Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-04-28
EADQUITE APICNIC
That Army Of Strikers That
Went to Toluca
GAINS IT'S POINT WITHOUT A BOW,

And Il Sent Home by Rail and the Good
ness ofthe Acting Governor and Operator
Dcvlin-Pith of Lieut.. Gov. Gill's Advice
70 the Invaders-A Critical situation
Cided Ovcr-Great Northern Strike De-
clared Over the Whole Line.
ToLUCA, Ills. April sS.-The demonstra-
ton Of miners at this place has had the
effect intended-for the time being at least
and all the mines here are closed. And
now that this is done the leaders of the
demonstration say that it is of no conse-
quence whether the miners here work or not
rs the coal is all consumed by the Santa Fe
railway and has but little effect on the
market. In which case there seems to
have been much cry over little wool. The
work here is not ,ostensibly, suspended ow-
ing to the mob. 1t is suspended by the
deliberate act of the men, but by a mar
row majority.
|. Proceedings of the Mass Meeting.
The miners met in mass meeting after
| the army had left. A man named Gibson
was made chairman. The meeting was
| called for the purpose of deciding whether
| to suspend work or not. The coal miners
| army had been gone three hours, and the
| men were free from intimidation. The men
were nearly equally divided on the ques-
| ton of work, and when Il motion was be-
fore the house favoring one or the other
side of the question those opposing
| would make scores of amendments. substi-
tutes etc., and confused the chairman so
| much that he hardly knew what he was
IN, Ilxs
| Immediately prevailed and was voted
! upon. 1t carried by such slight majority
that a movement is expected by many to
rescind the action. The representatives of
| the miners army positively state that
there will be no further trouble whether
the mine here is operated here or not
The Army of strikers Appears.
| The striking miners army marched up
the hill and then rode back again, is the
| way the thing was done. They came into
the town early and stayed here until after
| dinner. In the meantime Acting Governor
McGill arrived, and he addressed the
| miners. He told the miners that the sher-
| i'll had sent him a scare telegram that
showed that he 1.-THE sheriff. did not know
the situation--a telegram that said there
was danger of bloodshed when there
| wasn't particle. But it wasn't the sher-
| iff's fault; he had been misinformed. For
here was the army of miners and where
was the gore? Everything was peaceable,
and he advised the visitors to go home and
leave everything peaceable.
If there should be any rioting he would
have to do his duty rs provided by law,
and they knew what that was. He would
confer with the Toluca men Those who
wanted to work. if they 1.-THE strikersl
wished, and try and get them to strike,
too. The army's visit was based on Just
! grounds, and the men had done nothing
that cast reflection on them. If his con-
ference with the Toiuca men failed he
wanted the army to 60 back home any.
way and thus show that it was perfectly
peaceable and aw-abiding.
President Crawford also spoke, counsel
| ing peace, and saying that the movement
was not strike; it was suspension for
the benefit of the operators US much as the
men.
During the course of his speech Craw-
| ford said: 1.-The greatest curse to the min
| ing industry is the backlog competition of
the operators and TO this mainly is due
the deplorable condition of the miners, and
which at last has caused them to turn
against the aggressor and demand a diff
ferent condition of things"