Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-15

Characteristics OF the Town Settled by Iron
and steel Men.
-respondence q The Evening Star.

sun NorresIVh'ieuceo o. Inc Evening star.
HOMESTEAD, Pa. July IA, 1892.
Strikers are very curious people. mean in
literal sense. Men who, so long as they were
at work. paid no attention whatever to the bust
ness affairs Of other men. have devoted the
hours OF day and night to spying upon people
who have never elsewhere been regarded as
suspicious characters. OF all the curious ones
at Homestead commend me TO the young fell
low who sat around the Western Union press
telegraph Office and listened TO the news as II
was being sent away. That youth. if he has any
interest in his personal appearance, viii avoid
quite large number of newspaper correspond
ents. Il was evident to any one who watched
him mat he was listening to the saunders. but
as he always had body guard he
was unmOlested by those whom he most
annoyed An assault on him was an unlikely
thing. ANYHOW. The man who had dared strike
him would have been killed within a minute.
Well. this spy met his match one night. He
was a low-grade railroad operator. bat when he
tried to find out what was being sent he secured
pretty fair idea After awhile there entered
the Office an operator who. when he has a type
writer at the other end of the w;te. sends the
news in Abbreviated form. to be written ont
fully at the destination For several minutes
the champion operator Of Homestead listened
TO a long special dispatch which was being sent
The STAR. but he was evidently puzzled Sud-
denly be said: That fellows sending Chinese.
/ can't understand one word of the stuff" And
of he went
The arrival of the military seems to have eff
fected no change in the business arrangements
of the strikers Hundreds of the unemployed
loaf around the three-story brick building
which is here regarded as the temple OF labor
and liberty. All assemblies are held in big
square room. in which seating accommodations
for 800 people could easily be arranged. There
Is no furniture beyond two tables ard few
chairs. On the floor are the shavings and the
sawdust left there BY the carpenters for the
structure has not Vet received The finishing
touches From one OF the front windows n flag taft
protrUdes and from the pole hangs the ''stars
&c. and stripes" At the other windows variegated
collection Of mems heads is generally Displayed
tyres of half dozen nationaiities. From the
main room entrance may sometimes be had
into the two consultation rooms where the
committees bold their secret meetings.
There are dead Pinkertons somewhere in the
mIddv bottom of the Monongghela. How
many no one seems to know. but every one
who Is NJ all conyersaEt with the fight of a week
ago il sure that some of these days the river
will give up The corpses now slrouded in sand
ard river-hed debris. One body has already
come to the surface. 1t arose three days ago
and foated down almost to Pittsburg. A Pinker-
ton agent denied that il was one of the agency
employees, but The money 10 pay for burial
reached the undertaken through that same
agents hands. Some of the strikers who fought
said they saw four men. one of them evidently
wounded. drop of the baEGes. Every of
them sank at once. An endeavOr Is being made
to find some of the co-pses. Two men in a
boat have been dragging the stream in the vi
cinitv of the bridge fo= the past two days.
Working little nearer the shore. but in the
same vicinity have been several of the strikers.
Thew too hid drsg hooks out but had thew
raised c Pinkerton body would probably have
dropped il again. They were after box of
Winchester rifles which in some way or other
had gone down IN one of the barges YesIer-
da- afternoon the search seemed TO have been
given up. for sone Of the soldiers asked aek-
wardly pertinent questions OF the searchers.
Today saw the sane iitlle crowd at it again.
''We want them guns, said one Of the tO;!ers.
"aEd we want them row. i asked him why he
was so anxious to possess ride ut this time.s
To which ne mad. no reply: he simply worked.
Mention of arms reminds me that during
terday and today great deal Of ammunition
was hidden in various parts of the town: not
however. il places where il cannot be reached
without much trouble when the occasion for its
Use seems to have arrived.
1t was anticipated by some of the strike lead
ers that Homestead children would cause move
or less trouble by the truthful artieSsness OF
their comments, which, CT course would be
based upon remarks made by older members of
the household. The idea was erroneous. for the
children aud the soldiers are the best of friends
The little bows have learned how to salute and
they 90 il at every opportunity: the little girls
saw. ''Hello. soldier How de do?' / saw one
fat corp oral who today NJ one time and in one
place spent ut least dollnr buying lemonade
and cakes for group Of little tots whom he
had never seen before.
SOLDIERS NAY CHANGE THEIR VIEWS.
surprisingly large number Of men in
camp say they viii never fire a shot at any Of
the strikers. and was commenting with some
warmth, perhaps, on the INSTRUMENTATION dis
played
II talked that way once said the sergeant
with whom I was conversing. 81 had only
lust enlisted in the state troops when the rail-
road riots broke out. and ali INV sympathies
were with the strikers l wanted to get my
discharge, but the captain would not give it. so
went along. the most unwilling man in all the
company. Well. We got in n corner one day
Just as had been declaring nv intention never
to pull trigger. Some striker. failing to rec
og1liZe in me a warm friend and making no dis
tinction between hi supporters and those who
loved him not. cut 4 piece olt of NV loft ear
with bullet. Mad You bet was. believe
would have been shooting vet if the ammuni-
tion had no. given out. That's hos ii would be
with lots of these fools who talk as | talked
in II.
IN effort was recently made to scare Chi
caso correspondent vho came in Yesterday but
tie game would not work. He Is too tough
The incident i interesting because it shows how
good at least one strikers memory il. As the
tee stepped up 10 him and said:
You were here in the strike of 80 ard you
did Us dir. We marched yoG out OF town them
Be careful or well do il again"
And the meek yo-cgm man from the west gazed
at gro;Ip OF soldiers across the street. then
looked steadily in the strikers eyes and said
modestly:
World you have any particular objection TO
going to help
There was no fight and there has no. been any
eiecrment.
Many of the miltiamen learned lesson on
their trip 10 Homestead. Orders were issued
requiring every man to carry in his haversack
three days cooked rations. Comraratiyely
few Of the men Obeyed the order. They sup
posed they would go right through to the scene
Of inverted law and that it would be easy
enough to get little something to stave off
hunger. They were wrong. Most of he COM
mands we're in sidetracked cars all Monday
night, ard when TUESDAY morning dawned at
least half the force on the high road to
starvation. Next time there is a ration order
II will be regarded WORTHY a little attention.
GEO. III. HAREIEs
INCREASING THE OILERS.