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 JOSEPH R- 
 BUCHANAN 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032467296 
 
THE STORY OF 
 A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
JOSEPH R. BUCHANAN 
 
THE STORY OF 
 A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 JOSEPH R. BUCHANAN 
 
 ** Not the great historical events, but the personal incidents that call up 
 single, sharp pictures of some human in his pang or struggle, reach us 
 more nearly," 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 
 1903 
 £S 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1003, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 
 ALL EIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published November, iq03 
 
To the little band of Denver men and women 
 whose faith in me, and whose sacrifices for "The 
 Cause," saved me many times from failure and 
 despair, and to my wife, whose patience and cour- 
 age, amidst hardships and dangers, never wavered, 
 this volume is affectionately inscribed. J. R, B, 
 
 MONTCLAIR, N. J., Nov. I, I903. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 T Tl THEN there is so much warmth in the 
 ' " making of labor's history, it is strange 
 that there has .been so little in the writing of 
 it. As a rule, it has been written by dry-as- 
 dust economists who treat it as if it were 
 the record of the advance of an economic 
 doctrine. As well write the history of the re- 
 ligious movement as if it were the record of 
 the advance of theological doctrine. Labor 
 doctrines have never advanced except as 
 they have been lived and loved by indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 The labor movement in this country has 
 now passed out of its formative period. It 
 is no longer dependent upon the sacrifices 
 of its first disciples for its ideals. It is now 
 an establishment able to protect its sup- 
 porters and save them from sacrifices, but 
 [vii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the work of the men who now wield its 
 power has less human interest than that of 
 those who gave it its power. They were 
 the true makers of its history and to their 
 lives perpetual interest will attach. 
 
 Among the men who bore a prominent 
 part in the labor moveinent when it was 
 struggling for recognition, none has seemed 
 to us so well fitted to tell of these struggles 
 as the author of this volume. Upon this 
 point our judgment is in no sense peculiar. 
 It is that of most men who have known Mr. 
 Buchanan's work as an agitator and his 
 power to narrate the events of his life with 
 simplicity and directness, putting his own 
 personality into the narrative without re- 
 serve, yet without self-assertion. The late 
 Henry George was among those who urged 
 Mr. Buchanan to prepare such an autobio- 
 graphy as he has now written. " The history 
 of the struggle for human rights," Mr. George 
 declared, " will never be complete without 
 [ viii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the personal records of the men who oc- 
 cupied important positions on the firing line 
 in that crucial period between 1880 and 
 1890." John Swinton was another of the 
 leaders in the labor movement who turned 
 to Mr. Buchanan with the same injunction 
 — Mr. Swinton in his characteristic fashion 
 asserting that it was " little short of criminal 
 for Mr. Buchanan to be walking the streets 
 of New York, liable to be run over by the 
 street-cars while there was no record of the 
 events in which he had borne a part save in 
 his own mind." 
 
 In one point Mr. Swinton was mistaken; 
 Mr. Buchanan had other records of those 
 events besides those of his memory. Dur- 
 ing nearly the whole period of which he 
 writes, he was the editor of a labor paper, 
 the files of which he had carefully preserved, 
 and in preparing this volume he has had 
 constant recourse to these contemporaneous 
 records. 
 
 [ix] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Mr. Buchanan has seen fit to close his 
 "Story of a Labor Agitator" with the suspen- 
 sion of his Chicago paper, dramatically de- 
 scribed in the last chapter. Three weeks 
 later he was offered a salaried position by 
 the American Press Association as the ed- 
 itor of its department of economics. In this 
 position Mr. Buchanan has gone on cham- 
 pioning the cause to which his earlier years 
 were devoted, but he declares that he can- 
 not speak of himself as properly a labor agi- 
 tator since the advent of a regular pay-day 
 — a thing he had not known during the 
 greater part of the decade covered by this 
 volume. 
 
 During his later years he has been espe- 
 cially active in the efforts to unite the strug- 
 gling classes on the farm and in the city, in 
 a political movement to secure the measures 
 upon which their intellectual leaders have 
 long been united. In this work he has 
 labored with unusual effectiveness and with 
 Cx] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 irrepressible ardor. He has cherished no 
 illusions regarding the difficulties of the task 
 and has himself humorously observed that 
 the average workingman will not leave his 
 own old party so long as there is one plank 
 in its platform he supports, and will not join 
 a new party so long as there is one plank in its 
 platform he does not support. But despite 
 this keen comprehension of the present situ- 
 ation, Mr. Buchanan has kept at his work 
 with inextinguishable faith in its future. 
 He loves it and from this love comes his 
 faith and hope and endurance. It is the 
 men who thus love the labor movement that 
 are best able to comprehend its meaning 
 and explain that meaning to the world. 
 
 The Publishers. 
 
 [xi] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTBR PAGE 
 
 I. My First Strike 3 
 
 II. The Trials of a Labor Editor ... 37 
 
 III. Two Successful Strikes .... 79 
 
 IV. A Parade and Two Strikes .... 127 
 
 V. Almost a Tragedy 164 
 
 VI. Disappointing my Friends . . . .214 
 
 VII. Under the Red Flag 254 
 
 VIII. The Fight for Supremacy .... 290 
 
 IX. In the Larger Field 33° 
 
 X. The Last Appeal 373 
 
 XL The End of the Row 4'^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Joseph R. Buchanan .... Frontispiece 
 
 Blood-Spots on the Moon 244 
 
 Commission as Organizer of I. W. A. . . . 267 
 
THE STORY OF 
 A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 IT is customary to begin the story of a life 
 with a genealogical sketch, taking in the 
 ancestry of the subject for several genera- 
 tions ; but as the task before me is to give an 
 account of the experiences of a labor agi- 
 tator, and as the interest will be more in the 
 incidents than in the individual, the custom 
 need not be followed in this instance. It is 
 sufficient to say that I was born in Hannibal, 
 Missouri, and that I passed my boyhood in 
 that town and in Louisiana, Pike County, 
 Missouri. 
 
 The year 1878 found me employed on "The 
 Riverside Press," published in the town of 
 Louisiana. I was an all-round handy man. 
 
 [3] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 In addition to services that included duties 
 in every branch of the mechanical department 
 of the publication, I did editing, reporting, 
 book-keeping, and soliciting. My preference 
 among my many duties was for type-setting. 
 With a common school education, backed up 
 by considerable reading and a varied expe- 
 rience as boy and youth, as a basis, I became 
 a pretty fair compositor in the two years I 
 spent in the office of that country weekly. 
 My age at the time doesn't matter. I was 
 old enough to vote. 
 
 I knew nothing of the "labor problem." 
 In fact there was n't any labor question as we 
 understand it now, outside of the large cities 
 and the industrial centers. I had not read 
 anything about trades unions that described 
 their forms and objects, and had not heard 
 them mentioned by one who was a member, 
 save once, when a tramp printer brought the 
 subject up in our office, and he did n't remain 
 sober long enough to make the matter clear 
 nor to arouse my interest. It is true I had 
 read of the great railway strike of 1877, and 
 a friend of mine, a brakeman on a railway 
 running into East St. Louis, had been im- 
 
 [4] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 prisoned three months for participation in that 
 strike. I read of his conviction on a charge 
 of rioting, and knowing him to be a pretty 
 good sort of fellow, thought he must have 
 had serious provocation to get into such a 
 scrape; but as I never met him again I 
 never got his side of the story. 
 
 Late in 1878 I fell under the spell of the 
 Leadville fever, and in November of that 
 year packed my bag and headed for Colo- 
 rado. A few days after my arrival in Den- 
 ver I made the acquaintance of the business 
 manager of a daily afternoon paper, and he, 
 learning that I was a printer, invited me to 
 come to his office and be introduced to the 
 foreman of the composing-room. The lat- 
 ter gave me cases, as we were wont to say 
 before machines revolutionized the busi- 
 ness, and with that situation on " The Denver 
 Democrat" I received my introduction to 
 the labor question. 
 
 "The Democrat" was non-union, or "rat," 
 as the printers express it, but I knew no- 
 thing of the difference between that office 
 and the union offices when I accepted the 
 situation. As I became acquainted with 
 
 C5I 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the other compositors on " The Democrat " 
 I learned that there was among them a feel- 
 ing of animosity toward the men employed 
 on the other papers in the city. Behind 
 their denvmciations of the union men, it 
 ever seemed to me, there were conscious- 
 ness of inferiority and a feeling of shame. 
 Some of my associates had been members 
 of the Typographical Union, but for rea- 
 sons which they did not satisfactorily ex- 
 plain, they were no longer connected with 
 it. These men were " rats." The others 
 on the force were, like myself, non-union 
 men. They had never belonged to the 
 union, and had not until this time worked 
 in a town where there was a union of the 
 trade. When the union was under discus- 
 sion in our composing-room, the " rats " 
 were strong and sometimes profane in their 
 denunciations of their former associates. 
 Their arguments, when they offered argu- 
 ments, were such as we hear in these days 
 from a belated employer or editor. As I 
 listened to the "rats" in the composing- 
 room of " The Democrat " I began to like 
 the union. Probably the experience was 
 [6] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 unusual, but it is a fact that I received my 
 earliest favorable impression of unionism 
 from its opponents. And it has ever since 
 been incomprehensible to me that non- 
 union men could long associate with " rats " 
 or " scabs " and not learn to love unionism 
 for the enemies it had made. 
 
 When I had been about three months 
 with "The Democrat" a change occurred 
 in the management and I was made manag- 
 ing editor. The city editor was a union man, 
 but the labor question was not discussed in 
 the press of those days and his sympathies 
 were not displayed in his work on the pa- 
 per. However, in response to my inqui- 
 ries, he gave me sufficient information to 
 make of me a unionist in sentiment. 
 
 The office changed owners, the paper be- 
 came " The Denver Republican," and was 
 issued mornings instead of evenings. That 
 paper has since become one of Denver's 
 leading journals. The city editor was re- 
 tained in his position, but I was transferred 
 to the business department. In a short time 
 I was given charge of the business office; 
 but I did n't remain long in that position. 
 
 1:7] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 The city editor and I resigned together and, 
 forming a partnership, started a job office 
 and pubHshing house. We employed union 
 men exclusively and, acting upon the sug- 
 gestion of my partner, I made application to 
 be placed upon the honorary roll of Typo- 
 graphical Union No. 49, as an employer. 
 My application was given favorable consid- 
 eration, and that is how I became a mem- 
 ber of a trade union. I had not served the 
 full term of apprenticeship required by the 
 union, but I was considered a good compos- 
 itor, and as I joined out of friendship for the 
 union and not because I then needed its 
 protection, I considered the score at least 
 even. Some of my friends have charged 
 jokingly that I entered the union through 
 the back door. It has never reached my 
 ears that the union ever regretted its ac- 
 ceptance of my application, and I have not 
 been sorry that I took the step. 
 
 In the spring of 1880 I withdrew from the 
 job office partnership and, as tens of thou- 
 sands of others have done, succeeded in a 
 short time in sinking my little capital in 
 prospect holes, digging for the elusive pre- 
 [8] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 cious metals. I had- married during the 
 preceding winter, and when my money was 
 about all expended in fruitless prospecting, I 
 realized that it was time to get at something 
 that would give me an income. Upon appli- 
 cation I was placed upon the active list of 
 the union and given a working-card. I went 
 to Leadville and at once secured cases on 
 "The Daily Democrat;" and my experi- 
 ence as a " labor man " began. 
 
 My trade was thoroughly organized in 
 Leadville; the four daily papers were union 
 and there was n't a " rat " printing office in 
 the town. Other trades were also fairly 
 well organized. Most of the employees of 
 the mines — the principal industry of the 
 locality — were union men. The leading 
 men among the miners were also members 
 of an organization the name of which I did 
 not know at that time. The Knights of La- 
 bor organization, though founded in 1869, 
 did not make its existence public nor pub- 
 lish its name until 1881. The leaders of the 
 Leadville miners were members of an as- 
 sembly of the Knights of Labor. 
 
 Everything ran smoothly for the first few 
 
 [9] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 months I was in Leadville. The mines 
 produced heavily, business boomed, and, 
 though prices were high, money was plen- 
 tiful. I sent to Denver for my wife and we 
 set up housekeeping in a two-roomed cabin, 
 called " cottage " by the real estate man. A 
 sheet-iron cook-stove, a soap-box full of 
 dishes — most of them tin — a pine table, 
 three chairs, a pine bedstead, and printed 
 shades at the windows constituted the chief 
 furnishings of my home. And yet we were 
 happy, my wife and I. You see there were 
 few who had better than we had, employ- 
 ment was steady, wages good, and, notwith- 
 standing the high cost of provisions, there 
 was a chance to save some inoney. We 
 were forty miles from the nearest railway 
 and " civilization," with its refined methods 
 of robbing the many for the benefit of the 
 few, had n't yet crossed the range. Of 
 course there was an occasional " hold-up," 
 but thieving of this kind was usually quickly 
 followed by a lynching-bee, and we were 
 not afraid that robbers would break in and 
 steal our means of livelihood. But our 
 fancied security received a rude shock, 
 [lo] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 Thieves did break in, using a seventy-ton 
 locomotive as a battering-ram. Late in the 
 summer of 1880 the railway entered Lead- 
 ville. The reduced cost of transportation 
 materially lowered the prices of provisions 
 and other necessaries of life. At first we 
 rejoiced at the change, but when men seek- 
 ing work began to arrive by hundreds, we 
 doubted the value of the new order for the 
 workingmen of the community. Right here 
 I was to see my first practical illustration of 
 the " iron law of wages." 
 
 During the spring and summer of 1880 
 the miners of the Leadville region received 
 $3.50 to $5 per day. ' With the advent of 
 the railway, bearing cheapened provisions 
 and men who were seeking employment, 
 there came to the managers of the mines a 
 suggestion that they could employ men at 
 less wages to work their properties. It 
 did n't cost the men so much to live as for- 
 merly, then why should not they be willing 
 to work for less ? There was no question 
 of lessened value in the product. The ores 
 taken from the mines were as rich as ever, 
 the yield was up to the highest point in the 
 [ii3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 history of the camp, and silver bulHon was 
 selling at the top notch. ' The reduction in 
 the cost of transportation had also been of 
 considerable benefit to the mine owners, as 
 it had greatly lessened the expense of get- 
 ting machinery and other supplies to the 
 mines, and had lowered the cost of reduc- 
 ing the ores and of shipping the product to 
 the markets. But these facts had no weight 
 with men who had come under the influ- 
 ence of advancing civilization. The old 
 spirit of fraternity which had characterized 
 the relations between the people of a new 
 country, cut off in a measure from the great 
 world, was dead; the rule of "Live and let 
 live " had been succeeded by the rule of 
 "Every fellow for himself, the devil take 
 the hindmost." 
 
 " There are a plenty of men willing to 
 work for less than we are paying our 
 miners," said the managers. This is al- 
 ways the first manifestation of the aforesaid 
 " iron law." 
 
 At a meeting held in the Clarendon 
 Hotel, attended by representatives of the 
 principal mining properties in the Lead- 
 [12] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 ville region, a resolution reducing wages to 
 a level rate of $2.75 per day was adopted, 
 after unavailing protests by a few old-fash- 
 ioned operators who were not yet thor- 
 oughly civilized. This meeting was held 
 on Sunday afternoon, and when the miners 
 appeared for work the next morning, they 
 were confronted with notices of the reduc- 
 tion posted conspicuously at the entrances 
 to the mines. The men gathered in knots 
 about the shafts, refusing in nearly every 
 case to go to work. A reporter told me 
 afterward that it looked as if there were a 
 hundred open-air meetings on Freyer and 
 Carbonate hills that morning. The offi- 
 cials of the Union acted promptly, and at 
 ten o'clock, A. M., Leadville Miners' Union 
 was in session with the largest attendance 
 in its history. The session continued all 
 day. Committees sent to the offices of the 
 mining companies returned with reports 
 that not one manager would reconsider the 
 order of reduction. By a unanimous vote, 
 taken at six o'clock in the evening, the 
 union declared every mine in the Lead- 
 ville region on strike against the reduction. 
 
 [13] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 One important mine and three or four 
 small ones resumed work on Tuesday morn- 
 ing, but none of them had half of the usual 
 complement of men. 
 
 The managers employed every available 
 man who could handle pick or shovel, hold 
 a drill or swing a sledge. The strikers 
 used every means at their command to keep 
 men from going to work and to pull out 
 those who were at work. There was n't 
 any Civic Federation or board of concili- 
 ation and arbitration in those days, and dis- 
 satisfied workmen had to work out their 
 salvation in their own way. The methods 
 employed were not always diplomatic, and 
 sometimes they were a little bit coarse. 
 Every day, and sometimes twice each day, 
 a " committee," composed of several hun- 
 dred strikers, made the rounds of the mines 
 that were working. On several occasions 
 these visits were marked by clashes be- 
 tween the strikers and mine guards. Fists, 
 clubs, and sometimes pistols, were used, 
 but without fatal results. 
 
 After about a week of that sort of war- 
 fare, the operators decided that they did n't 
 
 [14] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 desire any more visits from the miners' 
 committees. Small block-houses, made of 
 green pine logs, were put up in command- 
 ing positions on Freyer and Carbonate hills 
 and in them were stationed guards armed 
 with rifles. Dead-lines were marked off, 
 inside of which any one not properly ac- 
 credited went at the peril of his life. By 
 this course the operators forced the strike 
 center down from the hills and into the 
 town. From early in the morning until late 
 at night the principal streets were filled 
 with men, who moved about in aimless 
 fashion or gathered in groups to discuss 
 the strike among themselves or to listen 
 to speeches delivered from curb, truck, or 
 goods-box. It was here I made my bow as 
 a " labor orator." 
 
 The entire force in the composing-room 
 of " The Democrat " was in sympathy with 
 the strikers, and words were not minced 
 when the action of the operators was dis- 
 cussed by us. Fresh from that atmosphere 
 I went upon the streets every afternoon and 
 addressed the crowds, moving to a fresh 
 rostrum every half hour or so. The case 
 
 [15] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 was very simple, and a man with ordinary 
 intelligence and a " gift of gab " had no 
 difficulty in holding a street audience, es- 
 pecially if he was radical in denunciation 
 of the operators and sympathetic in depict- 
 ing the wrongs of labor. The opposition 
 showed me the distinguished consideration 
 of attempts to break up my meetings and of 
 efforts to have me locked up by the police. 
 The police did not interfere with the crowds 
 so long as there was nothing but talk, but 
 at the first sign of a breach of the peace the 
 participants were taken to the lockup. 
 "~ One afternoon, after a short talk to a 
 crowd on Harrison Avenue, I was walking 
 down the street, when I was roughly jostled 
 by some one behind me. Turning quickly 
 I found myself face to face with a young 
 lawyer who on several occasions had offen- 
 sively shown his antagonism to the miners 
 and their friends. He was a natty chap, 
 being one of the few in that city of thirty 
 thousand inhabitants who wore a high silk 
 hat. Although I was n't sure, I strongly 
 suspected that it was this young man who 
 had bumped into me ; but I was n't look- 
 [i6] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 ing for trouble, and so walked on without 
 saying a word. I carried as a cane a thick 
 orange stick, which a friend had given me. 
 I had proceeded but a few yards further 
 down the street when slap bang! went my 
 cane to the sidewalk, forced from my hand 
 by the pressure of a foot, — an old trick, 
 often played in a spirit of fun. Stooping, I 
 picked up the cane, and looking around 
 quickly I saw the young lawyer glaring at 
 me with a sneer on his face. I lost my head 
 for the space of ten seconds. My tormentor 
 lost only his hat, as he " ducked " just in 
 time and just far enough to save his head 
 from the blow I aimed at it with my cane. 
 As he sprang to recover his precious tile, 
 which my orange club had sent spinning 
 out into the street, I was seized by the arm, 
 and a familiar voice close to my ear cried, 
 " Get out of this, Joe ! Danger ! " 
 
 I asked no questions, but hurried along 
 with my friend, a compositor employed on 
 " The Herald." We ran two blocks, when 
 he turned into the Herald office, with me 
 at his heels. When we reached the press- 
 room, in the extreme rear of the building, 
 
 [17] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 he paused. As soon as he could spare 
 breath for words he said: "There's a plot 
 to get you and all the other agitators and 
 leaders jugged. One plan is to get you into 
 altercations on the streets, so you may be 
 arrested for breaches of the peace. Once 
 they get you in it will be impossible to get 
 you out until this trouble is settled. One of 
 the boys heard the job fixed up in the edito- 
 rial room of ' The Chronicle ' this morning. 
 I started out to warn you as soon as I was 
 told, and it appears that I was not a minute 
 too soon." 
 
 After that experience I was careful not to 
 get into personal controversies on the street. 
 I had to take some pretty hard talk some- 
 times, but I remembered my lesson and 
 kept out of jail. All of the others were not 
 so lucky. Several of the " street orators " 
 failed in self-restraint at trying moments and 
 were taken to the " bull-pen " for " breaking 
 the peace." 
 
 As arrests were numerous and trials de- 
 layed in those troublous times, the jail, 
 which was a small affair, was soon filled 
 to overflowing. To meet the emergency a 
 [i8] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 vacant lot adjoining the jail was inclosed by 
 a board fence sixteen feet high, and in this 
 yard those charged with the lighter offenses 
 were kept. By some wag the yard was 
 christened the "bull-pen." 
 
 All this time the operators were using 
 every inducement to secure miners, but 
 with unsatisfactory results. There were no 
 desertions from the union and there were 
 very few experienced non-union miners to 
 be found anywhere in the State. However, 
 some of the mines were being worked after 
 a fashion, but, owing to the expense of 
 guarding, the work was not profitable. And 
 the merchants began to feel the effects of 
 the strike by the end of the second week; 
 their business was falling off at an alarming 
 rate, and, of course, a majority of them 
 placed the blame for the state of affairs 
 upon the miners' union. 
 
 On Monday of the third week of the 
 strike the union paraded through the princi- 
 pal streets of the city. They presented a 
 fine appearance, those miners. I have never 
 seen a better looking body of men. There 
 were between four thousand and five thou- 
 
 [19] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sand in line. The procession was headed 
 by a band of music. One large American 
 flag and the banner of the miners' union 
 were carried by the paraders. The marshal 
 and his six aides were mounted. The men 
 all wore dark coats and trousers, blue flan- 
 nel shirts, and black slouch hats. Their 
 hands were empty, not a gun, sword, or 
 stick being in sight from end to end of the 
 long line. The streets through which the 
 procession passed were crowded with peo- 
 ple, but there was the most perfect order; 
 not a word came from any save the officers 
 and from them only as necessary commands. 
 Every one seemed to be impressed as upon 
 some solemn occasion. I heard a merchant 
 who stood in the door of his store say: "In 
 my opinion there goes the backbone of 
 Leadville." 
 
 A few of the merchants of Leadville 
 were not under the domination of the op- 
 erators, but a majority were either stock- 
 holders in the mines or were subservient to 
 the will of the mine owners, and out of this 
 relationship evolved the queerest proceed'^ 
 ing that ever, to my knowledge, had place 
 [20] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 in a labor strike. Tiie enemies of tiie mi- 
 ners' union were chagrined and angered by 
 the success of the strikers' parade. Their 
 displeasure was doubled by the favorable 
 comment heard on every hand during the 
 days immediately following. They were 
 disappointed because of the good order 
 which had marked the procession of the 
 " lawless element," and to hear so many 
 persons praise the miners for the dignity 
 they displayed under such trying circum- 
 stances was exasperating. Something must 
 be done; so a counter parade was arranged 
 for the following Thursday. This demon- 
 stration was named by its promoters a " Cit- 
 izens' Law and Order Parade." The prime 
 movers in this unique affair were the opera- 
 tors and their allies; the active leaders were 
 the editor of an afternoon paper and a mine 
 broker who bore the title of Major. Thurs- 
 day came and with it the " Law and Order 
 Parade." Twenty-three years have passed 
 since that Thursday afternoon and I write 
 now without an atom of prejudice, and in 
 all seriousness I say I do not believe such a 
 collection of human beings as I saw in the 
 
 [21] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Leadville " Citizens' Parade " ever marched 
 through the streets of any city on earth, be- 
 fore or since. Outside of a mining-town, and 
 a big and booming mining-town at that, it 
 would be impossible to gather together 
 such a variegated, nondescript, lawless mob. 
 Few merchants had the hardihood to take 
 part openly; the procession, numbering less 
 than two thousand, was made up almost en- 
 tirely of loafers, gamblers, and bums. The 
 gambling-houses, of which there were no 
 less than a score in the town, were turned 
 inside out to furnish marchers for the " Law 
 and Order Parade." The dive-keepers had 
 a quiet afternoon that day, as all of their 
 patrons who were able to walk, or make a 
 stagger at it, were performing their duties 
 as good citizens on parade. Each parader 
 carried some sort of weapon; about half of 
 them had rifles or shot guns, the rest had to 
 be satisfied and look brave with pick-han- 
 dles, clubs, and the like. At the head of 
 this motley, measly crew rode the aforesaid 
 major. In his hand he carried a drawn 
 sword, with which he slashed right and left 
 as he rode along. The major was a bit 
 [22] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 drunker than the average of his " law and 
 order " pals. Several persons narrowly es- 
 caped death or frightful mutilation from the 
 major's sword. One young man whom I 
 knew intimately, a printer by the name of 
 Hoss, received a cut across the cheek from 
 the fiery grand marshal's sword, resulting in 
 a scar that he will carry to his grave. Up 
 to the moment when Hoss was struck down 
 the onlookers had been disposed to take the 
 parade as a good joke; but seeing the blood 
 streaming down the young man's face as he 
 regained his feet, the crowd made a rush at 
 the major. It would have gone hard with 
 that individual had not a squad of policemen 
 come to his rescue just in the nick of time. 
 Quickly pulling the major from his horse the 
 policemen hurried him out of the crowd and 
 through a side street to the police station, 
 two blocks away, where he was held for 
 safe-keeping until the excitement died down 
 along toward evening. 
 
 With the head — or more correctly, the 
 figure-head — of " Law and Order " in the 
 lockup, the " Citizens' Parade " broke ranks, 
 and was soon what it has remained in the 
 
 [23] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 minds of those who witnessed it, an un- 
 pleasant memory. 
 
 It will be understood that the situation in 
 Leadville was by this time pretty serious. 
 The operators were slowly adding to the 
 forces in the mines, though few experienced 
 miners could be secured. The strikers re- 
 mained loyal to the union almost to a man. 
 The union was in almost constant session, 
 day and night. Committees labored hard 
 with the men from the outside who came to 
 the town to go to work and sometimes ar- 
 guments gave place to blows. These out- 
 breaks, which were none of them serious in 
 results, were followed by arrests, and the 
 " bull-pen " was filling up. 
 
 On the day following that of the " Law 
 and Order Parade" a four-page paper iap- 
 peared as an advocate of the cause of the 
 strikers. This paper was called " The Cri- 
 sis." It contained, besides a statement of 
 the miners' grievances, several well-written 
 but fiery attacks upon the operators, naming 
 some of them personally, and the major and 
 the editor, previously referred to as " Law 
 and Order" promoters, were unmercifully 
 [24] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 flayed. " The Crisis " came out regularly 
 every day for a week, each succeeding issue 
 being more radical and rabid than its pre- 
 decessors, when it abruptly stopped publi- 
 cation, never to appear again. The explan- 
 ation of this sudden demise of a paper that 
 had become very popular in the six days of 
 its existence brings me up to another inter- 
 esting phase of my first strike. 
 
 The names of the publishers and editors 
 of " The Crisis " were not printed in the 
 paper and were known to only a few per- 
 sons, but through the treachery of some one, 
 nevei" discovered, the names were given to 
 the " Law and Order " clique. About 2 
 o'clock in the afternoon of the day on which 
 the last issue of "The Crisis" appeared, 
 while the compositors on " The Democrat " 
 were "throwing in" their cases, a clerk 
 from the business office came into the com- 
 posing-room bearing three sealed envelopes 
 which he said had just been left with the 
 manager. The envelopes were addressed, 
 one each, to Robert Higgins, John Sorensen, 
 and " Hop " Lee. These three men, with 
 Michael Mooney, president of the miners' 
 
 [253 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 union, were the promoters and editors of 
 " The Crisis." The communications inside 
 of the three envelopes were exactly alike. 
 They were brief and free from all ambi- 
 guity:— 
 
 " Sir, — You are hereby ordered to leave 
 Leadville before sun-up to-morrow morn- 
 ing, to return no more. Disregard this no- 
 tification at your peril. 
 
 " By order 
 
 "Committee of ioo." 
 
 Lee read his billet-doux aloud, and imme- 
 diately there were loud protests from every 
 member of the force in " The Democrat " 
 composing-room. William Robinson, the 
 business manager, was sent for and the 
 chapel lined up around the imposing-stones 
 to receive him. When he appeared, the 
 chairman of the chapel handed him one of 
 the letters sent by the "Committee of loo" 
 and asked him what he was going to do to 
 protect his men, whose rights a secret foe 
 was attempting to invade. Robinson replied 
 that there was nothing he could do. He 
 [26] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 was requested to lock the doors and leave 
 the rest to us. Nearly every man in Lead- 
 ville in those days carried a revolver, and I 
 was the rule's only exception among " The 
 Democrat's " compositors. My wife ob- 
 jected to my carrying a gun because, she 
 said, I was a little too quick tempered to 
 have such a dangerous article in miy pocket. 
 While I thought she was mistaken in her 
 estimate of my temperament, I respected 
 her wishes. 
 
 Robinson negatived the suggestion of the 
 chapel. " I can't do such a thing, boys," he 
 said. " The owners of the paper would set 
 the whole lot of us into the street if we 
 tried it." 
 
 Lee, Higgins, and Sorensen, to relieve the 
 situation which was becoming embarrass- 
 ing, said they would quit the office at once, 
 so as not to involve others in their troubles, 
 and they, pushing aside our attempts to re- 
 strain them, went away. We made the air 
 of that composing-room blue for an hour 
 after our three associates had departed, and 
 I suppose I talked as loud as any one there. 
 As I was putting on my coat to go out about 
 [27] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 4 o'clock, the foreman came up to me and 
 said, " I have orders to lay you off indefi- 
 nitely and have been requested to hand you 
 this." He placed in my hand an envelope. 
 I tore it open and, drawing out a single 
 sheet of writing-paper, read these words : — 
 
 " Sir, — Out of consideration for your 
 wife you will be allowed to remain in Lead- 
 ville only on consideration that you do not 
 show yourself on the streets during the 
 forty-eight hours next following 6 p. m. to- 
 day. 
 
 " By order 
 
 "Committee of ioo." 
 
 Here was an unexpected compliment to 
 my abilities as a barrel-end, street-corner 
 orator; but I was too angry at that moment 
 to appreciate it. Some of the boys wanted 
 to make a fight for me against the cowardly 
 threat, but, with the example of Lee and his 
 associates so fresh in my mind, I would not 
 consent to it, and, besides, we were all be- 
 ginning to feel a little bit anxious over those 
 mysterious warnings. 
 
 [28] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 I might as well answer right here the nat- 
 ural query of the reader: "Who or what 
 was the ' Committee of lOo' ? " 
 
 The handwriting of the warnings, though 
 slightly disguised, was identified, by com- 
 positors who were familiar with it, as that 
 of the editor who was so prominent in the 
 " Law and Order " movement. We learned 
 some weeks after they were issued that the 
 warnings were the joint product of the ed- 
 itor and the major; that those two were the 
 " Committee of loo." It was a good bluff, 
 and it succeeded fairly well. 
 
 As I was leaving " The Democrat " office 
 I met Lee on the sidewalk. 
 
 "Well, I see you are here yet," I said. 
 " Where are the others ? " 
 
 " Higgins and Sorensen have left town, 
 and so has Mike Mooney. He received a 
 note just like ours." 
 
 " Why did n't you go ? " I asked. 
 
 " I stay right here," said Lee. " I was in 
 this camp before any of that ' Law and Or- 
 der ' gang and, so far as I know, I 've done 
 no man a wrong. I went down to my bro- 
 ther's store to see him about the matter. 
 [29] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 He said I was right in deciding to call the 
 bluff, and he gave me a six-shooter to help 
 out in case I need it. I 'm pretty well fixed, 
 you see," and he raised the skirts of his coat 
 as he turned his back to me. The butt of 
 a pistol protruded from each of his hip 
 pockets. 
 
 " I like your nerve, Lee," I said. " I wish 
 I had some of it myself. I 've been fired. 
 Here 's my last ' take ' of ' Democrat ' copy. 
 I 'm carrying it away as a souvenir ; " and 
 I handed him my communication from the 
 " Committee of loo." 
 
 Lee read the note and, passing it back to 
 me, said: — 
 
 " Why not, Joe ? Although you 've worked 
 as a sort of 'free lance,' and have n't had 
 anything to do with the committees or ' The 
 Crisis,' you 've made more racket publicly 
 than any of the rest of us. What are you 
 going to do ? " 
 
 " You seem to be a man for emergencies, 
 what do you advise me to do ? " I asked. 
 
 " If you were a single man I would say 
 get a couple of guns and fight it out with 
 me; but your wife must be taken into the 
 
 [30] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 consideration of the question. Therefore, 
 I advise you to obey the order, or warning 
 or whatever you call it. It won't hurt you 
 to stay at home for two days. If you are 
 out on the streets with the crowds, that loose 
 jaw of yours may get you into trouble. No 
 offense intended, old man." 
 
 " I understand you. Then you think I 'd 
 better lie low for a couple of days ? " 
 
 " Yes, under the circumstances, I do. I '11 
 come up and see you to-morrow and tell 
 you how the battle is going — if they don't 
 lay me out to-night. The fact is I think 
 they 've got us on the run, Joe, and if they 
 succeed in their attempt to get the state 
 militia called out, we might as well give up 
 the fight." 
 
 We clasped hands and parted, I doubting 
 that I should ever see the plucky fellow 
 again. But I did n't know then what a 
 shallow thing the " Committee of loo " 
 really was, and that what I thought con- 
 tained the elements of a tragedy was, in 
 reality, just a bit of opera bouffe. 
 
 I remained at home three nights and two 
 days. There was n't any sleeping under my 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 humble roof the first night. My wife was 
 badly frightened. Of course I had to explain 
 why I did n't go to work that night, and I 
 thought it best to make a clean breast of the 
 whole matter. Every voice heard outside 
 during the night sounded to her like the 
 howl of a mob of lynchers, and every pass- 
 ing wheel was magnified in her excited im- 
 agination into the black covered wagon of 
 a band of kidnappers. The night was n't 
 full of fun for me, either. The sun's kiss 
 of gold upon the snow-incrusted tips of the 
 mountains, across the Arkansas Valley, had 
 never before seemed so beautiful as on the 
 morning following my first night in the 
 thrilling frontier drama, "Every Man His 
 Own Jailer." 
 
 True to his promise Lee, who had n't 
 been "laid out" or in any way molested, 
 called upon me late in the afternoon. He 
 told me there had been some pretty lively 
 rioting in the lower part of the town the 
 night before, though none of the striking 
 miners were in the muss; that several hun- 
 dred miners had marched to Freyer Hill 
 that morning and that they were fired upon 
 
 [32] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 from the block-houses, without serious re- 
 sults, and that the operators, assisted by the 
 editor and the major, were circulating a 
 paper for signatures to petition Governor 
 Frederick W. Pitkin to send state troops to 
 Leadville and to place the town under mar- 
 tial law. 
 
 That night a telegram, signed by a com- 
 mittee claiming to represent the business 
 men and the "better element" of Leadville, 
 was sent to the governor, urging him to 
 send troops at once " if you want to prevent 
 the destruction of the city by the mob." 
 The governor, believing a terrible fate 
 threatened Leadville, ordered several com- 
 panies of militia, from different parts of the 
 State, to proceed at once to that city, to re- 
 port to General David Cook, who was au- 
 thorized to take command and to institute 
 martial law. 
 
 There was in Leadville a state military 
 organization known as the Wolf Tone 
 Guards, which had a membership of be- 
 tween 200 and 300. Its officers failed to 
 report to General Cook, as ordered to do. 
 A visit to the armory of the Wolf Toners 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 resulted in the discovery that the place was 
 empty and that every rifle and cartridge had 
 disappeared. The Wolf Tone Guards be- 
 longed to the miners' union. 
 
 Six months after the events just related 
 Governor Pitkin told me that he had been 
 deceived by the senders of the telegram 
 from Leadville ; that there was no more dis- 
 order than could have been taken care of by 
 the city and county authorities, if the " Law 
 and Order" crowd had not interfered with 
 the administration of order. " Dave " Cook 
 said practically the same thing to me some 
 years later. 
 
 I heaped the scales in honoring the order 
 of the "Committee of loo," putting in six- 
 teen hours for good measure. My time was 
 up at 6 o'clock in the evening, but, as my 
 wife did n't want me to go down town at 
 night, I waited until ten o'clock the next 
 morning. As I approached the center of 
 the city I noticed that the principal streets 
 were patrolled by militiamen, and, gathered 
 in groups at different points, men were read- 
 ing the first posted order of General Cook. 
 The substance of this order was, that any 
 
 [34] 
 
MY FIRST STRIKE 
 
 person, not in possession of a passport 
 signed by General David J. Cook, found 
 upon the streets of Leadville, between the 
 hours of 7 p. M. and 6 A. m. would be ar- 
 rested and locked up. 
 
 " Dave " Cook was a man of action, as I 
 shall have occasion to show in another 
 place, though in the later instance he and I 
 were pulling together and not upon opposite 
 sides, as at Leadville. 
 
 There is little more to tell of the Lead- 
 ville miners' strike. The presence of the 
 soldiers gave the would-be " scabs " confi- 
 dence and they flocked to the mines. The 
 union, deserted by Mooney, its president, 
 who was driven out by the " Committee of 
 IOC," lost heart. The strike was not offi- 
 cially declared off by the union, but the 
 "backbone of Leadville" was broken. 
 Some of the union men took positions in 
 the mines at the reduced wages, but most 
 of them left the place never to return. 
 
 I obtained employment on a paper that 
 was started about the time of the ending of 
 the strike. I remained in Leadville for six 
 months after the trouble. It may be worth 
 
 [35] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 while to mention that during the last two 
 months of my stay I "held cases" on the 
 paper owned and edited by the gentleman 
 who had performed the unparalleled physi- 
 cal feat of being at one time the larger half 
 of a " Committee of loo." 
 
 C36] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 ONE swallow maketh not summer," 
 and one strike does not make a la> 
 bor agitator. Indeed, strikes contribute but 
 slightly to the equipment of the successful 
 labor agitator. The agitator must be thor- 
 oughly acquainted with the history of the 
 labor movement, and be capable of present- 
 ing its aims and aspirations in an attractive 
 and convincing manner. He must possess 
 the ability to think rapidly and to express 
 his views and opinions clearly and forcibly. 
 But, withal, he must inspire those whom he 
 would lead with absolute faith in his hon- 
 esty. The agitator is n't always an advocate 
 of strikes. He has sometimes to exert his 
 influence to prevent a strike which his judg- 
 ment tells him would be unwise. It may 
 sound like mixing terms to say so, but it is 
 a truth that the most difficult tasks performed 
 by the labor agitators are their " agitations " 
 
 [37] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 in the interest of peace — their efforts to 
 prevent strikes. The man who is always in 
 favor of a strike as soon as one is suggested, 
 or who is constantly on the search for a casus 
 belli, soon finds his influence as a leader 
 gone, and thereafter he may go off and agi- 
 tate by himself. 
 
 I make this explanation as a sort of preface 
 to the chapter in which I am to tell some- 
 thing about my education in the labor move- 
 m.ent. 
 
 When I took the field in the Leadville 
 strike I was but an untrained neophyte, rush- 
 ing in at the dictates of a sentimental, sym- 
 pathetic nature. My heart, and not my head, 
 was my guide. Had I known then what I 
 knew later, I would have tried rather to 
 prevent or compromise the strike than to 
 aggravate it. I was not familiar with the 
 iron law of wages. I didn't realize that 
 labor was subject, like any other commodity, 
 to the law of supply and demand, when it is 
 deficient in organized strength sufficient to 
 prevent the operation of that law. These 
 and many other things I learned in the two 
 years that followed the year of the Leadville 
 [38] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 strike. I had taken a climax without work- 
 ing up to it, but after one short and interesting 
 campaign on the firing line, I fell back to 
 the rear for a course in tactics beginning at 
 "hayfoot, strawfoot." 
 
 In the spring of 1881 I again took up my 
 residence in Denver, and went to work in 
 the composing-room of " The Rocky Moun- 
 tain News." " The News " was an " open 
 office." In trade-union parlance there are 
 three recognized kinds of employing estab- 
 lishments. The "fair" shop employs union 
 men, pays the scale, and recognizes the 
 union's rules, one of which is that no non- 
 union man shall be employed. The " scab " 
 or "rat" shop refuses to countenance the 
 union in any manner, and, as a general 
 thing, would not employ union men if they 
 were willing themselves or were permitted 
 by their union to take situations. The 
 " opens " are conducted under compromises 
 between the proprietors and the union. In 
 such shops union men are permitted to work, 
 but non-union men may also be employed, 
 and there is no obligation upon the employ- 
 er's part to conform to the union's rules, 
 [39] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 except in the matter of the scale of wages; 
 in most cases, though not in all, the union 
 scale is paid in the " open " shops. There is, 
 or was at the time of which I write, besides 
 this general classification, another condition 
 under which union men worked for un- 
 friendly employers. In the interest of suc- 
 cinctness and clearness, I will describe this 
 system as it worked in my own trade. It 
 was sometimes the custom of the union, in 
 an effort to unionize a " rat " office, to allow 
 members to work " under cover." Trust- 
 worthy men would be selected by the offi- 
 cers of the union to try for situations in a 
 "rat" office. Sometimes the men so se- 
 lected would secure the employment under 
 assumed names, but usually the better plan 
 of removing their names from the roll of the 
 union to a " secret list " was adopted. The 
 men working "under cover" reported se- 
 cretly as occasion required to the union's 
 officers and received such instructions as 
 were necessary in the same way. Of course 
 the object of this whole proceeding was to 
 get as many union men as possible into the 
 "rat" office, and, as soon as the number 
 [40] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 was deemed sufficient to promise successful 
 issue, to demand that the office be union- 
 ized. In most of the cases of this kind that 
 have come under my personal observation, 
 strikes have followed the unmasking and the 
 demand for union recognition ; but the union 
 has generally improved its position, secur- 
 ing an " open " office where it has failed 
 to thoroughly unionize the establishment. 
 " The Rocky Mountain News " had been 
 advanced from a "rat" to an "open" office 
 by this process a short time before I secured 
 employment on the paper. 
 
 In union offices the journeymen in each 
 department are upon an equal footing as to 
 wages and other conditions. Under the piece 
 system, which, happily, has been almost 
 entirely displaced by the day system, there 
 were many opportunities for the practice of 
 favoritism. In " rat " and " open " offices 
 some workmen were frequently enabled, 
 through favors shown them by foremen, to 
 make larger bills than men greatly their 
 superiors as compositors. In union offices 
 it was difficult, under the watchful e5'e of 
 the union chapel, for any one to secure, and 
 
 [41 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 impossible to long maintain, an unfair advan- 
 tage, even though one were the pet of the 
 owners, the editors, the foreman, or all of 
 these together. An appeal to the union 
 against a case of favoritism always brought 
 prompt action, a sort of protection to fair 
 dealing that has been an element of strength 
 to unions. 
 
 When I entered " The News " office ten 
 members of the force of sixteen compositors 
 were union men, three were non-unionists 
 and three were "rats," having once been 
 members. When I had been in the office 
 about six months, the three non-unionists, 
 under the influence of the union men on the 
 force, made application to the union for 
 membership and were received. Pardon 
 was granted to two of the " rats " and they 
 were reinstated. The remaining " rat " was 
 refused a pardon, and when the office was , 
 declared a full union office, after a little 
 argument with the proprietors, he went into 
 other business. The discussion over that 
 man's case was ver}' animated. I wanted 
 his name included in the pardoning resolu- 
 tion, and I believed the union's treatment 
 [42] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 of him was cruel and uncalled for; but men 
 older than I in the union said that his offense 
 could not be condoned, and it may have been 
 they were right. That was my first contest 
 with fellow-unionists over questions of prin- 
 ciple and policy. 
 
 In June, 1882, the annual session of the 
 International Typographical Union was held 
 in St. Louis. I was elected the delegate 
 from Denver Union No. 49. My principal 
 opponent was Robert Higgins, fellow vic- 
 tim of the "Committee of 100." In that 
 election I received my introduction to trade- 
 union politics, a game in which I frequently 
 took a hand in the years that followed; a 
 game at which I received several severe 
 drubbings and achieved some victories. 
 
 The union made a liberal appropriation to 
 defray the expenses of the delegate, but it 
 was suggested to me that I might secure rail- 
 way passes through the influence of " The 
 News." I mentioned the matter to the 
 managing editor, Mr. William Stapleton, and 
 received a flat refusal. A few days later 
 Mr. Stapleton came to me and said that he 
 had been talking the subject over with Mr. 
 [43] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Arkins, the senior owner of the paper, and 
 that they had concluded to get me passes as 
 far as Kansas City, but they wanted it under- 
 stood that they did so out of consideration 
 for me personally and not on account of the 
 union, for which they had no love. I relate 
 this apparently trifling incident because in 
 later chapters I shall tell how those two 
 men turned upon me and not only tried to 
 drive me out of Denver, but publicly threat- 
 ened to take my life. 
 
 ' The convention of the International Union 
 was a revelation to me. The average abil- 
 ity of the delegates was greatly superior to 
 what I had expected to find in an assem- 
 blage of workingmen. I discovered then 
 what I have seen many times since: that the 
 national and international unions of labor in 
 this country conduct their meetings in a 
 manner that the average legislature could 
 copy with profit. 
 
 The subject of greatest importance con- 
 sidered at the International Union Conven- 
 tion was the "sub list." Substitute com- 
 positors, who are put on to work when 
 regulars want a day or night off, are called 
 [44] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 "subs." These men are, of course, mem- 
 bers of the union in union offices, and the 
 regular is responsible for the " sub " he 
 puts on his cases. In some of the offices 
 the foremen in those days kept lists made 
 up of the names of the " subs " they would 
 allow to work in their respective rooms. 
 It can be seen that this system furnished 
 opportunities for the exercise of favoritism 
 by foremen, and was, of course, open to 
 suspicion. Great injustice was done in some 
 cases to good union men who had not the 
 " pull " necessary to get their names on the 
 " sub list." An effort was made at the St. 
 Louis convention to legislate the " sub lists" 
 out of existence, and I joined the movement 
 with enthusiasm. The zeal I displayed in 
 that parliamentary struggle won me a pair 
 of nicknames that clung to me in all my 
 years of activity in the labor movement. 
 They were " Kicker " and " Riproarer of the 
 Rockies." While I brought down upon my 
 head the wrath of the mossbacks in the 
 convention because of the fight I made for 
 the " subs " at that time, I had my reward 
 in the thanks of the tramp printers, which 
 
 [45] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 have been laid at my feet in cities and on 
 the road from one coast to tlie other. 
 
 The abolitionists lost that battle, but one 
 year later, at Cincinnati, fought it over, and 
 won. The defeat at St. Louis was due to a 
 trick played upon us by the administration 
 party. After the convention twenty-one del- 
 egates met and adopted a set of resolutions 
 denouncing the methods employed to de- 
 feat the will of the majority and the known 
 desires of a majority of the union men 
 throughout the country. These resolutions 
 we signed and made public. For this action 
 we were published in the semi-ofRcial organ 
 of the International Typographical Union as 
 traitors. Frank K.. Foster, of Boston, was 
 one of the " traitors " with me, and out of 
 that association grew a friendship between 
 that eloquent and fearless champion of labor 
 and myself that stood the test of many hard 
 battles for the principles of trades-unions in 
 the Knights of Labor and elsewhere in after 
 years. The charge of " treason " was not 
 pressed, and, as has been said, our princi- 
 ples triumphed one year later. 
 
 Back to my cases on " The News " I went 
 [46] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 after the St. Louis convention; but I was 
 dissatisfied and uneasy. For two years I 
 had been reading everything dealing with 
 social conditions that I could get hold of. 
 I had devoured the writings of the leading 
 political economists and had formed opin- 
 ions of a just and equitable social and indus- 
 trial system. My theories of right would 
 not harmonize with conditions as I knew 
 them to exist. At Leadville I had witnessed 
 the flash of lances, and at St. Louis I had 
 seen what I believed to be a latent force in 
 the workers which, if aroused and properly 
 directed, would overthrow industrial wrong 
 and elevate the toiler to a position commen- 
 surate with his services to society. _^ 
 There was one assembly of the Knights 
 of Labor in Denver. In November, 1882, 
 another assembly was instituted. I was one 
 of the charter members. John B. Lennon, 
 subsequently prominent in the labor move- 
 ment nationally as secretary of the Journey- 
 men Tailors' Union and as treasurer of the 
 American Federation of Labor, was also a 
 charter member of the new assembly. All 
 of the members at the beginning of the 
 
 [47] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 assembly, and indeed for some months there- 
 .after, were trades-unionists, and for that 
 reason the name " Union " was given to 
 the assembly; its number was 2327. Two 
 clergymen of national prominence, Gilbert 
 De La Matyr, of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and Myron W. Reed, Congrega- 
 tionalist, became members of Union As- 
 sembly during the second year of its exist- 
 ence. 
 
 The principles of the Knights of Labor 
 and the opportunities presented by the or- 
 ganization for educational work in the field 
 of labor reform were irresistibly attractive 
 to progressive and liberal trades-unionists. 
 The sentiment among unionists of that kind, 
 of which the organization of Union Assem- 
 bly was a manifestation, was widespread at 
 that time, and union men were forming as- 
 semblies or joining those already organized 
 in all parts of the country. The phenomenal 
 growth of the Knights of Labor, which cul- 
 minated in 1886, was in great measure due 
 to the affiliation of trained, able, and active 
 trades-unionists, which began in 1882. 
 
 As a famished plant drinks the dew after 
 
 [48] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 a heated day, so I, burning with the desire 
 to do something for the working-people, 
 welcomed the principles of the Knights of 
 Labor and the opportunity the organization 
 presented. Its exhortation, "Agitate, Edu- 
 cate, Organize ! " I adopted as my shibbo- 
 leth, and I was foolish enough to think that 
 I could blow a blast that would rouse the 
 sleeping giant of labor. Others have made 
 the same mistake. -^ 
 
 Naturally I sought the printing-press as a 
 means of carrying my message to the op- 
 pressed of earth. In conjunction with S. H. 
 Laverty, a fellow-compositor, I started " The 
 Labor Enquirer," of Denver, the first num- 
 ber of which was issued December i6, 1882. 
 With little other capital than our knowledge 
 of newspaper work, Laverty and I embarked 
 upon a sea in whose fathomless depths lie 
 the battered hulks of unnumbered barks 
 .whose cargoes were unmarketable " human 
 rights " and whose log-books were records 
 of foul weather and short rations. 
 
 There were in " The Labor Enquirer " 
 eight pages of five columns each. It was 
 issued weekly. While the paper was pro- 
 
 [49] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 nounced in its advocacy of the principles of 
 trades-unionism and of the Knights of Labor, 
 it was conservative — at the start. The 
 motto was, — 
 
 " We will renew the times of truth and justice, 
 Condensing in a free, fair commonwealth — 
 Not rash equality, but equal rights." 
 
 It was soon evident that our news and 
 correspondence did n't interest, nor did our 
 editorials inspire a very large proportion of 
 the workingmen of the community. Sub- 
 scriptions came in slowly. Expenses were 
 light, Laverty and myself, with the help of 
 an apprentice boy, doing all the mechanical 
 work upon the paper excepting the press- 
 work. Our savings were soon exhausted. 
 Laverty, who was unmarried, reduced his 
 living expenses to the lowest possible notch. 
 During the last three weeks he was with me 
 he lodged in the office and ate most of his 
 meals from the imposing-stone. There was 
 a little fellow in my family now, and it was 
 pretty hard picking for the three of us some- 
 times. Many times our rations would have 
 been scantier had my partner accepted a 
 [50] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 fair share of what strayed into " The En- 
 quirer's " till. He was a generous and self- 
 sacrificing fellow — one of the kind of men 
 that made the great labor movement that 
 came in later years a possibility. He was 
 brave, too, for it took courage to give up his / 
 interest in the paper, and to abandon the 
 hopes that had soared so high. With the 
 tenth issue of " The Enquirer " he surren- 
 dered his interest to me and retired, announ- 
 cing that there was n't enough in the paper 
 for the support of two proprietors, and that 
 he could better serve the cause by with- 
 drawing than by remaining. 
 
 For four and a half years I published 
 " The Denver Labor Enquirer," and during 
 nearly all of that time I was in charge per- 
 sonally and edited the paper. I shall have 
 occasion to refer frequently to the paper in 
 relating the stirring events in the labor 
 world in which I bore a part, but to me it 
 seems fit that I should here tell those expe- 
 riences which were mine simply through 
 ownership of " The Enquirer." It was ups 
 and downs during those four and a half 
 years, with the down side of the score crowd- 
 
 [51] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ing the pages to the margins. Soon after 
 Laverty left me, I was compelled to reduce 
 the paper's size, which I did by just halving 
 it. Then the time came 'when I was n't able 
 to pay the apprentice boy's wages, and he 
 had to go. What a struggle it was to con- 
 tinue the poor little champion of the work- 
 ers, which few of the workers themselves 
 ever lifted a finger to assist! It is true " The 
 Enquirer" wasn't a great paper; it was 
 hardly as large as a patent medicine folder 
 or a circus programme; but that was not 
 my fault. The only limit to size and char- 
 acter I recognized was measured by the in- 
 come. Although I labored from sixteen to 
 twenty hours a day — Sundays included — 
 I could set no more type than was required 
 to fill the little paper and have time sufficient 
 to attend to other matters which had claims 
 
 l^upon me. If nature had varied her rule in 
 my case and favored me with four instead 
 of two hands, " The Enquirer " would have 
 been a larger paper, because all I was and 
 all I had went into it. 
 
 I Yes, I was an enthusiast — fanatic, if you 
 please. 
 
 C52] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 And my wife? Ah, loyal soul; she bat- 
 tled and suffered with me. She never com- 
 plained on her own account, even when we 
 were reduced to one little room in the rear 
 of the office, and to subsisting upon scant 
 and uncertain fare. Sometimes she urged 
 me to give up a fight which she saw would, 
 sooner or later, undermine my health, but 
 she never upbraided me because of my fail- 
 ure to provide a better living for my wife 
 and child. 
 
 I remember one stormy night in Decem- 
 ber, 1883. I had been at work since early 
 morning, pegging away at the case. I was 
 weary, oh, so weary, and I was hungry too; 
 but the day after to-morrow was press-day 
 and there were several columns yet to set. 
 The only light in the room where I worked 
 was supplied by a pair of candles, set in tin 
 holders fastened to the lower edge of the 
 " cap " case. On the first of the month the 
 gas company had removed my meter be- 
 cause two months' bills remained unpaid. 
 Since then I had been working by candle- 
 light at night. The insufficient light made 
 my work harder, but I could n't blame the 
 
 [53] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 candles for that, and probably gas companies 
 know their business. The blame rested 
 elsewhere. I never spoke of it and tried 
 not to think of it. I was hanging to my 
 hope by a very frail cord ; the little blaze of 
 one of those candles would have parted that 
 cord in an instant, and so I kept them apart. 
 It was near inidnight when my wife entered 
 the room. 
 
 "My dear, it is very late, and you must 
 be almost worn out," she said. " Stop now 
 and go to bed. You will kill yourself if you 
 continue as you have been going on for the 
 past three months. How I wish you could 
 realize what has been clear to me for a long 
 time. Those for whom you are battling care 
 nothing for 3^our sacrifices. They would 
 allow you to starve at your post. Give it 
 up, dear, give it up! " 
 
 " If we are going to talk, Lou, I must blow 
 out the candles," I said. " I have only two 
 besides these that are burning, and I need 
 them for my work. It will take every cent 
 of coin I have to buy the white paper and 
 pay for the presswork on this issue." 
 
 " Well, come into the other room. We 
 
 [54] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 can open the stove door and get light enough 
 for talking," she said. 
 
 We sat in our little parlor- bedroom - 
 kitchen and in the faint glow of a dying fire 
 talked for more than an hour. I returned 
 no more to my cases that night, and ere I 
 laid my head upon my pillow it had been 
 decided that " The Labor Enquirer " would 
 issue that week's number, and then quietly 
 give up the ghost. Although the struggle 
 which ended in that decision was coinpara- 
 tively short, it was fierce while it lasted, for 
 it was myself battling with myself. My wife 
 said little, and that little was a plea for my 
 health, physical and mental. But I was 
 thinking all the time about my wife and 
 child and how I had neglected them. 
 
 Though my decision to quit was reversed 
 within twenty-four hours, I have always felt 
 better because I decided on the side of my 
 little family when the test was clearly be- 
 fore me. 
 
 About midway of the following morning 
 there was a rap upon the door of our living- 
 room. The caller was the wife of a super- 
 annuated compositor, who was then living 
 [55] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 upon a little farm a few miles out from Den- 
 ver. The good woman (God love her, I 
 believe she is an angel now — she belongs 
 in that goodly company) handed my wife a 
 covered basket, and, with a few words of 
 comfort and cheer, took her departure. The 
 basket contained a dressed duck, nine eggs, 
 and about a half peck of potatoes. 
 
 Charlie Semper and his wife were poor, 
 very poor. They never built a library nor 
 endowed a university; but they loved their 
 fellow-creatures, and they believed " The 
 Enquirer " was capable of doing some good 
 for humanity if its editor and his family 
 could only be kept from starving. Whether 
 or not they wasted their provisions it is 
 not for me to say, but if the duck, the eggs, 
 and the potatoes were donated to an un- 
 worthy object that morning, so were the 
 other good things that came to the office 
 once a week thereafter from that little farm 
 until there was no longer necessity for such 
 help. 
 
