DURING the month of August, the mill continued to fill up rapidly with non-union recruits. Among these there was an admixture of worthless characters, who went to Homestead only for the novelty of the thing or for the purpose of securing a few square meals and perhaps a little money from the Company without imposing any special tax on their energies. Men of this type rarely spent more than a day or two in the mill. Once their curiosity or rapacity was satisfied they deserted, threw themselves into the arms of the strikers, represented themselves as having been deluded by the firm's agents and in the majority of cases secured pecuniary aid from the Amalgamated Association. The strikers invariably welcomed desertions and did not always trouble themselves to inquire minutely into the circumstances prompting the sudden change of heart on the part of the deserters. The stories told by the latter to the advisory board eclipsed Munchausen's wildest flights, winding up, as a rule, with the assurance that, owing to bad treatment and breaches of faith regarding the wages to be paid, almost the entire corps of non-union men was preparing to quit work.
The exodus of idlers and incapables did not, however, in any way impair the progress which Superintendent Potter and his new hands were making, despite the reports to the contrary circulated among the strikers. The force of employees increased rapidly and as the wages offered were considerably higher than the average earnings of clerks and young men just beginning a professional career, many representatives of those classes were attracted into the Carnegie Company's service. Among the persons of education and refinement thus enlisted were four once prominent brokers on the Pittsburgh oil exchange, Messrs. Linn L. Dilworth, C. D. Leslie, John McLaughlin and J. L. Agnew. Mr. Dilworth was set to work running an engine, Mr. Leslie became foreman of the cold saw department, and Mr. Agnew was placed in the armor-plate department. Mr. McLaughlin, who was at one time considered the "highest roller" on the Oil City and Pittsburgh floors, accommodated himself to the duties of a subordinate position at fair wages.
The completion of the last piece of armor-plate for the government cruiser Monterey, on September 3, made it plain enough that the works were being operated in earnest and that the expectation that the firm would be unable to execute its contracts with the government, as long as green hands were employed, was destined to be defeated. In any case, there was a special clause in the government contracts providing for an extension of time in the event of labor troubles, so that the firm had nothing to fear from that quarter. The answer of the strikers when confronted with the circumstances was that the material turned out was necessarily defective and must be rejected by the government. This claim, however, was not substantiated.
About this time sickness began to spread among the non-unionists. The Company physicians had their hands full and a large number of men had to be conveyed to the Pittsburgh hospitals. John McGeorge, a resident of Allegheny, was taken to his home and died there, and McGeorge's son, who had been working in the mill with his father, was also stricken down. The attending physician diagnosed the malady in these cases as typhoid fever and assigned as the cause the impurity of the water used for general consumption in the mill. At first the Company hushed up the rumors of the presence of what seemed to be an epidemic among the men, and it was not until many deaths had occurred that the matter was publicly ventilated. Of the mystery involved in this affair and the manner in which it was solved an account will be given in another chapter.
Weekly mass meetings, at which the men were assured that the company was only "making a bluff" and that, sooner or later the old hands would have to be reinstated, the Amalgamated Association recognized and wages kept up to a decent figure, kept life in the strikers' organization for an astonishingly long time. The loyalty of the workingmen to one another and their cheerful confidence in the power of unionist principles and unionist methods to overcome all obstacles were almost sublime. General officers of the Amalgamated Association took part in all these assemblages and distinguished themselves by inculcating a spirit of moderation and respect for the law. Other orators gave full rein to opinions surcharged with bitterness and resentment, and Mr. Frick, the Sheriff and the Common pleas judges came in for many an unmerciful scoring. John Oldshue, leader of the Slavs, figured in every meeting, interpreting for the benefit of his countrymen and delivering exhortations on his own account.
With the exception of an information for murder lodged against Edward Burke, who was already in jail on charges of riot and unlawful assemblage, Secretary Lovejoy's program of prosecutions remained untouched throughout the month of August. At the beginning of September, Mr. Lovejoy warmed up to his work again and caused warrants to be issued for the arrest of Hugh O'Donnell, Hugh Ross, Matthew Foy and William Foy for the murder of Detective John W. Klein. All the defendants were already under $10,000 bonds on the charge of killing T. J. Conners and Silas Wain, and the apparent design was to multiply the amount of bail until the resources of the union leaders were exhausted and confinement in jail could no longer be avoided. Matthew Foy was arrested at once. O'Donnell surrendered two weeks later, on his return from New York. Elmer E. Bales, Harry Bayne and Oscar Colflesh were also arrested on charges of riot and conspiracy.
At the hearing on the conspiracy charge against Hugh O'Donnell, George W. Sarver, David Lynch, William T. Roberts and William McConegy, before Alderman McMasters, a sensation was created by the testimony of George S. Hotchkiss, an assistant superintendent in the employ of the Pinkerton agency. Hotchkiss swore that he had held several conferences with Jack Clifford, of the Homestead advisory board, and obtained from Clifford information incriminating O'Donnell and others. The nature of Clifford's revelations was not made known, objection to the admission of second-hand testimony being raised by attorney Brennen for the defense and sustained by the magistrate; but the report went out that Clifford had turned informer and caused consternation among the strikers. The members of the advisory board, however, defended their associate and explained that he had conferred with the Pinkerton man solely for the purpose of "pumping" him. Subsequent events bore out this assertion. The five men heard before 'Squire McMasters were held for a court trial.
