St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1892-12-24

smiles at seeing InS WOlI 0I sgdTVdGlOn
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 little weazen faced,
blue eyed German miner, who had been
on the Black Eagle rolls for at least q
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 Welshman, an
Irishn1an and an Englishman, as their
names indicated-weTe not little anx.
ious about what ssthe 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. ftfully bright, which accentuated
the paleness of their rugged, careworn
faces. Emil Wagner, being called upon
to explain himself, said to them:
ssYour contest must fail if not carried
on upon plane where you and your
antagonists are equal, which is certainly
not that of resources. The destitution
and misery IN your wretched homes
should have convinced You of that by
this time. Where, then, are the starv-
ing miner and the arrogant mine owner
equal? Before the king OF terrors
Death. Let your masters know that il
you must starye you will not die alone
that those dear to You shall not die un
avenged. Make yourselves feared, il
you would be respected. Kill, if yor
yourselves wish to live"
"Who would you want killed? gasped
the English committeeman, quite aghast
81 want nobody killed, but it seems te
me the necessities of the situation in
clude using Superintendent Brattle as 6
warning"
"Why? What has he ever done te
you?" demanded Garrity.
ITO mel Nothing whatever. Ant
even if he had done me personally every
possible injury, not on my own account
would / wish his life taken. But he il
the representative of the power antag
onizing us, and his fate would warn oul
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
'sAnd destroy the field Of your EN-
p1oyment 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 s.sai
down" on Wagner, as he had all along
intended to do
fsIt i'll becomes man, old and intel.
ligent as you are, Mr.. Wagner" said he,
ssto talk in that mnrderous way, and we
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 a vivid
interest in the proceedings and had a
lively appreciation of the perilous quail
ity in the forces Emil Wagner had set
lin 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 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 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 a conspicuous1y 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 rough and dam
gerous path over the mountain, but en-
abled him to reach the superintendent's
house, which lay about half mile be-
yond the breaker, with but little risk of
being seen Ivy any one who might take
exception to his mission.
There were no lights in Mr.. Brattle's
windows when Hugh reached there, for
the hour was late, but his first timid tap
with the brass knocker on the door