 At II o'clock that same night, as I was 
 making up the forms so that they would be 
 ready to send to the press-room early the 
 C56] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 following morning, the door opened and a 
 man entered my work-room. Though visi- 
 tors were not often seen in my establish- 
 ment, this man's entrance did not surprise 
 me. He was one of the faithful few, and I 
 should have felt almost entirely deserted 
 and poor indeed had he not called to see 
 me at least once in every forty-eight hours. 
 His name was Charles Machette. He was 
 a clerk in a notion store, at the princely 
 salary of nine dollars a week. He had seen 
 better days, and I always felt a lump rise 
 in my throat when he gave me of his scanty 
 income to help the paper, which he had 
 done on several occasions. 
 
 When I saw who my visitor was, I re- 
 membered my decision to shut down the 
 paper, and the thought that it would be 
 rather a hard task to tell him about it flashed 
 across my mind. He walked directly up to 
 the stone where I was engaged and, without 
 uttering a word, deposited a twenty-dollar 
 gold-piece on the form in front of me. At 
 first I thought it was a brass medal or an 
 advertisement, but when I picked it up and 
 turned it over I recognized an old familiar 
 
 C57] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 face. I had once (it seemed years ago) 
 known the family of " yellow boys." 
 
 " Well, Charlie ? " was all I could say. 
 
 " It 's for you," he responded. 
 
 "Where did you get it?" I asked. 
 
 " Sold my old watch." 
 
 " I can't take it," and I tried to place the 
 piece of money in his hand. 
 
 Shoving his hands into his pockets he 
 stepped away from me. " Yes, you can take 
 it; and you've got to take it. I can't set 
 type nor do any of the other work on the 
 paper, and so I 've got to help pay for the 
 things you have to buy, including the press- 
 work." 
 
 " But," I said, " you 've done that so often 
 before." 
 
 " Yes, and I '11 do it again whenever it 's 
 necessary, if I have to take the shirt off my 
 back. You need n't think you are going to 
 monopolize the sacrificing business. You 
 write and preach against monopolies; I am 
 doing a little practicing along that line." 
 
 And I kept the money. 
 
 If any of the publishers of the great papers 
 of to-day read this they will smile at so much 
 [58] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 ado over so small a sum. They think no- 
 thing of giving as much, and more, for a short 
 special. To me that twenty dollars meant 
 white paper and presswork for two issues. 
 
 I hope the reader who pursues this vol- 
 ume to the end will turn back when he fin- 
 ishes the account given in a later chapter of 
 the part another watch played in an attempt 
 to succor a dying labor paper, and read 
 again this simple little story of which Char- 
 lie Machette is the hero. 
 
 I had one friend during those dark days 
 who, though he helped me with a cash dona- 
 tion occasionally, tried hard to persuade me 
 to abandon the effort to establish a paper. 
 He would come into the office every few 
 weeks, and after giving me a lecture on the 
 unworthiness and ingratitude of the work- 
 ingman in general and the Denver working- 
 man in particular, and after scolding me 
 roundly, would always close each visit by 
 taking five or ten dollars from his pocket 
 and laying it down in front of me would 
 say: — 
 
 " Well, you 're a fool ; but fools have to 
 eat just like other people." 
 [59] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 If any of the " Old Guard " of Denver read 
 the foregoing, they will have no difficulty 
 in recognizing O. L. (" Yank ") Smith in 
 the gentleman just described. 
 
 My friend Smith tried to get me to go 
 into politics ; for, singular as it may seem, I 
 was apparently very popular with the work- 
 ingmen, who seemed willing to do almost 
 anything for me but support the paper. 
 They would pack a hall to hear me talk, 
 but few of them were willing to spend a dol- 
 lar and a half a year to read the lectures I 
 was delivering through "The Enquirer" 
 once a week. 
 
 The Republican county committee offered 
 me a place on the legislative ticket for 
 Arapahoe County, and the chairman of the 
 committee personally urged me to accept 
 the offer. Such a nomination at that time 
 was equivalent to election, but I refused it, 
 and my friend Smith dressed me down in 
 good style when he heard of what I had 
 done. 
 
 "What in Heaven's name do you want.?" 
 he asked. " You are always howling about 
 the wrongs of the workingmen. Here is a 
 [60] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 chance for you to help make laws in their 
 interest and you refuse it. What's the 
 matter with you ? " 
 
 I recognized the pertinency of the ques- 
 tion and admitted his right to ask it, despite 
 the severity of his manner. My answer 
 was: — 
 
 " About all I have left in this world is the\ 
 love and confidence of some thousands of 
 workingmen, and — " 
 
 " Yes, and you '11 starve to death on a diet 
 of love and confidence I " 
 
 " Never mind that, now. They believe 
 in me, whatever they may do or not do. If 
 I accepted that nomination, there are jealous 
 and weak ones among them who would say 
 I had played into the hands of the politicians 
 by becoming a party to a sham recognition 
 of labor; that I had sold myself for a seat in 
 the legislature. After my election, I would 
 be on the defensive with my own people all 
 the time, because, strive as I might, it would 
 be impossible for one labor man to accom- 
 plish anything of consequence in the legis- 
 lature. At the end of my term I would 
 have to choose between remaining in the 
 [6i ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 political camp, with submission to the party 
 machine, and a return to my work of agita- 
 tion in the labor world, with diminished fol- 
 lowing and lessened influence. You know 
 which I would choose. I am not willing to 
 make a breach in the ranks for a little cheap 
 glory and the salary of a legislator." 
 
 " I should call it good riddance to be freed 
 from such friends as would desert you be- 
 cause you accepted an opportunity to agitate 
 their cause in the legislature, though no- 
 thing practical came of it at once," said Smith. 
 
 Smith's argument looks stronger than 
 mine, I know, and yet I refused to recon- 
 sider my decision. I leave the reader to 
 decide whether I was short-sighted, selfish, 
 egotistical, or cowardly. I had stated the 
 truth to my friend : I was afraid to take the 
 chance, just then, of weakening my influence 
 with the workingmen, who were beginning 
 to organize and to think as they had never 
 organized and thought before. 
 
 My displeased friend had occasion at a 
 later period to recall one of the reasons I 
 had advanced to him for refusing the nomi- 
 nation for a political office, and I will digress 
 [ 62 ] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 sufficiently to tell the story: He was nomi- 
 nated as a member of the city council, in- 
 dorsed by the labor party, and elected. The 
 night of election day was the regular meet- 
 ing-time of Union Assembly, of which Smith 
 was a member. Just before the close of the 
 assembly that night, about ten o'clock, one 
 of the brothers who had gone out to get the 
 election results, returned with the informa- 
 tion that our brother Smith was elected. I 
 was on the floor at the time, making a gen- 
 eral talk, but especially urging the members 
 to stand together in all things which con- 
 cerned the interests of labor. I did n't have 
 to swing very far out of the line of my dis- 
 course, when the victory of Smith was an- 
 nounced, to say, — 
 
 " Now, here is one of our brothers who 
 has just been elected to an honorable posi- 
 tion. We all love and respect him. As he 
 passes out across yon threshold to-night he 
 will carry our esteem and good wishes, but 
 it will be for the last time. Before our next 
 meeting, two weeks hence, there will be 
 Knights who, because Brother Smith will 
 not be guided by them in the discharge of 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 his public duties, and because he will not be 
 able to secure appointments for those who 
 ask him for positions, will charge him with 
 betrayal, disloyalty, treachery, dishonesty, 
 and everything else that is bad, short of 
 murder." 
 
 My prediction was fulfilled to the letter. 
 Bad feeling was engendered between some 
 of the members of the assembly, and the 
 trouble spread to other labor organizations 
 in the city. Smith quickly dropped out of 
 the labor movement. Before the next elec- 
 tion day came around labor as an organized 
 factor in politics was again at the ebb tide. 
 And yet there are many intelligent friends 
 of the workingman who are unable to under- 
 stand why labor is not more of an organized 
 political power in the land. 
 
 To return to " The Enquirer." There 
 were others besides those I have mentioned 
 who made sacrifices from their meager means 
 to keep the paper going; there was a little 
 band of them who, with no deserters and 
 rarely a recruit, always rallied when the 
 situation was most discouraging. That little 
 band of fanatics held the paper back many 
 [64] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 times when it was hanging over the black 
 chasm of failure. It is not necessary that I 
 should tell of all these critical periods; they 
 would appear very much alike to the reader, 
 though to me each was a distinct and sepa- 
 rate tragedy. And yet there was one more 
 experience in that line that I think I should 
 relate. 
 
 One evening, while I was at work, the 
 door of my office opened and ten of my 
 friends filed into the room. Their formal 
 proceedings and serious aspect frightened 
 me at first, but I soon learned that their 
 mission was one of friendship. Quietly they 
 formed a circle around me, and John Lennon 
 stepped up to my side and placed in my 
 hands a package containing a suit of clothes, 
 made in his own shop, accompanying the 
 gift with a few words of kindness and en- 
 couragement. I had use for that suit; labor 
 editors in those days usually had room in 
 their closets for things of that kind. 
 
 I had another partner in the paper for 
 a while, not a printer, as my first one had 
 been. Stephen Vinot, a man of consider- 
 able propeily, — too much, for he was " land 
 C65] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 poor," — sympathized with the efforts of ' 
 the workingmen to improve their condition. 
 He was a Frenchman, and was full of the 
 spirit of '93. How he sometimes made the 
 little office shake with the thrilling strains 
 of the Marseillaise hymn, which he rendered 
 in French with a heavy baritone voice! 
 Vinot's hobby was the Chinese question. 
 He believed that if the Chinese were al- 
 lowed unrestricted entrance to this country 
 they would in time dominate the white peo- 
 ple in every walk of life, and that American 
 workingmen would be degraded to a coolie 
 level. That was the prevailing belief in 
 the West in those days, — and it has never 
 changed, — but all were not so outspoken 
 and radical as Stephen Vinot. I won his 
 friendship by printing his anti-Chinese writ- 
 ings in " The Enquirer." He soon learned 
 of the struggle I was engaged in to keep 
 the paper alive, and to help me out he took 
 a half interest in the paper, putting $200 in 
 the cash-box. He advanced other sums at 
 various times, but in about five months he 
 had had enough of labor journalism. When 
 he learned that he could n't induce me to shut 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 down the paper, he drew out, and once more 
 I was the sole owner of " The Enquirer's " 
 plant, subscription list and good will. There 
 was n't a great quantity of either of these, 
 nor of all together, but I became round- 
 shouldered from carrying the load. 
 
 It will not surprise the thoughtful reader, 
 especially if he be a student of human na- 
 ture, to be told that disappointment and 
 discouragement reduced me at times to a 
 very pessimistic frame of mind. More than 
 once I lost hope that the wrongs of labor 
 would ever be righted by peaceable means. 
 The workingmen could riot be made to ap- 
 preciate the power the ballot gave them; 
 they were, it seemed to me, slow to take 
 advantage of the opportunities opened to 
 them by the labor organizations, and I some- 
 times thought the majority of them were not 
 only too stupid to raise themselves, but too 
 weak to stand if raised by others. I became 
 so discouraged over the failures of the peace 
 measures of the trades-unions that, while I 
 never ceased to do all in my power to 
 strengthen those organizations, because they 
 furnished the most available rallying-ground, 
 [67] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 I came very close to the line that divided 
 reform from revolution. The apathy of the 
 workingmen made me sick at heart, the in- 
 difference of the middle class discouraged 
 me, and the cruel selfishness of the rich an- 
 gered me. The grievances of the working- 
 men received scant courtesy and no support 
 from the influential press. The daily papers 
 were interested, as most of them have always 
 been, in the affairs of the rich; business, and 
 not humanity, concerned them. Vexed at 
 the course of the big papers, I did one thing 
 that my most charitable critics were kind 
 enough to call a piece of foolishness. The 
 Denver dailies each carried a line at the top 
 of the first editorial column quoting the cur- 
 rent price of silver bullion. My readers 
 were not, I thought, interested in the bullion 
 market, and so I gave the post of honor on 
 my editorial page to dynamite, changing the 
 price each week. For instance, this would 
 be the line : — 
 
 " Dynamite is strong to-day at 47c." 
 Indiscreet? Well, probably it was; but 
 it was more foolish than dangerous. If harm 
 was done by the dynamite quotation I was 
 [68] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 the greatest sufferer, and as that bit of dev- 
 iltry was the only fun I indulged in during 
 eighteen months of sacrifice, hardship, and 
 hunger, it is n't likely I will have to answer 
 for it on the other side. 
 
 In after years my revolutionary views 
 gave place to a belief in the doctrine of 
 social evolution through the practical chan- 
 nel of opportunism. But I have never re- 
 linquished the theory of socialism, nor the 
 hope of its complete adoption by mankind 
 ultimately, which grew into and became a 
 part of me during the thoughtful days of 
 "The Labor Enquirer's" struggle for ex- 
 istence. 
 
 Why did n't the labor people support the 
 paper ? I know the reader is asking. There 
 is but one answer to that question: They 
 did n't think it was of any benefit to them. 
 And now, here 's something peculiar : Dur- 
 ing the first eighteen inonths of " The En- 
 quirer's " existence there was comparative 
 peace between labor and its employers in 
 and around Denver. Not that labor was 
 satisfied with its condition, but the dissatis- 
 faction had n't manifested itself in an open 
 C69] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 protest; there had n't been a strike. While 
 the men were at work and drawing their 
 pay regularly, they were not disposed to 
 spend a dollar and a half a year for a sub- 
 scription to the paper. When a strike came, 
 and wages stopped, there were busy times 
 for the subscription agents. "A friend in 
 need is a friend indeed," and there 's the 
 whole story. A temptation to the editor to 
 "foment discontent! " as the enemies of the 
 labor agitators express it. I can honestly 
 answer " Not guilty." The discontent, in 
 armor arrayed, came to my lonely little den 
 and dragged me forth. 
 
 At ten o'clock on the morning of Thurs- 
 day, May 4, 1884, I stood at the case set- 
 ting the week's editorials, which, to save 
 time, I had learned to put into type with- 
 out writing. The door opened and five men 
 entered. Four of them were unknown to 
 me; the fifth, Mr. George Stuart, was an 
 acquaintance, but I met him rarely. Stu- 
 art presented the gentlemen who were with 
 him and then said: — 
 
 " The Union Pacific Railway shopmen 
 have gone on strike, and, as they have n't 
 [70] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 any organization, we have come to see if 
 you can't help them a little." 
 
 " Are all of you Union Pacific men ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 "We are, and we represent five depart- 
 ments," was Stuart's reply. 
 
 "When did you strike?" 
 
 "About two hours ago." 
 
 "Why did you strike.?" was my next 
 question. 
 
 "When we went to work this morning 
 we found notices stuck up all over the 
 shops and yards, announcing that wages 
 would be reduced in accordance with a 
 scale printed with the notice. The reduc- 
 tion hits every employee excepting the en- 
 gineers and firemen, and the cut ranges 
 from ten to twenty-five per cent., according 
 to the wages received. In the shops, which 
 we represent, the reduction is ten and fif- 
 teen per cent." 
 
 " How came you to strike without organ- 
 ization ? " I asked. 
 
 " Well, after working a few minutes, one 
 of the machinists put down his tools and 
 said he would throw up his job before he 
 
 [71] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 would stand such a cut on such short no- 
 tice. Some of the others gathered about 
 him and said they would n't stand it either. 
 Word passed through the other departments 
 that the machinists were going to protest 
 against the order, and, to make a long story 
 short, in half an hour every man and boy had 
 quit the shops, about five hundred in all." 
 
 "And now you want me to advise you.'"' 
 I asked. 
 
 " I read your paper sometimes, and it 
 occurred to me that you might be able and 
 willing to tell us how to proceed," answered 
 Stuart. 
 
 "Can you secure a convenient hall that 
 will hold all of your men ? " I asked. 
 
 " We have one now, and most of the men 
 are up there." 
 
 "Where is it?" 
 
 "Washington Hall, on Larimer Street, 
 near Twentieth." 
 
 "I know the place. I'll be there in half 
 an hour. Meet me at the door, Mr. Stuart, 
 please." 
 
 And I picked up my stick and rule, read 
 over a few lines, rounded out my sentence, 
 [72] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 and in ten minutes was in a horse-car en 
 route to assume for the first time leader- 
 ship in a labor strike. When I reached the 
 hall Stuart informed me that every one of 
 the strikers was there, and I was n't inclined 
 to question his statement when I got inside 
 and saw the crowd. 
 
 I have been in many meetings of strikers 
 since that day, but they have been of or- 
 ganized workingmen. I have seen union 
 men in meetings of strikers laboring under 
 a sense of injustice practiced by employ- 
 ers, and have heard some pretty strong 
 speeches; but no gathering of union men 
 can compete with a crowd of unorganized 
 strikers when it comes to radicalism, denun- 
 ciation of employers, threats, and incendi- 
 arism. Organization results in training, dis- 
 cipline, knowledge, and conservatism. 
 
 I listened to the spokesmen and newly 
 fledged leaders of the various departments 
 represented in the strike until I had satis- 
 fied myself as to the temper of the meeting; 
 then I had my say. As a result of the dis- 
 cussion the following resolution, preceded 
 by an appropriate preamble, was adopted, 
 
 [73] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 and every man present was required to 
 sign it: — 
 
 "Resolved, That we, employees of said 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company, in mass 
 meeting assembled, do obligate ourselves, 
 individually and collectively, to refuse to 
 do any work under the jurisdiction or upon 
 the premises of said Union Pacific Com- 
 pany until such time as the notice of a 
 reduction in wages is withdrawn by the 
 proper officials, and the old scale is re- 
 instated." 
 
 Considerable time was required to se- 
 cure the signatures of all those present; 
 and while this was being done, some neces- 
 sary committees and twenty-five pickets 
 were selected. About the middle of the 
 afternoon two hundred men from the shops 
 of the South Park Division filed into the 
 room. They had not received notice of the 
 reduction until i p. M. They were also un- 
 organized, but they had walked out in a 
 body, and learning of the meeting that was 
 being held by the men of the main shop, 
 
 [74] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 had marched three miles through the prin- 
 cipal streets of the city, for the purpose of 
 joining in any protest that was to be made. 
 They were soon informed as to what we 
 had done and were given an opportunity 
 to vote upon the resolution. They voted 
 solidly for the resolution, and two hundred 
 more names were ready for the document. 
 
 We were in almost constant session all 
 that day and half of the night. The next 
 day we met in the City Hall and there or- 
 ganized the " Union Pacific Employees' Pro- 
 tective Association." Thursday night and 
 Friday telegrams were received announcing 
 that the shopmen over the entire Union 
 Pacific system had struck against the reduc- 
 tion. 
 
 There is no record of another such strike 
 in the whole history of the labor movement 
 in this country. Not a shop on the system 
 was organized when the notice of reduction 
 was posted, and yet, inside of thirty-six 
 hours, every shop from Omaha to Ogden 
 and upon all the branch lines was on strike. 
 The peculiarity of this strike is further em- 
 phasized by the knowledge that before the 
 
 [75] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 cut the Union Pacific was paying higher 
 wages to its shopmen than was paid by any 
 other railroad west of the Missouri River. 
 The company counted upon this latter fact to 
 help make the reduction successful, evidently 
 not realizing that by paying the best wages 
 it had secured the best mechanics and, as a 
 consequence, the most independent men in 
 the trades concerned. 
 
 There was another illustration of sponta- 
 neous unanimity in that strike. On Friday 
 telegrams came from the officials of the tem- 
 porary organizations of the men at all points 
 on the system requesting the committee ap- 
 pointed at our Denver meeting to act for 
 the whole system in dealing with the com- 
 pany. Ellis, Kansas, started that move- 
 ment; and the others followed in quick 
 order. The Denver committee accepted 
 the responsibility, and at once notified the 
 general manager of the road, at Omaha, to 
 that effect, at the same time wiring him a 
 copy of the resolution adopted at Denver, 
 the substance of which was approved by the 
 men at all other points. 
 
 Saturday afternoon the company recalled 
 [76] 
 
THE TRIALS OF A LABOR EDITOR 
 
 the order reducing wages, and announced 
 that on Monday work would be resumed at 
 the old scale of prices, — a complete victory 
 for the men in four days. 
 
 As soon as the order was recalled, some 
 of the men were for abandoning further steps 
 in the line of organization. They said they 
 had gotten along all right without organiza- 
 tion before the cut, and had shown that it 
 was a simple matter to secure united action 
 when necessary. They were told by myself 
 and others that they were sadly mistaken if 
 they believed that the company had aban- 
 doned its purpose of reducing wages; that 
 it would try again when the outlook was 
 favorable, and that never again would a 
 wholesale cut be undertaken; one experi- 
 ence of that character would be sufficient. 
 We predicted that in future the company 
 would select one department or one shop at 
 a time, and would give no intimation that 
 the intention was eventually to reduce all. 
 Therefore the men should perfect their or- 
 ganizations and form a federation that would 
 put them in a position to act all together at 
 the first sign of danger, no matter which 
 
 [77] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 branch was threatened or attacked. We 
 urged upon them the adoption of the motto 
 of the Knights of Labor, " An injury to one 
 is the concern of all." 
 
 When the situation was fully explained, 
 the advice given by the union men who 
 were taking an active interest in the matter 
 was acted upon, and several organizers were 
 put upon the road within a week from the 
 close of the strike. The Knights of Labor 
 was the organization chosen, and within thirty 
 days we had a healthy assembly at each im- 
 portant point on the system. I organized 
 assemblies in all the shop towns on the line 
 from Omaha to Cheyenne, inclusive. 
 
 The wisdom of the course taken will be 
 apparent to the reader when he has perused 
 the next few pages of this story. 
 
 In support of an assertion heretofore made 
 I must call your attention to the fact that 
 "The Enquirer" received several hundred 
 new subscriptions, cash in advance, during 
 the three days of the strike and the week 
 immediately following, and that over two 
 hundred of them came from employees of the 
 Union Pacific in Denver. 
 
 [78] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 THE Union Pacific officials knew, of 
 course, that the shopmen had formed 
 an organization as a result of the May strike. 
 The extent and efficiency of that organiza- 
 tion they did not know. They naturally be- 
 lieved that it would require considerable 
 time, conceding the presence of every other 
 essential element, to form locals of the em- 
 ployees in the many shops of the company, 
 and to federate the locals and discipline the 
 thousands of members scattered through 
 five states and territories. Railway officials 
 are generally experienced organizers them- 
 selves; they are "Captains of Industry," and 
 can calculate to a nicety the difficulties of 
 handling large bodies of men. We shall 
 soon see how accurate were the calculations 
 of the Union Pacific " captains " in the sum- 
 mer of 1884. 
 
 Early in August there were rumors of 
 
 [79] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 reductions in wages and of discharges to be 
 made at different points on the line. The 
 men went right along with their work in 
 the shops, apparently unconscious of the 
 gathering storm. In their assemblies they 
 discussed the rumors and prepared for war. 
 On Monday, August ii, notice of a ten per 
 cent, reduction in the w^ages of fifteen first- 
 clags machinists at Ellis, Kansas, was served, 
 and twenty ^men were discharged from the 
 Denver shops. Among the twenty dis- 
 charged men were those who had been 
 most active in the May strike, several of 
 whom were officers in the new organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 On Tuesday there was considerable tele- 
 graphing between the general committee at 
 Denver and th'^ officers of the locals at the 
 other pomts on^the system. By ten o'clock 
 on Wednesday morning, everything was in 
 readiness and, under orders from the execu- 
 tive board of the organization, every man 
 and boy in every shop on the system washed 
 up and walked < out at twelve o'clock, to re- 
 main out until instructed by the board to 
 return. The second Union Pacific strike 
 [80] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 was on. It was as complete as the first one, 
 and it had what the first one did not have, 
 organization from the start. 
 
 Late Wednesday evening a telegram was 
 received from the general offices in Omaha, 
 asking what the men wanted. The chair- 
 man of the executive board, to whom the 
 telegram was addressed, replied that a com- 
 mittee representing the organization would 
 leave for Omaha on the early morning train 
 — the night train had already left Denver. 
 
 On Thursday morning I left Denver for 
 Omaha. I was accompanied by two mem- 
 bers of the executive board, who were sent, 
 at my request, to certify that, though I was 
 not an employee of the company, I was em- 
 powered by the organization to act for it to 
 the fullest extent in arranging the pending 
 difficulty. It turned out that this precaution 
 was entirely unnecessary, as Mr. S. H. H. 
 Clark, the general manager of the road, was 
 not a hair-splitting man; he knew of my 
 connection with the other strike, and was 
 willing to treat with me upon the presenta- 
 tion of my credentials. However, I was glad 
 that the two men were with me, that they 
 [8i] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 could, if it became necessary, report to their 
 associates all that passed between Mr. Clark 
 and myself. 
 
 It was about 1 1 o'clock on Friday morn- 
 ing when, accompanied by the two members 
 of the executive board, Mr. Coats and Mr. 
 Neasham, I entered the office of Mr. Clark, 
 in the Union Pacific Building at Omaha. 
 
 I have never had a more courteous recep- 
 tion than was given me on that occasion, 
 and I have never received more respectful 
 consideration than I received that morning 
 from General Manager Clark. I had occa- 
 sion to meet, under similar circumstances in 
 later years, other high railway officials, and 
 I formed the habit of comparing them with 
 Mr. Clark, and always to that gentleman's 
 advantage. Mr. Clark had been with the 
 Union Pacific Company nearly twenty years 
 and had worked his way up from a subordi- 
 nate position in the train service to the high- 
 est place in the operating department. He 
 had always been fair with the men under 
 him, and had treated them as fellow crea- 
 tures, possessed of rights equal to those he 
 claimed for himself. In the first five min- 
 [82] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 utes of our interview I learned that he knew 
 nothing of the petty annoyances to which 
 the shopmen had been subjected b)' foremen 
 and other minor officials, and that the cut in 
 May, as well as the orders I had called to 
 discuss with him, had been passed over his 
 head by the president of the company. Mr. 
 Clark also told me that his resigniation as 
 general manager of the road had been ac- 
 cepted by the board of directors, to take 
 effect September i, two weeks later. 
 
 After these explanations and a few pre- 
 liminary remarks on the strike and its causes, 
 Mr. Clark said : " As I have told you, I am 
 not responsible for the actions to which the 
 men object, and I cannot in any way modify 
 the orders sent out without instructions to 
 do so from the president; but if you will tell 
 me just what you want, I will wire it to the 
 president and will help you all I can to 
 secure a settlement of the difficulty." 
 
 " Under the circumstances," I replied, " I 
 will be as brief as I may without laying my- 
 self open to the charge of abruptness. We 
 ask for full reinstatement of the wages at 
 Ellis, Kansas, re-employment of the twenty 
 C83] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 men discharged at Denver, orders to divi- 
 sion superintendents to the effect that men 
 are not to be discriminated against or an- 
 noyed because of their connection with our 
 organization, and an agreement that hereafter 
 when retrenchment is considered necessary, 
 hours and not wages shall be reduced. We 
 also want a promise that every man now on 
 strike shall have his place back, and an 
 agreement that when changes in the rela- 
 tions existing between the company and 
 members of our organization are desired by 
 either side, duly authorized representatives 
 of each party to this agreement shall meet 
 and endeavor amicably to adjust the matters, 
 failing in which they shall submit the ques- 
 tions at issue to arbitration by disinterested 
 persons." 
 
 " Though brief enough, so far as words 
 are concerned, your demands are pretty 
 sweeping," said the general manager. "I 
 do not think the president will concede what 
 you ask, as it would mean a complete back- 
 down, but if you will write down what you 
 have just stated as your demands, I will trans- 
 mit them to the president by wire at once." 
 [84] 
 
i ! ! 
 
 TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 I wrote as he requested. As he took the 
 paper from my hand he said : " It is now 
 after twelve o'clock; if you will return at 
 two o'clock I can, I think, give you the 
 president's answer." 
 
 With my associates I withdrew. Promptly 
 at two o'clock we returned to Mr. Clark's 
 office. As we entered the room the general 
 manager came towards me, uttering words 
 that would have given me a severe fright 
 had I not begun by that time to feel like a 
 veteran in labor's warfare : — 
 
 " I, as a friend of the men, Mr. Buchanan, 
 want to advise you to be conservative in 
 your demands," he said. " You may not be 
 as strong as you think you are. I have just 
 had a dispatch stating that the men at North 
 Platte all returned to work at one o'clock — 
 an hour ago." 
 
 "Have you heard from the president?" 
 I asked, ignoring the other matter for the 
 moment. 
 
 "I have." 
 
 "What does he say?" 
 
 " He will recall the order for a reduction 
 of wages at Ellis, will not reinstate the men 
 [85] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 who have been discharged at Denver, and 
 will not consider your arbitration proposi- 
 tions until the men are once more back at 
 their work." 
 
 " Have you sent him word that the men 
 at North Platte have returned to work ? " I 
 inquired. 
 
 " Certainly, five minutes before you came 
 in. It was my duty to inform him at once." 
 
 " Undoubtedly. Will you wait here until 
 I step out and send a message to North 
 Platte? There is some misunderstanding 
 at that point." 
 
 " I '11 be here until five o'clock," replied 
 Mr. Clark ; " but I fear you will aggravate 
 matters and do your cause harm by trying to 
 get the North Platte men out again. You 'd 
 better consider the president's offer now; 
 he may refuse everything if you try to stir 
 things up any more." 
 
 I smiled, bowed politely to Mr. Clark, and 
 turning to my fellow committeemen said, 
 " Stay here until I return. I '11 not be gone 
 a great while." 
 
 As I picked up my hat and started for the 
 door, Mr. Clark remarked, " There 's a tele- 
 [86] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 graph office on the opposite side of the 
 street, three blocks up." 
 
 I easily found the place and sent this mes- 
 sage to the master workman of the assembly 
 at North Platte: — 
 
 "You have blundered at a critical moment; 
 whose is the fault we will determine later. 
 Victory in our grasp. Call every man out 
 at once, at once, and remain out until you 
 hear from me ! " 
 
 I repeated the " at once " and told the 
 clerk I wanted it sent just as I had written it. 
 
 The telegram was a long shot, as I was 
 completely in the dark as to the cause of the 
 North Platte men's return to work, but blind 
 shots sometimes hit the bull's-eye. My de- 
 claration that victory was in our grasp was 
 not an exaggeration of the situation, as I saw 
 it. Knowing that the company's chief pur- 
 pose was to cut wages, I believed the wil- 
 lingness to recall the order for a cut at Ellis 
 was practically a surrender by the president. 
 I did n't know at that time how bitter was 
 his enmity to some of the men he had or- 
 
 [87] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 dered discharged at Denver. What I real- 
 ized inost clearly was that a break in our 
 ranks, no matter how small, would be exceed- 
 ingly dangerous for us at that time, and I 
 took the course that seemed to me best to 
 avert that danger. To forestall or counteract 
 any bad effects from the North Platte inci- 
 dent I sent this message to the executive 
 board at Denver : — 
 
 " I feel assured that North Platte will come 
 out again this afternoon. Hold all points 
 solid. The indications are that we will win." 
 
 As soon as I had filed the two messages 
 I returned at once to the office of Mr. Clark, 
 and found that gentleman and my two asso- 
 ciates awaiting me. As I entered the room, 
 Mr. Clark asked, as a thin smile rippled 
 across his troubled face, " Well, did you get 
 them to strike again at North Platte .'' " 
 
 "You will probably get a reply to that 
 question from the master mechanic at North 
 Platte before five o'clock, if you remain here 
 until that hour; " and I tried my hand at 
 smiling. 
 
 [88] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 " Under the circumstances I think I '11 stay 
 until five o'clock at least," said Mr. Clark. 
 "And now what do you say to the presi- 
 dent's offer? Had n't you better close with 
 it before he has time to withdraw it, which 
 he is likely to do when he hears about the 
 return of the men at North Platte ? " 
 
 " You really can't expect us to accept 
 such a small concession, Mr. Clark. Why, 
 he does n't offer us even half a loaf, and we 
 are out for the whole loaf this time. I pre- 
 sented our demands to you this morning. 
 Nothing has occurred since then to induce 
 me to alter one syllable in the demands ; " 
 and, with this, I reached for my hat. 
 
 " I will telegraph the president your reply 
 to his offer; but I sincerely hope this matter 
 may be settled before the breach becomes 
 wider;" and I knew he spoke from his 
 heart. 
 
 As I withdrew with my associates, I said: 
 " If you want to see me, send word over to 
 the hotel. If I don't hear from you to-day I 
 will call upon you at ten o'clock to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 On the way to our hotel, Coats asked me 
 [89] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 what I had done in the North Platte matter. 
 I told him of the two telegrams I had sent. 
 
 " Will they come out again ? " he asked. 
 
 " I think they will. I believe there has 
 been a mistake ; that they went back under 
 some misapprehension. We '11 know before 
 long. If none of the other shops makes the 
 same blunder we won't be hurt a great deal. 
 If one or more of the larger shops follow the 
 break, things will look pretty blue for us, but 
 we must keep a stiff upper lip and get the 
 best settlement we can under the circum- 
 stances." 
 
 As we walked along I tried to think out 
 the North Platte mishap, and in a few mo- 
 ments I had formed an opinion and a resolu- 
 tion. It was agreed when I left Denver that 
 I should send word to the executive board 
 as soon as a settlement was reached and that 
 the committee should then call the strike off. 
 It now occurred to me that this roundabout 
 arrangement laid us open to trickery, that a 
 report could be sent from Omaha that a set- 
 tlement had been arranged and that the com- 
 mittee had been notified. Whereupon some 
 shop might consider everything settled and 
 
 [90] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 return to work without awaiting the formal 
 notification from the executive committee. 
 The men were mostly raw recruits in the 
 labor movement, and even veterans have 
 made that blunder. With these thoughts in 
 my mind I stopped and said to my compan- 
 ions, " Come, I want to go back to that tele- 
 graph office and send another message." 
 
 When we reached the office I wrote and 
 sent this message, after showing it to Coats 
 and Neasham: — 
 
 "Absolutely necessary that you at once in- 
 struct all points to remain out until an order 
 to return to work is received direct from me, 
 dated at Omaha, and signed by my name in 
 full." 
 
 I was sitting in the reading-room of the 
 hotel writing something for "The Enquirer " 
 when a telegraph boy came up to me with a 
 message. I glanced at the clock to note the 
 time to place on the messenger's book. It 
 was 4.38. I tore open the envelope, read 
 the North Platte date-line and these words, 
 addressed to me : — 
 
 [ 91 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " We returned to work on report of settle- 
 ment from Omaha made public here. Never 
 again. We are all out once more to stay 
 until every doubt is removed." 
 
 I hunted up Coats and asked him to go 
 over to the Union Pacific office and learn if 
 Mr. Clark had heard the news from North 
 Platte and also if he had any later word 
 from the president of the company, at Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 Coats returned in about fifteen minutes 
 with a broad grin on his face and said : " Mr. 
 Clark presents his compliments and says he 
 has heard from North Platte, but not from 
 Boston. He will see us to-morrow morning 
 at ten o'clock." 
 
 Promptly at ten o'clock on Saturday morn- 
 ing Coats, Neasham, and I walked into Mr. 
 Clark's office. Mr. Clark was not looking 
 well. Evidently he was depressed over the 
 situation on the road he had served so long 
 and was so soon to leave. There was no 
 word from the president, so we waited, pass- 
 ing the time in conversation, Mr. Clark relat- 
 ing some of the experiences of the past twenty 
 [92] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 years on the Union Pacific. We were about 
 leaving, at a few minutes after twelve o'clock, 
 when Mr. Clark's private operator handed 
 him a message. He read it and then passed 
 it to me. It was from the president, who 
 said that the company would concede all of 
 the demands of the men, excepting as to the 
 reinstatement of the men at Denver; that 
 there were half a dozen or so of the twenty 
 discharged who were especially objection- 
 able, one, the secretary of the committee, in 
 particular, and that these would not be re- 
 employed. 
 
 I handed the telegram to my associates on 
 the committee without comment. 
 
 " I believe," said Mr. Clark, " that I can 
 get him to take back all the Denver men 
 excepting the secretary. That man's course 
 has been very disagreeable and in bad taste 
 on several occasions since the May strike, 
 and I can understand just how the president 
 feels about it." 
 
 " That may be so, Mr. Clark," I said, " but 
 h6 must be reached at another time or in 
 another way." 
 
 " You will not jeopardize the interests of 
 
 [93] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 thousands for a man whose course you do not 
 attempt to defend, Mr. Buchanan ? " 
 
 " We do not consider the personality of 
 any individual in this affair, Mr. Clark. We 
 know only that twenty of our prominent 
 members were discharged without explana- 
 tion, and now we have what is virtually an 
 adinission that it was because of their mem- 
 bership in our order. Can you not see, my 
 dear sir, that the very life of the organization 
 is at stake ? We have drawn our mei\ to- 
 gether upon the declaration that ' An injury 
 to one is the concern of all.' If we permitted 
 you to single out one man now for discharge, 
 under the present circumstances, he would 
 be looked upon as a victim and a scapegoat 
 and our compliance would rise up and haunt 
 us at every turn in our organization work." 
 
 "But the man in question would not be 
 treated otherwise than he has deserved. 
 He would have brought his discharge upon 
 himself, as can be plainly shown," said Mr. 
 Clark. 
 
 " That you must show at another time. 
 At present the secretary must be treated the 
 same as his nineteen associates," I replied. 
 
 [94] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 Mr. Clark, it was plainly evident, felt 
 very much annoyed, and was on the verge 
 of losing his patience. I realized his provo- 
 cation, and was sorry for him. He was 
 desirous of settling the trouble amicably, so 
 that he might leave the road in a few weeks 
 with everything working harmoniously, and 
 he thought I was unjustifiably arbitrary and 
 stubborn; but what could I do? I might 
 have modified some of the other demands, 
 but it was simply out of the question to 
 consider the suggestion to sacrifice any 
 member of the organization. 
 
 Mr. Clark paced the floor, saying no- 
 thing, but his emotion was painfully appar- 
 ent. Rising from my seat, I said : — 
 
 "Mr. Clark, I wish you could see that 
 my position is also difficult, and I hope that 
 the good feeling between us will not be 
 seriously disturbed. I will leave you now. 
 If you want me, send to the hotel." And 
 I walked out, followed by my associates. 
 
 The remainder of that day and all of 
 
 Sunday I stuck pretty close to the hotel. 
 
 There were many telegrams to receive 
 
 and some to send. Reports from all points 
 
 [95] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 were favorable. By Sunday night infor- 
 mation reached me to the effect that the 
 freight service of the road was in bad 
 shape, because of the lack of men in the 
 roundhouses and repair-shops to care pro- 
 perly for the engines. 
 
 Between eleven and twelve o'clock on 
 Monday morning a messenger came from 
 Mr. Clark, asking me to come to his office 
 at once. I complied with alacrity. As I 
 entered, Mr. Clark arose from his desk and 
 extended his hand, saying: — 
 
 " I told you I thought I could arrange 
 about the Denver men. The president con- 
 sents to the re-employment of nineteen of 
 them. He will order an investigation of the 
 charges against the secretary, and will re- 
 instate him if they are not supported. Now, 
 what do you say ? " 
 
 "Just what I said on Saturday: Reinstate 
 the secretary with the others, and then in- 
 stitute the investigation of charges against 
 him. Why split hairs over the matter, Mr. 
 Clark ? The president evidently does n't like 
 the idea of a complete surrender; but it is 
 that or nothing." 
 
 [96] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 " Great heavens, man ! he has yielded 
 everything but one small point," cried the 
 general manager. " He will, I am sure, re- 
 fuse to give in any further." 
 
 " So be it," I replied. " But will you 
 please tell him that unless our demands in 
 full are conceded before twelve o'clock to- 
 night, nothing but through passenger trains 
 will be allowed to run after noon to-mor- 
 row. It may be decided to cut the service 
 down to mail-cars." 
 
 "You can't do that; the Brotherhoods 
 are not with you." 
 
 "Very true; but it takes more than train 
 crews to get trains over the road;" and I 
 tried to look wise. 
 
 " You men will drive me crazy yet ! " 
 cried the general manager. 
 
 " I sincerely hope not, Mr, Clark. We 
 all have a high regard for you, and al- 
 ways will have, however this trouble may 
 end." 
 
 After a few moments more of talk to no 
 purpose, I returned to my hotel. 
 
 Had you the power to carry out that last 
 threat.'' some reader is asking. That will 
 
 [97] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 never be known. We had succeeded so 
 well in all we had undertaken that it is 
 possible we imagined we could do anything 
 that occurred to us as appropriate to our 
 campaign. There were men credited with 
 a pretty thorough knowledge of the con- 
 ditions on the Union Pacific at that time 
 and with the sentiments of the employees, 
 who said afterward that my declaration to 
 Mr. Clark was " bluff." I never argued the 
 question. There was no good reason why 
 I should. "Bluff " or not " bluff," it won. 
 
 At four o'clock Monday afternoon Mr. 
 Clark sent for me, and said that the com- 
 pany would agree to every demand made 
 by the men. The agreement was put in 
 writing and signed by Mr. Clark for the 
 company and by Coats, Neasham, and my- 
 self for the organization. 
 
 Before we parted Mr. Clark gave me his 
 hand, and said: "You don't know how 
 pleased I am that the trouble is over. I 
 am glad the men have secured what they 
 asked for, and I congratulate you on the 
 good fight you made. I know we part 
 good friends, and it will afford me pleasure 
 
 [98] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 if the opportunity is ever given me to be 
 of service to you." 
 
 Ten minutes later, at five o'clock, p. m., 
 Monday, August i8, 1884, 1 handed the fol- 
 lowing message into the telegraph office, 
 with the instruction that it be repeated to 
 our local officers at each point, a list of 
 whom I furnished : — 
 
 " Return to work to - morrow morning. 
 Every demand granted." 
 
 Thus ended the second Union Pacific 
 strike. The agreement between the com- 
 pany and the employees, brought about 
 through the good offices of Mr. Clark, was 
 respected by his successor, and there was 
 no further trouble so long as the organ- 
 ization remained strong enough to com- 
 mand the respect of the officials, and the 
 Union Pacific District, No. 82, retained its 
 organized strength long after the order of 
 the Knights of Labor generally had begun 
 seriously to disintegrate. 
 
 With the railway strike settled, I turned 
 my attention to other and less strenuous 
 [99] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 matters. "The Enquirer" was prospering 
 beyond the best periods in its past record; 
 it was paying expenses when the strike was 
 settled, and it was no longer necessary for 
 me to perform the services of a journey- 
 man at the case. I received my reward for 
 services in the strike in the improved con- 
 dition of the paper. I never received a 
 penny as compensation direct for my ser- 
 vices in the Union Pacific strikes nor for 
 similar services rendered in many other 
 strikes. On two occasions money was of- 
 fered me by victorious organizations, but I 
 positively refused to accept it in either case. 
 If my paper was supported, that was all I 
 asked. 
 
 I had been the Colorado delegate to the 
 Anti-Monopoly conference held in Chicago, 
 July 4, 1883. The party formed at that 
 conference met in national convention in 
 Cincinnati in 1884, and nominated General 
 Benjamin F. Butler for president. " The 
 Enquirer" flung the Butler banner to the 
 breeze, and through the influence of the 
 paper the People's party was organized in 
 Colorado. At the state convention, which 
 [ 100 ] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 nominated Butler and West electors and a 
 full congressional and state ticket, I was 
 chosen as chairman of the state cominittee, 
 though I was in Philadelphia, attending the 
 General Assembly of the Knights' of Labor, 
 at the time. 
 
 The presidential election of 1884, viewed 
 from the standpoint of a Labor Reformer, 
 presented many interesting and puzzling 
 features. General Butler and his platform 
 appealed especially to the wage-workers, but 
 they received very little support from that 
 quarter, the greater part of the People's 
 party vote coming from the farmers. It is 
 true that in the latter days of the campaign 
 doubt was thrown upon the genuineness of 
 Butler's canvass; it was openly charged 
 that he was using his influence in the in- 
 terest of Mr. Blaine, the Republican can- 
 didate. Whether the charge was true or 
 not I cannot say, but it was sufficient to 
 keep many workingmen from voting the 
 People's party ticket. I have always ob- 
 served that only a slight fog was necessary 
 to obscure the political vision of the aver- 
 age workingman. 
 
 [lOl] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 In New York the workingmen conducted 
 a campaign based upon a boycott of a non- 
 union newspaper. The paper was Republi- 
 can in politics and supported Mr. Blaine. 
 Typographical Union No. 6 ("Big Six"), of 
 New York City, informed the Republican 
 managers early in the campaign that if the 
 paper in question was not unionized the typo- 
 graphical unions throughout the country 
 would exert their influence to have the votes 
 of organized labor cast in opposition to the 
 Republican candidate for president. The 
 paper was not unionized and the printers 
 carried out their threat. To give their op- 
 position the greatest possible force the organ- 
 ized workingmen of New York who indorsed 
 the boycott upon the Republican party voted 
 not for Butler, but for Cleveland. New 
 York's electoral vote decided the election in 
 favor of Cleveland, and as he carried the 
 state by only a few more than one thousand 
 plurality, the boycotters have ever since 
 claimed that they decided the presidency in 
 1884, and on its face the claim appears valid. 
 
 While I did n't, of course, expect General 
 Butler's election, I was greatly disappointed 
 [ 102 ] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 at the comparatively small number of votes 
 he received. My consolation I found in the 
 fact that in Colorado his percentage of the 
 whole vote cast was greater than in any other 
 state. Naturall}? this pleased the state chair- 
 man and editor of the Butler organ in Colo- 
 rado. But the salve of personal pride served 
 to soothe for a brief space only the pain of my 
 lacerated aspirations. The disease by which 
 every radical reformer is sooner or later at- 
 tacked, some violently, some mildly, was fas- 
 tening itself upon me. I began to lose faith 
 in the ballot j almost despaired of the work- 
 ingman ever winning his rights by voting for 
 them. I believed something more radical in 
 the way of organization than we then had 
 was needed to cope with the situation. While 
 I continued to do everything within my 
 power to draw unorganized craftsmen into 
 the trades-unions and to extend the member- 
 ship and influence of the Knights of Labor, I 
 turned to the International Workmen's As- 
 sociation as a means more likely to accom- 
 plish the emancipation of the wage slave. 
 The " I. W. A.," as the organization was 
 known in this country, was a branch of 
 [ 103 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the famous " Reds," that kept some of the 
 rulers of Europe awake o' nights for several 
 years. Hereafter, in a more appropriate 
 place, I shall tell something about the " I. W. 
 A.," including a description of its unique 
 form of organization and the most interesting 
 part of its history on the Pacific coast and in 
 the Rocky Mountain region. 
 
 I have referred to my attendance upon the 
 General Assembly of the Knights of Labor 
 in Philadelphia, iinmediately following the 
 settlement of the second Union Pacific strike. 
 We had at that time five assemblies of the 
 Knights of Labor in Denver, one of which 
 was composed entirely of women. These 
 assemblies, acting together, had selected me 
 as their representative in the General As- 
 sembly for that year. 
 
 At that General Assembly I made the ac- 
 quaintance of several men who afterwards 
 were famous as labor leaders. One of these 
 was Terence V. Powderly, then and for sev- 
 eral succeeding years General Master Work- 
 man of the order. Another was George E. 
 McNeill, of Boston, to whom was given the 
 title of "Nestor of the American Labor 
 [104] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 Movement." Frank K. Foster, to whom I 
 have previously referred as one of the " con- 
 spirators " at the St. Louis convention of the 
 International Typographical Union, in 1882, 
 was also a representative in my first General 
 Assembly of the Knights of Labor. About 
 one fourth of the delegates were trades-union- 
 ists, several of whom were prominently 
 identified with the affairs of their respective 
 unions. 
 
 At Philadelphia I was elected one of the 
 three members who, with the General Master 
 Workman and the General Secretary-Treas- 
 urer, constituted the General Executive 
 Board of the Knights. This was an honor, 
 indeed, but an honor which carried with it 
 many duties and serious responsibilities. Of 
 course I was endowed with an authority cal- 
 culated greatly to increase my prestige and 
 power in the labor movement, but I am sure 
 I thought less of these than of the benefits I 
 might, through my office, be instrumental in 
 conferring upon, the workingmen in the ter- 
 ritory under my care. I was the only mem- 
 ber of the board residing west of Ohio, and 
 was supposed to represent the order in all of 
 [105] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 that vast country lying between the Missouri 
 River and the Pacific coast. 
 
 Returning to Denver at the close of the 
 General Assembly I at once entered upon my 
 duties as chairman of the People's party state 
 committee, but the organized vrorkingmen 
 were not disposed to allow a high official of 
 the Knights of Labor in their midst to devote 
 his time to politics altogether. It was soon 
 made clear to me that, while my Colorado 
 brothers appreciated the honor conferred 
 upon them, through my election as a board 
 member, they did not consider my new office 
 entirely ornamental. 
 
 I had been home but two weeks and had 
 hardly adjusted the buckles of my new har- 
 ness, when I received a call from a commit- 
 tee of coal-miners, seeking the aid of my offi- 
 cial prestige in an effort to secure an advance 
 of wages and the adjustment of a score of 
 grievances submitted by the coal-miners of 
 Colorado and New Mexico. These miners 
 had suffered for several years from the sel- 
 fishness and cruelty of the mine-owners. 
 Wages were low, and were still further les- 
 sened by the coarse-meshed screens used at 
 [io6] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 most of the mines, and the miners were, in 
 many instances, cheated in the weighing of 
 coal. The prices charged by the companies 
 for powder and other supplies were outra- 
 geous, and the " pluck-me " stores, in many 
 places, robbed the miners of what little they 
 were allowed to earn under the skinning 
 system. 
 
 The miners of Fremont County, in which 
 is located the Coal Creek District, were first 
 to rebel against the tyranny of the operators. 
 The principal employers in that region were 
 the Colorado Coal and Iron Company and the 
 Canon City Coal Company. Both of these 
 companies had engaged in all sorts of schemes 
 to reduce the wages of the miners. The top 
 wage earned by a miner in the summer of 
 1884 was $1.75 per day, and there was work 
 only about two thirds of the time. Remem- 
 bering that the cost of living in Colorado at 
 that time was exceptionally high, one can 
 understand that a coal-miner, especially if he 
 had a family, found it a difficult task to make 
 both ends meet. 
 
 Although the miners were unorganized, 
 those employed by the Canon City Coal Cora- 
 [ 107] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 pany struck in June, 1884, against a reduc- 
 tion of 15 per cent, in wages. About the 
 middle of July the Colorado Coal and Iron 
 Company ordered a cut of 10 percent, against 
 which some of their men struck, making, 
 with the Canon City Coal Company men, 
 over 600 miners on strike in the Coal Creek 
 region by the ist of August. A meeting of 
 representatives of the coal-miners of the state 
 was held in Pueblo, on August 28, and "The 
 Coal-Miners' Protective Association of Colo- 
 rado " was organized. I was in Philadelphia 
 at the time and, consequently, could not at- 
 tend the meeting, but "The Enquirer" was 
 represented by a trustworthy correspondent, 
 and from his report, preserved in the files of 
 the paper, I will quote one paragraph which 
 shows that the methods of coal operators 
 have been much the same, whether their 
 mines were in Pennsylvania or in the far 
 West : — 
 
 "Judging from information I have gathered 
 
 from residents and others familiar with the 
 
 conditions in the Coal Creek region, there 
 
 can be no doubt that the coal company has 
 
 [108] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 pursued a tyrannical and oppressive course 
 towards its employees. The company has 
 repeatedly shipped in gangs of Italians whom 
 they have systematically used as screws to 
 squeeze practical miners down to the lowest 
 living wage. Not that the company has any 
 more liking for Italian laborers than others, 
 as witness the present destitution of that 
 class, many of them being in a starving con- 
 dition. The Italian is simply used as a means 
 of forcing the practical miner down and 
 obliging him to w^ork for a bare subsistence, 
 when the ignoble tool is discharged and 
 allowed to shift for himself, or is shipped to 
 another district to repeat the performance." 
 
 The northern part of the state, notably 
 Weld, Boulder, and other counties, was also 
 represented in the Pueblo meeting. The 
 most interesting testimony furnished by the 
 representatives from the north was to the 
 effect that their employers were bitterly op- 
 posed to their men organizing. A delegate 
 from Erie stated that some of the miners in 
 his town were working under contracts that 
 prohibited them from holding or participat- 
 [ 109 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ing in meetings of employees of the mines, 
 Mr. Brown, of Louisville, stated that he and 
 his fellow miners were working under a con- 
 tract which provided that if any of them at- 
 tended any meeting that contributed in any 
 way to the ordering of a strike they would 
 be discharged and forfeit all money due as 
 wages at the time. 
 
 Notwithstanding these cruel conditions, 
 only upon compliance with which could a 
 coal-miner find employment in the mines — • 
 or most of them — in northern Colorado, the 
 men determined to make an effort to secure 
 their rights. Organizations were perfected at 
 nearly every mining town ; in most cases as- 
 semblies of the Knights of Labor were or- 
 ganized, and the committee which called 
 upon me soon after my return from Phila- 
 delphia came from these new assemblies. 
 
 The committee gave me a full statement 
 of the miners' grievances and placed before 
 me a complete report of their organized 
 strength. The report showed that slightly 
 more than one half of all those employed in 
 the mines of the northern part of the state 
 were members of the organization. After 
 [no] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 these matters were disposed of, I asked the 
 eommittee : — 
 
 " Now, what can I do for you ? " 
 
 "We want you to call a strike of all the 
 coal-miners in the state," said one of the men. 
 
 "Why should I call the strike?" I asked, 
 greatly surprised at the request. 
 
 "Because you are a member of the Gen- 
 eral Executive Board and because our peo- 
 ple have confidence in you. Each of our 
 locals has unanimously passed a resolution 
 requesting you to order the strike." 
 
 "But I don't know anything about coal- 
 mining," I said. 
 
 " You know as much as you do about rail- 
 roading, I guess, and you got through the 
 U. P. strikes all right. But you won't have 
 to manage this strike for us ; all you need to 
 do is to send out the order to quit work. 
 We '11 expect your sympathy and advice, of 
 course, but the hard work we '11 do our- 
 selves." 
 
 I smiled at the words " hard work," and 
 said, "Give me a few minutes to think the 
 matter over, and I '11 tell you what I '11 do," 
 and I stepped out into the hall. 
 [hi] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 For five minutes I wrestled with the pro- 
 blem and then returned to the room. It 
 is n't necessary to describe the workings of 
 my mind during those five minutes. A fel- 
 low can do a large amount of thinking in a 
 short time when he has something serious to 
 think about. On re-entering the room I 
 said : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, as I have already said, I don't 
 know anything aboiit coal-mining, but I do 
 know something concerning the buying and 
 selling of coal. You are producing almost 
 exclusively for the Colorado market, and, as 
 this is n't a manufacturing state, it follows that 
 you are digging coal principally for domestic 
 use. At this time of the year the demand 
 for domestic consumption is lightest. Now, 
 I have adopted two tests that I shall always 
 apply when asked to sanction a proposed 
 strike. The first test is: Is it just.'' The 
 second is: Have we an even chance to win? 
 There is no question about the justice of your 
 cause; but I don't think you can win if )'ou 
 strike now. Wait until we are a little closer 
 to the season when there is a strong market 
 for 5^our coal, and when the surplus on hand 
 [112] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 will not last very long, and you can put up a 
 good fight, and probably j'ou can win. In 
 the mean time you may be able to adjust 
 some of your grievances with the operators, 
 and, in any event, you can employ the in- 
 terim in getting better prepared for a fight 
 than you are at present." 
 
 We discussed my suggestions for more 
 than an hour and the men were, at the 
 end of that time, disposed to accept them. 
 Finally one of the committee said : — 
 
 " We will have to report back to our peo- 
 ple with some definite arrangement; they 
 sent us to you, and they will want to know 
 what you are going to do, or rather, when 
 you are going to do it." 
 
 " Tell them," I said, " that on the first day 
 that I look out of my window and see snow 
 on the foothills I '11 order the strike, and they 
 shall have just twenty-four hours' notice." 
 
 The rather novel plan of a three-cornered 
 race between the mine-owners, the miners, 
 and the clerk of the weather was agreed to, 
 and with the admonition that our decision 
 was not to be spoken of outside of the or- 
 ganization, my visitors withdrew. 
 [113] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 On the morning of Saturday, October 25, 
 four weeks after the conference between the 
 miners' committee and myself, the foothills 
 were covered with half an inch of snow, and, 
 true to my promise, I sent out the order for 
 all the organized coal-miners then working 
 in Colorado to strike on Monday, October 
 27. There were already several hundred 
 striking miners in the southern part of the 
 state, and my order completed the shutting 
 down of nearly every coal-mine in Colorado. 
 Accompanying the order to strike was a call 
 for a conference of representatives of the 
 miners, to meet in Denver, on Monday after- 
 noon — the day of the strike. In pursuance 
 of that call delegates from thirty-five mines 
 met in the parlor of the Brunswick Hotel, 
 Denver, at the hour named. The object of 
 the meeting was to perfect the state organi- 
 zation, to formulate demands, and to provide 
 for official conferences with the mine-own- 
 ers, looking toward an adjustment of the 
 pending difficulty and providing for the set- 
 tlement of future differences. 
 
