St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-20
The MILL HANDS, STRIKE.
Written for the Globe. !

should make any such threats said
Mr.. Williams, manager of the Mime
sofa Lumber company. They have
been well treated, and In ease they
should adopt any such measures it
would not only throw them out of work,
but their families would suffer. 1t does
not seem possible that they would go
on strike"
Everybody in the little town OF
| c. was excited. All had heard
rumors of the impending strike of the
hands IN the saw MILLS, but no one
knew the authority of the rumorS. The
men had taken no action as yet, out 1t
was said that they had been holding
meetings in secret for the discus
sion Of the plans. There were about
1000 men in the employ of the various
mills and they were desperate lot. L
happened to be in the town for few
| days on business for a Duluth paper,
by which was employed as reporter.
] was stopping for day or two with
| friends, and at the talk Of n strike by
| mill hands | became interested. The
| manager of one of the largest firms
| was talking on the all-abSOrbing topic
| with one of the owners Of the property.
| They would not believe the men in
earnest, and preferred to run the risk of
| strike than 10 make any preparation
for it. They considered the chances as
| being against the possibility of strike.
My friend, former newspaper man,
who was working in one of the mills for
his health, lived in the lower part OF
town. 1t was scattered settlement
along the line of the railroad track, and
the main portion of the town was at the
farther eEd. At this point were located
the poStot1ice and the company stores"
We were stopping in shanty on the
island, which was occupied by the mills
of the Minnesota Lumber company, and
the only manner of crossing TO the
mainland was by way of the railroad
bridge.
expected some letters by the even
ing train, ami. after supper, lighted
very black little pine and started to
walk up the track. The evening was
very cool, as it was in the-early sum-
mer. | could hear the hoarse croaking
of the frogs in the marshes along the
track, and over in the woods to the left
| could hear the notes OF whipporwill.
The air was filled with mist which
arose from the marshes and the atmoS-
phere was rather chilly. | trudged
along, passing man now and then who
Jerked his head In Sulky SalutatlOn ana
then continued on his way. 1t seemed
to me that there was an unusual Quantl-
ty OF Sulk to them OH that evening, and
l wondered if they could really be
planning strike. They acted indie
pendent enough,a any rate, to be plan
ming some mischief. 1t happened that
party of three workmen, who were
just in front of me, turned off into the
Nh / l-ns thAir
that they were Oh business. The aver
age Scandinavian laborer does not care
to take long walks In the woods after
his work is over. Especially not on an
evening when the air is filled with
clouds of mosquitoes.
After going for some little distance |
turned and saw another party turn OFF
into the woods at the same point. Then
| remembered that there was an Indian
trail which ran in that direction from the
track, and that there was clearing a
short distance in the woods, where there
had been the camp of a small band of
ChippewaS some time before. L had
hunted around there and thought L
knew the location.
l found my mail at the poStoffice. 1t
consisted of a short letter telling me to
look into the trouble and ''cover" the
strike. Then | started back over the
track for the island.
What were those fellows doing in that
lonesome place? | asked myself. Prob
ably nothing bat just planning to burn
up the town or something of that KIND.
Ii | was after strike news | could get it
there. Now, | hate to play the SOY. L
do not consider it permissible under ;
any circumstances unless i'll criminal
case. and, although the public has the
impression generally that the newspa-
per man is a fellow who goes about
peeping through keyhOleS, L do not
know of reputable man who does 1t.
These fellows meant mischief, however,
10 all appearances, and II L could find
out their plans it might Oe the means of
saving property.
The sides of the track were Swallowed
by long. marShy grass and the bitches
alongside were filled with water from
recent rains. The underbruSh was
thick and thorny, and L knew | would
have rough road to travel II L made
the clearing in a bee line from where L
was | buttOned my coat high up to
my chin, stuffed my trousers into the
tops of my hunting boots, and started. |
| suppose | must have looked like
painted Indian by the time had gone a
distance of ten rods, as the brlars
scratched my face and the mosquitoes
filled my eyes and ears.
Soon heard voices, and through the
trees | could see the faint tfickering of
fire. They had built smudge to
keep off the mosquitoes, but it was not
large enough to be seen from the town.
They were all smoking pipes and one
was speaking. If had not been in
such a dangerous position l should have
laughed at the spectacle he MADE. He
would say a few words and then would
suddenly stop while he made slap at a
mosquito, after which he would give
vent to a curse. His talk was prin-
cipally composed of swearing. He id
the mosquitoes, the mill companies, the
bosses, the wages. the food in the board
ing houses, the railroad company, the
place of meeting, and finally wound up
by d-g the whole crowd as a set of
fools for working for the prevailing
wages. He was an lrlShman, and had
been called attention to him as being
the bully of the town and man who
beat his wife every time lie got drunk.
| They said he got drunk every night.
There was rude elOquence about the
fellow which caught the others. They
| listened as atteIitively as the mosquitoes
would permit, and his words seemed to
have their effect. He finally finished
by saying:
They want to starve US. they do. But
we won't let 'em-will we, my hearties?
Well have our revenge out of 'em be-
fore tomorrow night. 1t won't be hard
to git the boys out in some of the mills.
but we'll have TO teach those fellers
! down to the Minnesota company that
we mean biz. After we git 'em out of
the other mills except the big one We'll
go down to the Minnesota. l expect
that ole Williams will make some kind
of fight if we go there, so we will go
there in the night, tomorrow, cut the
belts in the mill, and if he kicks we'll
set the id place on fire. That will
give 'em a lesson"
This seemed to be the popular manner
of action. They talked about the de-
tails of their plans, and finally "Big
Mike" the main speaker, led the way
back. He instructed them to separate
| immediately after leaving the clearing,
so that suspicion would not be aroused
| by seeing them come out of the woods