Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1886 — MORE BLOOD FLOWS. [ARTICLE]

MORE BLOOD FLOWS.

Three ' Hundred Strikers Assemble in East St. Louis j and a Riot Ensues. I f ~ ' ■ ~ St ones Are* Thrown at Deputy Marshals, When They Shoot Into the Crowd. Six Persons Killed ami Four Wounded Before tlie Teriiiinated. I |St. Louis (Mo.) dispatch.j .—L " The first blood to be spilled as, a result of the railroad troubles in East St, Louis was shed there at 3 o’clock this afternoon, when a group of Sheriff Ropiequet’s deputies, sworn in and armed this morning to take the places of his regular men, who had been sent back to Belleville last night, filed into the crowd of strikers and spectators who had gathered near the Cahokia Creek bridge, and killed five persons, while two are mortally wounded jind others badly hurt. The kill* dare: Pat Driscol, employe of the water-works; Oscar 'Washington, a painter; John Bohman, a water-works laborer, not a Mriker; C. E. Thompson; unknown man, «hot at the bridge approach; Mrs. John Pfeiffer; Maj. Rychmann. The day opened with but little prospect of serious trouble, although some of the strikers intimated that the ronds would find it less easy to run trains than'they anticipated, and early in the morning the yards presented an animated scene. Switch engines were running backward and forwaid making up trains; the platform men were busy loading and unloading freight, and trains were arriving and departing without any interference. This condition of affairs continued until noon, and it was thought that the day would pass without any demonstration by the strikers. At that hour, however, the trouble which afterward grew to such alarming proportions begun. A number of strikers, without apparently .having formed any. preconcerted plan, congregated at the relay depot and began a discussion of the general situation. As time passed their number was augmented until the original knot of men increased to fully two hundred. . The discussion became animated and the crowd more demonstrative until some oue proposed that they go to the Louisville and" Nashville yards and drive out the men employed there. The cry of “On to the Nashville yards” was caught up, and the crowd advanced. As they proceeded their numbers again increased, some joining the mob simply as spectators, while others were in full sympathy with (he movement, until from three to four hundred were advancing toward the yards. v Arriving there they swarmed into the yards and persuaded the men at work to de-* s rt their posts. The crowd remained in the yards for some time, and, although considerable excitement prevailed, no violence was resorted to. Just at this time, however, a Louisville Nashville freight tnunTWHS"Slowly passing, guarded by eight Deputy Sheriffs, armed with "Winchester rifles. In the meantime crowds of men, women, and ehildren had congregated on Broadway, where the Louisville and Nashville tracks cross the street, and also upofi the Broadway bridge, which spans Cahokia Creek, and in the open, space to-the—east. Just as- the train readied the Broadway crossing"the trouble began. The"erowd on~tEe~bridge began to- yell and jeer at the officers, and it is asserted that stones were thrown, which struck two or three of them, while it is aivi said that a pistol was discharged. At once the deputies opened fire upon the crowd with their Winchesters, and a scene of the wildest terror aud excitement followed. Mrs. JohD Pfeiffer, a middleaged woman, who was returning home from a shopping expedition with her husband, stepped on the bridge just as the first shot was fired and almost immediately fell mortally wounded, a rifle ball passing clean through her body. She. died within an hour. In the crowd were quite a number of women and small boys who began to scream, and a stampede in ail directions followed. The deputies emptied their Winchesters-and continued to fire their revolvers. Pat Driscoll, a Wabash section hand, and John Bonner, a coal miner, neither of them a striker, were the next to fall, and died on the bridge. Maj. Rychmann, a rolling mill employe, in no way cohnected with the strike, Was shot in the head and shoulder, and has since died, and a young girl named Klemmann was wounded. The greatest excitement immediately prevailed, and pandemonium reigned. Tlie crowd tied in every direction, and the deputies, realizing how fearful was the result of their fire, sought means of escape by rush-' ing for the bridge, with a view of fleeing to this city. At the approach, and just at the bridge tower on the east side, they, were met by Mayor Joyce, City Clerk Canty, and a third man, who seized the deputies’ guns and endeavored to turn them back. . Oue of the deputies, in his terror, fired upon the trio, killing a man named C. E. Thompson, who Stood between Joyce and Canty. Some shots were fired by the remaining deputies at the approaching strikers, and all started for the bridge. The scene on the bridge was one of the wildest confusion. Coal teams and other teams with wagons were galloping westward. and their drivers shouting to all pedestrians aud teamsters to run back. Women aud men on foot were running toward the city, and waving back all they met, while immediately behind came the deputies, pursued by the vanguard of the crowd fr<jm East St. Louis. One of the frightened guards threw his gun into the river, while another hid his weapon in a wagon that was in full retreat. A few of the more violent strikers, after arming themselves, announced their intend' lion of attacking the deputies on guard at the Ohio <fc Mississippi yards, and advanced in that direction. When near the yards they were met by several deputies and-fired upon. One of their number is said to have been killed. The Sheriff made haste to wire Gov. .Oglesby the state of affairs, announcing that he was unable to preserve the .peace, and invoking tlie aid of the State troops. The Governor immediately returned answer that he had ordered eight companies of militia to the scene of the disturbance.