Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-07-28
THE HOMESTEAD FIGHT.
THE DEADLY RIOT
INyPENNSYLVANIA-
|Eeaceful$ Scenes Transformed Into Car
h mage GnotsL6ne of the Most Desperate
Battles in the History of Riots-Bualets,
Q1l and nyHamite.
Begfnning of the Trouble.
Homestead, fPa) Correspondence.

Homestead, fPa.) Correspondence.
BAIT ;atfs4 weeks ago and Homestead
was the scene of busy industry, of hap
pinsss and prosperity. The panderous
machinery of the great steel plant OF
4 Andrew Carnegie-the LIE of tAe village;
shook the very earth, and scattered
through the works were nearly 4,1eo
Enen, sbrawny of arm and stout OF heart,
Soiling in the heat Of hundreds of
furnaces for the support of themselves
and families. Quiet reigned IN THE
streets. Laughter rolled from the oozy
lhonqes of the workmen, where joyous
children sported and wives and dansgff-
tiers contentedIy went through thein do,
.mestic duties. Almost pastoral peace.
sat on the bare hilksides eof the south
eide that looked down upon the INDUS
trial scene below, and on the sylvan
hill to the north thatlay neAectedD ON the
shining waters of the Monongahela.
Then cloud appearedlin the horizon.
Small at first, it gradually grew larger
;and darker, amid then burst. Ihe
Carnegie Steel Company, limited, with
ae capital of $25,00Qs0o0, could net,
they said, afford to pay the wages
to their employees in Homestead
which the latter had been receiving since
the middle of 1889 Conferences were
gamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers, to which the Carnegie Home
stead employees belonged, and the com
pany, but no Statistic ctary basis of wages
could be determined on, and I'll. q.
Prick. President of the combined Gar
negie interests, put AN end to all con
ferences and locked out the employees,
declaring that henceforth they would
have no dealings with the men s'organ-
ization and employ vnn ~ non-sunion men.
Comparative quiet followed for a few
days. The locl1ed-o,tt employees divided
themselves into watches and patrolled
the village and vicinity to prevent the
entrance of strangers who might take
their places i'm the works. They were
we'll conducted, sober, determined, and
united
Sheriff McCleary. of Allegheny Coun-
ty, on application Of I'll. G. Prick, went
to Homestead to make preparations for
the guarding of the works. The steel
workers We're not damaging property.
They were not 0n the company's grounds
and did not seek to scale the eleven
foot wooden palisade, surmounted by
three strands of tarbed wire, which the
company had erected for their eXclu-
sion. They asserted the company 5
property was not ia danger and offered
IL L
best citizens Of Home stead, pledging
heavy bonds for the faithful perform
ance of duties. Nevertheless eleven
deputies were sent to Homestead.
They were met by a crowd of steel
workers and were promptly sent back
to Pittsburg.
This was the first cloud that spread
itself over peaceful, industrial Home
stead. Dark though it was, it merely
prcluded another cloud of differenthue-
the nimbus OF war; Early ON that
Wednesday morning the latter first
dashed in the sky, when 800 Plnkerton
men were sent from Pittsburg by the
Carnegie Company to their Homestead
works. Dreadful were the results, and
before the night fell the bank and waters
of the Monongahela were crimson
stained, the morgues Of the village were
crowded with dead, private homes Were
clicked with the wounded, the harges OF
the Carnegie deputies" on the river
were riddled with shot and she'll, the
decks were strewn with dead and dying
while the country stood amazed!
Rushing" to isattie.
Never in the bloody history of riots in
the State, except during the great rail
road war of 1877 has there been such
carnage and such a battle as attended
the coming of the Pinkerton men to
Homestead. In the gray of early dawn
two barges, towed by the steamboats,
Little Bill and the Tide, were dlseov-
cred by scouts of steel workers bearing
down on the placid waters OF the
Monongahela on Homestead. Horse
men spread the tidings through the
village, and the steam whistle OF the