Q. Did you gather from these conversations that their object was to force the railroads to pay them the wages which they demanded?
A. They expected to put it to that as a finality. They expected to resort to that before giving it up.
Q. Did you talk with them—did they state to you how they intended to force the railroad?
A. Well, by stopping work and stopping business.
Q. Themselves only?
A. They talked about it, that they would stop themselves, and they would stop others. Of course, I expressed my opinions. Everybody said what they pleased. I told them it was every persons right to stop work. If the work did not suit them they had a perfect right to quit, and to go off; but whatever they did, not to do anything they would be sorry for afterwards, because the matter would be settled, undoubtedly, sooner or later, and they had better not do anything they would afterwards have cause to regret. As I said before, they would have a perfect right to stop work, but they had no right to interfere with others.
Q. Did they claim that they had the right to interfere with others?
A. They did not claim they had a right, but they claimed the ability to do that.
Q. And their purpose of doing it?
A. Well, they expected to do that.