instantly. More shooting followed, and others were struck by bullets, bricks, stones and other missiles, among them several policemen.

The killing of the boy seemed to drive the mob mad, and it was only by the greatest exertions that the police, against whom for the time being. their fury was directed, at last succeeded in disentangling themselves from the crowd. The uninjured ones among the strike breakers had fled toward the oil yard gates, closely followed by about two thousand of the strikers.

About thirty guards employed by the oil company, armed only with clubs, came out of the yard where they were stationed for the purpose of assisting the police in protecting the strike breakers, but the overwhelming numbers of the mob compelled a hasty return of the guards to the yard. The pursued strike breakers, however, succeeded in gaining an entrance with them, and the mob was held in check at the gates and finally turned back by the determined attitude of two policemen armed with revolvers.

The Mayor of Bayonne and the Commissioner of Public Safety called on the Sheriff of Hudson county for two hundred deputies, and at 12 o'clock noon the first detachment having arrived in the city, the men were sent at once to the scene of disturbance to aid the local police.

On the afternoon of the same day the office of the Tide Water Oil Company, situated also at Bayonne and not far from the Standard plant, was set on fire supposedly by strike sympathizers. This indication of danger from another quarter greatly increased the anxiety of the city authorities and also widened the field over which the small force just then available for the suppression of disorder had to be distributed. During the course of the day three hundred employes of the Vacuum Oil Company and five hundred of the Tide Water Company's men quit work, assigning as their reason for doing so, that they were afraid to pass through the Constable Hook section on the way to and from work, because of the rioting which had been going on since the commencement of the strike. Up to noon of this day, seven men, all said to be strikers, were treated at the Bayonne Hospital for bullet wounds; these were all foreigners, and their ages ranged from 20 to 27 years. To avoid further trouble, the Vacuum Oil Company announced that its plant would be shut down until further notice. Later in the day this action was reconsidered, and arrangements were made by the company for having its employes cross over to Staten Island, and be transferred from there direct to the plants in boats owned by the company. The first trial of this plan proved so satisfactory that it was adopted by the other concerns and continued until the roads leading to the oil works could be traversed by the workmen in safety.

The Second Collision Resulting in Death.

About 11.30 in the morning of the 22nd, a mob of about three hundred strikers attacked the gate at the northern end of the Tide Water Company's plant, bombarding it with stones, heaps of which had been stored nearby for that purpose, and also throwing wads of oil-soaked burning waste over the walls where lumber used in the barrel factory was stored. Fires started in this way spread to the factory building, and every possible effort of the

employes and firemen within the plant were required to keep it under control and prevent its reaching the storage tanks. An attempt of the mob to gain entrance to the works by a concerted rush was determinedly resisted by the armed guards stationed within the inclosure, and in the conflict which followed two strikers-Gieresko Warsyke, aged 25 years, and Nicolo Schworske, aged 19 years, were shot and instantly killed, and three others seriously wounded. Somewhat earlier in the morning a mob of about 200 strikers entered the yards of the Standard Oil Company by scaling the walls before the armed guards, who had been patroling a distant part of the works, became aware of their presence. The guards warned the men to leave the place, but instead of doing so, they responded with a volley of heavy stones and some pistol shots, under cover of which they made a furious charge, before which the watchmen slowly retired. The guards, after having fired over the heads of the strikers several times in hopes of frightening them off, finally turned their rifles directly on them, and three men fell to the ground wounded. The crowd, carrying the wounded men along with them, retreated toward the wall, over which they had entered the yard, and were not further molested by the guards. The wounded men were with difficulty lifted over the high wall and hurried to the Bayonne Hospital in a vehicle which was impressed for that purpose.

The Sheriff, accompanied by a man who was acting in the capacity of the strikers' arbitration committee, although not an employe of either of the oil companies, arrived in the strike zone while the struggle between the guards and the mob at the Standard Company's plant was going on. Both made their way with difficulty to the scene of strife at the northern gate, where the Sheriff attempted to address the strikers, but his efforts produced no effect, and those of the strike leader with him proving equally futile, both retired, leaving the struggle between the opposing forces raging as fiercely as before their attempted intervention in the interest of peace. A violent thunder storm, accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain, which came on a little later, quickly scattered the belligerent mob, and the firemen were given an opportunity to attack the flames, which were making rapid headway in the barrel shop and endangering the oil in the storage tanks. As a measure of precaution, the oil company officials had the oil ordinarily stored in the tanks nearest the streets and roads leading to the works, and therefore the most exposed to the danger of incendiary attack, transferred to the tanks nearest the shore line on the Kills.

