The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-07-19
WORSE THAN SIBERIA
lNHUMANiTY WHICH Is MORE CRUEL
THAN BARBARlSM.


Men Shot Down. Starved and Left to Die
Alone When In-How Railroad Ii
Building In This Great Christian Land.
Authorities Criminally Silent.
Several times during the past winter
and spring incomplete stories of horrors
enacted in the hills of Monroe county,
Pa. along the line of railway which is
being constructed, have come out, but
the general public is not aware of the
terrible condition which has existed there
since the first of this year, and which
still exists. Recently investigations have
been made by newspaper reporters and
private citizens which uncover horri-
BILE and at the same time exceedingly
sad picture The railroad which is be-
ing constructed is called the Wilkes
barre and Eastern, and it is on the d.
vision extending from Tannersville to
Mount Pocono that the horrors referred
to have occurred.
Contractors have engaged men through
agencies in the cities of the east and in
the south to work at railway construction
and have made glittering promises as 70
climate, conditions and remuneration
Lately fully half of the workers have
been negroes brought from the south,
and the rigors of hard winter and
spring in the mountains, with poor
shelter, sparse clothing and insufficient
food, have made existence burden to
beings accustomed to a warm climate
However, the grievances which are made
in the name Of labor on the Wilkesbarre
and Eastern railroad are not due to the
elements-unless it be the element of
the devil in the contractors and bosses.
Such cruelties and brutalities as are laid
at the doors of the superintendent of
grading on the division mentioned equal
the worst that has been told of the
blood stained route to Siberia and of it's
mines and corrals.
The legal authorities of Monroe coun-
ty have been for months acquainted
with enough of the facts in the case to
justify the arrest and punishment of the
responsible persons, but for reasons, po-
htical or otherwise. they have remained
inactive and silent. Some of the news
papers of the section have printed fire.
quent articles calling attention to the
matter, and a few leading journals of
the eastern cities have given special &C
counts of the outrages. which the au-
thorities, under whose very noses the
crimes were committed, seemed not to
know of or ignored.
AS long ago as March 30, long after the
frozen wretches from the camps had been
cared for by the poor authorities of
Stroudsburg, there appeared in the
Stroudsburg Times the following brief
article copied from the Easton Sentinel:
A young man named Stewart of this city
who lately paid visit to the village of Tan
nersville, Monroe county, has related since his
return a number Of stories concerning the
treatment of the men on the new railroad be-
Ing built from Stroudsburg to Wilkesbarre
which, if true, should be brought to the atten-
ton of the authorities. 1t is stated that
large proportion of the workers are negroes
from the south, who are daily threatened with
shooting by the bosses, all of whom go armed
and pull out revolver upon the slightest
provocation.
If the living are so barbarously treated, &C.
respected. It is related that quite recently
three men-an Italian, an Irishman and ne
gro-died but few hours apart. When the
undertaken came to bury the dead, he was told
that the maximum sum the contractors would
pay was $12 for collins for the three men. In
order to meet this price he brought but one box
and the three dead were crowded into it.
One day lately an accident occurred in which
a negro was killed. One Of his legs was torn
from the trunk. The dead man, instead of be-
ing properly buried, was laid beside the en-
bankment being constructed for the roadbed
and the dirt piled around him. The dismem-
bered limb was not buried with the corpse, as
it had not been found. The next day it was
discovered, but no attention was paid to it,
and our informant could not say how it had
been disposed of.
The people of Monroe county should ascer-
tain if these reports are true, and if they are
steps should be taken to stop this shocking in
humanity.
This fearless statement did not arouse
the legal authorities to action. On June
8 the Stroudsburg Times published the
following:
Eight laborers from Wilkesbarre and East.
ern rail camp were brought to Stroudsburg on
a lumber wagon and sent on the 2:21 train to
the hospital in Hoboken. One of the unfortu-
mates died while being taken off the train at
Hoboken. About two weeks ago there was an
explosion of dynamite, which shattered the
nerves of the men, but they worked up to four
days before they were shipped away. The hos
pital doctors diagnosed the cases as TYPHOID fe-
yer and say typhus may develop. One of tho
men complains Of having been four days with
out food while they were sick.
Henry Klausen and John Redind are in st.
Mary's hospital, and James Garland, George
Thompson, Joseph McGrady, Michael Coch-
rane and James S. Fitzgibbons are in Bellevue.
An article in the New York World
gave the next chapter in this particular
case, and that article was also reprinted
in the Stroudsburg Times, so that the
legal authorities of Monroe county must
have seen or heard of it. Here is The
Worlds article:
Michael Fitzgibbons, one of the i'll fated men
who was brought from Stroudsburg, Pa, to
Hoboken on June 5, where he died upon his ar
rival, was buried yesterday in paupers grave
ct Snake Hill. County Physician Converse
made an autopsy and granted burial certif-
cate. He declared that Fitzgibbons' death was
caused by want of proper nourishment and
medical attendance while i'll with typhoid fe-
yer.
HE virtually died Of starvation. said Coun-
ty Physician Converse yesterday. 1.-THE rail-
road company deserves to BIZ censured for &C
cepting these men as passengers while they
were in q dying condition. Fitzgibbons evil
IDENTIFY suffered inhuman treatment at the
hands of the contractors who employed him.
I vvon1d instruct the coroner tn hold an innnosf