The Harris-Ingram Experiment Part 15

The night watchman whose duty it was to enter the office hourly was killed, and his bleeding body was now being moved to a temporary morgue, which had been established in an adjoining old town-hall. Already over fifty mangled forms had been brought in and laid in rows on the floor, and more dead workmen were arriving every moment.

The mayor and Colonel Harris were everywhere directing what to do. Scores of the wounded were hurried in ambulances to a large Catholic Church, an improvised hospital. Here were sent physicians, volunteer nurses, beds, and blankets. Fortunately the seats in the church, being movable, were quickly carried into the streets, and on beds and blankets the suffering men were placed, and an examination of each wounded person was being made. Names and addresses were taken by the reporters, and ambulances began to remove the severely injured to the city hospitals.

Colonel Harris left Gertrude to minister to the wounded in the church, and sought out Wilson his manager, and George Ingram. Everybody worked till daylight. Many wounded and dead men, and women and children were brought up to the morgue and hospitals from the wrecked tenements that stood near the exploded mills. Several bodies of the dead workmen, and the wounded who could not escape from the burning works were consumed.

When the sun rose on that dreadful scene, thousands of workmen and their families and tens of thousands of sympathizers witnessed in silence the awful work of anarchists. At daylight Colonel Harris rode with George and Gertrude home to breakfast.

In the evening press a call for a public meeting at 8 o'clock next morning of the prominent citizens resulted in the forming of an emergency committee of one hundred earnest men and women to furnish aid to the afflicted and needy work-people. The most influential people of Harrisville were enrolled on this committee, which to be more thoroughly effective was subdivided. Every house occupied by the mill-people was visited, and every injured person was cared for.

The women on the committee visited the hospitals and for a time became nurses ministering to every want. Money and abundance of food were also contributed, and such kindness on the part of the rich the work-people had never known before.

The evening papers gave the authoritative statement that the total number of those killed outright by the explosions at the steel mills was one hundred and twenty-seven. Of this number eighty-six were workmen, fourteen were men who lived in the vicinity, but were not employed in the mills, ten were women, and seventeen were children. The total number of wounded was sixty-eight.

A public funeral was decided upon by the committee. The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. sent their check for $5000 to the committee and many others contributed money. The time fixed for the public services was Sunday at 2 o'clock. Ten separate platforms for the clergy and church choirs of the city had been erected on the same open fields where the great strike meetings had so often been held. By 1 o'clock people began to a.s.semble.

Workmen came from all parts of the city, till over fifty thousand laborers with their wives were on the ground. Most wore black crepe on their arm.

Fifteen minutes before 2 o'clock solemn band music gave notice to the crowd of the approach of an imposing procession. Platoons of police led the column who were followed in carriages by the mayor, his cabinet, and the city council; then another platoon of police, followed by a long line of hea.r.s.es, the black plumes of which seemed to wave in unison with the solemn tread of over a thousand workmen, acting as pall-bearers, walking in double file on either side of their dead comrades.

It was some moments before the speaking could begin. By concerted action all the clergy preached on the "Brotherhood of Mankind," the text used being, John XV.-12. "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." The speakers were moved by the Holy Spirit. The services closed with the hymn, "Nearer my G.o.d to Thee."

The funeral procession was several miles in length. Public and private buildings along the route to the cemetery were draped with the emblems of mourning. Twenty-five of the bodies were given private burial. Over one hundred of the victims of the dynamite disaster were buried in one common grave. Together they had died, and together they were buried. The mantle of charity covered them.

Soon after the funeral, the press contained an account of a great meeting held by the surviving workmen of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., and of resolutions that were unanimously adopted:--

"Resolved, That we, the surviving workmen of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., hereby desire to express our deep sympathy with the bereaved families of our late comrades in toil.

"That further we desire to contribute from the pay-roll due us the wages received for two days' services, the same to be paid to the emergency committee, one-half the proceeds of which is to apply to the relief of the bereaved workmen's families, the balance to be used for the purpose of erecting suitable monuments over the graves of our unfortunate comrades.

"Resolved, That we, employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., extend our sympathy to the company in their great financial loss.

"That we hereby declare ourselves as law-abiding citizens, and that we neither directly, nor indirectly, were connected in any manner with the late dynamite explosions and fires which destroyed the plant of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., and we denounce those acts as dastardly and inimical to the best interest of labor and civilization."

Following the resolutions were appended the signatures of over four thousand workmen. It was also voted that the resolutions, and names attached, should be printed in the press of the city, and that a copy should be delivered to the president of the steel company. This action freed the atmosphere of distrust, and business in Harrisville returned to its accustomed ways.

