|
list was circulated yesterday among the people to bury the murdered man.
A stone-quarry man is paid $1.50 per day. He gets work about six months in the year. This makes an average of about 62 1/2 cents per day. This is the sum upon which the quarry bosses are compelling a man to live and support a family of eight persons, and when the worker refuses to submit to it they are put to death by sword, bayonet, and bullet in the hands of the "authorities."
About the time of the arrival of the noon train from Chicago a crowd of 200 or 300 persons assembled at the depot, as they have been doing since the trouble with the authorities began. A squad of fourteen soldiers also come to the depot with fixed bayonets, loaded rifles, and belts containing forty rounds of cartridges, and a Colt's navy six-shooter suspended to a belt around their waists. When the train left the depot the officer gave the command to "about face and forward," and they marched back to their camp. Not a word was spoken by any one in the sullen crowd', but many men gritted their teeth and looked daggers at the ruthless murderers who are making tis display of "authority" in their midst. The camp is about a mile from the depot on a hill overlooking the principal quarries. No approach is allowed to the camp, which has a line of guards around it. There is one gatling gun and about 230 soldiers in the encampment. Their marches to and from the depot and around the town are a source of great irritation to the people, who are unarmed and powerless to protect themselves. As the train pulled out and the military marched away from the depot the station agent, Tom Huston, stood before the crowds ad began to drive them off the platform of the depot. saying: "Get away from here. Stand aside. I have had to take unnecessary trouble. It is an imposition on me and the company for you to stand around here. I am dependent on my wages for my living the same as you are, and the company holds me responsible for not ordering you away. I have always tried to treat you well. You are here at every train. You are in the way. Move on; move on. You block up the sidewalk. You are here at every train arrival and you ought to have sense enough to stay away from here," and the crowd, with fear of the military before its eyes, mutteringly dispersed.
|