Page:Karl Liebknecht - Militarism (1917).djvu/174

 142 the governor of West Virginia sent several companies of state militia which proved too weak however. The 250 men of the Federal army sent to their aid by President Hayes achieved no better result. In Maryland the rifles of the militia killed ten and wounded a greater number of men. In Pittsburgh the local militia, called upon by the sheriff, refused to act. The old trick of employing men from other parts of the country was resorted to. Six hundred men of the militia sent from Philadelphia fought a short but fierce battle with the strikers, but were beaten and fled the next morning. The militia called out against the strikers in Reading, Pennsylvania consisted mostly of workmen who fraternized with the strikers, distributed their ammunition among them and threatened to turn their arms against all hostile militia units. But one company, which was almost exclusively composed of men belonging to the possessing classes and was led by a reckless officer, opened fire on the crowd, killing 13 and wounding 22 persons. The company was, however,