Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1902-10-30
Bellows Falls Times
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 90, 1902.
A REIGN OF TERROR.
Scenes Of Horror During the Coal Strike
Mitchell Considered Greater than

| -VullItu AunSiuCtCu OTCdtST uldI
God.
A writer in last weeks issue of ''Tht
Outlook gives the most vivid picture o.
conditions in the anthracite coal region
that has come to our notice. The writer
lives in the affected region and ought tc
! know whereof he speaks. Below we
| give what he says were the actual condi-
tions as regards lawlessness and terror
ism during the strike.
J To understand the restless spirit of
| the mine employees which breaks forth
into disorder in our towns and villages,
we must recall the fact that on June 2
last John Mitchell called out the engi-
neers, pumpmen and firemen of the an
thracite collierieS. On the 10th of the
same month he called out all fire bosses
and barn bosses. These orders have not
been reScinded. Hence every one who
acts as stoker in the various collieries, or
runs pump, or operates a stationary
engine or feeds the mules, is classified
as a non-union man, and is considered an
enemy of organized labor. 1t is we'll also
to get clear in mind the fact that any
man who leaves the work he regularly
performs at the colliery and discharges
the duties of any one of the above class
es of labor is classified as a ''scab.n ANY
man imported into the coal fields to fill
the places above mentioned falls into the
same category. All these are antagonis-
tic to the Mine Workers Organization.
Hence mine foremen, clerks and assistant
bosses who fill the places of the strik-
ing pumpmen, engineers, etc., are all de-
nominated ''scabs'' Just as much as the men
imported to take the places of the strik-
ers; the only difference being that the
first class live and reside with their fam
lilies in these coal fields, while the I'M
ported men are strangers and stand alone.
There are some clerks working every day
at the collieries, but these perform their
ordinary work and are not molested. Nom
English-speaking pickets sometimes
make mistakes and slug or cut the wrong
man, that, however,is done in ignorance.
When President Baer, of the Philadel-
phia and Reading railroad, said that all
the collieries Of the anthracite coal fields
were in condition of practical seige, he
spoke the exact truth. Deputies dare
not leave the stockades or pass beyond
the barb-wire fence which defines the
Vi Ulle SGNGGdl COllleTlpS. ana
inside this boundary no private individ-
ual is permitted to go. When two depu-
ties whose thirst foralcoholic drink was
stronger than their fear of bodily harm,
resolved to risk trip to a neighboring
saloon to procure liquors, they fell into
the hands of the strikers, and instantly a
mob gathered, rope was tied around
the neck of one Of them, and the cry
Lynch him, lynch him. was instantly
raised. District leaders Of the miners,
together with the officers of the peace,
however, came to the scene, and by an
appeal to the men they induced them to
disperse, and the deputies were arrested
and put in Jail for violating the borough
ordinance which prescribeS that they
are not to come within borough limits
The soldiers are classified with the
deputies and their presence vigorously
denounced by union men. In the town
of Shenandoah, where the troops first
came, one of the soldiers was hurt as the
equipments were unloaded; the crowd OF
| mine employees who looked sullenly or
| was in great glee, and one of them said
! ''D-n him, wish he were killed.
! Let us consider some of the acts o.
| violence against persons. These some
times take form that is brutal beyond
description. Nothing in the annals O.
savagery exceeds in brutality the fata
assaults made upon Beddall, of Shenan
doah, and Winston, of Olyphant. Thu
savage attacks were revolving and horri
BILE. The brute aroused in the Slav'.
breast is as fierce as the red-clawed beas
of the forest, and this element when ex
cited in the Celt's nature is good third
Some Slavs proposed to mark every non
union man they caught by clipping hi:
ear. They began the practice on vic
tim whom they caught, who in addition
to that was slugged and pitched into the
creek. Another non-union man wa:
watched by these men. Some friends
warned him to stay home, but the wife
was the head of that home and she said
''Y GU must go to work" The man stooC
betwixt two fires. He chose the less o.
two evils, and by cunningly selecting I'M
seasonable hours he evaded the vigilance
of the ''vigilants." But one morning
about 8 o'clock he was caught anC
slugged. A woman heard the cries anc
| the pummeling. She rushed to the win
dow and shouted for help; the assailant:
took fright and scattered, leaving theil
victim in a pitiful condition. If that
woman had not interfered. the probable
| ity is that another victim would have
been added to the list of the dead in thi:
strike. Another man, mine foreman
who lived in one of the mine patches fai
removed from town, had a longing tC
come to town, where he had not beer
for several weeks. He risked it on g
Saturday evening. The ''vigilantts' saw
him and lay in wait; that night the mar
was sandbagged; he lost his purse ant
watch, and carried marks of the assault
| FOR MANY dove