A condition of utter lawlessness pervaded, for the time being, the entire district in the vicinity of the works and the roads leading to them. Fires, believed to be of incendiary origin, broke out in the Standard and Tide Water plants, and the united efforts of the employes who remained on duty and the Bayonne Fire Department were required to prevent the extension of the flames over the entire area covered by the works. Anticipating the possibility of such a thing, the ships in course of loading with cargoes of oil were withdrawn from the docks and anchored in midstream. Outside of the lines about the works established and guarded by the police, the crowds were at times so threatening that many store keepers closed their places, and some

residents shut up their homes, taking their families elsewhere with the intention of remaining away until order was re-established and normal conditions restored.

Following the attack by mobs on the Standard and the Tide Water Company's plants on the sixth day of the strike, the vice president and general manager, respectively, of these corporations, addressed a message to the Sheriff of the county, stating that the situation at their works was so serious and threatening that aid in sufficient force to establish efficient control over the mobs surging around them day and night must be sent to them at once, the present force of policemen, deputies and watchmen being wholly unable to cope with the situation. At the time these messages were sent,'fires were still burning in various parts of both plants, and the utmost vigilance on the part of the guards was required to keep them under control and prevent the starting of new ones. The streets and roads leading from the railroad station to the works were practically closed to vehicular traffic by obstructions in the form of logs, telegraph poles, water pipes and other bulky incumbrances placed there, supposedly by strikers and other reckless persons, apparently with no purpose in view but to extend and intensify the prevailing disorder.

The forces available at this time for the preservation of order and the protection of life and property consisted of the Bayonne police, regular and special, numbering about one hundred; sheriffs' deputies, about three hundred, and about three hundred special guards employed by the oil companies, all of whom were held inside the inclosures surrounding the works for the purpose of defending them against assault. None of these men were employed against the strikers outside of the company property at any time during the progress of the strike. The number of actual strikers at this time was approximately six hundred, but as the condition of disorder throughout the district had brought about a general suspension of work, about three thousand, six hundred men, almost the entire working forces of the companies occupying the Constable Hook oil district were idle, and whether in sympathy with the strikers or not, contributed largely toward swelling the crowds on the streets, with which the authorities had to deal.

The city officials of Bayonne, with the Sheriff of the county, joined in an urgent request, addressed to the Federal Department of Labor at Washington, D. C., for the immediate appointment of an arbitrator or mediator to attempt a settlement of the differences between the strikers and the oil companies. On the same day the Civic Association of Bayonne, through its president, addressed a telegraphic message to the Governor at Sea Girt, expressing the belief that conditions then existing in the city were sufficiently serious to warrant calling out the militia and placing the entire district under martial law. A similar message to the Governor had been forwarded the evening before by the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce. To both of these, the Governor's reply was, in effect, that the civil power of the county must be exerted to the fullest possible extent and proven incapable of dealing with the situation before control of it should be transferred to the military. The assistance of uniformed policemen from other towns in Hudson county was requested by the local authorities, and enough men were secured from them to bring the uniformed force confronting the strikers up to about one hundred.

The terror diffused throughout the oil works district by the lawless conduct of the mobs, was such that only the strikers, their friends and supporters on the one side, and the regular and special officers who were endeavoring to suppress lawlessness on the other, were to be seen on the streets. The armed guards within the stockades were there for the protection of the plants, and none of them were permitted to pass outside the gates. The available police force was divided into two bodies, one for night and the other for day duty, and both were kept busy during their respective tours of duty, dispersing too demonstrative crowds, and suppressing small outbreaks in time to prevent their growing into riots.

