The record-union., 1898-01-31

from the other two sides" And then,
as had been arranged in order to avoid
T, any attempt to detain them the boys
ran for the strip of woods a few hun
! dred yards from the breaker, at the
! foot OF the mountain, and in fifteen
minutes from the time the horn was
sounded all the boys, 146 by actual
count, We're at Germans barn. The
strike ct No. 9 was on.
| SO quickly had the affair been ac-
! complished that the tipmen at the head
| of the breaker did not know anything
was wrong until the coal in the chutes
/ became clogged and they could empty
no more cars. One of them investigat-
ing found Breaker Bcss Dan helpless on
| the floor and every breaker boy miss
/ ing. Signals We're sent to the engineer
to stop sending cars up to the breaker.
| The outside foreman ran. tuning, up
| the breaker steps to see what was the
matter Dan hastily explained. An
other order tingled in the engineers
room. 1t meant stop hosting from the
/ shaft. The head man telephoned the
news TO the foot tenders. They in turn
| told the driver boys who were pulling
| trips" from the various lifts of the
mine, and almost as rapidly as it would
J have been done on the surface the news
| spread underground. Meanwhile the
outside foreman telephoned to the dis
/ trict superintendent at the companys
| headquarters. Back came the question
Are there any empty cars on hand?
None" shouted the foreman; we
are sending 'em down as fast as we
empty them"
But enc thing to do, then" cried the
superintendent; shut down. I'll drive
/ over at once"
The superintendent was at the shaft
an hour later and crowd of very an
CRY miners he found there. There was
reason for their anger. The mine had
| been working only half time for some
months, and they needed as much work
as they could get. The unexpected shut
down meant the loss Of several much
needed dollars to each of them.
What are you goin to do about this,
| sir?' asked one of the miners.
Now the superintendent wanted the
mine towork as much as did the miners
| There was a demand for a certain
amount Of COAL and he would lose the
order Ii it was not filled. But he was
far seeing man, and so he replied:
Il cannot do anything except wait for
/ IL. u
to pay a higher scale, and as we can
not Get any other boys we shall have
TO shut down for month, if necessary,
| until they return
AS g. matter of fact. if he had thought
| the boys could stay out three days, he
would have granted the increase rather
than stop work, but he guessed what
wonld happen, and rightly.
Par f1yxv tes H.
themselves, one of the miners again
! approached the superintendent and
spoke. If Tommy could have been hid
den within hearing distance. his views
on the unity of labor interests would
have been forever shattered, for it was
his father who said: I'VE don't know
what this strike means sir or nothin'
about it, and we don't care but we
can't afford to lose time because of a
lot of fool kids. Well fetch 'em back
and make EN- work, you see if we
DON'T
This being as the superintendent ex-
pected, he drove back to his office fully
satisfied and not little amused
| The miners, who nearly all were faith
ers or brothers of the strikers, at once
went to the village to search for the
boys and it was not long before they
learned that the strikers meeting place
was at the old barn on the mountain.
About a hundred Of them started for il
at once, while the others, after getting
| washed, sat down to await the result of
| the proposed capture and talk over the
affair with the women.
| But, thanks to the President of the
ladies exilary," the strikers were not
TO be Inundated SO readily. Sally, who
had seen the flight of the boys, walked
over TO the shaft 10 await developments,
and she was there when the miners
resolved to settle the strike themselves
Anticipating their next move, she made
all haste to Germans barn and broke
! in upon the assemblage in the midst
of heat debate on the advisa bility of
! increasing their demand to 10 cents,
instead OF >, so flushed were they by
their novel situation and apparent sue
cess
Get out of here,'' cried Sally, breath
lessly, they're after yer; hurry, they're
comm
In few words she explained the sit
uation, the boys standing blankly about,
and one or two of the smaller ones be-
ginning to cry Even Tommy was non
pussed by this great and unexpected
reverse, and also not little by the
gravity Of the affair, for ne had not
realized i'll the excitement of the prep
arations the consequences of the strike
What yer goin' ter do?" queried Sal
~, impatiently, as the boys stared at
each other.
Lets go home," cried several before
whose eyes appeared vision of
strong arm and swirling strap.
Tommy had recovered by this. GO
| home!' he exclaimed: mot much. If
our folks is fightin us too, we'se JUS
! got to fight 'em back all der harder.
We'se got 10 win, an we'se goin to-"
Some Of the bolder ones cheered. but
! the majority were not impressed by this
| heroic speech. Several began edging
toward the door. and Tommy saw his
hopes of fame vanishing like thin mist,
but in this extremity succor came from
the ladies exilary."
Sally jumped a bench and in
shriIl. clear voice cried. ''Tll tell yer
/ what it is, yer folks is mighty mad at
| yer. and if they catches yer. yer'll all
get a mighty good lickin'. If yer keeps
out or the way fer time, they'll cool
/ down may be-
| Tommy plucked UP courage at this
"Sally's right he cried. an / knows
a cave up On ther mountain where
we'se can hide an It iii be just like
big picnic. Let's SO there; whose wild
me?"
| \ wave of enthusiasm swept over the
! dismayed strikers, and with one accord
they started for the cave. Fifteen
| ,uir,,ltes later when the miners reached