The herald., 1897-10-03
Mass Meeting of Condol=
enCe and Protest
THE HAzELToN OUTRAGE
DENOUNCED AS AN ATTACK ON
CITIZENS RIGHTS
The Panacea for all Economic Wrongs
offered by the Socialist
Labor Party

The mass meeting held Last evening
at the Turnverein hall, under the aus
pices Of the Socialist Labor party, was
only fairly we'll attended, the audi
torium being we'll filled, while the gal
leries were bare and almost empty. The
meeting was summoned to protest
against the outrage perpetrated at
Hazelton, Pa, in shooting down un-
armed men while they were infringing
upon no law, and were exercising their
constitutional rights to use the public
highway.
The front of the stage was heavily
draped in black, edged with red and
looped up at intervals with heavy Grape
bows. On one side Of the proscenium
the American flag was gathered up and
Med with Grape, while on the other side
the red flag of the Socialist party was
draped in the same way. The table in
the center of the stage was covered
In black, while in front were two i'm
mense masses of variegated flowers,
and palms were scattered around. Sup
porting l.. Riddle, chairman of the meet
ing and father of the Socialist party in
Los Angeles, were a number of leaders
and sympathizers with the movement
for reform along eoclalistic lines.
The proceedings were opened by the
chairman briefly setting forth the pur-
poses Of the meeting-that the working
people Of Los Angeles might have an
opportunity to raise their voices in uni
= c.e.J tn, he Lon ri O
of the east in protest against the de-
liberate murders that had been perpe-
trated.
"The Workman's Marseillaise" being
sung by the audience, the chairman pre-
sented the Rev. ]. r. Webster of Pasa-
dena to the audience The, reverend gen.
tleman stated that he did not know
whether gri # or Indignation predomin-
ated in his mind when he read the news
While paying a tribute of respect to the
dead and uttering sympathetic words
of coincidence to the wives and families
Of the men who were killed. the speaker
urged that the officers who shot down
these unoefending men were themselves
as trI,y victims of the capitalistic sys-
tenn as were the men that were killed.
Mr. Webster made strong plea for
these men. He condemned any idea of
vengeance, for that attitude of mind was
the very one the Socialist party con-
demned in their economic enemies. He
referred to the saying of the early
Christians, that the "blood of martyrs
was the seed of the church." and con-
tended that the martyrs at Hazelton
had not died in vain; that it is not in
human nature to condone' such blood
shed, despite the fact that some news
papers, either owned or controlled by
the capitalistic class, say to the con-
trary. The humane, thinking, reading,
philanthropic people Of the country are,
the speaker maintained, beginning to
realize that the capitalistic system is
q failure; that the eystem of ''every man
for himself and the devil take the last
one" is economically, socially and moral
ly wrong.
After Ben Bolt" had been happily
rendered by the small band made up of
a piano, violin and clarinet, and 1.-THE
Star Spangled Banner" had been given
as an encore, George G. Kramer gave a
necessarily brief resume of strikes in the
United States. Beginning with the
strike of the journeymen bakers of New
York in 1896, he traced the several
strikes to the one inaugurated by the
cordwaivers in New York in 1909, when
the words Strike and "scab" first were
endowed with distinctive meaning. The
speaker touched upon the lives lost in
recent years at Pittsburg, Homestead,
Buffalo, Tennessee. Cripple Creek Occur
d'Alene, Pullman, Chicago, Brooklyn
and lastly Hazelton, and pronounced
each and all to be the natural result of a
disordered state of society that must
ever exist while capital shows the fierce
spirit in an attempt to make labor bow
meekly under Its sway.
During the evening the following reso-
luton Of coincidence was adopted unani-
mously and a copy ordered forwarded
to the family Of each Of the murdered
men:
Whereas, your deceased relative has.
September TO- 1897, at Latimer, county OF
Lucerne, state of Pennsylvania. met an
untimely, barbarous and violent death at
the hands of the combined civil and mill
,fary power of the said county and state
at the behests Of the capitalistic class
which said class robbed your said de-
ceased relative Of the products Of his toll
against which said remorseess robbery
your said relative was in a peaceable way
endeavoring to guard himself and the
better provide himself with the necessa-
ries of life and In q manner consonant
with the approved instincts Of the whole
human race,
Therefore, Section Los Angeles, the So
cialist Labor party, in public meeting as
eembled in Turn Verein hall. In the city
Of Los Angeles, state of California, on
this I'd day Of October, 1897
I. Extends to you its sincere sympathy
and joins in your great grief in this sad
hour of sore af11iction; and
II. 1t congratulates you in that your de-
ceased relative was true to you to the last,
endeavoring to provide himself and his
dependents with the necessaries and COM
forts of life.
III. 1t confesses to you with the deep
est humiliation and shame that our fellow
citizens, under the guise of the law, have
committed this barbarous act of killing
your relative.
~ 1t stands abashed and dazed at this
act of inexpressible and wanton cruelty;
and 1t hopes your future days may be
happier and more blessed; and that YOU.
with us, may forever keep green the mem
Dry Of this, your departed relative.
Job Hartman, who is the orator of
the Socialist party in Southern Califor-
MIA. and who ran on the Socialist ticket
for member of congress, next made a
thoughtful address. 1t was the capital
ietic system he attacked, and, there was
an absence of vindictiveness against
the officers whom he regarded as simply