Q. In concert with the other operator?
A. Yes; and says he, "This is the proposition. Now we have got the matter in charge ourselves, and I think we are able to run it. We don't need the assistance of the railroad company." Says he, "It is for the men here to say whether they will accede to this proposition or not. For my part, I think we can control it ourselves, and if the strikers are in favor of accepting the proposition they would signify it by saying aye." They took a vote, and there was nobody said aye, and they took the negative, and they all cried no. He appeared to have control of the thing, and was running it, and all he had to do was to suggest or intimate what was desired, and they were ready to vote it.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Ammon and his party—did he accept the proposition from the railroad officials that they should have an operator?
A. No, sir; they would not accept it. They had the matter in charge, he said, and they would not accept it. They voted it down.
Q. Did Ammon say to this crowd, which he appeared to be a leader of—boss of—anything about the railroad officials asking him to run that road, take charge of it, and turn over the earnings of the railroad—railroad officials?
A. No; not that I heard of.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. You speak of a proposition made by the railroad officials. Who made this proposition?
A. Well, it was Mr. Ross. That was their wanting to send some dispatches along on the road. Mr. Ross was dispatcher of the road, and they had taken possession of the railroad and telegraph office belonging to the road, and, as I understood it, put a telegraph operator of their own in there.