The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1913-05-20
MT. HOPE RAILROAD
ASKS PROTECTION
Ready to Repair Road II
Laborers Are Protected.

lduul6lS h6 Iiut0ui0us
The Mt. Hope Mineral railroad Of
ficials notified Sheriff Gillen Monday
afternoon that they were ready to
repair the railroad preparatory to
operating it and demanded that the
sheriff give them protection in the
work The sheriff is preparing to
furnish them with protection, he,says.
Following an appeal by Sheriff Gil
len for state troops to be sent to
Mt. Hope to protect property and pre-
serve the peace Governor Fielder
sent to Morristown Thursday Assist
ant Attorney General Gaskill and Ad-
jutant General Sadler. There was
conference between these men, the
sheriff, Judge Salmon, Prosecutor
Reed and Sheriff's Counsel w. w.
Cutler at which it's said the state
officials thought that the troops
were unnecessary at this time. Gen"
{ eral Sadler and Mr.. Gaskill, however,
spent the night at the mines.
Sheriff Gillen turned the stu
alton over to John F. O'Brien, OF
Newark, who broke the Perth Amboy
strike recently. O'Brien, brought 200
strong arm men from Newark, Pas
sale and Paterson to town Thursday
afternoon and they were sworn in by
Judge Salmon as sheriff's deputies
They left on the four fifty-three for
the scene of the disorder. At Whar
ton the men were met by crowd OF
. women and boys among which there
were a few men and We're called
many vile names. The deputies were
posted along the railroad and mine
property with orders to arrest tres
passers and those who were guilty
of acts of violence. There was con-
siderable fighting during the night. !.
The strikers gathered in force and
attacked the deputies who charged
armed with their clubs and dispersed
the strikers. Seven prisoners have
SO far been taken. They have been
brought to the court house here and
committed to jail by Justice Pier
son in default of $4,000 bail to await
the action of the grand jury. On
one man was found two sticks of
dynamite and on another a loaded
revolver. Some bear the evidences
of having been in connection with
the deputies clubs.
Several deputies went to All Souls
hospital suffering with shot wounds
and bruises. Only one, though, is
seriously hurt. He is Frank Nordway
of Newark, and he may lose his eye
sight as the result of being shot In
the face.
After many of his men had desertet
him Friday afternoon O'Brien threw
up the sponge and notified Sheriff
Gillen he was unable to cope Win
the situation. This followed repre-
i sentations from Mayor Davenport and
Marshal Mcdonald, of Wharton, that
the presence of the deputies angered
the people of the borough and they
would not be responsible for the
peace of the borough as long as the
sheriffs men were there. O'Brien
and his men left late in the afternoon
for Newark after O'Brien had called
up General Sadler on the telephone
and told him he had quit.
AS the railroad had been put out
of commission, it's equipment wrecked
and there were no deputies to tight
the Wharton people spent the night
quietly and there has been no dis
turbance since.
The railroad is the key to the
situation, it is asserted, and the
strikers are satisfied as long as it
is not operated for upon it the mine
depends for it's supplies and to move
its ore to the smelters. Trouble is
expected when the railroad company
attempts to repair the road and then
the sheriff, it is believed, will place
deputies in the field properly armed
to repel the assaults of the strikers
and their sympathizers. The mine
owners have a force of special watch
men at Mt. Hope They are armed
with Krag-Jorgensens, it is said, and
have a search light to aid them in
protecting the mine property.
James Riker, marine, was picked
up on Friday afternoon on suspicion
I of knowing something of the use the
night before at Wharton of high
power gun used against the deputies.
He had told stories of what had hap
pened the night before that led the
authorities to believe he had been
participant A close questioning failed
to connect him with the riot and he
claimed that his tales were only idle
boasts helped along by a liberal guam
tity of beer. He was finally permit
ted to leave town in the company of
his uncle who resides in Madison.
Dennis Maher, one of the men ar
rested at Wharton during the Whar-
ton riot, was released from jail Mon
day after bail to the amount of $4,000
had been furnished by Michael Hal
loran, of Mt Hope, and John Cum
ningham, of Dover
James H. Bolitho, counsel for the
remaining men lin jail, has applied
to Judge Salmon for writ of habeas
corpus, asserting that the bail is ex-
cessive and that the prisoners We're
denied hearing. Judge Salmon took
the appeal under advisement until
Wednesday.
In the application of Attorney Bo-
litho for writs of habeas corpus to
get the men out of jail who were
committed for rioting at Wharton
last week the statement is made that
I hearing was denied the men. Such
is not the fact. When the men were
brought to Morristown on the night
of the trouble the question was asked
by one of the deputies if they were
to appear at a hearing the next
morning. Learning that the grand
jury had not been discharged but
simply taken recess and would
meet again in few days the justice
said there would be no use in hav-
ing a hearing as the facts of the
prisoners being engaged in the riot
ing, or being present at the time
not dicnt1fod and if hearing