The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-16

control of the situation yesterday.
George Willis, president of the union.
was practically mayor of South st.
Paul. and George Steep, the secretary,
his chief of police. For power and au-
thor1ty they overtopped Mayor Lytle
and Chief of Police Mccormick
From the earliest hour of the morn
ing the union officers were in complete
and absolute control, with the result
that the great plant of Swift & Co. was
almost entirely idle. No person could
go into or from the plant without
pass from the. officers of the union,
being. necessary for the company to
/ undergo the humiliation of applying
Ior a pass for the boy that carries the
kilograms from the depot to the office.
Seated at their desks on the second
floor of the fire house. the windows of
= winch overlook the entrance to the
plant of Swift & Co., the officers were
absolute dictators. When about sixty
employees of the company left the
Great western motor at a. m. they
round the street leading to the plant
entirely blockaded. There were two
solid rows of men across the street.
and between them there was a row
of women.
The women employed in the Offices
as stenographers and bookkeepers adj
vanced to the picket line first, the fifty
men standing back some distance
Inc picket line opened up on signal
from the window of the fire station
and the women passed through.
AS the picket line was reforming Ar
thur Larson, one of the office men, at
tempted to pass through A picket
caught him by the arm, but by
quick movement Larson broke through
the triple line and was speeding to-
wards the gate entrance to the plant
before it was realized what had hap
pened. Several of the union men ran
after Larson, but he reached the gate
first and was on the inside and under
the protection of the deputy sheriffs in
charge when the union men came up.
The other men were firmly and posi-
lively told that they could not enter
the plant. There was some loud talk
and few threats, but the employees
who desired to go to work gradually
dispersed.
More Men Walk Out
The union men were in high glee and
their good humor was increased several
degrees when the carpenters, the
wheelmen and the icemen sent word
that they had joined the strikers. This
added about eighty men to those out.
1t was openly claimed during the day
that the packers would be only too
glad to settle the strike by Monday.
Exhausted by the long vigil about fifty
of the pickets laid on the ground and
slept, the hot sun falling upon them
with full force. They had only their
coats for pillows. Some of them slept
until about noon, when they again
took up the work, being assigned to all
kinds of duties by the officers of the
union.
Only such persons as the union saw
fit to admit to the Swift building were
there yesterday. These included Man.
ager Bangs, Supt Burns and several
foremen, practically all of whom will
be denied admission today. Sheriff
Grisim took twenty engineers through
the lines, but when he attempted to $
escort others through the pickets re-
fused to let him pass.
Mayor Lytle early in the morning
secured the entrance of two or three
workmen, but on a later application he
too was turned down. The plant was
practically at a standstill, hardly
enough butchering being done to sup
ply one small town.
There were in the building by actual
count only 118 persons, of whom twen-
ty We're engineers, thirty-five bosses OF
varying degrees, twenty-nine men who
remained in the building when the
strike occurred and who have since
been there. and twelve new men who
have been smuggled in since the strike
commenced. The remainder were all
bookkeepers, stenographers and other
Continued on Sixth Page