Q. Were there any other men about at that time?
A. Yes; men were continually coming in off the road.
Q. How many men were there when you left to go to dinner?
A. I should judge about eighteen or twenty men at that time.
Q. Did you have any conversation with any other men?
A. He thought as the rest did, that now was the time to strike or quit, and that they all had concluded to do it, and that all my conversation with him would not change his ideas a particle.
A. The men off the regular freight trains kept coming in there during the day.
Q. Did you talk with those men to find out whether they had arranged for this strike previously?
A. I did not. I blamed them for it, but they denied it. Whether they had made an arrangement or not for that day, I don't know.
A. Two or three of them I think denied it. They had made an arrangement previous to this to strike, but from some cause or other it was not carried into effect, and my being a non-union man, I concluded that they had arranged it in such a way that the responsibility would fall on me, and in case it would be a failure I would be the man discharged, and that the union men would not suffer. That was the opinion I formed that morning.
Q. How long previous had they made this arrangement?
Q. What prevented the carrying of the arrangement into effect?
A. I do not know. When a railroad man came to me, and requested me to join them, I told them I could not do it; that my opinion was different from theirs with reference to strikes; that I did not feel justified in doing it. He asked me if I had any injury. I told him I could not say. He said: "I am going to strike to-morrow." I went as far as Derry, and laid over two or three hours. The only person there I saw by himself was the dispatcher. I went to him and told him in confidence that these men were going to strike.
A. It was previous to this affair of the men going out--a month or two months.
A. Yes. I told the dispatcher that these men had come to the conclusion to strike, and told him I wanted to let it be known--that two thirds of them were not friends of mine, and it would only cause me trouble by their going out, and I would notify the proper officers in time to give them a chance to prevent in case it should occur. I returned to the city that morning with the train. Coming in, I wondered how to get at the superintendent's office without being seen. I did not care about being known, and after putting the train away, I concluded I would go out on the accommodation, but I met one of my men, and I got into conversation with him, and I asked him if he knew anything about it. He said he did, and he said it had fallen through. I asked him if he was positive of it, he said he was--that he knew it had. I told him I was very glad to hear it. Says he, I am not. I concluded then not to go out. I made inquiries among other men, and found it to be the fact, that they had concluded not to strike at the time appointed.