 On Tuesday a conference was secured be- 
 tween representatives of the owners of all 
 
 [114] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 the mines — excepting those of the Colorado 
 Coal and Iron Company, the Union Pacific 
 Railway Company, and the Santa Fe Rail- 
 way Company — and the miners' convention. 
 Conferences were held every day during that 
 week, and on Monday of the following week 
 an agreement was reached. Operators and 
 miners' representatives signed the agreement 
 and the men in all of the mines, excepting 
 those noted above, were ordered to return 
 to work. The agreement provided that the 
 question of wages should be left to the arbi- 
 tration of a board of conciliation, composed 
 of five operators and five miners, which 
 board was at once selected. The articles 
 of agreement abolished the " blacklist," the 
 " truck " system, and the " iron-clad." The 
 ^' iron-clad " was the contract some of the 
 operators had required of their employees 
 obligating them to refrain from any sort of 
 connection with a labor organization. 
 
 The conciliation board selected Judge 
 Moses P. Hallett, of the United States Dis- 
 trict Court, as umpire, who would decide all 
 questions upon which the vote of the board 
 was a tie. In a few days the board had set- 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 tied the questions of wages and other local 
 conditions in all of the mines in the northern 
 part of the state, with the exception of the 
 Union Pacific inines, at Louisville. The 
 operators then withdrew, subject to call, 
 leaving the miners' half of the board to fight 
 it out with the coinpanies which had refused 
 to take any part in the arbitration proceedings. 
 For nearly a year the contest between the 
 miners and the three companies continued, 
 with varying fortunes. It finally wore itself 
 out; man}' of the miners leaving for other 
 parts in the mean time, some returning to 
 work as union men, under union conditions, 
 and some "black-legging." The Colorado 
 Coal and Iron Company made compromises 
 three or four times with its men, biit violated 
 the agreements in a short time in every in- 
 stance. The Santa Fe and the Union Pacific 
 finally settled with the miners, and there was 
 no more serious trouble in that quarter dur- 
 ing my stay in Colorado. While I may thus 
 sum up the general history' of that strike, 
 there were some special matters which I 
 must relate more in detail, if I am true to 
 my text, " The Story of a Labor Agitator." 
 [ii6] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 While I was consulted by the miners' re- 
 presentatives upon all the important ques- 
 tions growing out of the strike, I refused to 
 accept any official position in their state 
 organization, though urged to do so. How- 
 ever, in compliance with the request of all 
 the local organizations, backed up by a reso- 
 lution unanimously adopted by the Denver 
 convention, I consented to become the cus- 
 todian of the fund collected for the relief of 
 the men whose grievances were not adjusted. 
 During the more than twenty weeks that this 
 fund wa€ in existence I handled thousands 
 of dollars, collected by assessments upon the 
 miners who were at work and contributed 
 by other organized workingmen and sym- 
 pathetic citizens generally, the amounts 
 turned in to me frequently reaching the 
 thousand dollar mark for one week. 
 
 I worked day and night that fall and win- 
 ter. In addition to my labors on my paper 
 and my services to the coal-miners, I organ- 
 ized more than a score of assemblies of the 
 Knights of Labor in the Rocky Mountain re- 
 gion and in Kansas. Of course the rapid 
 growth of organization among the workers 
 
 [117] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 angered the opponents of unionism, and, as 
 a penalty for my activity and popularity with 
 workingmen, I was made the target for the 
 fiercest attacks of the mouthpieces of the op- 
 position. It was at this time that " The Rocky 
 Mountain News " began a war upon me that 
 broke out ever after at the least opportunity. 
 " The News " was owned and edited by 
 the same men who had once given me passes 
 to Kansas City because of their personal re- 
 gard for me. I was not aware that I had 
 ever done an3'thing to forfeit their good opin- 
 ion. The fact of the matter was that " The 
 News " was the organ of the meanest element 
 among the employers of Colorado, the arro- 
 gant, selfish, cruel despoilers of labor who 
 denied the right of the workingman to be 
 treated as a human being and a citizen. " The 
 News " also hated me because of my promi- 
 nence in the People's party movement. Two 
 or three times each week during the coal- 
 miners' strike it attacked me in the most out- 
 rageous manner, and, could it have had its 
 way, the people of Denver would have treated 
 me to a suit of tar and feathers and a ride out 
 of the city on a rail; but it did n't have its 
 [ii8] . 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 way that time, no more than it had it a year 
 later, when it wanted me lynched. 
 
 I seldom gave space in "The Enquirer" to 
 answering the attacks of " The News; " I did 
 not deem such a course necessary. I had 
 friends in plenty, who came to my defense, 
 on the public platform, in the other papers 
 of the city, and on the street corners, saying 
 things in my praise too extravagant for me to 
 quote. , 
 
 " The News " refused to print these things, 
 even when they were the formal resolutions 
 of great bodies of workmen. 
 
 The laudation of my friends was deeply 
 grateful to me because of the appreciation, 
 gratitude, and love it expressed. Should I 
 quote it it would answer the question why 
 I worked so hard without accepting compen- 
 sation. What I shall quote, however, is one 
 of my own signed editorials — the most ex- 
 tended comment I made upon the cruel and 
 vicious attacks of " The News " — which will 
 make clear my position upon several impor- 
 tant phases of the strike and show that I, as 
 nearly every other influential man in the 
 labor movement has always been, was more 
 
 [ 119] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 conservative than the rank and file and was 
 a peacemaker instead of a " fomenter of dis- 
 cord": — 
 
 "... For nearly four weeks prior to the 
 inauguration of the general strike I worked 
 day and night to prevent it, and I believe I 
 held it off that long. Since the strike began 
 I have worked unceasingly to bring about 
 a peaceable settlement of the difficulty, and 
 I challenge any coal operator or manager to 
 point to one instance where I did not stand 
 solidly upon that platform. So devoted have 
 I been to the object of accomplishing a set- 
 tlement that I have been charged by my own 
 people with being weak-kneed and too favor- 
 able to the capitalistic side of the contro- 
 versy. As to inciting the miners, I am on 
 record, in writings, telegrams, and speeches 
 urging coolness and order. So far have I 
 gone in this direction that I have been 
 called a coward. The pair who have dis- 
 graced ' The Rocky Mountain News ' know 
 whether this charge is true or not. Now as 
 to my enmity for the welfare of the com- 
 munity: Every delegate to the miners' con- 
 C120] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 vention held in this city right after the general 
 suspension will testify that for the better part 
 of two days and nights I worked and talked 
 to my utmost capacity to change the views 
 of a majority of the convention upon the ques- 
 tion as to whether all the men should be held 
 out until every operator and company came 
 to terms, or whether each mine should at 
 once resume upon the recognition by its 
 owner or manager of the principles laid down 
 by the state board. A large majority were 
 in favor of the unit principle, and I have about 
 half come to the conclusion since that the 
 adoption of that plan would have been better 
 upon the whole for all concerned — the pub- 
 lic included. But I then held that such an 
 arbitrary rule would cause considerable suf- 
 fering to the people of the state, especially 
 the people of this city; and that, inasmuch 
 as there was no absolute combination be- 
 tween the various operators, it would be un- 
 just to any fair operator who was willing to 
 do justice by his employees to make his busi- 
 ness welfare subject to the unfairness or 
 stubbornness of any other manager or man- 
 agers. My ideas prevailed, and the people 
 
 [I2l] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 of Denver know whether they have been an 
 injury or a benefit to the community. I lay 
 no claim to superior eloquence because of my 
 success in the convention, but I am honest 
 and try to be fair to everybody, as those who 
 know the facts can testify." 
 
 With an illustration of one and an expla- 
 nation of another reference in the foregoing I 
 shall leave the coal-miners' strike and pass 
 on to other matters. I mentioned telegrams 
 as evidencing iny efforts in the interest of 
 peace. A case in point: One day as I was 
 turning from the street into my office I 
 was hailed by one Ed. Keith, superintend- 
 ent of "Keith's Detective Agency." This 
 " agency " had supplied a number of guards 
 for the mines of the Colorado Coal and Iron 
 Company. I will admit that there had been 
 several conflicts between the strikers and the 
 " blacklegs " employed by that company. I 
 did n't like Keith, but I listened to what he 
 had to say. He was very much excited. 
 When he recovered his breath and was able 
 to talk he told me that he had come to see 
 me at the request of Mr. Jackson, receiver of 
 [122] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Com- 
 pany, which company was, to all intents and 
 purposes, the Colorado Coal and Iron Com- 
 pany. It may be of interest to state that this 
 Mr. Jackson was the husband of Helen Hunt 
 Jackson, the famous writer, now deceased. 
 
 Keith told me that Mr. Jackson had just 
 received a telegram stating that about five 
 hundred miners were assembling, many of 
 them armed, at Blossburg, New Mexico, and 
 that they intended to start at nightfall to 
 march to El Moro — a distance of about 
 thirty miles — for the purpose of cleaning 
 out the " blacklegs " working at that place. 
 There was n't sufficient legal force at Bloss- 
 burg to stop the intended raid, and all efforts 
 to dissuade the excited miners had failed. 
 The Blossburg miners had that morning 
 given an obnoxious mine boss a ride on a 
 rail, and in other ways had shown that their 
 blood was reaching fever-heat. Mr. Jackson 
 wanted me, said Keith, to send a telegram to 
 Blossburg and stop the intended raid. 
 
 " Don't you think you and Mr. Jackson, 
 who have both aided and abetted 'The 
 News ' in its dastardly attacks upon me, have 
 [123] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 considerable nerve to ask a favor of me ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " We are not against you personally, 
 Buchanan, and we want to be your friend," 
 said Keith; and I knew he was lying. 
 
 " Let that pass," I replied. " But I am not 
 the master of the Blossburg miners, and have 
 no right to order them, one way or the other." 
 
 " You are a high official in the organiza- 
 tion to which those men are attached, and 
 we are sure the miners will do anything you 
 ask them to do," pleaded Keith. 
 
 " Not always. However, I will write and 
 sign a dispatch if Mr. Jackson will be re- 
 sponsible for its delivery in time. I will do 
 this in an effort to prevent bloodshed, and 
 not to oblige Mr. Jackson or 3^ourself, for I 
 tell you frankly I don't like either of you." 
 
 Keith promised that the telegram would 
 be delivered in Blossburg within less than 
 an hour, which would be in time, as the raid- 
 ers were not to start until sundown, more 
 than two hours off. I stepped into my office, 
 wrote the following message, addressed to 
 the master workman at Blossburg, and 
 handed it to Keith, who rushed away at top 
 [ 124 ] 
 
TWO SUCCESSFUL STRIKES 
 
 of his speed without stopping to read what I 
 had written : — 
 
 " If you love the order to which you be- 
 long, want the miners of Colorado to be vic- 
 torious, and have confidence in me, do not 
 permit the miners of Blossburg to march 
 upon El Moro." 
 
 The message was delivered in time. The 
 Blossburg men did not go to El Moro. 
 
 The explanation I want to make relates to 
 the declaration in my quoted editorial that 
 "The pair who have disgraced ' The Rocky 
 Mountain News ' know whether this charge 
 [cowardice] is true or not." One morning 
 immediately following a meeting of the Board 
 of Conciliation, at which I had worked my 
 very hardest to secure the adoption of a peace 
 measure — and failed — " The News " con- 
 tained a particularly bitter and outrageously 
 false attack upon me. When I read it I be^ 
 came violently angry; I lost my head for a 
 time ; the strain I was under tried me severely 
 at times. I waited until the afternoon, when 
 I thought the managing owner and the 
 
 [125] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 managing editor would be at the office, 
 when I visited "The Rocky Mountain News." 
 The owner was there, and it is probable he 
 remembered what I said to him the rest of 
 that day. He protested his innocence. I 
 called again an hour later, when the editor 
 and I had a very lively interview. No shots 
 were fired and no bones were broken, though 
 there was a little display of fisticuffs. I 
 did n't " lick the editor;" he was a large man; 
 but he surely had no reason for calling me a 
 " coward " after that meeting. 
 
 [126] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 IN the account of the coal-miners' strike, as 
 given in the preceding chapter, I have not 
 diverged from a straight and connected re- 
 cital of the most important events connected 
 with the strike to describe the effect those 
 events had upon my views on questions of 
 social reform and my ideas of the labor prob- 
 lem. Between the lines the reader may be 
 able to discern a pathway whose every turn 
 marks a stage more radical than has gone be- 
 fore. Certainly no one could expect that the 
 experiences of those months, so full of the 
 evidences of injustice, cruelty, treachery, and 
 heartlessness, would increase the hopes and 
 faith in his fellow men of one who had been 
 a victim of all these different brands of per- 
 secution, especially when that one believed 
 he was serving the best interests of his fel- 
 low men, and without any hope of personal 
 reward. 
 
 [ 127] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Not only did I lose faith in the potency of 
 the ballot to right the wrongs of the toilers; 
 but before the first six weeks of the miners' 
 strike had passed, as we were approaching 
 the holiday season of the winter of 1884-85, 
 I began to despair of a peaceable solution of 
 the labor problem; but it must not be thought 
 that I believed myself to be the storm center 
 of the fierce struggle between the " Haves " 
 and the " Have Nots." 
 
 The fall and winter of 1884 will long be re- 
 membered by men active in the labor move- 
 ment at that time as a period of great stress. 
 Strikes and lockouts were prevalent as never 
 before in this country, and labor was often a 
 heavy loser. Capitalism was beginning to 
 look upon the militia as its natural ally, and 
 labor was not sufficiently well organized to 
 make the politicians who had charge of the 
 state machinery respect or fear its power. 
 It had come to pass that labor had not only 
 to face hunger and homelessness in its de- 
 mands for what it conceived to be its rights, 
 but the rifles of the citizen soldiery as well. 
 I was in a position to keep well informed on 
 the inside details of the most important of 
 [ 128] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 the struggles in which labor was engaged, 
 and the knowledge which thus came to me, 
 heightened by the experiences through which 
 I was passing, made me pessimistic and fear- 
 ful of the future. But, in justice to myself t 
 and to the thousands of workingmen in the 
 West who supported me in my contests with 
 capitalism, I must say that there was never a 
 time when I advocated force as a means of set- 
 tling the labor controversy. When I wrote 
 or spoke of force it was to deplore what I 
 believed to be the approaching necessity for 
 its use; I warned, but never threatened. 
 The views I held upon the subject were 
 those of thousands of the thinking and sober- 
 minded workingmen of the country, and of 
 hundreds of prominent citizens who were 
 not classified as workingmen. In the files 
 of "The Labor Enquirer," under date of 
 December 6, 1884, there is an editorial which 
 fairly illustrates this point, and is probably as 
 radical as anything I ever wrote. -----^ 
 
 Worse conditions never existed in any in- 
 dustry in this country than those of the Hock- 
 ing Valley region of Ohio in 1884. Slavery 
 was heaven compared to what the miners of 
 [ 129 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the Hocking Valley had to endure. They 
 were paid a starvation rate for mining, were 
 cheated in the screening and weighing of 
 their coal, were robbed again at the " Pluck- 
 me " stores, at which they were compelled 
 to buy the necessaries of life, and, when the 
 companies in the role of landlords got through 
 with them, there were few who, though they 
 existed upon short rations and went half clad, 
 did not find the balance against them on the 
 company's books. The wonder was that the 
 poor fellows had spirit enough to strike; but 
 they had. More of the sad story is told in 
 the editorial to which I have referred. Here 
 it is: — 
 
 "HELL IN HOCKING. 
 "The climax is almost reached in the 
 Hocking Valley, and the storm which has 
 been gathering since last June is lowering 
 close now with threats of immediate burst- 
 ing. It is impossible for men who have been 
 nursed at Liberty's breast on the milk of 
 American Independence, and who have been 
 taught by our Fourth of July politicians that 
 all men are equal in this free country, to 
 
 [ 130 J 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 peaceably submit to the oppressions of the 
 tyrants who are controlling the industries of 
 the land. The deluded slave will rebel if 
 you force him too far; the worm will some- 
 times turn. So it is in the Hocking; and if 
 the brutal and cowardly plans of the bosses 
 are carried out we may look for serious times. 
 At this writing there is talk of calling out the 
 state militia to quell the uneasy men and wo- 
 men whom privation and hunger have driven 
 almost to desperation. But it will be an un- 
 wise . step, which the governor had better 
 carefully consider before taking. The Paris 
 Commune is not yet forgotten, and the Pitts- 
 burg trouble of a few^ years ago left a dark 
 spot that has not yet been erased from our 
 country's records. If the state authorities 
 will exercise some of the dormant powers 
 on the avaricious, tyrannical managers of 
 'the syndicate' and other corporations in 
 Ohio it will not be necessary to ease its 
 burden upon the despoiled producers. But 
 if Justice is dead and Reason dethroned, and 
 the Ohio authorities want to precipitate the 
 smoldering internecine war, let them fire 
 away, and the curses of the God of Peace be 
 C131] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 upon their heads. Workingmen of the world, 
 stand ready to do your duty by your fellows, 
 your country, and your posterity! There is 
 hell in Hocking! " 
 
 My mind was in a chaotic condition as to 
 the future, I was without a well-defined 
 idea of what was coming. Convinced though 
 I was that conditions could not remain as 
 they were, I still could not believe that the 
 people would permit the complete enslave- 
 ment of the workers. What would they do.? 
 That was the question to which I never could 
 find a satisfactory answer. Try as often as I 
 might to think the matter out, I always wound 
 up against that unanswered and unanswer- 
 able query. My closest associates were men 
 and women who were all troubled by doubts 
 and fears such as mine. We had our little 
 groups of the I. W. A., and in them, as well 
 as in some of the assemblies of the Knights 
 of Labor, we talked and talked and continued 
 to talk. And as we talked, we became more 
 and more discouraged with the outlook. 
 There may be those who, reading this now, 
 will conclude that we were a lot of bilious 
 [ 132 ] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 cranks. Please to remember that at the time 
 of which I am writing, labor had few friends 
 outside of its own ranks. The press was 
 either antagonistic or indifferent. With a 
 few exceptions the pulpit took no interest in 
 the labor movement except to lecture it and 
 abuse it, and the exceptions soon lost their 
 charges or found their churches unpopular 
 with those able to pay the minister's salary. 
 While organization was extending in some 
 directions, it was either standing still or re- 
 trograding in others. Strikes were frequent, 
 and the constant demands for assistance pre- 
 vented the accumulation of good-sized trea- 
 suries, and so the unions were poor in funds. 
 In Denver the labor movement was in 
 better condition than in almost any other city 
 of the country, and had we been influenced 
 by our immediate surroundings alone, the fu- 
 ture would not have appeared so forbidding 
 to us; but we were internationalists, and 
 kept our eyes upon the movement through- 
 out the world. By this time our assemblies 
 of Knights of Labor had increased to eight 
 in Denver, and all were strong and growing, 
 and the trades-unions were also in good con- 
 
 [ ^33^ 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 dition. We were having our share of strikes 
 — several small strikes during the time of 
 the miners' trouble — and were occasionally 
 scoring a triumph. The labor movement was 
 in the public eye of Denver, and the situation 
 was ideal for the labor agitator, according to 
 the popular idea of that gentleman. The 
 popular idea is sometimes erroneous. One 
 error common to a majority of the people at 
 that tiine was the confounding of socialism 
 with anarchism, and the popular under- 
 standing that both stood for violence. These 
 blunders caused the progressive labor people 
 of Denver no little trouble. Being thus mis- 
 understood, they lost a great deal of friend- 
 ship and support that would have otherwise 
 come to them. The Chicago radicals were 
 just beginning — in the winter of 1884-85 — 
 the agitation which culminated in the Hay- 
 market affair of May 4, 1886. They were 
 called anarchists, and they never protested 
 against the application of the name, though 
 the teachers of anarchism generally were 
 not advocates of a revolution by force. An- 
 archists, as well as socialists and commun- 
 ists, were supporters of the labor movement, 
 
 [134] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 and their principal agitation was directed 
 against the existing industrial system be- 
 cause of the injustice to the workingmen it 
 embodied. It does n't require much though 
 to realize that, under such conditions, the 
 labor enthusiast was surrounded by great, 
 temptations. There were no anarchists in 
 Denver — at least there was no open ad- 
 vocacy of the theory of anarchism in or out 
 of the labor organizations; but there was a 
 strong socialistic element in the assemblies 
 and unions and it was composed of the most 
 active and influential members. There were 
 those who credited me with the responsibility 
 for the growth of the socialistic sentiment in 
 the Rocky Mountain country; when opposi- 
 tion to me developed among the conserva- 
 tives in the labor movement, it was charged 
 that I had tried to turn the trades-union and 
 Knights of Labor movements into the so- 
 cialistic camp. I was not entitled to the 
 credit, — or the charge, as you look at it, — 
 for there were other workers just as earnest 
 as I. I did my share, no more. 
 
 An interesting event in the labor history of 
 Denver occurred in February, 1885. Wash- 
 [135] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ington's Birthday, the twenty-second day of 
 the month, fell on Sunday that year, and 
 when organized labor decided to observe 
 the event by holding a parade and public 
 meeting, there was considerable indignation 
 expressed by those citizens who considered 
 such a proceeding a desecration of the Sab- 
 bath day. Several of the clergymen of the 
 city pronounced emphatically in their pulpits 
 against the labor programme, and a number 
 of articles of like tenor appeared in the daily 
 press. On the Sunday just preceding the 
 twenty-second, the preachers were especially 
 strong in denouncing the intended parade 
 and meeting. Organized labor's answer to 
 all the criticism and denunciation heaped 
 upon it was that, as employers would not 
 grant a holiday on the Saturday preceding 
 or the Monday following the twenty-second, 
 and as it could not make a creditable show- 
 ing unless work in the shops and factories 
 was suspended, the programme would either 
 have to be carried out on Sunday or aban- 
 doned altogether, and the latter alternative 
 could not be entertained. 
 
 At the final meeting of the arrangements 
 
 C136] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 committee, held in my office, on Saturday- 
 evening, the subject of the clergy's attitude 
 was brought up. One of the committeemen 
 remarked that, while we meant no disrespect 
 to the Sabbath by having our parade on that 
 day, we would probably never hear the last of 
 it, and that the pulpits of the city the next 
 day would ring with denunciations of our 
 conduct. It was then I gave expression to 
 a thought that had been in my mind for sev- 
 eral days : " If the committee will give me 
 permission to arrange the matter, I will have 
 one of the most prominent ministers in the 
 city open our mass-meeting with a prayer," 
 I said. 
 
 The required permission was granted, and 
 as soon as the committee adjourned, I hur- 
 ried to the parsonage of the First Methodist 
 Church, to see Dr. Gilbert De La Matyr. 
 
 " Doctor," I said, " I have come, in the 
 name of the organized workingmen of Den- 
 ver, to ask a favor of you. As you undoubt- 
 edly know, many of the clergymen of the 
 city have denounced the labor parade which 
 is to come off to-morrow, as a desecration of 
 the Sabbath. I want to ask you to come to 
 [137] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 our meeting, on the open lots out Laramie 
 Street, and open the proceedings with 
 prayer. Will 3^ou do it ? " 
 
 " At what hour will the meeting be held ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 "About three o'clock. There will be 
 several carriages in the parade, for the ac- 
 commodation of the sisters of Hope Assem- 
 bly, and at the proper moment to get you to 
 the grounds in time, I will cut out one of 
 the carriages, distributing the women in it 
 through the other carriages, and drive here 
 for you." 
 
 Those who knew Dr. De La Matyr recog- 
 nized in him a noble and a brave Christian 
 man. Although his church was one of the 
 wealthiest and most aristocratic in Denver, 
 the Doctor was an outspoken champion, in 
 the pulpit and out of it, of the workingman. 
 He loved the people, and in him the laborers 
 knew they could always find a friend. That 
 friendship finally cost him his Denver pulpit 
 I shall never forget the kindly look upon his 
 face, which was always beautiful to me, 
 though in the eyes of strangers he was an 
 exceptionally homely man, as I explained 
 [138] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 my plans that Saturday night. But there 
 was a merry little twinkle in his eye as he 
 said: — 
 
 " I will pray at your meeting, my boy. If 
 half that my brothers of the clergy and the 
 newspapers say of you fellows is true, you 
 are a very sinful lot, and are sorely in need 
 of prayer. I am not afraid to pray in the 
 presence of sinners." 
 
 And so it was arranged and carried out. 
 As the rear end of the procession marched 
 on to the open lots the next afternoon, a 
 carriage drove up to the speakers' platform. 
 Dr. De La Matyr stepped from the carriage 
 and mounted the platform just as the chair- 
 man raised his hand to call the assembled 
 men and women, nearly five thousand in 
 number, to order. Snow had begun to fall 
 at a pretty brisk rate, and as the good man, 
 with bared head, softly and tenderly pleaded 
 for the blessing of Almighty God upon the 
 hosts of the toilers who " eat bread in the 
 sweat of their faces," the gently falling flakes 
 seemed to murmur innumerable "Amens" 
 in the soft, humming tone one may hear 
 when all else is still, and which is called 
 [139] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " the voices of the snow." It was an impres- 
 sive scene, and a truly religious sentiment 
 pervaded the entire assemblage. 
 
 Dr. De La Matyr was not expected to stay 
 during the meeting. I handed him into his 
 carriage and told the coachman to drive to 
 the parsonage. As I turned back toward 
 the platform a member of the committee 
 touched me on the shoulder, and re- 
 marked : — 
 
 " I think we have spiked the guns of the 
 ' holier than thou ' gentlemen." 
 
 He was right. There was never another 
 word said, publicly, at any rate, in criticism 
 of the Sunday parade of the organized work- 
 ingmen of Denver. 
 
 Dr. De La Matyr further showed his sym- 
 pathy with the demonstration of the work- 
 ingmen by preaching " labor sermons " at 
 both morning and evening services that day. 
 
 The success of the parade gave organiza- 
 tion a great boom in Denver, in fact its influ- 
 ence was felt throughout the state. Within 
 two weeks after the parade I had organized 
 four new assemblies of Knights of Labor in 
 Denver, which brought the nuniber up to 
 [ 140] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 twelve. It was simply impossible for me 
 to respond promptly to calls for the organ- 
 izer that came to me from all parts of the 
 state and adjoining states and territories. I 
 was on the jump all the time. The Rocky 
 Mountain region was pouring a thousand 
 men a month into the organized labor move- 
 ment, and at the headquarters of the Knights, 
 at Philadelphia, we were called the " Banner 
 State." It was during that period that I 
 organized an assembly at the highest point 
 claimed by organized labor anywhere in the 
 World. It was at Alma, Colorado, a little 
 mining town that was situated ii,ooo feet 
 above sea level. The assembly was named 
 "Lookout." 
 
 Tired, mentally and physically, I returned 
 from one of my organizing tours one after- 
 noon, to be told by my co-workers at " The 
 Enquirer " office that all requests for my 
 services that night had been " turned down ; " 
 that tickets had been secured for me, and 
 that I was to go with my wife to the theater, 
 for my first recreation in months. But I 
 have n't seen the last two acts of that even- 
 ing's play to this day. The curtain had just 
 [141] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 gone down on the third act when an usher 
 touched me on the shoulder, and said I was 
 wanted in the lobby. 
 
 A committee from the local of the Union 
 Pacific employees, L. A. 3218, had been 
 sent to learn if I would go at once, with one 
 of their own members, to the scene of the 
 " Gould strike," in Missouri, Kansas, and 
 Texas, as the representative of the Union 
 Pacific men, and the assembly was in ses- 
 sion, awaiting a personal answer from me. 
 I did n't know how to say " No " to an appeal 
 in the interest of organization, when left to 
 decide by myself, and, leaving my wife in 
 charge of one of the committee, I repaired 
 to the meeting- room of 3218. There I was 
 informed that the Union Pacific men wanted 
 to assist the " Gould " strikers to organize 
 and to win their strike. I was to be the 
 agent to carry out the first part of that pro- 
 gramme, and $30,000 I was to pledge from 
 the Union Pacific men, if needed by the 
 strikers, was to be the force in the second 
 part. Of course I got what was called " a 
 great send-off " when I appeared before the 
 assembly and said I would accept the com- 
 [ 142 ] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 mission. Those " send-offs " were the spurs 
 that kept an enthusiast at the highest pitch 
 of work all the time. A boilermaker, Wil- 
 liam Morely by name, was selected by 3218 
 to accompany me. 
 
 The three " Gould " roads affected by the 
 strike were the Missouri Pacific, the Mis- 
 souri, Kansas and Texas, and the Wabash. 
 The strike was caused by reductions in 
 wages. On the first of the preceding Octo- 
 ber — 1884 — there had been a cut of ten 
 per cent, in the wages of the shopmen and 
 other employees on the Missouri, Kansas 
 and Texas. The men had submitted; they 
 were not thoroughly organized. On Feb- 
 ruary 26, 1885, a cut of ten per cent, was or- 
 dered in the wages of the Wabash shopmen. 
 There was a strike against the reduction at 
 Moberly, Mo., on the following day; but 
 through lack of organization and federation, 
 the other points were slow to follow suit, and 
 it was over a week before the men were out 
 at all the important points. The Missouri 
 Pacific men struck at all points where the 
 line touched one of the other two " Gould " 
 roads. 
 
 [ 143 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Mr. Morely and I got inside the line of 
 battle on Friday, March 13 — a combina- 
 tion of day and date to make the supersti- 
 tious shiver. Our first point was Kansas 
 City, Mo. There were not many " Gould " 
 employees at Kansas City, the whole num- 
 ber of strikers being but one hundred and 
 forty, and these were hard to locate. After 
 hustling around shops, yards, roundhouses, 
 and boarding-houses for three or four hours, 
 we were able to gather about thirty men into 
 a roundhouse, just a little before midnight. 
 The surroundings were not calculated to 
 inspire an after-dinner orator, but they fur- 
 nished a very proper atmosphere for a labor 
 agitator. The speech I made on that occa- 
 sion was one of the most eloquent ever made 
 to a band of unorganized strikers — it had 
 $30,000 behind it. Arrangements were 
 made for a meeting at nine o'clock on the 
 following morning, at Armourdale, a suburb 
 of Kansas City. At that meeting an assem- 
 bly of the Knights of Labor was organized, 
 with seventy-one charter members — a ma- 
 jority of the strikers at the first jump. All 
 of the other strikers in Kansas City and its 
 
 [ 144] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 environs were taken into the assembly on 
 that night and the night following, after 
 Morely and I had left for other fields. 
 
 From Kansas City I went to Sedalia, Mo- 
 berly, Hannibal, and other points where there 
 were company shops, making St, Louis at 
 the end of the second week after entering the 
 strike territory. At every point I organized 
 an assembly of the Knights of Labor, and 
 expected to take a trip from St. Louis into 
 Texas, but the strike came to an end sud- 
 denly, by the company withdrawing the 
 orders of wage reductions. 
 
 In duration, and in the way it ended, this 
 strike was very like the first Union Pacific 
 strike, related in another chapter, and, as in 
 that affair, the " Gould " strike was simply an 
 advance skirmish of the great battle to come 
 later on the Wabash. The " Gould " strike, 
 however, was not so quiet an affair as the 
 Union Pacific strike. The methods which 
 in after years characterized the course of the 
 companies controlled by the elder Gould in 
 times of strikes were first introduced in the 
 strike I have been writing about: Although 
 no serious attempt was made to fill the places 
 
 CH5] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 of the strikers, gangs of private detectives and 
 guards swarmed at every point where there 
 were bodies of strikers. Some of these fel- 
 lows were employees of regular detective 
 agencies, and some were loafers and idlers 
 that were picked up and sworn in as deputy 
 sheriffs and deputy constables; but all were 
 interested in provoking trouble, so that it 
 might appear that their services were ne- 
 cessary to protect the company's property. 
 Wherever we went, Morely and I were 
 dogged by the " spotters " of the company, 
 and it took all my powers of persuasion on 
 several occasions to prevent clashes between 
 my companion and the spotters. The big 
 boilermaker was n't much on diplomacy, but 
 he could strike a blow that made one think 
 of a pile-driver; and the dogging of his 
 footsteps by the hired thugs of the railway 
 company did n't just fit in with his ideas of 
 the respect due to an honest and peaceable 
 American workingman. 
 
 There were several slight skirmishes be- 
 tween the strikers and the guards at Sedalia 
 and other points in Missouri, but no serious 
 damage was done. The governor of the State 
 [146] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 thought, however, that he was justified in 
 complying with the request of the company 
 that the national guard of the state be ordered 
 out to protect the company's property and to 
 maintain the peace. I never attached any 
 importance to the fact that the militia was 
 ordered out on the second day after I reached 
 Missouri J but I was interested to learn that 
 the adjutant-general of the militia was Gen- 
 eral J. C.Jamison, formerly proprietor of "The 
 Riverside Press," of Louisiana, Mo., the office 
 in which I had learned the printer's trade. 
 The. General arrived in Sedalia while I was 
 there, and I am sure he was greatly pleased 
 to learn that I had not returned to my native 
 state with the intention of wiping it from the 
 map. Like many another good man he had, 
 up to that time, known only one side of the 
 labor controversy, and could n't believe that 
 the strikers were other than lawless igno- 
 ramuses, controlled by unprincipled dema- 
 gogues. A little investigation showed him 
 the error of such a belief, and it is a plea- 
 sure to record that the railway men did not 
 suffer at the hands of General Jamison dur- 
 ing that strike, though he performed his 
 [147] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 duties to the entire satisfaction of the gov- 
 ernor. I never heard how the " Goulders " 
 liked it. 
 
 A remarkable feature of the " Gould " 
 strike was the support it received from the 
 " runners " — engineers, firemen, conductors, 
 and brakemen. To this fact, more than to any 
 other, was due the victory of the men. That 
 was a year before Grand Chief Arthur pub- 
 licly declared that the Brotherhood of Loco- 
 motive Engineers was not a labor organiza- 
 tion, and would not co-operate with any other 
 branch of railway employment to secure an 
 improvement of conditions ; but even at that 
 time the feeling of exclusiveness was taking 
 root among the engineers, and that they stood 
 up so nobly on the side of the striking shop- 
 men occasioned surprise. Never again, to my 
 knowledge, did they show the same spirit ; 
 and their delegates to national conventions of 
 the Brotherhood have been riding on passes 
 or in special trains ever since. 
 
 With the strike so quickly settled, and in 
 favor of the men, the Texas trip was aban- 
 doned, and I went from St. Louis to Indiana, 
 to attend a meeting of the General Executive 
 [148] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 Board of the Knights of Labor, of which I 
 was a member. 
 
 The Union Pacific assemblies were not 
 called upon for any part of the $30,000 by 
 the " Gould " strikers. 
 
 After spending about two weeks with the 
 General Executive Board, I returned to Den- 
 ver, where my friends hailed me as the mas- 
 cot of railway strikes. I had performed pro- 
 minent and important services in three such 
 strikes, and in each case the workingmen 
 had been victorious. I was now about to 
 take part in one of the hardest fights between 
 a railway and its employees that the history 
 of the American labor movement records ; a 
 struggle that for fierceness, bitterness, and 
 danger outstripped by far any other of my 
 experiences in the field of labor agitation. 
 
 The shopmen and trackmen of the Denver 
 and Rio Grande Railway were pretty well or- 
 ganized as Knights of Labor. I had assisted in 
 the work of organization, and this fact, added 
 to the prestige of my position as a member 
 of the General Executive Board, put me upon 
 an exceptionally strong footing with the men. 
 And my luck in railway affairs was also a 
 [ 149] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 recommendation; but even mascots some- 
 times bump up against insurmountable bar- 
 riers. 
 
 The Denver and Rio Grande was in the 
 hands of the United States Court, and was 
 being operated under a receiver. This re- 
 ceiver was Mr. W. S. Jackson, referred to 
 before in these pages, in the account of the 
 coal-miners' strike. 
 
 The principal organization of the men, In- 
 ternational Assembly No. 3217, was located 
 in Denver, but there were assemblies at all 
 of the important points on the system. The 
 largest shops of the company were located 
 at Burnham, a suburb of Denver. It was in 
 these shops that the trouble began, though 
 the employees of the whole system were 
 dissatisfied with their condition. The two 
 most important departments in the Burnham 
 shops were presided over by two brothers, 
 McLellan by name. The McLellans were 
 petty despots, or so said most of the men 
 who worked under them; and their hatred 
 for organized labor was intense. They were 
 identified with the local machinery of one of 
 the leading political parties, and were wont 
 
 [150] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 to " influence " the voting of the men under 
 them before organization cultivated in the 
 latter a spirit of independence. It was this 
 growing independence of the men that drove 
 the McLellans to acts of petty tyranny that 
 caused a revolt. At last the men decided 
 that they could no longer stand the disagree- 
 able bossism of Dan, the worst of the two 
 McLellans. A committee, appointed for the 
 purpose, called upon Mr. Jackson and asked 
 for the removal of the obnoxious foreman. 
 Mr. Jackson refused to consider the request, 
 and the matter was apparently dropped. 
 Two weeks after this incident, McLellan 
 discharged ten men, selecting those who 
 had been most prominent in asking for his 
 removal. The reason he assigned for the 
 discharge of the men was that there was a 
 shortage of work in the shops. Another 
 committee was sent to Mr. Jackson, request- 
 ing him to order a reduction of hours, if 
 there was a scarcity of work, instead of al- 
 lowing the discharge of some of the men. 
 Again the receiver refused to listen to the 
 appeal of the workmen. Then a committee, 
 armed with a petition signed by every em- 
 
 [151] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ployee in the Burnham shops, waited upon 
 Judge Moses Hallett of the United States 
 Court, and asked him to investigate the 
 grievances of the men, and consider their 
 proposal that the hours of labor be reduced. 
 After taking several days to consider the 
 matter, Judge Hallett refused to interfere. 
 Nothing remained for the men but a back- 
 down or a strike. Local assemblies at all 
 other points on the road were asked to send 
 delegates to meet with 3217 to consider the 
 question, and I was requested to attend the 
 meeting. Because of what is to follow in 
 the recital of the Rio Grande strike, I feel 
 that I am justified in telling something about 
 that meeting, though it was held under the 
 veil of the order of the Knights of Labor. 
 
 The meeting-room was packed full that 
 night, for every member of 3217 was present, 
 as well as something like sixty representatives 
 from other locals on the Rio Grande. The 
 windows were tightly closed and curtained, 
 and the atmosphere became almost stifling 
 before we got out of it. In a few words the 
 proper officers stated the condition of what 
 by courtesy was called " negotiations with 
 [152] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 the company." The report of the officers 
 was followed by fully a minute of perfect 
 silence; then a brother of 3217, noted for 
 his conservatism in all matters concerning 
 labor and its employers, arose and said : — 
 
 " It is evident that we have reached a point 
 where we must either surrender absolutely, 
 thereby admitting that our organization is 
 only a pretense, or must fight. Therefore, I 
 make a motion that the executive board be 
 instructed to call a strike on the entire sys- 
 tem of the Denver and Rio Grande, to take 
 effect on Monday next, May 4! " 
 
 That this motion voiced the sentiments of 
 a large majority of those present was beyond 
 question; it was greeted by prolonged ap- 
 plause, something very unusual in an assem- 
 bly, and as I looked over that meeting I was 
 compelled to the conclusion that nine tenths 
 of those present were in favor of a strike — 
 and I was opposed to the motion. I sat 
 quietly by the side of the master workman 
 and listened to the speeches that were made 
 on both sides of the question. There were 
 several who did not favor a strike, and they 
 made earnest pleas for delay; but all the 
 
 C153] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 enthusiasm of the meeting went to the sup- 
 port of those who spoke in favor of the 
 motion. I was called for several times, but 
 I shook my head, and waited until I thought 
 everything that could be said in favor of a 
 strike had been said over and over many 
 times. It was close to 12 o'clock when I 
 at last arose to speak, but from that time 
 until 4 o'clock in the morning I was on my 
 feet more than half of the time. Piece by 
 piece, I removed my coat, waistcoat, collar 
 and necktie, and the clothing left on me was 
 soaked with perspiration by my exertions to 
 defeat that motion. I pleaded, warned, and 
 even threatened. I told those who were so 
 anxious to strike that they were unwise, fool- 
 ish; that they had no show to win. 
 
 " You have n't all the men in your own 
 departments organized," I said. " The train- 
 men will not assist you ; you have no funds 
 to carry on a prolonged strike, and I speak 
 with authority when I say that the General 
 Executive Board is not in a position to give 
 you financial help. Add to these unanswer- 
 able objections to a strike at this time the 
 fact that the Rio Grande is being operated 
 
 C154] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 by an agent of the United States Court, who 
 can bring unusual powers to bear against you, 
 and you must see how hopeless is the out- 
 look for a successful strike. Your wrongs are 
 hard to bear, I know, and you are entitled 
 to all you ask of the company; but you may 
 have greater ills to bear if you strike and lose. 
 You know my tests, boys : ' Is your cause just ? 
 Have you an even chance to win ? ' The 
 answer to the second question in this case, in 
 my opinion, is ' No,' and, therefore, I must 
 
 oppose the pending motion." 
 
 The reply made to these arguments, which 
 several of us presented in every conceivable 
 shape many times, was that we failed to pro- 
 perly understand the situation. It was as- 
 serted, over and over again, that there was 
 not the slightest doubt about every man in 
 the shops, roundhouses, and upon the track 
 quitting when ordered to do so; that the 
 engineers had promised to leave their engines 
 individually when requested after the strike 
 began; and that there would be no need 
 for funds, as the strike would be won by 
 the men within forty-eight hours of its incep- 
 tion. 
 
 c 155 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 I lost. The motion to order the strike was 
 adopted by a three-fourths vote. It was the 
 first and only time that 3217 disregarded my 
 advice in a serious matter. I was disappointed, 
 but I realized the provocation. They, not I, 
 were the victims of the petty tyranny of 
 bosses 5 they simply could not stand it any 
 longer, no matter what their friends thought 
 and said. Under the circumstances I will 
 be pardoned for saying here that the mem- 
 bers of that assembly had a high regard for 
 ' me, and that I did not lose one friend in the 
 jorganization by my pronounced opposition 
 to the strike motion. 
 
 If the reader will recall this account of the 
 meeting at which the decision to strike was 
 made as he peruses the story of the treat- 
 ment I received from a portion of the com- 
 munity of Denver during the three months 
 that followed, I believe he will agree with 
 me that some of the charges made against 
 me were, to say the least, unfair and unjust. 
 It is true that I gave the strike all the sup- 
 port within my power, after it began, and 
 worked day and night to make it successful. 
 Why not ? I was an officer in the organiza- 
 
 [156] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 tion to which the strikers were attached; I 
 had been allowed every privilege, and shown 
 the utmost courtesy as I opposed the propo- 
 sal for a strike, but had been outvoted three 
 to one. By all the rules that govern in such 
 matters, I was in honor bound to abide by 
 the will of the majority; besides, the latter 
 half of my test no longer applied after the 
 strike was ordered, and in answer to the first 
 part of the test I had to say, without reserva- 
 tion, " It is just." 
 
 I took my place with the others upon whom 
 devolved the responsibility of conducting the 
 strike, and began the hardest fight of my life, 
 in or out of the labor movement. But I must 
 not anticipate. 
 
 At nine o'clock on the morning of Monday, 
 May 4, 1885, the Rio Grande shopmen and 
 trackmen struck, all but about ten per cent. 
 of the employees in those departments " com- 
 ing out" at the order of the executive com- 
 mittee. Although there was no real federa- 
 tion of the assemblies at the different points, 
 by mutual agreement headquarters for the 
 management of the strike were established 
 at Denver; but at two or three of the other 
 
 [157] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 important points the local organizations ran 
 things, for the first few days, about as they 
 pleased. Before the strike was a week old, 
 however, the " go as you please " way of 
 doing things gave place to system, and there- 
 after the strike was managed by the execu- 
 tive committee at Denver. 
 
 The business of railroads is running trains 
 for the transportation of passengers and 
 freight. Therefore, a strike that does n't 
 stop the trains — or a considerable propor- 
 tion of them — on a road against which it 
 is aimed, does n't get ahead very fast. Of 
 course if shopmen and others whose busi- 
 ness it is to keep up the rolling-stock and 
 track can stay out and prevent the filling of 
 their places until the line and equipment 
 begin to go to pieces for lack of repairs, they 
 can seriously embarrass the company, even 
 if they have not the support of the trainmen. 
 But, as was contended by some of us at 
 the meeting which ordered the strike, the 
 Rio Grande men were not prepared for a 
 long siege. Consequently it was necessary 
 to secure at once, if possible, the co-operation 
 of the " runners." Realizing this necessity, 
 [158] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 and relying upon promises, previously made, 
 a committee of strikers at Salida, a division- 
 point, approached engineers who were "pull- 
 ing" trains, and asked them to leave their 
 engines. The engineers' promises proved 
 to be of the " pie-crust " variety ; they re- 
 fused to leave their engines; and the com- 
 mitteemen were arrested by deputy United 
 States marshals for " attempting to intimidate 
 men working under the jurisdiction of the 
 United States Court." The five men arrested 
 were taken from Salida to Denver and ar- 
 raigned before Judge Hallett on a charge of 
 " contempt of court," and were sentenced to 
 terms in prison varying from one month to 
 six months, notwithstanding the fact that the 
 alleged " contempt " was committed one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles from the presence of the 
 court. The testimony given in court showed 
 that the entire offense of the accused men 
 consisted of nine words spoken by two men to 
 an engineer. One of the men said, " Don't 
 turn a wheel." The other said, " Be a man 
 among men." The deputy, standing by, 
 then asked the engineer if he was afraid to 
 move his engine, and he replied that he was; 
 [ 159 ] ^^ 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 whereupon the deputy arrested the whole 
 committee of strikers, five in number. 
 
 Mr. C. Edgar Smith, one of Denver's lead- 
 ing lawyers, sent a communication to the daily 
 press, in which he tore the proceedings be- 
 fore Judge Hallett and the decision to shreds, 
 the burden of his argument being that " The 
 right of free speech cannot be circumscribed 
 by a circuit judge of the United States." Mr. 
 Smith also expressed the opinion that " We 
 are threading a dangerous web when such 
 a precedent is settled!" The gentleman 
 had to wait only a few years to see the pre- 
 cedent " settled " and the " settlers " fell- 
 ing every piece of constitutional timber that 
 stood in the way of injunction-seeking cor- 
 porations. 
 
 A few of the engineers, firemen and brake- 
 men were members of the Knights of Labor, 
 as well as of their respective brotherhoods, 
 but they were deterred from striking in sym- 
 pathy with the shopmen because the brother- 
 hoods had not indorsed the strike. For the 
 purpose of attempting to harmonize the 
 fealty to two distinct organizations of these 
 men, the Knights of Labor engineers solicited 
 [i6o3 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 a hearing of the strikers' cause before the 
 Brotherhood of Engineers, and it was ar- 
 ranged for me to appear before the division 
 of the brotherhood in Denver. Care was 
 taken to inform me that I was the recipient 
 of a great honor, as non-members were rarely 
 admitted to the sanctuary of the Brotherhood 
 of Locomotive Engineers. I went alone, at 
 the appointed hour, and, after waiting half 
 an hour in the ante-room, was conducted by 
 a silent guide into the inner of inners. Si- 
 lently and solemnly I was led to the station 
 of the presiding officer. Without a word of 
 greeting or a hand-clasp the presiding officer 
 stepped forward and, addressing the meeting, 
 said : " Brothers, this is Mr. Buchanan, who 
 has something to say to you." 
 
 A police judge whose court I used to 
 " cover " for a daily newspaper had a ster- 
 eotyped manner • of sentencing " disorder- 
 lies " to jail. With expressionless face, and 
 in a voice that neither went up nor down, 
 he, after calmly looking the prisoner over, 
 would say, " Here, officer, cell this wretch." 
 I never think of that judge but what I 
 recall my introduction to the Denver Divi- 
 [ i6i ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sion of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- 
 gineers. 
 
 The auspices were not encouraging, and 
 there was no inspiration in the atmosphere, 
 but I did my best, under the circumstances. 
 When I had concluded my remarks I turned 
 to take a chair, expecting some sort of ex- 
 pression from those present. The judge — 
 I mean the presiding officer — stepped to my 
 side and said in low tones : " We will con- 
 sider the matter and let you know the result. 
 
 The solemn-visaged guide escorted me 
 down the long room, lined on each side by 
 members of the division, at whose faces I 
 glanced as I passed along, hoping to catch 
 a smile of encouragement; but they had evi- 
 dently been coached or had taken their cue 
 from the man at the head of the room. And 
 I had gone there with a heart full of hope to 
 plead, in the name of brother workmen who 
 were in sore need, for sympathy and encour- 
 agement. I knew what the answer to my 
 appeal would be before the door of that 
 room closed behind me, and made my im- 
 pressions known to the executive committee 
 of the strikers; but we waited, and said 
 [162] 
 
A PARADE AND TWO STRIKES 
 
 nothing publicly. In a few days we received 
 a communication from the engineers to the 
 effect that their laws prohibited them from 
 taking any part in, or in an}^ way aiding or 
 abetting the strike. 
 
 When Grand Chief Arthur, some months 
 later, declared that the Brotherhood of Loco- 
 motive Engineers was not a labor organiza- 
 tion, the announcement was not a surprise 
 to me. I had taken a cold bath at a brother- 
 hood meeting, and my nerves were prepared 
 for the worst. 
 
 The refusal of the engineers to give any 
 sort of assistance was a terrible disappoint- 
 ment to the rank and file of the men on 
 strike; but they only set their jaws the 
 tighter, and settled down to the hard fight 
 before them. 
 
 [163] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 AS has already been said, during the first 
 few days of the strike there was lack 
 of concentration of power and direction. 
 As a natural consequence of such a state of 
 affairs, with no responsible leadership, and 
 the men at each point left to direct affairs as 
 they saw fit, some mistakes were made; but, 
 with the exception of the so-called " con- 
 tempt of court" at Salida, nothing of a 
 " lawless " character was brought home to 
 the menibers of the order. It is true several 
 attempts were made to ditch trains, but they 
 didn't succeed, and no one was caught in 
 the act or sufficiently suspected to justify 
 arrest. 
 
 But these trifling and amateurish attempts 
 were sufficient to furnish the enemies of the 
 labor movement an excuse to begin a cam- 
 paign of abuse against the strikers. Chief 
 among these enemies was " The Rocky 
 [164] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 Mountain News." The strike was not forty- 
 eight hours old before " The News " had in 
 full swing its hatred of the " leaders," chief 
 among whom was, of course, myself. I had 
 thought the editor of that paper had reached 
 the extreme in his unfair treatment of me at 
 the time of the coal-miners' strike, but I 
 was yet to learn how unjust and cruel a man, 
 who has it in his nature to be unjust and 
 cruel, can be when he is actuated by pre- 
 judice or revenge, or when he is under the 
 control of the other side. I do not, to this 
 day, know what was the real motive that 
 controlled the editor of " The News." Of one 
 thing, however, I am sure in that connec- 
 tion, and that is that he knew he misrepre- 
 sented the "leaders" in the, Rio Grande 
 strike in his paper every day for three 
 months. 
 
 " The Times," an afternoon paper, weakly 
 imitated " The News," but that paper caused 
 us little annoyance. " The Tribune-Republi- 
 can," the other morning paper, with probably 
 the largest circulation of any paper in the 
 city, was neutral — disgustingly neutral. Its 
 manao-ers knew the attacks upon the pro- 
 C165] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 minent men in the strike were not justifiable 
 — they told me so themselves — but they 
 had not the courage to stand up for what 
 they believed to be the right, bacause they 
 feared to offend the Rio Grande Railway 
 Company. 
 
 With such as the attitude of the leading 
 journals of the city it can easily be under- 
 stood that the strikers, and especially the 
 men so bitterly assailed, were placed in a 
 very disadvantageous position before the 
 public. In the hope of partially counteract- 
 ing the influence of the one-sided newspaper 
 situation I began, on the fourth day of the 
 strike, the publication of a " Daily Enquirer 
 Extra," which was distributed gratis through- 
 out the business section of the cityj but my 
 funds ran so low by the end of the second 
 week that I had to discontinue the " Extra." 
 The strike committee tried to stem the tide 
 by holding public meetings, at which the 
 men's side of the difficulty was presented, 
 not only by strikers, but by prominent citi- 
 zens who had investigated matters for 
 themselves and were willing to take the 
 chances of espousing the cause of truth, not- 
 [i66] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 withstanding the threats of "The News" 
 and its kind. Among the speakers at the 
 first meeting of this kind, held in the skat- 
 ing-rink, and, attended by fully five thousand 
 persons, was Hon. James B. Belford, for- 
 merly representative in Congress from Col- 
 orado and known all over the land as 
 the " Red-headed Rooster of the Rockies." 
 He was one of the most eloquent and con- 
 vincing speakers I have ever heard, and 
 his powerful address on the occasion re- 
 ferred to was of invaluable assistance in plac- 
 ing the strikers, and especially the men in 
 charge of the strike, in a proper light before 
 the people of Denver. But public meet- 
 ings were expensive, money was not plenti- 
 ful at strike headquarters, and there were 
 necessary expenses which had to be met, 
 so we were soon left with only the weekly 
 editions of "The Enquirer" and the per- 
 sonal support of individuals, strikers, and 
 their friends, to defend us against the assaults 
 of our enemies. Despite the superior equip- 
 ment of the latter, and their ability to make 
 a great deal of noise, I never had a doubt 
 that a poll of the city would have shown a 
 [167] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 majority favorable to the cause of the 
 strikers. 
 
 The first day of the strike Manager Jack- 
 son called in his trusted ageijt, Detective 
 Ed. Keith, and arranged with him to place 
 a number of guards about the shops and in 
 the yards at all important points. This 
 Keith will be remembered as the man sent 
 by Mr. Jackson to me at the time the Bloss- 
 burg miners threatened to march to El 
 Moro to oust the " scab " miners. With few 
 exceptions the men under Keith were good- 
 for-nothings, bar-room loafers, " tin-horn " 
 gamblers, and "all around toughs." The 
 company paid Keith $5 per day for each 
 man; he gave his "detectives" $2 per day 
 each. Not a bad speculation for Mr. Keith; 
 and thereby hangs a tale which will unfold 
 itself later. 
 
 There was little worth recording that oc- 
 curred outside of Denver ; there were fully 
 as many strikers from the shops at Burnham 
 and the yards about Denver as from all other 
 points combined, and the interest naturally 
 centered where the fight, on both sides, was 
 the hardest. 
 
 [168] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 With this general outline of the conditions, 
 which I have made at the beginning of this 
 chapter to obviate the necessity of frequently- 
 stopping to, make explanations hereafter, I 
 may now proceed to recite in detail the in- 
 cidents which made the Denver and Rio 
 Grande strike the most trying period of my 
 career in the labor movement. 
 
 First let me tell of the only occasions when 
 there were suggestions of violence on the 
 part of the strikers or their friends, which 
 were known to or heard of by me. One even- 
 ing two men, one of whom was a striking ma- 
 chinist from the Burnham shops, came into 
 my office carrying a small bag. They found 
 me alone, and opening the bag they took 
 out two things which looked like lumps of 
 coal. They explained that these were rough 
 pieces of wood, burned so as to resemble 
 coal; that they had large holes bored in 
 their centers, and that these holes could be 
 filled with giant powder and then sealed up. 
 The idea was to place the supposed lumps 
 of coal, when charged, on the coal-piles from 
 which the engines " coaled up." I had used 
 giant powder when prospecting and it was 
 C'169] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 not necessary to tell me what would happen 
 if one of the bogus lumps was shoveled into 
 the fire-box of an engine. I talked to those 
 two boys " like a Dutch uncle," and their 
 " infernal " shells went under the axe and 
 soon became a part of my pile of kindling- 
 wood. I know nothing of that kind was 
 employed, because not one engine was 
 blown up through the fire-box during the 
 trouble. 
 
 Adjoining my den in " The Enquirer " of- 
 fice was a room which was set apart as a free 
 reading-room for laboring men. I had fitted 
 this room with some cheap chairs and tables. 
 Materials for writing were on the tables, and 
 when I was done with my exchanges they 
 were placed in the reading-room. There 
 were also some shelves upon which reposed 
 several books on labor subjects and a number 
 of reports of labor bureaus. One afternoon I 
 was sitting in this room engaged in conver- 
 sation with John Lennon and the master 
 workman of the assembly at Golden, Col- 
 orado, William Carroll, who had called to see 
 me about business of the Knights of Labor, 
 just before taking the train for his home. 
 [ 170 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 There were also in the room two men whom 
 I had never seen before. They looked like 
 workingmen, and as it was quite a common 
 thing for workingmen who had just come to 
 town in search of work — union men, I mean 
 — to drop into the reading-room to write let- 
 ters or look over the papers, no particular 
 attention was paid to these two. Just as 
 Carroll arose to go, John Lennon quickly 
 wrote a few words on the margin of a paper 
 he held in his hand and, tearing the part on 
 which he had written from the paper, passed 
 it to me. Glancing at the slip of paper I read 
 these words : — 
 
 " There is dynamite concealed somewhere 
 in this room." 
 
 Jumping quickly to my feet I placed my 
 hand on Carroll's shoulder, saying, — 
 
 "Wait a minute, Billy." 
 
 It at once occurred to me that there was 
 but one place in the room where anything 
 could be concealed — the top of the book- 
 shelves. Climbing to the first shelf, which 
 was about a yard above the floor, I held on 
 with one hand, while with the other hand I 
 felt along the top of the shelves, behind the 
 [171] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 molding that stuck up two or three inches 
 above the top board. Presently my hand 
 came in contact with a small package wrapped 
 in paper which had a greasy " feel." That 
 was what I was looking for. Grasping the 
 package firmly I jumped to the floor, at the 
 same moment turning my eyes toward the 
 two strangers. They were looking straight 
 at me. Their manner reassured me to some 
 extent. Had only one of them been notic- 
 ing my rather unusual movements, or had 
 they been covertly watching me, I should 
 have been alarmed; but as it was, I was not 
 going to take chances. Stepping up to Car- 
 roll, I handed him the package, without dis- 
 turbing the wrapper, and said : — 
 
 " Billy, drop this into Clear Creek as your 
 train goes over. You need not open it." 
 
