The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-10
MIDTOWN 81
STIRRED BY
STRIKE WAR
COnstabulary Charged
With Brutality
Continued from page y

ISzz, IN the textile strike in the Paw
tucket valley; the fourth time was
also in 1922, during September, in
street car strike.
The list Of wounded in the night of
battle now number eight, besides
those suffering from tear gas bombs
thrown by the state troopers and dep
uties. Many of these gassed victims
are women, girls and boys, who were
IN or near the scene when the state
police began hurting the poison gas
overfthe throng of about 1000 people.
Young Workers Lead.
The youthful working class ele-
ments among the crowd took the
lead in battling, following the provo
fcatton by the troopers and deputies.
Almost all of the civilians wounded
are boys of from II to 81. Aram Au-
clair, IL, an electrician and nephew of
the Woonsocket mayor, was sitting in
machine parked quarter of a mile
away, when struck in the jaw by
bullet from the troopers, firing at ran
dom.
Mike Lamaki, II, textile bleacher,
was shot in the leg by three different
outlets. He Is striker. Victor Rage
otte, 81, butcher, was shot through
the shoulder. Armand Pontbriand, Is.
was shot twice in the leg. John Ry-
manski, Fl, had two fingers shot away.
Provoked Crowd.
Shots from the troopers shattered
windows in a restaurant where Gus
toners we're eating. Another volley
went directly into the crowd and
wounded three. So angry was the
crowd at the unprovoked attack, that
it met the advance of the troopers and
police with rush of its own, led by
young men of II or IS, who forced
themselves right into the bullying of.
ficers' faces, throwing stones and
hurting imprecations.
What had angered the crowd par-
ticularly was the tear gas bombs.
tossed at random, choking many girls
and women, some of them clerks in
stores in front of which they fell. One
of the proprietors had to be carried
out unconscious.
Population ResentfuI.
The population is highly resentful
OF the conduct of theAQoopers. Even
the pastor Of st. James church. the
Rev. Lessard, said: According to the
law the troopers had no right to shoot
at the people. 1t is terrible"
The Providence News, in an edi-
torial, scathingly denounces the state
constabulary, and points out that it
behaved illegally. Moreover the mil
ltia were Illegally called out. The
editorial, entitled, "those who admin
lister the law must observe the law"
speaks in part as follows:
Deliberately Brutal.
In the first serious test to which
1t has been subjected, the new state
constabulary behaved at Manville last
night exactly as its bitterest enemies
predicted It would behave. 1t proved
itself to be body not only contemp-
tuous of the peoples civil rights but
utterly incapable of keeping its head
in crisis. Without warning. with
out a reading Of the riot act, as pro-
Ivided by statute, the troopers took
to their guns, firing first by way of in
timidation, and wounding one person
as result, then firing with deliberate
brutality into a crowd which their pre-
yious conduct had exasperated. That
the casualties were as light as they
were-though they are no light matter
to the wounded and their families
can be described only as providential
Not Justified.
For the methods and acts of the
state police their command must bear
full responsibility. That command
cannot maintain that last nights war
like demonstration was justified as a
means of protecting the Manville mill.
Earlier in the day loomfixers had ac-
tually been in the mill and removed
their tools. They had done this in an
orderly legal way, making no attempt
Whatsoever to injure the mill or any
thing in it. Had they been inclined
to destructive action that would have
been the time for It.
Strikers Denied Their Right.
1.-THE bridge at Manville which was
the scene Of last nights fight is part
OF public highway 1t is the sole
avenue between the homes of hun
dreds Of the strikers and the mill in
whose neighborhood they desired to
exercise their legal right TO picket
peacefully. When Col. Chaffee and his
men denied the strikers the use Of this
public highway for a purpose which
the law recognizes as proper, they
we're usurping a power which the
statutes OF Rhode Island do not give
them.
THAT was not the only instance
where the law was ignored by the
state officers last night. The calling
out OF the state militia was also &C.
| cOmplighod In an filaVal IN ehion