The scenes that had taken place there must be fresh in the mind of everyone.
Bombshells had been thrown by the Anarchists; numbers of people had been killed, and the public of Chicago was in the same frame of mind with regard to the opera as so many of the previous cities. It preferred to remain indoors.
Our musical operations were seriously interfered with by the strike, which was promptly responded to by a lock-out. The clothing manufacturers closed their shops, throwing but of employment nearly 2,000 superintendents—"bosses," as the Americans call them—and 25,000 hands. The hands had demanded ten hours' pay for eight hours' work, with 20 per cent. advance on trousers, and 25 per cent. on vests and coats. The "bosses" demanded an advance of from 35 to 50 per cent. on all kinds of work; and it was resolved by the employers not to reopen until all the firms had made a successful resistance to these claims on the part of the workmen. The metal manufacturers and furniture makers had been threatened in like manner by their men; and they also refused to yield to the strikers. At the same time from 30,000 to 40,000 men were on strike at Cincinnati, where the suburbs were occupied by a whole army of troops. It now appeared that the disturbances at Chicago were closely connected with those at Cincinnati. Some of the Socialists on strike were armed, to the number of 600 or 700, with effective rifles, and they controlled the manufacture of dynamite shells. The shells which the rioters had been using at Chicago had been made at Cincinnati, and it was said that the Chicago Socialists had on hand for immediate use a supply of these infernal machines. At Milwaukee, some seventy or eighty miles from Chicago, nineteen Anarchists and Socialists had just been arraigned on a charge of riot and conspiracy "to kill and murder." In the streets of Chicago placards were posted on the walls announcing that groups of more than three persons would be dispersed by force; so that a husband and wife proceeding in company with two of their children to hear Il Trovatore or Lucia di Lammermoor ran the risk of being fired into by Gatling guns.
CHAPTER XIV.
SUBTERRANEAN MUSIC—THE STRIKER STRUCK—TUSCAN TAFFY—A HEALTHY "LUCIA"—I RECOVER FROM THE UNITED STATES—A BEKNIGHTED MAYOR.
WE opened our Chicago season with a grand concert prior to the commencement of the regular performances in order to let the public know that all the Company was present in the city after the conflicting reports that had been circulated.
Notwithstanding all our recent reverses, my Company was intact, except that the refractory tenor Ravelli had been replaced by Signor Baldanza, and the basso Cherubini by Signor Bologna. Here, again, in Chicago, my usual stronghold for Italian Opera, the reports of our troubles had been exaggerated and enlarged upon, so that the general public had lost all confidence, notwithstanding the fact that, through Mrs. Marshall Field's influence, a party of the most distinguished citizens had secured the whole of the boxes for the entire season.
The Chicago engagement was expected to recoup us for our losses in the West. But, unfortunately, this hope was not realized; and in consequence of the wild reports that got into general circulation, and, of course, into the newspapers, the Company began to clamour for their pay. I referred them to Mr. Henderson, the Manager of the Chicago Opera-house; and his office was crowded daily with prime donne, chorus people, dancers, musicians, property men, bill-board men, and supernumeraries, all demanding money. "Lucia" was begging for dollars and cents; "Manrico" insisted on having at least three meals a day; while the "Count di Luna," who shared his rival's apartments, protested that unless he had a pint of good wine before he went on he could not get out his F's with due effect in Il Balen.
Mr. Henderson proclaimed his managerial life a burden, but made no other response.
Of the orchestral players the drum was the noisiest; though the hautboy and the piccolo were every whit as emphatic. It was a united and determined strike, the keynote of which was, "No pay no play."