The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-10-11
DEATH IN RIOT
At ACOAL MINE
Strikers and Women Fight
Special Policemen.
ONE PERSON KILLED:
A DOZEN WOUNDED
Doubt as to Who Fired the
First Shot.

Hazleton, Pa, Oct 1O.-A special po-
liceman was instantly killed, another
was wounded in the head. a striker was
probably fatally shot and ten nom
union men were more or less seriously
wounded at the Oneida coIliery of Coke
Bros. in clash between the officers
and 500 strikers this morning. The
victims are:
Killed.
Ralph Mills, aged 90 years, of Beaver
IN special train early this morning
from that place to Oneida. He was
shot through the back.
Wounded.
George Kellnor, aged 49, of Beaver
Meadow. also a special officer. He re-
ceived shot wounds in the head but
will recover.
Joseph Lelxow. aged So. of Sheppton,
striker was shot in the groin, and will
probably die.
Ten non-union men were stoned, but
only two of them were seriously in
iured. They are: John Van Blargin
and James Tosh of Sheppton. The for
mer sustained scalp wounds, and the
latter had four ribs broken.
The Oneida colliery had been in oper-
alton since the Inauguration of the
strike. The union men at Oneida and
Sheppton, where many of the employees
of the Oneida and Derringer collieries
of Coke Bros. & Co. live, decided early
this morning to close the mine.
They gathered in groups on the
streets as early as o'clock. AS the
nOn-union men went to work they were
asked by the strikers to remain at
home. Some turned back, others did
not. Those who went to the colliery
were stoned Van Blargin, one of the
non-union employees, attempted to
draw a revolver, but the weapon was
taken from him, and in the beating he
received he had several ribs broken.
This occurred just before starting time
at the mine.
The strikers remained at the colliery
all morning. AS the small mine loco
motive used in hauling the coal from
No. and No. 8 cOllierieS to the Oneida
breaker pulled up on the road near the
latter colliery a crowd of women block
ed the track. The women were told by
| General Superintendent Kudlick to go
/ home He assured them that their
husbands would get an increase in
wages, and that their other grievances
would be properly adjusted The women
| refused to listen and stoned the super
/ intendent, who was wounded In the
/ head.
| Then the striking men and the
women rushed toward the coIliery- A
! force of about fifty special policemen
who had been brought down from
/ Beaver Meadow to prevent trouble at
/ tempted to intercept the mob, but they
were pOWerless to do anything, and re-
tired to the engine house
Shots Are Fired.
Just as the officers got close to shell
! ter shot was fired. This was followed
I by another, and in a few seconds many
/ shots rang through the air
! . Policeman Mills was the first to fall
Then Joseph Leske, a striker, dropped
to the ground.
No ore knows who shot first, but il
is believed that both the strikers anC
the officers used their weapons A gun
shot killed Mills and small shot STRUCK
Policeman Kellner- Lesko, the striker
was struck By a ball from a revolver
with which all the officers We're armed
After the shooting the strikers dis
persed.
Sheriff Toole of Schuylkill county, il
whose territory the clash occurred
/ was in Philadelphia and could rendel
no assistance. His chief deputy, James
O'Donnell, arrived here this Afternoon
and went TO the scene with a force o
men
Rev. Carl Houser, a Lithuanian min
lister from Freeland, who baptiSed
child at Oneida just at the time tn
shooting was in progress, was mis-
taken by the strikers for Superlnten
dent KudIick and narrowly escaped be
ing stoned. He was soon recognized %!
a friend and escorted safely to the sta
ton.
Notices were posted tonight by Cox
Bros. & Co. at their Oneida, Derringer
Gowen and Beaver Meadow collierie
that there would be a suspension o
work until the strike is settled.