The Rifle War: Knights of Labor vs. Mine Owners in Newcastle

STRIKES SHOW THEIR HEAD.

General Order for Miners to Cease Work.

Black Diamond, Newcastle and Frankfort Mining.

The trouble among the coal mines has broken out again, and this time it seems to be general. There is no telling what effect it will be. The officers of these various coal companies are greatly surprised to learn news from the mines.

Yesterday claiming that the joiners continued to go to work until the difficulty at Newcastle was adjusted to suit their interests and that they were bound to obey an order by the master workman located at Newcastle for 9 AM on Monday.

The recent riot at Newcastle, it will be remembered, was due to a feud between two factions of the Knights of Labor and Miners' Union, the members of the former Knights, but had seceded. The Knights were the aggressors in the struggle which resulted in William Ronan's death. On the restoration of peace, orders were issued by the local superintendent that no more than 30 Knights, only members of the Miners' Union being permitted to work. This led to the issuance of the order for the strike of yesterday.

The object of the order, according to the knowledge obtainable, is to force the mine operators to recognize only Knights of Labor and to bar out members of the Miners' Union. This is the way, at least, that it is understood.

WALK-OVER AT OILMAN.

From authentic information was received from the Oilman mine. There seems to be a number of 150 refused to work because of the order. There was no disturbance at this mine, and the miners were simply acting in concert with those at other places, in order to aid those with whom they were in sympathy at Newcastle.

It is the understanding that the order to shutdown included every local coal mine in Washington Territory. The miners at Oilman were making from $2 to $3 per day and seemed to be fully satisfied with their compensation.

WILLIAMSTON COAL COMPANY.

Eighty men have quit work by reason of an order issued by the district master workman. There were no grievances as far as known, at this mine. Nothing had been done by officers of the company to avoid getting the miners to resume work. It is understood here, also, that the men had not struck, but have just quit work with a view to strengthening and aiding the cause of the Knights of Labor at Newcastle.

There has heard nothing about the Knights of Labor shipping arms into Newcastle from Seattle.

VICTORY FOR THE MINERS? NO.

At the office of the Oregon Improvement Company it was yesterday learned that the Frankfort and Black Diamond mines were running with the usual force of men. In the morning the men had ceased work in obedience to the order. A meeting was held and after three hours it was decided to return to work, and everything was, at last accounts, moving along in shape.

In the event of further trouble the officials said they were determined to protect the property of the company and also the employees who are at work. This much will be done at all hazards.

ARMS FOR THE KNIGHTS.

It is positively stated that 50 rifles were taken from Seattle to Newcastle for the use of the Knights of Labor on board. They were placed in a skiff by an agent of the society. Then the agent got the steamer Kirkland to tow the skiff as far as the old seal wharf, about a mile from Newcastle, where the rifles were landed.

THE ISSUE MADE.

The trouble has been brewing for some time, and from the temper shown on both sides it would seem that the struggle will not be a short or an easy one. A mine official said yesterday that the question now had resolved itself into the question as to whether the mine operators or the Knights of Labor were running this mine. The mine owners are determined to fight to win the mine, come what may.

THE ORDER THROUGH THE NORTHWEST.

It is stated that the order of the master workman has effect throughout the northwest. The Roslyn miners are known to be in a perturbed condition, and it was stated yesterday that the mine at Carbonado had suffered a similar strike. The power of the Knights of Labor in the mines is well known to have been on the wane for some months, but they propose to exert what force they can muster, which is yet considerable, to compel the various mine owners to recognize their order only in the operation of the mines.

RUN NEWCASTLE.

Mr. H. W. McNeil, manager, and Col. J. C. Haines, Attorney, left last night for Newcastle to look over the ground and see what can be done. Here trouble was feared last night, but no report of any difficulty was received. Mr. McNeil and Col. Haines had not returned at an early hour this morning.

A LETTER FROM A RESIDENT.

In the light of developments the following letter to the Post-Intelligencer will be found especially interesting:

"In looking over your paper of today my attention was attracted to an article headed 'Ronan and the Miners,' which gives the gist of an interview between the prosecuting attorney and a committee claiming to represent the miners of Washington Territory and British Columbia. With your permission I would like to make a few remarks for the benefit of those who may have read the article alluded to and also to allay the fears of those who are afraid of being shot.

In the first place the Oregon Improvement Company has not been distributing Winchester rifles amongst its workmen in the sense these people would have the public believe. As far as the company is concerned it is purely a business transaction. If a workman wants a rifle the company will furnish him with it, the same as they would furnish him with a roll of dough or a barrel of flour. That is by agreeing to have the price deducted from their wages. Consequently the company has as much claim on these rifles as have on the building that the Post-Intelligencer is printed inside.

