THE STRIKE AT HARRISVILLE
Labor strikes are terribly disagreeable things to encounter whether in the daily routine of steel mills and railways, or in the kitchen before breakfast on blue Monday. Especially inconvenient are strikes in steel mills when the order books are full as were those of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. That the company had large orders could not possibly be concealed. Vast quantities of ore, limestone, and coke were being delivered daily at the mills. Never were more men on the pay-roll, and all the machinery of the gigantic plant was crowded to its utmost night and day. That business had improved was evident to everybody.
In love and war all things are fair, and the same principle, or lack of it, seems to control most modern strikes. No doubt what young Alfonso Harris told his mother on the steamer was true, that the labor agitators were advised of Reuben Harris's plan to sell the steel plant to an English syndicate. Souls of corporations decrease as the distance between labor and capital increases, and naturally American employees oppose foreign control of every kind.
For more than a year the employees had accepted reduced wages with the understanding that the old scale should be restored by the company as soon as times improved and the business warranted. That the employees had timed their strike at an opportune moment was apparent even to stubborn Reuben Harris. It was galling indeed to his sensitive nature and proud spirit that his project of selling the steel plant for millions should have failed.
As he kissed his wife good-bye on the steamer in New York, her last words were, "Reuben, stand up for your rights." Her avaricious spirit had always dominated him.
Before Reuben Harris left his city office for his home he had arranged, in addition to the precaution taken by the mayor, to dispatch to the mills and homes of his employees twenty-five special detectives in citizens' clothes, who were to keep him fully advised as to the doings of his employees about the mills and in their public and private meetings. He had given his men no concessions in a previous strike which lasted for months. He would neither recognize their unions nor their demand for shorter hours.
It was true he had risen to be a millionaire from the humble position of a blacksmith, but he was always severe in his own shop. Every horse must be shod, and every tire set in his own way. He heated, hammered, and tempered steel just as he liked, and if anybody objected he replied, "Go elsewhere then." To have one's own way in life is often an expensive luxury. In his first great mill strike Colonel Harris lost most of his skilled labor and the profits of half a year. His own hands and those of James Ingram became callous in breaking in new employees.
Gertrude had arrived on the evening of the third day of the strike, and had busied herself in unpacking her trunk. She knew her father too well to talk much to him about the strike. While waiting in the drawing-room for her father, knowing that George was too busy to come to her, she had written to her lover as follows:—
At Home
My Darling George,—
I wish you were here safe by my side. How I hate strikes, they are so like a family quarrel on the front porch. Everybody looks on in pity, husband and wife calling each other names, and breaking the furniture, and innocent little children fleeing to the neighbors for protection. Strikes are simply horrid. Can't you stop it? Labor and capital are like bears in a pit with sharpened teeth tearing each other's flesh. Of what use is our so-called civilization if it permits such brutal scenes? George, the lion in father is again aroused. There is no telling what he will do this time.
It was cruel of the employees to stop his sale to the English syndicate. Something terrible is going to happen. I feel it. I dreamed about it last night before I left Niagara. You must counsel moderation. I am so glad mother is not here to counsel severity. In the morning I shall put my hand on father's arm, and say, "Father, I have been praying for God to help you."
I read in the Evening Dispatch that the employees claimed an increase of their pay because promised by the company when times improved; that the company now flatly refused to restore the old wages; that the mayor of the city had sent fifty policemen to guard the mills, and that the 4000 employees in an enthusiastic public meeting had resolved to continue the strike.
George, you are in a very trying position. The company of course depends on your loyalty, and the employees also have great confidence in your fairness. What can you do? If disloyal to the Company, you lose your position. What more can I do, except to pray!
Above all, my dear, be loyal to your conscience and do right. Be just. Come and see me at your earliest possible moment.
Your own loving
Gertrude.
Gertrude's brave letter reached George before ten o'clock the next morning, and greatly cheered him. He was never more occupied, but he snatched a moment to say in reply:
Office of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.
Dearest Peacemaker,—
Glad for your heroic letter. It sings the peace-song of the angels. I shall be guarded in my words and actions. Good things, I hope, will result from all this terrible commotion. I confess I see only darkness ahead, save as it is pierced by the light of your love.
