The Portland daily press., 1894-04-09
THE BATTLE OF TRENTON.
Mrs. Roebling, Its Heroine, Made a
Gallant, But Losing Fight.
THE ENEMY REITERATED WHEN
SHE TOOK THE FIELD.

the Poles We're Set and the Wires Run
| Now Trolley Cars Run in Front of the
Finest House in New Jersey.
Trenton, Nj, April 7.-The second
battle of Trenton has been fought, and
a women is the heroine thereof. She is
| the wife of the millionaire enigneer who
completed the Brooklyn Bridge Wash
ington A. Roebling. But. despite Mrs.
Roebling's long fight from 10 p. INTO
am, and writ granted by Supreme
court judge, who was called out of bed
| at a. m., the common enemy, the troll
ley-car, rushes along on West State
street, and West State street is the Fifth
avenue of Trenton, sacred ground.
For more than two years the Trenton
Passeng ger Railway company has been
trying to run a trolley on West State
sJreet The majority of. the residents
along the street favored it, but those
who opposed it fought so successfully
that it promised to be many years before
| the wires were strung there. The troll
| ley has heretofore stopped at the point
where West State street began and pas
| sengers were transferred to horse-cars.
| mission. to string its lines over West
State street, and yesterday the work
began despite the opposition.
| The finest house in Trenton, and prob
| ably in the State, for that matter. is the
magnif cent new mansion of Washington
Roebling. The Roebling family is by
far the richest in the city. Its wealth
mounts up into the millions. Mr..
| Roebling has been more or less of an in
| valid ever since he met with the acci~
dent while the Brooklyn Bridge was
! building and he is now.confned to his
| bed. The whole burden fell upon Mrs.
| Roebling.
Before they reached the Roebling
house the workmen had met with some
! opposition on the part of the residents.
nearly all of whom were in front of
| their houses, patrolling their sidewalks.
Their objections, however, were not SER
Nous, the property owners for the most
part only desiring to say where the poles
| should be placed.
| Mrs. Roebling was entertaining num-
| Der of guests when word was brought to
| her that there was gang of men In
| front of the house digging holes. She
| threw an opera cloak over Ter evening
| gown and went out to investigate. The
| wol kmen had finished one hole. She
sent for her coachman, butler and three
| or four other men who are employed
| about the place. Mrs. Roebling ordered
| the men to stop work. They paid no at
tention to her. She called the policeman
on the beat. He said he had no authori-
ty to interfere. Then she went to the
police station and complained Ito the
| sergeant He told her that he could do
nothing. Mrs. Roebling returned just
| as the men were about to raise the pole.
| She clamIy stood ON one end of it, and
they did not dare to raise it. They
moved to another place and dug anotht r
hole. The servants tried to stop them.
! The workmen pushed them away at the
they made way for Mrs. Roebling when
she came up to them. She stood by the
hole, and thus effectually stopped the
work. The Italians returned to the
firstshole. They found the bucler, who
was in his dress suit, sitting over it.
The workmen were ordered to go
away, leaving Mrs. Roebling in possess
sion, with two holes in the ground and
the pole lying down. AT her direction
the butler and coachman filled up the
b oles. Then, leaving one of the servants
on guard, Mrs. Roebllng returned to her
| guests and ordered coffee, for, mind
you, these things had been taking place
1
| After a little while, one of the Italian
bosses, who is known as Frank, stood on
curbstone and addressed his fellows.
Then the 100 or more workmen were di-
vided into two companies and directed to
march upon the Roebling property. With
their picks and shovels shouldered, they
moved rapidly down the street They
halted in front of the Roebling house.
There they found nearby 100 OF Mrs. .Roeb-
ling's friends waiting to receive them.
One company of the laborers surrounded
the west hole, and the other company
surrounded the east hole.
Alfred Pagdon. Mrs. Roeblings coach
man, guarded one hole, Mrs. Roebling
herself and two tramps, seated on a
garden settee, kept guard of the other
In front of the big mansion next to the
sidewalk is an iron rail fence, about
eight feet high. Back of this are several
large trees. When the Roebling forces
saw firm omoving behind one of these
trees, they began to withdraw. Clever
Manager Hurley scented trouble, but he
did not know what was coming.
Directly, Mrs. Roebling had moved
away and g heavy stream OF cold water
dashed upon the Italian laborers. They
fled. They had not been hired to fight
water. They scattered with such rapid
ity that it looked for few minutes as
as if Mrs. Roebling was going to win the
fight by means of water
Hurley and his bosses ran among he
men and ordered them back. They fair
lv drove them toward the sidewalk, but
it was slow work. The laborers didn' t
relish the drenching with cold water, but
they were finally made to obey the orders
of their superiors. Now, whether any
one gave a command or whether it was
the natural resentment, is not known, but
it was at this time that the tiinging of
mud and stones began.
These demonstrations soon became so
warlike that Mrs. Roebling gave up the
battle, and the work was finished, re-
gardless of court order directed against
it.
At noon today the first trolley car ran
over West State street. 1t was crammed
full with a yelling, hooting mob, and fol
lowed along the street by crowd. The
car stopped in front of the Roebling
mansion, and the mob howled with all
its might Mrs. Roebling appeared at
her door and bowed. For two hours this
car shuttled back and forth, and each
time the gang of hoodiums within 1t
-