Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-02-28
BIC STRIKE IN BALANCE
CONTINUED from page ~
Worse Riots to ss Expected.

(Conttnued from page III
Worse Riots to Be Expected.
The danger lies In the fact that the
striking carmen will have the active
help of 125,O00 idle men, force that
may produce far more disorder thar
the city has yet seen. The resumption
of rioting was caused largely by the
certainty that a general strike order
would be the result of the labor meet
ing. The prospect of powerful aid
made the strikers and their sympa.
thixers more dangerous than they have
been at any time since the state CON
stables appeared in the city.
The lower southeast part of the city
was ablaze with trouble. Since the
coming Of the state constables the dis
contented and disorderly had been
overawed. The news that sympa-
thetic strike was to be called to club
the Rapid Transit company into sub
mission gave the brick throwers nerve
enough to start bombarding the cars
again.
Stonlng and Shooting at Cars.
Along Fifth and Sixth streets, where
trunk lines Of the Philadelphia Rapid
Transit company run, thousands of
people lined the sidewalks, stoning the
nonunion motormen and conductors
and occasionally firing a revolver
Sometimes the troopers had to be sum-
moned to free cars that had been held
up.
A southbound, car turned east at
Jackson street, and the conductor was
In such hurry to dodge bricks that
he failed to throw back the switch.
After the car had gone some one plac-
ed a piece Of wood in the switch to
hold it open.
Car Crashes Into a Store.
There were three passengers on the
car following. 1t was attacked so vi
ciously at Dickinson street that the
three threw themselves on their faces.
Stones and bricks crashed through the
windows. A policeman ON the front
platform, struck with brick, fred
into the crowd. The motornfan twist
ed his controller clear over, and the
car sang ahead at top speed. The mo-
torman failed to notice that the switch
was blocked open. The car struck the
switch with a terrific sag and jerk,
righted itself, shot ahead the length Of
the switch, bounded across a sidewalk
and drove into the wall of store.
The impact was so heavy that the
wall gave way, letting the car into
the store. The motorman and con.
ductor jumped before the smash, but
the policeman was caught and injur-
ed. Charles McKenna, a ten-year.
old boy, was pinned between the cal
and the wall and was killed. John e
Frederick was crushed in the same
way and died within an hour. Three
boys were hurt seriously. A boy and
two women In the store narrowly es.
capped death. The car whirled a
heavy counter from it's place.
Two Boys Shot by Rioters.
Thomas Wagner, a sixteen-year-old
boy, was shot in the left breast by
rioters who were firing on a car and
was taken to a hospital dying. An
other boy was shot in the hand. Ser
geant Frank Zimm of the police was
hit with a brick, and his skull was
fractured.
Troopers of the state police charged
these crowds time and time again.
The constables were on the gallop for
hours, riding in answer to trouble
calls from widely separated points. 1t
was seldom that the crowd resisted
their orders to disperse, but after the
troopers had gallped on the people
reassembled. Driven from one posi-
ton, the trouble makers took up an.
other.
A crowd of 5000 pushed a coal cal
across the Eighth street car track
The tracks were barricaded fore and
aft the car. A squad Of policemen
came up in an automobile and charg
ed into the crowd, clubbing right and
left. They grabbed eleven men dur
ing the fracas and took them to cells.
Bomb Placed on Tracks.
Charles r. Copeland, a striking con
ductor, was arrested charged with at
tempting to blow up a trolley car in
which fifty people were riding. VIII
liam G. Field, who came here from
New York, was nabbed in company
with Copeland, and the same charge
was made against him. A nitroglyc
erin bomb powerful enough to wreck
a flock of cars was found in one OF
Copeland's pockets when he was
searched.
The detectives told Magistrate Bea
ton that they saw Copeland and Field
lay the bomb on the rails. A car wal
approaching. The two looked around
observed that they were being watch
ed and hastily removed the objec
they had dropped.
Confesses It Was Strikers Plot.
Copeland confessed that he had at
tended a meeting of strikers in the
Forty-ninth street and Woodland ave
nue. car barn, where it was planned tt
use nitroglycerin bombs to destro!
cars. At that meeting Copeland wal
persuaded by Field to take one of tn,
bombs that had been prepared ant
watch his chance to use 1t.
at was straight out plot to blow
up cars" said Detective Silcox. 9TH,
picket for the strikers who was sta
toned out at Forty-fifth street ant
Springfield avenue became suspicious
when he saw O'Connor and me ant
signaled to Copeland to take the boml
off the track. A car with fifty passen