New-York tribune., 1902-12-20
WOES OF N0N,UNI0N MEN
TOLD TO CON1uISSION.
Thirty illnesses Heard-TO Id
.jOann OUer Holidays.

OF the late strike. Each witness called was
suHerer in one form another at the hands.
they alleged, of union men. Four witnesses
said attempts made to blow up their
houses. one house was badly damaged many of
the witnesses were threatened with bodily harm.
several were beaten. one was shot in the leg.
and every stoned. boycotted or hung in
effgy. One school teacher testified to having
lost his position because his father did not
strike One man asked to resign from
Catholic temperance society. and another wit
ness was expelled from a local lodge of the An
clent Order of Hibernians. after membership
of twenty-sx twenty-eght years. because
they were classed as unfair workmen.
Joseph H. Dugan. the who requested
to give up his membership in the temperance
society. remained at work doing repair work
and acting q watchman He wept while on
the witness stand. he told of how they
dered him to leave after many years of pleasant
social relations with its members. He
tive in the society, and drilled many of those
who have grown to manhood in the military
branch of the society He said he had been
stoned and otherwise badly treated and added
that a good clubbing would hurt half
much the action of the society in throwing
him out of the organization. The boys he had
drilled in the society stoned him the high
way, and when he displayed his revolver they
all dropped fiat the road
c. s Darrow for the miners asked the wit
ness if he thought the union taught them that,
to which the witness replied that he. captain
Of the military company of the society had
taught the boys the military tactics which they
resorted to when he fourished his pistol.
Chairman Gray asked the witness if he
mained at work so that the pumps could be kept
in good repair and thus keep the mines from
being destroyed, and he said he did. Mr. Oar
row asked him how long he worked. and
amined him in such way this subject that
it drew out the remark from Chairman Gray
that men will work fifteen hours more to
help save a neighbor's burning house.
HIS SOCIETY EXPELLED HIM.
James Mitchell the man who expelled
from the Hbernian Society. He said he worked
during the strike repairman and did not
consider it unfair because he did mine any
coal. He had been a member of the society
twenty-six or twenty-eight years and at
meeting one night during the strike the ques-
tion of unfairness came up, and the members
present unanimously voted to expel him. He
had been paying dues all these years and
In good standing and further added that he
glad he out of it.
The first witness of the day George W.
Bowen. formerly miner. but a coal in
spector. He the last witness the stand
had written book of poetry about the miners
and the strike of 1900. In cross-examnation to-
day Mr.. Darrow read extracts from the volume,
and asked the witness many questions to
whether he believed what he had written
two years ago. The examination lasted three
quarters of hour and was exceedingly anus
ing. but nothing bearing the strike was
brought out.
Polander named Max Lasar. who did not
e+r;Iya tOJ1 ~ hOIr
man threw a quart bottle of giant powder. to
which lighted fuse was attached. into the
parlor of his home. He extinguished the fuse.
The powder was shown to the commission.
Eugene Deity. who was not a mine worker.
and in no way connected with the strike said
he going along road at night. and was
mistaken for a non-union man. He was so
badly beaten that he laid up for two
months
Thomas Kennedy. aged fifteen. said he worked
in a drug store in Carbondale. His father
was engineer in the employ of the Della
ware and Hudson company. and did not quit
work when the strike started. The manager
of the drug store. he said requested by a
committee from the union to discharge him. and
rather than have the store boycotted the drug
gist told the boy to quit The father corrobo-
rated the story and added he had to keep his
children from the public schools. as they were
being abused.
David E. Iewes a foreman working for the
Delaware and Hudson company, testified to gen
eraI conditions in Olyphant and said the au-
thorities of the borough made attempt to
keep the peace Most of them mine work
ers or relatives of mine workers
SOUGHT TO BLOW UP HIS HOUSE.
John Lewandofski. who worked during the
strike for the Delaware, Lackawanna and West
ern Company, testified as to an attempt to blow
up his house with dynamite. The explosives
and fuses produced before the commission.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Cultz. Germans. who lived
at Derringer called witnesses, and gave
testimony the effect that their house at
tackled by union men and boys. and that much
Of the inside and outside parts of the place were
damaged by rocks of them weighing
thirty pounds Photographs were produced
showing the damage done.
An Italian named Frank Fidati. who a
striker, but who was hired by coal operator to
watch the home of non-union man, shot
in the leg by other strikers because he would
not stop protecting the mans house. The non
union man who lived in the house and subse
quently quit work was next called, and produced
a letter written by President T. D. Nichols of
District No l. in which he stated that the wit
ness had quit work and was a good union man,
and that all union men could treat him in a
friendly manner so long as he behaved HIM |
self accordingly.
John Conlin mine boss and president of the |
School Board of Plains, Wil<esbarre, testi- |
fed that a committee of local union called on |
him and asked that school teachers whose rela- |
tives were working in the mines be not reap |
pointed as teachers Frank Mccarthy, a teacher |
in Miners Mills was next called. and said he |
was not reappointed. and the only reason given |
was politics His father mine foreman !
and was working during the strike. He knew of |
a female teacher, whose father did not strike, |
who failed Of reappointment.
All the other witnesses testified to having !
been hung in effigy more times that !
grocers butchers milkmen and icemen refused
to serve them because they were afraid their
nd tbay