The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-10-12
THE LAST OF OUR LlBERrIEs.


When an American citizen is not per
mitted to have his mail directed to what
soever postotlice he pleases and delivered
to whatsoever he likes; when he is not al
lowed to request fellow craftsman to
refrain from working for starvation
wages; when he is forbidden by the
courts 10 walk on the public highway,
and is shot in the back on the plea that
he is imperilling the lives of his assas-
sins, il would seem that we have pre-
cious little left of our boosted fright TO
life, liberty and the pursuits of hnppi.
ness" The human battue at I.attimer,
Pa, was the most horrible affair that has
ever disgraced American history. n
party of half-starved miners, finding
their wages insufficient to provide them
selves and families with the simple neces-
saries of life, had quit work, hoping that
their wealthy employers mish bit be co.
creed by their idleness into according
them living in exchange Tor their labor.
Never had great strike been conducted
with so little vlolence-altho' q majority
of the working men and their families
were suffering for food and clothing, life
and property were almost universally re-
spected. a party of these poor fellows
were trudging peaceably and unarmed
along the public highway when they
were halted by n ST per officious sheriff,
accompanied by hundred or more
heavily armed deputies. He undertook
to read the riot act to them why only
| he and heaven know, as they were perpe.
trating no violence, committing no crime.
Being for the most part Huhgarians and
Italians who spoke little English, they
could not comprehend, but crowded
about the sheriff, staring inquiringly into
his face. And the poor miserable crea-
ture miscalled y man, conceived the fool
idea that chs life was in danger" that
he was "about to be trampled to reath'
under the very muzzles of his own guns,
before the eyes of his well-fe1 deputies,
who could have put them all to flight
with their fists. Ellis coward lips did
from their color fy"-his white liver
turned green with craven fear-his
chicken heart melted in his mouth-his
currish blood curded in his carcass, and
in X voice hoarse with fear, husky with
baby tears, lie bawled out the order to
fire The miners hear the click OF the
gun locks-they see the long line of rifles
raised to the shoulder and divine their
danger-but alas! too late. They t., IN
| to flee, terror stricken, and a murderous
volley is poured into-their backs!-then
another! Two-and-twenty lie quite dead,
fifty more are writing with grievous
| wounds, pleading for mercy-''the poor
people who have to work. are slaugh-
tered like sheep in the SHAMELESS and for
no other crime than walking unarmed on
the public highway-huddled together
because "misery loves company The
sheriff and his deputies, having done
their dastardly work, SINK off like so
many unclean jackals and ragged little
children come creeping tmidly forth to
peer into the CHASTITY faces of their
fathers, while gaunt women bewail their
| widowhood in a foreign tongue, or kneel
| in the dust with clasped hands and faces
of blank despair besides their still bleed
ing dead. Gracious God what an ending
to many happy dreaml What n breath
from hell, blasting SO many humble
homes! What are the thoughts of that
dark-eyea daughter Of Italia, crouchng
like the lioness over the corpse OF her
lover?-of that Hungarian woman striv-
ing to staunch with her ragged skirt the
life tide of her lord while her almost
naked children cling about her knees,
Does she remember the day when an oily
tongued agent for the mine operators
visited sheir humble shack and told them
OF the great country beyond the setting
sun where the common people bear rule
where the lowliest laborer is sovereign
and the superior of Europe's naughty
lords' Does she remember low they
dreamed and planned, how they looked
| ~. "NiN ~ iouS years VI happiness IN
the land Of the brave and the home of
the free" the "refuge of the worlds OPP
pressed" how they toiled and saved to
pay their passage to country where a
child born to them might become Pres-
dent? At last they took ship, and day
by day strained their eyes to catch a
glimpse of that western haven which
was to he the portal Of their heaven, and
when they landed they could have kissed
the land where ''all men are equals be-
fore the law" But the fond dream soon
faded; they were more hcpelessly en-
shaved than in the father land, COMPELLED
to live on less, answerable not to some
naughty but generous nobleman, hut to
a grasping, insolent and ignorant par.
venu, willing to coin their hearts blood
into boodle.-Brann's Iconoclast.