The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-07-19
Labor Agitators From East
Start Trouble at Standard
Steel Company.
ONE IN THE HOSPITAL
Jake Johnson Carves One With Knife
and the Other Is Railroaded
From Hammond.

Representing themselves as agita-
tors in behalf Of the union interests,
two men from Steelton, Pa, tried to
show some of the employees of the
Standard Steel Car company that they
were laboring in a bad cause. yesterday
afternoon. AS a result of the methods
of persuasion they used one of them is
now in St. Margaret's hospital suffering
from a knife wound and the other was
railroaded out of town this morning
by the police
The men gave their names as Thomas
Morrisey and ]. J. Mccain. They were
both about 25 years of age, and both
were of the fresh sort of type familiar
figures in the steel cities of the east.
Morrisey is the man who is now at
the hospital, having been on the re-
ceiving end of a knife. the business
end of which was in the hands of Jake
Johnson, a colored man.
The two visitors tried to gain ad-
mittance to the Standard works yester-
day afternoon, and being unable to get
inside in any other way, hired out as
mechanics. They were assigned to
position and they at once started in to
conduct business as they saw fit. In
an insolent way they demanded to see
the union cards of the employees, and
when informed that they were non
union men, the two agitators imme-
diately started in to hand out a few
knocks interspersed with oaths. For
while q riot threatened and the two
men were hustled from the works and
thrown from the portals to the outer
world.
Not content with this, they waited
until the hour for dismissal and they
accosted two workmen and called them
scabs. The workmen would not stand
for this sort of talk and they handed
ont a few wallops that stil1ed the
would-be walking delegates for a brief
spell Finding that they could do moth
ing with the higher class OF workmen
and wishing to get off little of their
latent energy, they accosted a negro
who was sitting quietly nearby and
they called him several vile names. The
negro was Jake Johnson a long resi-
dent OF Hammond, having been for
years employed as q porter in the bar
ber shops about the city. He is well
known as G. quiet peaceable man, but
he would not stand for the abuse of the
pair of -four fiushers." In the argu-
ment the men dug out a pair of brass
knuckles and started in to put Mr..
johnson "hors du combat" but Jake
was there strong I'm that kind of a
game. He drew his pocket knife in an
instant. and in absence of razor,
welded the blade in fine fashion. Nor
risey got a flesh wound in the back in
the mixup and McCann's valor sped
over the sand dunes and he followed
suit.
officer Wright of the Standard force
brought him back and then to Ham
mond, while the injured man was sent
to the hospital. Mccain spent the
night in durance vile. and this morn
ing was told TO hike it as fast as he
could for some burg that would stand
for his kind of game. He did so with
out awaiting his comrade. who will be
forced to spend a while longer in Ham
mond
Johnson came to the police station,
while as many as forty men who wit
messed the trouble from start to finish
volunteered their services as witnesses
in behalf of the colored man. The
police decided that Johnson used the
knife in self defense and they did not
hold him. He stated, however. that if
wanted at any time he could be found
at his old stands, Morrisey's wound
will not prove fatal According TO the
police there viii be a lot of trouble
frorr now on at the plant between the
union men and the non union employees