Angry Mob Tried To Get At Dyers - Kenward Dye Works - Inquirer 22 Sept 1903

ANGRY MOB TRIED 

TO GET AT DYERS

Non-Union Workers Narrowly

Escaped Injury, Even Under

Police Protection

—

Taken Away In Patrol Wagon, While

Five Thousand Howling Persons

Ran After Them

More than five thousand excited men, women and children, shouting and threatening, pursued two patrol wagons containing a score of non-union dyers employed at the establishment of William Kedward, Cedar and Somerset streets, yesterday afternoon. The vehicles were surrounded by a squad of mounted police, and it was necessary for the drivers to lash their horses furiously in order to escape from the infuriated crowd. From the angry threats of the mob it is probable that the men would have been severely dealt with had they not had the protection of the police. The mill did not stop work for the day until 6 o'clock, but a crowd had gathered around it fully two hours before that time. There were angry mutterings, and one man in the crowd exhibited a handful of cartridges which he threatened to use if the opportunity presented. At 5 o'clock nearly a hundred policemen arrived at the dye house. They consisted of mounted men from the Tacony station and two squads of policemen from the Belgrade and Clearfield streets station and the Tacony station in charge of Sergeant Henderson.

Police Charged Mob

Kedward's mill is located in the center of a large lot, and the crowd surged around the building on all sides. Before the whistle blew at 6 o'clock, the mounted policemen charged the crowd and drove them back from the mill a distance of more than a hundred yards. The greatest difficulty was experienced in keeping the mob in check, and as the horsemen dashed to and fro they narrowly averted running down many persons. A dense wall of people surrounded the mill on all sides when the whistle blew. Nearby streets were crowded and persons living in the vicinity climbed to the housetops to secure points of vantage.

Two patrol wagons drove to the door of the mill, and as the non-union men emerged from the place with their dinner pails a chorus of jeers and shouts rolled across the open space. Hisses, profanity, yells and threats were hurled at the workmen, and they were hurried into the patrol wagons with all haste. Despite the efforts of the police, the crowd broke through the line and ran toward the patrol wagons. The drivers got a good start, however, and lashed their horses into a furious pace.

Race To Escape Crowd

A squad of mounted policemen galloped beside each of the vehicles, and they dashed across the lot at top speed with the mob in pursuit. It was a wild race, but the police soon outdistanced the  pursuers. The breakneck pace was maintained through the streets, and as the patrols darted around corners to elude crowds, the hoots and jeers were kept up by the persons in houses along the way taken by the vehicles. Most of the workers lived some distance from the dye house and each man was taken to his home.

Although the police succeeded in eluding the mob, angry threats were made against the mill, most of the windows of which had been shattered. The members of the Dyers' Union deprecated the action of the mob yesterday and on Saturday, Arthur McDonald, financial secretary of the Executive Board of the organization, said yesterday:

"The Dyers' Union does not countenance acts of violence in any way. It is preposterous to say that any plans have been made to prevent  the non-union men from leaving the mills. Such stories hurt our cause, as do also congregations of persons around the houses as was the case Saturday at Kenward's Dye Works.

"It is not the fault of the dyers that such disturbances take place. Sympathizers who let their zeal for our cause lead them into making such demonstrations are to blame. While we want their sympathy, such acts injure us more than help us. All these dye houses where non-union men are employed are picketed, but in orderly way, and all the members of the union are cautioned to steer clear of trouble.'' 

Blanket Weavers' Union, No 369, at a meeting held last night at Leithgow and Cambria streets, voted to remain on strike until the 55-hour work week is granted. The union comprises more than a hundred men, all of whom are employed by William Ayres, Third and Cumberland.