Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-02-03
Z PART FOUR
JOHNNIE BECOMES
STRIKE BREAKER

Johnnie's imagination failed when
put to real test. The first thing
he knew he was sent down below,
relieving bunch of men dirty and
bergimmed with coal dust and
sweating big drops, shining in re-
Election of the fire, on their faces
and bare arms. A big mo. AZ
shovel was thrust into his hands and
he was told to stoke no. hole
Oh! that blazing fire, the madden
ing heat! Could He'll be worse?
The clang, of opening and closing of
the small casting doors. the regular
strokes of the engines and the vi
bration caused by it, made it all
seem fantastic and unreal like
bad dream on a Salvation Army cot,
but Johnnie, with scarcely anything
on, was trying hard to keep his
gauge up under the eye of brutal
Chief. He knew that he was brutal
the way the Chief handled him.
| The Chief also knew that John was
never on a boat before. except on
a ferry, for he saw the way he
handled his shovel. Johnnie, after
/ half an hour gave it up, fainting-.
|
face brought him to his senses
The Chief went at him with his
hands raised as if to strike him.
what is the matter with your
aguge-No. Q? Raise steam, or l.
will raise hell with you,'' were his
words, but Of no avail. Johnnie
could not handle his shovel, the
heat was insupportable. He could
not feed the hole-the Chief sent
him with a kick we'll directed, down
to the coal bunkers to pass coal,
putting an extra man in Johnnie's
place True, somewhat cooler, but
he could never life one of those coal
4 baskets and when at four bells his
Il shift was relieved Johnnie was all
in, exhausted; after tw hours the
ship anchored at the company's
wharf in Norfolk, Va. Johnnie
stealthily let himself down by the
rope ladder and started to run as
never before and did not stop until
he reached the freight yard and
jumped on the first moving train,
not caring where he went.
The misery he endured riding on
The. freight cars, the handouts he
begged on his way, the heartlessness
lef the people that he asked for a
bite, not that those people were bad,
but Johnnie was not the only one of
the hardup travellers; there were a
thousand of other Johnnies needing
assistance floating through the coun-
try. Several times he was caught
and brought before the Judge, but
to his good fortune they let him go.
Now, the Judge did not let him go
from humanitarian motives. Oh,
no! Judges are not supposed to be
human towards the Johnnie kind.
AS usually, Johnnie got his thirty
days; where the chain gang was in
existence, at certain places along the
road, he knew them all by the marks
on the water tank made by those
who travelled ahead of them. Expe-
rience made him careful to avoid
those towns-if he could not
change the trains he usually. jump
ed ON before entering the city limits
and walked to the other extremity of
the yard to continue his journey.
Suppose they got him in town and
: brouhgt him before the Judge. I'm
!. der ordinary circumstances he was
not the only one-a dozen others
used to be heard-tegether by the
town officers. Asa rule the accusing
officer told his story first to the
Judge. Now from that particular
town Johnnie was arrested. A series
of petit larcenies and burglaries
took place, then the arresting officer
tried to impress on the Judge that
John was acting very suspiciously,
and the description he had of the
fellow who did the burglary two
weeks ago fitted Johnnie to a t.
nevertheless he got only his thirty
days. The Judge knowing well that
the officers tried to throw the blame
of their incompetency on some one
else. The officers know 1T too, but
it makes an impression on the local
press, . and also shows the public
that a brave police is on the job,
alert to catch the guilty and sus-
picious.
Johnnie would get his thirty days,
usually be kept a day behind the
bars, then told to ''hit the rgit.'
AS you understand, gentle reader,
there is much graft going on, and in
thisd1fnd of business as well as any
other the capitalist class is interest
ed, so the sheriff was paid for the
80 days board, and Johnny usually
made his way out of town, always
hunted by the police, the officers
waiting for him at the other town;
but Of course they very seldom got
him; he was now graduate of the
Water Tank Brigade" wise to all
tricks of its calling, so he did not
look for any work. Why should
he His clothes we're such that the
first employer would refuse him a
job Several days of Beard-growing
does not make one look very pros
porous, SO he gave, the shops wide
berth, selecting the out-of- town linn
it's and jungles where invariably he
found a number of ex-tradesmen
around a big fire, boiling coffee in
a tomato can-some of them were
expert in "Pan-Handling "-that