The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-02
Landlord Demand That Strike Tenants Pay for Injuries Done Tn Riot, With Result That I. wv. Orders Rent Strike.

rectIy to the strike the Sidney Blu | menthal Mills, at SheIton, occurred l today when little two-non th-oId Car o1ine Komick, twin daughter of Mrs. Michael Komick, one of the women 1 dragged from the cement house on l Tuesday morning by the O'Brien Mill l Guards, after the disturbance which resulted in the shooting or Mrs. Mary l Smarsh, died as result of exposure l and ma1-nutrition.
 The little child who had through
 the negligence of those who descended 1 upon the Cement House. in an ef- ! fort to drag the inmates before court l of justice, been left in "a crib, for
 many hours witt doors and windows | open, while the mother with bruised
 wrists, pleaded ner innocence with
 her captors and finally secured, late \ in the morning, permission from the authorities to return and attend to the wants of her chIrdren.
 In the little bhree room tenement this morning the mother, with tears ! in her eyes, pointed to the broken ' windows in the house, and told how 1 as result of the fright and violence she had sustained the milk had dried in her breasts and she was no longer l able to give sustessapce to the little ] ones, Dr. Eugene B1aeh today con- drmed the statements that death had resulted from nal-nutritions and ex- | posture to the c1d-
 I On Tuesday last the O'Brfen Guards | had attempted to taKe a prisoner at the cement house and 1t is stated that E hot water and ashes had been thrown l over them from residents in that ten-
 enent Both Michael Komick and his | wife were put under arrest, but nos I until they had stout1y defended them selves. Kornick during the fracas was 1 beaten about the head and face ana | his wife showed the violence sustained .I by abrasions and contusions about the ] hands and wrists. Komick was sen I tenced to fifteen days in jail for his I part in the affair and appealed his
 case. The woman was not held by the | court.
 In the house at the time were the 1 two twin children, but two months old, with the two other older chif- dren.
 A good illustration of the manner in which the strikers dive in Shelton | is afforded by thes Komick home in the Cement House" which consists Il of three rooms with bare walls, brok- | en windows in which rags and-other papers have been temporarily stuffed,
 a few beds and one kitchen stove from l which all the heat required must | Besides the husband, wife and four
 children, these three rooms contain | two boarders.
 In the desolate kitchen, today, a, lit tie child lay cuddled in a tr-undle bed close to the kitchen stove getting all
 the warmth that a derth of fuel could afford. Two other children were bare 4 footed upon the cold boards, while
 just without, in the bitterly cold
 weather, group of children were
 seen playing, three of their number not having either shoes or stockings. So poor are the strikers employed in the mills.
 With the damage done by the strik- CTS and an attempt upon the part of the owners of the building to make l the tenants repair it, or include 1t in the rent, at a meeting of the I. w W. today a. Rent Strike was unani-
 mously ordered. This means that no 1 rent will be paid to landlords until
 the settlement of the strike, with the
 consequent eviction of tenants and
 probable violence, want and other
 agonies of industrial war in bitter cold weather.
 One tenant of the Cement House.
 today reported at the meeting that he : had applied to the Home Trust Com } pany of Derby, agents of the property ) for the F. Ha1lock Company, owners I for repair of the windows and doors burst down in the recent struggle They informed him that repairs wou16 1 be made but that it would have to be added to the rent-a cost of ST. A | notice of eviction sent to one of the
 arrested strikers was also read at the meeting, which resulted in the "Rent Strike" vote of the I. w. w. meeting General condemnation upon the par of residents and merchants in the Shelton and Derby communities ovel , the class of guards and special depu-
 ties sent to the seene, which it is thought has occasioned much of the | disturbance resulted in a, visit to the scene, yesterday, of High Sheriff Will liam Vol1ner of this city. After re- l viewing the situation Sheriff VolIner in consultation with George Barlow
 warden of the borough of Shelton, and
 D. N. Clark, president of the Sheltor
 Business Mens $ Association, expressed
 his apologies for the character of the
 men, stating that many of them had
 to be impressed into service at the las
 moment and were the best availabE I atethat time.
 Conferring with Chief Smith of the
 New Haven police, Sheriff yollmer has | been able to secure from that city ter