The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-28
SPAT UPON.
Martha Moore
Avery
ASSAILED BY MOB.
Marlboro Strikers Commit
Many Indginities.

Marlboro. Dec. 27.-A mob of 500 dis
gusted and excited men and women
surged through the streets shouting
angrily and hurting all sorts of cpl
thets, accompanied with frequent blows
and other indignities toward a woman,
is an innovation in this city. Yet such
We're the conditions tonight. The cause
was Mrs. Martha Moore Avery who has
been in the city nearly all the time, or
periodically since the big strike opened
much to the annoyance of members CT
the Boot and Shoe Workers Union.
The trouble started in the Marlboro
Theatre and did not cease until the
Hotel Preston was reached, and the in
vincible Martha Moore Avery was pro-
tected by the four walls of the ladies'
parlor. where she bobbed up serene!y.
and accorded reporter for The Spy an
interview in as smiling a manner as
If she had not been at the mercy of an
angry mob of half a thousand persons.
As stated in The Spy this morning,
there was d mass meeting Of the strfk-
ing shoe workers in the Marlboro thea
ire. Frank j. Clark presided and most
OF the speakers named this morning
iEDDI
men occupied seats upon the stage.
Every seat in the theatre was occupied,
the aisles were crowded, and an anxious
throng reached far out into the street
In one of the main aisles and near the
stage stood Mrs. Martha Moore Avery
and a small party Of her socialist
friends.
At the close Of the meeting, which
was an enthusiastic one, Mrs Avery
shouted for recognition from the STAGE.
she demanded an interview with Mr..
Qukship, the English representative of
/ the Boot and Shoe Workers Union
Hardly had Mrs. Avery ceased her
noisy demands, when the crowd began
to hiss. The crowd in the theatre began
! TO surge about the woman, and cries
Of Put her OUT" came from all parts
Of the building.
Two policemen elbowed their way Up
the aisle to protect the woman from
bodily harm, and when they seized her
arm to escort her to the door there was
a scene.
The woman demanded to know by
what right the officers dared to lay
! their hands upon her. The excited
woman was finally removed to the door
| and shortly afterwards into the street.
Here is where the most violent part
of the affair was begun in earnest. De-
spite the efforts Of The officers, the
woman was jostIed hither ana thither,
and fairly lifted from her feet by the
crowding and angry mob. u to this
| time no violence had been offered
/ With the officers by her side Mrs.
Martha Moore Avery slowly made her
way up Paramount TO Main and Me-
chanic streets, to the Preston. All sorts
of names were hurled at her, she was
spat upon several times, and some of
the excited crowd struck her several
/ blows Of more or less intensity. When
1 Mrs. Avery reached the Preston, her
garments We're disarranged and soiled,
and she had some bruises as a result of
/ the various blows she had received.
| When seen later by a representative
/ Of The Spy, Mrs. Avery was self pos
| sessed and smiling. Sine said she had
| been sent to Marlboro by the state
committee of the socialist labor party
| She had not come to this city to break
| up the strike. 1t would be d crime to
1 break up the strike, and she hoped the
! strikers would win, and that she won 4
/ do everything in her power to aid them
4 in what she termed their justiflable eff
forts Her object IN Marlboro was to
instin into the minds or the striking
/ shoe workers the principles OF the So
| eialistic labor party as an aid to them
in their war against the capitalist
Mrs. Avery regarded the ind gnation
and excitement Of the strikers as but
natural, as they thoroughly misunder-
| stood her motives. She had nothing
| but kindly feelings for her tormenters
] and assailants, Notwithstanding the
enormity of the indignities sh9 was
subjected to-
The affair is the talk of the city to-
night, and goes to show to whaa a high
/ tension the nerves OF the Strikers are
| strung, and how easy it woulG be to
have similar affairs terminate with Sc
rious results.