heat and the stench, and the fact that he was a "scab"
and knew it and despised himself, he was drinking, and
developing a villainous temper, and he stormed and cursed
and raged at his men, and drove them until they were
ready to drop with exhaustion.

Then one day late in August, a superintendent ran into
the place and shouted to Jurgis and his gang to drop
their work and come. They followed him outside, to
where, in the midst of a dense throng, they saw several
two-horse trucks waiting, and three patrol-wagon loads of
police. Jurgis and his men sprang upon one of the trucks,
and the driver yelled to the crowd, and they went thunder~
ing away at a gallop. Some steers had just escaped from
the yards, and the strikers had got hold of them, and there
would be the chance of a scrap!

They went out at the Ashland Avenue gate, and over
in the direction of the "dump." There was a yell as soon
as they were sighted, men and women rushing out of houses
and saloons as they galloped by. There were eight or ten
policemen on the truck, however, and there was no dis~
turbance until they came to a place where the street was
blocked with a dense throng. Those on the flying truck
yelled a warning and the crowd scattered pell-mell, dis~
closing one of the steers lying in its blood. There were
a good many cattle-butchers about just then, with nothing
much to do, and hungry children at home; and so someone
had knocked out the steer -- and as a first-class man can
kill and dress one in a couple of minutes, there were a
good many steaks and roasts already missing. This called
for punishment, of course; and the police proceeded to ad~
minister it by leaping from the truck and cracking at every
head they saw. There were yells of rage and pain, and
the terrified people fled into houses and stores, or scattered
helter-skelter down the street. Jurgis and his gang joined
in the sport, every man singling out his victim, and striv~
ing to bring him to bay and punch him. If he fled into
a house his pursuer would smash in the flimsy door and
follow him up the stairs, hitting everyone who came

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p328 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p329w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p330

v?