On they came swinging their clubs
and filling the air with stones.
Captain Crager and his platoons used their short iron-wood clubs
vigorously. The strikers' flag was captured. O'Connor fell bleeding.
Right and left, heads and limbs were broken. Women screamed and strong
men turned pale. The whole mob was soon stampeded and the rioters fled
like animals before a prairie fire. Those strikers who looked back saw
the approach of more patrol wagons loaded with police, heard the clatter
of horses' hoofs, and the heavy rumbling of artillery, and they knew that
the city's reserve forces had arrived. A battery of Gatling guns at once
wheeled into a strategic position. The police and troop occupied points
of advantage, and soon the victory was complete.
Within thirty days over four thousand employees, mostly new men, were at
work in the steel mills. Policemen and detectives, however, were still
kept on duty. Colonel Harris was frequently congratulated on his second
triumph, and orders for steel rails were again being rapidly filled.
Most of the strike leaders left the city, some threatening dire revenge.
Many of the employees, who had lost their situations, were already
searching for work elsewhere.
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