The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-02-21
COMPANY IS REsENTFUL.

Indicative OF the company's attitude and
of its determination to stand firm against
the closed shop demand, D. T. Pierce.
executive assistant to President Kruger.
of the Rapid Transit Company, said to-
night:
Every one OF those thousands Of bricks
that were thrown to-day adds 10 the de-
termination of officials Of this company
to spend every cent in the treasury and
use every bit of power they have to keep
the system in operation without the use
Of these men who have struck. The men
were treated fairly. and the conductors
and motormen that were discharged had
been proved guilty OF dishonesty or eva
sion OF duty
On top OF Mr. Pierce's Astfeoted stafe-
ment came another from c. O. Pratt.
the national organizer, VINO is bossing
this strike in person.
He ssid that a meeting of the Central
Labor Unions executive committee had
been held tonight in the home Of Presi-
dent John ]. Murphy. and that the COM
mittee, with Murphy's approval, decided
to call a general strike if the Philadel-
phia Rapid Transit Company persevered
in trying TO run cars with nOnuniOn men.
Murphy, who is thoroughly in sympathy
with the striking conductors and mo-
tormen, confirmed Pratt's statement.
Would shut Down Whole City.
Murphy says he has the power TO call
out 100000 men, which would tie up or
cripple practically every industrial es-
tablishment in the city.
How frequent and generally distributed
was the rioting to-day and tonight may
be judged when it is known there was
a call for policemen every four minutes
from early morning until late in the
evening.
The area Of rioting was so immense
that the police had desperately diff
cult problem on their hands Several
times during the day there were fights, in
which more than 1,oOO persons were TAX
ing part, occurring simultaneously in a
dozen far-separated localities. The north
east and northwest was alive with trou-
ble- It ran as far south as Girard ave
nue.. Keningston was a particularly
riotous section, and there much Of the
serious trouble took place
Win Some into Their Ranks.
The tactics employed by the strikers
were practically the same everywhere
They tried TO pull loyal conductors and
motormen off the cars. Sometimes they
succeeded, because the carmen lost their
nerve and ran, but often the car opera
tives showed spunk. Then the strikers
would throw bricks. smashing windows
and sometimes heads. They rolled cross
ties and rails on the tracks and blocked
car lines. When the police squads got to
each riot spot, there was always to be
found two nOnunion men trying TO ward
off blows and save themselves from be-
ing knocked down and stamped on.
There was nothing delicate about the
methods the strikers used tonight, Time
after time the police were so greatly out
numbered that they were driven back
with torn uniforms. Sometimes they made
arrests, but only after fifteen minutes
clubbing
Occasionally they had TO shoot One OF
these incidents took place at Thirteenth
and Cambridge streets. A mob stoned a
car until every window was broken. A
squad of police came Up and charged into
the crowd. A child named Violet Bean.
thirteen years old, was standing on the
sidewalk. Hundreds of men and some
women were yelling and throwing stones
all around her. A policeman ran from the
inside of the car to the front platform.
He shot into .he crowd several times, and
one of the bullets struck the little Bezan
girl In the abdomen. There is hardly a
chance for her to recover. Eight others,
including a policeman and a fireman, were
hit with bullets or bricks in this fight, and
the car was burned.
Boys Skull Fractured.
An eleven-year-old boy, Samson Skle-
now. was riding in Franklinville car
with his mother At Eighth and McKeau
streets a crowd Of 1900 or more sur
rounded the car and began to lombard It
with bricks and paving stones. The pas
sengers got down on the floor and tried
te dodge the missiles and the shattered
glass A brick hit the sklenow boy on
the side of the head and fractured his
skull. He will probably die.
Fifty policemen were unable to handle
the mob. They shot over the heads OF
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