The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-04-11


tailed to spread the news OF the order
for general strike we're on hand at the.
various entrances to tie fair grounds.
Inc delegates were Quietly strung along
the fence from sixty ty-seventh street to
Fifty-sixth street in regular picket line
formation. George Gary, tue president OF
the Bridge Workers Union, as IN arshal OF
the forces. and with willing assistants his
work of detailing was well done. Each
side street lead n z to the grounds was pick.
eted on both sidewalks to make the canvass
OF incoming workers as complete as pos
eible. Are you union manp was the
tonholed with. and il the answer was in
the Affirmative the order of the council was
commu municated. Very few union men dis
obeyed the order. Ii tho subject OF
examination proved to be nonunion man.
short statement OF the condition or al
fairs was given. and his membership In the
union was solicited. No threats were made
OF bodily harm If be showed an ipclina-
tion TO proceed to work. As the hour ap-
preached s O'clock, the delegates began
some very lively work. The men who had
joined the strikers now constituted them
selves delegates. Some mounted boxes at
the. gate aud shouted Attention, union
men, or some such salutatIon. to attract
attention. Stump speeches on their grlev.
ances became the order OF the moment, and
more recruits were added to the ranks
At 7:45 party of half dozen dele
gates started in at the sixty.
the grounds. The party walked rapidly.
and by the time the transportation. cold
storage, electricity. mining. admlnlstra'
tion, agricultural and machinery buildings
70 nearly TWO hundred. When Ii arrived at
the Liberal Art Building. Dennis Healy, q
nonuniOn carpenter. denounced the strike.
he was promptly beaten into insensiblhty
by Edward Morris. union man. The BIZ
liant crowd OF strikers began cheering and
throwing hats III the air, bnt were soon
quieted by the leaders. who recognized the
danger OF overdOing the matter and the
possibility of the demonstration becoming
riotous. An order for dispersal was given
and laughIngly obeyed.
Decisive action was taken by the con-
struction department., ana orders were IS
sued to the uniformed mbian guards
to remove delegates found actively soli-
citing men to quit work. From that time
on patrol wagon calls were pretty frequent
The prompt removal OF the delegates an
Rered the crowd OF men at the
gates. and good , deal OF threat threat
ous personal encounters occurred between
strikers under the influence of liquor and
nonunion men who showed a disposition to
go to work. Finally. squad OF ofhcers
was called out. who ordered the mon TO
either 20 to work or leave the vicinity
The latter order taey were slow to obey.
and. as O result. several received some hard
raps from the officers clubs. who. alter
n,
men across the street. where they held
them by patrolling up and down In front OF
them.
ATTEMPT TO UNIoNIZE THE FAIR.
The strike was an attempt to unionize
the fair-nothing more. nothing less. The
labor leaders claimed that the worlds fair
had not kept faith with them. because they
had refused to consider the making of q
new agreement In the face of the fact that
the majority Of the contractors employed
by the exposition had already made ar
rangements with the men which were
entirely satisfactory to the latter. Nine
out of every ten men VINO struck
to-day were employed By con-
ing with them. Two years ago. when the
labor representatives made demands that
mono but union men should be employed at
the fair, they were asked IL they could
guarantee that the IN IN conld furnish
enough men at all rilnef, to enable the WORK
to be prosecuted without delay. After TAX
ing account of stock they were forced to
confess themselves not stroug enough to
furnish all the men the exposition might
require. They we're then informed by the
national commission that the government
could not and would not discriminate
against men because they were or were not
member of any labor organization. This
ended the argument on the union Ques-
by common consent. There never
was any agreement that none but
union men should be employed. Two
weeks ago the labor unions put In their re-
quest that nonunion men be discharged.
1t was refused. and from that time began
trouble. It is openly hlntcd, and OIL tho
other hand positively denied, that some
members of the bosses association have
winked at the strike because there were
men on the ground employed at less than
the terms required by the bosses agree
ment with the Building Trades Council.
The men have an iron-cla agreement with
the bosses binding them not to strike, yet
they struck and mono of the bosses seemed
greatly disturbed over the prospect. The
strike was strike of the labor leaders.
and not q strike OF the men. The vast ma
jority of the men were un willing to strike,
and only went out when ordered by the
delegates, and most of them very unwIll-
ipgly.
There was some trouble in inducng some
| of the men to quit, and the walking dele
gates were compelled to do active mission
| cry work in ordering them of the grOunds.
| There was trouble. TOO. during the day.
| and between SA. NJ. and 4 P. n. four men
were arrested for fighting and creating
| trouble. The first man to- be arrested was
! Z. HeinemaD, striking carpenter. who
| interfered with men who were disposed to
| work. Oswald Weinhuid was also too
| forcible in his arguments and was taken
| into custody. John Matthews and Viii.
| liam Hughes were arrested for lighting and
| Edward Morris for creating small riot
| He was working In the manufacturers'
building when ordered by the walking
delegate to quit work. and, a. he packed up
his tools. said to man near him:
| why don't you Quit to0I"
''I don't see it that way." was the reply.
"Then you're scab," shouted Morris, at
| the same time calling the workman q vile
| name The next instant he was fiat ON his
| back and countless stars were dancing In
| front OF his eyes, He arose and made
| further remarks and was knocked fiat a
| second time. score or more of strikers
hastened To his assistance. and large
number of ncnunion men came to the de-
| fense of his opponent Clubs and fists few
| lively for few minutes, and matters were
rapidly growing serious when deiach-
| mont of the Columbian guards and some of
| the cooler heads among the laboriDg men
| succeeded in parting the belligerents.
| There were several cracked heads. bloody
noses and black eyes, but no serious injury
was done on either side. The union men
were then marched Oft the ground. leaving
| the nonunion men in full possession.
Outside of the worlds fair grounds
| proper the most i'm portant building enter
| prise in the CITY TO be affected by the strike
| was the Mackay Spectatorium. For
| several months past upwards OF athousand
| men have been employed on this gigantic
| structure. The building confronts the
| north gate of the exposition grounds, and
| the men at work upon it are in constant
! communication with those inside the
gates. Owing to the f8ot that none but
| union men have been employed on the
| spectatorium since April ], and that AN ad-
| vance over the current rate OF wages has
been pai d, the effect of the strike was not
4 nhsarya1 fhara unfrl paar uuiffinU time