We have a thousand men this morning building a fence eight feet high around our works. It looks like war to the knife under the present policy. Of course I can't say much till my opportunity comes, if it ever does.
Believe me, darling Gertrude,
Wholly yours,
George.
The note was dispatched by special messenger. Its receipt and contents gave comfort to Gertrude.
Colonel Harris left his breakfast table almost abruptly. One egg, a piece of toast, and a cup of coffee were all he ate. It was an earlier meal than usual which the Swiss cook had prepared, and by half past six Colonel Harris started from home to his office, Gertrude from her chamber window kissing her hand to him, saying, "Keep cool, father!"
By seven o'clock he and his capable manager were busily using the two office telephones. Before nine o'clock, all the teams of several lumber firms were engaged in hauling fence posts, two by four scantling, and sufficient sixteen foot boards to construct a fence eight feet high about the entire premises of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.'s plant.
This early action of the company for a time confused the strike managers, as they could not divine whether Colonel Harris in a fit of despair planned to fence in and close down his mills, or, perhaps, once getting his plant enclosed, purposed to eject all members of labor organizations, and again as in a former strike, attempt to start his plant with non-union labor.
The leader of the strike was a brawny man with full beard, unkempt hair, and a face far from attractive. "Captain O'Connor," as the labor lodges knew him, was the recognized leader of the strike. He was not an employee at the steel mills, but an expert manager of strikes, receiving a good salary, and employed by the officers of the central union. At 2:30 o'clock a secret meeting of the officers of the several labor lodges and Captain O'Connor was held behind closed doors. All were silent, when suddenly O'Connor rose and began to denounce capital, charging it with the robbery of honest labor.
"Behold labor," he said, "stripped to the waist, perspiring at every pore in the blinding heat of molten iron, shooting out hissing sparks. Pleasures for you laborers are banished; your wives and children are dressed in cheap calicoes; no linen or good food on your tables, and most of you are in debt."
This and more Captain O'Connor said in excited language. Finally he shouted, "Slaves, will you tamely submit to all this indignity and not resent it? The managers of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. are tyrants of the worst sort. They are fencing you out to-day from the only field on which you can gain bread for your starving wives and children.
"Reuben Harris cares more for his gold than for your souls. Since you refuse him your labor on his own terms, he purposes by aid of the high fence and bayonets to forbid every one of you union men from earning an honest living."
The strike committee decided to call a public meeting of all the employees of the steel works on the base-ball grounds at 7 o'clock the next morning. All the saloons that night were crowded, and loud denunciation of capital was indulged in by the strike leaders. Early the next morning a band of music marched up and down the streets where the employees resided, and by 7 o'clock nearly four thousand men had gathered.
The chief spokesman was Captain O'Connor whose words evoked great cheering. He said, "Friends, we meet this morning to strike for our freedom. How do you like being fenced out from your work? What will your families do for a roof when the snows come and you have no bread for your children? We are assembled here not for talk, but for action. I hold in my hand a resolution which we must pass. Let me read it: 'Resolved, that we, the employees of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., having been driven out of our positions by a soulless corporation which promised a return to former wages when the times improved, will not re-engage our services to the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. till the promised restoration of wages is granted." This resolution was unanimously carried, with hurrahs and beating of the drums.
"Bravo men! Here is another resolution for your action," and Captain O'Connor read it as follows: "American citizens! In the spirit of brotherly love we appeal to you citizens and taxpayers of Harrisville for fair play. Four years ago the employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. bowed before the law, and we should continue to do so had we not discovered that the law, the judges, and the government seem to be for the rich alone. But we prefer liberty to slavery, and war to starvation. Again we lay down our tools and seek to arouse public sympathy in our behalf. Again we plead the righteousness of our cause, and may the God of the poor help us."
This resolution was carried with shouts and the throwing up of hats. The band began playing, and the procession headed by Captain O'Connor and his assistants moved forward.
A third of the sober-minded of the employees soon dropped out of the procession, while three thousand or more, many of them foreigners, were only too glad to escape the everyday serfdom of a steel plant. All were armed with clubs and stones. When O'Connor from the hill-top looked back upon the mob that filled the street down into the valley and far up the opposite hill, his courage for a moment failed him.
