America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 381: The picture shows the dagger
Holly followed Bede out of the cabin.

It was already midnight, and there were no pedestrians on the street.

The gas street lights were still flickering on and off, and occasionally a few wild dogs would cross the street, grinning and making strange noises.

The two walked through several blocks and came to a place near the pier.

There are several rows of houses here, and the surrounding area is completely dark, with no one visible.

Holly was a little wary.

It's obviously a deserted place.

assembly? Are all the participants ghosts?
He carefully observed Bede around him and in front of him.

Holly did not have a gun on him.

The explosives factory will search them when they come in and out to prevent them from taking out things they shouldn't.

As Chen Jianqiu's personal disciple.

He did learn some unarmed techniques from the young master.

It should be more than enough to escape or deal with the person in front of you.

Bede didn't seem to notice anything strange about Holly.

"There." He pointed to a building that looked like a warehouse among those buildings.

In the darkness, the warehouse almost blends into the surrounding buildings.

"They should all be here, let's hurry up."

Bede said as he quickened his pace.

The two people came to the warehouse together.

After Holly walked in, he began to look at the building in front of him in the moonlight.

This warehouse looks very inconspicuous from the outside. The windows are sealed with wooden bars and no light can be seen.

Bede walked to a small door next to the warehouse and knocked gently on the door six times with his hand.

These six strokes are very rhythmic, just like taking a telegram.

There was a crack in the door.

A ray of light shot out from the crack in the door.

"Come in." The man at the door saw Bede and Holly, let them in, and quickly closed the door.

Holly walked into the house and was blinded by a bright light.

His eyes were just getting used to the darkness.

So he narrowed his eyes subconsciously.

When he opened it again, he was stunned by the sight in front of him.

The light that just hit his face came from a large gas lamp hanging on the top of the warehouse.

There are several more of the same gas lamps on the rafters.

The reflective material mirror behind the lamp allows the firelight to illuminate the entire warehouse.

The place is packed with people.

Whether it's on the ground or on a shelf platform on the second floor of the warehouse.

They were all staring at him intently.

Judging from their clothing, these people are basically workers from all walks of life.

The stains and fatigue on their faces could not hide the excitement inside, and their eyes were shining with fire.

Holly also saw Mr. Hunter.

He was standing on the edge of the stage, his expression was quite nervous, and he was mumbling something. He didn't even notice that Holly was greeting him.

Holly also saw someone.

This man was tall, with a big beard, and stood next to Hunter with his hands on his chest.

He was also looking at himself.

Bede led Holly to him.

"How about we start now?" Bede asked the bearded man.

The bearded man nodded.

Bader asked Holly to wait here, then walked around to the back of the stage and walked up a wooden ladder to the stage.

"Please be quiet, everyone, today's meeting is about to begin!" Bede cleared his throat and said to everyone in the warehouse.

There were still people talking in the warehouse, but most of everyone's attention was already on the stage.

"Today, something horrific happened at a California dynamite plant," Bader said.

The workers below began to talk.

"Blowed up again?"

"Didn't hear it, I was near them."

"Last year, their home was bombed more than ten times, on average once a month, and people died every time."

"Did you lose money?"

"Compensate? What are you thinking about? How can you possibly lose money?"

Bede on the stage did not pay attention to the discussion below and continued.

He had to make his voice louder to cover the voices of the people below.

"The father of a child was fired because he took a look at his child's hand after it was cut off! And the worker who treated the child was also fired!"

"What an incredible thing!"

Some workers have already turned their attention to Holly and Hunter.

"Now, let them come on stage to talk about their experiences."

Bader waved to Hunter in the audience.

But Hunter was still mumbling words, and his legs felt like they were filled with lead, unable to move even half a step.

"Why don't you go first?" Hunter looked at Holly eagerly, "I, I can't remember."
The blond young man rushed under the stage without saying a word.

He didn't take the stairs at the back, but climbed directly onto the half-person-high platform.

"I'm the young man who got kicked out of bandaging the kid," Holly exclaimed.

His voice was loud and energetic, attracting the attention of everyone present.

Holly briefly described what happened.

