Before nine o'clock, all the teams of several lumber
firms were engaged in hauling fence posts, two by four scantling, and
sufficient sixteen foot boards to construct a fence eight feet high about
the entire premises of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.'s plant.
This early action of the company for a time confused the strike managers,
as they could not divine whether Colonel Harris in a fit of despair
planned to fence in and close down his mills, or, perhaps, once getting
his plant enclosed, purposed to eject all members of labor organizations,
and again as in a former strike, attempt to start his plant with
non-union labor.
The leader of the strike was a brawny man with full beard, unkempt hair,
and a face far from attractive. "Captain O'Connor," as the labor lodges
knew him, was the recognized leader of the strike. He was not an employee
at the steel mills, but an expert manager of strikes, receiving a good
salary, and employed by the officers of the central union. At 2:30
o'clock a secret meeting of the officers of the several labor lodges and
Captain O'Connor was held behind closed doors. All were silent, when
suddenly O'Connor rose and began to denounce capital, charging it with
the robbery of honest labor.
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