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ry-owners exactly, and the Sheriff accordingly made a statement to the Governor of the State, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the militia, that he was unable to maintain order and enforce the law, and therefore required the presence of the military to assist him. The Governor, acting in accordance with the constitution and the statute law, sent four companies, numbering about 230 men, armed with breech-loading rifles, revolvers, and a gatling gun to maintain "law and order" around the stone quarries. It will be seen that in this whole procedure the "authorities" and the quarry-owners acted in strict accordance with the statue law and the constitution throughout, and the account of their action which follows will go far toward aiding working people to understand what the preservation of so-called "law and orders" means.
Monday, May 4, was the day set for the entrance of the military into the heretofore hum-drum village of Lemont. All was excitement over the event, and the 1,500 quarrymen who constituted the inhabitants of that quiet little town were loud in their expressions of indignation over the contemplated invasion.
The people were strolling around the streets on Monday morning about 7:300 o'clock, when H. M. Singer, who has signalized himself by his brutality and tyranny over the people, rode up in his buggy, got out, and entered the postoffice. At the same time another person went into the office to get or inquire for his mail, when the despot Singer turned around, grasped the man, and dashed him through the window onto the sidewalk. This occurrence naturally brought together a large crowd of people, who were indignant at the outrage. Thereupon the Sheriff of Cook county sprang up on a dry-goods box and read the riot act to the people, commanding them to disperse to their homes, and at the conclusion of which he said: "Now, men, I warn you, that if you do not go to work at once for $1.50 a day the military will be sent here to compel you to do it."
The people were made all the more excited and indignant at this exhibition of "authority," and many were the expressions to be heard on every hand of condemnation against the Sheriff and Singer. The people said to one another: "Are we in this manner to be drive to our work like galley-slaves at the point of the bayonet?" The Sheriff
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