The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-13
BUTTE News.
]. MADE A SERIOUS CHARGE
Birch Accuses the Union of Rob-
g bing Him.
HE SAYS HE Is SHY $50
Il One of the Men the Union Walked to
Woodville and Told Not to
.~ Come Back-His Story
ss4-- of the Affair.
HE SAYS HE Is SHY $50

Henry Birch, who, with Charles Saw
age, was taken from the Parrot smelter
F Wednesday night by a crowd of smell
sss-sfermen because he declined to join the
=. Mill and Smeltermen's union and was
- compelled to walk to Woodville and
- there told not to return to Butte under
penalty of worse treatment makes seri-
r. Gus charges against the union men. He
So asserts that the indignity to which he
81 and Savage was treated, about which
there is more than one opinion to be
heard, was by no means the most seri-
Gus ofense the union men committed,
s r but charges that they robbed him Of $50
sa~-in money.
a--~ Birch and Savage did not obey the
injunction not to return to Butte when
r they We're turned loose at Woodville. but
caught an engine back to Butte. and
were in bed about as soon Is those
who escorted them out of the city.
Birch, when seen yesterday, gave the
~ following account of his trea tment:
54@~-~'I was sitting down in the furnace
room when three men came in. l paid
~ no attention to them, as l thought they
were visitors. until they walked. up and
e inquired if my name was Birch. l re-
piled it was and they said, We want
sT you l said. Well, I'm here BY this
Is. time the whole crowd had come in and
some of them went to my locker. where
~ my street clothes hung. l asked to be
s. permitted to change my clothes, but was
s refused, and / then asked to be allowed
t to change my shoes, and one of the
men replied that my shoes were good
Z enough for the road I had to travel. In
the meantime some of the crowd had
81 gone out on the dump and got Savage,
s'sA,rho was brought in, and we were per-
~ mitted to take our Overcoats. Super
-e intendent Schumacher attempted to in
~ terfere in our behalf, but was made to
n stand aside. We were made to go out
T. side, where we were handcuffed to-
II gether and marched off up the road to-
T. ward Woodville accompanied by the
" whole mob They kept telling us to
walk faster, applying all sorts of vile
as-epithets to us and when I protested the
Il leader said: oh, you've got no kick
coming: many a better man has got the
rope We were accompanied as far as
the Con Sullivan mine and there re-
leased and told to keep going toward ST.
Paul, and that if we came back to Butte
it would be at our own peril. We went
on to Woodville station and the first
q. light engine that came through we
caught and came back to Butte. I dis
covered when I got my clothes to-day
g that when the men went through my
@ locker they took purse containing $780,
trousers. There was a diamond ring
and about so cents in change in the
pockets, which they very generously left
@sme.''
- In stating why he was not a union
Imam, Birch said:
-+ee- with the exception Of two years that
fS was on the police force l have worked
in the Parrot smeter since 1885. Last
August l was approached by members
of the union and advised to join it. l
y was shown a copy of the bylaws, which
required me to pay so cents a month in
4 ae~dues, 25 cents for funeral expenses
whenever there was a DEATH and made
me subject to an assessment of per
Sss~cent. of my months wages whenever
II the union saw fit to levy it. The rules
tas also provided that I should receive s.. SO
a day, which was SO cents less than I
was getting, and as 7 was not working
for less than the union wages, had no
Assintention of doing so and could not see
Ae+WheTe | should derive any benefit from
Joining the union, ] concluded l would
not make myself liable to the 5 per cent
assessment and did not JOHN
As several of the men who partici-
nated in the affair are known, it is not
4 Unlikely that prosecutions will follow.