The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-04-12
RIOT AND MURDER IN THE COKE
REGIONS.
Six Men Dead and a Dozen MortaIiy
Wounded as the Result of One Days
Rioting-Scorcs of Strikers Arrested and
Tried for Murder.
Pitched Contests Fought.

: L III \pEaS bbt it@Ab. NILE w ~
dispatch, are marching from place to
place destroying the machinery a. the
coke ovens and driving the workmen
away. They arc armed with sticks,
old muekcts and revolvers, and Il nless
they are promptly subiugated more
! bloodshel will certainly fellow.
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties
from Uniontown almost to Greensburg
have been converted into a vast battle
field. At night armed sentries are
picketed on every hill top. Their fig
urcs as they shift their rifles from
shoulder to shoulder stand out darkly
againss 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 10 place in mortal terror of
being Drained by some b~lOCd-thirsty
striker hidden away in the shadows.
The valleys and fields are sprinkled
with camp-fres, around which the
/ striking COOKERS are bivouacked. All
day long parties of them. led by wild
eyed. unkempt Huns, have be n parad-
ing from mine to mine, wheedling or
coercing the workmen into joining
their ranks.
six n Xxi led Outright.
SiXmen We" e killed outright Wcdnes-
day and a dozen more seriously If not
fatally wounded. The rioting began
early. and the climax was reached
when a body Ct strikers, numbering
| several hundred. marched to the
Davidson works of the Fl. c Frick
Coke Company at Connellsville, where
mon were working. Deputies had been
placed to receive them and OF ened
fte. The strikers returned the fire and
charged, driving the deputies and men
from the plant. Chief Engineer Pad
dock. Of ,he Frick Company, ran up in
the tipple OF the works. The strikers
followed. and shot him in the back of
the he'd. They threw his body to
the ovens. forty feet below. They
then RED TO fire the tipple, but lett
when they saw the deputies returning
with a lWge force from Conneilsville.
Hearing OF Paddock's murder, hun
Dire Is volunteered to avenge his
death. Tho pursuing party overlook
tic str.kcrs and opened fire. The
striker5 fred in return, but ran
on. Three strikers fell: enc was
killed instantly, shot through the
body. AM two others were fatally
wounded. Another Of the strikers vas
killed by q deputy at Bradford, a mile
di-tant. eleven strikers were cap
:urcl after the fist battle, and the
pursuing party kept up the chase until
Dawson. seven mi e5 distant, was
rca he'd. who're ilty-three more
strikers we're captured. The law-
abiding clement had it's way and the
prisons. s were hurried to Jail.
Scottdalc is the center of the trouble.
Al the r.cetings have been held there,
and the residents are being terrorized
almost hourly by parades OF the mad
dened strikers. Some of the American
labOrcEs 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 wa storm from beginning to end.
Some of the men wanted a strike at all
the works. others at the works not pay
ING the Prick scale, while still others
wanted to declare the strike off until
the organization can be completed
and Tie men better prepared for
Il battle. The convention broke up
about > o'clock. Before ad iOurnment
the radicals pushed through a resolu-
ton declaring a general strike. The
demand Is for 10 cents per 100 bushels
for mining and an advance of II per
cent. on the Prick scale for all other
work. When the convention adjourned
the delegates were sent back with in
%structions to urge all the men who are
ont to remain firm and to work dill
gently TO extend the strike.
The Prick and w. 5. Rainey com-
panies are most seriously affected.
Raincy va, among the first to ask the
sheriff for protection. and his bel;iger-
ent attitude has brought the ill-will of
the strikers down upon him. The cen
Germs affected are the Oliver and the
Cambria iron companies and the La
mont and Meyer works.
Men from ne ghb0ring plants began
gathering in the vicinity of Oliver. and
at $50 ver l.00J men had collected.
There is IL large contingent of Amer
ical wOrkmcn and a few foreigners at
Oliver who ale not in sympathy with
the strikers, and they refuse to 90 ont,
One Slav an into the cOmpany's store
and asked to be protected. Then the
great mob gathered around the store
and attempted to 20 in and get the
mar. The deputies on guard brOu ght
their WinchcStcrs into position for
action and thre atened to shoot if the
men tried to force their way into the
store. The mob yelled and hooted and
threatened TO burn the store or blow it
up if the man vas 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 Rrowntield, the
big Prick works, where the men are
working and do not want to strike.
They we o headed by a drum corp,
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 L eth,
hall q mile distant. informed the