 " All right," was all the comment Carroll 
 made. He was a mountain man and knew 
 what was in the package ; and what was bet- 
 ter still, he was a true knight and my trust- 
 ing friend. 
 
 As Carroll withdrew I stepped near to the 
 door and Lennon came and stood beside me. 
 We talked of other things, but each of us 
 [ 172] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 knew what was in the other's mind — the 
 strangers were not going to leave that room 
 until after the time for the departure of the 
 train for Golden, If there was a job afoot, 
 it would not be carried out that da3^ ' Half an 
 hour after Carroll's departure Lennon and I 
 stepped into my den for a few minutes, and 
 when we returned to the reading-room the 
 strangers were gone, and I never saw either 
 of them again. 
 
 John Lennon told me afterward that he 
 had been told by one of our fellows — one 
 of the two who had shown me the bogus 
 lumps of coal — that he had left the giant 
 powder in the reading-room and had n't had 
 a chance to remove it. Lennon realized that 
 the finding of the stuff on my premises would 
 put me in an embarrassing position, and came 
 to tell me about it. The presence of the two 
 strangers in the room very naturally made 
 the danger imminent in his eyes, and he took 
 the bull by the horns. 
 
 Several of the strikers and strike sympa- 
 thizers were assembled in the reading-room 
 one morning, talking the situation over, when 
 one of the men suggested that the road " be 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 treated to a soap diet." One way of employ- 
 ing soap is to spread it thickly on the rails, 
 so that the driving wheels of the engine will 
 not hold, but will slip. If the soapy stretch 
 of track is long enough the train will come 
 to a standstill, after slipping some distance. 
 The other method is to place a lot of soap in 
 the water-tank of the engine-tender. It is 
 not possible to make steam from soap-suds, 
 and soap-suds is what the boilers of a loco- 
 motive would contain after shaking up the 
 soap and water in her tank. Nothing really 
 serious could result from the application of 
 "the soap diet." The suggestion brought 
 an element of humor into the consideration 
 of a subject that was, in its general aspects, 
 tragic ; but the soap thought was discouraged 
 by the committee. It was funny to think of 
 and talk about, but the practical application 
 of the idea, the wiser heads held, would do 
 the strike no good and might do harm. 
 
 I do not mean that the Rio Grande strike 
 was a milk and water affair or that the men 
 in charge were meek and humble sup- 
 pliants at the feet of the public and the 
 company. We did all we could to em- 
 [ 174] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 barrass the management by means not for- 
 bidden by law, and many were guilty of 
 "contempt of court," and glad of it. We 
 did our best to keep men from performing 
 service on the trains, and we never ceased 
 for a moment from the agitation of creating 
 an atmosphere unsuited for "scabs." We 
 neglected to pass resolutions denouncing 
 the band of women who threw a pair of 
 " scabs," on their way to work in the Burn- 
 ham shops, into the irrigating ditch, and not 
 one striker whipped his wife for participat- 
 ing in the affair. But no member of the 
 committee, or one who was in any way 
 responsible for the management of the 
 strike, advised violent measures or knew of 
 any attempts to take life or destroy pro- 
 perty. 
 
 But dynamite was used, in small ways, on 
 several occasions, and the enemies of the 
 strikers, under the leadership of "The News," 
 seized upon every opportunity of this kind 
 to inflame the mind of the public against the 
 " leaders." According to " The News " the 
 three men responsible for the strike and 
 who were the cause of all of the disorder 
 [175] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 were John B. Lennon, C. J. Driscoll, and 
 myself; I, of course, being the chief con- 
 spirator and king devil. 
 
 Some dynainite was placed under an en- 
 gine, and the engine was blown from the 
 track ; the damage was slight. How it was 
 possible for strikers to perform that trick 
 while the yard in which the engine stood 
 swarmed with Keith's " detectives " was 
 never explained, but " The News " said " it 
 was some of Buchanan's work." Two days 
 later one corner of the machine-shop at 
 Burnham was blown up. " More of that 
 fiend Buchanan's work," cried " The News." 
 Things were getting warm and, when my 
 enemy suggested that a lynching-bee, " with 
 Buchanan as the central figure," would be 
 the proper thing, the temperature was about 
 at the boiling point. Here is a specimen 
 editorial paragraph from " The News ": — 
 
 "As the sun rises some of these fine 
 mornings its glinting rays will fall upon the 
 stiffened corse of Joe Buchanan hanging 
 to one of the cottonwoods in the Platte 
 bottom." 
 
 [176] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 Such little pleasantries were not entirely 
 to my liking, but I thought the dog's bark 
 was worse than his bite, and the threats 
 did n't annoy me so much as the studied and 
 continued misrepresentation of my attitude 
 prior to the calling of the strike — the charge 
 that I was responsible for the ordering of 
 the strike. But when " The News " boldly 
 announced, on its editorial page, that a com- 
 mittee had been organized to lynch me 
 " immediately following the next explosion 
 of dynamite in connection with the strike," 
 I agreed with my friends that it was time to 
 prepare for trouble. 
 
 The explosions that occurred, though 
 they caused but slight damage to the pro- 
 perty of the company, were injuring the 
 cause of the men on strike and the order to 
 which they belonged, for it was natural that 
 the public should charge all acts in opposi- 
 tion to the company, or against its property, 
 to the strikers. The committee deplored 
 every act of violence that might appear 
 to be perpetrated or inspired by the strik- 
 ers or their friends, and we were more de- 
 sirous than any other section of the com- 
 [177] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 munit}'- of preventing all such demonstra- 
 tions. 
 
 I sent a telegram to Frederick Turner, 
 General Secretary-Treasurer of the Knights 
 of Labor, with headquarters at Philadelphia, 
 Penn., stating that I was sorely in need of 
 funds to save the reputation of the order, and 
 to protect myself from threatening dangers. 
 I received a reply assuring me that my draft 
 for any amount would be honored. 
 
 Immediately I inserted in the papers 
 which were not openly antagonistic to the 
 strikers a notice to the effect that the 
 Knights of Labor would "pay a reward 
 of $500 for the apprehension of the per- 
 son or persons who attempted to derail 
 the Rio Grande train on Saturday evening," 
 the then most recent act of the dynamiters; 
 and the offer was afterward raised to $1000 
 and extended to cover subsequent similar 
 acts. 
 
 Armed with Mr. Turner's telegram I 
 called upon General David J. Cook, chief 
 of the Rocky Mountain Detective Agency, 
 an old and reputable association, which em- 
 ployed a corps of real detectives — not a lot 
 [178] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 of bums to carry guns in times of strikes at 
 $3 a day. General Cook himself was a 
 pioneer of Denver ; he had been a resident 
 of Colorado since the days before civil law 
 was established in the territory, and was 
 said to have done service in the court of 
 Judge Lynch on more than one occasion 
 during those early days. The general was 
 accounted one of the most skillful men in 
 his line in the Great West, and his standing 
 was high with the peace officers of the state, 
 from the highest to the lowest. He will be 
 remembered as the man, spoken of in the 
 first chapter, sent by Governor Pitkin to 
 take charge at the time martial law was in- 
 stalled at Leadville. Showing the telegram 
 to General Cook, and satisfying him as to the 
 reliability of Frederick Turner, I asked : — 
 
 " Will you undertake a commission for 
 me?" 
 
 " What is its nature ? " inquired the gen- 
 eral. 
 
 " I want to find out who is responsible 
 
 for the dynamite outrages on the Rio Grande 
 
 road and to look up several other matters 
 
 in connection with the strike. You will not 
 
 [ 179] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 be asked to do anything that will conflict 
 with your sense of duty as a good citizen. 
 And we want you to find the dynamiters, 
 whether they are our friends or our foes." 
 
 " How long will you want the services of 
 the association? " he asked. 
 
 "We don't want the association, General; 
 we want you to personally take this job — 
 that is, we want you to work on the case 
 yourself," I replied. 
 
 " That will be expensive, my boy." 
 
 " How expensive ? " I asked. 
 
 " Well," said the general, " suppose we 
 put it this way : I will make a thorough in- 
 vestigation of the dynamite business, and do 
 any other little turns that you want, and 
 hold myself in readiness to carry out any 
 instructions you may give for a period of 
 three weeks, the price for which will be 
 $Soo." 
 
 " When can you go to work ? " I asked. 
 
 " This minute," was the prompt reply. 
 
 "Come with me to the bank," I then said. 
 
 On the way to the bank I called upon 
 a merchant friend, explained matters, and 
 asked him to go over and indorse for me. 
 [i8o] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 He complied with my request, and in ten 
 minutes I had drawn upon Frederick Turner 
 to the amount of five hundred dollars and 
 had placed that sum in the hands of Gen- 
 eral Cook. The general and I withdrew to 
 a quiet corner of the bank's lobby and I said 
 to him: — 
 
 " General, you know of the assertion that 
 a committee has been organized to lynch me, 
 if the dynamiting does not cease. I want 
 you to learn if there is any truth in the as- 
 sertion." 
 
 " I can answer that question now. Such 
 a committee has been organized, or so I was 
 told by a man who claimed to be a member 
 of it, and who wanted me to join ; but I 
 know only that one member. I can get the 
 names of the active movers in the affair in 
 an hour," continued the general. " My man 
 will think I am reconsidering my refusal to 
 go in with them." 
 
 " All right," I said. " Meet me at Zim- 
 merman's cigar counter in one hour." 
 
 Of course I kept the appointment to the 
 minute. I saw General Cook passing into 
 Zimmerman's while I was half a dozen rods 
 C i8i] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 away. As I entered the place he turned 
 around and saluted me with: — 
 
 "Hello, you dynamiter! Come and have 
 a cigar." 
 
 We stepped to the cigar-lighter together, 
 and General Cook, making a sweeping 
 glance around the room to assure himself 
 that no one was looking toward us, handed 
 me a piece of light brown wrapping-paper 
 that he had crushed into a little ball in his 
 hand. I did not wait a second, but, saluting 
 the general with a wave of the hand, hurried 
 out and made a straight plunge for my 
 ofHce, half a block away. Closing the door 
 of my den behind me I untwisted the litde 
 piece of paper and read thereon the names 
 of six men, all of whom were well known to 
 me. 
 
 As I write now that scrap of manila paper 
 is before me, and I can still read the names 
 on it without straining my eyes. 
 
 What I am about to relate will read to 
 many, no doubt, like a scene from a border 
 melodrama, and I have learned to smile as 
 my friends and I talk of it; but to the two 
 actors in the scene in my den that day there 
 [182] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 was no gleam of humor; all was as serious 
 as anything had ever been in either of our 
 lives. 
 
 In Denver there was a semi-military soci- 
 ety — a sort of shooting-club, composed of 
 about forty radical socialists. The members 
 of this club were friendly to me, the captain 
 being one of those who had made heavy sacri- 
 fices to keep "The Enquirer" from perishing. 
 When I had read the names on the piece of 
 paper given to me by the detective, and 
 had spent a few minutes in thought, I called 
 the " cub " from the composing-room and 
 directed him to go to the place of business 
 of the captain of the shooting-club, and to 
 tell that gentleman I wanted to see him as 
 soon as he could come to the ofRce. While 
 the boy was gone I made a careful copy of 
 the six names on the manila paper, and 
 placed the copy in an envelope, which I 
 sealed. In less than ten minutes after the 
 boy left the office the captain was alo^e 
 with me in my den. I closed and bolted me 
 door, and, turning to the captain, asked : — 
 
 " How many men are there in your shoot- 
 ing-club ? " 
 
 [183] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Forty and odd," he replied. 
 
 " What is their club equipment? " was my 
 next question. 
 
 " Each man has a repeating Winchester 
 rifle, and many of them also have revolv- 
 ers," the captain answered with a look that 
 showed he was puzzled at my manner and 
 questions. 
 
 "I know you are my friend; of what pro^ 
 portion of your company can I say the same 
 thing?" I asked. 
 
 " Every man of us is your friend and will 
 stand by you through thick and thin," re- 
 plied the captain warmly. 
 
 " Should the men who threaten to lynch 
 me carry out their threat, and you and the 
 company knew who those men were, what 
 Would you do ? " I asked, as quietly as the 
 nature of the question would permit. 
 
 " We would get every one of them that 
 we could find, and they would have to move 
 fast if they got away," he replied in a quiet 
 tone that meant much to me, who knew him 
 well. 
 
 I was satisfied. I knew the vernacular, 
 and " get " was enough to make me under- 
 [184] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 stand what would become of the lynch 
 talkers if anything came of their talk. 
 
 Taking the envelope from my desk, where 
 I had placed it as the captain entered, I laid 
 it in his hand, saying: — 
 
 " In this envelope are the names of the 
 six men who are trying to work up a senti- 
 ment in favor of lynching me. Of course 
 they will not do anything themselves, further 
 than to fan the^rejudice that has been manu- 
 factured against me, and, when they think the 
 moment is propitious, incite the mob on the 
 streets and in the bar-rooms to make a raid 
 upon this office, and to get away with me if 
 possible. Of course I shall be very careful, 
 and I am going to withdraw my objections 
 to the placing of a guard in the office every 
 night. But 1 want you to come here every 
 morning at about seven o'clock, and every 
 evening at the same hour, and if I am 
 not here or satisfactory explanation of my 
 whereabouts cannot be given you, then I 
 want you to call your company together 
 at once and read to it the names on the 
 piece of paper you will find in that en- 
 velope. You will then know what to do. 
 C 185 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Will you promise to carry out my wishes in 
 full?" 
 
 "I promise, upon my honor! I '11 swear 
 it, if you want me to do so ! " cried my 
 friend, without hesitation. 
 
 "No, your promise is enough for me." I 
 knew he would keep the promise to the 
 letter, if the occasion arose, 
 
 " One thing more," I said. " I am going 
 to put your confidence in me to a further 
 test. If the present trouble blows over and 
 no harm comes to me, I want you to bring 
 that envelope back to me with the seal un- 
 broken. It might not be wise to make the 
 names known to many unless there were 
 extreme provocation. Will you make that 
 promise also ? " 
 
 " As willingly and as sincerely as I made 
 the other promise," said the captain, as he 
 put the envelope in his pocket. 
 
 It may be well to close this matter here 
 by stating that the captain either came to the 
 office himself or sent some one twice each 
 day during the troublous times that fol- 
 lowed, but always found me in or received 
 satisfactory information; and when, on the 
 [i86] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 day just six weeks after I gave it to him, he 
 brought the envelope back to me, it was still 
 sealed. Tearing off the end I took out the 
 piece of paper and, asking him to keep the 
 names to himself, passed it to the captain. 
 He read the names over two or three times 
 and handed the paper back to me, remark- 
 ing:— 
 
 " I had four out of the six spotted, but I 
 never suspected the other two." 
 
 Then I struck a match and burned the 
 paper to ashes, but, as I have said, the 
 original is still in my possession. 
 
 The six men may only have intended to 
 frighten me by their threats to lynch, but 
 when one realizes what a simple matter it 
 would have been for a mob, encouraged by 
 threats, and under the excitement of a dyna- 
 mite explosion, to make the attempt — pos- 
 sibly successful — to enforce the threats; I 
 say when one thinks of that, and remembers 
 my arrangement with the captain of the 
 shooting-club, one is likely to believe that 
 there were six men in a rather dangerous 
 position in Denver for a time. Once and 
 once only I made a statement in "The En- 
 [187] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 quirer" that was intended as a warning to 
 the six gentlemen. I printed a small edito- 
 rial in which I said that the men active in 
 the lynching agitation were all known to 
 me, and I felt it only fair to let them know 
 that they were proposing a game at which 
 others could play as well as themselves. 
 
 In my talk with the captain of the shoot- 
 ing-club I spoke of a proposal to place a 
 guard at night in "The Enquirer" office. This 
 proposition had been made and urged by 
 some of my friends, but I had opposed the 
 idea. On the day I learned from Cook that 
 there was really something to the threat of 
 lynching — the day I gave the sealed enve- 
 lope to the captain - — I informed my friends 
 that I was willing that they should establish 
 the guard as suggested. That night twelve 
 men, armed with rifles and revolvers, were 
 stationed in and upon the building. The 
 building was two stories in height, with a 
 one-storied extension running almost back 
 to the alley in the rear; the main building 
 had a flat roof. The surrounding structures 
 were much more pretentious, as the loca- 
 tion was in the heart of what was then the 
 [ i88] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 business part of the city. "The News" office 
 was on the opposite side of the street, at the 
 other end of the block. 
 
 "The Enquirer" and a job printer, to whom 
 I sub-let, occupied all of the second floor 
 but two rear rooms; in these two rooms I 
 lived with my family; that is, my wife was 
 with me there until the third night after the 
 guard was established. That night one of 
 the men was examining a new Marlin rifle 
 when it was accidentally discharged, the 
 bullet passing through a thin partition and 
 lodging in the bedding at my wife's feet. 
 The next day my wife went to her mother's 
 home, in another part of the city, where our 
 little boy had been since the beginning of 
 the strike. I then removed the bed and 
 other household effects to the kitchen and, 
 transferring my desk, made of the room 
 which had been the peaceful, though 
 humble, altar of my domestic life, the liter- 
 ary bureau, war department, and arsenal of 
 the strike. For three weeks what sleep I 
 got was taken on the floor of that room — 
 the floor was carpeted, and we managed to 
 find something to go under our heads. 
 [189] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 There were visually a dozen men on the 
 premises from seven o'clock at night until 
 six o'clock in the morning; six would sleep 
 in that room while the other six patrolled 
 the hall, the roof,- and the rear extension of 
 the building. As an extra precaution, on 
 several occasions when the signs were par- 
 ticularly threatening, the front stairway, 
 leading from the sidewalk to the office floor, 
 was webbed with heavy wire, stretched in a 
 sort of criss-cross manner. Those in charge 
 of the defense of the office thought that only 
 a small percentage of a mob making an as- 
 sault would be aljl^ ^td get -up .tho»^ stairs, 
 threaded with wire, especially if twelve 
 men armed with repeating-rifles were pro- 
 perly disposed at the top of the stairs. The 
 wire was so arranged that it could be easily 
 taken down and put up again when the com- 
 mandant thought it necessary. So far as I 
 know, only one man got tangled in that wire, 
 and he was one of our fellows who forgot 
 instructions and tried to come up the front 
 way after 7 p. m., instead of entering through 
 the alley at the back. 
 
 Every night at about ten o'clock a man, 
 [ 190 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 with hat pulled down over his face and coat 
 collar turned up around his ears, crept 
 through the alley, up across the roof of the 
 one-story extension and through the window 
 into my kitchen. He was commander of 
 one of the squads of " special detectives " 
 who were guarding the railway yards. He 
 came to tell ine what were the orders issued 
 by his chief for that night and the next day. 
 A spy? Most assuredly, and why not? The 
 enemy were continually boasting that they 
 were kept fully posted on everything said 
 and done by the labor men; we were fight- 
 ing the devil with fire. 
 
 The company had made several futile 
 attempts to open the shops at Burnham; on 
 one occasion a few " scabs " were induced 
 to go to work, but they worked only one 
 day. That was the time the women threw 
 several " scabs " into the irrigating ditch. 
 After these failures Receiver Jackson and 
 his satellites decided that quiet resumptions 
 were not the line in which they excelled, so 
 they thought to try the more demonstrative 
 plan of announcing to the world, the " scabs," 
 strikers, and public generally, that the shops 
 [191] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 were going to open and proceed with work. 
 The date selected for this extensively adver- 
 tised "opening" was Monday, May i8, the 
 hour 7 A. M. On Sunday evening, May 17, 
 an immense meeting under the auspices of 
 the strikers, was held in the skating-rink. 
 On this occasion all the speakers were labor 
 men. One of the questions discussed at the 
 meeting was the proposed opening of the 
 Burnham shops on the following morning. 
 At the conclusion of the meeting an invita- 
 tion was extended, from the platform, to all 
 who could spare the time to attend the 
 " opening." The hour was a bit too early 
 for me, as I was up late at night and did not 
 sleep well on the floor of the ofEce until after 
 daylight, anyway, so I did not go over to the 
 Burnham shops that Monday morning. 
 
 The events of that morning, including the 
 gathering at the shops and what the strikers 
 ever after delighted to call the " Grand 
 Parade," made one of the interesting and 
 amusing episodes of the strike, and, there- 
 fore, I think the affair worthy of more 
 than a passing reference. About fifteen 
 hundred men and one hundred women were 
 [ 192 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 gathered on the lots adjoining the shops at 
 the hour announced for the " opening ; " 
 they had been assembling since six o'clock. 
 Nearly every one of the Union Pacific 
 shopmen, over 600, were in the crowd. 
 The whistle blew as usual, at seven o'clock, 
 in the Union Pacific shops that morning, 
 but the workmen were at Burnham and 
 did not hear it. They all "showed up" 
 at ten o'clock, however, and nothing was 
 ever said by their superiors about their tardi- 
 ness. From the accounts furnished by a 
 reporter for " The Enquirer Extra "and from 
 others who were present I received a full 
 report of all that happened that morning. 
 The scene around the shops was quite lively, 
 and interesting incidents moved swiftly. A 
 sentence in " The Extra's " report reads : — 
 
 " It is reported that three or four ' scabs ' 
 got pretty badly thumped this morning." 
 
 A " scab " tried to get through the line of 
 strike sympathizers to the shop entrance; 
 half a dozen women gave him the " ditch 
 degree." Those housewives of labor were 
 fervent believers in the virtues of water. 
 The " scab " scrambled out of the ditch and, 
 [ 193] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 supported by an ex-sheriff and another re- 
 presentative of Judge Hallett's court, made 
 the attempt again to get through the line. 
 This time the women, temporarily abandon- 
 ing the " water-cure," threw dirt in the faces 
 of the advancing trio. The deputies, with 
 the " scab " between them, and their hands 
 on their pistols, were driven back. Pre- 
 sently four more deputies arrived, and the 
 six tried to get the ambitious " scab " through 
 the line. Again defeated, all further efforts 
 in that direction were abandoned, and the 
 " grand opening " was postponed to a more 
 convenient season. 
 
 At half-past seven the great crowd rolled 
 and tuinbled itself into a sort of hit or miss 
 column, and, with nearly two thousand 
 voices loudly singing the then battle hymn 
 of organized labor in the West, " Hold the 
 Fort, ye Knights of Labor ! " marched to 
 the rink in the city, two miles away. The 
 parade halted several times en route. The 
 first stop was at the county jail, in which 
 were incarcerated the five men convicted of 
 " contempt of court." Sheriff Graham was 
 at the jail, and when the spokesmen of the 
 [ 194] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 paraders told him they wanted to see " the 
 boys," he brought out his five prisoners, who 
 visited among their army of friends and then 
 returned to be locked up, while the crowd 
 sang "Hold the Fort!" 
 
 A few blocks farther and the parade came 
 to a fiouring-mill that was boycotted by 
 organized labor. Here the song had a rest 
 for a few minutes, while cat-calls, groans, 
 and hisses had an inning; then the march 
 and the song again. 
 
 I was sleeping soundly on my hard bed 
 when there came a heavy pounding on my 
 chamber door, and then I heard the voice of 
 Charlie Johnson, the foreman of my print- 
 ing-office, crying, " Get up, Joe ! Get up in 
 a hurry! " 
 
 I sprang to my feet and grasping a re- 
 volver, asked what was the matter. Of 
 course I thought the lynchers were after me 
 sure enough, and in broad daylight, after 
 my body-guard had gone away for the day. 
 There was the sound of many voices in the 
 street, and that a mob was after me I was 
 positive; but Johnson quickly dispelled my 
 fears by saying: — 
 
 [195] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Come into the front room at once. You 
 are wanted; everything is all right." 
 
 Pulling on my shoes and grabbing up my 
 hat — otherwise I was full)' dressed already 
 — I hurried into the composing-room in 
 front. Johnson had thrown open the win- 
 dow and as I entered he motioned for me to 
 come to his side. I stepped to the window, 
 and, with Johnson's assistance, out upon the 
 heavy cornice. Massed in the street below 
 were the paraders from the Burnham " open- 
 ing." As I came into view some one pro- 
 posed "Three cheers for 'The Enquirer' 
 and its editor! " Of course the cheers were 
 given; they were heard ten blocks away; 
 then the crowd sang the chorus of " Hold 
 the Fort! " as I stood on the cornice, smiling 
 and happy. It was worth the scare I'd 
 had. 
 
 When the singing stopped, the parade 
 moved to the other end of the block and 
 stopped in front of " The News " office. 
 There was not any singing there, but groans 
 and hisses instead; and also a little bonfire, 
 fed by copies of " The News." I was told 
 the doors of " The News " building were 
 [196] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 rudely closed and locked in the faces of the 
 callers. 
 
 The last stop before the rink was reached 
 was at Shed's " Cheap Store." It was being 
 boycotted because of a trouble with organ- 
 ized labor over a question of seats for clerks. 
 The usual demonstration, from which only 
 the jail and " The Enquirer " were exempted 
 that morning, was made at Shed's, and then 
 the crowd marched to the rink and disbanded, 
 after singing, for the fortieth time that day, 
 " Hold the Fort, ye Knights of Labor! " 
 
 While the strikers continued to show a 
 bold front there was some complaining 
 before the end of the third week, and there 
 were some who had to have financial as- 
 sistance. The General Assembly was not 
 able to advance money for relief. It will be 
 remembered that I announced the state of 
 the general funds at the meeting which or- 
 dered the strike. True, my call for help as a 
 member of the General Executive Board to 
 meet an emergency had been honored, but 
 I knew the state of the funds, and it was not 
 expected that I would go beyond reasonable 
 limits. As a matter of fact I never called for 
 [197] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 anything beyond the five hundred dollars that 
 I gave to David Cook. To provide assist- 
 ance for those who were in need an appeal 
 was made, first to the local labor organiza- 
 tions, then to the movement throughout the 
 country. " The Enquirer " had subscribers 
 in every state of the Union — in fact, its "out- 
 side" circulation, including Colorado towns, 
 was larger than that at home ; and through 
 the paper considerable money was sent to 
 the strike committee. There were expenses 
 connected with the strike, in addition to the 
 relief of members who were needy, and it 
 was pretty hard scratching sometimes to 
 make both ends meet ; but there was never 
 a thought of surrender. The Western labor 
 man has alwaj's been a " stayer " and a hard 
 fighter. 
 
 The women were a great support, always 
 ready with encouragement when it was most 
 needed, and they were not afraid to allow 
 the public to know just where they stood, 
 especially on the question of " scabs." But 
 their especial charges were the " boys " in 
 jail. Twice during each week a committee 
 from Hope Assembly — the women's as- 
 [198] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 sembly — would go to the home of Kate 
 Dwyer, who kept a working-girls' boarding- 
 house, and there would be a cooking-bee 
 that produced all kinds of good things to eat. 
 After a big hamper was filled with the good 
 things the committee would carry it over 
 to the jail. Flowers were sent to the jail 
 almost every day by the women folks. At 
 the conclusion of their three months in the 
 " Bastile " the " boys " said they had never 
 lived so well in their lives as during their 
 iinprisonment. 
 
 The wives of the imprisoned men were 
 loyal and courageous and never one of them 
 complained. An extract from a letter written 
 by one of these, which I find in " The En- 
 quirer Extra," will show just how they 
 felt: — 
 
 " My Dear Husband, — ... I am glad 
 to know that you are so cheerful. I have 
 not felt at all discouraged or downhearted. 
 Some say we are disgraced for all time; but 
 I tell them that I feel proud and honored 
 that you were among those chosen to be 
 persecuted in such a grand and noble cause. 
 [199] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 The boys are holding out faithfully here. Be 
 courageous; the end is not yet. Try to keep 
 well, so as to have strength to fight the good 
 fight to the end. . . . 
 
 "Your loving wife, 
 
 To return to the would-be lynchers and 
 their influence over my movements : During 
 the three weeks that the guard was main- 
 tained in my office I went out at night three 
 times. Once I went to the home of my 
 mother-in-law, to meet my " spy," who sent 
 word to me that he was being watched, and 
 was afraid to come to the office, as usual. 
 I was, of course, " spotted " and followed; 
 but the " spy " was awaiting me at my 
 mother-in-law's, and he got away without 
 being detected, though he hid for an hour in 
 the ash-pit at the rear of the premises. 
 
 Another time I went to the theater, at the 
 urgent request of my friends, who thought I 
 should have a little recreation. On the way 
 to and from the opera-house I walked be- 
 tween eight men, four in front and four be- 
 hind. They thought the precaution necessary 
 [ 200 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 in case of an attempt to " slug " me. Nothing 
 happened. 
 
 My third nocturnal trip is, I think, worthy 
 of a fuller recital^ than the two already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 It will be remembered that General U. S. 
 Grant died in the summer of 1885. Denver, 
 as did many other cities in the country, held 
 a memorial parade. Judge William Felker, 
 then State Railway Commissioner, was sey 
 lected by the Citizens' Committee as grand 
 marshal of the Denver parade. Organized 
 labor was invited, through the Trades As- 
 sembly, — which body I had assisted in organ- 
 izing, and of which I had served three terms 
 as president, — to participate in the parade, and 
 to select a representative for appointment as 
 an aide upon the staff of the grand marshal. 
 The invitation was accepted by the assembly, 
 and I was named as the choice of the body 
 for the position of aide. Of course " The 
 News " set up a howl at the choice made by 
 the Trades Assembly and managed to work 
 up some opposition to my appointment. 
 Judge Felker was urged by my enemies not 
 to appoint me. He placed the protest before 
 [ 201 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the officers of the Trades Assembly, but as- 
 sured them that he personally had no objec- 
 tion to my serving on his staff. The repre- 
 sentatives of the assembly said that labor had 
 made its choice and that he would be ac- 
 cepted and shown as much consideration as 
 any other aide or organized labor would not 
 march. That settled it. Our four thousand 
 men were wanted in the parade; it turned out 
 that fully half of those in the parade came 
 with the protested aide. 
 
 I did n't attend any of the meetings of the 
 grand miarshal and his aides until the last 
 one, held the night before the parade was to 
 take place. The judge was anxious that we 
 should all be present at that last meeting and, 
 guided by the advice of those closest to me 
 in strike affairs, I went to the judge's office. 
 There were twelve men, not counting the 
 grand marshal, present; but I never was 
 superstitious about the number 13. It was 
 about ten o'clock when the judge had de- 
 livered what appeared to be his final instruc- 
 tions and we were listening to a little talk 
 from one of the aides, when a dull, heavy 
 sound as if an explosion had occurred at some 
 [ 202 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 distance from where we sat, greeted our ears. 
 The aide stopped his remarks in the middle 
 of a sentence and, instinctively, it seemed, 
 every man in the room looked at me. They 
 all evidently remembered the notice given 
 by " The News " that I was to be lynched 
 " immediately following the next explosion." 
 There was perfect silence for half a minute, 
 then Halsey Rhoades, editor of " The Rocky 
 Mountain Herald," a weekly newspaper, 
 said: — 
 
 " That sounded like dynamite, Buchanan." 
 
 " It did, indeed," I replied. 
 
 Within two minutes the meeting had been 
 dismissed by the grand marshal and the 
 room was empty. I was in no particular 
 hurry, and so was the last one down the two 
 flights of stairs to the street. The street was 
 well lighted, and as I stood in the outer door 
 of the building I noticed that the sidewalks 
 were unusually filled with people. I calml}'^ 
 surveyed the scene for a moment and then 
 started toward my office, three blocks away. 
 I walked leisurely along, but not stopping, 
 though I occasionally nodded to an acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 [ 203 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 The greater part of those on the street were 
 going in the same direction that I took, and 
 many of them were moving very quickly. 
 Several men turned and looked at me after 
 they had passed me by, and the policemen 
 simply stood and stared. My way took me 
 in front of " The News " office, though I 
 might have crossed the street and not gone 
 directly by the door of my enemy; I did n't 
 cross the street, however. Gathered in front 
 of " The News " building was a crowd of 
 two hundred or more, and the editor-in-chief, 
 talking loudly, sprang into a buggy just be- 
 fore I reached the spot and drove rapidly 
 away. Had he looked behind him he would 
 probably have seen me — and there might 
 have been trouble right there; but he was 
 headed for the Rio Grande yards, where the 
 explosion had occurred. I walked on by the 
 crowd; no one made a move, whether or not 
 I was recognized, and it was n't my move. 
 While many, in their haste, were rushing by 
 me, it must not be understood that the com- 
 panions of my stroll were continually chang- 
 ing completely. There were many who 
 seemed to be in no greater hurry than I 
 [ 204 3 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 myself was. When I reached a point just 
 opposite my office, I turned into a tobacco- 
 store. The proprietor was a friend of mine, 
 and as he handed me out the cigar I called 
 for, he asked : — 
 
 " Is n't it a little risky for you to be 
 out?" 
 
 "Why should it be 'risky'?" said I. 
 
 " Did n't you know there was an explo- 
 sion?" asked my friend. 
 
 "Yes. What was it?" I inquired as I 
 lighted my cigar. 
 
 " They think it was over at the Burnham 
 shops, but no sure word has come from there 
 yet. But I think you had better keep out of 
 sight for a while, Mr. Buchanan; " and it was 
 evident he was very apprehensive for my 
 safety. 
 
 " I 'm going, don't worry. I 'm all right," 
 and I passed out of the store into the throng 
 on the sidewalk. Instead of going directly 
 across the street to my office, as I might have 
 done, I walked on to the corner, crossed, 
 and came down on the other side. There 
 were fully fifty men in my office and in the 
 hall of the building when I reached there. 
 [205 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 When they saw me they gave a shout, though 
 few of them had felt any particular concern 
 about my safety. 
 
 Among the uninitiated I received credit 
 for displaying a sort of reckless courage that 
 night. They were mistaken, and here is the 
 explanation : — 
 
 When I stepped onto the sidewalk in front 
 of the building in which the meeting of the 
 grand marshal and his aides had been held, 
 I gave a quick but careful glance all about 
 me. That glance revealed so many of my 
 friends in the crowd that it would have been 
 a difficult task to count them. It is easy to 
 understand, when you have the explanation, 
 that my friends, knowing where I was, would 
 hasten, in as large numbers as possible, to 
 join me when they heard the explosion. 
 Those who passed without haste down the 
 street were my friends, and a goodly bunch 
 of them kept close about me all the time, 
 though not a word passed between us. Prob- 
 ably there was greater danger on the street 
 than in the office, but it was a positive relief 
 to me to be out in the open air during one 
 short period of excitement^ and one does n't 
 [ 206] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 have so much trouble with his nerves in a 
 time like that if he can see all that is going 
 on around him. 
 
 About half an hour after I reached my of- 
 fice the report was brought in that the explo- 
 sion had taken place at the Burnham shops. 
 A considerable charge of giant powder had 
 been placed near one corner of the main 
 shop. Little damage had been done to the 
 building, though a large hole had been made 
 in the ground. No arrests were made, and 
 there was no lynching-bee that night. I 
 began to think that our preparations were 
 known to the enemy and they feared even to 
 attempt to carry out their threats. But there 
 was no letting up in the war upon and efforts 
 to frighten the " leaders." 
 
 A day or so after the incidents just related 
 I received a call from a gentleman who held 
 a high and important position in the city 
 government. He was also a member of the 
 Knights of Labor, and we had been intimate 
 friends for several years. His especial ob- 
 ject in paying me that visit was to inform me 
 that it had come to his knowledge that cer- 
 tain parties had made an arrangement with 
 [ 207 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the mayor and the chief of the fire depart- 
 ment to employ the big bell on the central 
 fire-station to call the lynchers together when 
 the time came to string me up. It is un- 
 necessary to explain fully why and how the 
 gentleman who came to see me obtained his 
 information, but that he knew the entire pro- 
 gramme there was not the slightest doubt in 
 my mind. He said that the bell was to be 
 tapped in a certain peculiar way to call the 
 mob together at the fire-house, which was 
 less than two blocks froin my office. 
 
 Of course I quietly spread the information 
 my friend gave me, including the fire-bell 
 code of the would-be lynchers, among the 
 leaders of the various labor organizations, 
 not omitting the captain of the shooting-club, 
 and told them to inform as many of their men 
 as they could trust to keep their mouths 
 closed. This move meant that the taps that 
 called the would-be lynchers together at the 
 fire-house would also bring several hundred 
 of my friends to my office. We thought 
 we had the best of that game, and I guess 
 we had, though the question was never 
 tested. 
 
 [ 208] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 I had three other callers, not listed among 
 my active supporters, that same day. These 
 gentlemen were prominent in Denver's busi- 
 ness circles and were all members of the 
 Board of Trade. I am not now positive that 
 they said - they represented ofEciall}' the 
 Board of Trade, but they used the name of 
 the organization freely in their talk to me. 
 The spokesman of the party was Mr. Phillip 
 Trounstine, member of one of the city's lead- 
 ing clothing firms. He said that he and his 
 associates had called to see if they could in- 
 duce me to leave the city and remain away 
 until the excitement, particularly the " lynch 
 talk," quieted down. I remember quite well 
 the substance, if not the actual language, of 
 my reply. 
 
 "Mr. Trounstine," I said, "you have known 
 me ever since I have been in Colorado, about 
 seven years. You have transacted business 
 with me, and for the greater part of those 
 seven years our places of business have been 
 in the same block. Did you ever know me 
 to commit a dishonest or unmanly act?" 
 
 " I never did," was Mr. Trounstine's re- 
 ply- 
 
 [ 209 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Then what do you mean by coming here 
 and asking me to leave the city?" 
 
 " We are fearful that this agitation against 
 you will lead to rash action by those who do 
 not know the truth about you; they will be 
 aided by the lawless element," said Troun- 
 stine. 
 
 " If it 's my personal safety you are con- 
 cerned about," I replied, " you may dismiss 
 your fears. My friends will take care of 
 me." 
 
 " That 's what troubles us, Buchanan," said 
 the merchant. " That is, we are afraid that 
 the threat to lynch you will be carried out 
 sometime when you can be caught off your 
 guard, in a moment of excitement, and that 
 your friends will take a terrible revenge upon 
 the city." 
 
 " You don't believe I am at all responsible 
 for the dynamiting that has been going on, 
 do you ? " I asked. 
 
 " No, we do not, but our belief on that 
 question does not allay our fears in the other 
 direction," said Mr. Trounstine. 
 
 After talking for half an hour in this way, 
 the discussion traveling round and round a 
 
 [ 2IO ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 circle, I closed the meeting by saying, as 
 positively as I knew how to say it: — • 
 
 " Gentlemen, you have come to the wrong 
 shop. If you wish to restore peace in this 
 community call upon the gentleman whose 
 office is at the other end of the block, on the 
 opposite side of the street. Otherwise take 
 my advice and increase the amount of your 
 insurance, for I don't think you have made 
 a bad guess in the latter half of your prog- 
 nostication. As for me, I stay right here, 
 unless' my duties call me elsewhere tempo- 
 rarily. All I have in this world is my good 
 name among those who know me well, and 
 the respect and confidence of the laboring 
 people of this city, state, and country. The 
 workingmen of Denver trust me and are 
 standing by me ; they, as well as I, are tak- 
 ing chances in this fight. I am not seeking 
 martyrdom, and hanging is not the way I 
 want to die ; but I would rather be hanged 
 forty times, if that were possible, than to 
 show the white flag of fear to the men who 
 are battling by my side, or repay the trust 
 and confidence reposed in irie by an act of 
 cowardice. Much as I sympathize with you, 
 [211] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 as innocent sufferers in a war not of your own 
 making, I cannot for a moment entertain 
 your suggestion." 
 
 The three gentlemen withdrew and I, 
 hurrying away so as to get back before dark, 
 turned my steps toward the Methodist par- 
 sonage, to see the good man who above all 
 others I relied upon in the darkest hours for 
 counsel and advice as to my personal move- 
 ments. 
 
 When I had told Dr. De La Matyr of the 
 interview that had just taken place in my 
 office and repeated as nearly as I could 
 what I had said in conclusion to the gentle- 
 men, he placed his hand on my shoulder and 
 said: — 
 
 " You did precisely right, my boy. You 
 will, no doubt, make many mistakes in life, 
 but I sincerely hope you will never be a 
 coward in the cause of truth and justice." 
 
 How I loved that good man for those 
 words. It would have broken my heart had 
 he disapproved of my course in what was, 
 all things considered, the severest test I had 
 ever to face in the labor movement. 
 
 I did leave Denver, however, a few days 
 
 [ 212 ] 
 
ALMOST A TRAGEDY 
 
 later ; and to preserve the chronological 
 sequence of my story, I must defer the tell- 
 ing of the closing incidents of the Rio Grande 
 strike until I have related the reasons for my 
 going away and what occurred while I was 
 on that mission. 
 
 [213 ] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 ON Wednesday, August 12, 1885, I de- 
 parted from Denver to attend a meet- 
 ing of the General Executive Board of the 
 Knights of Labor at St. Louis. I traveled 
 by a train which left Denver between the 
 hours of 9 and 10 p. M. In my first letter to 
 "The Enquirer" from St. Louis I wrote: 
 " Notwithstanding the outlines of scaffolds 
 and half-inch rope which my excited ima- 
 gination painted vividly before my eyes at 
 every turn in the streets, I reached in safety 
 the Union Depot a few minutes before the 
 Limited Express left for the East, over the 
 Kansas Pacific." " The News " paid me the 
 compliment of noting — without " regrets " 
 — my departure from the city in its issue of 
 the following morning; but, hornet-like, the 
 sting of the announcement was in its tail. 
 The concluding sentence of the " personal " 
 was to the effect that the city being well rid 
 [ 214 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 of me, the people should not allow me to 
 return. 
 
 The meeting of the Executive Board at 
 St. Louis was for the purpose of considering 
 a matter placed before the board by the 
 Wabash men. It will be recalled that a few 
 months before, — in April, to be exact, — I 
 had been " on the Wabash," and had assisted 
 in bringing to a satisfactory conclusion a 
 strike of the Knights of Labor shopmen. 
 Within eight weeks after the settlement of 
 that strike the company began to ignore the 
 terms of the agreement upon which peace 
 had been restored. Before the first of 
 August every important clause of the agree- 
 ment had been violated by the company's 
 officials. The men at Springfield and 
 Decatur, Illinois, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, 
 made the first practical protest; they went 
 on strike, their chief grievance being the 
 failure of the company to pay wages once in 
 each month, as required by the laws of the 
 states of Illinois and Indiana. Strikes quickly 
 followed at other points in the states men- 
 tioned, and in Missouri, for divers reasons; 
 and when the superintendents and foremen 
 [215] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 posted notices to the effect that members of 
 the order of Knights of Labor would not be 
 employed on the system, there was a general 
 strike, embracing the whole force of shop- 
 men on the system. About this time Dis- 
 trict Assembly No. 93, composed of all the 
 local assemblies on the Wabash, was or- 
 ganized. 
 
 The Wabash was being operated under a 
 receiver, as were the lines which comprised 
 the " Gould Southwestern System," among 
 which were the Missouri Pacific, the Mis- 
 souri, Kansas and Texas, the Iron Mountain, 
 and the Texas Pacific. The men on these 
 other lines — that is, the Knights of Labor 
 men — were very much exercised over the 
 condition of affairs on the Wabash, and to 
 this feeling of sympathy, more than anything 
 else, was due the calling together of the 
 members of the General Executive Board. 
 
 I had received not only the official notice 
 of the meeting from General Secretary Tur- 
 ner, but also urgent appeals from the Execu- 
 tive Board of the Wabash and from two 
 individuals, members of that board, to be 
 present at the meeting. One brother. Rev. 
 [216] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 A. C. Caughlin, sent me a lengthy telegram, 
 in which he urged me, " if you love your fel- 
 low men," to be at the meeting without fail. 
 He said, " We want you, though all the 
 others stay away." My reason for reciting 
 these evidences of my popularity with the 
 Wabash men will be apparent to the reader 
 later. Of course it is evident that their re- 
 gard for me was due to the service I had 
 rendered their cause in the April strike. 
 
 Well, as I have said, I went to St. Louis. 
 Mr. Powderly was ill at his home in Scran- 
 ton, and did not join the board until the third 
 day of the meeting, or just on the eve of our 
 departure for the East. All of the other 
 members, Frederick Turner, secretary, 
 William H. Bailey, John W. Hayes, and my- 
 self were present when the board was called 
 to order, in Lightfoot's Hall, St. Louis, Fri- 
 day morning, August 14. In the absence of 
 Mr. Powderly I was selected to act as chair- 
 man. There were also present at that first 
 day's meeting eleven members of the execu- 
 tive board of District No. 93, the Wabash, 
 and seventeen delegates representing the 
 roads of the " Gould Southwestern System." 
 [217] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 That first day's session lasted from ten 
 o'clock in the inorning until six in the even- 
 ing without intermission, and it was about 
 the hardest " eight-hour day " that one mem- 
 ber of the committee ever experienced. Far 
 be it from my wish to disparage, at this late 
 day, the actions of the other members of the 
 Executive Board on that occasion; and nat- 
 urally it was to be expected that they would 
 allow the burden to rest upon the shoulders 
 where it had been placed by the confiding 
 and zealous Wabash men. At any rate, the 
 facts are that Turner simply kept the records 
 of the meeting, Hayes looked on and said 
 nothing, Bailey put in most of the time at a 
 window, trying to get on friendly terms with 
 the elusive zeph3'rs that occasionally stole 
 through ^Washington Avenue that hot day, 
 while to the man who had traveled a thou- 
 sand miles, leaving grave responsibilities be- 
 hind him, was left the task which was sure, 
 temporarily, at least, to work his own un- 
 doing. 
 
 The joint session of the two boards and 
 the committees from the " Southwestern 
 System " had lasted but a short time when 
 [218] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 it became apparent that the principal object 
 of the Wabash men in asking for the meet- 
 ing was to induce a sympathetic strike upon 
 the part of the Knights employed by*the 
 other companies. The reason why my pre- 
 sence was so earnestly desired was also made 
 plain: I was accounted "a fighter" by the 
 Wabash men, and they also believed it was 
 my especial delight to fight railway com- 
 panies. Observe upon what false premises 
 reputations sometimes rest. I had been pro- 
 minent in several strikes, four of them against 
 railway companies. With one exception 
 the railway strikes had been ordered without 
 consultation with me, I being called in after 
 the fights were on, and in the case of the ex- 
 ception I had opposed the calling of the 
 strike to the utmost of my ability. Yet the 
 Wabash men had said among themselves, 
 " If Buchanan can be induced to leave the 
 Rio Grande trouble and come to the meet- 
 ing, the Southwestern men will be called out 
 in our support." 
 
 Members of the executive board of the 
 Wabash made clear and full statements of 
 their condition and the status of their strike, 
 [219] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 and, pointing out the traffic and other rela- 
 tions existing between the Wabash and the 
 roads of the Southwest, expressed, with the 
 utmost confidence, the belief that the pro- 
 posed sympathetic strike would hasten to a 
 successful issue their contest. It was also 
 shown that the Southwestern men, especially 
 the employees of the Missouri Pacific, had 
 grievances of their own, which could be 
 righted at the same time. Several of the 
 representatives of the other roads declared 
 that their people were ready and willing 
 to strike to help the Wabash men and, in- 
 cidentally, to secure adjustments of their 
 own grievances. Then came "the tug of 
 war." 
 
 " If the Wabash men want you to strike 
 and your people are as willing as you say to 
 comply with the request, why are we here 
 wasting valuable time ? " I asked. 
 
 "We want the General Executive Board 
 to call us out," replied one of the Texas 
 delegates. 
 
 " Which it will not do with my consent," 
 I said; and there was consternation in the 
 inidst of the Wabash men. Surprise, dis- 
 [ 220 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 appointment, anger, disgust, in turn, seized 
 them as they took in the full meaning of my 
 remark. Their "fighter" had turned cow- 
 ard; some were even ready, upon the impulse 
 of the moment, to say he was a traitor. 
 Slightly guarded these charges were thrown 
 at me in the speeches that for a full hour 
 followed my declaration. Then the excited 
 men cooled down somewhat and began to 
 plead, and in this they were assisted by the 
 Southwestern men. Some of the speeches 
 made, aimed at me, were truly eloquent. 
 They were filled with the inspiring tone of 
 courage — though mistaken that time — and 
 breathed a spirit of brotherhood that brought 
 tears to my eyes; and yet I had to oppose 
 the wishes of those brave fellows. 
 
 The four members of the General Execu- 
 tive Board withdrew to a small room in the 
 same building, and after five minutes' dis- 
 cussion decided that we could not grant the 
 request to call out the Knights of Labor on 
 the Southwestern System. When we re- 
 turned to the hall I announced our decision. 
 Then I was compelled to battle against those 
 twenty-eight men, with whose troubles I 
 
 [ 221 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 keenly sympathized, for several hours. I 
 made but one " long talk " during the dis- 
 cussion. As I was told later by Mr. Caugh- 
 lin that it was that talk which " destroyed 
 our last hope," I will give the substance of 
 my remarks : — 
 
 " You men of the Southwest," I said, 
 " come here and tell us that you are prepared 
 and willing to strike for the purpose of aid- 
 ing the Wabash men. Why then, I ask you, 
 have you not done so ? You have the power, 
 through your district assemblies, to order the 
 strike. You are brave men, but you ask 
 the General Executive Board, one member 
 of it, in fact, — for you see how matters stand 
 here, — to assume a responsibility you dare 
 not take upon yourselves. I tell you I will 
 not do it. I do not believe you have an even 
 chance to win in a contest with the com- 
 panies. The happiness — ay, the very lives 
 — of thousands of women and little children 
 would be placed in jeopardy by such a strike 
 as you advocate. Am I to be responsible 
 for them ? You are not as well prepared for 
 contests on your roads as the Wabash men 
 are on theirs, and I do not believe you would 
 
 [ 222 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 or could carry through successfully such a 
 war as you propose, and " — 
 
 " We '11 fight it out to the bitter end ! " 
 cried one of the delegates, breaking in on 
 my remarks. 
 
 " You think so now," I said; " but I do 
 not believe you realize fully what the ' bit- 
 ter end ' might be. I have left a strike 
 where the conditions are very much like 
 those on the roads of the Gould System, to 
 come here. We have had a terrible fight, 
 with the odds all against us, and the end is 
 not yet. Just as you are, the Rio Grande 
 men were before their strike began. Now 
 they understand the handicap they carried 
 into the contest. They represented practi- 
 cally nothing outside of the shops, and these 
 were not thoroughly organized; they could 
 not count for a certainty upon the support 
 of the trainmen ; they were scantily supplied 
 with funds, and the General Assembly was 
 not in a position to give them assistance to 
 any considerable extent. On the other side 
 was a road in the hands of a receiver, sup- 
 ported by the federal court, with all its 
 power and prestige. We will lose the Rio 
 [ 223 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Grande strike. This admission, which only 
 the seriousness of the present situation here 
 impels me to make, causes me pain and sor- 
 row; but I want to warn you of what 3'ou 
 may expect if you take the step you propose, 
 and at the same time show you why I am 
 so determined that the General Executive 
 Board shall not be held responsible for a 
 strike at this time on the Southwestern 
 System. 
 
 " I see by your faces that some of you are 
 not impressed by what I have said ; you 
 think I have turned coward and am looking 
 for excuses to run away from danger. Listen 
 while I paint for you a picture of such a 
 strike as you would have the board order, 
 and hear what I am willing to do if you will 
 do as much: Let us say the strike is ordered 
 and the shops closed, though the trains are 
 running. You know as well as I do that 
 you cannot defeat a railway company if the 
 trains continue to run; therefore you will 
 attempt to stop the trains. The police, 
 deputy United States marshals, deputy 
 sheriffs, and constables will swarm in the 
 yards and on the tracks; you must drive 
 [ 224 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 them off. You are husky fellows and full of 
 fight, so I'll admit that you can whip the 
 police and deputies. Then the militia of thei 
 various states through which the roads run 
 will be called out to oppose you. Who are 
 the militiamen ? Only a lot of spindle-legged 
 counter-jumpers, but they are well trained 
 and armed for business. Still, guns are 
 plentiful in your part of the country and most 
 of you are pretty good shooters yourselves ; 
 besides, you will be battling for a principle 
 and the welfare of ' Betty and the babies.' If 
 you are brave men and have intelligent 
 leadership, you can clean out the militia. 
 Now what happens? The federal judges, 
 under whom the road's are being operated, 
 appeal to the President of the United States 
 for assistance, and the regulars are sent to 
 put down what has by this time become an 
 armed revolution — rebellion, in fact. The 
 picture is not overdrawn; we Would have 
 had just such terrible experiences in Colorado 
 had we made serious efforts to stop the run- 
 ning of trains on the Rio Grande, and fol- 
 lowed them up. 
 
 " Now here is my offer to you : If you 
 [ 225 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 seventeen men who represent the South- 
 western roads will make a solemn pledge 
 here that you will carry through to ' the bit- 
 ter end,' as one of your number expresses it, 
 the programme as I have outlined it, or so 
 much of it as is necessary, will fight until 
 you are victorious or dead, I will no longer 
 oppose the ordering of the strike by the Gen- 
 eral Executive Board, and when it is ordered, 
 I will take any place in your ranks that may 
 be assigned me, no matter what the danger 
 may be, and will fight while there is a foe to 
 assail or a cause to defend! " 
 
 I took my seat and waited, but not a man 
 in the room moved. Presently I asked, 
 "What do you say?" 
 
 A tall, broad-shouldered, handsome man, 
 whose seat was just in front of mine, sprang 
 to his feet, and, folding his arms across his 
 chest, said, " I am ready to give the pledge." 
 
 It is not necessary that I should give this 
 man's name; it is enough to state that he 
 was from Fort Worth, Texas. He was a 
 brave fellow; but in my eyes, not braver 
 than the others who, when they realized 
 what harm they might do to innocent per- 
 [226] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 sons and to their country, conquered their 
 own pride and fear of ridicule and sat si- 
 lently under the challenge I had presented 
 to them. It was simply two examples of 
 courage from different points of view. The 
 Fort Worth man alone stood for a moment, 
 without uttering another word, and then 
 resumed his seat. ^ 
 
 The meeting soon thereafter adjourned. 
 There was no Southwestern strike that year; 
 it came about twelve months later, under the 
 leadership of poor Martin Irons, but as I had 
 nothing to do with that affair directly, it has 
 no place in my " story." 
 
 Some of the members of the Wabash ex- 
 ecutive board were very angry at me, and I 
 believe I lost friends that day whom I never 
 regained; but others, seeing the point I had 
 made against the position of the Southwest- 
 ern men, who were not willing to take the 
 responsibility of their own actions, but ex- 
 pected the General Executive Board to 
 shoulder it, exonerated me from all blame. 
 At a meeting of the General Executive 
 Board, some months after the incidents just 
 related, Rev. Mr. Caughlin,who was pre- 
 [ 227 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sent upon some business for his committee, 
 coolly stated that he had been tempted at 
 the meeting in Lightfoot's Hall, St. Louis, 
 to go out and get a rope to hang me. " But," 
 he added, " I soon became convinced that 
 Buchanan's position that day was right in 
 every particular." And thus it appeared 
 that I was in danger of being lynched 
 whether I stayed in Denver and supported 
 a strike or went to another part of the coun- 
 try and opposed one. 
 
 Before adjourning, the General Executive 
 Board indorsed the action of District Assem- 
 bly 93 in passing resolutions calling for the 
 impeachment of three judges of the United 
 States courts. As this action by the highest 
 officials of the order created considerable 
 comment at the time, and as the charges 
 made in the resolutions and the comments 
 in an " Enquirer " editorial are applicable to 
 several subsequent acts of the courts in labor 
 troubles, it may be worth while to reproduce 
 the resolutions and parts of the editorial. 
 The resolutions were as follows: — 
 
 "Whereas, the Wabash, St. Louis and 
 [ 228] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 Pacific Railway Company has declared war 
 upon the Knights of Labor, first, by refusing 
 them work in the shops of said company, 
 unless they sign away their rights, and lock- 
 ing them out of said shops; and, second, by 
 instituting a series of outrages upon mem- 
 bers of the order b}' United States marshals, 
 causing them to be arrested at the muzzles 
 of revolvers, manacled as felons and incar- 
 cerated in filthy dungeons so loathsome as to 
 impair the health of the imprisoned brothers, 
 all for the purpose of creating the impression 
 that they are felons, outlaws and dynamiters; 
 and 
 
 "Whereas, The United States court has 
 allowed itself to be used as a tool of said 
 company to deprive American citizens of the 
 right of free speech, thus violating a funda- 
 mental principle of our republican govern- 
 ment; therefore, be it 
 
 "Resolved, By this body of Knights of La- 
 bor, representing the entire order in North 
 America, that we request Major William 
 Warner, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Gen- 
 eral John M. Palmer, of Springfield, Illinois, 
 to defend our persecuted brothers in their 
 [229] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 respective states, and to bring action for con- 
 spiracy against their persecutors in the rail- 
 way company; also to prepare articles of 
 impeachment against Judges Treat, Krekel 
 and Brewer for malfeasance in office and for 
 high treason to the American people. 
 
 " Resolved, That we heartily commend 
 Major William Warner and General John 
 M. Palmer for their manly and gratuitous 
 defense of our distressed brothers; and 
 
 " Resolved, That copies of these resolu- 
 tions be transmitted to the gentlemen named 
 and to the public press." 
 
