Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-26
STORY OF TEE FIGHT At BILLINGS

on Washington.
UNDER MANY LEADERS
The arm Of the law has reached out and
seized the Montana army Of the common
veal. The army. $50 strong, came in at
Forsyth, Mon, from the west last night.
Its leaders gave it out that the train would
remain at Forsyth until morning, At IL 30,
however. the engineer went to the round
house and deliberately proceeded to take
out a fresh engine and prepare for the trip
eastward.
In the meantime, Col. Page Of Fort
Keogh had secured a special train and was
laundering down the road to meet the
train-stealing contingent. He came into
Forsyth shortly after midnight and found
a large part Of the Coxey army asleep in
the box cars.
The surprise was SO complete that the
Coxeyites gave up without a struggle. The
troops left most of the men aboard the
train and surrounded II.
When the Montana arrived
Nsey were informed that 600 United States
regulars were waiting for them at Fort
Keogh. forty-three miles east. The leaders
were considerably disconnected over this
announcement, but stated that they did not
propose to turn back or desert the train.
Some Of the men said the train would
lie her until daylight, but there was an
impression abroad that this information
was given out as a blind, and that the
train would be on Its way again soon after
midnight.
The Fight at Billings.
No one was killed In the fight between the
industrial army and marshars deputies in
Montana, reported in q postscript edition of
The Star yesterday.
At noon the 500 members Of Hogan's ar
my, on their stolen trains. arrived at Bill
lings, but close on their heels was a train
bearing fifty deputies. A conflict was at
once precipitated. which resulted In one man
on each side being severely wounded. The
small station. and demanded their surren-
der. Gen. Hogan paid no attention to the
commands Of the deputies to give up pos
session Of the stolen train and ordered his
The two trains came on slowly during the
forenoon, the deputies closely following al
ter the Coxeyites and watching for an op-
portunity to seize them and their trains. On
arriving at Billings a stop was ordered and
the conflict resulted. United States Mar
shall McDermott ordered the leaders of the
army to surrender, and on their refusal a
few OF the deputies nervously and without
any orders fired upon the men in the cars.
A few shots were exchanged before the
marshal could regain control of his men
and stop the firing. During the firing one
OF the deputies was seriously wounded, and
at least one of the army was wounded.
Marshal McDermott decided that his men
were not equal to the work cut out for
them. and as soon as he got his men to
stop firing he withdrew them and notified
the authorities that his force was insuffi-
cient for the arresting of so large a mob.
When shown the dispatches telling Of the
fight at Billings, Gen. Kelley was deeply
affected. This is awful" he said. 81 fear
| our cause is ruined. B~loodshed is wrong;
resistance Of authorities is wrong: IL il all
wrong. We are now reduced to the level of
q mob. Militia may be called out at any
moment to stop our progress. This gives
them an excuse to regard US as lawless. I
would give my life to have this days work
urdone. There Is no excuse for the action
Of the Montana men. / don't know them
and have not been in ton with
them, but I did not believe that they would
resort to bloodshed,"
Speed talked in the same strain and wept
freely over the intelligence. He. too. feared
that his cause would be injured.
The New England Division.
Swift's New England Industrial army en-
5oyed a refreshing nights sleep. and early
yesterday morning. Immediately after
breakfast, were drawn up In line at Olney-
Vile, R. L.. and harangued by Swift. Fftz-
gerald sent a dispatch to the selectmen
of East Greenwich, R. l.. stating that the
army would stop over in that town last
night, and requested that provisions be
made to accommodate the delegation.
The Olneyville contingent were barred out
by order of Commander Fitzgerald. who
decided that enough men were enrolled in
the mi Then. at 9 o'clock, the hand
set out on a ffteen-mile trip for East
Greenwich. The Olneyville delegation, In
charge of Barney Cannon started cut at
| 2 pm. yesterday, and will join the indus
/ trials of Maui HaNan Cannnn'G nnrr,S NM
! preceded by q band of fifteen men, under
the leadership of VIM. Cannot, who claims
that his crowd represents Rhode Island.
Gannon's party Is headed by a snare drum.
When Swift's men left Olneyville they
proceeded slowly up to Plainield, through
Cranston and over the Pontiac road. While
this course is the longest, the original
plans were changed when IL was discovered
that one and perhaps two independent
armies would go over the Hartford pike.
| Towns on this short cut are so small that
the leaders feared every one would suffer.
At 5:15 O'Clock the army reached Apron
aug, where II was Intended TO spend the
night. Word had been received from East
Greenwich, however. that the town awaited
them with open arms and had prepared for
their reception. This revived
the weary men and aroused them to such
action that they did not stop to rest in
the first town selected, but hurried on
and covered three miles in less than forty
five minutes. At East Greenwich they re-
ceived an ovation. The sleepy old town
awoke to the novelty of the movement, and
hundreds of people crowded out to meet
the commonwealers. The men were taken
to a hall, where the supper of canned corn
ed beef, bread, cookies and coffee that had
been prepared by the people was served.
An Exciting Day With Frye.
Yesterday was an exciting day for Frye's
army of industrials at Terre Haute. Tues
day night it's 800 members captured a Van
dalia freight train, with the intention of
going east. but the train was abandoned by
the crew. and that stopped operations. the
men camping out all night on the track and
using the company's ties for frewood. Yes
terday afternoon the army captured another
| freight train bound east at Prairie. a few
miles east of Terre Haute. The train men
were informed that there were engineers
and fremen among the soldiers, and IL they
cid not move the train men of the army
would. After a parley of about an hour the
train men took the train to Brazil, where
the industrials got OF. They were camped
| there last night. These acts of lawlessness
have aroused the Indignation of citizens.
Gen. Frye's division reached Brazil In
\ sections, some by rail and some on foot.
They pitched their tents on the m
between the Vandalia and the Chicago and
Indiana coal road depot The army pa
raded the streets late last evening.
Peace in Kelley's Camp.
Comparative peace reigns in Kelley's camp.