Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-05
INSPECIAL~SESSION
:. e 81. DO
Knights of Labor Gqperal Assembly
to Meet Here.
ATTEMPT 70 SETTLE DIFFERENCES
Controversy Among tie Officers a
Headquarters.
THE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY

A special. meeting of the General Assem-
bly, of the knights of Labor has been called
to commence the 18th instant In this city
for the purpose Of attempting to bring
about a settlement of the trouble among
the general officers at headquarters, OF
which mention has already been made In
The Star.
I. D. Chamberlain. general worthy fore
man of the order. has prepared state
ment of the difficulty referred to for sub
mission to the general body and Is having
copy of the same sent to each of the
delegates to the General Assembly.
In his statement the general worthy fore
man will say:
After the close of the General Assembly
last fall it appears that Lawson. H. B.
Martin and others had made some compact
with a majority of the general executive
board-Parsons. O'Keefe and Conner-to re-
inState the old d. A. 66. and the old men,
bers of 66 who had been expelled by the
General Assembly. The facts came to the
surface. first. through letters written to the
members of the general executive board,
that the board was not living up to its
agreement to promptly reinstate these peo-
pie and the old district. This stirred up the
three members of the general executive
board to secure a board meeting.
MeanWnlle L. "A. NV Ii'iu trouble. -. ~.
Cunningham & Co. glass manufacturers of
Pittsburg. refused to sign the wage scale of
i. A. 300, as all other manufacturers had
done, and the officers of l.. A. 800 declared
the shop non-union, and notified the en-
ployeS to stop work until the matter was
settled. The employees, through Armstrong,
inks and a few others, appealed direct to
the general master workman against the
action of the local officers. The general
master workman. after consultation with
the general Secretary-treaSurer. directed
the general secretary-treasurer to write in
reply that no official appeal had come
through the general office, and until that
was done the general executive board could
not we'll take official action in the matter
The Charges Made.
"A few days later the general secretary
treasurer received letter from VIM Mar
tin of New York containing set of charges
against the general secretary-treasurer. In
substance that the genera! secretary-treas-
urer had neglected or failed to comply with
| the law requiring that a weekly statement
be rendered to the general executive board
each week. which matter had been disposed
Of In the General Assembly. About this time
the general master workman called at the
general office and said that; he had called
the general executive board to meet in
Pittsburg n few days. later, February -.
The board met in Pittsburg, as per call,
about February II. but, there were only the
three members present. The general worthy
foreman receiving such short notice that 1t
was impossible to reach Pittsburg on the
date named, and Bastock for some reason
did not attend 1t seems that this meeting
of the general executive board was of the
star chamber class and the general secre-
tary-treasurer was refused admission. not
withstanding he is the; legal secretary of
the board. 1t seems that the employees OF
Cunningham & Company. through their at
torneys. inks and Phillips, had a hearing
before the board. and the board rendered O
decision against the officers of l.. A. 3N
without giving l.. A. 800 hearing In the
case. President Burns Of L. A. 300 rea ched
Pittsburg on the 10Th and made an appeal
to the general executive board, but their
order had been promulgated two days be-
fore. After much controversy the executive
officers of l.. A. 300 consented to meet the
members of the general executive board to
discuss the whole matter, which resulted
In the general master workman issuing a
decision virtually sustaining the officers OF
l.. A. 300 and repudiating the decision OF
general executive board in that case rem
dered a few days before
The three members of the general exec
utive board left Pittsburg about February
| ]? for Washington. where they remained
until about the last of March, when they
called at the general Office and presented
the record of the work they had done
which included five motions They had
| made several decisions relating to L. A.
800 1t began to look as though an effort to
destroy l.. A. 300 was being systematically
| made. and that the general executive board
was being used along the line of the old
contest to disband L. A. 300 and then rein
state a dozen of the cd members under
the old charter. to hold the valuable prop
erty and 100000 in money belonging to that
orga niZation: and some careless remark or
remarks of General Master Workman Par
sons seemed to admit that he was in the
conspiracy and fully knowing the purposes
of this contest that has been going on for
years. April the general secretary-treas-
urer received letter from the secretary
of l.. A. 1889 of Birmingham Ala also the
charter and supplies of 1882 and set of
charges from the district NJ. w, wherein
1t is charged that A. ]. O'Keefe of the gem
erai executive board. who attended the Cen
eral Assembly as member of this local.
attached to D. A. No 6. was not a member
of the order. The letter from the secretary
of l.. A. 1889 states that he never was a
member of that local assembly and that his
name does not appear upon Its records.
now on hle in the general office. The gen.
eral secretary-treasurer at once notified
u: NJ w. Parsons of the standing of
Okeefe and refusing to longer recognize
him as member of the order
Decide to Make Contest.
1.-The officers of L. A. 200, finally under
standing the mystery of all these strange
proceedings, and. under the advice of the
general observation-disclosures, decided to fight
II out under the laws of knighthood: but
INV o'hei 9iue went into the courts OF
pennsylvania, asking that L.. A. 300 be
compelled to reinstate the employees of
Cunningham and grant them the right to
hold their membership while working in a
Scab shop The general master workman
was hnaily induced to render a decision that
the proceedings of the court of l.. A. 300
We're correct, and that the persons who
went into the civil court to settle diff
Guilty within the order thereby expelled
themselves. The Cunningham employees.
hearing of this decision, sent links and
Armstrong to Washington and induced the
general master workman to revoke his
| previous decision and issue another one re-
| Installing them. r,,r
"On the same day that he reinstated the
Cunningham employees May 49, he took out
| an Injunction in the United States court
restraining the general SECRETARY treasurer
from performing the dHties of his office.
prohibiting him from opening his mail,
tied up his bank account apd brought the
work of the order to complete standstill
and ordered one Thomas e.. inks. one of
the leading conspirat0rs and acting attor-
ney Tor the ID. o. Cunningham employees,
| to be placed in charge Of the general office
| to perform the duties of general secretary
| treasurer. Thirty minutes after the in
junction had been served on John w.
| Hayes. Messrs- Parsans-c Connor and
| Okeefe appeared at the general office and
notified Mr. Hayes that they had removed
him from the office of general secretary
| treasurer. and cited him to appear before
1