 The "Enquirer's " answer to the press and 
 public men who severely criticised the fore- 
 going resolutions expressed the sentiments 
 of the order generally, and of nearly the 
 entire labor movement. As I read, it now, 
 however, I am filled with wonder that I was 
 not hauled up for " contempt of court." This 
 was the editorial: — 
 
 " Every word of the preamble to the reso- 
 lutions is absolutely true, and not one of the 
 judges will attempt to make a denial. The 
 [230] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 statements also apply with full force to the 
 actions of Brewer during the early stages 
 of the Rio Grande strike. Then why should 
 there be anything so 'unparalleled' in the 
 action of the Knights in passing the resolu- 
 tions and in pushing the efforts to impeach 
 the guilty parties ? These judges sit upon 
 their benches wielding a power before which 
 that of the czar of Russia pales to nothing- 
 ness. A job is put up in the stock of some 
 railway, and to help carry it out a receiver 
 is appointed by Treat, Krekel, or Brewer. 
 The receiver, to pull the wool over the eyes 
 of the public, makes a show of economy by 
 slashing right and left at the workingmen 
 on the road, and when the men protest, Mr. 
 Receiver rushes into court and tells a string 
 of infernal lies; whereupon the court arrests 
 wholesale innocent men and throws them 
 into prison. Justice cuts no figure, and there 
 is no appeal to another court. The court 
 complains of ' contempt,' has the victim 
 brought before the bar, and the man on 
 the bench is both prosecutor and judge. Of 
 course the defendant ( ?) is found guilty, and 
 there is no appeal from the sentence which 
 [231] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the irate ' contempted ' judge may impose. 
 Such power in the hands of a judge is cer- 
 tainly dangerous to the well-being of a peo-r 
 pie; but, as an old lawyer said to me during 
 the trial of the Rio Grande men, ' It is only 
 within the year that the power has ever been 
 abused in such manner.' But there is a place 
 to which an appeal against the whims and 
 spitefulness of these imperial autocrats can 
 be taken — the Congress of the United States 
 — and there Messrs. Palmer and Warner, 
 backed b}' the Knights of Labor, will take 
 the cases of Treat, Krekel, and Brewer, and 
 we will then learn if there is a tribunal in 
 this country where the workingman can se- 
 cure justice. The capitalistic press may be 
 sarcastic and pooh-pooh as much as it likes, 
 but so sure as there is a sky above us, the 
 inhuman fiends who have their heels upon 
 the necks of the poor will have to take them 
 off pretty soon or face the music." 
 
 Notwithstanding the belligerent tone of 
 the resolutions adopted by the Knights, no 
 real effort to impeach the judges at whom 
 
 [ 232 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 they were aimed was ever made; the whole 
 thing went up in smoke. 
 
 The matter of a sympathetic strike being 
 disposed of, the General Executive Board 
 turned its attention toward the pending diffi- 
 culty. We made an effort to see General 
 Manager Tallmage of the Wabash, to try to 
 arrange a settlement of the strike on his 
 road. When, on the day following the 
 meeting with the Southwestern men, we 
 called at Mr. Tallmage's office, we were in-^ 
 formed that he had " gone East," although 
 he had been informed that we were going 
 to call upon him. We remained one more 
 day in St. Louis and were joined by Mr. 
 Powderly, the General Master Workman. 
 We then began a chase of Mr. Tallmage, 
 which took us to Cincinnati, Richmond, 
 Washington, and New York, in the order 
 named. 
 
 I have thought of that experience when 
 hearing well-meaning men say: "The thing 
 for labor to do is to go directly to the head 
 of a concern against which it has a grievance 
 and talk the matter over." We were doing 
 our best to have " a little talk " with the gen-. 
 [ 233 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 eral manager of the Wabash, but he was too 
 fleetfooted for us ; besides he was making the 
 itinerary — and keeping it to himself, too. 
 He was riding on passes, while we were 
 paying full fares for five. 
 
 Even the longest chase must have an end- 
 ing sometime. We finally ran our quarry 
 '^into the office of Jay Gould, in the Western 
 Union Building, corner of Broadway and Dey 
 Street, New York. That we secured the 
 interview with Mr. Tallmage was due to the 
 influence of Mr. Gould and other railway 
 chiefs. There were present at that inter- 
 view in Mr. Gould's office, besides the five 
 members of the General Executive Board, 
 Jay Gould, H. M. Hoxie, of the Missouri 
 Pacific, A. A. Tallmage, and his secretary, 
 Charles M. Hays. It was, of course, under- 
 stood that Gould's and Hoxie's interest in 
 the conference and the trouble leading up 
 to it was due to the possibility of a sympa- 
 thetic strike by the Southwestern men. 
 Those gentlemen were anxious to have Mr. 
 Tallmage settle the Wabash trouble before 
 it extended to their lines, and the little they 
 said in the conference was in the nature of 
 [234] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 oil upon the troubled waters. Mr. Powderly 
 did most of the talking for the executive 
 board. After Powderly and Tallmage had 
 threshed the subject over for nearly two 
 hours, the whole matter was simmered down 
 to the question of whether or not Knights of 
 Labor were barred from employment on 
 the Wabash. Mr. Tallmage declared that 
 there was no discrimination upon the part of 
 his company against members of the order. 
 We produced written and printed testimony 
 showing that there was such discrimination. 
 Then Mr. Tallmage said that if any notices 
 were posted in the company's shops to the 
 effect that members of the Knights of Labor 
 would not be employed, as we claimed, such 
 notices had been posted without his author- 
 ity or knowledge. I listened, with varying 
 degrees of impatience, to several repetitions 
 of Mr. Tallmage's declaration of innocence, 
 when I thought it was about time to bring 
 matters to a focus — although I disliked very 
 much to break into the discussion over my 
 chief's head. To myself I excused my ap- 
 parent boldness by the thought that I was a 
 long ways from home and that I was sadly 
 [235^ 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 needed there. Well, I got my chance to go 
 home that night. 
 
 " Mr. Tallmage," I remarked, " if, as you 
 say, the discrimination against members of 
 our order as practiced upon your road is 
 without your sanction, it seems to me that 
 our whole controversy can be easily settled 
 and this conference be brought quickly to an 
 end. My proposal is that you indite a tele- 
 grain, which can be put upon the wire right 
 here in this building, instructing the super- 
 intendent of your road to order the with- 
 drawal of notices of refusal to employ 
 Knights of Labor, where such exist, and to 
 forbid discriminations against our members 
 by division superintendents, foremen, and 
 bosses." 
 
 Surely the reader will say that was a tem- 
 perate and reasonable proposition; but it 
 was a bombshell in that conference, all the 
 same. Mr. Tallmage became very angry — 
 he seemed to take my suggestion as an in- 
 sinuation that he was trying to deceive us by 
 his professions of innocence. It may be he 
 was correct in his conclusion; the incident 
 happened so long ago that I will not attempt 
 C236] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 to say now just what was my opinion at that 
 time of the jockeying tactics of Mr. Tallmage. 
 Mr. Gould made a remark, in his quiet way, 
 approving my suggestion, but the others were 
 in favor of adjourning the conference to the 
 following day. 
 
 I never have understood just why my 
 brother members of the executive board 
 received my proposal so coldly that day. 
 Still, they may have thought my actions 
 were " positively rude." At any rate, I went 
 home fully convinced that our practical way 
 of doing things in the Rocky Mountain coun- 
 try was not appreciated by the " captains 
 of industry" and "labor leaders" of the 
 East. 
 
 Most of nny readers are aware that recog- 
 nition of the right of labor to organize and 
 of its wisdom in so doing are growths of re- 
 cent years, and were almost unknown at the 
 time of which I write. To all such, some- 
 thing Mr. Gould said to me will be of inter- 
 est, as I do not think he ever gave expression 
 publicly to such sentiments. We stood to- 
 gether talking a few minutes after the con- 
 ference had closed so abruptly. In answer 
 [237] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 to a question I had asked him Mr. Gould 
 replied : — 
 
 " Yes, I believe the organization of- labor 
 is good for the employees, the employers, 
 and the public. I would be pleased if all 
 the employees of the roads in which I am 
 interested were members of organizations of 
 their respective branches of the business. I 
 can meet and treat with the authorized re- 
 presentatives of the men, and thus frequently 
 avoid serious trouble; but it is not possi- 
 ble to always be sure of the grievances and 
 wishes of thousands who are distributed 
 through several states, and who do not them- 
 selves know and understand each other's 
 wishes." 
 
 I recalled these words of the railway king 
 when, a year later, he employed armed 
 guards to defeat the efforts of the organized 
 men on his roads to secure what they be- 
 lieved to be their rights; but I did n't dis- 
 cover any conflict between his professions 
 and his practices. In his talk with me he had 
 simply omitted mentioning that it was easier 
 to shoot men in bunches than to pick them 
 off singly. 
 
 [ 238 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 General Master Workman Powderly and 
 Secretary-Treasurer Turner were empow- 
 ered ,by the General Executive Board to 
 continue the conferences with the railway 
 officials ; the rest of us went about our other 
 work. Within the ensuing ten days Pow- 
 derly and Turner made a settlement with 
 Mr. Tallmage, and the strike was declared 
 off; but the company's agents paid slight 
 respect to the terms of settlement, violating 
 from the first and at every opportunity the 
 most important clause — the re-employment 
 of members of the order. Some of the men 
 never regained their positions; many were 
 " black-listed " throughout the Western rail- 
 way world, among them the Rev. A. C. 
 Caughlin, a man whose only crimes wer6 
 love for his fellow man and a courage to 
 contend, by peaceable means, for his rights. 
 He probably never but once thought " vio- 
 lence ; " that was when he saw visions of a 
 half-inch rope during my opposition to the 
 Southwestern strike, at the meeting in Light- 
 foot's Hall. 
 
 Having succeeded in breaking down a 
 sympathetic strike movement in St. Louis 
 [ 239] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 and breaking up a capitalist-labor cotifab in 
 New York, I concluded it was about time 
 for me to return to Denver as a place of 
 comparative safety; for I had become so 
 accustomed there to threats of death and 
 destruction that an unnatural and uneasy 
 feeling came over me when away. 
 
 When the train on which I was going 
 home pulled up at a little station a few miles 
 out of Denver, several of my friends got 
 aboard. In response to my exclamations of 
 surprise at seeing them there, they explained 
 that they had been out on Sand Creek gath- 
 ering snowballs. You see the threat had 
 been made that I would not be allowed to 
 re-enter the city, and I suppose the fellows 
 wanted the snowballs to use on the lynchers 
 should they meet us at the Denver station. 
 They did n't meet us, however, but my wife 
 and a young lady friend were there when I 
 alighted from the train. The ladies had se- 
 cured a cab, in which we three took seats, 
 lowering the curtains. As we drove off, my 
 wife placed a small hand-bag in my lap, 
 saying, " You 'd better open that." 
 
 I complied with her suggestion, and, dear 
 [ 240 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 reader, I know you will believe me when I 
 sa}' that what I saw in that bag almost took 
 my breath. Two at each end, with their 
 muzzles overlapping midway of the little bag, 
 reposed a quartette of six-shooters, and every 
 chamber held its loaded shell. Was n't that 
 enough to take my breath ? There was a 
 woman who was as quiet, gentle, and peace- 
 loving as any creature on earth, and yet she 
 had come down to that station with a small 
 arsenal on her arm. Did I smile ? Did I 
 break forth in loud laughter ? No; I felt 
 more like crying. I had no fear of being 
 molested; but she believed I was surrounded 
 by danger, and had done her best to protect 
 me. This was the explanation: On the 
 night I had left for the East, an hour after the 
 train had pulled out of Denver, an explosion 
 occurred in the Rio Grande yards in West 
 Denver. A crowd at once collected and 
 there was considerable excitement for an 
 hour or so. Accompanied by her father, my 
 wife went out to learn what had happened. 
 They stood for a few minutes on the outskirts 
 of a mob that had gathered in front of " The 
 News " office and listened to the tall talk of 
 [ 241 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 some " distinguished citizens." My name, 
 coupled with unparliamentary language, was 
 mentioned several times, accompanied by 
 the statement that I was not to be allowed 
 to " land " when I returned to the city. Poor 
 girl, she could n't get that mob and its threats 
 out of her mind for one minute during all the 
 time I was away, and when she received my 
 telegram announcing my return by a certain 
 train, she made a requisition on " The En- 
 quirer " arsenal and met me at the station, as I 
 have stated. She did n't know that snowballs 
 were ripe, and that a lot of the boys had gone 
 out to pick a mess. Of course we reached 
 home in safety. I remained at my father-in- 
 law's house that night, but the next morning 
 early I was at " The Enquirer " ofEce, and 
 was soon in the thick of the fight again. 
 
 An extract from an editorial printed in 
 " The Enquirer " on the second day after my 
 return home will give an idea of how matters 
 stood at that time. Following a brief refer- 
 ence to the trip I had taken and its results, 
 I said : — 
 
 " I want to reiterate for the benefit of the 
 [ 242 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 cowards who tried to create the impression 
 that I had been frightened away ' for good,' 
 that I am a resident of Denver — have busi- 
 ness here — and here I intend to make my 
 home until it is my sweet pleasure to change. 
 I do not court the notoriety given me by the 
 attacks of a scurrilous newspaper, but I can't 
 avoid it, and men who never knew me before 
 this trouble began now assure me that they 
 are my friends. The public is certainly very 
 weary, but I do not think it makes any mis- 
 take in fixing the blame. That which has 
 occasioned my enemies a serious loss has 
 been my gain, and 'I ain't sayin' a word.' 
 I shall continue to do what I consider to be 
 my duty, and shall always invite the closest 
 scrutiny of my every act. I should like to 
 be let alone to perform my duty to my fel- 
 low men, as I see it, but if I have to fight, all 
 right; I'm standing up to the rack. I ask 
 all true friends of the producers to stand with 
 me; the others I can very well get along 
 without." 
 
 In the mail which had accumulated during 
 my absence from home was an envelope con- 
 [243 J 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 taining a " warning." It was a hodge-podge 
 affair, made up of pictures of skull and cross- 
 bones, a circle intended to represent the 
 moon covered with spots of blood, and the 
 head of Christ, wearing a crown of thorns — 
 which the coward who sent me the thing 
 should have been ashamed to put to such 
 use. The text on the disgusting thing con- 
 tained the words, " Ye Die ! " and branded 
 me as an " Advocate of plancastite " — evi- 
 dently meaning panclastite, a high explosive 
 equal to dynamite in strength. I did n't 
 attach much importance to the warning, but 
 I have preserved it with the other mementos 
 of those stirring times. 
 
 As there had been a dozen or more dyna- 
 mite explosions after the threat was made to 
 lynch me, and as I had gone away from the 
 city and returned without being molested, my 
 friends concluded that it was unnecessary 
 longer to continue the guard, especially as 
 I slept at the house of my father-in-law for 
 some time after my return from the East. We 
 did not, however, become overconfident, but 
 " kept our eyes peeled, " and were ready 
 for trouble should it be forced upon us. It 
 [ 244 ] 
 
Sanguinary Lun| 
 
 Quen ad Finem e/ferentia se Jaetahit '. 
 
 . \-li\uni^ „!' !-'!,vitas<it:. 
 
 1H8- '.'!■. '.. t ; II S 1 -»Si Bwf- YK H7\NG. ^rn 
 
 BLOOD-SPOTS ON THE MOON. 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 is a pleasure to record that no one, foe or 
 friend, was injured by the guard during its 
 term of service. The closest approach to 
 an)d:hing serious in that quarter ended in the 
 only hearty laugh heard within the walls of 
 " The Enquirer " building during a period of 
 more than three weeks. I think the incident 
 is worthy of a place in these pages. 
 
 One night about nine o'clock the captain of 
 the watch sent Charlie Machette up on " the 
 hurricane deck," as the roof of the main 
 building was called by the boys, to recon- 
 noiter. As he was climbing down to the 
 roof of the rear extension, after carrying out 
 his instructions, his clothing caught on the 
 leader that ran along the eaves, which caused 
 a rattling noise that was heard all through 
 the second floor, where we all were. Chris. 
 Dorwartz, a robust German, was marching 
 up and down the hall with a Winchester on 
 his shoulder. Hearing the noise and not be- 
 ing aware of Charlie's mission, Chris, stepped 
 quickly to the rear hall door and, looking up 
 in the darkness, demanded : — 
 
 " Who 's dere ? " 
 
 No answer. 
 
 C245] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Who 's dere ? I want to know or I 
 shoot 1 " cried Chris., now thoroughly ex- 
 cited, as he brought his gun to his shoulder. 
 
 " It 's Machette, executing an order of the 
 captain," replied easy-going Charlie, as he 
 dropped to the lower roof, not in the least 
 frightened by the excited manner and threat- 
 ening challenge of Dorwartz. 
 
 The two men stepped into the hall to- 
 gether. Chris, carefully stood his rifle up in 
 the corner and, grabbing both of Charlie's 
 hands, said, puffing and panting between his 
 words : — 
 
 " By chiminey, Sharlie, you vas near a 
 dead goner dat time. I 'm awful glad you 
 tole me aboud id quick enough I " 
 
 There were no more dynamite explosions 
 after my return from the East, and, although 
 " The News " kept up its fight on me, the 
 propaganda of lynching gradually faded away, 
 until it became the general opinion that I was 
 to be allowed to live out my natural life. 
 The old, senseless cry that I was a sham la- 
 bor advocate and was deceiving the working- 
 men, took the place of threats to lynch in the 
 columns of " The News." I say senseless 
 [ 246 ] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 because the apparent object of such a charge 
 was to weaken my influence with the work- 
 ingmen, and only a foolish man would think 
 that could be done by a paper which was 
 known to every laborer in the West as an un- 
 comproraiising and unprincipled foe to organ- 
 ized labor. After a little while " The News " 
 ceased its personal war and, very rarely 
 mentioning Lennon, myself, or any of the 
 other men in the front rank of the Knights 
 of Labor locally, aimed its poisoned arrows 
 at the order generally'. However, the order 
 seemed to stand its onslaughts as well as the 
 individuals had stood them. During the Rio 
 Grande strike there was a great boom in 
 organization throughout the region ; in Den- 
 ver we had, in the fall of that year, twelve 
 assemblies, with an aggregate membership 
 of over four thousand. 
 
 In dismissing from further consideration 
 " The News," which has been the villain of 
 the " Story " up to this point, it will be but an 
 act of fairness for me to state that the paper 
 in later years, under different management, 
 became one of organized labor's ablest and 
 firmest supporters in the West. 
 [247] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 In the end the Rio Grande strike was a 
 failure. It never was officially declared 
 "offj" but by October, or within a month 
 after my return from the Wabash trouble, 
 the strikers realized that they were defeated. 
 The trainmen refused to assist us, and 
 enough " scabs " to keep the rolling-stock in 
 repair were secured by the company. There 
 was no chance for us to win, and so the 
 men were told to get their places back if 
 they could. Most of the strikers regained 
 their positions in time, but some of them 
 were not re-employed, and had to find work 
 elsewhere. 
 
 What about the dynamiters ? How about 
 the discoveries of General Cook, to whom 
 $500 were paid by the Knights.? Several 
 arrests of alleged dynamiters were made by 
 the police and " deputies," but all save one 
 were discharged at their preliminary exam- 
 inations. The exception was a man by the 
 name of Smith, who was not a member of 
 the Knights or any other labor organization. 
 At this man's trial it was clearly proven that 
 he, a friendless stranger in the city, had been 
 used as a " stool-pigeon " by a pair of the 
 C 248] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 company's guards — " detectives " — in an 
 effort to secure the rewards that were offered 
 by the railway company, the state, and the 
 Knights, for the apprehension of any one 
 guilty of attempting to destroy railway pro- 
 perty. Smith was acquitted, but nothing 
 was done with the conspirators, who had 
 tried to fasten upon him the crime of placing 
 upon the railway track a package of dyna- 
 mite which one of the " detectives " had 
 dropped as he walked the track with Smith, 
 and the whole matter was hushed up. Gen- 
 eral Cook had procured sufficient evidence 
 to prove that most of the explosions that 
 had taken place were the work of " detect- 
 ives " whose object it was to keep alive the 
 feeling that their services were necessary to 
 protect the property of the company; but 
 there was no desire upon the part of the 
 authorities to investigate that phase of the 
 matter. Cook did not succeed in " running 
 down " all of the explosions, but he assured 
 me that he did not, in all his investigations, 
 discover a scrap of evidence that pointed to 
 a member of organized labor as a partici- 
 pant in any of the outrages. This informa- 
 [ 249] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 tion was for me alone; it was not made 
 public, and there was no reason why Cook 
 should tell me anything but the truth. 
 " The Rio Grande strike and its failure 
 confirmed in me the belief that labor, if it 
 relied solely upon the justice of its cause, 
 was doomed to defeat in contests with the 
 employers — at any rate, when the employer 
 was a corporation. To secure the loyal and 
 enthusiastic support of labor itself a just 
 cause was, I felt, necessary, but for this pur- 
 pose only. To win concessions asked of the 
 employer labor must possess the power to 
 compel. The people of Colorado knew that 
 the grievances of the Rio Grande shopmen 
 were genuine and that they were entitled to 
 all they asked of the company, and Receiver 
 Jackson said in an interview that " the points 
 at issue are of no special importance to the 
 company;" and yet, because the strikers 
 were not strong enough seriously to cripple 
 the operations of the company, Jackson 
 refused to grant their demands or even to 
 treat with them for a settlement of the trou- 
 ble. It was pretty well understood that the 
 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Company 
 [ 250] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 wanted to secure control of the Rio Grande 
 as an extension of its line between Denver 
 and Ogden ; from the latter point it would 
 go on to the Pacific coast. The grievances 
 of the employees, aggravated until a strike 
 resulted, the strike prolonged until the stock 
 of the Rio Grande was greatly depreciated, 
 would present the opportunity the " Q^" 
 people wanted. By just such methods the 
 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy obtained 
 control of the Burlington and Missouri River 
 road and made their connection between the 
 Missouri River and Denver. 
 
 But while the programme was carried 
 out, so far as making of labor a scapegoat 
 and victim was concerned, the main scheme 
 did n't go through. The Santa Fe road was 
 not kindly disposed toward the Pacific coast 
 hankerings of the " QJ" and the game was 
 blocked. 
 
 Though the strike was lost, the order of 
 Knights was not disrupted on the Rio 
 Grande, as its enemies hoped it would be, 
 by defeat in its first important contest with 
 the company. As a matter of fact, member- 
 ship in the order increased during the strike 
 [251] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 as it never did at any other period of its his- 
 tory in Colorado. District Assembly No. 
 89, embracing all of the assemblies in the 
 state, excepting those of the Union Pacific 
 men, had become a recognized power in the 
 state, not only in industrial matters, but also 
 in other affairs. Some of the trades-unionists 
 who were not Knights looked with disfavor 
 upon the increasing strength of the order, 
 because they believed it foretold the decline 
 of trades-unionism and the ascendency of the 
 organization which held less in reverence 
 the lines that divided trade from trade. I 
 was a member of the General Executive 
 Board of the Knights, an organizer, and 
 Master Workman of District Assembly 89; 
 but I was also a member of the Typograph- 
 ical Union. It was on account of this dual 
 position I occupied in the labor world that 
 I had my most serious troubles on " the in- 
 side," though my socialistic views got me 
 into some hot water also; but I have n't come 
 to that part of my story yet. 
 
 I was elected the representative of District 
 Assembly 89 in the General Assembly, which 
 met at Hamilton, Ontario, in October, 1885. 
 [252] 
 
DISAPPOINTING MY FRIENDS 
 
 My term as a member of the board expired 
 at this session, and I was not a candidate for 
 re-election. 
 
 The year 1885, which was, I think, the 
 stormiest in my career, closed in compara- 
 tive quiet. It is true that there were three 
 or four strikes on hand at Christmas time in 
 which I was bearing a part; but they were 
 small affairs, compared with the Rio Grande 
 trouble, and I was enabled to give more of 
 my time to the work of organization than I 
 had done for several months, <■ 
 
 [253] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 IN January, 1886, there was organized in 
 Denver a society for the dissemination 
 of radical ideas on social and economic ques- 
 tions. The preliminary meeting was held 
 on Sunday afternoon. I was not present at 
 the opening of the meeting, though- 1 had 
 been invited to attend. My reason for re- 
 maining away from the meeting was that 
 there had been a previous attempt in the 
 same direction which had been blasted while 
 very young by jealousy, bickering, and tale- 
 bearing, and I felt that life was too short for 
 the work of labor emancipation to waste any 
 of it in quarrels among ourselves. I was at 
 my office, engaged upon some work for the 
 paper, when two of my friends came in. 
 They stated that there was a considerable 
 gathering of the faithful at the appointed 
 place, but that they wanted me present be- 
 fore they took steps toward the organization 
 
 [254] 
 
undErTthe red flag 
 
 of a society. I was informed that if the 
 effort to "get together" failed, the fault 
 would be mine. 
 
 " If the case stands thus," I said, " I will 
 go with you, but before I connect myself 
 with any more organizations I have some- 
 thing to say." 
 
 " That 's all right," replied one of the 
 gentlemen ; " we want your ' say,' as we are 
 all giving our ' says.' " 
 
 We went together to the place of meet- 
 ing, and I had my " say." Here is what it 
 was: — 
 
 " I will go into this movement if every one 
 who becomes a part of it will obligate him- 
 self never to speak ill of another member, 
 under any circumstances whatever, and if 
 you will adopt a rule to expel any member 
 who utters a word derogatory of the char- 
 acter or conduct of another member, even 
 though what is said be the absolute truth. 
 Such a movement as you propose, to be suc- 
 cessful, must leave every individual the mas- 
 ter of his personal conduct and the sole 
 custodian of his own reputation. I have 
 no desire to be a dictator, but I am sick of 
 [255] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 scandal and backbiting, and I have no time 
 to waste in quarters where these disagree- 
 able things are to be tolerated for a mo- 
 ment." 
 
 It seemed that I had expressed a thought 
 that was in the minds of all present, and upon 
 that unique basis we that day organized the 
 Rocky Mountain Social League, a society 
 which, I do not hesitate to say, did more to 
 enlighten the community in which it existed, 
 made more influential converts, and equipped 
 a greater number of intelligent propagandists 
 of the doctrines of modern socialism during 
 the twelve months of its active existence than 
 may be claimed by any similar organization 
 in the same length of time. 
 
 The meetings of the League were held 
 on Sunday evenings, and, although the daily 
 press ignored them at the start, they began 
 at once to attract attention. We employed 
 hand-bills to announce our meetings; "The 
 Enquirer," of course, boomed the new edu- 
 cational movement; the members were so 
 many missionaries during the week, drum- 
 ming up the crowd for Sunday evening, and 
 our singing — and we did sing — drew in 
 [256] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 many of those who were passing along the 
 popular thoroughfare upon which our meet- 
 ing hall was situated. With all these agen- 
 cies assisting us, and with an attractive pro- 
 gramme, that made those who came once 
 want to come again, it was not long until 
 the large hall in which the meetings were 
 held was taxed to its capacity. The daily 
 press could not continue to keep its columns 
 closed to a weekly assemblage of hundreds 
 of citizens, especially when public questions, 
 municipal questions, moral, social, aye and 
 religious questions were discussed in those 
 assemblages, discussed with the bars down, 
 so to speak. So it soon came to pass that the 
 Monday morning papers contained lengthy 
 reports of the meetings, and editorial writers 
 gave frequent evidence of the fact that they 
 knew something new and interesting was 
 going on. It goes without saying that the 
 editors rarely said anything good about us. 
 
 But ere long the Rocky Mountain Social 
 League won attention from another and 
 more important quarter. The clergymen of 
 the city began to wonder what was the at- 
 traction that drew so much larger audiences 
 t 257 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 to the League than attended any of the 
 churches. Some of them traced missing 
 members to the League hall, and then the 
 Ministers' Association, which met every 
 Monday morning, made a move to investi- 
 gate. A communication was sent to the 
 chairman of the League asking that repre- 
 sentatives be sent to the meeting of the 
 Ministers' Association, to explain the pur- 
 poses of the League, and especially to eluci- 
 date the oft-repeated declaration from the 
 League's platform that ours was the only 
 genuine Christian society in the city. The 
 executive committee selected John B. Len- 
 non and myself to attend the ministers' meet- 
 ing, and that was the most pleasing bit of 
 missionary work that ever fell to my lot. 
 
 I need not give a detailed report of the 
 meeting — the two meetings, in fact, for we 
 were requested to coine again on the follow- 
 ing Monday, after using up all of the morn- 
 ing hour in expounding our doctrine. Those 
 of my readers who are familiar with the 
 teachings of Christian Socialism will know 
 
 what was the tenor of our remarks at those 
 ; who c 
 
 [258] 
 
 meetings. Those who do not understand 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 the tenets of Christian Socialism may not 
 care to be preached at in these pages. It is 
 sufficient proof that our mission was not in 
 vain to state that several members of the 
 Ministers' Association afterward, at different 
 times, occupied the platform and made ad- 
 dresses at the League. This they did after 
 holding their regular services in their re- 
 spective churches. Among the ministers 
 who appeared on the League's platform 
 were Gilbert De La Matyr, Myron W. Reed, 
 Bayard Craig, Thomas Van Ness, and Henry 
 Stauffer. De La Matyr and Reed were of 
 course friendly to the reform movement be- 
 fore the event I have just related ; but the 
 others had up to that time been either hos- 
 tile or indifferent. 
 
 I shall never forget the night that Bayard 
 Craig spoke at the League. Ex-Governor 
 John L. Routt was one of the principal men 
 in Mr. Craig's church, and was also the 
 reverend gentleman's uncle. The Sunday 
 evening that Mr. Craig spoke to the League 
 he came to the hall accompanied by the ex- 
 governor, but the latter slipped quietly into 
 a seat in the rear, while the clergyman came 
 [259] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 straight up to the platform, of course. I 
 had known Mr. Routt ever since I had been 
 in Colorado ; he was governor of the state 
 when I went there, in 1878, and I had made 
 his acquaintance soon after my arrival. 
 Probably few present knew him by sight, 
 and as he was sitting behind them the few 
 who may have known him were unaware of 
 his presence. From my elevated position in 
 the presiding officer's chair, I had seen the 
 ex-governor enter, and I kept him in sight 
 all during the address of Mr. Craig, for be- 
 fore he was well seated in his chair I had 
 hatched a little surprise for Mr. Routt and 
 everybody else present. 
 
 Owing to the fact that he had to preach 
 his evening sermon before coming to our 
 meeting, Mr. Craig's address was the last 
 number on the programme, excepting the 
 closing song. When the address was con- 
 cluded and the speaker had seated himself, 
 I arose and said : — 
 
 " Comrades, we are now about to enjoy 
 
 an unusual treat. Before calling for the 
 
 closing song I desire to announce that we 
 
 have with us this evening, unexpected by 
 
 [260] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 all of you, I know, one of Colorado's most 
 distinguished citizens. The League has 
 been honored during its career by addresses 
 from the leading clergymen of the city, 
 among whom is the gentleman who has just 
 taken his seat, from leading jurists and poli- 
 ticians, but so far we have not had the 
 pleasure of listening to the governor of the 
 state. To-night we are to do even better 
 than that : we are to have a few remarks 
 from an ex-governor. It affords me great 
 pleasure to call upon Ex-Governor John L. 
 Routt." 
 
 All during my remarks Mr. Routt was 
 crouching, squirming, and twisting, but I 
 kept an eye on him to see that he did n't 
 bolt for the stairs before I could get his 
 name out. He' made no effort to get out, 
 however. The members of the League had 
 listened to me with puzzled looks on their 
 faces, and the Reverend Craig, who scented 
 the game early, got up and sat down again 
 two or three times before I had concluded 
 my introduction of his distinguished uncle. 
 As soon as the audience realized what was 
 up, the men began to call for " Governor 
 [261] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Routt! Governor Routt! Governor Routt! " 
 and the women clapped their hands. Finally 
 the governor got upon his feet and began to 
 excuse himself ; but the Leaguers would 
 have none of his excuses. They did n't 
 catch a real live ex-governor and mining 
 prince every Sunday night. 
 
 " Platform ! Take the platform, Governor 1 " 
 cried the Leaguers. Well, the governor 
 didn't take the platform; but he walked up 
 to a place in front of the audience, and dur- 
 ing profound silence and closest attention on 
 the part of the assemblage made a nice little 
 talk. He didn't, of course, know anything 
 about the principles of the League, but he 
 realized that we were championing the cause 
 of the workingman, and he made the regu- 
 lation speech — five minutes size — about 
 the dignity of labor that the average rich 
 man was making years before that Sunday 
 night and is still making. But the Leaguers 
 were too well behaved to show any disap- 
 proval of their visitor's remarks, and the vote 
 of thanks tendered the governor was unani- 
 mous and hearty. 
 
 The closing song was never sung with 
 [262] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 more spirit than on that occasion. It was 
 to the tune of "Glory, Glory, Halleluiah!" 
 and the governor made a brave effort to 
 " come in on the chorus," though he did n't 
 know the words we used, and his voice stood 
 little show in that assemblage of five hundred 
 enthusiastic Socialists. The next morning's 
 papers had something to say about the inci- 
 dent, some taking it seriously, while others 
 thought the whole thing a good joke- the 
 governor, be it said to his credit, never of- 
 fered any public explanation, but held his 
 peace. 
 
 Among other prominent men who ad- 
 dressed the Social League during the year 
 that I remained in Denver were Congress- 
 man James B. Belford, Speaker of the State 
 Assembly Thomas B. Stuart, and Judge 
 Frank Tilford; but these came willingly, 
 as friends of the movement we had inaugu- 
 rated, and were not trapped as ex-Governor 
 Routt had been. 
 
 The reader probably thinks he detects an 
 
 especial fondness upon my part for the Rocky 
 
 Mountain Social League. I plead guilty to 
 
 the charge. Why not? I believed then that 
 
 [263] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the League was doing a good work in bring- 
 ing the earnest men and women of what 
 seems to be opposing interests together on 
 the platform of the fatherhood of God and 
 the brotherhood of man ; and I believe it 
 yet. Though we were opposed to the ex- 
 isting order, we realized that we had to live 
 under it until it could be changed, and we 
 thought the way to accomplish the change 
 was to get all good people to agree, with us, 
 that the change was needed. Ours was a 
 crusade of peace, and we were fast winning 
 the respect and support of many good men 
 and women who by environment were, or 
 supposed they were, against our ideas. I 
 found it hard to give up the League when 
 the time came for me to leave Denver. 
 
 When my opponents in the Knights of 
 Labor used to accuse me of attempting to 
 make the order socialistic, one of my favor- 
 ite replies was, " Well, I have n't devoted 
 all of my time to that field. I have given 
 some of it to the preachers and politi- 
 cians." 
 
 I have in preceding chapters referred sev- 
 eral times to the International Workmen's 
 [264] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 Association, and promised, in the proper 
 place, to tell something about the organiza- 
 tion. The time has now come for me to 
 redeem that promise. 
 
 The International Workmen's Association 
 was organized in the Tavern des Frans- 
 Macons, London, England, August 5, 1862. 
 Delegates were present from nearly every 
 country in Europe, representing, in most 
 cases, constituencies comprising a large per- 
 centage of the intelligent workers of their 
 respective states. Karl Marx was a central 
 figure at this meeting, and his doctrines were 
 principally the basis upon which the organi- 
 zation was founded. At a later convention 
 there was a division of the organization, at 
 which time the distinctive titles " Red " and 
 " Black " came into use. The radical ele- 
 ment, under the leadership of Bakounine, 
 refused to submit to what it deemed the too 
 conservative methods of Marx and his fol- 
 lowers — the majority — and left the conven- 
 tion in a body. From that time the disciples 
 of Marx (Socialists) were known as the 
 " Red," and those of Bakounine (Anarch- 
 ists) as the "Black." It was Prince Bis- 
 [ 265 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 marck who said, "When the Red and the 
 Black are again united, thrones may well 
 tremble ! " 
 
 Previous to 1881 the International Move- 
 ment in the United States was almost confined 
 to the German population, chiefly because 
 there were no available text-books in the 
 English language, and also because those in 
 charge of the movement were Germans and 
 did not know how to reach the American 
 public. A few tracts in English had been 
 printed, but they were not of a style calcu- 
 lated to make an impression upon Ameri- 
 cans. In 1 88 1 a little band of men in San 
 Francisco, one of whom had been connected 
 with the International in England, formed 
 themselves into a nucleus of a distinctively 
 American branch of the organization. The 
 leader of this group, all of whom were men 
 of education and experience in the commer- 
 cial and professional worlds, was Burnette 
 G. Haskell, a young lawyer of brilliant parts 
 but erratic temperament and habits. Has- 
 kell, though naturally gifted and thoroughly 
 trained, was never a success as a lawyer, 
 principall}' because he conceived a strong 
 C 266] 
 
'^<^E+'-H2*-i-; P-OCKY-flDUNTAI-tUlvl'jiofs -^^ 
 
 ■ — — CDLDRABO,UTAH,DAKnTA,M':WANft,iDVH[| AND 
 
 lrrHt'.;TATt'JFr:ilH|irtil,;,\ ,ij l,|t HCPIJCLIL UrmUMUl. 
 
 .'a:ti.l';fe] . 
 
 
 COMMISSION AS ORGANIZER OF I. W. A. 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 dislike for the profession before he had 
 hardly entered upon its practice. He was 
 an omnivorous reader, and when I first met 
 him I believe he knew more of the revolu- 
 tionary, reform, and labor movements of the 
 whole world than any other man in this 
 country. But, as I have said, he was erratic, 
 — others said he was unbalanced, — and he 
 failed all along the line. 
 
 Under the leadership of Haskell the Inter- 
 national spread up and down the coast from 
 San Francisco. In 1 883 it crossed the " Great 
 Divide ; " headquarters of the Rocky Moun- 
 tain Division were established in Denver, 
 and I was constituted the division executive. 
 My paper, " The Labor Enquirer," was made 
 the national official organ, Haskell's paper, 
 " Truth," having suspended a short time 
 before my election as division executive. 
 
 The International was a secret organiza- 
 tion, and never, to my knowledge, did it do 
 violence to its professions in this regard. 
 But it was not, as many thought and some 
 openly charged, a conspiracy for the purpose 
 of inaugurating a revolution by force. It 
 did, however, declare that revolution was 
 [267] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 inevitable, and that it was the duty and the 
 part of wisdom for the intelUgent friends of 
 the common people to be prepared to substi- 
 tute the Co-operative Commonwealth for the 
 overthrown competitive system. Ambitious ? 
 Admitted. 
 
 Among the objects of the International, to 
 the support of which those becoming mem- 
 bers had to pledge their fortunes, their honor, 
 their lives, were these : To protect members 
 from wrongs ; to protect all other producers 
 from wrongs ; to assist all labor organizations, 
 and to aid the establishment of unity between 
 all labor organizations ; to assist an alliance 
 between the industrial and agricultural pro- 
 ducers; to encourage the spirit of brother- 
 hood and interdependence among all pro- 
 ducers of every state and land; to ascertain, 
 segregate, classify, and study our enemies, 
 their habits and acts ; to prepare the way for 
 the direction of the coming social revolution 
 by an enlightened and intelligent public 
 thought, educated into a knowledge of the 
 wrongs perpetrated against the producers of 
 the world, and knowing the way to secure 
 their death beyond resurrection; to obliterate 
 [268] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 national boundary lines and sectional preju- 
 dices, with a view to the international uni- 
 fication of the producers of all lands; to 
 eradicate the false impression of the people 
 that redress could be obtained by the ballot, 
 
 A "Declaration of the Rights of Man," 
 of which the preamble was a paraphrase of 
 the American Declaration of Independence, 
 was published and distributed all over the 
 Western part of the country. Our member- 
 ship, however, extended to the Atlantic coast. 
 I myself issued many of the once famous 
 " red " cards to prominent and progressive 
 labor men and reformers in New York, Cin- 
 cinnati, Chicago, and other cities of the East 
 and the middle West. But the main strength 
 of the organization was in the West. What 
 the total membership was at its highest 
 notch — in 1886 — only the national ex- 
 ecutive, the nine holders of " blue " cards, 
 knew; and we never told. 
 
 Inasmuch as the " red " card occasioned 
 quite a flurry in the Knights of Labor in 
 1886 and 1887, and was frequently referred 
 to in the newspapers at that time, but was 
 never published, it may be of interest to 
 [ 269 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 quote some of the sentiments it contained. 
 Among these was the exhortation of the 
 organization : " Educate, agitate, organize, 
 unite ! " The magic words, whose initials 
 were incorporated in the seal, were : " Lib- 
 erty, Equality, Fraternit}', Solidarity!" "Our 
 Motto: War to the palace. Peace to the 
 cottage. Death to luxurious idleness." "Our 
 Object : The reorganization of society in- 
 dependent of Priest, King, Capitalist, or 
 Loafer." " Our Principles : Every man is 
 entitled to the full product of his own labor, 
 and to his proportionate share of all the 
 natural advantages of earth." 
 
 The system of organization of the Inter- 
 national was unlike that of any society or 
 association of which I have any knowledge. 
 The initiation ceremony consisted simply of 
 an obligation administered by the organizer 
 in each particular case and at any place. 
 This apparently loose method of admitting 
 members will appear all-sufficient when one 
 realizes that no one was asked to attach him- 
 self to the organization until he had been 
 watched and studied for a long time and 
 thoroughly sounded by the head of the group 
 [ 270 J 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 to which he became afterward attached. 
 There were no lodges, assemblies, or local 
 unions requiring halls for meeting purposes j 
 groups were the only form of organization. 
 These groups consisted of nine members, 
 and they met, as often as they themselves 
 elected, at the homes of the members of the 
 respective groups. There was no central 
 organization outside of the division execu- 
 tives, who constituted the national ex- 
 ecutive, and who met only when occasion 
 required. There was no initiation fee, and 
 the monthly dues were but ten cents. An 
 entire absence of expense in the actual ad- 
 ministration of the organization's affairs was 
 one of its peculiarities. All of the moneys 
 collected were devoted to the publication 
 and circulation of literature, each division 
 having absolute control over its own funds. 
 Under the group system it was impossible 
 for any member, excepting the division ex- 
 ecutive, to know more than sixteen members 
 besides himself, unless members of different 
 groups disclosed themselves to each other 
 through a system of signaling and testing. 
 Each member was expected to organize a 
 [271 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 group of nine, including himself ; but his 
 work of organizing ceased with the com- 
 pletion of that one group. Thus it will be 
 seen that, with the eight members who were 
 associated with him in the group he first 
 became a member of, and the eight he se- 
 cured for the group he organized himself, his 
 knowledge of the personnel of the movement 
 was, as has been said, limited to sixteen. 
 The division executive issued the "red" 
 cards to all members of groups, and he had 
 a complete record of members in his terri- 
 tory. The name of the division executive 
 was not signed to the card, the signature con- 
 sisting of the hyphenated combination of a 
 letter and a number. In fact, names were 
 not used, except in the original record, each 
 member being designated by a letter and a 
 number. The letter indicated the parent 
 group, and the number the subordinate 
 group. By this method the division ex- 
 ecutive could trace a member through all 
 the groups between the one of which he was 
 a member and the original group of that let- 
 ter. This system may seem intricate to some ; 
 in the eyes of some holders of " red " cards 
 [ 272 ] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 it helped to surround the organization with 
 an air of mystery; but it was very compre- 
 hensive and simple to those who were at the 
 head of the organization. 
 
 It goes without sa3ang that such an organi- 
 zation as the International depended for suc- 
 cess entirely upon faith and confidence by 
 the members in each other and especially in 
 the leaders, which explains why the I. W. A. 
 lasted less than ten years in the United 
 States — the two qualities named were never 
 very strong in the American reformers. 
 
 Early in April, 1886, 1 received a call from 
 California. Some trouble had arisen among 
 the different divisions of the radical move- 
 ment on the Pacific coast, and after trying 
 to settle it among themselves, and failing, 
 the conflicting factions agreed upon me as 
 arbitrator. I could not resist the appeal 
 which came to me from the Pacific coast 
 comrades, and, although it necessitated a 
 long journey and took me away from mat- 
 ters which required my attention nearer 
 home, I packed my grip, and, leaving my 
 paper in charge of James J. Callahan, who 
 had come to my aid on several similar occa- 
 [273] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sions, boarded a train for San Francisco. 
 Just to show the company's regard for me, 
 a detective in the employ of the Rio Grande 
 railway went along on the same train and 
 kept his eye on me until I left that road at 
 Ogden. I probably would never have known 
 of this bit of tender watchfulness on the part 
 of my friend Jackson had I not made the 
 acquaintance of a lady from Iowa, who was 
 also en route to the coast. The porter of 
 our car had pointed me out to her and told 
 her about the detective; the lady told me. 
 She knew something of the labor movement, 
 and had read my name in the papers, and, 
 strange to relate, did n't think I was a danger- 
 ous character, though my steps were dogged 
 by a minion of plutocracy. 
 
 My coast trip was in every way satisfac- 
 tory. I was away from home about a 
 month. Harmon}' was restored between 
 the quarreling factions of the movement on 
 the coast, and plans for pushing the work of 
 organization and education were perfected. 
 After the organization work was completed, 
 I yielded to the requests of the workingmen 
 in several California cities and made a short 
 C 274 ] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 lecturing tour. The Coast Seamen's Union, 
 one of the best organized and strongest labor 
 unions in the country, was my host in gen- 
 eral during my stay on the coast. I was for 
 years a member of the advisory board of this 
 union, although I lived nearly two thousand 
 miles away from the organization's nearest 
 branch. The Coast Seamen paid all the ex- 
 penses of my trip, and it was at that organi- 
 zation's earnest request that I visited the 
 several cities and inade addresses. 
 
 California at that time was in the throes 
 of its second great anti-Chinese agitation, 
 and to that fact I attributed the large au- 
 diences which assembled to hear me speak 
 at all of the places I visited. At San Jose I 
 spoke in the Baptist Tabernacle, which was 
 packed as full of people as its exceptionally 
 large capacity would permit, and the " solid " 
 citizens, with their wives, were present. I 
 shall never forget that meeting, because it 
 was there that I was presented to eight of 
 the city's clergymen at the conclusion of my 
 address. Clergymen were not strangers to 
 me before that time, but it was an unusual 
 experience to be taken by the hand and 
 [ 275 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 thanked for my address by nearly every 
 clergyman in a town. 
 
 Another thing that impressed me on that 
 trip was the fair and courteous manner in 
 which I was treated by the press of Califor- 
 nia. I was accustomed to misrepresentation 
 and vilification at the hands of my brother 
 editors at home, and I was so pleased at the 
 honest reports of my speeches and interviews 
 while on the coast that I put m}^ modesty in 
 my pocket when I got back to Denver and 
 reprinted two columns of extracts from the 
 California papers in " The Enquirer." 
 
 One little incident that occurred in the 
 meeting at Stockton made an impression 
 upon my memory that it still retains. Only 
 a part of my address was devoted to the 
 Chinese question, but as that was the all- 
 absorbing question on the coast at the time, 
 no address, such as a man with my creden- 
 tials was expected to make, would have been 
 complete without some reference to the agi- 
 tation against the Chinese. As a matter of 
 fact, I was in hearty sympathy with the op- 
 position to the admission of Chinese to the 
 country. That was the attitude of every one 
 [276] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 who knew the situation excepting the few 
 employers — mostly large employers — who 
 were reaping a profit from the cheap coolie 
 labor which was swarming on the Pacific 
 coast and spreading rapidly out towards the 
 East. At Stockton, near the close of the 
 speech, I expressed myself very radically 
 on the subject of the Chinese. As I paused 
 before beginning my peroration, a large, 
 prosperous-looking gentleman arose about 
 the middle of the hall and said: — 
 
 " I understood you to sa}^, sir, that you 
 were a believer in the international brother- 
 hood of man. If that is so, how is it possi- 
 ble for you to harmonize with that theory 
 your hatred of the Chinese ? " 
 
 " I do not hate the Chinese," I replied, 
 "and I do believe in the brotherhood of man. 
 But when the progress, ay, the very exist- 
 ence, of the most advanced people on earth 
 is in danger from the hordes of a race that, 
 because of apparently insurmountable obsta- 
 cles that have been centuries building, can- 
 not be assimilated, I must refuse to do the 
 ' brotherhooding ' for both of us." 
 
 The answer apparently pleased the au- 
 [ 277 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 dience, and the gentleman who had asked 
 the question subsided; but I afterward fre- 
 quently found that question bobbing up be- 
 fore me. However, I never altered my views 
 on the question of the free admission of the 
 Chinese to the country; I preferred to alter 
 the larger question to read, "The Brother- 
 hood of Man, Limited." 
 
 At the conclusion of the Stockton meeting 
 I learned that the gentleman who had been 
 so much concerned over what he deemed 
 my inconsistency was the owner of several 
 large fruit-farms, on which he used the cheap 
 labor of nearly a hundred Chinese. 
 
 My work on the coast terminated with 
 what the San Francisco " Examiner " de- 
 scribed as " one of the largest labor demon- 
 strations ever held in the city." Piatt's Hall, 
 one of the largest assembly rooms in the 
 city, with galleries and boxes, was packed 
 from pit to dome, and thousands stood in 
 the street, unable to gain an entrance. The 
 meeting was a three-cornered arrangement. 
 The San Francisco Typographical Union had 
 just won a fight that had been on for many 
 years against " The Call and Bulletin," that 
 [278] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 office being thoroughly unionized a few days 
 before the meeting; the union cigarmakei'S 
 had during the week received fifty members 
 of their organization from the East to take 
 the places of Chinese cigarmakers in San 
 Francisco factories, and my friends, headed 
 by the Coast Seamen's Union, desired to 
 give me a farewell " send-off." The three 
 issues were pooled and the big demonstra- 
 tion was the result. One hundred members 
 of the Coast Seamen, in uniforms and with 
 rifles, attended as a guard of honor. How 
 I did wish some of those Denver lynchers 
 might have witnessed the sights of that 
 night. 
 
 The speakers were James H. Barry, editor 
 of " The Star," for the printers ; a prominent 
 member of the Cigarmakers' Union, and my- 
 self, in the order named. I came nearer 
 being carried off my feet by enthusiasm and 
 excitement that night than at any other time 
 in all my years of labor agitation. That 
 audience was ready for anything, and the 
 stronger the talk the better they liked it. 
 There were hundreds of women present, 
 and at times during my speech it seemed 
 [279] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 to me that each of them was provided with 
 a red handkerchief. I spoke for an hour and 
 twenty-five minutes; then responded to an 
 " encore " for fifty minutes more, and re- 
 mained and addressed the trades-unionists 
 for three-quarters of an hour after the gen- 
 eral meeting was dismissed. It was after i 
 A. M. when I was permitted to leave the hall. 
 There were reasons for that remarkable 
 demonstration, and I did not flatter myself 
 with the belief that my personality was one 
 of them. Let me explain: In addition to 
 the local questions, including the anti-Chi- 
 nese movement, that agitated the San Fran- 
 cisco working people, there were other 
 matters which were pressing hard upon 
 the laborers of the whole country. There 
 were over a million of idle men seeking 
 work, and the highways and bywa3's were 
 filled with tramps — honest tramps — look- 
 ing for employment and finding it not. The 
 great strike on the Southwestern Railway 
 system had reached an acute stage, and the 
 Missouri Pacific Railway was advertising 
 for men to serve as special deputies, " men 
 who will shoot to kill ! " Congress was in 
 [ 280 ] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 session, and the workingmen's organizations 
 had appealed to that body to come to the 
 relief of the suffering country, but the ap- 
 peals had fallen upon deaf ears. It was 
 known that I was familiar with the railway 
 situation in the Southwest; besides I lived on 
 the eastern slope, and was consequently in 
 closer touch with the national labor move- 
 ment than were my auditors. All these cir- 
 cumstances contributed to the making of an 
 unusual occasion and to the selection of my- 
 self as one peculiarly fitted to discuss it from 
 the workingman's view-point. 
 
 Resolutions were introduced by P. Ross 
 Martin, secretary of the Federated Trades 
 of San Francisco, charging Jay Gould with 
 the murder of strikers who had been shot 
 by deputies at East St. Louis, and I prefaced 
 my first speech by offering the following 
 amendment to the resolutions : — 
 
 " Resolved, That this mass meeting con- 
 victs the Congress of the United States as 
 accessory to the murders before the fact." 
 
 It was during my " encore " speech, when 
 [281 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 I was discussing the amendment to the reso- 
 lutions, that the meeting, and I with it, al- 
 most reached the point of frenzy. After 
 denouncing Congress for its neglect of the 
 people's interests and for its cold indifference 
 toward the brutal murders committed by 
 the railways' minions at East St. Louis, and 
 after charging that a majority of the con- 
 gressmen were the tools of Jay Gould and 
 other railway barons, I appealed to the work- 
 ingmen to get together and elect congress- 
 men who would serve the people loyally and 
 honestly. Right there I was interrupted by 
 a man who arose about the middle of the 
 lower floor of the hall. I knew the man. He 
 was a carpenter, with whom I had held a 
 conversation the previous day at the head- 
 quarters of the International. As he held up 
 his band, I paused to hear what he had to 
 say. I was accustomed to interruptions, 
 and rather liked them; but I did not realize 
 what a poser the San Francisco carpenter 
 had ready to fire at me. 
 
 "Your advice as to voting for the right 
 kind of men for Congress may be all right," 
 he said, "and I am willing to act upon 
 [282] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 it when the time comes; but it will be a 
 long time before that course, even if suc- 
 cessful, can bring us the relief we so sadly 
 need. The question is : What will we do 
 now? I am one of the million who are 
 hunting for work; begging for the opportu- 
 nity to earn the food my wife and children 
 must have if they are not to starve. I agree 
 with you that Congress should do something 
 for us in this awful emergency, but it is blind 
 to our sufferings and deaf to our appeals. 
 How will we arouse it? What will we do 
 now — to-night — this very hour ? " 
 
 By movements of my head and hands I 
 stayed those who essayed to stop the carpen- 
 ter, at the beginning of his remarks, and in- 
 dicated that I wanted him to have his say. 
 The trend of his remarks was soon apparent, 
 and all the time he was talking I was think- 
 ing, thinking faster than I had ever thought 
 before in my life. It seemed that I entered 
 that man's mind; that I saw the despair that 
 confronted him; his hungry children, his 
 heart-broken wife, the empty larder, the 
 black and dismal prospect. I knew from 
 actual contact what were the sufferings and 
 [283] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sorrows of the poor. I knew with what pa- 
 tience the giant of labor had borne its bur- 
 dens that the idle rich might bask in the 
 golden sunshine of more than plenty* the 
 cry for work had reached my ears, as it had 
 reached the ears of every thoughtful, earnest 
 man in the land. The man before me be- 
 came a million, his little family a million 
 families, and the cry that issued from the lips 
 of that vast host was, " Give us work; give 
 us bread; help us or we perish! " As these 
 thoughts flashed through my excited brain 
 I knew what I should say to the carpenter 
 when he had finished his appeal for advice; 
 just how it would be said I did not know. 
 
 As the man ceased speaking he resumed 
 his seat, and there was death-like stillness in 
 the crowded hall. So quiet was it that I 
 could distinctly hear the deep breathing of 
 Frank Roney, the chairman of the meeting, 
 though he was twenty feet away from where 
 I stood. It seems to me that I can hear that 
 breathing now, as I recall the scene. Tak- 
 ing two steps toward the edge of the stage 
 upon which I stood, I extended my hand 
 and said, beginning in as quiet a tone as the 
 [284] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 intense emotion under which I was laboring 
 would permit: — 
 
 " Stand up, comrade. I am going to an- 
 swer your question to the best of my ability. 
 You did not ask it to corner me or to cause 
 annoyance; I know that cry; it came from 
 your bursting heart. First let me say that 
 I never give advice that I am not willing 
 to act upon myself; but it is for you to lead 
 in this matter; 1 promise to follow you and 
 to aid in your support. 
 
 " You are a carpenter. Go out from here 
 and build a banner or transparency. I will 
 give the little money required to purchase 
 the sticks, nails, and muslin. Find a painter 
 who, like yourself, is asking, 'What shall 
 we do now ? ' and have him paint upon the 
 sides of your banner the words, ' ON TO 
 WASHINGTON!' At sunrise to-morrow 
 morning, with your painter comrade meet 
 me on the Sand-Lots and bring the banner 
 with you. We will open a recruiting of- 
 fice on the Lots, and when we have a score 
 of marchers in line we will start down 
 Market Street, gathering the unemployed, 
 the hungry, the wretched as we go. We '11 
 [285] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 cross the bay and in Oakland will confis- 
 cate a train, if that is thought desirable, or 
 tramp along on foot, but with our faces ever 
 turned toward the East. Then across the 
 Sacramento Valley, over the Sierra Nevadas, 
 through the Great American Desert, beyond 
 the Great Continental Divide, the great 
 plain on the eastern slope, the fertile fields 
 of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, across 
 the Alleghanies, nor cease our journeying 
 until we camp on the Capitol grounds at 
 Washington. We will gather the disinher- 
 ited as we march and the millions of betrayed 
 and plundered will cry with us, ' ON TO 
 WASHINGTON! ' We will take the food 
 we require for our actual needs, leaving 
 vouchers to be cashed at Washington when 
 the people once more regain their govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " When we have massed our great host of 
 Industrial Crusaders about the Capitol, and 
 packed Pennsylvania Avenue from Capitol 
 to White House, we will demand of our ser- 
 vant, Congress, that it give us at once the 
 justice that has been so long delayed. If it 
 heeds not our commands, if it still defies us, 
 [ 286] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 we will hurl the whole treacherous swarrti 
 into the Potomac I " 
 
 As I ceased and sank, almost breathless, 
 into a chair, the vast audience broke into a 
 cheer that shook the building from cellar to 
 garret and lasted for several minutes. Men 
 and women sprang to their feet and shouted 
 at the top of their voices j handkerchiefs, 
 many of them red in color, were waved, and 
 hats were tossed in the air. The people 
 were wild, as I wasj the safety-valve, that 
 had been enduring a tremendous pressure 
 for several months, was, for the moment, 
 blown from its fastenings. But the applause 
 wore itself out, the reaction came, and the 
 thoughtful realized that they had been cheer- 
 ing a fiery oratorical comet, that began and 
 ended nowhere. I meant all I had said, but, 
 in a cooler moment, I would have remem- 
 bered that the oppressed were long-suffer- 
 ing and not given to resistance to authority. 
 
