Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-09
COL. RUSSELL PLANS TO END
BITTERNESS IN FITZGERALD

the. gauntlet successfully. Why not
| they? Besides, SO the members of
! ths train crew told them, there will
be no trouble in the daytime; it al
ways happens at night"
( : Thus interest in dynamite chang
fed. to-.a keener interest in Fitzgerald
! itself as the train neared the out
skirts of the town and people along
1.-THE way waved greetings from their
ldoorways. Perhaps the Warmest well
come was at the A., B. & A. shops
| a mile from Fitzgerald. There were
no cheers, but as the smutty engi-
neers and flagmen and mechanics
saw the windows full. of khaki go
hands and handkerchiefs, and the
face of every black man in the yards
was split with a grin as wide as
the Grand Canyon.
The strikers waved, too, just about
as heartily. We caught our first
| glimpse of them in the picket sta
| lions around the plant. One of these
was a shack bearing the red and
white placards You Scabs," faced
toward every train that passed, and
with. the American flag waving
from it's roof. A group of men out
side watched the train closely. They
Sr1nHeu anu WdVeu dHO SiloulSu a.
the soldier boys.
The crowd at the station was of a
different caliber. Whether strike
sympathizers or anti-strikers, they
were silent. Glum, almost sullen, as
the train drew to stop and the
troops poured forth, and then, a
short while later, all this was chang
ed. Colonel Russell, waving a vel
low telegram the messenger boy had
just given him, mounted the station
platform. He held up his hand for
| silence, and the crowd waited. He
read the telegram. 1t was from Gov
Eerfor Hardwick: It directed the col
EoneE to place Fitzgerald under mar
tial law, with particular reference to
! the arrest of those bearing arms and
! to dispensing crowds.
AMEN said Colonel Russell, II
want your help. I want to you help
| me, every one of you, to maintain
order and I want you to start by
dispensing this. group"
There was a moments silence, thee n
| a. voice from the crowd: Were with
YOU, colonel-the unions with YOU,
and then. another, SOS the A, B. &
A." A laugh broke the tension and
| swiftly the crowd dribbled away 10
THE usual dozen or so station loung-
ers. =, r.. ..--
/ ! INN ediately Colonel Russell went
into conference with representatives
of the road, the city ard the strikers.
The result was a systematic plan TOR
law enforcement.
! eral immediate, causes of the out
break Tuesday night, but the real
| general cause was simply this: Inc
i gradual fostering of a sore that IL
nally broke Indignantly.
| Fitzgerald, where the main shops
| of Tho e. railway are still
ated, has been a focal point in the
strike Of the A., B. & A.. employees
Hearty Greetings for soldiers
about, four hundred men, strike
there are about four or five hum
dred others, strikers. living IN and
near the town.
Such. a situation, comparable to a
cat and a dog occupying the same
kennel, has infected the entire com
here who is not pro-striker or anti
striker. AS to which side is in the
majority, it. is not for this CORE
/ spondent to say, but no one can en-
mosphere charged with electricity.
You cannot talk to anyone, be he
pro or con, without realizing the bit
terness that has grown day by day,
aggravated here and aggrayatt-
e cd tf 9Sa so 1nt it ernpts rH To5
Gay nights bloody business was the
worst eruption to date. Each side,
of course, blames the other. The
public must draw it's own conclu-
sions.
To begin with, Monday was the
Fourth of July. The employees at
The shops about a mile from Fitz-
gerald. decided to give barbecue
They invited a lot of Fitzgerald peo-
pie, as one of them said, Everybody
in town who has been anyways de-
cent to u.s. and lot of them at
tended the cue. The strikers resent
ed the friendship toward the strike
breakers. 1t is SAID that some Of
them called on certain Fitzgerald
people the day after the Fourth and
delivered themselves Of heated re-
marks. However that may be, the
barbecue, according to one division
of public talk here, helped to light
the flames, but r. H. Mckay, super
intendent of the A, B. & A, says
he had heard, long before plans for
the barbecue was made, that some
1