The weekly examiner., 1901-08-03

| dcerS were maSSed directly in front of
 the dead bodies. The great crowd of
 miners filled the entire space outside
 and around the stand.
 All this Stuart learned as he came
 out into the street. He was sick at
 heart as the truth grew. on him. Never
 in all his life had he seen the Cornish
 men, the Danes, the few Italians, the ! Norwegians, all so united and so pos l sessed with the one thought of venge- ance. The moon was fully up nov, 1 and it flooded the square with it's mel ! low light. It was frosty, and not a l breath of air was stirring. Never had Stuart imagined such scene possible in the town of Champion. A dozen men had gone up in the band stand. The tragedy was about to begin by the 1 public trial of the troops, to be follow ed by the predetermined shooting of at least half a dozen of them.
 For a moment Stuart remained mo- tionless, smitten with dumb hopeless ness. The whole town was in the grasp of the mob. The handful of police was powerless. What could possibly resist the torrent that was about to be let loose, and where would it end? There was no hope of assistance from other troops nearer than Hancock, 100 miles away. Before they could arrive the tragedy would be acted out. Stuart groaned as he thought of Erie and his influence. Nevertheless he had him. self just begun to spring into the crowd and raise his voice alone against the impending horror when some one pulled him over backward, nearly throwing him off his feet, and the voice of Dr. Saxon said:
 1.-TWO of the biggest fools earth are out here tonight, and if you will be another we'll make a combination hard to beat,p'
 "What! How's that?" cried Stuart in amazement- And his surprise was doubled when the doctor, who had reached out from his buggy and caught Stuart threw back the robe and dis closed Fries deathly face as he re- clined on the seat beside him.
 Eric! You here" Stuart was like one seeing things in a dream.
 ''QuickI If anything is going 70 be done, do it with streak of lightning under it to help it along!' cried the doc tor. He spoke to Stuart rapidly. T was at De Mott tonight when the trou- ble occurred. I drove back here and came around by the Beury road past the house. I stopped minute to see Eric, and when I told him the men were marching into Champion with the troops he swore by all his old Anglo Saxon gods that he must come down here and talk to the men. And here be is. It'll probably end him up, but he said if 1 didn't bring him down with rle he'd get up and try to walk it any way. If he dies, it's suicide and not 3 case of malpractice, but he may pull through all right, for it beats the Dutch what a lot of doctoring it takes to kill off one of these labor agitators. Here! Help him, out, Stuart. Con- found him if he doesn't want to get -ar, la tthseeffss ia iR the midst Of the high priests of this strike till the last arm ed foe expires! Gently now! I'll wager i $2 day he'll faint away before he can open his mouth to say his little i orationv'
 All this from the doctor as with the utmost skill and tenderness he assisted | Stuart to lift Erie out of the buggy and then helped bear him right into the crowd, where Eric, who was suffering ] the most awful pain, motioned the two ], to carry him.
 After all, it was not surprising that | Eric was here this night. Stuart real ized what it might mean as he shouted | to the miners around him to make room :, for Eric
 The men exclaimed at sight of these two men carrying the fainting form of their young leader, and they fell back, opening a path for their passage up to the band stand. When they reached that, Eric cried in a voice that gave Stuart more hope than he had yet dared to feel: Right up the stairs! Quick! I'm able to speak to the men. Please God, they shall not do this great wrong tonight
 Some of the men in the stand came part way down tho rude steps and helped Stuart and the doctor. After all, they did not know Fries motive in coming out this way. And they were under his influence still and probably had no thought of resisting any at tempt he might make to address the crowd. .,......
 So Eric was carried up, and the doc tor and Stuart brought him forward and partly held him on his feet, look ing out over a scene that became a part of the life memory of them all.
 The moon was at the full. sand there was no need of torches or lamps. The two dead men had been placed upon a rude platform of boards at the foot of the band stand and elevated so that their forms could be visible to the miners, even those who were at a dis taHee. Their faces, uncovered, stared straight upward in the cold midnight. The captured soldiers were ranged di-