 When order was once more restored, my 
 carpenter friend arose and, in a pained man- 
 ner, said : " But, my dear sir, what you pro- 
 pose might come to mean revolution." 
 
 Without arising from my chair I gazed at 
 [287] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the carpenter for half a minute and then re- 
 marked : " So it might. I had n't thought of 
 that." 
 
 In a few words, ignoring what had just 
 transpired, the chairman put the resokitions 
 that were pending to a vote. They were 
 carried without a dissenting voice, and the 
 public meeting adjourned. 
 
 In another place, reader, I have given you 
 what I think was the most radical thing I 
 ever wrote and published; here I have re- 
 corded the most radical utterance I ever 
 made on the public platform. In passing 
 judgment I would have you realize, if 370U 
 can, the experiences which had been mine 
 for the several years preceding the deliver- 
 ance of that speech. Remember that my 
 heart was full of sorrow for the wrongs that 
 I knew were put upon the toilers of the land; 
 that the story of want endured by those who 
 deserved a better fate was the story I knew 
 by heart; that few. men had, at that time, 
 seen more of the heartlessness of plutocracy 
 and the treachery of trusted representatives 
 than I, and also consider the surroundings 
 of that hour in Piatt's Hall, Think of all 
 [288] 
 
UNDER THE RED FLAG 
 
 these things, and then, uninfluenced by the 
 fact that I afterwards became convinced that 
 there were better ways of righting wrongs 
 than the way I suggested that night, pass 
 judgment. 
 
 The next morning I left San Francisco for 
 Denver. 
 
 Some years later " Coxey's Army " of 
 unemployed workingmen marched from 
 Ohio to the national capital. Its rallying cry 
 was " On to Washington ! " 
 
 [289] 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 WHEN I arrived home from California, 
 on Saturday, May i, I was in poor 
 condition physically; that is, I was not "in 
 good voice," as singers and actors sometimes 
 say. The exertion and excitement, in con- 
 junction with the perspiration and night air 
 of that last night in San Francisco, had de- 
 prived me of the most important attribute of 
 the agitator; I was unable to speak above a 
 whisper. An old catarrhal trouble had taken 
 advantage of the situation and had tied up 
 my talking machinery. My condition was 
 especially embarrassing because of the fact 
 that I was advertised to speak at a mass meet- 
 ing in the Academy of Music on the day fol- 
 lowing my return home. The object of the 
 meeting was to make a public protest against 
 awarding the contract for the construction of 
 the State Capitol to a firm which employed 
 the convicts in the penitentiaries of Nebraska 
 [ 290 ] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 and Illinois. The meeting was under the aus- 
 pices of the Trades Assembly, and, although 
 the day was Sunday, several clergymen and 
 other " leading " citizens were upon the 
 list of speakers. The state of affairs was 
 unusual; capitalists, business men, profes- 
 sional men, and the newspapers were almost 
 unanimous in their support of organized la- 
 bor's protest against the employment of con- 
 victs upon the capitol. When I saw the list 
 of speakers provided for the meeting I at 
 once decided that I could not afford to miss 
 that affair; I wanted to take a peep behind 
 the woodpile, to see if there was not a colored 
 gentleman hidden somewhere. So I went 
 to my doctor Saturday night. He used the 
 knife a little and fixed me up otherwise and 
 then told me I might attend the meeting on 
 the following day, if I would talk only a few 
 minutes " and not get excited." 
 
 At the appointed hour I took my seat in 
 the Academy with the others who were to 
 make addresses. The speakers provided 
 for the occasion were two ex-governors of 
 Colorado, the president of a national bank, 
 the chairman of the Board of Trade, one of 
 [ 291 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the city's leading merchants, and three cler- 
 gymen — oh, yes, and two labor men. The 
 presiding officer was the president of the 
 Trades Assembly. 
 
 Short speeches were made by the two ex- 
 governors and the chairman of the Board of 
 Trade, all running over with sympathy for 
 the honest Colorado workingman, who was 
 about to have the bread taken out of his 
 mouth by the heartless employers of cheap 
 contract convict labor. Then one of the 
 clergymen — Rev. Dr. Moore, of the Evans 
 Memorial Chapel (Methodist) — delivered a 
 long address that he had written for the oc- 
 casion. All the time these gentlemen were 
 talking I was searching for the colored gen- 
 tleman behind the woodpile, and I found him. 
 And I dragged him out and exposed him to 
 the audience, which recognized him at once. 
 That was about all there was to my speech; 
 but, judging by the row it made, that was 
 enough. The truth of the matter was that 
 the ex-governors and other capitalists, who 
 were so deeply interested in the welfare of 
 the Colorado workingmen, owned the rock 
 quarries, the iron mines and mills, and the 
 [ 292 ] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 railroads which operated between these 
 sources of building material supplies and 
 Denver, where the capitol was to be erected. 
 While the lips of these gentlemen were 
 singing the praises of " free " labor and " our 
 own honest workingmen at home," and de- 
 picting the horrors of erecting a capitol build- 
 ing for the great state of Colorado with the 
 labor of slaves in striped apparel, their minds 
 were busy figuring on the profits that would 
 get away from them if the contract went 
 to the outsider^ At any rate so the case 
 appeared to me, and so I described it to that 
 audience. It was positively rude to say 
 those things in the presence of the gentle- 
 men, especially in such blunt fashion, but I 
 was not feeling well enough that day to soar 
 aloft and take in the situation at long range 
 or to sugar-coat unpleasant words ; besides, 
 by my doctor's orders, my time was short, 
 so I just spoke the truth as I saw it. 
 
 I don't know how many enemies I made 
 that day, but I certainly found one new 
 friend. As I was hurrying from the stage at 
 the conclusion of my short speech, a hand 
 was laid upon my shoulder. I turned, and 
 [ 293 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 there stood the Rev. Dr. Moore, with both 
 hands extended. Dr. Moore and I had been 
 at outs for two or three years, due to a series 
 of sermons he had preached on the labor 
 question — which he did not then understand 
 — and to my review of the senrons in " The 
 Enquirer," As I placed my hands in his the 
 doctor said: — 
 
 " I understand you better now than I did 
 two years ago. We should be friends here- 
 after. I like a man who has the courage of 
 his convictions; besides, what you said was 
 a revelation to me." 
 
 In my short address I had found time to 
 say something also about the hypocritical at- 
 titude of the city press on the question of the 
 contract for building the capitol. As a mat- 
 ter of course I was lampooned thoroughly by 
 the papers the next day. But I was accus- 
 tomed to that sort of thing when at home, 
 and, in that case, the editors certainly had a 
 grievance against me. 
 
 May, 1886, will long be remembered by 
 
 those who were then interested in the labor 
 
 movement, and by many others the events of 
 
 that month will never be forgotten. It was 
 
 [ 294 ] ■ 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 then that the first extensive effort was made 
 to inaugurate the eight-hour workday in the 
 United States. A great many employers op- 
 posed the demand for the shorter day, and 
 strikes followed. There were serious con- 
 flicts between the strikers and their sym- 
 pathizers on the one hand and the authorities 
 on the other hand in several industrial cen- 
 ters, the disturbances at Chicago and Mil- 
 waukee being especially noteworthy. On 
 the night of the 4th of May the tragedy of the 
 Chicago Haymarket occurred. The events 
 of that night have their place in the history 
 of the country, and it is not incumbent upon 
 the present writer to recount them here. It 
 is enough if I recall to the reader's mind the 
 connection between that meeting and the 
 eight-hour movement of organized labor. In 
 consequence of an eight-hour strike at the 
 McCormick Reaper-Works, in Chicago, there 
 was a clash between the police and a crowd 
 of workingmen — some of them being strik- 
 ers — and several persons were seriously in- 
 jured by the bullets and clubs of the police- 
 men. A meeting was called for the following 
 night, in the Haymarket Square, to " protest 
 
 [295] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 against the brutality of the police." The 
 speakers at the meeting were all members 
 of the Anarchist groups, though some of them 
 were also identified with the more conserva- 
 tive branches of the labor movement. The 
 speeches at this meeting were not nearly so 
 violent in tone as had been numerous previous 
 speeches, made by the same men, on the Lake 
 Front and in other parts of Chicago. Carter 
 Harrison the First was mayor of the city at 
 the time. He was present at the meeting 
 for nearly an hour — leaving for home a short 
 time before the hour at which it was intended 
 to close the meeting ; and he declared, on 
 the witness stand, that he heard nothing that 
 presaged lawless acts. But within a few 
 minutes after he had taken his departure sev- 
 eral hundred policemen marched out of the 
 Desplaines Street Station, half a block away, 
 and headed for the crowd assembled around 
 the truck, from which Sam Fielden was then 
 making an address. The captain of the police 
 ordered the meeting to disperse. Fielden 
 said, " Captain, this is an orderly assem- 
 blage." The captain repeated his order, and 
 some person — neither court proceedings nor 
 [296] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 any other record tells us who — threw a 
 bomb into the midst of the policemen. Sixty- 
 six policemen were prostrated by the explo- 
 sion, seven never to rise again and an eighth to 
 die soon after. It was reported that one man 
 in the crowd was killed by the bullets of the 
 policemen and several wounded, but there 
 never was an authentic report of the casual- 
 ties on that side made public. Many arrests 
 were made of men charged with complicity 
 in the bomb-throwing; eight were indicted. 
 After a long trial, seven were found guilty of 
 murder in the first degree and sentenced to 
 be hanged, and one was sentenced to fifteen 
 years in the state penitentiary for distributing 
 the handbills announcing the Haymarket 
 meeting. In the attempt to secure executive 
 clemency for the condemned men I took 
 part; the story is told in another chapter. 
 
 As was to be expected The Rocky Moun- 
 tain Social League and the members of the 
 I. W. A. in Denver were very much exer- 
 cised over the Chicago affair. The League 
 passed resolutions which, while they de- 
 clared that we had no sympathy with the 
 "propaganda of deed," denounced the au- 
 C297] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 thorities of Chicago for infringing upon the 
 constitutional right of the American citizen to 
 free speech. Yet we realized that the agita- 
 tion of the revolutionary Anarchists put the 
 whole movement at the mercy of a few reck- 
 less or crazy individuals. We did not dis- 
 guise our belief that force might eventually 
 have to be employed to settle the issue be- 
 tween labor and capital, but we also believed 
 that the revolution when it came would be 
 instigated by the capitalist class; besides, we 
 knew that the people were not then suffi- 
 ciently educated to direct the complicated 
 forms of our economic system — to socialize 
 industry and establish the Co-operative Com- 
 monwealth. We looked upon the Haymarket 
 affair as an impediment to our progress along 
 educational lines, inasmuch as a majority of 
 the people of the country then were unable 
 to distinguish between anarchism and social- 
 ism. In Denver we had our share of the 
 denunciation that was heaped by the press 
 upon the "murderous Anarchists and So- 
 cialists." But we lived through it, and the 
 League never missed a meeting nor modi- 
 fied a single sentence of its programme be- 
 [ 298] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 cause of the war made upon it by ignorance 
 and malice. 
 
 A special session of the General Assembly 
 of the Knights of Labor was held in Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, in May, 1886. The two reasons 
 for the calling of this special meeting were 
 the phenomenal growth of the order since 
 the previous regular session, at Hamilton, 
 Ontario, in the preceding autumn, and the 
 growing friction between the Knights and 
 the trades-unionists in certain sections. As 
 the delegate of District Assembly No. 89, at 
 the Hamilton session, I was eligible to a seat 
 at the special session. I went by the way of 
 Chicago, and stopped over in that city long 
 enough to pay a visit to the scene of the 
 Haymarket meeting of a few days before, 
 though my friend, William Fornhof, who 
 piloted me around the famous ground, in- 
 formed me that the police were still watch- 
 ing and " spotting " every one who showed 
 any interest in the scene where the bomb 
 had been thrown. 
 
 The Cleveland session of the Knights was 
 the liveliest held by the order up to that 
 time. It was there that the serpent, whose 
 [299] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 poisonous fangs were soon to sting the great 
 labor organization almost to death, first 
 showed its head. 
 
 During the six months following the 
 Hamilton session of the General Assembly, 
 the order had increased in membership 
 at a wonderful rate, — it had doubled itself, 
 — and when we met at Cleveland there 
 were over half a million enrolled in the lo- 
 cal assemblies. It was believed by many 
 that such rapid growth was not for the best 
 interests of the order, — that too many were 
 becoming members before they thoroughly 
 understood the principles of the order. It 
 was thought that organizers, in their zeal to 
 make great records, were failing to exercise 
 proper care ; so the commissions of all organ- 
 izers were called in by the General Master 
 Workman. This matter created considerable 
 interest in the special session, and to meet 
 the increasing responsibilities of the order, 
 it was decided to elect six additional mem- 
 bers of the General Executive Board, to be 
 known as "auxiliary members," whose acts 
 would be subject to revision b}' the regular 
 board. 
 
 [ 300] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 But the trouble with the trades-unions was 
 the most important question before the Gen- 
 eral Assembly. A committee' from the 
 Federated Trades and Labor Unions (the 
 predecessor of the American Federation of 
 Labor) had come to Cleveland to confer 
 with the Knights for a settlement of the 
 controversies that had arisen between the 
 two organizations. This committee consisted 
 of Adolph Strasser, Dave Boyer, P. F. Fitz- 
 patrick, P. J. McGuire, and William Weihe, 
 and President Samuel Gompers, ex officio. 
 One third of the representatives in the 
 General Assembly were trades-unionists. 
 These were, of course, desirous of keeping 
 the two wings of the labor movement on a 
 friendly footing, and they had sufficient sup- 
 port from among the other members to give 
 the peace policy a clear majority. But the 
 union-haters, led by half a dozen members 
 of the notorious " Home Club," of New 
 York, labored so diligently and with such 
 concert that it required four days of the ses- 
 sion to secure the passage of an address to 
 " Brothers in the Cause of Labor," avowing 
 the friendship of the order for all other or- 
 [301 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ganizations having the welfare of the work- 
 ers as their object. 
 
 The union-haters were defeated for the 
 time, but they were not conquered. De- 
 ceived by the phenomenal growth of the 
 order, those men thought the time had come 
 when the trade-unions could be " wiped out," 
 as they expressed it, and, while they were 
 compelled to give apparent acquiescence 
 to the action of the majority at Cleveland, 
 they never for a moment relinquished their 
 hope nor ceased from the employment of 
 every means at their command to accom- 
 plish its fulfillment. That was the serpent's 
 head. 
 
 Among those who made such a gallant 
 fight for harmony in the American labor 
 movement, and who had the wisdom to 
 foresee the result of the contrary course, 
 were George E. McNeill, Frank K. Foster, 
 George F. Murray, and Albert A. Carlton; 
 and among those who were misled by the 
 union-haters was the representative of the 
 Union Pacific District Assembly, which had 
 received invaluable aid from trades-unionists 
 when it most needed aid. General Master 
 [302 ] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 Workman Powderly was apparently neutral 
 on the main fight, though he seemed to fa- 
 vor the address that was finally adopted. 
 
 I was elected one of the new members of 
 the General Executive Board, notwithstand- 
 ing the fierce opposition of the union-haters. 
 This was the first time I had encountered 
 real enmity in a labor organization. I with- 
 drew my name once during the contest, be- 
 cause of the disgust I felt for the methods of 
 the opposition, but later on my friends forced 
 me into the running again, and when my 
 election was secured they had a high old 
 time in that General Assembly for a few 
 minutes. There were rows galore in that 
 special session, and though we closed under 
 the wings of what many thought was the 
 dove of peace, it turned out to be a buzzard. 
 The war between the Knights of Labor and 
 the trades-unions was on, and it was to be 
 fought to a finish, despite the efforts of the 
 men in the order who would bend every 
 energy to secure peace, believing, as they did, 
 that a satisfactory and salutary amalgamation 
 between the two forces could eventually be 
 accomplished. 
 
 [303] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 By again accepting a position on the Gen- 
 eral Executive Board of the Knights I once 
 more took upon myself ' the responsibility 
 of looking after the interests of the order in 
 the great West. All through the summer of 
 1886 I was kept on the run. The organiza- 
 tion continued its wonderful growth, not- 
 withstanding the mutterings of a battle royal 
 soon to begin between the order and the 
 trades-unions. In the latter part of the sum- 
 mer I organized Denver's sixteenth assem- 
 bly, bringing the total membership in the city 
 close to four thousand. This, with the trades- 
 union strength, made Denver one of the 
 best organized cities in the Union. In addi- 
 tion to my duties as a member of the board I 
 was Master Workman of District Assembly 
 No. 89, embracing nearly all of the assem- 
 blies in the state, Division Executive of the 
 I. W. A., chairman of the Social League, and 
 editor of "The Enquirer." During the sum- 
 mer there were several small strikes in my 
 territory, the most important of these being 
 a strike of Knights of Labor coal-miners at 
 Blossburg, New Mexico. After trying to 
 settle the trouble with the local managers, at 
 
 [304] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 Blossburg, and failing, I went to Topeka, 
 Kansas, and finally effected a compromise 
 with the general manager of the Atchison, 
 Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, 
 owner of the Blossburg mines. 
 
 Shortly after my return from the Cleveland 
 special session of the Knights of Labor I had 
 a little quarrel with Grand Chief Peter M. 
 Arthur, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
 Engineers, which attracted some attention 
 from the labor world and occasioned news- 
 paper comment, especially in the West, 
 though hostilities never got beyond the stage 
 of printer's ink. Mr. Arthur, during a session 
 in Denver of the organization of which he 
 was the head, made an address one evening 
 in the Tabor Opera House. In the course 
 of his speech he repeated a declaration he 
 had made on several previous occasions, to 
 the effect that the Brotherhood would have 
 nothing to do with other labor organizations. 
 He made use of pretty strong language in 
 expressing his disapprobation of the Knights 
 of Labor, and said some things calculated 
 to injure the order with those not familiar 
 with its principles and policies. I at once 
 C305] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 published in the daily papers a card challeng- 
 ing Mr. Arthur to a joint discussion on the 
 respective merits of the Brotherhood and the 
 Knights. He left the city on the day my 
 challenge appeared, going to Colorado 
 Springs. An Associated Press correspond- 
 ent interviewed the Grand Chief at Colo- 
 rado Springs on the subject of the challenge. 
 When asked what he was going to do 
 about it, Mr. Arthur told the correspondent 
 that he considered the challenge and the 
 challenger beneath his notice. I replied to 
 the insult through the Denver papers ; but I 
 did not completely square matters with the 
 Grand Chief until nearly two years later. 
 
 I shall suspend the chronological se- 
 quence of my story long enough to allow 
 me to tell the sequel to the challenge and 
 snub incidents, as it was after I had re- 
 moved to Chicago that I had my revenge, 
 which was a sort of " coals of fire " pro- 
 ceeding, or so I considered it at the time. 
 I afterwards looked upon it as a waste of 
 good fuel. 
 
 There was a strike of engineers and fire- 
 men on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 [306] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 in 1888. Men were taken from the East, by 
 the Burlington officials, to fill the strikers' 
 places, most of the strike-breakers being 
 former employees of the Reading Railway. 
 The Reading engineers had gone upon 
 strike some months before and Brother- 
 hood men had " scabbed " on their jobs. 
 The Burlington strike presented an oppor- 
 tunity for the Reading men to " get hunk." 
 The Reading men were members of the 
 Knights of Labor. They belonged to what 
 was known at that time as the anti-adminis- 
 tration wing of the order, and their leaders 
 were in touch with the anti-administration- 
 ists' " provisional committee," of which I 
 was the chairman. 
 
 The chief officers of the Brotherhoods 
 had established headquarters at the Grand 
 Pacific Hotel, in Chicago, for the purpose of 
 managing the Burlington strike. When the 
 men formerly employed on the Reading 
 began to arrive in Chicago the officials of 
 the Brotherhoods appealed to me to aid 
 them in persuading the Eastern Knights to 
 stay away from the Burlington. Eugene V. 
 Debs, then secretary of the Brotherhood of 
 
 [307I 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Locomotive Firemen, came to my office in 
 Chicago, and presented the request of the 
 joint committee, of which he was also sec- 
 retary. I reminded Debs of the attitude of 
 Mr. Arthur to other labor organizations, the 
 Knights of Labor in particular, and of his 
 insult to me in Colorado. Debs withdrew, 
 but returned shortly, accompanied by Frank 
 P. Sargent, who was, at that time. Grand 
 Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
 Firemen. I was assured that Mr. Arthur 
 expressed great sorrow for the past and 
 hoped that I would be willing to let by- 
 gones be by-gones, come down to the 
 Grand Pacific and meet the members of their 
 joint committee, and give them what help 
 I could in their fight with the Burlington. 
 
 " You are too true a friend of the cause 
 of labor to allow another man's errors or 
 your own personal grievances to govern 
 your course, Buchanan," said Debs. "No 
 matter how ' leaders ' may err, it is your 
 duty and mine to exert what influence we 
 may possess to prevent organized working- 
 men from cutting each other's throats." 
 
 I liked Debs ; he was loyal and frank ; 
 C308] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 besides, I saw the truth and good sense in 
 his remark. I went to the Grand Pacific 
 Hotel and met Mr. Arthur and his associ- 
 ates. I told the Grand Chief of the Engi- 
 neers that I detested his public utterances 
 on the labor question and the methods he 
 advocated for the government of his organ- 
 ization; but that I was willing to put my 
 prejudices out of the way until the war on 
 the Burlington was over, if I could be of 
 any service to the strikers. 
 
 During the two weeks that followed my 
 meeting with Mr. Arthur, several delega- 
 tions of old Reading men arrived in Chicago. 
 With the help of the chairman of the exec- 
 utive committee of the Reading District 
 Assembly I was enabled to meet these 
 delegations soon after they reached the city, 
 and, in one of the parlors of the Briggs 
 House, I talked to them. As a result of our 
 efforts most of the Knights who had come 
 to Chicago as strike-breakers refused to 
 go to work on the Burlington. Neverthe- 
 less the Brotherhoods lost the strike. 
 
 I never saw Mr. Arthur after the Bur- 
 lington strike, but, in common with every 
 [ 309] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 one who has watched the comings and 
 goings in the labor world, I know that he 
 never deviated by the breadth of a hair 
 from his course of unfriendliness for all 
 branches of organized labor excepting the 
 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. It 
 would be foolish for me to deny a truth so 
 apparent as the growth and prosperity of 
 the Brotherhood under his leadership; but 
 that Mr. Arthur won his success by incul- 
 cating selfishness and exclusiveness in his 
 organization and by alliances with railway 
 magnates, which sacrificed, when deemed 
 advantageous, all workmen save Brother- 
 hood engineers, was, is, and will ever re- 
 main the belief of his contemporaries in the 
 field of labor organization. 
 
 [I should have cut out of these chron- 
 icles all reference to Mr. Arthur had it not 
 been for the fact that, in an encomium 
 printed a few days after his death, great 
 stress was laid upon his policy of non-afBl- 
 iation with other labor organizations, and 
 the late Grand Chief himself was quoted as 
 saying he had never asked any other organ- 
 ization for assistance^ 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 Picking up the thread which was broken 
 that I might complete the account of my 
 experiences with Mr. Arthur, I find myself 
 once again interested in politics. This situ- 
 ation may need some explanation if the 
 reader remembers that, two years before, I 
 had abandoned all hope of ever accomplish- 
 ing anything through the use of the ballot. 
 Several things had contributed to the influ- 
 ences which had worked the change of heart 
 in me. The phenomenal growth of labor 
 organizations and the prominence of the 
 organizations as influential factors in almost 
 all sections of the country, coupled with 
 the increasing intelligence of the working- 
 men, inspired the hope that labor would 
 soon be wise enough to use its great 
 strength for its own benefit at the polls. 
 The Chicago bomb aroused me to a realiza- 
 tion of the possible consequences of the 
 non-voting agitation, and I believed that 
 until a majority had learned to vote right — 
 and had been cheated of the results of vic- 
 tory won at the polls — a revolution could 
 not be justified and would, besides, be a 
 failure. In expressing my thoughts to the 
 
 [311] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 few revolutionists I knew, I got into the 
 habit of saying: "Men who will not vote 
 right will not shoot right." 
 
 There was also a local and personal reason 
 why " The Enquirer " took part in the cam- 
 paign of 1886: One of the leading political 
 parties nominated for governor of the state 
 a gentleman who was known to be especially 
 favorable to the interests of labor, and there 
 were several candidates for other offices 
 whose records in labor matters appealed to 
 me. But, though I reversed the position I 
 had held for two years, I did not "flop" all 
 at once. When a committee of working- 
 men called upon me to ask for " The En- 
 quirer's " support of the men known to be 
 favorable to labor, I at first made this pro- 
 posal: — 
 
 " Formulate your demands; present them 
 to the candidates and support those who 
 pledge themselves to carry out your wishes, 
 if elected. Then, if your professed friends 
 win at the polls, follow them to the scenes 
 of their official duties, taking with you a 
 half-inch rope; use your rope upon every 
 man who betrays you ! " 
 [312] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 My suggestion did not meet with general 
 approval among the workingmen, although 
 there were some who thought it was not 
 a bad one, and, had it been adopted, there 
 would not have been a noticeable panic in 
 the rope market; our candidates were de- 
 feated. There have been times since when 
 I thought the rope policy might have kept 
 a legislator, here and there, straight. 
 
 The main reasons for my return to poli- 
 tics still holding good, I never again backed 
 out of the game, — though I have never 
 been on the winning side, — and immedi- 
 ately after the elections of 1886 I hoisted to 
 the head of " The Enquirer's " editorial page 
 " For President in 1888," the name of Henry 
 George, who had but recently been credited 
 with 68,000 votes for mayor of New York, 
 and who many believed was elected, but 
 counted out. 
 
 The greatest session in its history was 
 held by the General Assembly of the 
 Knights of Labor in Richmond, Virginia, in 
 October, 1886. Once more honored by Dis- 
 trict Assembly 89, I was a representative at 
 that session. There were more than twice 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 as many representatives present at the Rich- 
 mond session — over eight hundred — as at- 
 tended any previous or subsequent General 
 Assembly of the order. The session was 
 important also because of the measures 
 adopted. It vs^as at Richmond that the seal 
 of approval was placed upon the acts of 
 those members who had been bending every 
 energy since the Cleveland special session 
 to bring on open warfare between the order 
 and the trades-unions. The contest between 
 the exclusivists and the bi-organization re- 
 presentatives was fierce, and it never waned 
 for one moment during the two weeks of 
 the session. The bitterness of feeling en- 
 gendered by the strife between these two 
 elements entered into every matter of any 
 consequence which came before the body. 
 Seeds of discord which are still bearing 
 fruit — seventeen years after — were sown 
 in that meeting. 
 
 While the question at issue was the 
 Knights against the whole trades-union 
 movement, the discussions covering every 
 possible phase of the subject, one trade only 
 was named in the action taken by the Gen- 
 
 C314] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 eral Assembly — the cigarmakers. A reso- 
 lution was adopted ordering all members of 
 the order who were also members of the 
 Cigarmakers' International Union to with- 
 draw from the latter organization; failure 
 to comply with said order meaning forfeit- 
 ure of membership in the order of Knights 
 of Labor. The majority by which the reso- 
 lution was adopted was not, comparatively, 
 large, but it was enough; and the greatest 
 labor organization up to that time known in 
 this country received its mortal wound at 
 Richmond. The anti-unionists were jubi- 
 lant over the victory and would not believe 
 that they had done the order irreparable in- 
 jury; but within a year they realized their 
 error, though their fanatical leaders would 
 not then sheathe their knives. 
 
 Many of my readers will remember the 
 time when the Knights of Labor was the 
 leading labor organization of this country, 
 and there may be among them some who 
 will recall the fact that a rapid decline in 
 the order's strength and influence began 
 during the year following the Richmond 
 session of the General Assembly. These 
 [315] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 may ask, What was the position taken by 
 General Master Workman T. V. Powderly 
 on the vital question you have been telling 
 us about? It will be remembered that I 
 have stated that when the subject first came 
 before the General Assembly, at the Cleve- 
 land session, Mr. Powderly appeared to oc- 
 cupy a neutral position. At Richmond he 
 was unequivocally with the anti-unionists. 
 This was Mr. Powderly's first serious mis- 
 take as General Master Workman, though 
 he had been criticised because of his course 
 in the Southwestern strike and during the 
 eight-hour movement of May i, 1886; he 
 made other mistakes afterward, and some 
 of them were children of the parent error 
 committed at Richmond. The General 
 Master Workman desired harmony in the 
 order, and he permitted himself to be de- 
 ceived into the belief that harmony could 
 only be secured by killing the influence of 
 the trades-unionists who were Knights. He 
 lacked the penetrative power that enabled 
 many others to see through the thin veil 
 behind which was hidden the selfishness 
 and the ambition of the anti-unionists. He 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 did not see that the unionists who were 
 members of the order were so because they 
 loved its principles and not because they 
 needed its protection; they had all the pro- 
 tection in trade matters that they required 
 in their unions. The trades-unionists at 
 Richmond did not coddle Powderly nor 
 attempt to win his support by dickering. 
 The anti-unionists extended his term of 
 office from one year to two years and in- 
 creased his salary from $2000 a year to 
 $5000. 
 
 When the General Assembly convened at 
 Richmond, T. V. Powderly enjoyed popu- 
 larity and wielded influence which were 
 unique. Nearly a million of men believed 
 in him, and were willing to lay down their 
 lives for him, should occasion require in the 
 contest with the common enemy. I re- 
 member saying to him, some years later, 
 that had I occupied his position at Richmond 
 I would not have exchanged it for a quit- 
 claim deed to the United States of America. 
 And he traded it for a pretense of "harmony 
 in the order," with incidental increase of 
 salary and extension of official term. 
 [3173 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Returning to Denver from Richmond, my 
 first act — before I went to my home to see 
 my family — was to write and hand to the 
 printer a circular, addressed to the locals 
 in District Assembly No. 89, and signed 
 by myself as District Master Workman, in- 
 structing all local assemblies in the district 
 to ignore entirely the action of the General 
 Assembly with reference to the expulsion 
 of union cigarmakers until I could make my 
 report to the district. This was the first of 
 my revolts against the administration and the 
 powers that controlled the General Assem- 
 bly, which eventually put me out of the order 
 and into the street, during the Minneapolis 
 session, in 1888. My "cigarmakers' circu- 
 lar" had the desired effect; not one' union 
 man was forced out of the order in Colorado, 
 and not one gave up his union because of the 
 action of the General Assembly. But union 
 men soon began voluntarily to withdraw 
 from the Knights; inside of two years the 
 exodus was almost complete, and — was it 
 only a coincidence ? — the order went down 
 almost as rapidly as it had arisen. 
 
 While the General Assembly was in ses- 
 [318] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 sion at Richmond the employees of the 
 Union Stock Yards at Chicago went on 
 strike, for the eight-hour day. Thomas B. 
 Barry, member of the General Executive 
 Board, was sent at once, by the board, to 
 take charge of the strike. The twenty-five 
 thousand strikers had the stock yards com- 
 pletely tied up, and it was known that the 
 bosses were on the point of yielding, when 
 a telegram from the General Master Work- 
 man dumped the fat into the fire. This tele- 
 gram ordered the men to abandon their de- 
 mands for an eight-hour day and to return 
 to work- The strikers were dumfounded 
 by what they considered the ill-advised and 
 inopportune act of the General Master Work- 
 man, and, when assured that there was no 
 mistake about the order, refused to obey it. 
 Mr. Powderly then sent a message — open, 
 instead of in cipher — to Mr. Barry, direct- 
 ing him, if the men refused to obey the order 
 to return to work, to take their charters from 
 them. Barry was almost heart-broken. He 
 withheld the Master Workman's telegram 
 for two days, but it turned out that the bosses 
 knew of Powderly's order before Barry had 
 [319] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 read the message, and, realizing that the Gen- 
 eral Master Workman was playing their 
 game, they adopted a resolution which said 
 to the strikers, "You can return to work 
 only on condition that you renounce your 
 allegiance to the Knights of Labor." Such 
 a predicament as the men found themselves 
 in is not recorded in any other chapter of the 
 whole labor movement. George A. Schil- 
 ling, one of Chicago's most prominent labor 
 men, who had been closely associated with 
 the stock yards men, writing to me about 
 the affair, said it reminded him of the colored 
 preacher who, in a sermon, said: "Bredern 
 and sisters, dar am two roads in dis world; 
 one leads to hell, and de udder to damna- 
 tion ! " 
 
 The only explanation ever offered of the 
 General Master Workman's conduct in the 
 Chicago stock yards strike was scarce an ex- 
 planation at all, as it also needed explaining. 
 Here it is: A Roman Catholic priest, the 
 Rev. P. M. Flannigan, of St. Anne's Church, 
 Town of Lake, Cook County, had written to 
 Mr. Powderly, urging him to call the strike 
 off. Father Flannigan, claiming to know 
 [ 320 ] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 the sentiments of the packers, declared that 
 they were fully determined not to worktheir 
 plants onthe eight-hour plan. He further de- 
 clared that great hardships — perhaps desti- 
 tution — threatened the families of thousands 
 of the strikers, and, urging Mr. Powderly to 
 put a stop to the strike, said, " In your whole 
 life I do not think you will ever again have 
 an opportunity of doing such a service to so 
 vast a number as in this instance." At the 
 time that letter was written, the shut-down 
 in the yards and packing-houses was com- 
 plete, and not an appeal for assistance had 
 been received by the managers of the strike. 
 The strike was lost. The men returned 
 to work — without being asked to renounce 
 their allegiance to the order, as the bosses, 
 glad to resume operations under the old 
 conditions, receded from the position they 
 had taken but a few days before. But the 
 influence of the order was sadly weakened, 
 not only in the eyes of the stock yards' bosses 
 and the general public, but also with the 
 men who had been so cruelly sacrificed in 
 what they considered the house of their 
 friends. Nor did the discouraging effect 
 [321 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 of the General Master Workman's blunder 
 stop with the victims in the Chicago stock 
 yards 5 it spread throughout the order, and 
 became one of the causes of the order's 
 tremendous losses in membership and in- 
 fluence among the workingmen that marked 
 the next two or three years of its life. 
 
 As has been before stated, I had many 
 friends in Chicago and I kept in pretty close 
 touch with the movement in that city. I 
 had begun to lose confidence in the high 
 officials of the order before the stock yards 
 affair, and when, after a thorough investiga- 
 tion, I realized the wrong that had been 
 done to the Chicago men, I turned the edi- 
 torial page of " The Enquirer " loose against 
 Mr. Powderly and his advisers. I did not 
 charge the General Master Workman with 
 dishonesty; I never believed him guilty to 
 that extent. His error in the stock yards 
 strike, as in the trades-union controversy, 
 was in listening to the wrong advisers. He 
 should have taken the word of Barry and 
 of A. A. Carlton, another member of the 
 General Executive Board, who joined Barry 
 in Chicago as soon as the General Assembly 
 [ 322 ] 
 
" THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 at Richmond closed its session. At least 
 he should have been guided by these men 
 until he could have made a personal investi- 
 gation of the situation. By ruthlessly over- 
 riding these two men, who were his brother 
 members of the board, he lost their support 
 and drove them into the camp of the anti- 
 administrationists, where they remained as 
 long as they were in the order. 
 
 General Master Workman Powderly 
 seemed entirely to lose his head immediately 
 following the Richmond session. The daily 
 press, of course, applauded his course in 
 the stock yards strike. Then he began 
 a bombardment of the local assemblies 
 throughout the country with circulars on 
 all sorts of questions, and invariably he took 
 the side that pleased the opponents of or- 
 ganized labor and won for his circulars the 
 plaudits of the capitalist press. One circu- 
 lar forbade the collection of financial aid in 
 the assemblies for the defense of the men 
 arrested on account of the Chicago Hay- 
 market trouble. Another tabooed the eight- 
 hour movement. Still another forbade the 
 order to enter politics. And there were 
 \.323 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 others which were either at wide variance 
 with what the majority of the members be- 
 lieved to be the province of the order, or 
 were attempts to infringe upon the rights of 
 free men. 
 
 A rule that has long been recognized by 
 thoughtful workingmen as having few ex- 
 ceptions is that, When the daily press and 
 the employing class begin to praise a labor 
 " leader," it is time for the workingmen to 
 keep an eye upon him. About two years 
 before the time of which I have been writ- 
 ing, Mr. Powderly had said to me, in the 
 Planters' Hotel, in St. Louis : "Joe, the 
 labor 'leader' whose acts are praised -by 
 the daily press of this country will bear 
 watching." I remembered this remark 
 when the General Master Workman's praises 
 were being sung by the big newspapers of 
 the country ; but, I repeat, the time never 
 came when I believed Mr. Powderly to be 
 dishonest. He made many mistakes, but 
 he received from plutocracy no greater re- 
 ward than a little cheap flattery, tempo- 
 rarily bestowed, and this shortly turned to 
 ashes in his hands. Mr. Powderly was an 
 [324] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 able agitator and leader of sentiment in a 
 large and general way, but, like nearly all 
 men possessing those qualities, he was un- 
 able to specialize and was almost worthless 
 when it came to following a definite policy. 
 Therefore, he was weak, as an executive 
 officer, at critical moments. As was said 
 to me by one of my friends in those days, a 
 thorough analyst of men and measures : 
 " An honest man, a good leader of sentiment, 
 but a worthless leader of men, must be the 
 verdict of history upon Mr. Powderly." 
 
 In December, 1887, the Federated Trades 
 and Labor-Unions of the United States and 
 Canada met in Columbus, Ohio. The prin- 
 cipal matter considered by that convention 
 was the quarrel with the Knights of Labor. 
 Instead of a conciliatory policy the conven- 
 tion adopted radical retaliatory measures. 
 The mistakes of the administration party of 
 the Knights, at Richmond and during the 
 subsequent sixty days, presented the oppor- 
 tunity the strict trades-unionists wanted, 
 and they entered the field for a fight to the 
 finish. I was in " hot water " about that 
 time. I did not want the two organizations 
 [325] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 to combat each other; I pleaded for peace 
 between them until the fires of the conflict 
 became too hot for the white flag; then I 
 said things about the belligerent leaders on 
 each side. As a result, I was branded a 
 traitor by the administration Knights at 
 headquarters, and denounced as a renegade 
 by some of the members of the trades- 
 unions at home. Oh, it was a delightful 
 situation for a man who thought he had 
 been making sacrifices for the cause of 
 labor, and who was willing to suffer even 
 more for that cause. My trade-union friends 
 said to me some years after that all that 
 misrepresentation and abuse were parts of 
 my sacrificial offering on the altar of organ- 
 ized labor. It may be they were right; I 
 confess I do not know. 
 
 The reader must not take the impression 
 from the foregoing that I was desertejl by 
 the friends and the thousands of organized 
 workmen who had trusted me before that 
 trouble came. Such was not the case; but, 
 on the contrary, a majority of the rank and 
 file held to the views that were mine in the 
 quarrel between the two great wings of the 
 [326] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 movement. But the "leaders" were much 
 displeased with me. It must have been 
 because of the popularity of my expressed 
 views upon the course pursued by Mr. Pow- 
 derly in the stock yards strike that I was 
 asked to go to Chicago to assume editorial 
 charge of a daily newspaper to be published 
 by workingmen and their friends, as an 
 advocate of organized labor. This proposal 
 reached me along about Christmas, 1887. I 
 at first declined the offer, when extra induce- 
 ments were placed before me, together with 
 the flattering assurance that I was the only 
 man who could fill the bill at that time. I 
 called the " Old Guard " together and laid 
 the matter before the men who had stood 
 by me in the dark hours when "The En- 
 quirer" was struggling for a foothold. It 
 was like severing family ties, and there were 
 tears in all our eyes, but, to a man, they 
 said, "Go; it's a broader field, and your 
 duty lies there. We will back up the paper 
 here, when necessary, as we have done be- 
 fore." And so it was decided. I could not 
 be starved out of Denver, and I could not 
 be frightened away; but "molasses catches 
 [327] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 more flies than vinegar," which trite saying 
 will be explained as we proceed. 
 
 I left the business department of " The 
 Enquirer" in my wife's charge, and my as- 
 sociate, James J. Callahan, took my seat in 
 the editorial chair. I left for Chicago on 
 Thursday, January 13, 1887. In " The En- 
 quirer" which appeared on the day after 
 my departure my farewell to my Denver 
 associates was printed. I quote a few sen- 
 tences from my " Words at Parting : " — 
 
 " I leave this city for Chicago, where I 
 go to assume the position of editor-in-chief 
 of the Chicago ' Daily Star,' a paper to be 
 issued by a stock company composed of the 
 labor organizations of that city. I have re- 
 ceived several offers of positions similar to 
 this during the past year; but in this case I 
 found it impossible to refuse the hands held 
 out to me, and the encouragement extended 
 for me to enter a larger field. I hope I shall 
 not be disappointed, and that our Chicago 
 comrades will not have cause to regret that 
 they came to the Far West for one to fill so 
 important a place, and I know every reader 
 [328] 
 
THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 of this paper echoes these wishes. ... I 
 shall furnish a weekly news-letter from Chi- 
 cago, and will also contribute regularly to 
 the editorial columns. The superior writers 
 who have made the paper well known all 
 over the land will continue to help fill it 
 with clear ideas on the labor question. . . . 
 I cannot say good-by, nor hardly adieu, as 
 I do not seem to be going away. I am only 
 removing a cross-fence or two and widen- 
 ing my little field; and though in person I 
 shall be more than a thousand miles away, 
 in spirit I shall be in the same old corner, 
 communing with the kindred and familiar 
 souls in the cause which binds us, and will 
 bind all true friends of Humanity, for ever 
 and ever." 
 
 [ 329] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 WHEN I reached Chicago I was met 
 at the train by a friend to whom I had 
 wired the time that I would arrive. This 
 gentleman, though interested to some ex- 
 tent in the newspaper enterprise which had 
 brought me to the city, was not one of the 
 committee in charge of affairs. He had, 
 indeed, written me before I left Denver to 
 "go slow;" that there was more or less 
 mystery associated with the maneuvering of 
 the promoters of the paper. But I had set 
 aside his caution, attributing it to his natural 
 timidity and his fear that some harm would 
 come to me, for whom he had an unusual 
 friendship. As we rode from the station to 
 my friend's home, where I was to be domi- 
 ciled temporarily, he laid bare before me 
 the situation, which was not as rosy as I had 
 expected: — 
 
 "Within the past twenty-four hours, while 
 [330] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 you have been on the road coming here, 
 there has been a serious break in the organ- 
 ization known as ' The Star Publishing Com- 
 pany.' It seems that the two men who have 
 been negotiating, ostensibly on behalf of 
 the company, for the plant of 'The Tele- 
 gram' — to be remodeled into 'The Star' — 
 have secured the option in their own names, 
 and they will not relinquish their control to 
 the company until the latter puts up a large 
 sum of money. The committee is divided; 
 some of the members, believing they can 
 secure the money, are disposed to bow to 
 the will of the two men who have the 
 option; others are in favor of cutting loose 
 and trying another scheme entirely, while 
 the remainder are simply stunned and do not 
 know what to do. The two men who have 
 the committee in the hole are not working- 
 men, — in the sense that you and I know 
 workingmen, — but they belong to one of our 
 leading assemblies of the Knights of Labor. 
 As they express it themselves, they are ' busi- 
 ness men,' and my opinion is that a com- 
 mittee of unsophisticated, though earnest, 
 workingmen would stand a pretty good 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 chance of being skinned by the 'business 
 men.' So, you can see, 'The Star' will not 
 make its bow to an eager and anxious public 
 to-day, as previously announced, and you 
 can go out to my house and take a rest, in 
 preparation for the reception that is to be 
 tendered you at the Sherman House this 
 evening. The reception will come off as 
 arranged notwithstanding the trouble in the 
 committee. Each side will make its bes^ 
 play to win you, as there has been lots of 
 stuff in the papers about your coming here 
 to edit a workingmen's daily paper, and 
 the thing has been threshed and threshed 
 through the labor organizations of the 
 city. 
 
 " Now I have n't known you and worked 
 with you for years without learning that you 
 do not run away from such situations as 
 you will find here, but that the harder the 
 proposition the harder you will fight. It is 
 not necessary for me to explain the motives 
 which prompt me to suggest that your 
 safest advisers will be found outside of both 
 factions of the publishing company com- 
 mittee. There are those in this city who 
 C332] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 hold your good name and unblemished re- 
 cord as worth more, not only to you, but 
 to the movement, than all the newspaper 
 schemes that were ever hatched." 
 
 I did not feel " puffed up " by this speech; 
 I was deeply touched by it. The speaker 
 had been a resident of Denver during the 
 time of my struggles in establishing " The 
 Enquirer," and he had been jone of the little 
 band that had made possible my success 
 with that paper. 
 
 "My dear boy, I have always tried to 
 show that I valued at their full worth the 
 counsels of my friends, as you know," I 
 said. "While I may be a harder fighter 
 than the rest of you, I realize fully that 
 many victories would have been turned into 
 defeats had it not been for the wisdom of 
 the true comrades whose advice has been 
 my guide at critical periods. My apparent 
 popularity in this city, which, it may turn 
 out, is only temporary, will not disturb my 
 equilibrium, as you shall see. If you have 
 anything more to say to me, say on." 
 
 " At present I have but one thing more to 
 say, and that may not be necessary, as you 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 are well posted on the situation in the move- 
 ment here. But it won't hurt to call your 
 attention to the matter. For some years 
 there was constant friction and frequent con- 
 flict between two general divisions of the 
 labor movement in this city. Two promi- 
 nent labor men were at war for the leader- 
 ship, and the rank and file lined up, some on 
 one side and the rest on the other side. The 
 situation has changed recently, and there is 
 apparent peace between the two divisions. 
 That is, an armistice has been arranged be- 
 tween the rival leaders; they have agreed 
 that the movement in Chicago is large 
 enough for two leaders, but there is trouble 
 ahead for the man who thinks there is room 
 for a third. These agreements may be only 
 tacitly understood, but they are effective 
 nevertheless." 
 
 " If you mean that as a warning to me," 
 I replied, " I can say it is entirely unne- 
 cessary. I have no desire to dispute the 
 dual supremacy which exists here; in real- 
 ity I do not hanker after what is called 
 ' leadership.' I have come here to take a 
 place in the literary department of the 
 
 t334] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 movement, not to meddle with the practi- 
 cal work of the organizations, and there 
 should be no conflict between the two gen- 
 tlemen of whom you speak and myself. By 
 the way, may I ask the names of the gentle- 
 men ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said my friend, " but I sus- 
 pect that you know to whom I refer." The 
 men he named were for years " leaders " in 
 the Chicago labor movement. 
 
 With a smile which I was unable to re- 
 strain, though my friend was certainly in 
 a serious mood, I replied: "There will 
 not be any trouble between those two gen- 
 tlemen and myself; on the contrary, I hope 
 to have their hearty sympathy and support 
 in the work which I have come here to 
 do." 
 
 That evening the reception took place 
 at the Sherman House, and my vanity, of 
 which I confess to having as much as the 
 average man, was considerably tickled by 
 the speeches made welcoming me to the 
 city, which " is the great throbbing heart 
 of the awakening giant of Labor," and con- 
 gratulating the toilers of the Middle West on 
 C335] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 securing the aid of " this brilliant recruit 
 from the far-away snow-capped crest of the 
 continent." I was not accustomed to such 
 pyrotechnics in my receptions, — the few 
 that I 'd had, — but I was spared the neces- 
 sity of purchasing a larger hat after the re- 
 ception by the recollection of the old saw 
 about " going up like a rocket and coming 
 down like a stick." 
 
 Treating the Sherman House reception as 
 my entrance into the field of labor journal- 
 ism in Chicago, I was forcibly struck with 
 the difference between it and the beginning 
 of "The Enquirer" in Denver; but I re- 
 membered that I was in the " Windy City." 
 In Denver, things were done — at least by 
 the "Old Guard" — without any unneces- 
 sary talk. I don't mean to say they did not 
 do things in Chicago; but even the labor 
 people had acquired the habit of tall talking 
 as an accompaniment to performances — the 
 former frequently towering away above the 
 latter. 
 
 There were no indications at the reception 
 of the split between the " business men" and 
 the other members of the committee, and 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 I would have been completely deceived by 
 the appearance of harmony had not my friend 
 posted me during our ride from the station 
 that morning. It was announced that the 
 appearance of the first number of "The 
 Star" would be delayed for a few days, be- 
 cause of unsettled business matters, but that 
 , we would be going under a full head of 
 steam very soon. In the mean time I was 
 to move around among the labor organiza- 
 tions and greet my " thousands of friends and 
 supporters." On the evening of my third 
 day in the city I was given a dinner at one of 
 the leading restaurants. The edibles pro- 
 vided for the occasion did credit to the justly 
 famous cuisine of the establishment, but the 
 ■piece de resistance, for obvious reasons, was 
 omitted from the printed menu. It was cat 
 — cat in a bag; but the hand of the restau- 
 rateur, which was supposed to hold tightly 
 the unsewed end of the bag, slipped, and the 
 cat got out. 
 
 The proprietor of the plac^ was an ex- 
 sheriff of Cook County, and, at the time of 
 which I write, was the chief man in the 
 machine of one of the leading political parties 
 [337] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 in the county. About midway of the feast 
 this gentleman was conducted to the room 
 where The Star Publishing Company was 
 dining, that he might be properly presented 
 to the much-heralded editor from the other 
 side of the torrid and sandy plains. After 
 the formal introduction and the nothings, 
 denominated " courtesies," common to such 
 occasions, the ex-sheriff and then party boss 
 placed his hand familiarly upon the shoulder 
 of the guileless scribe and remarked, in a 
 confidential tone: — 
 
 " Well, Mr. Buchanan, I think we will get 
 along all right together. I can handle our 
 people without any trouble, and, from what 
 I have heard of your abilities as a ' leader,' 
 I guess you can swing the labor end all 
 right. If we don't sweep everything before 
 us in this county, I shall be ver}?^ much sur- 
 prised." 
 
 To say that I was puzzled by what I had 
 just heard but feebly expresses my state of 
 mind at that moment, and the exhibition of 
 nervousness displayed by the gentlemen who 
 had overheard the words of the ex-sheriff 
 did not tend to reassure me; but I kept 
 
 C338] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 myself well in hand — I had been in close 
 corners before — and, emulating the con- 
 fidential manner of the ex-sheriff, asked that 
 gentleman : — 
 
 " And who are ' our people,' as you use the 
 expression? " 
 
 " Why," exclaimed the gentleman, in a 
 manner that showed surprise at my question, 
 "the fellows who run the machine of the 
 party." 
 
 His last finger had lost its grip on the 
 mouth of the bag, the cat sprang out, and, 
 cavorting about the room, knocked over the 
 unfinished dinner, and some of the diners, 
 at the feast. 
 
 The boss had either been poorly coached 
 or he had forgotten his lesson. Out of con- 
 sideration for those whose faces showed they 
 were as much surprised at what had just been 
 said as I was myself, I dissembled — some- 
 thing I was not often called upon to do — 
 and, in reply to the frank, though rascally, 
 declaration of the ex-sheriff, said, with a 
 forced laugh : — 
 
 "Why, certainly; to be sure. There could 
 be no other meaning to your words." 
 [ 339 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 The boss of the party withdrew and 
 
 left his fellow conspirators to finish their din- 
 ner. But the dinner, and the conspiracy, 
 ended right there. 
 
 To make a long story shorter, let me state 
 that my connection with the originators of 
 the Chicago " workingmen's daily " was 
 severed before we left the room that night. 
 With a few exceptions the members of the 
 committee broke away with me. The " busi- 
 ness men " Knights, who held an option on 
 the plant of " The Telegram," completed 
 their deal some days later, and began the 
 publication of the proposed " workingmen's 
 daily;" but the workingmen would have 
 none of it, and in a few weeks it had run its 
 course. All sorts of inducements were of- 
 fered me to pocket my "prejudices" and 
 take the editorial chair; but of course I 
 could not do it: I was too busy exposing the 
 political deal which had leaked at the dinner. 
 Ethelbert Stewart, an honest and exception- 
 ally capable man, who has since had a 
 creditable career as special agent of the 
 United States Department of Labor, was 
 secured as editor; but, although the political 
 
 [3403 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 deal was smashed, the paper was not ac- 
 cepted in good faith by the workingmen. 
 
 The members of the publishing committee 
 who had followed me, in the break at the 
 time of the dinner and the cat, attempted 
 to organize a company to publish a paper 
 of which I would-be the editor, but they 
 could not raise the necessary funds. For 
 three weeks I waited for them to do some- 
 thing practical. One day everything was 
 bright and rosy; the next day the situation 
 looked hopeless. These alternating currents 
 of hot and cold air did not strike my fancy, 
 especially as I had broken my last five dollar 
 bill. I was determined not to call upon 
 " The Enquirer " for money to maintain me 
 in Chicago, and I was also positively opposed 
 to the idea of returning to Denver a whipped 
 — or, rather, buncoed — man. I had gone 
 to Chicago to edit a labor paper; I made up 
 my mind, by the end of the third week of 
 the futile negotiations of the publishing com- 
 mittee, to carry out my programme, or to 
 break something or somebody in the attempt. 
 There were good men on that committee; 
 loyal and conscientious friends of the labor 
 [341] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 movement, but they had not been cut out for 
 newspaper promoters. I went to the meet- 
 ing of the committee and announced that I 
 was tired of waiting upon their slow motions, 
 and that I was now going to try it alone. 
 
 " I can't start a daily right away, gentle- 
 men," I said, " but I will have the first issue 
 of a semi- weekly on the streets next Wednes- 
 day, one week from to-day. I solicit your 
 support." 
 
 " How much money have you ? " asked 
 one of the gentlemen. 
 
 I turned out the contents of my pocket. I 
 had just two dollars and forty cents. 
 
 " And you are going to start a paper in 
 Chicago on a capital of two dollars and forty 
 cents ? " came from the gentleman who had 
 spoken before. " Well, call upon me for 
 fifty dollars when your first issue is out." 
 
 I may say here that one week later I held 
 in my hand a check for fifty dollars, signed 
 by the name of one of Chicago's young 
 and rising attorneys. We had both " made 
 good," as they say in sporting circles. 
 
 When I left the committee meeting I 
 hurried at once to the town of Lake, where 
 
 c 342 ] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 I looked up some of my friends among the 
 stock yards men. Two of the " boys " hus- 
 tled about and borrowed five hundred dol- 
 lars for me, placing their names on my note 
 as security for the payment of the sum, 
 in six months. By Thursday night I had 
 rented some rooms, had purchased an out- 
 fit from the type foundry, — exclusive of 
 presses, — making a cash payment and giv- 
 ing a mortgage to secure the balance, and 
 when, at midnight, I turned the key on my 
 new establishment, I shut in the familiar 
 atmosphere of the "print shop." I had 
 imbibed, during my three weeks' stay in the 
 city, large quantities of that spirit which is 
 called " Chicago push," though I had found 
 that all Chicagoans did not take kindly to 
 the " push." 
 
 On Friday my little force of " hired men " 
 laid the type ; on Saturday we got to work, 
 and Wednesday, February 23, 1887, the first 
 number of " The Chicago Labor Enquirer " 
 made its appearance, and of course I was 
 pleased when assured by my brother print- 
 ers that " ' The Enquirer ' is the neatest paper 
 ever issued in Chicago." 
 C 343 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Why did I call my new paper by the name 
 that belonged to the Denver paper? In the 
 first number of the Chicago paper I answered 
 that question. From the article on the sub- 
 ject I quote: — 
 
 " Nearly five years ago I established ' The 
 Labor Enquirer' of Denver, Colorado, and 
 since that time we have been through the 
 mill together, and have been bound to each 
 other by the adversity that seals everlasting 
 friendships; never will the time come when 
 I shall not think there is something in that 
 name. It was but natural that I should wish 
 to call the paper which is to have my undi- 
 vided attention hereafter by that name, es- 
 pecially as there were grave doubts in my 
 mind at the time I began preparations for 
 the publication of this paper as to whether 
 the Denver journal could, under the circum- 
 stances, be continued." 
 
 I sold the Denver paper and plant to a 
 little company formed by some of the com- 
 rades, the transfer taking place early in 
 March. The greater part of the purchase 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 price was paid in promissory notes, which 
 I still hold, uncanceled; but they are not 
 for sale at any price. The Denver paper 
 continued about a year under the new ar- 
 rangement. Shortly after it passed its fifth 
 birthday it was laid away in the section of 
 the Potter's Field of journalism reserved for 
 starved labor papers. 
 
 " It sorrowed for the companionship of 
 him who had helped it across many black 
 ditches in its short though troubled life, that 
 one whose sacrifices and sufferings had made 
 him seem a part of its own very self, and it 
 just gasped and died." With these words 
 one of the " Old Guard," some years later, 
 closed the account he gave me of the trials 
 that beset " The Denver Enquirer " after it 
 ceased to be my property. 
 
