The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-04-25
TROUBLE IN TENNESSEE
Il BATTLE FOUGHT At TRACY CITY
WEDNESDAYNI NIGHT.
Midnight Attack on the stockad~-stssnets
from Every ouarter-Firing Through
Port Notes.-The Casualties.

Port Notes.-The Casualties.
Nashville, Tenn, April 2O.-A represen-
tative of The Constitution has just returned
from Tracy City. At 2:30 o'clock this
afternoon all was quiet. The troops, num-
bering 125 men, under arms, were enter
ing the stockade; the miners had dispersed.
In the fight last night one miner was
killed and five wounded two of whom may
die. One guard was dangerously wounded
and Deputy Warden Shriver slightly wound
ed. The fight commenced at IL o'clock,
and after the repulse, dcsultory lighting
was kept up all night. When the represen-
tative went to Tracy City, it was believed
by the officers in charge that the trouble
was over, as the miners hadn't expected
SO strong Il resistance. Up to this hour
kilograms from Tracy City say all is quiet.
The military companies in the city, which
did not leave this morning, are still await
ing orders.
Cnpfnig Under Their Grievances.
A spirit of revenge still fingered in the
breasts of many of the younger and more
headstroDg element. They talked over
their alleged wrongs while at work
in the mines, discussed them in small groups
and at last BEGAN TO hold secret meetings
in the wooded Businesses. At these meet
their absence. They had come to the CON
clusion that it was useless to further the
object of labor. Many of them had been
given work again after the troubles OF last
summer, the lessees agreeing to let bygones
be bygones The few leaders in the pre-
vious tragedy advised peace and sticking
to all agreements. The roughs, however,
determined to go ahead, openly boastlng
that they could muster enough men to ac-
complish their object.
Giving the Signal.
One Sunday about Il month ago, meet
ing was held by these malcontents and at
| its conclusion couple of dynamite car
trdges were exploded as a signal that the
attack would soon be made. Some two
weeks ago, another meeting at winch there
| We're about thirty miners was held ana the
| plan of attack agreed upon which was that
attempted to be carried out On Wednesday
| night.
The Knock at the Gate.
A few minutes before II o'clock last night
| Deputy Shriver, Sheriff Sanders and eX-
| Sheriff DeJarnette heard loud knock at
| the stockade gate. Instantly the ponder
| Gus gate swung back on its hinges and
there, in the gloom, stood three men heavi-
| ly armed.
Upon what terms will you release the
| convicts?" asked the taller of the men, a
strapping young fellow Of about twenty
| five wears.
| 'They will not be released at all re-
| pied the brave deputy.
We'll, Wen have them," said the leader,
! at the same time saying that he and his
companons represented seven hundred min
| ers, and that they had the dynamite and the
| arms to do it with. There he held up in
his hand a dynamite cartridge, such as is
| used in blasting away slate in the mines,
| and was on the eve of making threatening
movement when the deputy warden and the
| sheriff seized him and dragged him inside
{hn 70 / q
| companion was seized, and before the
| guards could get their hands on them, the
| other two walked rapidly away. brandish-
| ing their arms as they. went. Sheriff SaTi-
| ders ordered the guards to fire upon them,
| but for some reason this was not done.
shots from Every side.
The captured miner had hardly been got
| ten inside the little room near the gate be-
| fore the guard heard the patter of the
| leaden hail from Il score of weapons. BY
J. preconcerted signal the shots came from
y every side of the stockade and the garrison
was for Il moment carried completely Oft
thnir feet. The miners had closed on the
I stockade and were actually poklng the
muzzles of their guns through the portfolios.
In an instant the guards We're at their
| posts, and then the salute from the outside
! was answered by a volley from the Fms. y
| The miners. however, had the advantage
as the light on the inside enabled them to
| see every movement of the beleaguered
guards. me ldllcT, however, tooK 10 ult
| upper portfolios and then the battle ragged
| furousy for a few minutes. Fully five
| hundred shots were fired, and every man
| on the inside expected every moment to be
| his last.
Shriver Drops n Man.
| Deputy Shriver had climbed into the sec
| ond story of the stockade, where he could
| look down on the besiegers. lie had hard
| ~ gotten into the room before miner saw
| him in the lamplight and drew Il bead on
| him. Shriver, however. saw his game and
| both fired almost simultaneously. Shriver
was shot twice in the right side of the
| face. while his adversary fen dead in his
| tracks. bullet blowing a hole through him
| from breast to hips. In the meantime the
| captured leader, who proved to be a young
miner named Joe Grantham, had been
| released by Sheriff Sanders and the guards
| upon promise that he would go out and
| stop the firing. He played the traitor, how
| ever, for after his release, Guard Walden
| received a full charge of several shots in
| his chest. stomach and bowels, the shot
coming from gun stuck through one of
| the portfolios.
| The leaden balls from the stockade began
| to grow too hot, and when Bob Irvine had
| fallen a victim to Shriver's unerrine aim
| and several others had been seriously
wounded, tie bcsieging party broke for a
! near hill overlooking the stOckade. where
| for an hour or so they fired down on the
| guards.
| Rain Stops the Battle
| About 1890 o'clock a. m. rain began to
| fall and the firing, though continuing at
| intervals. had no effect. BY daylight the
| miners had disappeared and the stiffness
around the stockade was only broken by the
| growing of the cocks in the valley below
| The X He'd and Wounded.
| Bob Irwin, the dead man. was a married
| man with one child and a widowed mother
to support. He was only about twenty
one years of age. He was in a party of
| four or five when shot and no doubt he
| was one of the leaders.
| Deputy Warden Dan w. Shriver, shot
| in the face, has been at the prison since
| last September when the convicts We're re-
| turned He was for four years deputy
| sheriff of Bedford county and afterward
| sheriff for a like time. He was considered
| one of the bravest officers in the state.
| He is shot in the right side of the face
| one of the buckshot passing into the articu.
| lar cavity. DR.. Sutton thinks he will be
all right before long.
| Guard Walden is dangerously wounded
and at noon yesterday DIR. Sutton was
uncertain as to the outcome. Walden is
! at a hotel in Tracy City and at noon today
| was suffering intense agony. He is mar
| ried man, his family being at their home
in Rutherford county.
| From the best information obtained, five