He paused, then continued:

"Everyone, explosions happen almost every month in the factory where I work." "We work nearly eighteen hours a day in a dark factory with no overtime pay! No shifts! Even if someone is killed in an explosion, there is no compensation!"

The workers in the audience started talking again:

"What's the overtime pay?"

"I don't know, do you know?"

"I've never heard of it. Isn't that just the salary? Is there any extra?"

Bede was dumbfounded in the audience.

This sentence is not according to my own manuscript!

He vaguely felt that something uncontrollable would appear behind him.

"These are what we should enjoy! They are not charity to us!"

"We deserve a better life!"

"I think we all should unite and use blood and fire to fight for our interests!"

Holly waved his fists with passion.

He tried to look more aggressive.

Some people in the audience were infected by his emotions and cheered him one after another.

Some of them were anarchists and utopians drawn in by the bearded men.

However, most workers are still confused.

Bede had a headache.

He originally planned to take the stage to announce his solidarity with the two victims and a possible strike plan after the two victims finished speaking.

But this lord skipped the strike part and planned to fight with force.

Isn’t this nonsense?

"Leader, do you want him to come down?"

Bede looked at the bearded man for help.

But he never expected that the bearded man was staring at Holly intently, his eyes full of admiration.

"I think what he said makes sense. We are just too weak."

Bed hurriedly argued: "But leader, this is not in line with the headquarters' ideas."

"Bodley knows nothing!" The bearded man spat on the ground and glanced at Bede. "The degeneration of the Knights of Labor started when this bastard came to power."

"I have the final say here!" The bearded man clenched his fists, and his knuckles crackled.

Bede didn't dare to say much and could only shrink to one side.

After Holly finished his passionate speech, applause broke out at the scene.

However, the applause was basically concentrated in one area.

Most of the others were still talking about it.

The blond young man jumped down from the platform and came to Bede:

"Am I doing okay?" He looked at Bede with a smile.

Bede had a sad face and said nothing.

Logically, Hunter should be the next to take the stage.

But people found that the bearded man was already standing on the stage:
The scene suddenly became quiet.

It seems that among these people, the bearded man's prestige is extremely high.

He glanced at the faces in the audience and then spoke:

"I think what the blond boy said just now was very good. Armed struggle is always the most direct way!"

The workers looked at each other.

"But, not now! We still have a lot to do."

Big Beard said.

"For example, we need to develop our own strength! We need more like-minded people!"

"For another example, we must eliminate the accomplices of those people and purge the traitors among the workers!"

The bearded man changed the subject and clenched his fist.

"Take today's incident as an example. Have you ever thought about why those factory owners dared to fire us fearlessly and turn a blind eye to our appeals?"

The bearded head turned in the direction of Holly and Hunter.

“Because they have other options.”

"They would rather violate the law and hire those Chinese workers! Because these people will agree to all their conditions!"

The bearded man's expression gradually became gloomy.

"The law has been in place for three years, but it has had little effect, and more and more Chinese are showing up in this country."

"Those in power in the East turn a blind eye to this kind of thing, because it is none of their business at all. They only care about their business in Asia!"

"The bosses are even happier to see this because it means they have cheaper labor to choose from!"

"Since expecting them to do nothing is useless, we have no choice but to do it ourselves. We will solve the problem through more extreme means!"

The bearded man raised his arms and shouted, and the workers below responded one after another, and the scene was boiling for a while.

This is what they care about and understand now.

Holly in the audience scoffed at their logic, but he understood that this was the most effective way to effectively strengthen the union group now.

Set up a target and attack it together.

In this way, there will be many like-minded people.

Of course, the premise is that this target is easy to bully.

Otherwise, if you are targeted by the police and private detectives before you can grow big, your business will be ruined before it is even halfway started.

But in order to disguise his identity, Holly seemed even more excited than the bearded man.

"Violence! Expulsion!" he shouted at the top of his voice, his blond hair swaying in the audience.

The bearded man walked down the stage with great satisfaction and came in front of Holly.

He extended his hand to the young man, his eyes sparkling:
“Daniel Cronin, head of the Knights of Labor in California.”

Holly shook the bearded man's hand.

Cronin seemed very happy. He patted the young man's hand:
"Young man, you are very good. Are you interested in coming to be my assistant?"

The blond young man nodded.

(End of this chapter)