Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1894 — ARREST THE RIOTERS [ARTICLE]

ARREST THE RIOTERS

FEDERAL MARSHALS AT MOUNT OLIVE TAKE FORTY. T Seventh Regiment Fills Striker* with Fear >nd They Offer No Resistance to Officers —Guilty One* Being Apprehended Wherever Found. Cowed by the Troops. Among the coal-mining districts which refused to abide by the Columbus agreement was Mount Olive. 111. Strikers there interfered with the running of coal trains on a road which is in the hands of a receiver, and threatened other lawlessness. Deputy United states marshals from Chicago went down to enforce order, but were routed Saturday in a pitched battle. Governor Altgel’d then orderel out the Seventh Regiment. I. N. G., and the troops reached the scene Monday morning. Then the marshals revenged themselves on the strikers. Forty arrests were made, and the troops took charge of the prisoners. It is expected that fully as many more will be apprehended. Almost without exception the miners arrested are non-English speaking Slavs, Huns, Italians and Germans. The miners were frightene 1 even before the arrival of the boys in blue. In the morning a largely attended meet.ng had been held and a telegram had been sent to Governor Altgeld asking him to have the troops called home and agreeing to surrender all the prisoners that had been taken fr. m United States Marshal Br.nton and his deputies Saturday night. Those who were foremost in the assault upon the marshals were now in mo 4 abject fear of the troops. They knew enough to be aware of the fact that in interfering with a government official they had committed a grave offense. Deputy She iff Henry Hillier has State warrants for more than one hundred additional strikers. He has a large force of deputy sheriffs with him, and he will prosecute the search until he is satisfied that every man in Mount Olive who intimidated train crews or interfered with traffic in any way has been arrested. It is feared that many of the guilty will secretly leave the city. After the troops arrived and pitched camp in the yard of the Zion Evangelist Church, the real work began. Marshal Brinton had United States warrants for the f ur men whom he and his deputies had under arrest for a short time on Saturday. He also had an order from Judge W. O. Allen, o' the United States District Court at Springfield, to arrest everybody who could be identified as having aided in the rescue t f the four prisoners on Saturday evening. “If you want to make some arrests.” said Colonel Colby, “I have some men ready to take care of them. This was addressed to Marshal Brinton and Acting Sheriff Hillier. By this time the old-fashioned board fence around the churchyard bore a wall of humaeity. The deputy marshals and deputy sheriffs had been carefully watching the faces of the men along the fence. Among them was an old man with a sneer on his face, and in broken German he was mocking the commands of the officers of the guard. Two deputy marshals walked out to where he was standing. One got each side of him and he was made a prisoner. He protested against his arrest, but he was hurried back to the west side of the churchyard and placed in care ot the guard. “I’ll never forget that fellow,” said Marshal Brinton. “For an instant last Saturday evening I was of the opinion that he was the instrument by which I was to be ushered into eternity. In the thick of the flgh’t, when we were trying to retain our prisoners, he shoved a revolver into my face and hold it there long enough for me to feel its muzzle grating against my teeth. How it happened I do not know, but one of the deputies managed to knock the gun from his murderous grasp. I am sure that this action saved my life." Rapidly the prisoners were brought in, and as familiar faces appeared the mob of women around the fence jeered at the soldiers in a frenzv. The prisoners are in jail at Springfield and Carlinville.