PENNSYLVANIA. 



627 



to fire the barges. ITosc was procured and oil 

 .spravrd mi the decks and sides. While this was 

 U-ingdoiie, barrel after barrel of oil was emptied 

 into the river alxive the mooring place, the ob- 

 ing to allow it to float against the boats 

 and thus ignite them. 



Th' detectives, thus besieged three times, ran 

 up a flag of truce, and each time it was shot 

 down by the strikers. But later the ofBcers of 

 the Amalgamated Association interfered, and 

 the next offer of surrender was responded to by 

 a committee of strikers sent on board to prepare 

 ti-riiis. They guaranteed safe conduct for the 

 Pinkertpns, provided they left their arms and 

 ammunition behind and agreed to leave the 

 place under guard. The detectives had no alter- 

 native, and accepted the terms. Seven had 

 been killed and 20 or 30 wounded. As they 

 passed through the streets in charge of an es- 

 cort appointed by the strikers they were at- 

 tacked by the mob, shot, clubbed, and stoned. 

 The barges were looted and fired. Eleven work- 

 men and spectators had been killed in the fight. 



In the emergency the sheriff telegraphed to the 

 Governor for aid at 10 o'clock on the morning 

 of July C. The Governor answered that the 

 civil authorities must exhaust every means at 

 their command for the preservation of peace, 

 and, in response to further dispatches, that the 

 sheriff must call upon the citizens for an ade- 

 quate number of deputies. The next day the 

 sheriff sent word that he had 32 deputies, and 

 that they were to report on the morning of the 

 8th. The same day (the 7th) the Governor was 

 requested to meet a committee of citizens of 

 Homestead, and the meeting took place at Har- 

 risburg. They promised to do all in their power 

 to restore order, but were apparently unable to 

 accomplish anything. On the 10th the sheriff 

 again called on the Governor for assistance, and 

 the entire force of militia was ordered to Home- 

 stead, where they arrived on the 12th. The 

 town was placed under martial law. and order 

 was finally restored, though in many cases non- 

 union men who came to work for the company 

 were assaulted by union workmen. 



A committee of Congress was appointed to in- 

 vestigate the affnir. The testimony went to 

 show that the apparent reduction proposed in 

 wages was about 18 per cent. From a statement 

 issued by the Executive Committee of the Fed- 

 eration of Labor is taken the following state- 

 ment of the wages the men were receiving: 

 " We have made a careful investigation, and 

 find that just before the lockout there were 3,421 

 employed in the mills. Of this number there 

 were 13 whose wages averaged about $7.50 a 

 day, 46 averaged between $5 and $7 per day, 54 

 averaged from $4 to $5 per day, 1,177 averaged 

 from $1.68 to $2.50 per day, and 1,625 received 

 14 cents per hour, or less." 



The United States Senate adopted a resolution, 

 Au;:. 2, which was reported from the Committee 

 on Kducation and Labor, providing for a select 

 committee of 7 Senators to investigate. and re- 

 port the facts in relation to the employment for 

 private purposes of armed bodies of men or de- 

 tect ive.-, in connection with differences between 

 workmen and employers; the reasons for the 

 creation of such organized bodies of armed men, 

 their character and uses; where, when, how, and 



by whom they have been employed and paid, and 

 under what authority. 



< MI July 21, II. C. Frick, manager of the Car- 

 negie Works, was shot and stabbed in his office 

 by an anarchist from New York. Arrests were 

 made on July 18 of some of the leaders of the 

 workmen, on a charge of murder. On Aug. 3 

 retaliatory suits were begun against the Carnegie 

 officials, the Pinkerton orothers, and 5 of their 

 men, likewise on a charge of murder. Mr. Frick 

 was arrested as soon as he recovered sufficiently 

 to be out. Later, a charge of high treason was 

 brought against the Homestead Advisory Board. 

 On Oct. 11 the Grand Jury returned true bills 

 in the treason cases against the strikers, and 

 also in the murder, conspiracy, and aggravated 

 riot cases against the Carnegie officials and the 

 Pinkerton detectives. The indictments for trea- 

 son involve 31 defendants. In his instructions 

 to the jury the Chief Justice said : 



It is alleged that the Advisory Committee did more 

 than to induce others not to accept employment from 

 the company ; that it allowed no person to enter the 

 mill of the Carnegie Steel Company, and even per- 

 mitted no strangers to enter the town of Homestead 

 without its consent ; that it arranged an organization 

 of a military character, consisting of three divisions, 

 with commanders, captains, etc., the captains to re- 

 port to the division commanders, and the latter to 

 report to the Advisory Committee. Every member of 

 such asserted government, whether it be an advisory 

 committee or by whatever name it is called, who has 

 participated in such usurpation, who has joined in a 

 common purpose of resistance to the law and a denial 

 of the rights to other citizens, has committed treason 

 against the State. 



The mills were gradually supplied with new 

 workmen, and the strike was not declared off 

 till Nov. 20. At that time it was stated by the 

 superintendent that not more than 800 of the 

 total number of old employees would be able to 

 secure employment. 



In December, a report was published of an 

 alleged conspiracy to poison the nonunion 

 workmen at the works in the summer, said to 

 have been revealed by the confession of a cook 

 employed by the company to furnish meals to 

 the workmen within the inclosure to the effect 

 that he had been hired to put poison into the 

 food, and promised $5,000 if the works should 

 be shut down in consequence. It was charged 

 that the design was not to kill men, but to use 

 some drug that would make them sick and weak 

 and unable to work, and that such a drug was 

 supplied by a chemist ; that 32 died, and 2,000 

 were made ill. True bills were found Dec. 21 

 against a district master workman of the Knights 

 of Labor and 3 cooks. In behalf of the men ac- 

 cused, it is said that the situation of Homestead 

 is unwholesome and the water bad, and that 

 strangers, such as the new workmen were, are 

 apt to suffer until they become acclimated. 



The cost to the State of the military sen-ice 

 will be more than $400,000. 



Political. The Republican State Conven- 

 tion met in Harrisburg, April 20, with 270 dele- 

 gates, and made the following nomination- : : 

 For Judge of the Supreme Court, John Dean ; 

 for Congressmen-at-large, William Lilly, Alex- 

 ander McDowell. 



The resolutions commended the policy of the 

 Harrison administration, giving enthusiastic 



