The sun., 1900-10-02
MINERS STRIKE GOES on,
ADVANCE IN WAGES FAILs TO RE.
OPEN the COLLIKRIEs.
Attempt by Strikers to Raid Wine st Ia,t,.
mer-Empioyees OF Hsrkle a. 60. Break
the Arbitration Agreement Operator, Un.
able to Agree Upon a Course Of Action


HAnRToN. Pa, Oct. THE frst day OF tho
Third week Of the great anthracite coal strike
was marked In the Hazlcton region by an at
tempt on the part OF the strikers TO stop opera.
lions at the 1attimer colery Of C. Pardee A
Co early this morning Before dawn strikers
began gathering in the neighborlng patches
and shortly before o'clock a mob numbering
500 suddenly appeared on the hills overlooking
! the Lattimer plant. Sheriff Harvey and hs
| deputies had been apprised Of tho intended
| march and were on hand Under the restrnin-
| Ing Influence OF these and other armed men
the strikers attempted no violence and only
vented their displeasure by yelling and shout
| Ing and abusing the men at work The deron-
| stration bore some fruit as Twenty-Five ItalIa,s
working in the stripping became frightened
! and went home. When the strikers went OF
| they declared they would return to-morrow
and drive the men out Of the workings, T'pon
news of this reaching the manage twantv-
! five more deputies were sworn in and armed
so that II the strikers do attempt to rnsh th,
! plant tomorrow they will get a warm reception
! While the marchers were on their way back
! 10 freeand they were met by John NIarkle OF
| g. b. Markle& Co.. the Jeddo operators Mr..
| Markle was known to all Of them and they
/ greeted him pleasantly, as he did them
! Where are you going. boys2" he askeI
Going home several replied.
I'm going that way myself. said Mr.. Marklc.
I III march along with you"
The strikers thought this huge Joke and
yelled; Get in line. John" and Mr.. MarkIc
took up a position In front with the leade7,
! and marched along. Mr. Markle was not doing
this for the fun of marching with the strikers.
but with the object of preventing a descent
/ on his collieries. In this he succeeded a. the
men dispersed at Japan. which is just outside
OF his workings
The general strike situation here has shown
an important change to-day In that g. b. Mar
kle a Co. have virtually aoknow lodged them
selves beaten by the labor agitators, nnd have
come 10 the conclusion that the position thcy
have taken in the matter Of arbitratine their
difficulties with their men is no longer tenable
and that the only course left open 10 them is 10
treat their men as other operators treat theirs
All this has been disclosed by notices tackled I'M
at their colieries telling the men that since the
arbitration agreement between the firm and
its men had been broken. all men were exI ct tcd
to work until further notice at the present
rate Of WAGES. BY the breaking OF the albl-
tration agreement the firm. of course meant
the keeping away Of the men from the work
reduced that the operations are only n pre-
tenoe. This indirect way Of breaking tho
agreement was, in the eyes of the Markles
a direct one, for a proviso Of the arbitration
agreement was that the men were TO remain
men did not stay AT work, but Joined the strik-
ers. they. Of course, broke the most important
OF the arbitration agreements provision~
It before he hopped. gave organized labor labor
the seyerest blow II has ever received" What
the effect will be upon the Msrke mines and
upon the general situation here it is impossible
The action taken by @, B. Markle 4 Co. IN post
ing the notices referred to followed the recpiit
by the firm a, Gt this 5, commnniCa S ton from the
tion proposition in charge.
We. the undersigned committee Of the en-
range for arbitration under the agreement re-
tween the company and the men, do reTot
that the agreement Is broken by the employees
The firm thereupon posted this notice In all
In accordance with tho report Of the COM
now broken. We announce that the contract
existing between our employees and ourselves
on Monday. Oct and afford any OF our en-
povees an opportunity 70 work so long our
collieries are snfieiently manned 70 operate
of wages will continue until further notice.
"JoHN MARBLE, Managing Partner"
The immediate effect of this notice was that
more men. reported for work at the Markls
collieries this morning than at any other time
70 continue working their mines The strikers
saw they will be forced to close down for
lack Of men to operate then in a day or two;
All the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com
Ha8 Eloquent speech yesterday failing to move the
men. All Of tho Cross Creek Corpany's col
Is being mined The strikers say that they
have had considerable accessions to their ranks
to-day as a result Of Yesterday, meetings In
almost every town In the HaZleton region.
No additional colieries have been shut down,
but all are more or less crippled and the general
President Mitchell Of the United Mine
Workers reiterated to-day his oft-made, state
SynV ts Seh ne arrived m M S %es baed bx
the concessions made by the Reading COM
pany but did not consider its action sufficient
work. TI As matter Of fact Mr. Mitchell is in a a
hole and he knows 1t. The chances are In
be entirely ignored and the men will gradually
go back to work whether he authorizes them
to do 50 or not, and IL the, reported advance is
generally granted the coilieries will all soon
Just s nov now Mr Mitchell is hedging considerably
on the question Of whether or not TO say that a
convention Of miners is TO be held here OF In
Scranton 10 consider the 10 per cent. offer.
such convention would be held il is gen
orally believed that arranRements are under
way for the calling OF such n gathering. What
he did say was that the strike was practically
complete and that there would be no resumption
OF work without there 1,, arst being convention
"The prediction ! made yesterday, he said
that no attention would be paid TO the notices
posted by the Readiw Company. concedinG
10 per cent advance, has proven trie. Our
reports from the Panther Creek Valley irdi-
cate that this heretofore impregnable portion
OF the anthracite region has declared it's in
tAntion of suspendnR operations at once
Accompanied by the National Board members
we shall 90 10 Wilkes Barre tomorrow 10 at
tend a great labor demonstration which will
be participated in by fully 25,Ooo Miners
Mitchell is to be one OF the speakers AZ the
gathering which is TO be held AZ the conclusion
OF tho parade and all the other labor leaders
will make addresses
An alleged attempt on the part of strikers
10 burn ont n man who would persist In going
10 work despite all threats was made AT Gram
berry last night John Ruben is the man and
shortly before midnight last night neiRhbors
were awakened by bright flashes Of light on
their windows Looking ont they found Ru-
bcn's house on FIRE They rushed 70 the scene
and awakened the family, consisting of Mr..
Ruben. his wife. -four children and fiye boarders
A bucket brigade was organized and after
n hard struggle the blaze was eNtinguishNd.
Investigation showed that the building had
been well soaked with coal oil The house
was badly damaged The oil had been poured
on both the front and the back door and over
the window sills The timely discover saved
tho inmates from death II Il the belief ~
many that the same people who used dyna-
mite at the home Of William Sheella in Green
Ridge on Saturday morning had hani in
the attempt TO burn up the Ruben family.