The sun., 1919-09-26

II WOulu not, WAS ltlt IGply. Al
ter what has happened, the outrages,
the killings, the attacks on our organi-
nations, it could not be stopped. i be-
iieve the conference would have been
extremely useful, as conferences al
ways are in such cases. OF course II
no adjustment of grievances were pos
sible, If Judge Gary told us to go and
jump out Of the window, 1t would he
useless. But IL there had been con-
- ference we would have tried to reach
an agreement"
fo why was II impossible for the
strike to be postponed until after the
conference called by the President for
Z October 6 on labor matters?" asked
., Senator Chamberlain.
People Were Murdered.
ave reported to the President that
- Il would be impossible to stop after the
strike date had been fixed by the Off
Gals OF the twenty-four International
organizations. II we had tried to post
pone Il until after October 8, with
avwhat was doing in western Pennsyl-
v yania we would have been shot to
pieces. People were being deliberately
murdered"
"You mean your organization would
fhave been shot to pieces IL you had de-
iayed?" suggested Senator Smith (Ga.).
/ 81 mean that our organization would
z have been wrecked and the actual killing
of people was already going on" was
the reply "A condition OF systematic
1 Terrorism was being organized and car
! ried on. 1t began about June. The
Z workers were being intimidated ana
Threatened by the bosses the business
men of the towns were told that IL they
I did not cooperate In the policies or the
I companies they would be driven out OF
( business; every kind OF tactics were
( employed to terrorize the workers and
3 keep them from joining the union.
II Long before the strike occurred the
! murder OF Fannie Snellings at Brecken-
: ridge. She was woman speaker en-
( ployed at our organization meetings.
{ There was a strike Of miners at Breck-
4 enridge and pickets had been put out.
! One Of these plckets was shot, and Miss
( Snellings being In the vicinity saw
I some children run out to the scene OF
Z the shooting The picket was man OF
= about 60 years, and when he was shot
Z down the children ran to help him. Miss
4 iSnelIings, fearing the children would be
Z injured, hurried out and tried to protect
4 them While she was bent over In the
4 effort to protect them somebody shouted:
z i'Kill this woman, tooW And she was
! shot dead. Here is a picture OF her
6 head" .Wherewith the witness produced
10 horrible picture, which was passed
Z around the committee table.
Gunmen Sworn as Deputies.
"Who were these gunner to whom
Z you refer7' was asked.
~They were men sworn In as deputy
s sheriffs employed by the companies"
did they have the nominal rank OF
/ public officers 2" asked Senator Walsh.
"They were called mill guards re-
Z piled the witness, "and are sworn In as
deputy sheriffs. / am not certain who
: pays them, but they are regarded as
working for the companies"
81 Witness resumed the story OK eHorts
to prevent the strike.
after we were rebuffed In our efforts
TO get conference" he said, we did
not stop. We came to washington ana
laid the case before the executive COM
mittee of the A. F. of L"
Were there any prosecutions OF these
gunmenT" asked Senator Smith.
mot that know of. You cannot
i get prosecutions in such cases The
! man who killed Fannie Snellings was
held fop- $4,000 bond, while man who
K attempted to speak at a meeting of the
workers was arrested and held in $4,000
\ bond by the same court. The picket
who was killed was unarmed. am
not informed as to the number who
: were killed in the strike region before
Z the strike actually began. Those two
in Breckenridge and four In Indiana
: and l believe, another, making seven
IN all, have been reported.
{ Fire Into Crowd.
8 'The president Of the Association OF
Commerce of Chicago has said that the
I way to treat labor was to apply the
! motto Of the tank corps and treat 'em
/. rough" The gunner of the Standard
Steel Car Company plant shot into a
crowd of men, killing four and wound
ing fifteen. That was before the strike
! The Standard company had had strike
: in it's own plant before that too. II
was charged that the strikers were for
3 eigners and that Americans wanted to
take their places and work. These So
! called Americans who wanted to work
( were really some 200 strike breaking
gunner who were marched In to ter
rorize the community. They knew
, nothing about the trade and would have
been useless In the plant When they
marched through the town the workmer
! gathered and jeered them, and the gun
men fired into the crowd"
I'll Senator Phipps asked questions tend
Ing to develop that the Standard Stee
Car Company was not subsidiary o.
the steel corporation. Inc WltneSS ulC
( not know. saying that the labor organ
izers regarded all the steel concerns II
the same class, at least equivalent t
subsidiaries of the company.
I'VE are organising the industry ant
not the particular company" the wit
ness said.
Are the strikers all members Of tn,
A r. OF L. ?" was asked.
Yes; there are neraly 100000 mem
: bers now When we asked Judge Carr
! for a conference we had about 100, 900
Then when we showed the men that h
y had refused the conference they joined
In great numbers during June and July
We asked the members TO authorize tn,
conference with Judge Gary and 0,00I
%1more came in before the vote was taker
u on that question, bringing the member
~ ship to 1000 or 5000. When Judgt
q Gary refused to meet US we saw tn,
"a "A. " of l.. executives and they under
. took TO enlist President Wilson In ou
= behalf. Mr. Gompers was to assist III
n and arrangements were made by which
IS I'VE saw President Wilson the next day
"a The committee was named by the Presl
dent OF the twenty-four internationa
q unions that were involved"
- To Report Strike Vote.
"a Witness In answer to questions agreed
u 10 furnish the committee with the mum