Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-09-03
SAYS He DID
NOT STARvE MEN
w. S. Alsup, Well Known
Thresherman, Denies He
Gave Men Poor Food

Mondays S issue OF the Spokesman
Review contained a story under a
ColfaX date line in regard to the
quitting of several men who had been
employed by W. S. Alsup with his
threshing machine The men claim
ed that IA me- had quit Friday be-
cause of poor food and that II men
went out Friday afternoon and quit
Saturday afternoon because they
could not get enough to eat. These
men put in much time in going about
town and trying to injure Mr.. AL
sup and prevent him getting another
crew of men.
Tuesday evening Mr.. Alsup was in
town and gave his side of the story
to The Herald. Mr. Alsup is a promi-
nent farmer and his story is not
doubted. 1t was vouched for in every
particular by J. s. Bruner, of Albion,
engineer for Mr.. Alsup and a man
whose word is not doubted MIR. AL
sup said;
I'VE have a crew Of 33 men. OF
this number Is have been with us
since the first day we started the
machine and many of these worked
for me through last season. Last
Friday u (instead of IA men as re-
ported quit work because they
could not run our business, they de-
manded shorter hours and better
wages. Nothing was said about the
food at that time nor at any time un-
til after the men came to town when
they peddled that story around to
keep us from getting another crew.
We took out II more men, and had
a long drive. 1t was rainy and lot
of these new men. most of whom
are hoboes and timber cats, rode in
the cook wagon and made much
trouble and extra work for the cook.
We did not reach the place where we
were going to thresh until late and 1t
was late when the cooks got supper
as they could not work while the
cook wagon was in motion. The men
complained a little about that, but
made no complaint of the quality or
quantity of food served.
The next day two men would not
do as they were told and were dis
charged and six others who went to
work with them, quit work, and de-
manded that we haul them to town,
which we refused to do One OF
the gang took a rifle off of the straw
wagon and sat down with 1T across
his lap while we were settling with
tbe others. One man refused to take
a check but my brother told him that
he could take that or nothing as we
do not carry money in the fields with
us. The men decided to take the
checks, but finally got abusive and
declared they could whip any set of
men in the Palouse country. l step
ned ND to the man who did the most
of the talking and told him that |
would fight any man they might
pick out and that there would be no
more talking. If they wanted tight
they should fight, but not talk. There
were no more threats and the men
subsidized and left. We never heard a
word of complaint of the food until
we read the story in the paper and
came to town and heard that the
men had been peJdling the story that
we had starved the men
Mr.. Bruner, who has worked with
the machine since it started, said.
"The food served has been entirely
satisfactory and there has never been
a complaint about it, except by these
hoboes, who told the story because
they wanted to keep Mr.. Alsup from
getting another crew. The men tried