 An extract from another of the editorials 
 in the first number of " The Chicago En- 
 quirer" may prove interesting, as it dis- 
 cusses a question which frequently arises in 
 the minds of newspaper readers. It was 
 my opinion that when a man was the sole 
 editor of his own paper he should, in his 
 editorials, use the personal pronoun " I " 
 [345] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 instead of " we " when expressing his own 
 opinion or in speaking of himself. The prac- 
 tice of my belief in this matter made me the 
 butt of ill-natured jokes ; but I stood the gaff, 
 and never changed my practice in that par- 
 ticular. Here, in part, was my argument: — 
 
 " If a paper has more than one editor, if 
 its editorial page is an intellectual pot-pie, 
 then ' we ' is not inappropriate, though the 
 French custom of signing articles is prefer- 
 able; but when it is known that the paper 
 has but one editor, then that editor is a 
 ' freak ' if he can speak grammatically of 
 himself as ' we,' and his place is in a inu- 
 seum and not on a newspaper. An editor 
 in giving expression to his opinions, in con- 
 versation, or upon the platform, uses the 
 pronoun ' I,' but when he puts those same 
 opinions into type for use in his paper, he 
 must, forsooth, use that vague, indefinite 
 commodity of monarchs, ' we.' Folly, posi- 
 tive folly. The editor of ' The Enquirer ' 
 is responsible for unsigned articles in its 
 columns, and when, for the purpose of 
 properly shaping an idea, it is necessary for 
 [346] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 him to speak of himself, he will do so as he 
 would upon the platform or in conversation. 
 This answers questions which have been 
 asked me by those who, noticing what they 
 thought was a ' peculiarity ' in my Denver 
 paper, wanted to know my reasons for it, 
 and it forestalls the objectors who will 
 notice my ' peculiarity ' for the first time 
 in this paper." 
 
 The conditions were especially auspicious 
 for the beginning of " The Enquirer " in Chi- 
 cago. The organized workingmen were just 
 about entering upon a political campaign. 
 The third number of the paper carried at 
 the head of the editorial page the ticket of 
 the United Labor Party. The election was 
 for city and town officers and one alderman 
 for each ward in the city of Chicago. The 
 nominees of the party were all workingmen 
 and members of labor organizations. Rob- 
 ert Nelson, the nominee for mayor of Chi- 
 cago, was an iron-molder by trade, regularly 
 employed in one of the foundries of the 
 city. There was work and plenty of it for 
 " The Enquirer " and its editor during the 
 
 ^347] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 campaign. The paper was issued twice a 
 week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It 
 met with unusual success from the begin- 
 ning, and I believed that I was at last es- 
 tablished where everlasting digging for 
 money to meet current expenses would not 
 unfit me for other work. Alas, for the hopes 
 of mortals. 
 
 The United Labor Party secured twenty- 
 four thousand votes out of seventy-eight 
 thousand votes polled in the city of Chi- 
 cago, and elected one aldennan. The result 
 of the election was encouraging to the 
 workingmen of the city, and the organiza- 
 tion of the United Labor Party was looked 
 upon as a fixture in local politics. A few 
 months later candidates were nominated for 
 judicial places, but in that election the re- 
 turns were not so satisfactory as they had 
 been in the city election. The falling off so 
 soon was due, probably, to the fact that the 
 offices to be filled did not permit of the 
 nomination of members of labor organiza- 
 tions; judges are made out of lawyers, and 
 lawyers are not eligible to membership in 
 labor organizations. 
 
 [348] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 The workingmen's political movement 
 labored under unusual disadvantages in 
 Chicago at that time, because of the mis- 
 representations made by the city press. 
 The prejudices of the people were worked 
 upon by constant repetition of the charge 
 that the triumph of the United Labor Party 
 at the polls would mean a free license to 
 " Anarchists " and other " advocates of vio- 
 lence " to wreak vengeance upon the city 
 and its people because of the imprisonment 
 of the men charged with responsibility for 
 the Haymarket affair, of May, 1886. Color 
 was given to this charge by the prominence 
 of men in the party who were pronounced 
 in their friendship for the seven imprisoned 
 "boys;" but those who fathered and kept 
 alive the false sentiment regarding the 
 United Labor Party knew well enough that 
 it was officered and led by men who advo- 
 cated a peaceable settlement of the differ- 
 ences between the workers and the bosses 
 — their appeal to the ballot proved the truth 
 of this assertion. " The Enquirer," with only 
 two issues a week, had to fight against the 
 combined daily press of the city. It was a 
 C349] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 very unequal contest, and the editors of the 
 big dailies probably laughed at the bare idea 
 that " The Enquirer " was fighting; but I was 
 satisfied with that end of the campaign — to 
 be the organ of twenty-four thousand voters 
 is no small honor for a semi-weekly paper, 
 whose proprietor had only two dollars and 
 forty cents and a bundle of assurance to start 
 on. 
 
 After the city election I reduced " The 
 Enquirer" to a weekly, for reasons which 
 were scouted by those whose wish was fa- 
 ther to the thought that I was on the brink 
 of failure, but which made the change im- 
 perative. The postmaster would not accept 
 the paper for delivery, as, under the postal 
 law, he was not allowed to handle the local 
 circulation of a publication issued oftener 
 than once a week. I tried to have the paper 
 delivered by carriers, but as there was work 
 in that line only two days in each week, I 
 found it impossible to get good carriers who 
 would stick to the job. I then turned to the 
 carriers of the other papers. Some of them 
 took my paper on with their dailies, and 
 everything would have been all right, had 
 C350] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 -not the proprietors of the dailies, through 
 their circulators, informed the carriers that 
 they must give up " The Enquirer " or lose 
 their six and seven days' jobs. I was beaten, 
 and had to fall back upon a weekly edition, 
 which would be handled by the post-ofEce 
 department. 
 
 Early in the year 1887 there were signs 
 of dissatisfaction in the ranks of the carpen- 
 ters of Chicago. The trade was organized 
 to some extent, but the unions and assem- 
 blies were not strong enough to enforce 
 union wages and conditions — at least they 
 did not think they were. Some of the ablest 
 and most courageous men in the trade got 
 together and organized the Carpenters' 
 Council, which was made up of the various 
 unions and assemblies of Knights of Labor 
 composed of carpenters. The man most 
 entitled to credit for this movement, which 
 proved of such great value to the carpenters 
 of Chicago, was James Brennock, — " Uncle 
 Jimmie," — who for more than twenty years 
 has held a first place in the hearts of Chicago 
 workingmen. 
 
 When the Carpenters' Council was organ- 
 
 [351] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ized only about one fourth of the carpenters 
 in the city were union men, and wages 
 ranged from seventeen to twenty-five cents 
 an hour. The workday was never less than 
 ten hours in length, and in many cases it 
 was twelve or more hours, and the men had 
 no rights which employers were obliged to 
 respect. At a meeting of the council, in 
 March, it was determined to inake an effort 
 to improve the conditions of the carpentering 
 trade in Chicago. It was decided to present 
 to the employing carpenters a request for a 
 minimum scale of thirty-five cents an hour, 
 and an eight-hour workday. That looks like 
 a pretty big jump from seventeen cents and 
 a twelve-hour day, especially for a new and 
 comparatively weak organization; but the 
 carpenters had been a long time making up 
 their minds to jump, and they had fallen 
 far behind the other trades. The local 
 unions, which were attached to the United 
 Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, — 
 the national organization of the trade, — sent 
 a communication to P.J. McGuire, the Gen- 
 eral Secretary, with headquarters in Phila- 
 delphia, informing him of the action taken 
 ^352] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 by the Carpenters' Council, and asking him 
 to hold himself in readiness to come to 
 Chicago and take charge, in case a strike 
 was ordered. Secretary McGuire sent back 
 word that his hands were full of important 
 organization matters, which would prevent 
 him from complying with the request; but 
 that there was in Chicago a man who, from 
 experience, was eminently fitted to assist 
 the carpenters, and who had, to the fullest 
 extent, the confidence of the national officers 
 of the Brotherhood. Mr. McGuire sent the 
 Chicago men the address of the man he 
 offered as a substitute, and also wrote the 
 latter a letter urging him to accept the prof- 
 fered honor. I had been a resident of Chi- 
 cago only three months, and felt a little 
 " new " for such an undertaking; but when 
 I had read McGuire's letter and had listened 
 to the story of the Brotherhood men who 
 called upon me, I put on my hat and went 
 over to the headquarters of the Carpenters' 
 Council, where I put in a large part of 
 my time during the two weeks that fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 The boss carpenters refused to grant the 
 
 [353] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 requests of the men and the council ordered 
 a strike of all carpenters in the city. The 
 result of the order for the strike was one of 
 the greatest surprises in all my experience 
 in the labor movement — more than ninety 
 per cent, of the working carpenters in the 
 city, union and non-union, laid down their 
 tools and walked out. The bosses were 
 stunned. They had not expected any but 
 the organized men — and, probably, not all 
 of them — to obey the strike order. For 
 two weeks we negotiated, the employers, 
 who at first were disposed to ride high 
 horses, finally seeing that they had to treat 
 with the journeymen as equals. The initia- 
 tion fee of the union was reduced to one 
 dollar, and the non-union strikers fell over 
 each other clambering into the organization. 
 At the end of two weeks a complete victory 
 for the strikers had been achieved and the 
 trade was organized as never before in the 
 city. Only those acquainted with the organ- 
 ization and the slavish conditions in the trade 
 when the strike was ordered could appre- 
 ciate the wonderful changes effected in the 
 carpentering industry in Chicago in those 
 t3S4] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 two weeks. That was the only strike, of 
 importance, in which I was directly con- 
 cerned while in Chicago; but it was enough 
 to satisfy the ambition of any reasonable 
 agitator. 
 
 I must relate one incident of the strike, 
 illustrative of an old saw that has always 
 been one of my favorites : " Pride goeth be- 
 fore a fall." The master carpenters objected 
 to my prominence in the controversy be- 
 tween them and their employees, because I 
 was not a carpenter, and had never been in 
 their employ. They said unpleasant things 
 about me to the reporters, but that was all 
 they could do to show their feelings on the 
 subject, until near the close of the strike. 
 The Master Carpenters' Association sent 
 word to the Carpenters' Council that it was 
 willing to receive and consider the proposals 
 of the council for a settlement of the strike. 
 The council drew up its demands, gave the 
 paper to me, and sent me to the rooms of 
 the Master Carpenters, where the associa- 
 tion was in session. From the anteroom I 
 sent a note to the secretary of the associa- 
 tion, stating the object of my errand. After 
 [355] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 allowing me to cool my heels for an hour, 
 the secretary sent word out to me that the 
 association refused to treat with me, because 
 I was not recognized as either an employee 
 or a carpenter. I returned to the offices of 
 the council and reported. Brennock and the 
 other members of the strike committee were 
 very wroth at the indignity which had been 
 put upon me ; but I only smiled. I was not 
 thin-skinned and, besides, I had long ago 
 learned how to wait. About an hour after 
 my return from the rooms of the Master 
 Carpenters' Association a committee of five 
 members of that punctilious society marched 
 into the offices of the council. The spokes- 
 man informed Secretary Brennock that the 
 committee had been sent by the Masters' 
 Association to present articles of agreement 
 which the boss carpenters were willing to 
 sign with the union carpenters. At Bren- 
 nock's request everybody but the members 
 of the strike committee, the visitors from the 
 Masters, and myself withdrew from the 
 room. Two or three of the bosses looked at 
 me in a manner that betokened suspicion — 
 they did not know me by sight, but I suppose 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 I did not look sufficiently weather-stained for 
 a carpenter. However, I sat quietly in a 
 corner while the spokesman of the Masters' 
 committee read a lengthy document which 
 he called an agreement. When he had fin- 
 ished, the chairman of the council's com- 
 mittee took the paper, saying: "We will 
 submit this document to our counsel, gentle- 
 men, and let you have our decision as soon 
 as possible." 
 
 " Your counsel ! " exclaimed Mr. Spokes- 
 man. " I did n't know you had brought a 
 lawyer into this matter." 
 
 "We haven't," said Brennock. "This 
 gentleman, Mr. Buchanan, is our counsel j" 
 and he passed the Masters' agreement to me. 
 
 The situation was worthy the imagination 
 of Dr. Conan Doyle. I was even and to 
 spare. The wind from a dove's wing would 
 have swept the Masters' committee from its 
 feet. They recovered their composure suf- 
 ficiently to enable them to get out of the 
 room, to an accompaniment of "Ahems," 
 "Ahs," and "Very wells." 
 
 It required just fifteen minutes to reject 
 the agreement submitted by the Masters, — 
 
 [3573 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 we had all heard it read, — make a slight 
 alteration in our ultimatum, and dispatch a 
 messenger to the rooms of the Master Car- 
 penters' Association. I did not go that time; 
 there was no necessity for " rubbing it in." 
 
 The ultimatum of the workmen was ac- 
 ceded to the next day, and eight thousand 
 carpenters returned to work under union 
 conditions, with an eight-hour workday and 
 thirty-five cents as the minimum wage. 
 
 The union carpenters showed their appre- 
 ciation of the service I had given them by 
 subscribing in large numbers for " The En- 
 quirer " and by donations to the paper's 
 funds, aggregating nearly five hundred dol- 
 lars, from the various unions of the Brother- 
 hood. This help and the profits from the 
 large sales of the paper made during the 
 spring campaign enabled me to pay off the 
 mortgage on the plant and make "The En- 
 quirer " free of debt. 
 
 When in June representatives from the 
 building trades organizations of fourteen of 
 the leading cities in the United States met 
 in Chicago for the purpose of forming a 
 national council of building trades, I was 
 [358] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 chosen a representative of the Chicago car- 
 penters to attend that meeting. I was fur- 
 ther honored by being made temporary 
 chairman of the national conference — the 
 first, I believe, of its kind ever held in this 
 country. I shall never forget how kindly 
 I was treated by the Chicago carpenters in 
 return for a service which I considered as 
 simply in the line of my duty. In those days 
 I used to say I was a carpenter, in all but 
 a knowledge of the use of the tools of the 
 trade, like the chap who could waltz, all but 
 his feet. 
 
 I had not taken a transfer card when I left 
 Denver for Chicago, and was, therefore, still 
 a member of Union Assembly No. 2327, 
 and of District Assembly No. 89. In fact, 
 the Colorado District Assembly refused for 
 nearly a year to elect my successor as Dis- 
 trict Master Workman. Therefore, when I 
 received a communication from the officers 
 of the District Assembly inquiring if I would 
 accept credentials as representative to the 
 General Assembly, which was to meet in 
 Minneapolis in October, 1887, I was not 
 greatly surprised. I replied that as I had 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 already been a representative in three Gen- 
 eral Assemblies, and was the only member 
 of District Assembly 89 who had ever been 
 a delegate to the general body, I could not 
 accept the honor again if there was any 
 member of the district who wanted it. In 
 other words, the choice must be approved 
 by every member of the district before I 
 would accept. In due time I received the 
 credentials, with a statement of the officers 
 of the District Assembly that I had been 
 unanimously chosen. I relate all these par- 
 ticulars so that the reader may be able to 
 appreciate fully the action of the adminis- 
 tration party at Minneapolis. 
 
 In "The Chicago Enquirer" I had criti- 
 cised the course of the administration of the 
 order; but hundreds of papers in the coun- 
 try had done the same thing. It is probably 
 true that my criticisms struck closer home, 
 because I was better posted on the inside 
 workings than the general run of editors. 
 During that year the Knights almost ceased 
 to be a secret organization; its affairs were 
 discussed publicly, from both sides, to such 
 an extent that the whole world knew of 
 [360] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 about everything that took place " under the 
 seal of Knighthood." While I criticised the 
 acts of the General Master Workman, I tried 
 at all times to avoid attacking Mr. Powderly 
 personally. He was not always so consider- 
 ate in his treatment of me. He wrote me a 
 letter recalling my commission, alleging that 
 I was using that commission in Chicago to 
 show that I was persona grata with the 
 General Master Workman — who had the 
 sole power to issue and recall commissions. 
 That letter made me smile, and I told the 
 writer as much in my reply. There was, at 
 that time, no man more unpopular with the 
 Chicago workingmen than Mr. Powderly. 
 The order had fallen off numerically at an 
 alarming rate since the Richmond session; 
 it had lost tens of thousands of members. A 
 part (Jf the loss could be traced to the action 
 of the Richmond General Assembly, a part 
 to the lack of a definite policy on the part of 
 the administration, and the rest to the inter- 
 necine strife that had been going on for 
 months. The circulars of the Master Work- 
 man prohibiting strikes, political action, as- 
 sessments in aid of brothers in need and the 
 [361] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 like, had raised the query, "What are we 
 organized for? " And no satisfactory answer 
 being forthcoming, the unanswered ones left 
 the order. In an editorial headed " The 
 Order's Crisis," and printed a short time 
 before the Minneapolis session, I discussed 
 the situation, closing with the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 "I have no desire to deal in personalities; 
 we have all allowed ourselves to do too much 
 of that sort of thing. What we want now is 
 a sinking of all personality in the desire for a 
 common good. I do not mean that we are 
 to totally ignore the qualities of individuals; 
 by no means: that would be but falling into 
 the old errors. I mean, however, that prin- 
 ciples and not men are what we must push 
 to the front; and in repairing the past and 
 preparing for the future, we must forget iJjho 
 the man is, but remember what he is. We 
 must lay down our principles clearly and 
 forcibly, and put none but those who sink 
 self in principle upon guard. This way lies 
 success for the order; any other way lies de- 
 struction — rapid or gradual." 
 [362] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 That editorial settled my fate in the Gen- 
 eral Assembly; but it also unerringly fore- 
 told the future of the order of Knights of 
 Labor. While I anticipated a lively time 
 at the Minneapolis session of the General 
 Assembly, and expected to be called upon 
 to take some pretty hard raps — and prob- 
 ably to administer some in return — I was 
 totally unprepared for the unknightly, un- 
 manly, and cowardly treatment I received; 
 but to catch me in an unprepared state was 
 a part of the game. The game was played 
 upon many others later on, — some of its 
 devotees themselves eventually becoming 
 victims, — and it Was that game which for- 
 ever destro)'ed all hope that the Knights of 
 Labor would ever regain their lost prestige 
 in the American labor movement. 
 
 The first intimation I received that my 
 right to a seat in the General Assembly was 
 to be disputed was when I picked up a news- 
 paper on the train, a few miles out of Min- 
 neapolis, and read an article to the effect that 
 " The Rip- Roarer of the Rockies " would 
 find, when he reached the city, that his ene- 
 mies had been at work, and he might consider 
 [363] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 himself fortunate if they permitted him to 
 stick his nose inside the General Assembly. 
 The writer of that article was well informed. 
 I was allowed inside, however. When 
 the committee on credentials reported, it 
 stated that the local assembly to which I 
 belonged had been suspended by the Gen- 
 eral Executive Board for non-payment of 
 dues to the General Assembly, and that, 
 therefore, I was not in good standing and 
 could not be admitted as a representative. 
 It will be remembered that I had been over 
 a thousand miles distant from my local as- 
 sembly for nearly a year; this was the 
 schemers' opportunity. I produced a travel- 
 ing card, showing that my dues were paid 
 several months in advance; but that would 
 not do. Then I forced the credentials com- 
 mittee to telegraph to the secretary of Dis- 
 trict Assembly 89. He answered that my 
 local was in good standing; but the machine 
 would not accept that testimony. Then I 
 offered the inoney to pay the alleged indebt- 
 edness of the assembly ten times over, which 
 was a perfectly lawful and orderly proceed- 
 ing, and then the wolves were let loose. The 
 [ 364 ] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 contest over my right to a seat occupied all 
 of the first day of the session and two thirds 
 of the second day, my friends and I winning 
 on every legal point. When the administra- 
 tion machine was driven into a corner by 
 my tender of the money to restore my local 
 to good standing, if it was suspended, as 
 claimed, the line of attack was shifted from 
 legal to personal grounds. A representative 
 who had a grudge against me because of a 
 well-deserved trouncing I had given him at 
 the Cleveland session, eighteen months be- 
 fore, was recognized by the General Master 
 Workman as the next speaker. This man 
 began a string of charges against me that 
 embraced everything from trades-unionism 
 to revolutionary Anarchism. He talked and 
 read for over an hour, though there was a 
 positive rule against speeches of greater 
 length than five minutes, and if I had been 
 half the villain he painted me, I should have 
 been drawn and quartered before expulsion 
 from the General Assembly. My traducer 
 did not forget to play the sympathetic strain, 
 pitched in the key of the General Master 
 Workman, against whom, it was claimed, I 
 [365] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 had committed not only the crime of lese- 
 majeste, but every other crime in the deca- 
 logue. My friends were for stopping the 
 representative when he had exceeded the 
 five-minute rule ; but feeling that much was 
 coming out that would have to be threshed 
 out before the close of the session, I asked 
 that he be given all the time he desired. I 
 did not get even a shadow of courtesy in ex- 
 change for that piece of generosity. 
 
 My assailant finally got to the end of his 
 tirade and took his seat; but before the last 
 word was well off the end of his tongue the 
 General Master Workman had recognized 
 one of the " stool-pigeons " of the adminis- 
 tration, who made a call for the previous 
 question. The previous question was a mo- 
 tion to concur in the recommendation of the 
 committee on credentials, that I be refused 
 a seat in the General Assembly because of 
 the suspension of my local assembly. As 
 everybody knows, a call for the previous 
 question is not debatable, and the intention 
 was to rush through the motion, which my 
 friends had destroyed by argument, while 
 the sentiment manufactured by a personal 
 [366] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 attack was still hot against me — and, under 
 no circumstances, was I to be allowed to re- 
 ply to the attack. I jumped to my feet and 
 appealed for recognition from the presiding 
 officer; but he refused to see me. Pandemo- 
 nium broke loose, and amidst the clamor 
 and excitement I begged the General Mas- 
 ter Workman to allow me "five minutes 
 — two minutes — one minute " to speak in 
 my own behalf. "Sit down! Sit down!" 
 shouted Master Workman Powderly, as he 
 shook his gavel at me. He seemed to be 
 desirous of shoving that gavel down my 
 throat, to prevent me from speaking; and it 
 was the same gavel I had picked from the 
 floor at the Cleveland session and returned to 
 the hand of Mr. Powderly with words of en- 
 couragement. The very men with whom he 
 was co-operating at Minneapolis had so dis- 
 gusted and discouraged him by their methods 
 at Cleveland that Mr. Powderly had left the 
 chair, and, throwing the gavel upon the 
 floor, cried, as if in anguish, " I can stand 
 this no longer; take your Master Workman- 
 ship! " Then I had gone to him, as I have 
 said, and, placing the discarded gavel once 
 C367] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 more in his hand, urged him to return to his 
 position at the head of the order, assuring 
 him that there were enough true Knights 
 present to prevent the disaster he seemed to 
 fear was upon us. It seemed my luck to be 
 always casting bread upon the water and 
 getting worm-eaten crusts in return. 
 
 Without waiting for the uproar to subside 
 the Master Workman took the vote on the 
 call for the previous question, deciding that 
 the question was ordered. A vote was then 
 taken on the motion to reject my creden- 
 tials, in accordance with the recommendation 
 of the committee on credentials, and the 
 motion was carried by a small majority. 
 Thus was I thrown out of the organization 
 which I had worked for, sometimes at great 
 sacrifice, for five years; but others received 
 the same, and worse, treatment at subse- 
 quent sessions of the General Assembly. 
 Therefore I have not related the particu- 
 lars in my case because the case was pecul- 
 iar, but because the illegal and unknightly 
 methods resorted to by my enemies were ' 
 similar to those used to force from the 
 order many of its ablest and most loyal 
 [368] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 members. To say nothing of the opposition 
 from the outside, no organization could with- 
 stand the blasting effects of such disregard 
 for the principles of right and justice, of fra- 
 ternity and brotherhood. 
 
 I feel it is incumbent upon me, if I am to 
 be absolutely fair, to state that five years 
 after my rejection by the General Assembly 
 at Minneapolis, General Master Workman 
 Powderly extended to me a card of rein- 
 statement, issued by himself, which I ac- 
 cepted, though I was never again active in 
 the order. Mr. Powderly did more than 
 that to make amends for the wrong done me. 
 In the presence of a large number of Knights 
 from different parts of the country, met in 
 Philadelphia in 1893, Mr. Powderly, in reply 
 to an objection to my presence in the meet- 
 ing, said : " Buchanan is the knightliest 
 Knight of us all. I want, here before you 
 and in his presence, to say that the act, in all 
 the years I have been General Master Work- 
 man of the order, I most regret, was com- 
 mitted at Minneapolis, when I allowed my- 
 self to be deceived into doing Buchanan a 
 great wrong." 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Could anything have been more manly, 
 more knightly than that? Good men do 
 such things sometimes; bad men never. It 
 was a happy hour for me; my faith in the 
 honesty of my old friend was restored; again 
 I felt that his heart was right, if his head did 
 go wrong sometimes. My fellow " kickers " 
 of the old days, who have been unable to 
 understand the friendship I have, upon occa- 
 sion, manifested for Mr. Powderly in late 
 years, will find the answer in the incident I 
 have just related. 
 
 My expulsion from the General Assembly 
 was the slightest of several acts of the Min- 
 neapolis session which added to the feeling 
 of dissatisfaction that was already becoming 
 widespread throughout the order. Many of 
 the representatives in attendance upon the 
 session believed, at its conclusion, that, un- 
 less something was done quickly to break 
 the power of the selfish and short-sighted 
 ring that was in control, the order would 
 soon be destroyed. While it had in its con- 
 trol the machinery of the organization, it was 
 impossible to dislodge the ring at a session 
 of the General Assembly, unless an almost 
 C370] 
 
IN THE LARGER FIELD 
 
 entirely new set of representatives could be 
 chosen. To pave the way for such a move- 
 ment, but also in the hope that the adminis- 
 tration might be frightened into doing the 
 right thing, a meeting of about twenty-five 
 representatives who had attended the Min- 
 neapolis session was held in Chicago on the 
 second day after the General Assembly 
 closed. These dissatisfied Representatives 
 formed a temporary organization, which they 
 called a " Provisional Committee." A state- 
 ment, embodying the most glaring offenses 
 against the laws of the order, committed by 
 the general officers and the General Assem- 
 bly, under their domination, was prepared 
 and distributed, as thoroughly as possible, 
 throughout the order. As a war measure, 
 local assemblies were advised to refuse to 
 pay dues to the General Assembly, until all 
 the provisions of the constitution of the order 
 were fully complied with by the general 
 officers. A number of district assemblies 
 rallied to the support of the " Provisionals," 
 but, as the principal effect of this open war- 
 fare was to hasten the withdrawal of the dis- 
 satisfied rank and file from the order — a re- 
 
 [371 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 suit not desired by the " Provisionals " — the 
 movement, after a few weeks, was abandoned 
 and the " committee " disbanded, though 
 many of its members and supporters were 
 never again identified with the Knights of 
 Labor. 
 
 C372 ] 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 I HAVE N'T thus far said anything about 
 the condemned Anarchists, while relating 
 my experiences after taking up my residence 
 in Chicago. It has been my purpose to de- 
 fer any mention of that matter until I reached 
 a point where I could tell all that is worth 
 telling of my connection with the case, with- 
 out the intrusion of other events which would 
 break the sequence of the story. 
 
 On the second day after my arrival in Chi- 
 cago from Denver, I called at the jail to see 
 " the boys." I had messages for them from 
 friends in the West; besides I had been per- 
 sonally acquainted with Parsons, Fischer, and 
 Spies for several years. The former two 
 were union printers, and Parsons was a bro- 
 ther Knight of Labor. On several occasions 
 I visited the jail during the ensuing nine 
 nionths, and passed many interesting half 
 hours in conversation — the iron grating be- 
 [373] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 tween us — with those intelligent and brave 
 men, who never whimpered nor once showed 
 the pallid flag of fear. Both Parsons and 
 Spies were frequent contributors to the col- 
 umns of " The Enquirer " during that sum- 
 mer. Parsons's communications generally 
 bore the date-line : " Cell 29, Cook County 
 Bastile." 
 
 The friendly relations that existed between 
 " the boys " and myself were responsible for 
 an episode which may be worth the tell- 
 ing:— 
 
 On Wednesday, September 14, 1887, the 
 State Supreme Court of Illinois denied the 
 appeal of the condemned men, refused to 
 order a new trial, confirmed the decision of 
 the lower court, and named November 11 
 as the day of execution of the seven who had 
 been sentenced to die upon the scaffold. 
 When the news of the decision reached Chi- 
 cago it occasioned considerable excitement. 
 I have not altered the opinion I held at the 
 time that a majority of the people of Chicago 
 were disappointed at the decision. My opin- 
 ion was based upon the expressions of senti- 
 ment I heard on the streets and in places of 
 
 [374] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 business and upon the interviews published 
 in the daily newspapers. The public, of 
 course, was eager to know what the con- 
 demned men thought of the decision of the 
 State Supreme Court, but " the boys " refused 
 to be interviewed, though the jail was be- 
 sieged by reporters. The consent of two per- 
 sons was necessary to enable any one on the 
 outside to see one of the prisoners after six 
 o'clock in the evening. These two persons 
 were the prisoner himself and the sheriff, or 
 his representative, the jailor. Every daily 
 newspaper in Chicago had the sheriff's per- 
 mission; but, on the night of September 14, 
 " the boys," each and all of them, refused to 
 see any of the scores of reporters who sent in 
 their cards. 
 
 Between eight and nine o'clock that even- 
 ing a messenger came to me with a note from 
 Mr. Melville E. Stone, editor of the " Chi- 
 cago News," asking me to call at the office 
 of that paper, at once, upon a matter of im- 
 portance. I complied with the request. Mr. 
 Stone said he had sent for me because he be- 
 lieved " the boys " would see me if I went 
 over to the jail, and he was extremely de- 
 C 375 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sirous of getting expressions of opinion on the 
 Supreme Court's decision from them, for 
 publication in his morning and evening 
 papers, "The Record" and "The News." 
 He said he would print exactly what " the 
 boys " gave me for publication, without the 
 change of a word in my " copy." He would 
 give me a note to Sheriff Matsoil, which 
 would secure an order for my admission to 
 the jail, and would pay me my own price for 
 the work. Further, he wanted me to con- 
 sider myself on the staff of "The News," 
 and on the pay-roll of that paper until the 
 termination of the Anarchist case, one way 
 or the other. I thought the matter over for 
 a minute. The idea appealed to me; here 
 was a chance for " the boys " to get before 
 the public an ungarbled expression of their 
 views, and it might help their cases. I ac- 
 cepted the commission. 
 
 I secured a cab and drove to the home of 
 Sheriff Matson, which was far out on the 
 North Side. With the sheriff's order in my 
 hand I re-entered my cab and instructed the 
 driver to make haste to the county jail. As 
 I leaned back in" the cab and pulled away at 
 
 c 376 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 a big black cigar the sheriff had given me, I 
 began to turn over in my mind all that Mr. 
 Stone had said to me. This assignment may 
 mean a whole lot of money to me, and money 
 easily earned, was a thought that came into 
 my mind. What ! Money ! Is it for money 
 that I have undertaken this mission ? Why, 
 a short while ago I thought I was actuated 
 by a desire to get a fair hearing before the 
 public for "the boys." Bosh! Don't you 
 know, Joe Buchanan, that there is n't a news- 
 paper in this city that will refuse, now, to 
 publish anything those condemned men 
 write ? Have you forgotten all you ever knew 
 of sensational journalism ? Is it through you 
 only that " the boys " will be permitted to 
 furnish two newspapers a big " scoop " ? Or 
 is it a fact that you are inspired in this un- 
 dertaking by the rattling of the coin in a pub- 
 lisher's pocket? 
 
 By this time my conscience was working 
 away like a trip-hammer. I sat up straight 
 and stared out of the cab window. We had 
 entered Lincoln Park, and were just passing 
 the grand statue of Abraham Lincoln. The 
 great and good president had been one of my 
 [377] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ideals since I was a boy of fifteen; and I was 
 on my way to consummate a bargain in which 
 friendship was nine tenths of the values I 
 was about to sell. The sorrowful face of the 
 martyred president seemed to be looking 
 down upon me as if in disapproval of my in- 
 tended act. 
 
 But you are a newspaper man, and this 
 assignment is perfectly legitimate; besides 
 there is no betrayal of friendship in it, said 
 Selfish Interest. 
 
 Would Stone ever have thought of you 
 for the job if he had not known " the boys " 
 were your friends ? asked Conscience. 
 
 No, he would not; and he is only desirous 
 of "beating" his newspaper rivals. His 
 papers have been nearly as bad as the worst 
 in hounding "the boys," and I shall refuse 
 to carry any sort of comfort to the enemy. I 
 am not an Anarchist, but I believe a great 
 wrong will be committed if the seven men I 
 am on my way to visit are hanged because 
 of the Haymarket trouble. I will do all I 
 can to prevent the judicial murder. If they 
 are executed, the memory that I tried to help 
 save them would be embittered by a recol- 
 [378] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 lection that my friendship for them had ever 
 put as much as a penny in my purse. 
 
 It was after ten o'clock when I reached 
 the jail and presented my order from Sheriff 
 Matson. I sent my card to Parsons and re- 
 ceived, in return, his invitation to come to 
 his cell. The cells of the seven men were 
 side by side in the upper tier above the 
 main floor of the division of the jail reserved 
 for murderers and other desperate charac- 
 ters. In front of the cells there was a nar- 
 row footway, reached by steps at one end, 
 all of iron. Up this stairway I was led by 
 an attendant, who pointed to Parsons's cell. 
 I had never before visited the jail after lock- 
 ing-up time. 
 
 Parsons was standing against the iron bars 
 of his cell's door waiting for me. As I came 
 up he extended his hand between the bars, 
 saying, in the cheery manner that never once 
 left him : — 
 
 " Thanks for the visit, my boy; but you 
 are out — or rather in — late, are n't you ? " 
 
 In a few words I told him what Mr. Stone 
 had asked me to get for him. "But I've 
 been thinking the matter over," I said, 
 [379] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " and I don't look upon it with as much fa- 
 vor as I did when I started over here. You 
 can do as you please, but I don't want you 
 to be influenced by my connection with the 
 matter." 
 
 "Will your failure to secure statements 
 from us have any influence upon the com- 
 pensation you are to receive ? " asked Par- 
 sons. 
 
 " Not in the least," was my reply. " I 
 shall not receive a penny for coming over 
 here, statement or no statement." 
 
 "Then, unless you advise otherwise, I 
 don't think I will say anything for publica- 
 tion. See what Spies thinks about it." 
 
 I went to Spies's cell, and also to Fielden's, 
 and talked the subject over with each of 
 them. They were about of the same opin- 
 ion as Parsons. The other " boys " had 
 gone to bed. We decided to omit the inter- 
 views, but that I should write what I pleased 
 about my visit to the jail. 
 
 I returned to " The News " office, where 
 
 Mr. Stone was waiting for me. I told him that 
 
 " the boys " had no statement to make on the 
 
 Supreme Court's decision at that time, but 
 
 [380] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 that I would give him a column or so on the 
 appearance of the jail's interior at the hour 
 of midnight, with an account of how the An- 
 archists were occupying their time on the 
 evening of that eventful day. A steno- 
 grapher " took " my " story " and I went 
 home. 
 
 I never inquired at the office of the cashier 
 of " The News," to learn if my name was on 
 the pay-roll; I did not put in a bill for the 
 " story" I had turned in; and I charged up 
 the cab-hire of that night to a lesson in the 
 ethics of friendship. 
 
 The case of the Anarchists was appealed 
 to the Supreme Court of the United States; 
 but that highest tribunal in the land denied 
 the appeal. 
 
 When the Supreme Court of the United 
 States refused to interpose its strong arm the 
 friends of the condemned men realized that 
 there was but one thing left that the}' might 
 do; that was to appeal to the governor of 
 the state of Illinois. The loyal and dili- 
 gent defense committee had tried every 
 honorable means within its power, and it 
 had failed; now had come the hour for the 
 [381] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 amnesty association to act. As soon as it 
 was known that the Supreme Court would 
 not intervene, the work of securing signa- 
 tures to petitions to present to the governor 
 was taken up by hundreds of men and 
 women in Chicago, and, to some extent, in 
 other cities of the country. Though less 
 than a week remained until the day set for 
 the execution, and it was deemed advisable 
 to give the governor one whole day, at 
 least, in which to consider the matter, in 
 that short time, in the city of Chicago alone, 
 over forty-one thousand signatures were 
 secured to the petitions asking for executive 
 clemency. 
 
 Of the seven men condemned to die but 
 three had signed the petition to the governor; 
 the other four refusing in any manner to 
 ask for commutation of sentence. The three 
 who signed were Samuel Fielden, Michel 
 Schwab, and August Spies. The latter 
 affixed his signature to the petition only after 
 being urged to do so by relatives and friends. 
 I was one of those who besought him to sign. 
 He said, as he placed his name to the paper, 
 "I believe I am making a mistake;" and 
 [382] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 subsequent events proved the correctness of 
 his belief. 
 
 The four who refused to petition each 
 addressed a letter to the governor. Lack 
 of sufficient space prevents me from giving 
 these letters in their entirety, but it may 
 not be amiss for me to quote sufficiently 
 from each to show why the writers refused 
 to ask for mercy. The first to write to the 
 governor was Albert R. Parsons. He wrote 
 in part : — 
 
 "I am aware that petitions are being 
 signed by hundreds of thousands of persons 
 addressed to you, beseeching you to interpose 
 your prerogative and commute the sentences 
 of myself and comrades from death to imr 
 prisonment in the penitentiary. You are, 
 I am told, a good constitutional lawyer and 
 a sincere man. I, therefore, beg of you to 
 examine the record of the trial, and then to 
 conscientiously decide for yourself as to my 
 guilt or innocence. ... I am guilty or I am 
 innocent of the charge for which I have been 
 condemned to die. If guilty, then I prefer 
 death rather than to go ' like the quarry slave 
 C383] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 at night scourged to his dungeon.' If inno- 
 cent, then I am entitled to and will accept 
 nothing less than liberty. The records of 
 the trial made in Judge Gary's court prove 
 my innocence of the crime of murder. But 
 there exists a conspiracy to judicially murder 
 myself and imprisoned companions in the 
 name of and by virtue of the authority of the 
 state. ... I speak for myself; I know not 
 what course others may pursue, but for my- 
 self I reject the petition for my imprisonmient, 
 for I am innocent, and I say to you that 
 under no circumstances will I accept a com- 
 mutation to imprisonment. In the name of 
 the American people I demand my right, my 
 lawful, constitutional, natural, inalienable 
 right to liberty." 
 
 Adolph Fischer, after explaining the oc- 
 casion of his letter to the governor, con- 
 tinued : — 
 
 " Anent this action of a sympathizing and 
 well-meaning portion of the people, I 
 solemnly declare that it has not my sanction. 
 As a man of honor, as a man of conscience, 
 
 C384] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 and as a man of principle, I cannot accept 
 mercy. I am not guilty of the charge in the 
 indictment — of murder. I am no murderer, 
 and cannot apologize for an action of which 
 I know I am innocent. And should I ask 
 'mercy' on account of my principles, which 
 I honestly believe to be true and noble? 
 No! I am no hypocrite and have, therefore, 
 no excuses to offer with regard to being an 
 Anarchist, because the experiences of the last 
 eighteen months have only strengthened my 
 convictions. The question is. Am I respon- 
 sible for the death of the policemen at the 
 Haymarket? and I say no, unless you assert 
 that every Abolitionist could have been held 
 responsible for the deeds of John Brown. 
 Therefore, I could not ask or accept ' mercy ' 
 without lowering myself in my self-esti- 
 mation. If I cannot obtain justice from the 
 authorities, and be restored to my family, 
 then I prefer that the verdict should be 
 carried out as it stands." 
 
 George Engel's letter to the governor was 
 not as lengthy as those written by the others. 
 I quote its main features : — 
 [385] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " I am not aware of having violated any 
 laws of this country. In my firm belief in 
 the constitution which the founders of this 
 republic bequeathed to this people, and which 
 remains unaltered, I have exercised the right 
 of free speech, free press, free thought, and 
 free assemblage, as guaranteed by the con- 
 stitution, and have criticised the existing 
 conditions of society, and succored my fellow 
 citizens with my advice, which I regard as 
 the right of every honest citizen. . . . This 
 I have done in good faith of the rights which 
 we are guaranteed by the constitution, and, 
 not being conscious of my guilt, the ' powers 
 that be ' may murder me, but they cannot 
 legally punish me. I protest against a com- 
 mutation of my sentence, and demand either 
 liberty or death. I renounce any kind of 
 mercy." 
 
 Louis Lingg, who could speak only a few 
 words of English and whose knowledge of 
 the language was almost nothing, sent to the 
 governor a translated copy of his letter, but 
 he also forwarded to him, by registered letter, 
 the original manuscript, which was in Ger- 
 [386] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 man. Following are excerpts from his 
 letter: — 
 
 " I feel impelled to declare with my friend 
 and comrade, Parsons, that I demand either 
 liberty or death. . . . Referring to the 
 general and inalienable rights of men I have 
 called upon the disinherited and oppressed 
 masses to oppose the force of their op- 
 pressors — exercised by armed enforcement 
 of infamous laws enacted in the interest of 
 capital — with force, in order to attain a 
 dignified and manly existence by securing 
 the full returns of their labor. This — and 
 only this — is the 'crime' which was proven 
 against me. ... A mere mitigation of the 
 verdict would be cowardice, and a proof that 
 the ruling classes, which you represent, are 
 themselves abashed at the monstrosity of my 
 condemnation and, consequently, of their 
 own violation of the most sacred rights of 
 the people. Your decision in that event 
 will not only judge me, but also yourself and 
 those whom you represent. Judge then ! " 
 
 Samuel Fielden and Michel Schwab also 
 [387] ' 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 sent letters to Governor Oglesby, but their 
 tone was the antithesis of those from which 
 I have quoted. While both of these men pro- 
 tested their innocence so far as the throwing 
 of the bomb in the Haymarket was con- 
 cerned, they admitted that they had been in- 
 discreet in their utterances at times when ad- 
 dressing meetings of workingmen. Fielden 
 had been notoriously the most violent in his 
 speeches of all the advocates in Chicago of 
 revolution by force. In his communication 
 to the governor he said : " I can now see that 
 much that I said under excitement was un- 
 wise, and all this I regret. ... I humbly 
 pray relief from the murderer's doom." 
 Schwab also recanted all of his previous 
 radical utterances, and appealed for executive 
 clemency. 
 
 In compliance with the wishes of the 
 friends of the condemned men, not only in 
 Chicago but throughout the nation, made 
 known through the officers of the defense 
 association. Governor Oglesby appointed 
 Wednesday, November 9, as the day when 
 he would receive, at the State House, in 
 Springfield, all who desired to present ap- 
 [388] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 peals for clemency. The governor told me 
 personally that he had received thousands of 
 appeals from all over the country, and that 
 the number had been so great during the 
 last week that it had been impossible for him 
 to consider even a small portion of all that 
 came to his office. Under these conditions 
 the plan of a public hearing, therefore, met 
 with his earnest approval. 
 
 At about the hour of ii, on the morning 
 of November 9, several hundred persons 
 assembled in one of the large rooms of the 
 capitol. Most of them were from Chicago, 
 but there were one hundred or more whose 
 homes were in other cities and other states, 
 every part of the country being represented. 
 Governor Oglesby received this large body 
 of petitioners with the dignity and courtesy 
 which were characteristics of his official life, 
 and gave patient and thoughtful hearing to 
 all that was said. Mr. George A. Schilling 
 introduced to the governor those who had 
 been selected by the amnesty association or 
 other organizations, as well as those who 
 had come of their own initiative, to present 
 arguments and pleas to the governor. 
 
 C 389 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 Among those who spoke were Captain 
 William P. Black, of counsel for the con- 
 demned, General M. M. Trumbull, Cora L. 
 V. Richmond, Senator Streeter and Repre- 
 sentative Dixon, Samuel Gompers, president 
 of the American Federation of Labor, and a 
 dozen others representing labor and other 
 organizations in Detroit, New York, Phila- 
 delphia, Cincinnati, and other cities. 
 
 As all the proceedings of the public appeal 
 were printed in the newspapers at the time 
 it isn't necessary that I should recount them 
 here, especially as the purpose of this article 
 is to relate my own part in the effort to se- 
 cure amnesty, a portion of which only was 
 made public. I took no part in the public 
 appeal, for reasons which I will explain : — 
 
 As soon as it became known to the radical 
 German element, of which August Spies was 
 the leader in Chicago, that Spies had signed 
 the appeal asking the governor for clemency, 
 a cry went up that he had disgraced his 
 countrymen by showing himself a coward. 
 This feeling was intensified by the fact that 
 Albert Parsons, the only American among 
 the condemned men, had positively refused 
 [390 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 to sign the petition or in any manner to give 
 his assent to the clemency movement. Spies 
 had been conscientious in all he had done, 
 and had signed the petition because his 
 counsel and his friends had told him it was 
 his duty to show that much consideration 
 for the efforts that were being made in his 
 behalf; he was not a coward. When he 
 learned of what was being said about him 
 by those with whom he had been associated 
 he resolved at once to undo, so far as pos- 
 sible, what he had done. He wrote a letter 
 to the governor. That letter was placed in 
 my hands the night before the amnesty party 
 started for Springfield, and a promise was 
 exacted from me that I would not leave the 
 governor until he was made acquainted with 
 every syllable the letter contained. To keep 
 that promise I believed I would have to read 
 the letter to Governor Oglesby. After con- 
 sulting with a few conservative, discreet 
 friends, to whom I read the letter in our 
 hotel at Springfield, I decided to ask the 
 governor for a private audience, as there was 
 a possibility that a public reading of the 
 letter might create a disturbance in an other- 
 [391 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 wise orderly and impressive proceeding. As 
 the public hearing was drawing toward a 
 close I approached Governor Oglesby, and 
 made a request for an interview at which 
 only a small number should be present. 
 When I had explained the matter to him and 
 answered his very natural inquiries to his 
 apparent satisfaction he granted my request, 
 and fixed the time which he would allow me 
 at twenty minutes. 
 
 I then requested Mr. Schilling to select 
 four or five of the most radical Chicago Ger- 
 mans present, and to bring them to the gov- 
 ernor's private room at the time appointed. 
 Of course the object was to show the men 
 who had denounced him that August Spies 
 was not the coward he had been branded. 
 When Mr. Schilling returned with the five 
 men selected as witnesses he said there were 
 two other gentlemen who very much desired 
 to be present during my interview with the 
 governor. These gentlemen were Mr. Henry 
 D. Lloyd and Professor William Salter, of 
 the Chicago Ethical Society. I had no ob- 
 jections, and the two gentlemen joined our 
 little party as it filed into the governor's 
 [ 392 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 private office. Just as I was about to enter 
 the governor's room Captain Black came up 
 to me and, handing me a folded sheet of letter 
 paper, said: "Read this also to the gov- 
 ernor. It is from Parsons." 
 
 Every man who has passed the half cen- 
 tury mile-post has stored away in his memory- 
 cabinets pictures which illustrate important 
 events — mayhap crises — in his past life. 
 At will he draws forth and sets up before 
 his mind's-eye canvases invisible to all save 
 himself. Sometimes they steal out from 
 their hiding-places unbidden, and lead the 
 thought procession back to other days, in- 
 stead of awaiting a signal to fall into line at 
 the proper place. In the small cabinet where 
 I have stored the few pictures that I call my 
 tragedies there is one that depicts the scene 
 I am about to describe. Singular, is n't it, 
 that you can remember the scene of some 
 event, even to the pattern of the floor-rug 
 and the figures on the wall-paper, and that 
 of another time you can recall nothing but 
 words and actions ? And yet you may be 
 unable to see wherein the incidents were 
 greatly different. 
 
 [393 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 The room into which I was shown for my 
 interview with the governor was long and 
 narrow. It was lighted at one end by a large 
 double window. Opposite the door through 
 which we entered was a desk, so placed as 
 to receive the light from the window. By 
 the side of this desk I, upon invitation, took 
 my stand. At the extreme rear of the room, 
 opposite the window, sat Mr. Lloyd and 
 Professor Salter; Mr. Schilling and the five 
 witnesses he had secured sat along the wall 
 facing the desk, and Robert Oglesby, the 
 governor's son, stood at the door to insure 
 privacy. And the governor? He was the 
 last to enter the room. As his son closed 
 the door behind him he stepped up to me 
 and said : " I am ready to hear you now, 
 Mr. Buchanan." With a few explanatory 
 remarks, in which I tried to make each word 
 do the usual service of two, as my time was 
 so short, I read the following letter aloud. As 
 I started to read the governor began to pace 
 the long and narrow room, though so softly 
 did he tread the heavily carpeted floor that, 
 had I not observed his movements I would 
 not have known that he had stirred since 
 [394] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 addressing me. This was August Spies's 
 letter: — 
 
 "Chicago, Nov. 6, 1887. 
 
 " To Governor Oglesby, — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — The fact that some of us 
 have appealed to you for justice (under the 
 pardoning prerogative) while othet-s have 
 not, should not enter into consideration in 
 the decision of our cases. Some of my 
 friends have asked you for an absolute par- 
 don. They feel the injustice done them so 
 intensely that they cannot conciliate the idea 
 of a commutation of sentence with the con- 
 sciousness of innocence. The others (among 
 them myself), while possessed of the same 
 feeling of indignation, can perhaps more 
 calmly and dispassionately look upon the 
 matter as it stands. They do not disregard 
 the fact that through a systematic course of 
 lying, perverting, distorting, and slandering, 
 the press has succeeded in creating a senti- 
 ment of bitterness and a hatred among a great 
 portion of the populace that one man, no 
 matter how powerful, how courageous and 
 just he be, cannot possibly overcome. They 
 [395] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 hold that to overcome that sentiment or the 
 influence thereof would almost be a psycho- 
 logical impossibility. Not wishing, there- 
 fore, to place your excellency in a still more 
 embarrassing position between the blind 
 fanaticism of a misinformed public on the 
 one hand and justice on the other, they con- 
 cluded to submit their case to you uncondi- 
 tionally. 
 
 "I implore you not to let this difference 
 of action have any weight with you in deter- 
 mining our fate. During our trial the de- 
 sire of the prosecution to slaughter me and 
 to let my co-defendants of¥ with slighter 
 punishment was quite apparent and mani- 
 fest. It seemed to me then, and to a great 
 many others, that the prosecution would 
 be satisfied with one life — namely, mine. 
 Grinnell in his argument intimated this very 
 plainly. 
 
 " I care not to protest my innocence of 
 any crime, and of the one I am accused of in 
 particular. I have done that, and I leave the 
 rest to the judgment of history. But to you 
 I wish to address myself now, as the alleged 
 arch-conspirator (leaving the fact that I have 
 [396] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 never belonged to any kind of a conspiracy 
 out of the question altogether) •, if a sacrifice 
 of life must be, will not my life suffice ? The 
 state's attorney of Cook County asked for 
 no more. Take this, then; take my life. I 
 offer it to you that you may satisfy the fury 
 of a semi-barbaric mob, and save the lives of 
 my comrades. I know that every one of my 
 comrades is as willing to die and perhaps 
 more so than I am. It is not for their sakes 
 that I make this offer, but in the name of 
 humanity and progress, in the interest of a 
 peaceable, if possible, development of the 
 social forces that are destined to lift our race 
 upon a higher and better plane of civili- 
 zation. 
 
 " In the name of the traditions of our coun- 
 try I beg you to prevent a sevenfold murder 
 upon men whose only crime is that they are 
 idealists; that they long for a better future 
 for all. If legal murder there must be, let 
 one, let mine suffice. 
 
 "A. Spies." 
 
 As the reading was concluded a deep sigh, 
 to which apparently every one in the room 
 1:397 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 contributed, marked the depth of the feeling 
 aroused by the message of the "arch con- 
 spirator " who stood within the shadow of 
 the gallows. I raised my eyes from the 
 paper in my hands and saw Governor Oglesby 
 standing directly in front of me; on his face 
 there was a look of deep sorrow, and his eyes 
 were filled with tears. He did not speak, 
 and I realized that there was nothing for him 
 to say at that time. To break the silence 
 that was oppressive, to the others as well as 
 myself, I took from the desk the sheet of note- 
 paper that Captain Black had given me as I 
 entered the room, saying: " Governor, here 
 is something else I have been requested to 
 read to you." Hurriedly glancing over this 
 note, which I had not seen before, I read it 
 aloud, while the governor stood with his tear- 
 stained eyes fixed upon me. 
 
 It will be noticed that I had no time to 
 make a copy of the note from Parsons; the 
 original was, of course, left with Governor 
 Oglesby. The communication was, how- 
 ever, very short, and now, after fifteen years, 
 I believe I could repeat it almost word for 
 word, but I will not presume to do so. The 
 [398] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 purport of Parsons's note to the governor 
 (and I employ in the main the actual lan- 
 guage) was that if he was guilty, and must 
 be hanged because of his presence at the 
 Haymarket meeting, then he hoped a re- 
 prieve would be granted in his case until 
 his wife and two children, who were also 
 at the meeting, could be convicted and 
 hanged with him. 
 
 " My God, this is terrible ! " cried the 
 governor, and every person in the room felt 
 with him and for him. I was not wholly 
 prepared for the contents of Parsons's note, 
 as I had been for that of Spies, and I could 
 not have read many more such sentences; 
 the signature saved me from a complete 
 breakdown. 
 
 In half a minute I had myself again under 
 control, and proceeded to present my third 
 and last document. This might have been 
 presented at the public hearing, with others 
 of 'its kind, but, with a mind full of the matter 
 to come up at the private hearing, I had for- 
 gotten it. Nearly fifty representatives who 
 were in attendance upon the meeting of the 
 General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, 
 [399] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 at the session held in Minneapolis, during 
 the preceding month, had signed an appeal 
 to the governor on behalf of the condemned 
 men, and had asked me to present it. This 
 I did. 
 
 Thanking the governor for his unusual 
 consideration I withdrew from the room, 
 accompanied by Mr. Schilling and the men 
 who had come to learn that August Spies 
 was not a coward. Mr. Lloyd and Professor 
 Salter remained, as they had a matter they 
 wished to lay before Governor Oglesby. 
 
 This is the account, given without em- 
 bellishment, of my first interview with 
 Governor Oglesby on behalf of the " Chicago 
 Anarchists." Let us see if I can give as 
 calm a recital of the second meeting. 
 
 With the other residents of Chicago I re- 
 turned to that city Wednesday night, as it 
 was understood that the governor would not 
 render his decision until late on the follow- 
 ing day. At 5.20 p. m. Thursday word came 
 to the city from the governor.' It was just 
 5.22 when a reporter employed on the "Mail" 
 rushed into my office with the information 
 that the sentences of Fielden and Schwab 
 [ 400 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 had been commuted to imprisonment for 
 life; the others must die. I hurried over to 
 the office of Captain Black, three blocks 
 away, to discuss with him the advisability of 
 making one more effort, by using the follow- 
 ing telegram, which had been received about 
 two hours before the report of the decision: 
 
 " New York, N. Y., Nov. io. 
 Captain W. P. Black, Chicago : — 
 
 " I have proof showing Anarchists to be in- 
 nocent. Guilty man in New York — located. 
 Have telegraphed to Governor Oglesby. 
 Proof is under oath. How shall I com- 
 municate it? 
 
 " August P. Wagener, 
 " Counsellor-at-law, 59 Second Avenue." 
 
 There were in the captain's office when I 
 arrived there ten or twelve persons, nearly 
 all of whom were relatives of the doomed 
 men. More than half of those present were 
 women and girls. They had heard the awful 
 news from Springfield, and a sadder group 
 I have never seen, and I hope I may never 
 see the like again. 
 
 [ 401 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 As I entered the room Captain Black 
 stepped up to me, saying, "Just the man I 
 wanted to see. We must make one more 
 effort, Buchanan, desperate though it may 
 be. Come with me," and he led me into 
 his consultation room. Seated in this room 
 was a man I had never seen before. In what 
 the newspapers printed of the last effort to 
 secure help through the governor, though 
 they didn't get hold of much to print, this 
 man was mentioned as " the stranger from 
 New York." Not to my knowledge has his 
 real name ever been printed in connection 
 with the Anarchist case. I can see no reason 
 for longer keeping it secret. The man was 
 Mr. William Fleron, a New York news- 
 paper man. He knew the New York radi- 
 cals and appeared to have faith in the state- 
 ments of the telegram quoted above. He 
 knew the sender intimately, and believed that 
 the meaning of the message was that the man 
 who threw the Haymarket bomb was in the 
 hands of the Anarchists in New York. It will 
 be remembered that the bomb-thrower was 
 never placed on trial. 
 
 As soon as he had introduced me to Fleron 
 [ 402 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 the captain spoke of the telegram, explain- 
 ing the situation briefly, and then asked me : 
 "Will you go with us to Springfield to- 
 night ? We will place this matter before 
 the governor." 
 
 " I will go," was my reply. We did not 
 waste many words in those trying days. 
 
 The captain sent his clerk to the depot to se- 
 cure railroad accommodations for three men 
 on the Alton night train to Springfield, while 
 we proceeded to make such arrangements 
 as were necessary for our trip, concluding 
 with a light supper at a quiet little restau- 
 rant, where we talked over our plans. On 
 the way to the restaurant, the captain sent a 
 telegram to the governor informing him that 
 we would call upon him early the next 
 morning to present new and important mat- 
 ter. Yes, it was a " nervy " proceeding ; 
 but you must remember that four lives were 
 at stake. Did I say four ? Yes, but four 
 were left to struggle for. Two of the seven 
 had received commutation of sentence from 
 the governor, and one had killed himself. 
 Five minutes before nine o'clock that morn- 
 ing, Thursday, Louis Lingg had committed 
 C403 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 suicide in his cell in the county jail. He 
 had discharged a fulminating cap in his 
 mouth, and half his head had been blown off 
 by the explosion. How he obtained posses- 
 sion of that cap will probably never be 
 known. Why he had taken his life was not 
 so hard to understand, though, of course, 
 there is nothing sure on that head, as the 
 poor fellow left nothing behind him to posi- 
 tively settle the question. However, he had 
 said frequently that he did not want his sen- 
 tence changed to imprisonment; that he 
 would prefer death to life without liberty. 
 It is believed that he thought the governor 
 was going to commute the sentences of all 
 the condemned men, and, to forestall the 
 fate he dreaded, he took his own life nine 
 hours before the decision, which I have al- 
 ready discussed, was received from Spring- 
 field. 
 
