Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-04-12
Pitched Contests Fought.

Pitched Contests Fought.
Wednesday was an exciting day Of
riot and bloodshed, of reckless disre-
gard OF law and property In the Penn
sylvania coke regions. Nearly 10000
striking coke-burners, according to q
dispatch, are marching from place to
place destroying the machinery at the
coke ovens and driving the workmen
away. They are armed with sticks,
old muskets and revolvers, and unless
they are promptly subjugatedf more
bloodshed will certainly follow.
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties
from Uniontown almost to Greensburg
have been converted into vast battle
field. At night armed sentries are
picketed on every hill top. Their fig
ures as they shift their rifles from
shoulder to shoulder stand out darkly
against the sky. Below them on the
hillsides glow the long rows OF coke
ovens with their canopy OF half-lumi-
nous smoke. A few workmen skulk
from place to place in mortal terror Of
being Drained by some blood-thirsty
striker hidden away in the shadows.
| The valleys and fields are sprinkled
with camp-fires, around which the
| striking coKers are bivouacked. All
day long parties OF them, led by wild
eyed, unkempt Huns, have be en parad-
ing from mine to mine, wheedling or
soercing the workmen into joining
their ranks.
| Six NJ N Killed Outright.
Six men were killed outright Wednes-
| day and a dozen more seriously II not
| fatally wounded. The riotiue began
early, and the climax was reached
when body of strikers, numbering
several hundred, marched to the
Davidson works of the III. G Frick
| Coke Company at Connellsville, where
men were working. Deputies had been
| placed to receive them and orened
fire. The strikers returned the fire and
charged, driving the deputies and men
from the plant. Chief Engineer Pad
| dock. of the Frick Company, ran up in
the tipple of the works. The strikers
| followed, and shot him in the back OF
the head. They threw his body to
the ovens, forty feet below. They
then tried to fire the tipple, but left
when they saw the deputies returning
with a large force from Connellsville.
Hearing of Paddock's murder, hun
dreds volunteered to avenge his
death. The pursuing party overlook
the strikers and opened fire. The
strikers fired in return, but ran
on. Three strikers fell: one was
killed instantly, shot through the
body, and two others were fatally
wounded. Another of the strikers was
4 killed by deputy at Bradford, g. mile
distant. Eleven strikers were cap
tured after the first battle, and the
pursuing party keptnp the chase until
Dawson, seven mi es distant, was
reached, where fifty-three more
strikers were captured. The law
abiding element had its way and the
| prisoners were hurried to jail.
Scottdale is the center of the trouble.
| All the meetings have been held there,
and the residents are being terrorized
almost hourly by parades of the mad
| dened strikers. Some OF the American
laborers have expressed themselves as
| willing to work under the old scale, but
| the Hungarians are not only unwilling
to accept the terms offered them by
the employers but they are driving all
of the Americans away from the ovens.
The delegate convention called Tues
day was stormy from beginning to end.
Some of the men wanted a strike at all
| the works others at the works not pay
ing the Frick scale, while still others
| wanted to declare the strike off until
Il
and the men better prepared for
q battle. The convention broke up
about 2 o'clock. Before adjournment
| the radicals pushed through a resolu-
| tion declaring general strike. The
| demand is for 80 cents per 100 bushels
| for mining and an advance OF IL per
| cent. on the Frick scale for all other
work. When the convention adjourned
the delegates were sent back with in
structions to urge all the men who are
out to remain firm and to work dill
| gently to extend the strike.
| The Frick and w. S. Rainey COM
panies are most seriously affected.
Rainey was among the first to ask the
sheriff for protection. and his belliger-
ent attitude has brought the ill-will of
Germs affected are the Oliver and the
Cambria iron companies and the La
mont and Meyer works.
Men from ne e;ghboring plants began
gathering in the vicinity of Oliver, and
at $3.50 over 1000 men had collected.
There is a large contingent OF Amer
| lean workmen and few foreigners at
Oliver who are not in sympathy with
the strikers, and they refuse to go out,
| One Slav ran into the companys store
and asked to be protected. Then the
great mob gathered around the store
and attempted to go in and get the
man. The deputies on guard brought
| their Winchesters into position for
action and threatened to shoot II the
men tried to force their way into the
store. The mob yelled and hooted and
threatened to burn the store or blow IL
| up II the man was not given up.
Serious trouble was imminent, and to
avoid it the company officials told the
Hun to go with the strikers He did
so, and the strikers left at once, march
/ ing toward Leith and Brownfield, the
big Frick works, where the men are
! working and do not want to strike.
They were headed by drum corps,
and created much excitement as they
passed through Uniontown. Nearly
all were Slavs. The Leith men had
placed pickets in town, and when they
saw the strikers coming back to Leith,
half q mile distant, informed the
men, giving them plenty Of time to get
out of sight.