Posts Tagged ‘strike’

22
Jun

Lehigh Home Blown Up By Dynamite

   Posted by: admin    in Business, Crime, Disasters, Lehigh

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 22, 1903

Lehigh Home Blown Up By Dynamite

Residence of Henry Lewis is Wrecked By Explosion of a Dynamite Bomb.

Buiding (sic) is Badly Shattered.

Lewis, Wife and Two Children Escaped Injury as Explosion Was at Rear of House – Strike Troubles Supposed Responsible for Outrage.

Lehigh, June 22 – At 1:30 on Saturday morning, the home of Henry Lewis in this place, was partially wrecked by the explosion of a dynamite bomb under the kitchen door step. Lewis, with his wife and two children were asleep in the house at the time, but they escaped injury on account of the fact that the sleeping rooms are in the front part of the house, while the greatest force of the explosion was felt in the rear of the building.

The house, itself, was badly damaged. The back door was crushed in, the steps destroyed, plastering was knocked down all over the building and the roof was raised by the terrific force of the explosion.

Mr. Lewis has been working in the Lehigh Clay Works, being employed in place of the strikers, and it is supposed that this fact accounts for the outage. The general supposition is that the dynamite was exploded by some of the disaffected workmen at the Clay Works.

The occurrence has aroused much feeling here, as it is almost miraculous that none of the family were seriously injured.

It is supposed that a stick of dynamite with a fuse attached, was placed under the porch, the fuse was lighted, and the guilty parties had plenty of time to make their escape.

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1
Apr

Will Be an Army of Unemployed

   Posted by: admin    in Business

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 1, 1904

Will Be an Army of Unemployed

Estimated That Nearly 1500 Men May Soon Be Idle in Webster County.

Will Be Felt in This City

Most of Men Either Live Here or in Vicinity and Counties Tributary.

As nearly as can be estimated at this time, about 1,400  men will be thrown out of employment in Webster county alone if the coal strike continues for any considerable length of time. There are in all something like 600 miners and men dependent on the coal industry for employment. Besides these there are the men employed in the brick yards, the gypsum mills, and other like industries, which cannot be run without coal.

There is little coal ahead at any of these institutions, and if the prospects for a settlement of the mining difficulties do not look bright within a few days, there will be no kilns fired at the brick yards. In such an event, the kilns all being full, the yards must of necessity be closed down. This would throw 150 to 200 men out of employment here in the city of Fort Dodge. There are two yards at Kalo and four at Lehigh, employing at least 175 men. These would also be forced to quit work for the same reasons.

The stucco mills of this city, it is estimated, employ all the way from 300 to 600 men and should all the mills close down as a result of the strike, as they will undoubtedly be forced to do unless they are able to secure coal for their boilers and for firing their kettles, these men also will be added to the list of the unemployed, bringing the number up to nearly a thousand and a half in the county. The result of so many unemployed men would be greatly felt in Fort Dodge, as practically the whole county is more or less tributary, and more than half the men affected are actual residents of the city or immediate vicinity.

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