 We arrived at Springfield at seven o'clock 
 Friday morning. It was 8.35 when we pre- 
 sented ourselves at the door of the executive 
 mansion. A company of militia was on 
 guard in the grounds of the governor's 
 official residence, but a few words from 
 [ 404 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 Captain Black carried us by the sentries. 
 We were admitted to the mansion by an old 
 negro servant and shown into the library. 
 In a few minutes the governor entered the 
 room and greeted us in a friendly manner. 
 Mr. Fleron was presented, and then the 
 governor said, " Let 's have something to 
 steady our nerves as we go along, gentle- 
 men." Taking a box of cigars from a con- 
 venient sideboard he passed it to each of us 
 in turn. Fleron and I each took a cigar. 
 Captain Black was not a smoker; how his 
 nerves stood the awful trials of that week 
 was and always will be a puzzle to me. 
 
 As soon as the governor had his cigar well 
 lighted, he said, " Well, what is this new 
 matter you have to present ? " 
 
 Without a word Captain Black placed the 
 telegram from New York in the governor's 
 hand. 
 
 "Yes," said the latter, "I have also re- 
 ceived a telegram from that man. Do you 
 place any reliance in what he says?" 
 
 " This gentleman, Mr. Fleron, knows Mr. 
 Wagener well," said Captain Black, " and 
 he also knows the men in New York in whose 
 C405 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 custody undoubtedly is the man referred to in 
 the dispatch. From what Mr. Fleron has told 
 us and what we have learned from other 
 sources, we feel justified in saying we be- 
 lieve that there is a strong probability that 
 the telegram states the truth." 
 
 "Admitting for the moment that you 
 are right, what do you propose in the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " We thought of asking you for a reprieve 
 of sixty or ninety days, to allow time to 
 bring the alleged bomb-thrower back to the 
 state, so that his testimony — which cer- 
 tainly is important — could be taken. We 
 know that you are willing to give the men 
 in jail, sentenced to be executed to-day, 
 every just and legal chance for their lives, 
 and we assume that you desire the appre- 
 hension of the bomb-thrower. Surely there 
 is sufficient ground to justify the request we 
 make of you. Governor." 
 
 The governor walked the length of the 
 room, spoke a few words to his daughter, 
 who had entered a few moments before and 
 had been moving noiselessly about with 
 apparently no other object than to be near 
 [406] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 her father, then he came back to where the 
 captain and I stood and said : — 
 
 "If I grant your request for sixty days' 
 reprieve, will you deliver the man who threw 
 the bomb to the authorities of the state? " 
 
 " We will do our best, and we firmly 
 believe we will be able to turn the man 
 over within forty-eight hours," said the 
 captain. 
 
 " And if I refuse to interfere with the exe- 
 cution of the sentence, what will you do 
 with this man in New York ? " 
 
 " In the event of your refusal we can do 
 nothing." 
 
 Governor Oglesby turned to me and, in a 
 voice that had in it the suspicion of a threat, 
 said : — 
 
 " Captain Black is a lawyer and under- 
 stands the full import of the answer he has 
 just given me; what is your reply to thq 
 same question, Mr. Buchanan ? " 
 
 " The captain has made the matter per- 
 fectly clear to me, and I answer as he did," 
 was my reply. 
 
 " We presumed to consider this a confi- 
 dential matter. Governor; but, in any event, 
 [ 407 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 we should have done what we conceived to 
 be a duty," remarked the captain. 
 
 " Well, let it stand that way for the pre- 
 sent. I admire your fidelity, though I ques- 
 tion your discretion. I must be alone to 
 think your proposal over for a few minutes ; 
 I will not be long, as I realize that the mo- 
 ments are very precious ; " and the governor 
 withdrew from the room, followed by his 
 daughter. 
 
 When he had gone it occurred to me that 
 the governor had not asked a question of 
 Fleron. I marveled at this, but probably he 
 thought the time was too short to go into the 
 matter deeply, and it may be he had made 
 up his mind before we reached Springfield. 
 
 While waiting for the governor's return, 
 we walked through the large open rooms 
 on the first floor of the mansion, but we 
 spoke not a word to each other. On the 
 walls were large portraits of all the gov- 
 ernors of Illinois, but though I looked at 
 them it seemed to me afterward that I had 
 not seen one of them; my thoughts were else- 
 where and my mind took no note of what 
 my eyes beheld. I could think of nothing 
 C408] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 but the four men who sat in the cells of the 
 Chicago jail awaiting the death which was 
 only a little over an hour off. So, unlike 
 the interview of two days before, my memory 
 to-day of that second meeting with the gov- 
 ernor is clouded and indistinct in so far as 
 the scene and surroundings are concerned. 
 This I remember, however, that there was 
 a deathlike stillness throughout and about 
 the mansion. 
 
 Twenty minutes after the governor left the 
 room he returned. I looked at the little 
 clock on the mantel as he re-entered the li- 
 brary; it lacked twenty-four minutes of ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 " Pardon me for keeping you waiting so 
 long, gentlemen," said the governor. " I 
 was called into my wife's room. She is 
 very ill, and two physicians are with her. 
 The strain of the past few days has been too 
 much for her nerves." 
 
 His face wore a pained look and his tones 
 were full of sorrow and sympathy as he went 
 on. " I regret very much that I must say to 
 you I cannot interfere further with the sen- 
 tence of the court in the cases of your friends. 
 C 409 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 After careful thought I fail to find grounds 
 for any other decision in the matter you have 
 placed before me this morning. While my 
 sympathies are with the condemned men, 
 I must regard my obligation as governor of 
 the state and must perform my duty. But 
 it will be a comfort to me hereafter to re- 
 member that in the last hours of this awful 
 tragedy the friends of the unfortunate men 
 were by my side," and he extended one 
 hand to Captain Black and the other to me. 
 
 The last decision was made; the hangman 
 must do his terrible work. I am unable to 
 portray what were my feelings at that mo- 
 ment. No doubt there come times in all 
 men's lives which they cannot command 
 words to describe; such a moment was that 
 to me. 
 
 There were tears in the governor's eyes 
 as he walked with us to the door and bade 
 us good-by. With bowed heads and ach- 
 ing hearts we left the executive mansion and 
 turned toward our hotel. 
 
 Here I feel impelled to say something of 
 my impressions of Governor Oglesby and his 
 attitude toward the four men who were exe- 
 C 410 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 cuted. I had taken prominent parts in two 
 special attempts to secure his aid and had 
 failed in both. It may be thought that my 
 disappointment caused a feeling of resent- 
 ment, if not worse, against the man who 
 might have cheated the gallows of its prey, 
 but did not. In the fifteen years that have 
 passed I have not changed the opinion ex- 
 pressed by me in my own paper in its first 
 issue after the execution. I make the follow- 
 ing excerpts from " The Chicago Enquirer's " 
 editorial columns, issue of Monday, Novem- 
 ber 14, 1887: — 
 
 " What was said by the three petitioners 
 and the governor has not been given to the 
 other newspapers, and it would not be fair 
 for ' The Enquirer ' to relate it. But it is not 
 unfair to state that Governor Oglesby was 
 exceedingly kind and courteous at this inter- 
 view, as he had been at all others, and the 
 writer was deeply impressed with the belief 
 that there was not on this continent a man 
 more desirous of preventing the execution 
 than was Richard J. Oglesby, had it not been 
 that a stern belief of duty in the governor 
 [4" ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 stood before and barred the impulses of the 
 man. . . . Twelve jurymen, one criminal 
 judge, seven state supreme judges, and eight 
 federal judges must sometime feel a weight 
 of woe, for any of them alone could have 
 turned the current. The whole huge mis- 
 take was shifted to the shoulders of an old 
 man two hundred miles from the scene, 
 whose function is executive rather than ju- 
 dicial and who had a right to trust in the 
 ability of the courts." 
 
 Mr. Fleron left us to join an immense 
 crowd of persons assembled in front of one 
 of the newspaper offices, but the captain and 
 I went on to the hotel. When we reached 
 the hotel the captain said he would go to a 
 room and lie down for a while and advised 
 me to do likewise, but I declined to do so. 
 There were but two persons in the lobby of 
 the hotel when I entered. One of these was 
 the proprietor, who sat upon a high stool 
 behind the office counter at one end of the 
 large room, with the telephone receiver in 
 his hand. The other was a young newspaper 
 woman from Cincinnati, who had been 
 [ 412 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 "doing" the anarchist case in Springfield 
 during the week. Her name was McLean; 
 her paper was "The Cincinnati Commer- 
 cial." 
 
 As I dropped into a chair near the office 
 end of the lobby, Miss McLean came up to 
 me, and, in a voice that was hardly more 
 than a whisper, asked, "What is the gov- 
 ernor's decision ? " 
 
 " Against us," I replied. 
 
 The sympathetic little woman dragged 
 one of the big chairs up to where I sat and, 
 seating herself, began to talk of the " awful 
 thing that is about to be done." I was con- 
 scious of very little she said, though I knew 
 that sometimes her voice and manner were 
 all tenderness and sympathy, and that at 
 other times she seemed to be a fiery little 
 bundle of indignation, and that all the time 
 she was weeping. ITpw long we sat there 
 thus I do not know. It was in one of her 
 quieter moments that Miss McLean was in- 
 terrupted by the voice of the hotel proprie- 
 tor. 
 
 " Would you like to hear the bulletins ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 [413] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Oh, yes! " answered my little friend. 
 
 " The one I have just received says, ' The 
 men have left their cells and are mounting 
 the scaffold.' " 
 
 I hear a sob near me and then the hum of 
 the woman's voice begins again. 
 
 " The caps and nooses are being adjusted," 
 announces the man at the 'phone. 
 
 Silence for a moment, then the man's 
 voice again: — 
 
 " Spies is speaking. He says, ' There will 
 be a time when our silence will be more 
 powerful than the voices you strangle to- 
 day.' " 
 
 A deep sigh from the woman in front of 
 me. My eyes are fixed upon the clock 
 which hangs from the wall at the other end 
 of the lobby. 
 
 " Fischer cries, ' This is the happiest mo- 
 ment of my life ! ' Engel shouts, ' Hurrah 
 for Anarchy ! ' " 
 
 Deathlike stillness now in the room. The 
 little woman has ceased her sympathetic 
 chatter. 
 
 " Parsons is speaking, ' Will I be allowed 
 to speak, O men of America? Let me 
 [ 414 ] 
 
THE LAST APPEAL 
 
 speak, Sheriff Matson I Let the voice of the 
 people be heard ! Oh ' — 
 
 "The trap has fallen!" 
 
 The hands on the big clock pointed to 
 12:02. A woman screams. I can hold up 
 no longer. Grown man though I am, my 
 face is deluged with tears. But an ocean 
 of tears could not wash from my memory 
 the recollections of that week and that hour. 
 
 [415] 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 EARLY Saturday morning I reached 
 Chicago. I had tarried a few hours in 
 Springfield, Captain Black and Fleron going 
 on without me. During the ride of several 
 hours I had been unable to sleep, though I 
 was very, very tired. AH night long my 
 mind had been busy with the events of the 
 past weeks, which had culminated in the 
 awful tragedy of that day. Ah! but was 
 that the end of it all ? There had been dis- 
 mal predictions and forebodings. Either 
 Fear or Folly had whispered t^iat the An- 
 archists of Chicago would wreak a terrible 
 revenge upon the city if " the boys " were 
 executed; manipulated by the evil-minded, 
 the whisper became a " threat." The police 
 authorities had answered the " threat " by 
 announcing that, if there was any demonstra- 
 tion of violence by the friends of the con- 
 demned men, every Anarchist, Socialist, and 
 [416] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 sympathizer in the cit}' would be dealt with 
 summarily. 
 
 There was no denying the fact that a feel- 
 ing of uneasiness pervaded the community. 
 In what degree of seriousness the authori- 
 ties and the " classes " who had clamored 
 for the blood of the condemned men looked 
 upon the situation, I am not able to sa3\ To 
 what extent — if at all — the Anarchists en- 
 tertained thoughts of revenge they alone 
 knew. But those who were not Anarchists, 
 but who had protested against the illegality 
 of the conviction and, out of a sense of jus- 
 tice and actuated by humane sentiments, 
 had striven to prevent what they believed 
 would be judicial murder; those, or most of 
 those, were filled with apprehension. They 
 were not in the confidence of the Anarchist 
 groups, — if there were such, — and they 
 were hated by the ruling classes almost as 
 much as the Anarchists themselves. These 
 men and women, who had been so devoted 
 in their efforts to save five human lives and to 
 spare, as they believed, the state of Illinois 
 an everlasting shame, saw only what was in 
 the open. Of conspiracies upon the one 
 [417] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 hand, and preparation for wholesale and in- 
 discriminate retaliation upon the other hand, 
 the}' knew absolutely nothing. 
 
 Rumors, mutterings, threats, and counter 
 threats ! Anxious faces, cruel faces, and som- 
 ber faces ! Eyes with defiance in them, eyes 
 with pity in them, eyes with tears in them! 
 How will it all end? I recall the lines of 
 Goethe: — 
 
 ' ' You have conjured up the forces of darkness ; 
 You cannot banish them to their abodes ! ' ' 
 
 Yet that terrible day, November ii, 1887, 
 had passed; the gallows had done its fiend- 
 ish work; society had vindicated "law and 
 order; " the anguish of mothers, wives, and 
 children had wrenched the heart-strings of 
 kindred and friends already sorely tried, but 
 the morning of the twelfth had dawned to 
 find Chicago unscathed by bomb or torch 
 of revolutionist. 
 
 In my walk from the train to Madison 
 Street and on uptown a feeling of relief came 
 to me, as I realized that the reign of terror, 
 dreaded by so many, had not come upon the 
 city. But Chicago was not that morning, or 
 ever again, the same to me as it had been 
 [418] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 before November 1 1 ; and I am positive that 
 this thought finds an echo in thousands of 
 hearts. 
 
 The well-to-do Chicagoan, the capitalistic 
 editor, and the unthinking and forgetful will 
 sneer or smile at the concluding sentence of 
 the foregoing paragraph; but I ask them to 
 restrain themselves while I relate two inci- 
 dents of the trial and execution of Albert 
 Parsons. There were scores of others prob- 
 ably just as important and impressive, but 
 these two stand out prominently in my recol- 
 lections of Chicago meanness and Chicago 
 cruelty : — 
 
 Albert R. Parsons was indicted, with Spies 
 and the others, for complicity in the Hay- 
 market bomb-throwing, although he had 
 returned to the city from an extended tour 
 but a few hours before the meeting of May 4, 
 1886, had made a speech that was free from 
 incendiarism, and had withdrawn from the 
 meeting sometime before it was raided by the 
 police, against whom the bomb was thrown. 
 The warrant-servers could not find Parsons 
 when they went to make the arrests. A 
 thorough search of the city and the country 
 C 419 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 was instituted, and a large reward was of- 
 fered for his apprehension. His whereabouts 
 remained a mystery. The trial of the others 
 was proceeding when one day Captain Black 
 walked down the aisle of the court-room, 
 accompanied by a small man whose face was 
 covered by a beard. The captain raised his 
 hand and, addressing the trial judge, ■ — ■ Gary, 
 — said: "Your honor, here is Albert Par- 
 sons, who desires to take his place in the 
 prisoners' dock by the side of his comrades ! " 
 
 Well might his brother, General W. H. 
 Parsons, write to Albert on the night pre- 
 ceding the execution : " I am proud of your 
 sublimity, your fortitude, and your hereditary 
 heroism! " 
 
 Of these two brothers, descendants of a 
 long line of American patriots, Chicago jus- 
 tice strangled one to death and broke the 
 heart of the other. 
 
 Hear the other incident, as a specimen of 
 fiendish brutality: — 
 
 On Thursday afternoon Lucy Parsons went 
 
 to the jail to see her husband for the last 
 
 time. She was refused admittance, but told 
 
 to come back the next morning. When on 
 
 C 420 ] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 Friday morning, accompanied by her two 
 children and Mrs. Lizzie M. Holmes, she 
 attempted to reach the jail, she found her 
 progress barred by ropes stretched across 
 the streets and guarded by policemen with 
 Winchester rifles. She stated her mission 
 and repeated the instructions she had re- 
 ceived the previous day. The policemen 
 sent her from corner to corner, but not one 
 would allow her to pass the ropes. When, 
 in her anguish, the poor woman cried aloud 
 against the wrong that was being done her, 
 she, her two children, and Mrs. Holmes were 
 seized, thrown into a patrol wagon, and hur- 
 ried to a police station in a distant part of the 
 city. Mrs. Parsons and her children were 
 locked in one cell, while Mrs. Holmes was 
 consigned to another. Every stitch of cloth- 
 ing was removed from the grief-stricken 
 women and searched; their hair was over- 
 hauled and subjected to a scrutiny which 
 suggested the suspicion that every hair might 
 be a bomb in disguise. The " prisoners " 
 were then left alone in their cells, where they 
 remained until three o'clock in the afternoon. 
 " And in those gloomy underground cells 
 [ 421 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 we passed the anxious hours," said Mrs. 
 Hohnes, when telling me of the experience. 
 "No one came to offer the bereaved woman 
 even a cup of water; and I, the one friend 
 near her, could only sit shivering, with my 
 face close pressed to the cold iron bars, lis- 
 tening to her low, despairing inoans. And 
 thus it was that, while organized authority 
 was judicially murdering the husband and 
 father, the wife and children were locked in 
 a dungeon, that no unpleasant scene might 
 mar the smoothness of the proceedings ! " 
 
 I had known Lizzie M. Holmes for years. 
 She had been one of my ablest assistants on 
 both of my " Enquirers." Our families lived 
 in the same house in Chicago, and perfect 
 confidence existed between us. She was a 
 noble and self-sacrificing woman, and one 
 whose honesty and truthfulness were above 
 suspicion. 
 
 Anarchists are opposed to the employment 
 of force in the government of man by man. 
 If anything could ever have made me an 
 Anarchist, my conversion would have taken 
 place in Chicago, in November, 1887, 
 
 The bodies of the executed men, and that 
 [ 422 ] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 of Louis Lingg, the suicide, were laid in the 
 temporary vault, at Waldheim Cemetery, on 
 Sunday, November 13. The funeral cortege 
 was said to be the largest ever seen in Chi- 
 cago. The five hearses were followed by 
 thousands of mourners, and the newspapers 
 estimated the vast crowds that lined the 
 streets through which the procession passed 
 at nearly two hundred thousand. As one 
 of Albert Parsons's pall-bearers I marched 
 through three miles of crowded streets that 
 day, and upon ever}^ one of the thousands of 
 faces I saw about me there was a look of 
 sorrow. I noticed that some of the police- 
 men bared and bowed their heads as the 
 hearses passed them. 
 
 The police department had issued an order 
 prohibiting the carrying of banners or flags 
 of any kind. With a single exception the 
 order was obeyed. Just as the procession 
 began to move down Milwaukee Avenue a 
 veteran of the Civil War stepped quickly in 
 front of the first rank and unfurled a small 
 American flag. The old veteran was not 
 molested by the police; he carried the flag 
 to th% end of the march. 
 [ 423 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 At the cemetery short addresses were 
 made by Captain Black, Thomas J. Morgan, 
 and others, and chants were rendered by 
 several of Chicago's singing-societies. 
 
 On Sunday, December i8, the caskets con- 
 taining the mortal remains of " the boys " 
 were placed, side by side, in an underground 
 vault which had been built in Waldheim to 
 receive them. A vast concourse of people 
 assembled to participate in and witness these 
 final ceremonies. After reaching the ceme- 
 tery I was requested by the committee to 
 preside. I accepted the honor, making a short 
 speech in opening the exercises. Addresses 
 were made by Captain William P. Black, 
 Paul Grottkau, and Albert Currlin. Captain 
 Black's address was the most eloquent and 
 most impressive funeral oration I have ever 
 heard or read. I can think of no better man- 
 ner of concluding this part of my " story " 
 than by a quotation from that address : — 
 
 "... This is practical fraternity. This 
 
 it is to take up the cause of others. This it 
 
 is to study the welfare of the poor and the 
 
 oppressed rather than one's own adva* tage 
 
 C 424 ] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 and profit. And for this they cast Him out. 
 But the cross upon which they hanged Him 
 became the synonym of honor and of glory. 
 My friends, has the world yet reached its 
 ultimate of purpose ? Has it yet reached its 
 highest of honor and of development ? Look 
 on these dead and answer. Whatever you 
 may say as to their methods, the judgment 
 of simple justice is that their purpose was the 
 elevation of mankind, their desire the ameli- 
 oration of the condition of those that were 
 about them, their longing, to bring in a day 
 of universal brotherhood and universal peace. 
 And the world has nothing for these men 
 but the gibbet! Ah, well, we take these 
 lessons to our own heart again, but we do 
 not despair; for we remember that under 
 the winter snows the invisible hearts of flow- 
 ers grow ripe for blossoming, and we know 
 that the cause for which men die takes root 
 in human hearts, and reaches upwards and 
 spreads and cannot be destroyed. And the 
 lesson of this hour: it was given us in the 
 words of that Great Teacher, in those cen- 
 turies gone, when, seeing the gathering 
 storm of hatred and oppression which was 
 [425 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 speedily overcoming Him, and realizing that 
 in loyalty to the mission He had accom- 
 plished upon earth there was a felon's fate 
 for Him, there was overthrow and destruc- 
 tion. He foretold to those about Him His own 
 death, and they contended with Him con- 
 cerning it. These were His words : ' Ex- 
 cept a grain of wheat fall into the ground and 
 die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth 
 forth much fruit! '" 
 
 The beginning of the year 1888 found the 
 political atinosphere filled with rumors of 
 parties, the mission of each and every one 
 of which would be to wipe the old parties 
 off the face of the earth and secure the estab- 
 lishment of a people's government. Division 
 of the independent political forces into one, 
 two, or half a dozen parties has ever been 
 the bane of progress in this country. During 
 the sixteen years preceding 1888 there had 
 been attempts under a dozen different ban- 
 ners, and upon as many platforms, to wrest 
 government (municipal, state, and national) 
 from the control of the monopolistic money 
 power of the land. I had taken part in sev- 
 [426] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 eral of these attempts. We had failed utterly 
 in almost every instance j our successes had 
 been insignificant and of no practical benefit. 
 The exploiters of the producers and the 
 politicians had outgeneraled us. Thefts of 
 public lands, credits, and franchises had gone 
 on at a constantly accelerating rate, and our 
 puny protests had been laughed to scorn. 
 Realizing that all future efforts, if directed 
 along the lines we had been following, were 
 doomed in advance to failure, I made a sug- 
 gestion embodying another policy. As my 
 proposal was discussed in hundreds of re- 
 form and labor papers throughout the coun- 
 try and accepted by many of them, and as 
 "Buchanan's nine-word platform" was for 
 six months a frequent topic considered by 
 party-makers, — and party-breakers, — a por- 
 tion of the editorial in "The Enquirer" 
 which inaugurated the agitation may interest 
 the reader: — 
 
 "Why have the political movements of 
 the industrians heretofore fallen compara- 
 tively flat at the ballot-box? Why is it that 
 the producers, a host to one of their oppo- 
 [427] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 nents, are always outvoted? This is the 
 main question, and, serious as it is, the 
 answer is very simple. It is because we are 
 not and never have been united. We have 
 allowed ourselves to be divided by the 
 enemy and by our own foibles. We have 
 been cranky and crotchety and bigoted; and 
 while we have quarreled and squabbled and 
 split over matters that could just as well as 
 not have been left to the future, the thieves 
 have robbed us, and the voters have left the 
 cranks to fight it out. There we are. It is 
 not a pretty picture; but the likeness is a 
 good one. If lack of unity has been the 
 cause of past defeats, then the thing to strive 
 for is union; all the independent reform 
 political forces must be united under one 
 banner. Oh! but, you say, we have tried 
 that before and failed. Granted. The writer 
 has sat in two different national conventions 
 which were called for that purpose, and he 
 has participated in the failures. He, there- 
 fore, thinks he knows the cause of failure.. 
 Men representing a dozen different shades 
 of opinion have come together, ostensibly to 
 pool their issues and amalgamate the ele- 
 [428] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 ments variedly represented. When they 
 have come to write the 'union' platform, 
 each one has insisted upon putting his ideas, 
 every one of them, to the front; and each 
 one claimed that he had the cure-all. There 
 were frequently conflicting propositions; it 
 was impossible to get them all into one plat- 
 form and make the planks fit in properly. 
 Well, the upshot of the business' has been a 
 few truces ; the stronger faction has written 
 the platform, while the rest have gone home 
 sore-headed and — and the millionaires have 
 continued to run the machine. What are 
 we going to do about it? How will we 
 avoid these troubles in the future? 'The 
 Enquirer ' has a proposition to submit, and 
 if it is adopted and honestly adhered to, the 
 workers can elect the President and Con- 
 gress in 1888. There must be a union of 
 the following forces: The Union Labor 
 Party, United Labor Party, Progressive La- 
 bor Party, American Reform Party, the 
 Grange, the Tax Reformers, The Farmers' 
 Alliance, Anti-Monopolists, Homesteaders, 
 and all other political and politico-economic 
 organizations of bread-winners. How is 
 [ 429 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 this amalgamation to be brought about? 
 Upon a platform that every one of them can 
 indorse. How can such a marvelous plat- 
 form be constructed? By putting into it 
 the one thing that all the elements approve; 
 by leaving out everything upon which there 
 is division. Is there one thing that all the 
 elements indorse, regardless of their other 
 demands ? There is : Government oivnership 
 and operation of the railroads and tele- 
 gra-ph. There is not a farmer or a city 
 worker who has given any thought to the 
 subject but believes in that doctrine, no 
 matter how much more he may advocate 
 and strive for. There is not a farmer or 
 artisan or small merchant in the land but is 
 a sufferer from the railway and telegraph 
 monopolies; and many of our greatest ills 
 have their parent root in these means of 
 public utility, the transportation and trans- 
 mission of freight, passengers, and intelli- 
 gence. It has recently been asserted by a 
 well-informed public man that seven eighths 
 of the voters in this country to-day favor the 
 control of telegraphy by the government, 
 and that a majority favor the same thing as 
 
 [430] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 tQ railroads. Assistant Postmaster-General 
 Knott said the other day that he was con- 
 vinced that the government would establish 
 a system of government telegraphy within 
 three years. Why not take in the railroads 
 on the same scoop ? Why allow Gould and 
 his fellow robbers to make up in railroad 
 extortion for the loss of the telegraph mono- 
 poly? And why, my anti-monopoly friend, 
 allow one of the old political conspiracies to 
 fatten on the grain that you have sown and 
 cultivated ? This would be doing the cat's- 
 paw act with both paws. If the honest, non- 
 partisan voters of this country want to com- 
 pletely oust the robbers and reclaim their 
 country, here is the chance. Let each wing 
 of the reform movement withhold for twelve 
 months its hobbies, and all join hands for a 
 united onslaught upon one of the enemies' 
 weakest, though most important, points. No 
 time now to say, ' That won't settle the ques- 
 tion ; ' we all know that. And there is no 
 sense in stopping to ask what is to be done 
 with this, or how will you arrange that? 
 There even is n't any need now to decide 
 whether we are to take the established lines 
 C431] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 of rail and telegraphy or to erect new ones. 
 That is a matter of indifference at present, 
 and will remain so until you have decided 
 that private control of public functions shall 
 cease. Let us either be politicians (in the 
 true sense of citizenship) or get out." 
 
 As has been said, my nine-word platform, 
 declaring for " Government ownership and 
 operation of the railroads and telegraph," 
 was widely discussed. Reform editors gen- 
 erally indorsed it; but some of the "leading 
 reformers " were not satisfied with the short 
 platform. They liked it, " so far as it goes ; " 
 but — . One thought it would be excellent 
 if it only had a " money plank " added. An- 
 other said it needed just a single-tax plank. 
 A demand for government ownership of 
 mines should have been included, according 
 to another. Woman suffrage, an eight-hour 
 workday, postal savings banks, direct legis- 
 lation, proportional representation, and a 
 score of other hobbies, were said by their 
 respective devotees to be absolutely neces- 
 sary to make the platform perfect. The 
 " lumber-shovers," who were responsible for 
 [432] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 the insurmountable piles of misfit planks 
 that past conventions had denominated " plat- 
 forms," got to work early; an obstacle which 
 I had hoped to avoid. 
 
 The nearest approach to concerted con- 
 sideration of any importance that the nine- 
 word platform had, was at the national con- 
 ventions of the United Labor and Union 
 Labor parties in 1888, held in Cincinnati 
 at the same time, but in different halls. Dr. 
 Edward McGlynn had written to me, in- 
 dorsing my plan and urging me to be present 
 at the conventions in Cincinnati to advocate 
 it as a method of uniting the two parties. 
 Charles G. Dixon, a labor representative in 
 the Illinois legislature, called upon me and 
 urged me to go to Cincinnati, and many 
 others either spoke to me or wrote to me 
 with the same object in view. But I refused 
 to undertake the task. To Mr. Dixon I 
 said: " If a plan so easily understood has n't 
 sufficient strength to win the approval of the 
 gentlemen at Cincinnati on its own merits, 
 no arguments that I can advance will induce 
 them to accept it; besides, this is the first 
 time I have had a thinking part in the great 
 [433] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 drama of political reform, and I don't want 
 to mar it by also doing the heavy work." 
 
 It is hardly necessary for me to state that 
 my plan was never adopted by any national 
 convention. The railway and telegraph mo- 
 nopolies have grown in power year by year, 
 and the people who could long ago have 
 clipped the monopolists' wings have con- 
 tinued their efforts to reform the whole uni- 
 verse at once — and have reformed nothing. 
 But I suppose I have squandered as much 
 breath and nervous force as any other of the 
 " Love's Labor Lost " enthusiasts during the 
 past fifteen years. 
 
 One experience in this line made a lasting 
 impression upon me, and convinced me that 
 the rank and file of the workingmen, to as 
 great an extent as the " leaders," lacked the 
 qualities necessary to success in practical 
 politics. I pass several years beyond the 
 period which has been decided upon as the 
 proper place to conclude " The Story of a 
 Labor Agitator " in relating this little ex- 
 perience; but it may prove none the less 
 interesting on that account: — 
 
 In 1894 I was nominated for Congress in 
 U34] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 the Sixth New Jersey (Newark) District. 
 There are few, if any, Congressional Dis- 
 tricts in the United States where the per- 
 centage of workingmen among the voters is 
 as great as it was in what was then the Sixth 
 District of New Jersey. I was well known 
 to the workingmen of the district, as I had 
 been a resident of Newark for five years, and 
 had taken an active interest in local labor 
 affairs. The campaign was a lively one — 
 for our side — and my meetings were said 
 by the newspapers to be the largest and most 
 enthusiastic political meetings which had 
 been held in Newark for many years. Those 
 same papers, by the way, treated my candi- 
 dacy and myself with the greatest respect 
 and consideration. Samuel Gompers, T. V. 
 Powderly, Frank K. Foster, of Boston, 
 Eugene V. Debs, and other well-known and 
 eloquent advocates of labor's cause, came 
 into the district and assisted me upon the 
 platform. The Republican and Democratic 
 candidates for Congress were R. Wayne 
 Parker and Thomas Dunn English, respect- 
 ively. 
 
 I hardly expected election, but I was pre- 
 
 [435] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 pared to find myself in second place when 
 the votes were counted. Newspaper esti- 
 mates placed the number of votes I was going 
 to receive all the way from two thousand to 
 ten thousand, and I was told that the sporting 
 element were making wagers on eight thou- 
 sand. 
 
 On the last Saturday night before election 
 day we had a grand rally in Kreuger's Audi- 
 torium, the largest assembly-room in New- 
 ark. The place was crowded from the stage 
 to the entrance, and hundreds were turned 
 away. The speakers for the evening were 
 Eugene V. Debs and myself. Debs de- 
 livered an eloquent and deeply interesting 
 address on current political and labor ques- 
 tions. The enthusiasm his speech elicited 
 was immense. His peroration was a glow- 
 ing tribute to the workingmen's candidate 
 for Congress, and concluded with this ques- 
 tion, which the speaker asked in a slow and 
 deliberate manner: — 
 
 " How many workingmen are there here 
 
 to-night who intend to vote on Tuesday next 
 
 for their friend and my friend, the tried and 
 
 true champion of every labor interest, Joseph 
 
 [436] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 R. Buchanan ? Hold up your hands, all of you 
 who will promise to vote for Buchanan ! " 
 
 Of the twenty or more estimates made by 
 occupants of the stage not one placed the 
 number of hands that were raised in answer 
 to Debs's question at less than tWenty-eight 
 hundred; and not more than one eighth of 
 the workingmen of the district were in that 
 meeting. The prospect certainly was rosy 
 that night. 
 
 On election day I received less than one 
 thousand votes in the whole district. Com- 
 ment is unnecessary. 
 
 In a previous chapter I have referred to 
 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway 
 strike, and the peace that was patched up 
 with Peter M. Arthur of the Brotherhood of 
 Engineers. That job of patching was the 
 cause of the only disagreement I ever had 
 with the " Old Guard " of Denver. Some of 
 my old friends scolded me roundly, in print 
 and in private letters, for my course in that 
 affair. They believed that the strike on the 
 Burlington was a fortunate event, as it pre- 
 sented an opportunity for the other labor or- 
 ganizations of the country to teach the arro- 
 C437] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 gant Grand Chief and his Brotherhood of 
 Locomotive Engineers a needed lesson. I 
 thought the lesson had already been learned 
 when Mr. Arthur asked for help from the 
 other organizations and protested that he had 
 been misunderstood in the past. It ttrned 
 out that my old Denver supporters were 
 right in refusing to take stock in a " sick-bed 
 conversion." 
 
 But my besetting weakness was always 
 "unity." Paradoxical though it my seem, 
 most of my quarrels with " leaders " and or- 
 ganizations were results of my desire to see 
 the labor movement unified. My attacks 
 upon the Engineers' Brotherhood, before and 
 after the strike, and my support during the 
 strike, under the impression that there would 
 thereafter be fraternity between that organi- 
 zation and the other labor unions, sprang 
 from that desire. My contests in the General 
 Assembly of the Knights of Labor, as well 
 as my fights on the outside, as one of the 
 Provisionals, were inspired by my desire for 
 unity. And then there was the political 
 phase of the movement, with the nine-word 
 platform as the expression of my hobby. My 
 U38] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 hope of establishing the much needed unifi- 
 cation of all labor and reform forces was not 
 diminished by the many discouragements it 
 had to contend with. In fact, my most pre- 
 tentious effort on behalf of labor, made nearly 
 five years after my departure from Chicago, 
 was the " Unity Conference," held in Phila- 
 delphia, in 1893. I was several months en- 
 gaged in working up the sentiment, through 
 a series of articles published in a syndicate 
 of papers and by means of private letters, 
 which finally resulted in bringing together in 
 that Philadelphia conference nearly every 
 prominent " leader " of labor in the country. 
 Men who, as the heads of opposing organi- 
 zations, had waged bitter warfare against 
 each other for years, met as co-workers in 
 that conference, and buried their hatchets. 
 And while my heart's desire in bringing 
 about the conference — the unification of all 
 labor organizations into an offensive and de- 
 fensive alliance — was not accompHshed, 
 some good came to the labor movement out 
 of the meeting. Antagonisms which had 
 existed for years were buried at the confer- 
 ence, never to be resurrected, and friend- 
 ly 439 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 ships were formed there that grew stronger 
 with the years. 
 
 Returning to 1888: Labor party politics, 
 the Provisional, and the Burlington strike 
 constituted the trio of special interests which 
 held the center of my little stage during the 
 greater part of that year. There were no 
 other strikes of importance in the Chicago 
 territory during the year. It was in the time 
 of this comparative lull in the actual warfare 
 of labor agitation that I found the opportunity 
 to accept some of the invitations which had 
 accumulated upon my desk to visit the coal 
 towns of Northern Illinois. I made a speak- 
 ing tour, taking in Braidwood, Braceville, 
 Gardner, Coal City, and other coal towns, inall 
 of which there were organizations of miners. 
 The coal-miners of Northern Illinois at that 
 time were of the English, Scotch, Irish, and 
 Welsh races. The ten days that I passed 
 among them was one of the pleasantest sea- 
 sons I spent in labor's cause while in Illinois. 
 I went amongst them with the kindest feel- 
 ings for the black-diamond diggers, because 
 of my experiences with them in Colorado, 
 and while with the miners of Northern Illi- 
 [ 440 ] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 nois, I felt that it was worth while to be an 
 advocate of labor's cause. . I have been en- 
 tertained in finer houses and at more richly 
 laden boards, but nowhere have I witnessed 
 more perfect hospitality than that which 
 welcomed every true friend of the common 
 people in the humble homes of the Western 
 miners in the days of which I write. They 
 were men of superior intelligence, too, as 
 most of them were readers and thinkers. 
 When I have heard fellows in creased trou- 
 sers, patent-leather shoes, and kid gloves 
 speak of coal-miners as if they were only 
 " working cattle," I have remembered the 
 honest, brave, intelligent men whom I knew 
 in the coal towns of Illinois, and the memory 
 has frequently prompted me to say " things " 
 to the " superior " animals. 
 
 The Labor party entered the field in the 
 local elections of 1888 with full city and 
 town tickets in Chicago and the Town of 
 Lake. A vigorous campaign was waged, 
 but we were defeated worse than we had 
 been the year before. The workingmen 
 of Cook County apparently did not want to 
 place men of their own class and selection 
 [441] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 in the offices. They howled against the rule 
 of the old parties, and denounced the con- 
 duct of public affairs from top to bottom; 
 but most of them lacked the honesty, or the 
 courage, or both, to vote for a change. " The 
 Enquirer," which strained its resources al- 
 most to the breaking point, in support of the 
 labor ticket, said editorially in the issue 
 immediately following election day: — 
 
 " The men who defeated the Radical 
 Labor Party were the wage-workers of the 
 city of Chicago, the hirelings in whose special 
 behalf the agitation was made and the candi- 
 dates nominated. These men betrayed their 
 own cause by either refraining from voting 
 or by selling themselves to the boodle parties. 
 Fully one half of the votes we received were 
 cast by men who are not wage-workers; and 
 two thirds of those who voted the Demo- 
 cratic and Republican tickets are wage- 
 slaves whose shackles the Radical Party 
 would remove. It is just as well to look the 
 truth squarely in the face." 
 
 Under the leadership of Professor William 
 [ 442 ] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 Salter, of the Chicago Ethical Society, a series 
 of lectures was given, in April and May, 
 1888, in the Madison Street Theater. The 
 meetings, which were called "Economic Con- 
 ferences," attracted considerable attention, 
 and on each Sunday night the theater was 
 filled with interested men and women. It 
 was the intention to have an equal number of 
 " capitalists " and " labor men " address the 
 " conferences," but Professor Salter was 
 able to secure but three " capitalists." Each 
 speaker was allowed a full evening, with the 
 exception of half an hour, which time was 
 devoted to questions by the audience and 
 answers by the speaker. 
 
 Following is the order in which the ad- 
 dresses were delivered : George A. Schilling, 
 "The Aims of the Knights of Labor;" 
 Lyman J. Gage, " Banking and the Social 
 System; " Thomas J. Morgan, " The Labor 
 Question from the Standpoint of the Social- 
 ist; " Charles L. Hutchinson, President of 
 the Board of Trade, " Is the Board of Trade 
 Hostile to the Interests of the Community ? " 
 Joseph R. Buchanan, "A View from the 
 Labor Sanctum ; " Franklin MacVeagh, 
 [443] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 " Socialism as a Remedy " (in opposition, 
 of course); A. C. Cameron, "An American 
 Trade-Unionist's View of the Social Ques- 
 tion." 
 
 Gage and Hutchinson had pretty lively 
 times with their audiences. There were 
 enough Greenbackers present to keep the 
 future Secretary of the Treasury busy for 
 half an hour answering questions, some of 
 them quite troublesome, about scientific 
 money and the country's financial history. 
 The wording of Mr. Hutchinson's topic was 
 an admission that he was on the defensive. 
 The radicals of Chicago were in the habit of 
 calling the Board of Trade "A gambling- 
 hell," and they did not modify their charac- 
 terization after hearing President Hutchin- 
 son's beautiful description of its " many 
 excellent qualities." 
 
 Professor Salter and the committee were 
 particularly good to me; my subject per- 
 mitted of my wandering into any pastures 
 that were to my liking. It was expected, 
 however, that I should say something about 
 the press, and I said it, near the conclusion 
 of my address. As had been my experience 
 [444] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 following an expression of opinions upon the 
 same subject at the Denver " anti-convict " 
 meeting, I received a thorough drubbing 
 from the Chicago papers for my candor. The 
 worst (some folks thought it was the best) 
 thing I said about the press at the Chicago 
 " conference " was not my own at all. It was 
 quoted from a speech which had been made 
 at a press dinner in New York some years 
 before. As the story went, a leading jour- 
 nalist was asked at the dinner to respond 
 to the toast, " The Independent Press." At 
 first he refused to speak, but, after much 
 persuasion, he said, prefacing his remarks 
 with the observation that he was talking to 
 press men, and not to the world : — 
 
 " There is no such thing in America as an 
 ' independent press,' unless it is found in the 
 country towns. You are all slaves. You 
 know it, and I know it. There is not one of 
 you who dares to express an honest opinion. 
 If you expressed it you would know before- 
 hand that it would not appear in print. I am 
 paid one hundred and fifty dollars a week 
 for keeping honest opinions out of the paper 
 [445 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 with which I am connected. Others of you 
 are paid similar salaries for doing similar 
 things. If I should allow honest opinions to 
 be printed in one issue of my paper, like 
 Othello, my occupation would be gone. The 
 man who would be so foolish as to write 
 honest opinions would be out on the street 
 looking for another job. The business of a 
 leading journalist is to distort the truth, to 
 lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at 
 the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country 
 and his race for his daily bread, or for what 
 is about the same thing, his salary. You 
 know this, and I know it; and what foolery 
 to be toasting an ' independent press ! ' We 
 are the tools and vassals of rich men behind 
 the scenes. We are jumping-jacks. They 
 pull the strings and we dance. Our time, 
 our talents, our possibilities are all the pro- 
 perty of other men. We are intellectual 
 prostitutes ! " 
 
 What were the fortunes of "The En- 
 quirer" during all this time of strikes, 
 "kicks," politics, lectures, agitating tours, 
 and so on? Varied, varied! As I have al- 
 [446] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 ready stated in a preceding chapter, the 
 paper did so well in the first few months of 
 its existence that it freed itself entirely of 
 debt. But the boom did not last. When there 
 was neither strike nor political campaign to 
 arouse the workingmen, they became care- 
 less and indifferent, and the first thing to 
 suffer in such times was the paper. When 
 something stirred the languor of the giant 
 Labor, and he was temporarily aroused, some 
 of the delinquent subscribers would pay up 
 their " Enquirer " accounts, and new sub- 
 scribers would be enrolled. When the giant 
 dozed I was compelled to borrow money; 
 when he opened his eyes and stretched his 
 legs I paid it back — or as much of it as I 
 could. Very little advertising patronage 
 could be secured for the paper. Therefore, 
 it had to depend upon subscriptions; and 
 while the people generally believed I re- 
 ceived a large revenue from this source, the 
 facts were that the list was never more than 
 one twentieth of what it should have been, — 
 measured by the extent of the movements 
 of which it was the sole newspaper organ, — 
 and a large proportion of those who received 
 
 [4473 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 the paper neglected to pay for it. An asso- 
 ciation was formed for the purpose of ex- 
 tending the influence of " The Enquirer " 
 and to assist in making it a daily, but it 
 accomplished little. An entertainment for 
 the paper's benefit was arranged, but the 
 night was stormy, and the profits were nil. 
 So, June, 1888, found me once more with 
 a mortgaged plant and a purse which did not 
 hold a bill long enough to crease it. It was 
 the same old " hand-to-mouth " existence 
 which I had gone through while establishing 
 the Denver paper. There was this differ- 
 ence between the two experiences, however: 
 When troubles came to " The Denver En- 
 quirer" I made the facts known, and called 
 upon the friends of the cause to help me; 
 when the till of "The Chicago Enquirer" 
 was empty I borrowed money, and kept my 
 troubles to myself. In its darkest hours the 
 Chicago paper did not make public its real 
 situation, and never did its columns show a 
 depreciation in the quantity or quality of the 
 matter printed. I had made up my mind 
 that I would not whine, nor would I show 
 a limp in my movements; when I could no 
 [448] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 longer march with an appearance of sound 
 legs, I would drop out of the line. 
 
 With the beginning of the month of Au- 
 gust came to me a realization of the truth 
 that unless something unforeseen should 
 happen, "The Enquirer" was doomed; it 
 could not live the month out. I reduced the 
 force in the office, and took up the stick and 
 rule again myself; there must be ho sign of 
 the approaching dissolution in the columns- 
 of the paper. And now something strange 
 and disagreeable happened. 
 
 Soon after my arrival in Chicago, early in 
 1887, I became a member of the American 
 section of the Socialist Labor Party. This 
 party has always been composed principally 
 of Germans; hence the designation " Ameri- 
 can " section. The word " party " in the title 
 of the organization did not at that time sig- 
 nify, at least in practice, what it generally 
 means in this country, as the organization 
 devoted its energies almost entirely to 
 the propagation of Socialist sentiment, but 
 rarely placed a ticket in the field to be voted 
 for. Its plan of organization and methods 
 of control were never popular with the 
 
 [ 449 ] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 American Socialist. I knew it to be totally 
 unlike the Rocky Mountain Social League, 
 in those particulars, and, while we agreed 
 in our theories of an ultimate just and scien- 
 tific system of society, the Socialist Labor 
 ' Party was for " the-whole-thing-at-once," 
 and I for the " step-at-a-time," or opportu- 
 nist plan. Still it was the only Socialistic 
 ^organization in Chicago, and I joined it. 
 
 Francis Hoffman, junior, was nominated 
 by the Illinois Democrats for the office of 
 State Treasurer. Mr. Hoffman, like his 
 father before him, was recognized as a fear- 
 less friend of labor, of strong Socialistic 
 leanings. He was one of " The Enquirer's " 
 supporters and contributors. Desiring to 
 make a campaigning tour, in the early part of 
 August, through the coal towns of Northern 
 Illinois, Mr. Hoffman asked me to accom- 
 pany him and to make some speeches in his 
 interest to the miners. There was no labor 
 ticket in the state, and I complied with the 
 request of Mr. Hoffman. About the same 
 time there appeared in " The Enquirer " a 
 series of articles discussing the tariff question, 
 which it will be remembered was the prin- 
 [450] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 cipal issue between the Republican and 
 Democratic parties in that campaign. This 
 was too much for the " American " section. 
 With characteristic wisdom and proverbial 
 generosity the bosses of the section saw at 
 once in my acts the double-dealing of a 
 traitor. "The Enquirer" was denounced 
 by the boss Socialist, who had never con- 
 tributed a penny to the paper's support, and 
 I was summoned to appear before the sec- 
 tion to show cause why I should not be 
 expelled on the charge of selling out to the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 Accompanied by my bookkeeper and half 
 a dozen friends — all members of the section 
 — I obeyed the summons. Under my in- 
 structions my bookkeeper exposed the con- 
 dition of " The Enquirer " to the section, and 
 I humbled myself so far as to explain that I 
 was almost penniless, and that I had refused 
 to accept anything in the way of remunera- 
 tion from Mr. Hoffman or his party. And 
 yetthe motion that I be expelled from the sec- 
 tion was put to a vote. It was defeated, every 
 American present voting against it, eight or 
 ten Englishmen and Germans voting for it. 
 [451] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 But still my " comrades " of the " American " 
 section continued to misrepresent and slan- 
 der me, in '' party papers," published in New 
 York and Connecticut, and in meetings in 
 Chicago when they could get a hearing. 
 Threats that I was to be " crushed " were 
 freely made by my " comrades." The self- 
 constituted liberators of the enslaved human 
 race had not any patience with one who dared 
 exercise the rights of a freeman. The boss 
 of the Socialist Labor Party had decided 
 that I must be "crushed." He knew well 
 enough that I was already " crushed," and 
 that all the pressure he and his dozen satel- 
 lites could contribute to the squeezing per- 
 formance, would not smash me any flatter. 
 Yet it was not my nature to silently grin and 
 bear injustice, so, in " The Enquirer," I had 
 my little say, publicly. " Der Sozialist," an 
 organ of the Socialist Labor Party, — "Amer- 
 ican " sections included, — published in New 
 York, gave me this timely warning: — 
 
 "John Swinton's Paper went down 
 through the operation of his peculiar ob- 
 stinacy, and Buchanan's ' Labor Enquirer ' 
 [452] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 will have the same fate if he continues to 
 withdraw himself from the control of organ- 
 ized labor." 
 
 To this " The Enquirer " replied : — 
 
 " That may be true ; but it would take a 
 great many such cases to equal the number 
 of papers that have starved to death while 
 giving the most complete obedience to the 
 mandates of ' organized labor,' and the scores 
 so lost did not, combined, leave a void like 
 that left by ' Swinton's Paper.' Moreover, a 
 thousand successful ' Papers ' or 'Enquirers ' 
 would not offset the loss of one man's in- 
 dependence. John Swinton appreciated this, 
 and though his paper was destroyed by a 
 clique of cowardly assassins, the brave old 
 thunderer was grander in the defeat than he 
 would have been had his journal succeeded 
 through surrender of the ' control; ' and the 
 rank and file of the American working-peo- 
 ple honor him to-day, though ' Der Sozial- 
 ist ' may not know it. The destroyers, the 
 * downers' of a free press may crush a 
 ' Paper ' or an ' Enquirer ' on every acre in 
 [453] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 this broad land, but they will never get the 
 collar of any organization or man on Buch- 
 anan's neck. As well understand that now." 
 
 In another issue "The Enquirer" said: — 
 
 " No man or woman can guide my pen 
 and shape the editorial policy of this paper. 
 The few columns on the second page are set 
 aside for such matter as expresses the views 
 of the editor, and that is all he charges for 
 fighting starvation and trying to maintain 
 a people's paper. If you do not like what 
 appears upon that page you can have all the 
 space you require upon some other page to 
 say so. I may be wrong in many things, — 
 mine would be an exceptional case if I were 
 not, — but I claim the right to be proved in 
 the wrong. I hold certain principles and, 
 as methods are essential, I have those also; 
 if they are at fault failure awaits them; but 
 innuendo and cowardly flings at individuals 
 do not convince me that I am in error. I 
 shall never shape the policy of the paper with 
 the sole aim of making it a financial success, 
 either by subscriptions or otherwise. I shall 
 C454] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 not get a dollar by the sacrifice of a single 
 principle of the cause I hold dear — this 
 much is due to my honest co-workers; the 
 rest is with my own conscience. I will have 
 none of your dictators; it is just that thing 
 I have been fighting all of my life, and will 
 continue to battle against. I did not come to 
 Chicago to ' make a name ' as a champion of 
 labor: I brought one with me, have kept 
 it while here, and will have it when I depart, 
 no matter what the ' crushers ' may say or do. 
 What I do shall be done to the full capacity 
 of my mental, physical, and financial power; 
 I shall shut up only when I reach the end of 
 my row." 
 
 Brave as I wished to be; encouraging 
 myself in the belief that there was still some 
 fight in me, by writing defiant editorials for 
 the paper, I felt, I knew that the end of the 
 row was near. For several weeks I had 
 been using nearly all the funds in hand to 
 get out each issue of the paper; when an 
 issue was paid for there was not enough left 
 in the exchequer to pay for another. I had 
 to depend upon the receipts of the week to 
 [455 3 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 increase the surplus so that I could " come 
 out just once more." Gradually, but surely, 
 the surplus grew less and less each week; 
 relentlessly the merciless bonds of Failure 
 were tightening about me. 
 
 On Saturday, August i8, " The Enquirer " 
 was issued as usual. In appearance that 
 number was the peer of any of its predeces- 
 sors, and there was not a syllable in its col- 
 ums to indicate that the end had come. But, 
 when I had paid the week's bills, I had not 
 a dollar left. I called the boys together in 
 the little composing-room and told them that 
 " The Enquirer " had given up the ghost, and 
 that they must seek employment elsewhere. 
 To a man they were loyal, offering to work 
 on and to trust to the future for their pay; but 
 I could not accept the sacrifice, and, with 
 tears in our eyes, we clasped hands and 
 parted. That evening and upon Sunday I 
 worked over my mailing-lists, sorting out 
 the delinquents and making proof-slips of the 
 subscribers who were paid up to a future 
 time. I wanted these to send to " The 
 Standard," published in New York, by 
 the late Henry George. I then set up and 
 [456] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 " pulled " a proof of an " obituary," an- 
 nouncing the death of " The Enquirer," and 
 giving such explanations as I deemed neces- 
 sary. This, also, was to go to Mr. George, 
 with the request that it be published and 
 copies of "The Standard" sent to "The 
 Enquirer's " subscribers. 
 
 Sunday afternoon a comrade called at the 
 office. I asked him to take to the " Ameri- 
 can " section, which I knew to be in session 
 at the time, a letter containing my resigna- 
 tion as a member of the section. He re- 
 turned with the information tliat the door of 
 the meeting-place was locked and that he 
 was refused admission. The following after- 
 noon " The Evening Mail " contained a story, 
 to the effect that " Yesterday, behind locked 
 doors and barred windows, eight men and 
 two women — not one of whom was Ameri- 
 can born — expelled Joseph R. Buchanan 
 from the ' American ' section of the Socialist 
 Labor Party." , — ' 
 
 And while I was thus being " punished 
 for selling out to the politicians," I was per- 
 forming the last rites over a champion of 
 labor that had starved to death, and had not 
 [4573 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 more than enough money left to buy my 
 dinner. There was a touch of irony in the 
 situation. My greatest consolation in that 
 hour was the knowledge that no politician 
 had, by offer or suggestion of bribe of any 
 kind, insulted me with the insinuation that I 
 could be bought. 
 
 With my task of straightening up com- 
 pleted, and packages made ready for mailing 
 to Mr. George, I seated myself in my little 
 editorial room to rest, and to think : — 
 
 And this is the end of it all. After eight 
 years of hard work and sacrificing, of battles 
 fought, of victories and defeats, with tens of 
 thousands of toilers in the land reaping the 
 rewards of those years of striving, I sit alone, 
 surrounded by the wreckage of my last re- 
 doubt, broken, ruined, deserted. Here, in 
 this forum where it has been my proud boast 
 that every slave could clank his chains,- 
 every freeman voice his will, I bow my 
 head beneath the tyranny of bigotry, intol- 
 erance, and jealousy. But, cfuel as they are, 
 these have not crushed me. Against these 
 I could fight to my last breath; but Ingrati- 
 tude, Neglect, these have been my undoing. 
 [458] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 No, no! again I cry; they did not know, 
 they did not know! I was fooUshly proud 
 and tried to carry the burden alone; my 
 strength was not equal to the task. Well, 
 hundreds before now, hundreds more de- 
 serving than I, have fallen in the struggle 
 for labor's emancipation, and thousands yet 
 will fall. Fallen? No! I have just been 
 pushed aside. I must find another way. -< 
 
 There is a rap at the door; a man enters. 
 I know him fairly well. He is a manufac- 
 turer, who for some time has been identified 
 with a certain wing of the reform move- 
 ment. He is more than this just now, for 
 one of the labor reform parties has bestowed 
 upon him its nomination for the presidency 
 of the United States. He has called to see 
 me about the publication of some political 
 matter relating to his candidacy. 
 
 " ' The Enquirer ' will not appear again," I 
 say. " It has suspended publication." 
 
 "Why, I am astonished!" exclaims my 
 visitor. "What is the matter? We are just 
 entering upon a national campaign and the 
 paper will be needed." 
 
 " I am sorry," was my reply. " But my 
 
 [459] 
 
A LABOR AGITATOR 
 
 money and credit are exhausted, the plant 
 is mortgaged, and everything of value I had 
 has been either sold or pawned. Even my 
 wife's few valuables have been sacrificed, 
 with the exception of a gold watch that I gave 
 her several years ago. She offered me the 
 watch to pawn, and I was sorely tempted to 
 accept it, as I might borrow enough on it to 
 get out another issue of the paper." 
 
 " If you could get out another issue," re- 
 marked my visitor, " we might, before a 
 second issue was due, stir up the friends 
 and secure all the help you would need. 
 How much money will you require to print 
 an issue of the paper?" 
 
 " I could squeeze through, by working 
 some on the case myself, on forty dollars," I 
 replied, feeling the old fire once more warm- 
 ing up within me. 
 
 "Well, I guess I can let you have that 
 amount," said my visitor. " Have you got 
 the watch here ? " 
 
 "The watch?" 
 
 " Certainly," said the labor reform nomi- 
 nee for President of the United States. " I 
 understood you to say that you were willing 
 [460] 
 
THE END OF THE ROW 
 
 to give your wife's watch as security for a 
 loan." 
 
 I stared at the man for full half a minute ; 
 then he seemed to pass out of my vision and 
 in his place I saw a picture, in which two 
 men were facing each other across an impos- 
 ing-stone in a dimly lighted, dingy printing- 
 ofBce. One of the men held in his hand a 
 gold coin. His face wore an expression of 
 inquiry, and he seemed to be waiting for the 
 other man to speak. The other's lips moved, 
 and I read his words, as the deaf sometimes 
 read the speech they cannot hear. And this 
 was what he said : — 
 
 " It is for you. I sold my old watch." 
 
 The picture faded away. Arising from 
 my chair, I took from the table the articles 
 intended for mailing, and, turning to the 
 nominee for President, said: — 
 
 "You must excuse me; I want to post 
 these packages, and must request you to 
 retire, so that I may lock the office door 
 before leaving." 
 
 THE END 
 
Electntyped <i,id printed by H. O. Hcughton &• Co. 
 Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A,