The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-06
BROTHERS. TALE REVISED.
,yoTHER VERSION OF THE FIG HT
At II STONE CRUSHER.

min and Tbey Grnppied. ana when His MEN
came Up Brothers Ian M Though tho Dewitt
were Anor Him, but Not a STnn Follow ed.
p~oueHKEEPsIE, Aug. 5.-If W. Franklin
Rro,hers. mechanical engineer from Panama
and Brooklyn. had killed all Of the 400 and
odd men who attacked him after he as
.aulted william p. Harris, superintendent
~ tho Clinton Point stone crusher. tho
.,ory no told OF the encounter and Of his
rnnnins fight with the moi would have been rs
yood to-day as II was yesterday. There would
hayc teen nobody alive to contradict 1t. For
tnnately for him, though, Mr.. Brothers didn't
tin ANYBODY. He didn't even hurt anybody very
seriously. and, as a result, a very different story
from that told by Mr.. Brothers yesterday of tho
trouble at the crushcr was obtained to-day.
Tho stone crusher, as everybody hereabouts
calls it, includes the quarries and stono-crushing
plant Of the Hudson River SSono Supply Com
papy. of which W.. c. Andrews OF New York is
the President and w. A. Alsdort is tho Vice.
President and general manager. The New
York office OF the company Is at 2
Cortlanit street. The ~quarries and plant are
on the banks of the Hudson. about seven miles
sou,h Of Pvughkcepsie, on a spur OF land called
Clinton Point. 4 few moro than 500 mon are
employed in getting out and crushing the stone.
The su perintendent of the quarries and crusher
is William p. Harris.
SOMC ulOntES ukO pEOthSIS, WIZ was AZ VI
time employe ed by the Panama Canal Company
As an engineer, and who now lives in Brooklyn.
told the officers OF the Hudson River Stone Sup
py Company that he had an invention for carry
ing the stone from the Quarrics to the crusher
which. II the company would give 1t a trial,
would demonstrate that its permanent use
would save the company thousands Of dol
lars q year. The President looked into
tho matter. He concluded that it was
worth while to give Brothers's invention a trial.
BY an arrangement between the company and
the engineer.inventor. the company was to pay
the expenses OF setting up the necessary ma
chinery and Brothers was hired. at a stipulated
price per day, to superintcnd the work.
According 10 General Manager Alsdorf. whom
sun reporter found at the crusher this after
noon. Brothers had been at Clinton Point but q
short time before he began to issue orders right
and left. He not only wanted to boss his own
work. but he wanted to DO chief cook and bottle
washer OF the whole concern.
The work at the q~uarries and crusher was In
charge of Superintendent H trris. The company
held him responsible for the successful opera
ton OF the plant Mr.. Harris. the company
thinks. knows his business. Harris didn't object
TO ANYTHING Brothers did as long as he didn't In
terforo with the men and the work at the
crusher and in tho quarrics. When he did
Harris called him down, reported to tho Presi.
dent Of the company, VINO. according to Mr..
Alsdorf. approved Of all the acts Of the superin.
tendent This made Brothers mad. and he has
greatly annoyed Mr.. Harris for several months.
Brothers put the c~apstone on his ofaciousness
yesterday morning when he hired Henry Baker,
once the foreman OF the quarry, but who. &C
cording to Mr.. Alsdorf, was discharged by Mr..
Harris several months ago for inefficiency.
Baker went to work under Brothers yesterday
morning. When Mr.. Harris reached the crusher
he was informed OF the fact. He sent for
Mr. Harris stood in front OF the office door when
Brothers came up: To him Mr.. Harris said;
mani mann; I ssG.hsFs an i s@ y loao naSea that Balsss en M hsSs
you, put 70 work this nioEpins; Is that 50 ;.
9Iasei BrSSt Ih%aas' but il re curiosity is consuming
YOU don,I mind telling you that you have been
Mr. 1T h,p1j,! Wv DID 5Gf YOU your 1ntSrm matt Bakers esp Mss
d dssiocfsS liz from Sn1t these works once because he
liam nerfectly well aware Of that fact. sir
again nj ny other men whom you have dis
charges before have done here
dent Wen $50 about that" and. turning on
his heel, ended the conyersstion;
from tho story told BY Brothers to Policeman
h.rlcs MeCabe ct the depot here Yesterday
"%ssIInh1n aS ha nsfs 4, turned nnss ia around I when Sfnsn0n I heard a
sntep behind me. ind the next thing knew
S Rffh "a pia haa i,5Se Wh ihf Se'G Ssd in nhf his shp poeEet.
As soon as / was struck i turned arounS and
E1apP}l LS5 ', with n. my ao assai LAM nr In the Sc sfpt ms we we
Top "Son Of ssit the no he head sa'1 With IT the plumb'bo6. III Three
or four of my men nc rI saw . the he, o ossHf.
oasiy; iRiuEsd.s The men shouted as hey
ming AS Il the devil was after him. through the
woods yonder. in the direction OF the house
where he had lodgings. My men were going to
follow him.. but l told them to 90 back to work.
rhsy Of qua Us s IS 1m% hsro has Seen an Of i BrotSer rss last
How abou, Brothers's statement that, find
ing every avenue of escape from this immediate
vicinity cut of by your men, he got q revolver
and held up two ofthem to clear a way for him
to the railroad track :" asked the reporter;
"Idid he, r that he borrowed a revolver from
Baker. but he never held up, or even on,
only ones OF our employees who knew of the
trouble we're the men in the immediate, vicinity
about the qunrries. half a mile away.
Few OF the 900 men we employ here
. change OF words between Brothers and me. Not
nman followed him; not a man interfered with
his soingoqt: II he hsdpt been scared out OF III
were coming TO my assistance, after was down,
he necdn even have hurried TO get away
That's what his running fight with n mot
GENERAL Manager Alsdorf, Henry F. Corby. at
corrohorarei Mr.. Harris's story. Besides. Mr.
AlsdOrf said:
"Btothers is all right. but he has given MS
trouo e ever since he came here. He has tried
to arroGIte to himself an authority which he
never had and which lac couldn't get. We tried
10 get along with him. however, because we
knew his invention would be useful
10 us. and we thought the best man TO oversee
the setting up OF the ne essary machinery was
the man who invented the contrlyancc. He had
no money 10 expend in putting in tho plant, SC
We agreed to tear the expense and give him II
salary and a royalty. All tho mon who worked
under him the company paid. Nobody has any
sHlnoFity 70 hire any men employed BY Tho
Br9ih,Is says he came here yesterday morning
with authority to assume charge OF everything
he tells IN absurd falschooi. However, he dc
MED 10 tho PresidenI OF the company this morn
iias thar he even told the story that was printed
lnthls mornings papeis.'
Brothers was not at the works to-day; but thu
reporter for "HE SuN saw Policeman McCabe
ana tb u officer retold the story which Brolherr
.o!d him. which was the same story pu6lishet
Cate made an amusing addition. He sLid: =,
When Brothers got to the part of his tnl'
Whnr. ~. .Gr,- a-A.4l In a. Va lnnN,