Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1894 — GOV. MATTHEWS’ PROCLAMATION. [ARTICLE]

GOV. MATTHEWS’ PROCLAMATION.

Striking Mlner» Wa nod Against Further Unlawful Proceedings. Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Matthews, after a lengthy consultation with Judge Baker of the United States District Court, at Indianapolis, issued the following proclamation: The State ot Indiana, Executive Department. Whereas, It has been made to appear to me that large bodies of mon, engaged in the occupation of miningcoal,have banded themselves together in the counties of Clay, Parke, Vigo, Sullivan and Vermillion and at other points of the State, for the purpose of obstructing the passage of trains, and seriously interfering with the management and operation of the railway propvr.y in these sections and their duties under the law as public carriers, and thereby putting in danger not only the property, but the lives of our citizens, and Whereas. All citizens of the State are entitled to protection in respect to their property; and railroad companies in common with our citizens have the right te expect protection in the conduct of their lawful business, and in the shipment and transportation of the products of the country to market, and Whereas, The acts hereinbefore referred to are in violation of the laws of the State, and it is imperative that those laws be enforced to the end that violent and unlawful acts be stopped, peace and order restored, and the law vindicated, Now, Therefore, I, Claude Matthews, Governor of Indiana, call upon all who have been and are connected with such unlawful proceedings to disband and cease interference with the management and conduct, of the business of the railways of the State. As citizens you cannot afford to stand in the attitude of lawbreakers. I also call upon the sheriffs of counties and public officers and direct that they exert all the powers with which they are invested to break up these combinations and bring the violators of law to punishment. In maintaining the law and preserving the public peace, I invoke the sentiment and the judgment of the people a alnst all combinations for unlawful purposes. Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, at indiatapolis, this the 30th dav of M ay, 1804. [Seal] Claude Matthews. Bv the Governor: W. R. Myers, Secretary of State. A copy of the proclamation was mailed to the sheriffs of Clay, Parke, Vigo, Sullivan and Vermillion counties and to several other counties of the State where coal is mined and where the minors have gathered in numbers.