Then we have boys of 14 and upward going about the streets with these rifles, as well. I would like to know if there are any men in this country who would go into a store and purchase a rifle and fear to trust his son of 14 or over to carry it some of us know a rifle is not very liable to go off unless anybody loads it. It is an incontrovertible fact that no boy has paraded the streets of Newcastle with a rifle with the exception of between the store and its home, and then it was like the Irishman's pistol, 'there was nothing in it.' These people can rest assured that rifles are in safe hands and will never be turned against anybody without the provocation, and then only by those who are old enough to save themselves.

The men who are working have never been the aggressors in any outrage and do not intend to be; but, if people persist in bringing men from other places—who have no knowledge whatever of the situation—to insult and abuse them who are quietly pursuing their usual vocations, the promoters of these outrages will find to their sorrow that there is a limit to human endurance and that even the best tempered man may be persecuted enough to induce them to retaliate.

I hope these people will take the hint and try some other plan to accomplish whatever object they may have in view, as their chances of accomplishing anything will have failed themselves or others are very limited, unless they act considerably wiser. As far as regarding the workmen is concerned that is something that is not game within the province of the Oregon Improvement Company nor the miners, so the people will just have to submit it at the fort.

It is too bad that it has been necessary to use firearms, and I only hope it will never be necessary to use them for civil purposes."

S.S. NORTH STAR.

The schooner North Star, bound for San Francisco, arrived yesterday. Captain Raynor reports that 150 men are being fitted out in Seattle for the coal mining business, most of them having already left.

These vessels were fitted last year at Newcastle. This year she appears to be converted than usual. The schooner Vindicator, of this port, will sail on or about the 15th inst. with all hands allowed except a very small crew and no passengers.

Jas. L. Smith & Co. have chartered the schooner Thetis for West Seattle and east coast purposes. Her work will remain in her after which her stores will be got early in February. The Thetis is the first of the fleet to leave.

GEORGE LISS DISAPPEARS.

There is considerable excitement among the employees of George Liss, his former deputy. The rumor is that he has absconded with about $500 to avoid paying them, while his friends think he has met with foul play.

The facts of his disappearing are as follows: On Friday last he drew $150 at a safe located in a Mill street saloon and started out with the avowed purpose of paying off his bills. Since that time both have been lost sight of him, though a search has been made for him and his friends in the neighborhood of about 15 miles.

Mr. Liss had just finished a contract to build a house for Mr. Griffith at West Seattle. The foreman of the work said he did not know where he was.

Mr. Griffith employed one of all nationalities, and I think that was one who knew he had money killed him. He will probably be found in the woods dead, before long.

Mr. Liss was of medium height, 30 years old, light hair and mustache. He wore a soft felt hat, and his trousers were usually tucked into his boots. He was rather a looking man, had a good education, and was very temperate in his habits.

THE WELL-KNOWN JOURNALIST AND JURIST IN SEATTLE.

The pleasant presence of Hon. William Hill, jurist and journalist, was encountered yesterday at the Occidental hotel by POST-INTERLEADER'S JOURNEY. Mr. Hill was for a year a resident of Portland and for seven years a resident of Tacoma, and for the past two and half years has resided in Oakland, Cal. For five of the years in which Mr. Hill resided in Portland he was the editor of the Oregonian and gained a wide spread reputation as a writer of ability. For the remainder of the time in which he resided in Oregon he practiced law and was one of the leading men of the profession in the state. His work, 'The Annotated Laws of Oregon,' is a credit to its author. It contains the laws of the state as to and including those passed by the legislature of 1897.

'I am here for the purpose of practicing the law and nothing else,' replied Mr. Hill, in response to an inquiry. 'I like the Northwest very much and have great faith in the Sound country. Seattle seems to have a greater volume of business than any other town on the Sound, and there are points about Tacoma which I cannot help admiring. I believe both Seattle and Tacoma are destined to be good large towns.'

'One thing that impresses me greatly with Seattle is the immense energy displayed by the people here in the building up of great enterprises like the cable railways and the immense buildings. This they have done themselves and without assistance from the outside, which invests the great energy and enterprise of the people of Seattle.'

'How did you like Oakland, Cal., where you have spent the last two and a half years?'

'I liked Oakland very much. It is a most beautiful place—a sort of earthly paradise. I liked it in all respects but one, and that is in the fact that to a man of my age it is very hard to adapt himself to the habits and customs of a people who are so entirely different from the people of the Northwest.'