Page:The Fremantle Wharf Crisis of 1919.djvu/19

THE WHARF CRISIS OF 1919. "C" Shed. There had been absolutely no trouble during the morning between the lumpers and the police until Brown was bayoneted. I then jumped off the cart and said "Come on, boys, one of our chaps has been bayoneted; let us go and rescue him." I jumped the railway fence into the railway yard and, followed by my men, ran up alongside the top end of the goods shed. We crossed the line, opened the gate, and proceeded to the wharf at the east end of 'C' Shed."

This testimony was supported by the newspaper account of what occurred. The representative of the "Daily News," who was an eye-witness of the conflict, reported it as follows: "Suddenly a shout went up from the crowd &mdash; i.e. the crowd in Cliff-street &mdash; and with loud cheering many hundreds of men scrambled over the railway fences and began to run through the railway yards at the rear of the goods shed to reinforce their comrades pressed by the police on the wharf. They poured through the railway yard and passed to the rear of 'C' Shed, coming up on the water side, many armed with various missiles. The police were now called upon to move forward, and at this moment the first conflict occurred."

These two statements &mdash; that of Mr. Renton and the newspaper reporter &mdash; are almost identical, and are sufficient proof of the claim that it was not until the police had first used force and actually seriously wounded one of the lumpers that the lumpers began to retaliate. The position was now critical. What happened can best be stated in the president’s own words, for he was an actual participator now, and his testimony needs no corroboration:

"We found two lines of police drawn up and blocking our way. The front row of the police was armed with rifles and bayonets. The crowd stopped, and I asked that we should be let through to the bayoneted man. The police refused, and ordered us to go back the way we had come. The stones then began to fly from the rear, being the first time I had seen them thrown. I was then in front of my men, and when the stones came I returned amongst them. When they had thrown all the stones they had they started to retreat, and the police began to throw the stones back at the men. I sang out to the police: 'The men are retreating; leave them alone now.' With that three or four policemen surrounded me with rifles and stones in their hands. I heard one policeman say: 'Look out you don't hit one another. Get him.' I was then hit 19