Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-12-22


tearing his poor brothers throat, but
the knife at his own will quickly teach
him he, too; is but human. A man may
possess million dollars, but can have
only one life. You cannot coerce the
rich by mere interruption of their accu-
mutation of wealth; to bring them to
reason it is necessary to make them fear
death"
Such were the things Hugh heard
being said. And their author was one
of the last men in the community from
whom they might have been expected
old Emil Wagner-a little weazen faced,
blue eyed German miner, who had been
on the Black Eagle rolls for at least a
dozen years past.
The English speaking miners generally
did not take kindly to his ideas, but
they were accepted as gospel by the
Hungarians and Slavs, whose language
he spoke and to whom he had endeared
himself by many acts of kindness.
The strikers executive committee,
composed of David Evans, Patsey Gar
rity and Dan Cornell-a Welshman, an
lrishman and an Englishman, as their
names indicated-were not a little anx-
ious about what 1.-The foreigners" might
do and the possible consequences in
volved. In the hope of curbing Wag-
ner's pernicious influence they summoned
him before general meeting of the men
on Christmas eve. The scene of the
meeting was an impressive one. Having
no room large enough to hold them,
nearly all the 300 miners assembled in
an open space in the woods, where they
had stationed sentries to keep away
spies, Their only light was that of the
moon, fitfully bright, which accentuated
the paleness of their rugged, careworn
faces. Emil Wagner, being called upon
to explain himself, said to them:
"Your contest must fail if not carried
on upon a plane where you and your
antagonists are equal, which is certainly
not that of resources. The destitution
and misery i'll your wretched homes
should have convinced you of that by
this time. Where, then, are the starry
ing miner and the arrogant mine owner
equal? Before the king of terrors-
Death. Let your masters know that if
you must starve you will not die alone;
that those dear to you shall not die un-
avenged. Make yourselves feared, if
you would be respected. Kill, if you
yourselves wish to live"
"Who would you want killed." gasped
the English committeeman. quite aghast
81 want nobody killed, but it seems to
me the necessities of the situation in
clude using Superintendent Brattle as a
warning"
"Why? What has he ever done to
your demanded Clarity.
ITO me! Nothing whatever. And
even if he had done me personally every
possible injury, not on my own account
would wish his life taken But he is
the representative of the power antag-
onizing us, and his fate would warn our
masters that their slaves are in deadly
earnest"
whats the matter" shouted striker,
with touching capital where it is ten
derest-in its pocket? Burn the breaker!
Flood the miner
"And destroy the field of your EN-
ployment for months to come" respond
ed Wagner promptly; "hurting your
selves worst, since the county would
have to pay all the damages"
The discussion was long and grew hot.
Finally Chairman David Evans "sat
down" on Wagner, as he had all along
intended to do.
at i'll becomes a man, old and intel
ligent as you are, Mr.. Wagner" said he,
Hto ta1ly in tbot rprrd arn,,S WOW orl x,,a
want to hear no more of it"
That was the general sentiment of the
English speaking strikers, but when
Evans words were translated to the
brutal and obstinate Slavs they scowled
and walked away in grim silence.
Hugh Corrigan, though too young to
take any prominent part, felt vivid
interest in the proceedings and had
lively appreciation of the perilous quail
ity in the forces Emil Wagner had set
in motion. He knew that Mr.. Brattle's
danger was very real and not to be
charmed away by the Welshman's con-
servative rebuke. And if Wagner only
looked upon Mr.. Brattle as a superin-
tendent it was altogether as man Hugh
thought of him and conceived it his
duty to warn him. On his own account
solely? Well, hardly.
But Mr.. Brattle had daughter
Mary-who, in the young mans quite
unbiased and critical estimation, was
beyond all question the sweetest and
prettiest girl in the world. That de-
cided opinion had been arrived at by
him in the short space of two hours
upon a memorable afternoon six months
ago, when he acted as guide for Miss
Mary Brattle and three or four other
visitors through the intricate depths of
the Black Eagle mine.
Clearly it was an imperative neces-
sity that he should, for her sweet sake,
warn her father against the murderous
Slavs. He did not shut his eyes to the
fact that striker who made himself in
anywise prominent, even by the doing
of conspicuously good deed, was pretty
certain to be marked man and made
to suffer for it when the strike was
ended.
The road he took was a rough and dan