Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24
LITTLE BUT HORROR
tVinced at the Capital When the
News of Mr.. Frick's Shooting
WAS FLASHED OVER THE WIRES.
expressions of Relief That the assassin Is
Not a ilomesteader.
A SCENE BETWEEN OATES AND DEvLIN
rrRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT

homestead lOcked-out worKmen and tn
PiRkertons no such feeling has been es
hibited here in regard to the tragedy no,
being enacted in the conflict between capital
Ism and the system of wageworking as tina
OF to-day, when the news was received o
the attempted, and now apparently success
ful Assassination Of Chairman Frick, of tn
Carnegie companies.
Like the news of that terrible affair, tn
news of the shooting of Mr.. Frick reached
the House and Senate early in the after
noon. A look of horror was manifest Oh
almost every face, and members turned t.
one another and asked what would be the
next terrible episode in the really revolu
tionary proceedings in and about Home
stead.
While every one recognized that the at
tempted assassination was not the work o
any OF the immediate actors in the Homestead
strike, they also recognized that it was tn,
act OF one in sympathy with them, crank Of
luuatic as the case might be, and that it i.
an act without a precedent in the annals Of
wage warfare except perhaps, in the case
OF a few brutal landlords in ireland, but q
precedent. nevertheless, which might at any
time bear bloody fruit in other assassina-
tions
The Most Suggestive of Acts.
Berkman might be Nihilist Anarchist,
lunatic or what not; his act was one of the
most startling that has yet occurred, and far
more suggestive than even the fight with
the Pinke-tons or the bombs of the Chicago
Anarchists of the extremes to which this
derlorable industrial conflict is reaching
and the subversioE of law and order which
is the result OF that conflict
Congressman who could be reached were
very Slow to express a personal opinion
upon the matter, except to condemn the at
tempted assassination in general and forci-
bic terms. Not even the most radical pub
lie men had one word but of horror for
the act, though not only they, but even
many OF the more conservative, say they
had expected such outcome and had been
surprised that it had not occurred sooner at
the hands of some one worked up to a con-
ultlon OF insane frenzy by the events of the
last two weeks.
One Senator, who has been very broad
and clear in his utterances in regard to the
Homestead affair, said the shooting, no
matter whether by crank or otherwise, is a
illegal, violent and horrible result of the
conflict.
Much wonder is expressed that Mr.. Frick
should have exposed himself as he did,
ol'fN-IllN Ill N4tM Oi IDe experience OF huS-
sell Sage and others in New York who are
forced TO guard their offices and lives with
Watehmen from cranks who merely seek to
get money by threat of violence
Considered "A Trifle Rash,
Much speculation is INDUCED in as to the
e-.-ct upon public sentiment for or against
The woEkmen The first judgment of nearly
every one was that it would turn all syni-
p#;hy against them, and, reaching farther
than the affair now on hand, would en-
gender a bitter and forceful antagonism
against all that is included in the phrase
''ne labor movement" A later Judgment
seems tG be growing up, however, that as
,ae would-be assassin was in no way con-
nectej with the lockout, except as fellow
NaCeWOTReT in another. industry, and that
rs lie Is possibly a crank after the Guiteau
ivpe, the shooting should not affect the
sentiment of the public against the men,
who, II is believed, have shown much con-
slderation for the feelings and persons of
their employers.
Opinions of the Workiucmen,
Among what may be called 'the working
classes" of Washington, however, the sem
sation Is quite different from that expressed
by most of the Congressman. On SATURDAY.
afternoon nearly all of these classes, COM
prising the vast number of printers of yari-
Gus kinds in the Government Printing
Office Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
etc, Government clerks on small salary,
messengers and workmen of the various
trades, all sympathetic, are dismissed at 3
o'clock. These could be seen gathered
everywhere on street corners and favorite
places of resort, discussing excitedly the
attempt at assassination.
While murder in any circumstance was
admitted to be savage and brutal, it must
be confessed that, coupled with depreca-
tion Of the attempted assassination, there
was usually a denunciation of the severe
methods which, as they believe, Mr.. Frick |
mas always employed in the treatment of |
wage workers. |
On all sides the shooting is the one topic
oi conversation, and at every turn excited |
colloqules may be heard often very |
grotesque, of the rights of the Pinkertons,
the rights of workmen, the rights of employ. |
ment of armed forces to drive out union /
men and put in non-union men at the be-
hest of capitalists, the right of ASSASSINATION,
the right to private ownership of the |
means of production and distribution Even
some of the arguments of those who might
be called conservative are so advanced
that they would drive an old-fashioned |
economist mad could he hear them.
knights Harmins Their Case.
Doubtless those who are on the side of the
at any time expected a report specially in
their favor from members of the House
Judiciary Committee who visited Pittsburg
TO examine into the Homestead affair
Every member of the subcommittee select
ed for the investigation is lawyer, as well
as politician, and somehow LAWYERS do not
seem to have much expected of them on the
part of laboring men when engaged in such
missions. Even if this were well-founded
view, certainly the representatives OF the
knights of Labor who have engaged in the
investigation here, somewhat outside of the
usual line of proceeding in such affairs, have
not helped their cause, but possibly in
jured it.
In the first place, they boldly assumed
that the committees examination of the
Pinkerton brothers would not be thorough,
and so intruded series of their own Ques-
tions which they insisted should be asked !
and answered. To old lawyers, used to
keen eross-examinations and having full
confidence in their own integrity of purpose,
this was decidedly irritating, but the re-
quest of the knights was granted the Pink
ertons being permitted to have the written
questions TO study upon during a recess
taken soon after their presentation.
Disposed TO Feel Disgruntled.
Notwithstanding the acquiescence of the
committee, somewhat grudgingly given, it
is true, the Knights felt that they had been
!-treated and were disposed to let their
feeling be known. Ali last evening and
this morning Devlin, Wright and Hayes
busted themselves decrying the work of the
Pinkertons and capitalists, and just before
Congress convened to-day De-iin maize q
accaOa of onpacino in 81 lS,lruff