The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-18
INVESTIGATIONS UNDER WAY
GUARDS EXONERATED BY THE VER-
DICT OF THE CORONER.
MIR. GOmpers Furnishes Bail for So
ciaIist Iglesias, Now in Jail at
San Juan, Porto Rico.

JACKSONVILLE, KY, Nov. Thinning
troubles in this district brought more
bloodshed this morning. James H. Smith,
a negro striker. is Dead George Crouch.
another striker, is fatally wounded. while
John West, Hut Dawson and Nathan Bush,
all guards, were wounded, none of them
dangerously.
The trouble occurred at the mines of the
Providence Coal Company, seventeen miles
from here, where an attack began at about
4:30 o'clock. The attacking party. some
seventy-five or eighty strong, first fired on
the engine house, and then. in a few min
utes, the company's stables were surround
ed. A horse and a mule were killed and
several other animals disabled. By this
time the guards were becoming active, and
the attackers formed in a semi-circle over
the brow of the hill. From there they
occupied by the nonunion employees and
their families. Men, aroused by the crash
of bullets, rushed to small timber piles
arranged for use. in such an emergency,
and from behind these returned the fire.
The attacking party, while sending volley
after volley into this quarter, kept up a
steady fire on the tipple, engine room, sta
BILE and other buildings of the company,
while the guards, for their part, were do
ing effective work. The battle ragged for
almost an hour and half, when the as
sailants withdrew leaving Smith dead
and Crouch, shot through and through, on
the field. How many wounded they took
with them is not known, but the leader
was seen to fall, and it is believed some of
the party who went to his rescue were hit.
County Judge Ball, at Providence, start
ed an investigation. An inquest was held,
the coroner's verdict being that the negro
came to his death at the hands of the
guards while defending life and property,
and they were, therefore, justifiable
The news of the shooting spread like
wildhre. 1t was not long before the news
reached Adjutant General Murray, who at
once commenced an investigation, opening
up communication with the Governor
Following the battle at the Providence
mine there were riots at other Kentucky
mines. An attack was made on the mine
guards at the Monarch mines, three miles
from Darlington, tonight, but it re-
pulsed. Two employees of the st. Bernard
Coal Company at Morton's Gap were fired
on by man who sprang from behind a
tree. There was much trouble at other
places, but neither injury nor loss Of life
followed.
Owing to the days riots and the serious
sintuation in the mining field of Webster
and Hopkins counties, the Governor has
ordered out the militia. The troops will
leave for the scene of trouble before day
light.
Two comapnies of state troops have been
ordered out. The Madisonville company
is doing patrol duty IN the outskirts of
town, and the HopkinSville company of
the Kentucky State Guard, under COM
mand of Capt. H. Thomas and Second
Lieut.. Robert d. Belamy, reached here
at IL o'clock. There are but thirty of the
men, as orders reached Hopkinsvilie but
short while before train time. The COM
pany has an enlisted strength of seventy
men, and those who could not be found
tonight will follow in the morning in COM
mand of First Lieut.. George w. Phelps.
Major E. b. Bassett, of the Third Regi-
ment of Hopkinsville, accompanied the
troops. Adjutant General Murray is out in
statement tonight in which he declares
he is determined that lawlessnesS shall be
suppressed. A detail of twenty men has
started for the Providence mine.
Tonight as the train having the troops
aboard passed the Nortonville camp, To-
Gated in the woods near the railroad, camp
fires could be observed and the scene was
one of hustle. Several shots were fired, but
not at the train.
At the Madisonville camp the strikers are
astir. A searchlight recently placed on top
of a coal tipple near Madisonville was
thrown on the camp. About $50 men were
there handling their arms and walking
about between their tents