The great excess of mine labor and other causes made itself felt beyond precedent in 1877. It resulted in the greatest suspension on record among us.

At noon, July 23, the employés of the rolling-mills, steelworks, and machine-shops of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company discontinued work and made a demand for an increase of 25 per cent. on their wages. In the afternoon the firemen employed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the engineers in the yard made a demand on Superintendent Halstead, which not being complied with, the engines were run into the round-house and the men ceased work.

On the arrival of the morning train on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western road, July 24, a committee of the firemen detached the passenger cars from the mail and express cars, and then informed Mr. Halstead that the mail and express cars could go through. Mr. Halstead informed them that the entire train must go or none at all.

During the day the trains on all the roads leading into the city were discontinued. On the 25th a committee from the mine employés made a demand for an increase of 25 per cent. of wages. The excitement in the valley and adjacent coal-fields began to be intense. ROBERT H. McKUNE was mayor of the city of Scranton, and upon him all parties looked for relief and safety.

Samuel Sloan, President of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway; Thomas Dickson, President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; W. W. Scranton, General Manager of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company; W. R. Storrs, General Coal Agent for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway; and F. S. Lathrop, Receiver of the Central Road of New Jersey, all importuned the mayor by telegraph or letter for the protection of property they respectively represented, while he was engaged in consulting Governor Hartranft, Colonel Osborne, and others in authority, for assistance and for a solution of the increasing trouble.

Idleness in the valley was supreme. It was a long, dull Sabbath day. No coal trains, no men at work, little business, and no confidence; merchants, men, and operators were impoverished, trade stood still, and all parties suffered. July 26, Governor Hartranft having made a request for United States troops,

the President issued a proclamation ordering General Hancock to furnish them. During the day a meeting of the mine employés was held at the Round Woods, in the lower western limits of the city. The shops of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company were all idle. Strong men doing nothing, many of them strangers, loitered along the streets with no definite object in view. On the morning of the 29th a head-house, No. 5, on the Pennsylvania Coal Company, was burned by an incendiary. A bridge on the line was also burned, thus rendering this road from Pittston to Hawley inoperative, and debarred the shipment of 30,000 tons of coal per week. The idle mines were being flooded, and the outlook was gloomy and ominous.

On the next morning, July 30, the mayor sent for the executive committee of the firemen and informed them that he had determined that if Mr. Halstead had men to run a train to New York, one should leave the city that afternoon; that he so far had refused military aid that had been proffered, and he hoped that he would not have to call upon troops to protect the trains. A meeting of the firemen was held at two o'clock, at which this proposition was made known and discussed, and by a decided vote it was resolved to resume work after a seven days' suspension. The miners and shop hands still stood out.

JOHN BRISBIN, who died February, 1880, was the only prominent man in the valley who had the entire confidence of the miners, men, and the corporations. He had the singular faculty of making everybody his friend. He believed that the miners had rights equally to be respected with those of the company he represented.

The committee of mine employés appointed at the Round Woods meeting chose Mr. Brisbin, whom they met at Mayor McKune's office, as arbitrator, where, after discussing their differences for two hours, an agreement satisfactory to both parties was concluded.

A full statement of their grievances was made by the committee; the discussion was carried on in the most cordial manner, and at the breaking up of the conference the committee cordially thanked Mr. Brisbin for the fair and manly course he had acted towards them.

When the conference broke up the best of feeling prevailed

upon both sides. When the result was announced upon the streets every one was happy, and the mayor was heartily congratulated upon the results of the good work.

Early on the morning of August 1 the streets leading to the silk-works were filled by miners and others going to the meeting called at this point. Six thousand persons were present, incendiary speeches were made, and it was resolved to stop by force the various works of the machine-shops, furnaces, and foundries

at once.

At this time Mayor McKune appeared upon the streets. As he reached the corner of Lackawanna and Washington Avenues he was met by a messenger from Mr. McKinney, the foreman of the railroad car-shop, asking for his presence at the office. He and his friends then went in that direction. The whole space from the office to the main railroad tracks was filled by at least five thousand persons, who were going through the shops, driving away the few who were willing to work. As the mayor, on his return, was opposite the main entrance of the shop the angry crowd was emerging. Around him quite a multitude had gathered. The leader of the gang cried out, "Who is it?" "The mayor," some one replied. The leader then shouted out, "Kill him! He has no business here!" Immediately several pistol-shots were fired, and the mayor was struck in the back with a club, which caused the blood to spurt from his mouth, and was also hit by a number of stones. He was promptly surrounded by workingmen, who strove earnestly for his safety. They were nearly overpowered, when the REV. FATHER DUNN, of St. Vincent's Cathedral, arrived upon the scene, who, taking the arm of the mayor, proceeded towards Washington Avenue. They had gone but a few steps when a man jumped in front of McKune, struck him a severe blow with a slung-shot, breaking his upper jaw and fracturing the roof of his mouth. By this time the excited crowd overpowered those in the rear and rushed upon the unarmed mayor. A portion of it caught up Father Dunn, and carried him away from the scene of conflict.

In the mean time the mayor passed under the railroad culvert. On arriving at the corner of Lackawanna Avenue he was met by some of the posse that had been organized at the commencement of the strike, and for whom he had sent when first at

tacked. They were coming to his assistance. He beckoned to them to come on. He intended to make a stand at his office, two blocks down the street. As he turned to go down the avenue he was struck a blow on the head by a hammer, which for some minutes rendered him unconscious. He was carried by his police into the Merchants' Bank, where he regained consciousness soon after.

In the mean time the pursuing populace was following the avenue, and began an attack on the armed posse that had issued from the company's store. A few shots were fired over the heads of the crowd for the purpose of intimidating it, but it failed to do so. When the posse had reached the corner of Washington Avenue it halted and formed. Pistol-shots were fired by the crowd, wounding Sheriff Bortree and Carl McKinney. Orders were now given to fire. The company wheeled, and out of forty muskets flashed the fatal bullets. Some aimed over the crowd, others fired into it, killing four and wounding a number of others.

This unexpected shot dispersed the people in every direction, but volley after volley was fired until the streets were clear.

The scene of conflict presented a warlike spectacle. On the corner of the street lay a man with the top of his head blown off, and his brains and blood reddened the sidewalk, while three others in the middle of the street were struggling in the last agonies of death, and the wounded were being carried home or into drug-stores by their friends.

About two o'clock crowds again began to assemble on Lackawanna Avenue. The report had gone out that the mayor had been killed, and that no other person was qualified to direct and control the posse. He, however, in company with Colonel Ripple, at the head of the police and a detachment of the halforganized squad, marched down the avenue, and cleared the streets of people.

Early the next morning, General Brinton, with three thousand troops, arrived from Pittsburg, and were stationed here for several weeks. The presence of this force insured order and safety to persons and property that was salutary upon all sides. Mayor McKune, maltreated by persons who sought his life simply because he was mayor and nothing else, discharged his