“Who hit me? The blackguards who were out on strike, sir. They nearly killed me with a piece of lead pipe. Oh, dear, yes.”
It seemed an unspeakable outrage to me, but in Samuel there was nothing but a kind of healthy indignation. He was not bitter. He never raised his voice above its easy reminiscent pitch.
“But what did you do to them? Why did the strikers attack you? What strike was it?”
“I did nothing at all to them. But, you see, my horse slipped and when I was helpless on the ground with my hip smashed, one of them knocked me out. It was right up on the sidewalk. I had gone after them up on the sidewalk, and I suppose the flags were so slippery that the horse came down.”
“But what were you doing on a horse?” I asked in despair.
“I was a volunteer policeman. These scoundrels were led by Debs, and we were out to see that there was law and order in Chicago.”
“Oh, the Pullman strike. Were you railroading then?”
“Railroading? No, sir, I was in the wholesale dry-goods business. We had just started in in a small way. I was married only two years, to Adelaide’s younger sister. Ah, my accident brought on more trouble than she could stand. She was very different from Adelaide, quite dainty and lively, if you follow me. We were living at that time on Cottage Grove Avenue, on the south side. I was building up the importing end of the business, and then this thing came, and everything went to smash. They gave me no compensation whatsoever, to make the thing worse.”
“But, Samuel, how did you come to be out against the strikers?”
“And why shouldn’t I be out, I’d like to know!” Samuel straightened up from rubbing a chair, and pointed his rag at my voice. “These scoundrels had nothing against Mr. Pullman. He treated them like a prince. But they took the bit in their teeth, and once they break loose where are we? The President didn’t get shut of them till he sent in the troops. But I’ve always contended that if we business men had taken the matter in hand ourselves and nipped the trouble in the bud, we’d have had no such lawlessness to deal with in the end. It is always the same. The business men are the backbone of the community, but they don’t recognize their responsibility! Take the sword to those bullies and blackguards; that’s what I say!”