Shortly after O'Donnell and his companions had been disposed of, Clifford was arrested on a second charge of murder, preferred by the industrious Lovejoy, and committed to jail. He was also held for conspiracy, but gave bail on this charge. Next day his application for bail on the murder charge was brought before Judge Ewing, as was also that of Matthew Foy. Foy, against whom there was practically no evidence, was released on $10,000 bail. The testimony against Clifford, however, was very damaging. Captain John Cooper, of the Pinkerton agency, swore that when the Pinkerton barges approached the mill landing at Homestead, he saw Clifford among a crowd of strikers with a pistol in his hand, and heard him shout, "You —— —— ——, don't come ashore, or we'll kill all of you." Clifford, he said, was the man who approached the barges with a white flag and arranged for the surrender. Samuel Stewart, a clerk in the employ of the Carnegie Company, testified that he saw Clifford attach a fuse to a piece of dynamite fixed in an iron pipe and hurl this crude bomb at the barges, and that he noticed a revolver sticking out of the defendant's pocket. On the strength of this testimony, Clifford was committed for trial without bail. Judge Ewing refused to hear evidence as to who fired the first shot and said in his opinion: "The parties on the shore had no duties to perform except to go away, or as good citizens, to put down the crowd that this defendant, Clifford, was with. There is no question—there can be no question—of self-defense about it. I say that we will not go into it, especially in this preliminary matter."
On September 21, the grand jury returned true bills in all the Homestead cases presented to that body, 167 in number. The following is the list:
Murder of Silas Wain—James Close, Charles Martz, George Diebold, —— Sanderson, Edward McVay, Peter Allen, Sr., Jack Clifford, Matthew Foy, Hugh O'Donnell, John McLuckie, Sylvester Critchlow, Anthony Flaherty, Samuel Burkett, James Flannigan and Hugh Ross.
Murder of T. J. Conners—James Close, Charles Martz, George Diebold, —— Sanderson, Edward McVay, Peter Allen, Sr., Jack Clifford, Matthew Foy, Hugh O'Donnell, John McLuckie, Sylvester Critchlow, Anthony Flaherty, Samuel Burkett, James Flannigan and Hugh Ross.
Murder of J. W. Kline—Jacob Stinner, Edward Burke, Jack Clifford, Hugh O'Donnell, Matthew Foy, William Foy and Hugh Ross.
Aggravated Riot—Hugh O'Donnell, G. W. Brown, Thos. H. Baynes, Isaac Byers, Harry Buck, Mark E. Baldwin, M. Cush, Frank Clark, Isaac Critchlow, Thos. J. Crawford, John Corcoran, John Dally, John Dierken, Jas. Dunn, John Edwards, Thos. Godfrey, W. H. Gaches, Jas. S. Hall, U. S. Grant Hess, —— Hennessey, Reid Kennedy, Thos. Kelly, Geo. W. Laughlin, H. H. Layman, Robt. G. Layman, Jack Lazear, Paddy McCool, David Maddigan, Owen Murphy, John McGovern, Wm. McLuckie, Punk, alias Pete McAllister, —— McLaughlin, William Oeffner, Dennis O'Donnell, John Alonzo Prim, Jack Prease, P. J. Rorke, Richard Scott, David H. Shanian, Newton Sharpe, John Sullivan, Oden Shoemaker, —— Taylor, George Holley or Wilkinson, Joseph Wayd, Peter Moran, Lewis Lewis, Patrick Fagan, W. H. Williams, Mike Naughton, Patrick Hayes "and certain other evil-disposed persons with force and arms, then and there, in manner and form aforesaid did make an aggravated riot, to the great terror and disturbance of all good citizens of the commonwealth, to the evil example of all others in like cases offending, contrary to the form of the act of the general assembly in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
Aggravated Riot—Peter Allen, Joseph Akers, Thos. Antes, Oliver P. Antes, Charles L. Atwood, E. G. Bail, Harry Bickerton, Wm. Bakely, Jack Bridges, Samuel Burkett, Ed. Burke, James Close, Jack Clifford, Thos. Connelly, Sylvester Critchlow, Robert Dalton, George Diebold, Fred. Gunston, Anthony Flaherty, James Flannigan, Matthew Foy, David Inchico, Evan Jones, E. C. McVay, John Murray, Peter Nan, Hugh Ross, Benjamin Thomas, —— Sanderson, H. Troutman, W. Edward Williams, Oliver C. Coon, W. Mansfield.
Conspiracy—Hugh O'Donnell, Thos. N. Baynes, E. Bail, Isaac Byers, Wm. Bayard, G. W. Brown, Thos. J. Crawford, George Champeno, Isaac Critchlow, Miller Colgan, John Boyle, Jack Clifford, Dennis Cash, Oscar Colflesh, Wm. Conneghy, Mike Cummings, Wm. Combs, John Dierken, Pat Fagan, W. H. Gatches, Matthew Harris, Reed Kennedy, David Lynch, John Miller, O. S. Searight, John Murray, John McLuckie, Hugh Ross, Wm. T. Roberts, George Ryland, D. H. Hannon and George W. Sarver.