The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-08-18

to hand was seized and brought out.
some We're even hurled from the Will
lows above. And behind the i'm
promptu rampant armed men crouched,
mad with long pent passion and eager
10 Wreak vengeance upon their enc
mics.
Meanwhile Ladislas had viewed the
scene with fast mounting distress and
agitation. The deliberateness of these
last preparations for the fight seemed
to appall Him. The sight Of this har-
vest of violence sprung from the seeds
OF his w revolutionary theorizing
wrung his heart. Dreaming Of VIC
tory by peaceful means, the horror Of
this bloodshed and carnage goaded him
to despair. His suffering was acute.
Needless of his OWL safety. he rush
ed hither and thither among those who
We're leading the mob, dissuading them
from violence and urging them to
abandon their resistance.
Half a dozen times when he had
dashed out to press his plea of non
resistance | had almost to drag him
back into safety.
The lull that came when the barri-
cade was forming gave him a fresh
opportunity. In vain l told him that
nothing could stay the fight now that
the smoldering wrath of wears of
wrong had famed into the mad fury
Of the moment and when the wild pas
sions of both sides had been reused.
Nolna joined her voice to mine and
urged him.
But in his frenzy of emotional re-
morse he laid no heed to us. Don't
you see that all this horror is the re-
suit of what I in my blindness have
been doing:" he cried. The thought
of it is torment and the sight of it
perdition. Would YOU have me skulk
here to save my skin when an effort
now may stop further bloodshed:'
With that he rushed out.
He went first among the strikers,
and we saw him advising. arguing,
urging. pleading. commanding in turn
to no effect. Those whom he address
ed listened to him at first with a meas
ure> of patience. but afterward with
Shrugs. sullen looks. intOlerant ges-
lures and at last With stubborn. angry
resentment at his interference or ieers
and fouts according to their humor.
And all this time the preparations
We're not stayed a second. but hurried
forward with feverish haste and vense
full lust of fight.
At length I saw him thrust aside
roughly. almost %savagely. by one burly
fellow who had been building the bar
ricade and now stood gripping a heavy
iron crowbar and wiping the sweat
from his brow.
This act served as a cue for the rest.
Ladislas was passed from hand to hand
and pushed with gibes and oaths from
the center of the barricade to the pave
ment.
For an instant he tried a last ap-
peal to the men about him, but their
only reply was a jeering laugh. half
c~ontempt,aous, half angry, but wholly
Indifferent to every word he uttered.
just then a loud command from the
officer in charge of the troops was Civ
en-. and the soldiers advanced a few
PAGES and leveled their guns.
In a homer Ladislas had climbed
over the barricade and rushed forward
into the space between the troops and
the mob. He ran forward with up
lifted hand.
For the love of God. peace he
cried to the officer, his voice clear and
strong above the din. NO more blood
must be shed..'
For an instant silence fell upon both
sides. and all eyes We're fixed upon
him.
The next. a single shot was fired
from among the ranks of the troops.
Ladislas' uplifted hand dropped. He
staggered and turned toward the mob.
so that all saw by the red mark on his
white broad forehead where the bullet
had struck him. and fell huddled up on
the road.
1t was the signal for the fight to
break loose. \ wild deep groan of
eXecration leaped from every throat
behind the barricade. followed by
shouts and cries of defiance. His fall
at the hands of the troops had raised
him to the place of martyr. and those
who had been quick to jeer him now
shrieked and yelled for vengeance upon
his murderers-surely an irony of fate
that he who had given his life in the
cause of peace should by his death
have loosed the widest passion for
blood.
\ CHASTITY scene followed. AS the
soldiers charged the barricade the mob
offered Il stubborn and desperate re-
sistance. Many of them We're shot
down, but there were others ready to
take their places. Time after time the
troops reached and mounted the barri-
cade, only to be driven back. Once
they carried it and commenced to
charge the crowd behind, but they
We're outnumbered many times, and
the mob beat them and hurled them
back and pursued them even across
the barricade. int1icting serious loss.