At a meeting of the directors of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. it was voted "Not to rebuild our mills at present." Manager Wilson was instructed at once to so advise the employees, also to dispose of all the manufactured stock and raw material on hand, and to clean up the grounds of the old mill site.

Colonel Harris remembered the action of Herr Krupp of Germany when a letter once reached him, threatening to destroy with dynamite his vast works at Essing. Herr Krupp immediately called a meeting of his tens of thousands of workmen, and read the letter to them, and then said, "Workmen, if this threat is executed, I shall never rebuild." This settled the matter.

The city council of Harrisville and the county commissioners offered rewards for the arrest and conviction of the dynamiters. The sum was increased to $10,000 by the steel company, and notices of these rewards were mailed far and wide.

By aid of an informer of the band of conspirators, Mike O'Connor and his confederates were arrested as they were about to embark for South America. In the hotly contested trial it was disclosed that O'Connor had directed the placing of dynamite beneath engines and boilers before the high board fence was constructed about the works, that electric wires to ignite the dynamite had been laid underground from the mills to an old unused barn, nearly half a mile distant, and that O'Connor was seen to come from the barn just after the explosion. Within two months after the arrest, the whole band were convicted and sentenced for life to hard labor in the penitentiary.

It was decided that Colonel Harris and Gertrude should soon sail to rejoin Mrs. Harris and party in England, and notice of this decision was cabled next day to them at London. The colonel was busy examining carefully George Ingram's detailed drawings of a new, enlarged, and much improved plan for a huge steel plant. The improvements were to be up to date, and his plans involved an entirely new process of converting ores into steel. It was agreed that George and his father, James Ingram, should perfect their inventions on which both for a long time had been zealously at work, and that later George and the colonel should make a tour of observation of leading iron and steel works in Europe.

Gertrude was now very happy. The selled together, concerning the proper relations of capital and labor, and since the explosion they studied the question more earnestly than ever. Their scheme involved not only improved works in a new location, but also a plan to harmonize, if possible, capital and labor, which they hoped might work great good to humanity. Gertrude told George Ingram that his golden opportunity had come, and she resolved to render him all the a.s.sistance possible.

CHAPTER XIV

COLONEL HARRIS FOLLOWS HIS FAMILY ABROAD

Gertrude's receipt for growing oranges in a northern climate was as follows: Let a child hold a large and a small orange in her hands, and give away the large orange, and the smaller will begin to grow until, when eaten, it will look bigger and taste sweeter than the large fruit given away. "Try it!" Gertrude often said.

That was the principle by which Gertrude Harris was always acting. If she had flowers, fruit, books, pretty gifts, or money, her first thought always was, "How can I make somebody happy?" With such a generous soul, part nature's gift and part acquired by self-sacrifice, the life of Gertrude was as buoyant and happy as the birds in a flower garden.

The decision of Gertrude's father to take her and meet his family in Europe was not known in Harrisville except to a few. Most of the colonel's friends supposed that he was busy planning some new business adventure, in which he might employ his surplus capital and his undoubted business abilities. Because of the recent calamity, and the hardships of the employees in connection with their strike, he thought it unwise to make public mention of his future projects.

The more Gertrude meditated upon her father's plan, the more dissatisfied with herself she became. The idea of going to Europe and leaving George behind was unendurable. He needed rest more than she. True, he was to follow later, but she wanted him to cross the ocean on the same steamer, and she earnestly desired that the one she loved best should share all of her enjoyments. It was, perhaps, a test of her love that she constantly longed to lose herself in him, or better, possibly, to find herself in him.

Two days before the date fixed for their sailing, as George left the Harris home, Gertrude was urging him to accompany her and her father, when he ventured to say, "Gertrude, this is what would please me immensely, take my sister May with you. I will gladly pay her expenses.

And when your summer's travel is over, I want May to study music abroad."

"Capital!" said Gertrude. "Both you and your sister May shall join our party. Please don't say another word on the subject, nor tell father, till we meet tomorrow evening," and she kissed him an affectionate good-night.

The next evening before the stars shone; Gertrude sat on the piazza anxiously awaiting him, for she had good news for her lover. Gertrude's white handkerchief told him that she recognized his coming, though he was still two blocks away. How light and swift the steps of a lover; though miles intervene, they seem but a step. An evening in Gertrude's presence was for George but a moment. The touch of her hand, the rustle of her dress, and the music of her voice, all, like invisible silken cords, held him a willing prisoner. The love he gave and the love he received was like the mating of birds; like the meeting of long separated and finally united souls.

