt garrison established hers.
IN THE MILL. .H
sion.
SPOKANE, July lev. w. Wood. a
refugee from the fury Of tho union strikers.
arrived in this city last evening. His FIRST
exclamation to an acquaintance who met
him wal one of th%ankfulness for his escape.
Wood has passed through an ordeal that
he will never forget. He was one of the
ninety mon at work In the Frisco mill when
the strikers besieged it. It vas his lot to
share in the terrible explosion there.
Wood presented q pitiable appearance;
h his e et@sn,ns rss r se,'e ind sna sss 81 . s., sas
mental strain. He best relates the exper-
fences he had in his own words:
II went up to the CGur d'Alene country
about q week ago. ! was out Of work and
needy, and was glad to get hold Of anything
I could. l went to Wallace and applied to
me TO the Frisco mill to do shoveling work.
The first indication l had OF approaching
trouble was on Sunday night. when two
boxes OF arms were received at the mill for
distribution among the soabs, rs the union
men were pleased to call as. I Thought
that something was wrong. There
Q not enough Of guns to 60 around.
had no arms. I awoke just about dawn on
Monday morning and looked out. The first
thing ] saw was about fifty armed men on
the bills around us. looked this way and
that, and l could see nothing but men all
around us. For the first time I really felt
scared. but what could l do? was there.
and l proposed to stay there with the boss.
"The men around us drew nearer; then
a fusilade of shot like q hail.
storm. There must have been fifty shots
fred before any of Us returned q shot. This
I'll swear to. The shot continued to II
in upon rs through the roof ana through
the windows. When I think OF it now l
can't help believing my escape was miracu-
lous, but the worst had yet to come.
after a while some of the union men
withdrew from the immediate vicinity of
the mill, though the gums didn't stop pop
ping for a minute. They fixed up a car
with giant powder and started it down the
grade toward the mill: intending to blow
rs up. The powder exploded inst before it
reached the mill and tore up the track, but
didn't injurs the mill. I tell you there were
some awful thoughts gliding through our
minds at that moment, as the roar of the
explosion reached our ears and shook the
building. The most of us took
to the bottom of the mill in search
didn't know what was coming, and ex-
pected that every minute would be our
last. Hardly had We partially recovered
the first explosion when crash went
the buildings over our heads--flst to the
ground, as If lsvelsd BY an earthquake.
realized myself alive for = mo-
ment. The strikers had foated giant pow
down the spout that leads to the fume.
lust as soon as it struck the water wheel it
off.
1--WE all rushed to tho new building that
standing beside the mill and was IN
and what did these sleuth hounds
do but shoot at Us like beasts of prey.
When we reached there we hung out a flag
Of truce, and they stopping firing. Then
they ran US down to the miners union hall
at Gem and kept US there until the Gem
had surrender ed. Then we were shipped
20 Wallace in box cars and Q n home from
there by the mine wners.
"We were t~wenty-four hours without
to eat or drink. Tho first meal
We got was at Wallace. where the mine
owners gave US our suppers. The union
men looted everything we had. I lost nv
bedding n satchel. We were not allowed |
10 take anything with us, and I tell you We
thankful to be spared our lives.
II saw one dead man. a non-union man,
who was q Mason. His body was robbed of
MS gold charms of the order; his watch was
and everything of value. They
everything they could lay their hands
On.
Now they're starting a story that some
If the n%on-union miners shot themselves.
It's q bare-faced lie. Not one of them shot
himself. They were shot down by the union