The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-15
SITUATION AT vIRDEN.
Miners still on the Watch for Negroes
The COrOner's Inquest.

The COr0ner's Inquest.
VIRDEN, ILL.,. Oct. 14.-A new quiver of
excitement swept over this town hourly
throughout the afternoon and from o'clock
till nightfall rumor followed rumor. and not
even the best informed had any definite idea
as to what would develop during the night.
Rumors that another trainload of negroes
was on its way here kept the excitement at
high tension. but the militiamen are in COM
plete possession of the stockade, and are
closely guarding the railroad property.
The coroner's jury heard a large number
of witnesses to-day. but did not conclude
its work. The inquest will last until Mo1-
day or Tuesday. To-day's proceedings were
held in the stockade. The wounded guards,
eleven in number, who were on the train
with the negroes, testified that the firing
was commenced by the strikers. Some ac-
knowledged that the guards returned the
fire, but none would acknowledge that ne
individually had fired The men said they
were under strict orders not to fire except
in self-defense. One of the wounded guards,
who had been at the stockade previous 10
Wednesday, in his testimony, stated that he
positively knew there were no guards in the
tower over the shaft. or that none of the
firing came from the stockade. At 4:30 the
jury took a recess until tomorrow morning.
Six eX-guards from st. Louis, who came
upon the train carrying the blacks Wednes-
day and who were more or less seriously
wounded, were allowed to leave for home
to-day after a consultation, participated in
by Colonel Young, Manager Lukens, Cor
oner Hart Police Magistrate Roberts and
Attorney Patton. Three of the men were
so badly injured that it was necessary to
carry them to the train. The men who de-
parted were: H. Gutgesell, wounded in
shoulder; o. J. Snyder, wounded in the
face and leg; Thomas McEnlee, buckshot
wounds in neck: ]. w. Moon, wounds in
legs P. ]. Harran. slightly wounded; J. II.
Smith, slightly wounded. DR.. Cyrus a. Pet
erson, of st. Louis, had charge of the men,
and accompanied them to ST. Louis ON a
special train over the Burlington.
Three hundred miners from Virden, Car
linville, Nilwood and Greenridge attended
the funeral of A. Breneman at Girard to-
day. There was no disorder.
General Manager Lukens of the Chicago
Virden Coal Company, to-day made the fol-
following statement in regard to the wages
paid by his company and the demands of
the strikers: Under the old scale of
wages, prior to the summer of 1897, the
pay at our mines was % cents per ton,
Ai1iiS AuA anu AdlKiy bOOO Ahl1lSAS COulO dilu
did earn 1925 per day for ten hours, free
of all expenses. The pay rolls show an
average of 50. per day net for every min
er in the mine, with a. range of $1.10 to $i56
per day. The price of powder has been re-
duced so cents a keg since then. which
makes a material increase in the miners
wages. At the price miners are demanding,
40 cents per ton, an average miner can make
from SO to $4 per day, and a good workman
would have no difficulty in earning So per
day. We have had men in our Virden mine
working at So cents per ton, screened COAL
which equals about 2S cents per ton at mine
run, make over $6 per day. The charge
that the Chicago-Virden Coal Company is
expressing its miners, and is not willing
to pay its employees living wages, is perfect
ly absurd, and is not entertained for a. mo-
ment by people who are familiar with the
situation. The miners are fighting to get
all they possibly can for their labor. We
do not object to the men making good
wages the more the better. All we desire
is an opportunity to get our coal dug at a
price that will allow us to enter the market
and sell coal without loss to ourselves and
this is impossible at the rate of pay de-
manded by the union workmen. The State
has taken absolute possession of our prop
erty,' he said. land has practically pro-
hibited us from operating our mines"
Sheriff Davenport, who left Virden dur
ing the battle of Wednesday, returned from
Carlinville to-day. He was summoned here
to appear before the coroner's jury to give
testimony bearing on the riot
bad scare was given the engineer on a.
freight train going north to-day. Appar-
emily the freight had orders not to stop at
Virden as they were going at very high
rate of speed inside the yards. Suddenly
there was loud report from torpedo on
the tracks, a signal that is used by the
militia TO bring the trains to a standstill.
The engineer either did not hear the report
decided to go ahead and pay no atten-
tion to it, for the train quickly gathered
speed. There came another report, and this
time it was from a couple of Springfield
rifles in the hands of the soldiers on the
depot platform. This time there was no
doubt that the signals would be observed,
as the engineer with very white face
closed the throttle and applied the
brakes in such a manner to leave no
doubt that he was willing to obey orders.
After the cars had been searched the train
was allowed to continue on its journey
north.