Waterbury Democrat., 1901-02-21
BY CHARLES M SHELDON,
CHAPTER V,
oeYRIear, 1898, Bx coSGkEaATIoyAI

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 and spoke in the midst of deathly si- | lence that was almost as terrifying as
 the howl of the mob few seconds be-
 fore.
 My brothers, in the name of God
 and his dear Son, our Saviour, remem-
 Der what you are and as you value
 heaven do no wrong today"
 The miners heard, and for moment 1 the silence was unbroken. It was one of those moments which prove men to 1 be equal or wanting to an emergency. And Stuart in that brief time grew in strength and experience. He was in
 the open space before Andrew or any 1 one else moved and standing by the woman, the leveled guns now touching | them both. The minute Stuart leaped 1 into the space between tue troops and ! the miners the woman turned and ! knelI by the side of the wounded off ! cer. Stuart was conscious of the fact
 that men were carrying the body out of | the ranks and that the young woman
 was behind them, following. All that he felt rather than saw as he stood | there.
 l ''Ien," he said. praying in his heart 1 for wisdom to say just the right word,
 '.listen to me moment. Every man ! who strikes q lawleSS blow here today
 strikes at the cause of labor. If you want to set it back and destroy your
 own best good, now is your opportunl-
 ty. It will be the act of madmen to do
 it. In Gods name, in the name of the
 law and of your best interests beg of 1 you to use reason For the sake of
 Erie, who loves you if ever man did, let 1 these men go their ways and abide the 1 results as law fearing, God fearin g men.'
 There was a stir all through the ] crowd while Stuart spoke. Then the i silence was broken by cries here and ! there by men who had helped Eric in ] the organization of the union. He's right! MT. Duncan tells truth.' l "Lets keep law! We be fools other ! wise,''
 Aye. we's fools a'ready.'
 '.Better for us to get men to go | baca!'
 , This last cry was caught up by large 1 numbers. and the mob fairly swarmed around the coaches containing the new
 men, During the events just described l they had remained inside, but the win 1 dows were alive with heads thrust out ] to see what was going on. Stuart felt that the immediate dan ger of collision was over. There were however, still any number of chances for an outbreak. The troops lowered their guns, but remained on guard. | The scene around the coaches now assumed an intensely pathetic charac- ter With it all there was an element | of danger and the stirring of the tickle l wild beast in the mob.
 1 "Now, boys," pleaded an old miner, 1 standing close up by one of the coach | es, you doesn't want to take bread | out of us mouths up here, does you? l Come! Say you'll go back and leave us to fight it out with the masters. We make to win if let alone"
 Aye, that We will!' said another I eagerly The owners is losing on
 contracts every day now. Give Us q 1 chance. What have we done to you
 that you should come up here to take away our waGes?"
 We've got families, too," replied 2 1 gruff voice from one of the windows. And no work for over g month and
 women and babies crying at home. l What would you have us do?' 1 This was hard question to answer, and no one tried it, but hundreds of voices were beseechins the newcomers
 to go back and leave the mine owners
 to struggle with their old men. 1 At last one Of the miners. q middle | aged man who had helped to organize
 the union and next to Erie was as in- 1 fiuential as any one in Champion, se- IT. tod ,P 1 the switch blocks, and the men anx- | iously listened.
 1 Tell you what the union will do. | We agree to pay the fares of every
 man here back to his home and some
 thing over if you go back on the next 1 train.'
 Aye, that's the thingw yelled hun | dred voices. AS a matter of fact the
 union, numbering now nearly 5000 men, | was in position to do this, and in the | desperate fight it was making it could l afford to wiring every possible cent from it's members rather than give way l to the influx of new hands. Once the mines opened up their chances of 1 bringing the owners to terms would be | gone forever. Besides, there was no telling what events might occur if once | public sympathy was large enough to 1 enlist other workingmen with them. The appeals now made to the men in | the coaches were frantic. Miners climb
 ed up on the platforms and squeezed | inside the cars to argue with the men. It was a scene of peculiar interest, one great swarm of hard listed and hard faced men begging another crowd of the same kind to keep from exercising the natural desire to work for home and children. Surely what was first pronounced as 8 curse on our first par ents has now become a double curse when work is the object of such a strange contest.
 It would perhaps be difficult to tell how far the strangers were Influenced by their sympathy for the miners or whether the sight of 1000 men carry ing walking sticks the size of q mans arm had its weight in bringing them to a decision. There were about 500 men in all. At last about 400 of them said they would go back on the condition