The request for mediation by the Federal Department of Labor was promptly responded to, and two gentlemen-John A. Moffitt, of New Jersey, and James A. Smythe, of Pennsylvania, were appointed by the department to act in that capacity. On Friday, the 23rd, the conciliators arrived on the scene, and escorted by the Commissioner of Public Safety of Bayonne and the Sheriff of Hudson county, proceeded to Constable Hook for the purpose of looking over the situation there. After their preliminary survey of the section which was the principal scene of the disturbance, the Federal mediators arranged to meet the City Commissioners at the City Hall at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The general manager of the Standard Oil Company, and the local manager of the Bayonne plant agreed to be present at the meeting to receive proposals made by the City Commissioners, who were to act for the strikers. Owing, in part to the presence of the Federal conciliators, but more perhaps to the fact that the Sheriff's force of deputies had been increased and all saloons ordered closed by the city authorities while the strike continued, there was a noticeable decrease of disorder on this, the eighth day after the first contingent of strikers had quit work. It was the previous day's occurrences that caused the closing of saloons and stoppage of all traffic in intoxicating drink throughout the city. Among these was a serious fire, supposedly of incendiary origin, which destroyed $75,000 worth of property at the Standard Oil plant. The firemen of the company being unable to make headway against the flames, the manager of the works asked the aid of the city fire department. The firemen, while on the way to the scene of conflagration, found the street leading directly to the works obstructed by cast iron pipes taken from beside the curb, where a trench had been dug for the installation of a new gas main, and other barricading material. A squad of policemen came to the assistance of the firemen, and the crowd responsible for placing the obstructions across the street were obliged to remove them quickly, which enabled the firemen to reach the scene of the blaze. The flames had spread to the Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks in the meantime, and seven cars loaded with coal were destroyed. Five tank cars of oil were caught in the flames and consumed, as was also a car filled with empty barrels which was standing on a siding near the blazing tank cars. The Mayor of the city and the Commissioner of Public Safety were at police headquarters all night directing the activities of the police. It was at this time, while the entire city was under the glare of the fire, that the municipal officials joined in a request to the Governor that the troops be called out.

The Governor was represented at the scene of disturbance by the Adjutant General of the State, who kept him advised as to developments as they occurred. On the strength of these reports the conclusion was reached that a military force should be held in readiness for action, but that existing circumstances did not justify their being called out at that time.

A committee representing the strikers called upon the local manager of the Standard plant at his office within the works, and laid before him a series of demands agreed to at a meeting of the workmen, the principal, and in fact, the only really definite one of which, called for an increase of 15 per cent. in the wages of all employes. Other demands were made for "improved working conditions," and the diciplining of some sub-foremen who had habitually used harsh and insulting language when addressing them before the strike. The General Manager's reply to these demands was that the wage advance could only be granted by the general officers of the corporation, and promised to place the matter before them at once, if meantime, the men would agree to return to work and await the settlement of all matters in dispute by arbitration. This offer was submitted by the committee to a meeting of strikers, at which nearly 1,500 persons were present, and almost unanimously rejected.

This meeting was presided over by a Jersey City lawyer, who drew up the demands of the striking still cleaners. The meeting was attended by the Sheriff and Prosecutor of the county, both of whom had been indefatigable in their efforts to restore order. The president of the meeting stated in the course of his address that the men suffered much verbal abuse and ill treatment from certain sub-foremen, who had themselves risen from the ranks, and that to gratify personal grudges, these foremen frequently kept men in the hot stills, with the temperature often over 250 degrees Farenheit, until they were at the point of exhaustion before permitting them to leave. The strikers had no complaint to make against the "big bosses," meaning thereby, the manager, superintendent, and heads of the various departments of the works. Those responsible for such harsh treatment as they had been forced to endure, were men of their own race and class, who, as subforemen, occupied positions slightly above the general level, but with authority which was often exercised more for the oppression of the men under them, than for the welfare of their common employers.

This meeting was addressed by the Sheriff, who made an earnest appeal to strikers and their sympathizers for the restoration and preservation of order and the avoidance of overt acts or illegal demonstrations of any kind that might require forcible suppression, and consequent bloodshed.

The Sheriff warned his auditors against being influenced by outside agitators, who, without permanent interests of any kind in the community, are always prepared to make a safe exit when the disorder, which it is almost always their aim to create, has reached a point which threatens danger to themselves.

An offer to submit all questions in dispute to arbitration, the workmen to return to their places in the meantime, which was submitted by the Standard Company's officials, was voted down by the meeting, and a committee of