The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-14
ECHOES OF THE RIOT.
Nj. Turner Says He Fired the Shot That
Started the Fight.


VIRDEN, ILL.,, Oct 1S-M. Turner. one of
the guards stationed in the yards south of
the town to announce the approach of the
train carrying the negroes. says he fired
the first shot yesterday as a signal to the
main body of miners near the depot The
miners had agreed, he said, that ten shots
in rapid succession should be the signal
that the train was approaching. Turner
says he fired the shots, shooting in the air
and that the men on the train answered
with volley into the crowd, whereupon the
firing became general.
General Bradley, a unique character
among the mine workers and a leader of a
delegation Of sixty miners from Mount
Olive, returned home to-day with the re-
mains of the dead Mount Olive miners. ''I
think this has been one of the most infer
nal outrages ever perpetrated on a laboring
public, he said. Our men were shot down
like dogs. Our men had orders to talk the
matter over with the mine people when it
came TO crisis and not to shoot unless
fired upon. Instead of arbitrating the ques-
tion. leave for home with a baggage car
of dead men. do not expect any further
trouble at Virden for the present, but I
cannot answer for the future, for there is a
day of reckoning coming when the laboring
" ' - e-'oA- AAASee"u VI DulAotS.
The rear Of the Climax Trading Com
panys store and adjacent buildings bear
evidence of the terrific fire that took place
yesterday, when J. +. Eyster was the tar
get, springing across the roofs. The plate
glass windows in the front of the store are
broken. In the rear the building is riddled
with bullets and buckshot All the window
panes bear bullet holes and the roof and
the coalshed is moved by a charge Of buck
shot that was fired at Eyster just as he
sprang through the skylight into miners
hall. Gunwads and cartridge shells lie
scattered around the rear of the store in
the alley. Sixty feet from the rear door
of the Climax store stands the covered de-
livery wagon in which Eyster made the trip
to the stockade with physicians yesterday
afternoon. A load of buckshot has ridded
the rubber curtains; dents from bullets are
visible in the sides of the wagon The
tongue is broken off short and the stub end
bloodstained. 1t is learned the team Of
horses was shot and, goaded to madness by
the wounds broke the tongue and ran
They went two blocks and both fell dead
The windows in the store under the miners
hall were broken in as the mob dragged
Eyster inside from the street. Aside from
this there are no other buildings damaged.
The latest reports are that J. F. Eyster,
superintendent Of the Climax Trading Com
pany, the establishment controlled by the
Chicago-Virden Coal Company, has i'm
proved slightly. Mr. Eyster is a member
Of the knights of Pythias and stands high
in the Masonic lodge He was spirited away
from the Buckles Hotel during the night
by his fellow-AIasons, and is now in hiding
a a iS he
win recover. Rumors to the effect that he
oied last night were circulated in order to
deceive the strikers as ii was believed by
his friends that, should 1t become known
that he still lived there would have been
a concerted action on the part of miners to
finish their bloody work Mr.. Eyster is
twenty-seven years old and was born in
Pennsylvania, but came here from Kansas
City, where he had been engaged in clerical
work. Business men speak very highly Of
him, but all are unanimous in saying that
he was too rash, and If he had needed the
advice of his friends he would not have
been molested Some of the miners claim
they were under the impression he W.
Manager Lulxens they were chasing. and if
Eyster had not shown fight he would have
been allowed to escape unhurt.
Capt Charles F. Fervier, commanding
Company B, Sons of Veterans. of Elgin,
ILL.,, is in charge or the stockade built by the
Chicago-virden Coal Company. With part
Of his men he entered the stockade to-day
and disarmed the Thiel detectives from St
Louis and the local deputies employed by
the operators. The men within the stock
ade offered no objections to Captain Fer
vier's command TO lay down their arms.
This afternoon all the arms and ammuni.
tion of the company We're conhscafed by
Continued ON second Pnge.)