Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1886 — SHOOTING TO KILL. [ARTICLE]

SHOOTING TO KILL.

A Posse of Deputies Protecting a Train Fired Upon at Fort Worth, Texas. One of the Officers Killed, Two Mortally Wounded, and a Striker Killed. ;Fort Worth ‘Texas) dispatch.) The first tragedy to result from the strike ou the Texas and Pacific occurred Saturday afternoon, when a group of strikers, lying in ambush a short distance south of the city, tired ou a portion of the Sheriff’s posse, fatally wounding Officers Townsend and Snead, and sending a bullet through the thighs of Policeman Fulford. One of the strikers, Frank Pierce, a switchman, was killed, and Tom Neece, another, was shot in the groin. Two other strikers arc believed to have been wounded. Officer Townsend is dead, and Officer Snead is now lying at the point of death. Owing to the bold stand taken by the strikers during the week it was feared that serious trouble would soon ensue, and when it was known Friday night that warrants of injunction had been served on many of. the strikers, and that the company would make a desperate effort to get out trains in the morning, under the protection of the Sheriff, bloodshed was deemed inevitable. At 10 o'clock yesterday morning officers began to collec t at the Union Depot and in the yards, and a few minutes later Engine 54, loaded with armed men, steamed down into the Missouri Pacific yards amid the derisive shouts of the spectators. The engine was then backed up to Hodge, from which point it was to pull a freight train into the city. At 11:35 the train came into the yards unmolested by the crowd. A woman waved a red flag as a signal for the engineer to stop, but he paid no attention to it. Proceeding on its way by the. Union Depot, the train passed on south, guarded by twelve officers, armed with revolvers, under the command of Special Deputy Marshal Courtwright. At tiie crossing a mile and a half from town a switch was found open and the train halted. The officers approached the switch and discovered about twenty of the strikers lying in ambush, with their Winchester rifles aimed, ready to shoot. Firing was opened by both sides almost simultaneously, and after about fifty shots had been fired the officers retreated to the train and return! with their wounded comrades to the city. The tragedy occasioned terrible excitement. throughout the city, and Sheriff Maddox at once armed two companies of citizens with carbines and stationed them at tiie depot to lie ready for future emergencies. The Mayor issued a proclamation appointing seventy-five special policemen, and telegrams were sent to Gov. Ireland urging him to hurry on a regiment of militia at once. He immediately ordered out the troops. The troops here now number 255 meil. Adjt. Gen. King, Brig, Gen. A. S. Roberts, Attorney General Templeton, Inspector General P. Smyth, and Col. W. P. Gaines are on the ground. Two companies of rangers accompanying Gov. Ireland are on the way to the city from Austin. District Judge Peckham was called into consultation with the railroad officials this morning, the result being that about 12 o’clock a freight train was sent south under guard of the Grayson Rifles and a special force of fifteen citizens. Another train was at once made up and sent north, also under guard, and at 5 o’clock a third train pulled out, going soirtli. The statement is made that the Knights of Labor have determined that Fort Worth shall be the point where trains shall be stopped at all hazzards and that there they will win or lose their battle. On the other hand, it is said the citizens declare that the Missouri Pacific trains shall move, even though it costs scores of lives to accomplish it. No one is allowed to stand on the streets. The officers are in citizens’ dress, and nearly every man in town not known as a striker has a permit to carry concealed weapons. Attorney General Templeton, who is here with Adjutant General King, says: “Since the authority of the State has been invoked it shall be wielded, and trains must move if it takes the whole military force of the State to do it.”

Mr. lloxie and the Knights -A Cold Reception. (St. Louis telegram.] Secretary Turner and William H. Bailey, of the General Executive Committee of the Knights of Labor, arrived from Cincinnati, and after a long conference with the joint committee of the Districit Assemblies went to the office of Mr. H. M. Hoxie, Vice President of the Missouri Pacific. Their interview was of short duration, and was very unsatisfactory. They say that they were received coldly, and that Mr. Hoxie’s demeanor was eminently disappointing. He told them that the company had decided to reduce its force of shopmen by 50 per cent., and that a large number of men had already been employed to fill the places of the strikers. Such of the old employes as wished to return should apply fora position, and their applications would be considered, without regard to their connection with the strike, but tho company reserved tho right to reject any objectionable applicant. These terms were not what the committee expected, and they accordingly withdrew. Mr. lloxie was very cool. He did not even ask the committee to be seated. Tlie World of Labor. The Eureka Iron Company, of Wyandotte, a suburb of Detroit, has recognized the right of its employes to join the Knights of Labor. » Journeymen bakers, of New York, to the number of twelve hundred, have determined to strike, on May 1, fortwelve hours’ work live days a week, and fourteen hours on Saturday. K. P. Allis, of Milwaukee, informed eight hundred employes of the machineshops booing Ins name that work wpuldbo permanently stopped should an attempt be made to enforce the eight-hour rule. The strike has been crushed at Atchison and Parsons, and the Mayor of the city offers to pay whatever damage has been in-* dieted upon railroad property within tho town by strikers. The street-car strike at Pittsburgh has been adjusted, except as to one line. The men are to get the same wages as heretofore, and the hour question is to be further arbitrated.