Mob Uses The Torch

Chablesi-osí, W. Va., March X - Masked and armed strikers are terror izing the country in the neighborhood of Coalburg, sixteen miles from thi city, and the authorities fear tha lives will be sacrificed be fore the marauders can be checked. About ÍS o'clock las nig-ht more than forty of the vioter with their faces carefully concealed and heavily armed, started from Coal to the new $30,000 bridge betweoi that town and Acme, which spans Cabin creek on the short line of the Chesapeake and Ohio. Resistance on the part of División Superintenden J. M. Gill of the railroad, was uselêss and the mob quickly prepared to burn the bridg-e. With arms displayei the rioters waited while the ñames consumed the structure and then dis appeared. Superintendent Gilí tele graphed Sheriff Silman here that the road was at the mercy of the striking miners and called for protection öcarcely had his plea been dispatched when the strikers cut the wires. Hastily a posse of fully armed men Sheriff Silman started for Cabin Creek at 12:30 o'clock this morning Arriving an hour later he founc the bridge in ruins and rail communication with Acme absolutely cut off. No traces could be found of the masked men who had caused the destruction. a detaiL to guard the company's prpperty from further molestation, the sheriff returned at 5 o'clock. That further trouble will result is considered to be certain. At Eag-le and Powellton the excitement is intense and the strikers are assemblingin great numbers. Work at these places will be suspended until Monday, but no temporary movement can possibly avert the violence that is sure to occur at this point. Some of the leaders the rioters are in high glee over the destruction of telegraphic communication with the governor, whose orders directing the military at Eagle and Powelltown are thereby delayed. However the Chespeake and Ohio offleers are with the governor, and are passeng-ers by rail as far as Cabin Creek, whence they will proceed on horseback and report to the governor. CoL Wyant and the torney of Fayette county are located at Fayetteville, wheres men are securing- evidence to warrant complaints against the rioters. As fast as detinite information is obtained against the lawbreakers warrants are issued by the attorney. The inquest upon the body of John Atkinson, one of the victims of the riot, is being conducted at Fayettville to-day. It is said upon the authority of a state official that the governor will move suöicient military to Eagle and Powelltown to awe the rioters, and that the threatened outbreaks will be averted without bloodshed. The governor has received a telegram from a staff oflicer at Montgomery that the miners are at work at Forest Jlill and Diamond, both near Eagle. The governor insisted upon work ueing resumed,' desiring to bring matters to a crisis while the troops were on the ground. He said to-day: "Any man vvho wants to work shal] have full and absolute protectíon, no matter what were the original causes of this trouble. The peace of the state has been invaded and an armed force is endeavoring to viólate the laws. It has ceased to be a qestion between the operators and miners. Itis the stiikers on one side and the law-loving people of the state on the other. I have old the operators they should take the responsibility on their own hands. The state does not propose to keep tioops there indefinitely. We only desiré to lend military aid in enforcing the civil law." It was impossible te have averted the burning of the wooden bridge at Coalburg last night, as the outbreak was in an entirely unexpected quarter. The g-overnor has two military companies ready ■ to march to the scène of the trouble at a moment's notice, and a train with engine attached and steam up is standing in the yard ready to convey them whenever they may be needed.