Midsummer brought an epidemic of labour disturbances throughout the Province. A radical labour organization seized on a time when work was plentiful and labour scarce to spread their insidious propaganda through the camps. Railroad construction in the interior had been seriously interfered with, and in many cases there had been violence and bloodshed.
Two agitators arrived at the Summit Mill, and the next day several of the men—including Hand and Blackie—did not appear when the whistle blew. Gillis found them in Blackie’s cabin in a half-drunken condition. That afternoon Renwick ordered the two strangers off the premises and discharged Hand.
Hoop-la begged successfully for lenience toward his erring pal. “You know how booze affects Blackie, Jack,” he pleaded.
Donald became aware of a changed bearing on the part of many of the men. Sullenness had fallen upon them; discontent manifested itself, as well as insubordination. That afternoon spikes driven in the logs wreaked havoc with the saws and forced a partial shut-down.
A committee of four men waited on Renwick and presented an ultimatum. They demanded a heavy increase in wages, or they would call for an immediate cessation of work on the part of the men they represented. Renwick promptly refused. In fifteen minutes every man in the mill except the clerical staff, the mechanics and the engineer, walked out. In the woods only Gillis’s “redshirts” remained at work.
The strikers moved up the track and made camp on a point of land on the lake-shore. That night the door of the commissary was prised from its hinges and a quantity of food stolen, and the night-watchman put out a fire of incendiary origin.
Renwick, while returning from the power-house, was shot at twice from ambush. He wired his resignation to Robert Rennie, and in terrified haste packed his belongings and left on the next train. An hour later the agent brought Donald a telegram:
“Donald McLean,
“Summit Mill.