"What shall I do with this vast army?" he said to himself. Just then the employees made a rush for the company's furnaces by the riverside, filling the yards and approaches, shouting "Bank the fires! Down with capital!"
The big engines were stopped and the furnaces were left to cool. Frightened faces of women and children filled the door-ways and windows of the many little brown houses on the hillside. Success emboldened the strikers whose numbers were now greatly augmented. Again the band played and the strike managers shouted, "Forward!"
The route taken was along an aristocratic avenue where the wealthy resided. Windows and doors were suddenly closed, and the terrified occupants forgot their riches, their diamonds, and their fine dress, and thought only of safety. Vulcans of the steel works, each armed with a club, occupied the avenue for two miles. Evidences of hunger and vengeance were in their faces and sadly worn garments were on their backs.
Prominent citizens now hurried to the mayor's office, where the chief executive was found in conference with some of the labor leaders. The mayor was told that unless he acted promptly in restoring peace and protecting property, a citizens' committee of safety would be organized, that he would be placed under arrest, and the mob driven back. At once the mayor sent one hundred policemen in patrol wagons in pursuit of the rioters. The latter had already battered down the great doors of the screw-works, and hundreds of employees, men, women, and children, were driven out of the factory. The president of the company was beaten into insensibility. Adjacent nail works were ordered to close and all employees were driven into the streets. Finally, near night, the strikers were subdued by platoons of police and forced to return to their homes.
The mayor issued his riot act, which was printed in all the evening papers and read as follows:
TO THE CITIZENS OF HARRISVILLE AND THE PUBLIC GENERALLY.
In the name of the people of the State of Ohio, I, David A. Duty, Mayor of the City of Harrisville, do hereby require all persons within the limits of the City to refrain from unnecessary assemblies in the streets, squares, or in public places of the City during its present disturbed condition, and until quiet is restored, and I hereby give notice that the police have been ordered, and the militia requested to disperse any unlawful assemblies. I exhort all persons to assist in the observance of this request.
David A. Duty.
Mayor.
The mayor telegraphed to the governor for troops. The governor responded promptly, and ordered the First Brigade to be in readiness, and to report at 5 a.m. next morning in Harrisville, with rifles, cannon, Gatling and Hotchkiss guns and ammunition. Orderlies went flying through the city with summons that must be obeyed. The signal corps flashed their green and red lights from the tower to distant armories. Ambulance corps hastened their preparation, packing saws, knives, lint, and bandages.
Imperative orders from general to colonels, to majors, to captains, to corporals tracked the militia men to their homes, and to their places of amusement. By midnight every military organization in Harrisville was under arms. The general with his staff was at his headquarters and ready for action.
Before sunset Colonel Harris had his steel mills enclosed by a high fortress-fence; many agents were dispatched to other cities to advertise for, and contract with, skilled labor for his mills. On his way home, he called again on the mayor, also at brigade headquarters, and satisfied himself that his property would be protected. In forty-eight hours five hundred new workmen had arrived, and in squads of from twenty-five to fifty they were coming in on every train.
Colonel Harris, experienced in strikes, knew just what to do. A great warehouse in the board enclosure was converted into barracks and supplied with beds, and kitchens, and an old army quartermaster was placed in charge. The new men on arrival were taken under escort of the soldiers to the barracks, and were rapidly set to work under loyal foremen.
In a single week Colonel Harris had secured over fifteen hundred new men. Smoke-stacks were again pouring forth huge volumes of smoke. The renewed and familiar hum of machinery was audible beyond the high board fence. This activity in the mills was to the old employees like a red flag flaunted before an enraged bull. Inflammatory speeches were the order of the hour. It was three o'clock on the eighth day of the strike, when three thousand of the old employees left their halls and marched directly to the steel mills. Hundreds of women and children joined the long procession.
The strike leaders in advance carried the American flag, and their band played the "Star Spangled Banner." Most of the men, and some of the women, carried clubs and stones. Radicals concealed red flags and pistols within their coats. Detectives reported by telephone the threatening attitude of the strikers to Colonel Harris at his home, to Manager Thomas at the mills, and to the mayor who ordered more police in patrol wagons to proceed immediately to the steel works. Following the police rode the Harrisville Troop, one hundred strong. Gertrude would not let her father go to the steel plant, so he sat by the telephone in his own house.
