St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-25
LYING WHERE THEY FELL,
6L00DY FIGHT BETWEEN DEPUTIES
AND MINERS.
FOUR OF THE LATTER KILLED.
The Fight Occars at a Very Early
Hour in the Morning The
Death List Numbers Only
Fonr, but the Number of
Wounded Is Very Largs-The
Situation Still Critical.

UNIoNTowN. Pa, May 24.-The long
threatened attack by striking miners in
tile pits of the WASHINGTON Coal and
Coke company at Sickle Hollow, in the
Fourth pool district on the Monongahela
river, was made this morning. involving
another of the Grim tragedies that have
characterized the irrepressibIe conflict.
The fight was one of the .fercest in the
history of mining troubles in Western
Pennsylvania. and in the section where
| it occurred, as well as throughout the
w.40le coke region, the situatioa it has
developed is one; of the lnestsfnteHstss
excitement and dread ever known.
Tonight four strikers are lying dead,
and double that number badly wound
ed,some of them mortally. Thomas Ken
/ ma. of Woods Run, is the only American
killed in the encounter with the depu-
Ties. The other dead men are Slavs.
| The wounded men who fell under the
frst ,volley from the deputies were
taken off the field by the retreating
strikers, and even now the actual nu;n-
Der of wounded is not definitely known,
| their friends havin. the strongest mo.
tives for concealing them. 1t is hard
to attempt 10 apportion the respoEsi-
biliijes OF the killing. In the mass of
. CONFUSED AND CONTRADICTORY
statements there is testimony TO show
! that the strikers. while threatening an
attack, had committed no overt act of
iawlessaess beyond the possible otfense
| of unlawful assembly; that the deputies
| fired on them absolutely without pIovo-
! cation that would warrant the use of
! deadly weapons, and some of the killings
were particularly cruel and unjustisia-
| ble. Then there is equally abundant
testimony to show that the deputies
! simply defended themselves aud their
charge from the rushing assault of an
armed and bloodthirsty mob. The
| strikers furnished al! the dead men, not
a deputy being fatally hurt, and only
three of them wounded. The figh
occurred at daybreak in the public road
way leading to the Sickle Hollow
plants. Two thousand strikers, after
camping near the works all night. came
oQtthere to intercept the men on their
way to work, induce them to come out
| and help win the strike. A few of
them carried Winchcsters. while fully
fifty others were armed with sholguns,
| muzzle loading rifles and revolvers. Be-
cause of threatening demonstrations,
and the fact that they had given notice
to the company that they had come to
drive off the deputies, if necessary,
| there were ball cartridges in the VIM
csiesters carried by the guards. and the
| entire outfit at the works was in general
! readiness to receive raiders. The dep
! uties had specific orders, and it is all
/ mitted that the company had conveyed
/ to them
DIRECTIONS TO KILL.
4 SixtysiX of the strikers were placed
under arrest aud taken back to the
cunDany's ground, where they were
/ closely guarded during the remainder
| of the day. The whole lot OF them
were later placed in box cars, which
were closely nailed up and kept under
guard uuti evening, when the men
were brought to Jail in cherge
of twenty-five deputies. The men ar
rested are nearly all native-born citi-
zeus. intelligent-iooking and several of
them are known to be men of influence
and good reputation in the Fourth pool
district. The situation at the mines
! tonight is alarming. and more serious
trouble is expected within the next
twenty-four hours. Reports from
there late tonight are to the effect
that 5000 strikers from the lower and
tfof the Fourth pool were marching on
Sickle Hollow. thoroughly armed. for
the purpose of stormlng the works, re-
gardiess of consequences. But these
reports have not been verified. None
OF the dead except Kenan has been
Identified. :. 1t is impossible, to learn
labout the others who are dead.
tsEhe men will not claim their dead, and
nobody has come forward to speak for
the remains OF the poor fellows. who
areslying where they fell. John Troth,
OF Fayette City, who was badly wound.
ed, Will die. He IS prominent citizen
Of that place. and was formerly school
director.