"George, this is your birthday and the silver crescent moon is filled to the brim with happiness for you and May. Yesterday I had a long talk with father, and I asked him to let me stay at home and to take your sister May to Europe. What do you think he said, George? Never did my father so correctly read my heart. He drew me closely to him, and while I sat upon his knee, said: 'Daughter, I have decided that it is wise, even in the interests of my business, to take George with us.' He also said that I might invite your sister May to go, and that he would pay all the expenses. Oh, how I kissed him! I never loved my father so much before.

Here, George, is a kiss for you. Aren't you glad now, that you, and your sister May are going with us? No excuses, for you are both going surely."

"If it is settled, Gertrude, then it is settled, I suppose, but how do you think May and I can get ready in so short a time to go to Europe?"

"Well, George, you can wear your new business suit, and in the morning, I will go with May and buy for her a suitable travelling dress and hat. In Europe we can procure more clothes as they are needed."

Gertrude was now very happy. The dream of her life was to be realized.

She wanted George near her as she traveled, so each could say to the other, "Isn't it beautiful?" That is half of the pleasure of sight-seeing. The small orange kept by Gertrude had doubled in size, and she never before retired with so sweet a joy in her soul. That night she slept, and her dreams were of smooth seas, her mother, Lucille, and George.

It is needless to say that May Ingram was overjoyed. She had been fond of music from her childhood, and had given promise of rare talents. She had taken lessons for two years in vocal and instrumental music in the best conservatories in Boston, George paying most of her expenses. For six years May had been the soprano singer in the highest paid quartette in Harrisville. Though she occasionally hoped for a musical education abroad, yet these hopes had all flown away. Her parents could not aid her, and she had resolved not to accept further a.s.sistance from her generous brother. At first she could not believe what George told her, but when the reality of her good fortune dawned upon her, taking George's hand in both of hers, she pressed it to her lips and fell upon his shoulder, her eyes flooding with tears.

"Well, May," said George, as he kissed her, "can you get ready by noon tomorrow?"

"Ready by noon? Ready by daylight, George, if necessary."

That night was a busy, happy time for the Ingrams. So much of ill-luck had come to the father, and so much of household drudging to the faithful mother, that work and sacrifice for the children had ploughed deep furrows across the faces of both Mr. and Mrs. Ingram. Opportunities for advancement now opening for their children, both parents found the heavy burdens growing lighter.

Before sunrise George and May had packed two small trunks, by ten o'clock Gertrude and May had made necessary purchases, and the two o'clock express quickly bore the second contingent of the Harris family towards New York, which was reached the night before their steamer's date of sailing.

For some reason, perhaps because the elements of superst.i.tion still lurked in the mind of Colonel Harris, he decided not to stop any more at the Hotel Waldorf. It had brought him ill-luck, so his party was driven to the tall Hotel Plazza which overlooks the Central Park.

Fortunately George had inherited a talent for untiring investigation and the power of close observation. His reasoning faculties also were excellent. Besides his education, gained in a practical school at Troy, George, with, his father, James Ingram, had made many experiments, mostly after business hours; each experiment was numbered and the various results had been carefully noted. Before leaving Harrisville his investigations were all drifting towards great possible changes in the production of iron and steel. He was glad to take this trip to Europe, as it might afford him opportunity to verify or change some of his conclusions. He resolved to use every moment for the enlargement of his powers.

After bidding May and Gertrude good-night, he told the colonel that he should now take the Elevated Railway for the steamer "Campania," as he wished to observe at midnight the firing of the great battery of boilers of the steamer; and that he would return in time for breakfast with the party. "Let eight o'clock then be the hour, George," and the capitalist and his trusted superintendent separated for the night.

The elevated railway was not swift enough to carry George Ingram to Pier No. 40, so anxious was he to see the midnight fires started in the hundred furnaces of one of the two largest steamers afloat. It was fifteen minutes to twelve o'clock when he reached the dock, and provided with a letter of introduction to the chief engineer, he hurried as fast as possible to the officer's cabin.

The young engineer's night ash.o.r.e had been spent at the opera, and, advised of George Ingram's visit, he had promptly returned to the steamer. Mr. Carl Siemens, engineer, was a relative of Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited, the great electrical and telegraph engineers of London.

His education had been thorough, and he was very proud of his steamer the "Campania," especially of the motive power, which he helped to design. He gave young Ingram a cordial greeting.