Captain Crager in charge of the fifty police on guard in and around the steel plant at once concentrated his force at the great gateway leading into the fenced enclosure. His men were formed in three platoons, the reserve platoon being stationed fifty feet in the rear. Captain Crager himself took position in the center of the first line. He had time only for a few words to his men. "The city expects each policeman to do his duty. No one is to use his revolver till he sees me use mine. Stand shoulder to shoulder, use your clubs, and defend the gateway."
Probably not one of his fifty men had ever read of the 300 Spartan heroes at Thermopylæ, who for three days held at bay the Persian army of five millions. To pit fifty policemen against three thousand enraged strikers was too great odds. Captain Crager's orders were "to defend the property of the steel company." The reserve police force and troops en route might or might not reach him in time. The strikers purposed driving out of the mills all the non-union men, and taking possession. Nearer came the mob, determined to rule or ruin, O'Connor in the lead holding the Stars and Stripes. The last fifty feet of approach to the gateway, the mob planned to cover by a rush. On they came swinging their clubs and filling the air with stones.
Captain Crager and his platoons used their short iron-wood clubs vigorously. The strikers' flag was captured. O'Connor fell bleeding. Right and left, heads and limbs were broken. Women screamed and strong men turned pale. The whole mob was soon stampeded and the rioters fled like animals before a prairie fire. Those strikers who looked back saw the approach of more patrol wagons loaded with police, heard the clatter of horses' hoofs, and the heavy rumbling of artillery, and they knew that the city's reserve forces had arrived. A battery of Gatling guns at once wheeled into a strategic position. The police and troop occupied points of advantage, and soon the victory was complete.
Within thirty days over four thousand employees, mostly new men, were at work in the steel mills. Policemen and detectives, however, were still kept on duty. Colonel Harris was frequently congratulated on his second triumph, and orders for steel rails were again being rapidly filled.
Most of the strike leaders left the city, some threatening dire revenge. Many of the employees, who had lost their situations, were already searching for work elsewhere. All who were behind in their payments of rents due the company, were served with notices of evictment, as the tenements were needed for the new employees. Wives and children were crying for bread. In sixty days labor had lost by the strike over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and capital even more.
It was in August. The moon had set beyond the blue lake, and the myriad lights of heaven were hung out, as George and Gertrude alighted from their carriage in front of Colonel Harris's residence. They had been to the Grand Opera House, where they had witnessed Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream," beautifully played by Julia Marlowe and her company. Between the acts, George and Gertrude talked much of the strike, of labor troubles in general, and earnestly discussed the possible remedies.
Reuben Harris, who had awaited their return, hearing the carriage drive up, extended a cordial welcome. His hand was on the knob of the front door, which stood half open, when the sky above the steel mills suddenly became illuminated and deafening reports of explosions followed. The door, held by Harris, was slammed by the concussion against the wall, the glass in the windows rattled on the floor, the ground trembled, Harris seized George's arm for support, and Gertrude's face was blanched with fear. Fire and smoke in great volumes were now seen rising above the steel plant.
George ran to the telephone, but before he could shout "Exchange," a call came for Colonel Harris from his night superintendent, who announced that the engines and batteries of boilers had been blown up, and that all the mills were on fire. The chief of police telephoned that he had sent one hundred more police to the mills; the chief of the fire department telephoned that ten steamers had been dispatched. George dropped the telephone, kissed Gertrude, and on the back of her Kentucky saddle horse flew into the darkness to direct matters at the mills as best he could.
The next morning's Dispatch contained two full pages, headed,
"The Deadly Dynamite!
Frightful Loss of Life,
and
Destruction of Property
at
The Harrisville Iron & Steel Plant.
"One hundred employees were killed outright, and hundreds more were wounded. All the mills were either burned or wrecked. Many women and children were also injured. Five hundred tenement houses were damaged, and the windows of most of the buildings within a half mile of the mills were badly broken."
Next morning the citizens of Harrisville were wild with excitement. Ringing editorials appeared in all the morning and evening journals declaring that "Lawlessness is anarchy," and that "Law and order must prevail."