St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-01-28
an, worried thew couldn't III their

AT last fhere4 was two boys WOrRlns
in the Tale o'Woe' that had the sand to
say they would nayther jine nor quit.
They stud out an TUX their punish /
sment. Wan av them was an Amerikin,
and he was oliver wild his talk about
his rights to work where he ppased,
and for who he pl'ased, under the laws
av the counthry, widout Fave av the
brotherhoods. But they quinched him
and his prattle about his rights. Him
and the other lad that was workin'
wild him, they haled up the mountain
by a long thrail
"'Where are ye takin' us 2 says they.
Well go out PEACEFUL, the way we
come In, by the railroad
aye might get hurted that way,
says big Dan Rafferty,, pokin' his ugly
fun at thin. Wallace and Gem is full
av excited min; it might not be safe
for ye. Well take ye by quiet road
where yen meet wild no wan
"And they prodded the boys up the
mountain, abusin' thin all the way;
two hundred men dhrivin' two-b'atin'
on ile-cans wild shticks, and cussin' them
wild every foul name they could turn
their tongue to. They showed them out
over the Montany divide, and the
clothes half tore off them wild the hand
lin they got, Twas the month av April,
an the SHOWS was cruel deep. They
put them out on a forsaken road to
wally through the drifts, forty-fve miles
to Thompson's falls, and they strangers
to the way. There's mare house but
wan, an that wan closed ag'inst them
for fear of the union.
"And that's how wan lab'rin' man
taches another who are his bosses in
this free country. BY the Lord above!
if come to have bosses over me, I'll not
choose them wild the heart av an awl
and the head av han'shpike! Do they
think they're doin' the 1ab'rin' man any
good by such blaggard work as this? ?
Faith, think we're like to have labor
inquisition here, if things goes on.
'Tis too much power to put in the
hands av men as ignorant as they is
sassy" .
sDid the scabs get through" asked
/ Darcie.
SWAN av thin got through an teshti-
| fed In coort to what I'm tellin' ye; and
| wild him and other witnesses and affida-
wits by scores the owners got an injunc-
| ton laid on the miners unions, all an
siveral, for toquit intimidatin' an con-
shpirin' in the Cor de Lane. But twas
no use at all, except to make thin mad;
We moight as well shake an old broom at
! a grizzly bear. Ye know the rest your
self. But that's how guarded trainloads
av shcabs come into the Cor de Lanes;
and that's how it is the mines is armed
an barricaded-all but the Big Horn,
sole and lone, which niver come into the
owners association at all, and gives the
union all it asks"
''What reason did Bingham offer, do
you know, for not coming into the asso-
citation ?n asked Darcie.
He gev the reason that the Big Horn
is wet mine, which it is; but nayther
the water nor the work in the mine iyer
KEEP the Big Horn boys underground
whin the union wanted thin on top.
| They trots back and fort the same as
| they owned the mine. Some says the
ould mans that tied up wild his own
foolishness he can't help the way things
Is goin' Pether Banning, the foreman
that's in since Misther Bingham come,
/ has the pull on him entirely. He's a
mighty man in the union, is Pete; an
he's well acquainted wild the saycrets av
1 the management. 'Tis he knows all
about the commissions theould man has
pocketed along av livery order forsup-
plies that he gets in; and costly mine
it is to run-for the comp'ny -ye may
| Law your life on that. Times when
was workin' in it, I'd hear outside that
the minewa doin' poorly-nota a hatful
1 av ore il sight; win I'd know naeself
/ there was bodies ay ore beiH covered
up by orderav the manager, for reasons
/ that he KEEP to himself. Pether Ban
ming is in all that, ye see; so the ould
] man has got to be fri'nds wild Pether's
| fri'nlls."
i Come, Mike. don't be scandalous,' =
said Darcie, rising to his feet. Hes a
soaker, if you like; coward, suspect
an incapable if ever there was one.
but not common thief and swindler!' .
All, ye know It well enough! IT'S
as public as the winds. The com
| phys far away from the runor av 1T
or 'twould have been known before
now. The ould mans name is rife wild
shcandals; and how he comes by such q
/ darlin' for sEdaughter a thing
can't cipher out mese1f, niver havin
seen the lady he buried-Mrs. Bingham
that was
eve are not discussing the ladies OF
\ the emanagement," Darcfe demurred.
"Dod, I'm not like fasset, thin, to
be turned on and off wild a twisht av the
screw" Mike rejoined. "Ye can take
/ me as + ceme, or Pave me alone
/ "Pll leave you alone" smiled Darcie
and then was silent for long while;
but heswas too restless, apparently, te
return to his writing.
Mike had suspicion that his partner
did not sleep much that night-not that
he lay awake himself to see; but some
body had been.u burning frewoad ir
unreasonable quantities. Darcie, whe
| never complained OF his food, left his
breakfast untasted, and Mike ruefully
Il scraped, into the fire theswfole of fine
boiled potato soaked in ham gravy.
n "It'sthe heart av him shakin' his in
sides so that he cannot ate. have beer
u that way meself. All, me little Darcie
= ye'd betther have wint for the docther
or shtayed wild the ould man and put
II mo n, fha nr3af that has n frirI avn,