Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-22
Gettysburg-19O2

ball field owned by the Columbia
Brewing Company, on top of hill
called Indian Ridge" at an eleva-
ton of about 400 feet above the city
of Shenandoah and more than LOO
feet above sea level. High winds pre-
vailed during the entire time the
troops were in this camp and several
very severe storms occurred, playing
havoc with the ropes and canvas of
the tents The camp was located i'm
mediately over the workings of the
Indian Ridge colliery and after some
of the heavy transforms great assures
were opened in the company streets,
between and under the tents and at
points all over the camp ground.
These openings were several hundred
feet deep and were very hard to
close. although efforts were made to
do so.
Company d remained on duty at
shenandoah for f1fty-two days, doing
provost duty in the town and taking
part with the regiment almost every
day in evening parade in front of the
Ferguson House, (brigade headquar-
ters) in the main street Of Shenan-
doah. This ceremony involved a
march of about mile each way from
camp to town and the parade took
place usually about o'clock each
evening".
Several hikes were made by the
two companies in cases of disturb
ance and for the protection of coal
operations and railroad trains, the
most important of which was that to
Mahanoy City, where the strikers
sought to prevent the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad Company from
moving a train of loaded coal cars
away from a colliery of the Philadel-
phia and Reading Coal and Iron
Company Matters looked serious for
time, as the mob attempted to stone
Captain L. V. Rausch, quartermaster
of the Eighth Regiment whose home
was in Mahanoy City and who per-
sonally knew many of the strikers.
But the cool-headed work of Colonel
Theodore Hoffman, who also lived in
the coal region and knew how to han
die the unruly element, soon restored
order and the train was pulled out
amid many threats of the mob
During the exciting period, the men
were deployed along the railroad
tracks at the station, with bayonets
fixed and the magazines of the Krag-
Jorgensens filled with cartridges. But
even in this critical situation, order
was restored without firing shot.
Other hikes were made from the
Shenandoah camp to Gilberton,
F'rackville and other small towns
nearby, where trifling disorders were
reported. On one occasion threats
were made that the mob of strikers
were coming out to drive the troops
away from the region, but they evil
IDENTIFY thought better of it and never
came for that purpose. y
One night somebody stoned the
sentry just at the edge of the hill
near the camp, striking his rifle with
a rock. The sentinel on the next
post fired at the intruder and called
the guard. 1t required but few min
utes for the entire regiment to re-
spond to the call to arms and a line
of skirmishers was deployed around
the camp. They then marched through
the brush on the hillside down to the
road leading into the city, driving the
stone-throwers ahead of them Two
members of Co d, on an outpost, cap
tured two men running toward the
town and they We're promptly placed
in the guardhouse.
While the company was on provost
duty in town several of the leaders
in the riot of July 80 were arrested
and detail of the company guarded
them during the hearing and escorted
them to the railroad station when
they We're sent to the Pottsyille iaiI.
would take the prisoners from the
civil authorities, but the presence of
troops prevented any action by the
strikers. ~
One evening about 9 o'clock an at
tempt was made to burn washery
connected with the Shenandoah City
colliery and several companies of the
regiment were ordered out, including
ID and /. skirmish line was formed
to surround the washery and try to
capture the incendiaries. Deploy-
ment was made on one side of the
racetrack surrounding the camp of
the Governors Troop. and the men
were marched over.the edge and down
the steep hillside, covered with rock
and coal dirt. After slipping and
sliding for several hundred feet, the
line reached the bottom of the hill.
and found that the fire had been ex-