When we sat down at
the table the leader's seat was at one end and mine at the other. We
therefore faced each other. After I had laid our proposition before
the meeting, I saw the leader pick up his hat from the floor and
slowly put it on his head, intimating that he was about to depart.
Here was my chance.
"Sir, you are in the presence of gentlemen! Please be so good as to
take your hat off or leave the room!"
My eyes were kept full upon him. There was a silence that could be
felt. The great bully hesitated, but I knew whatever he did, he was
beaten. If he left it was because he had treated the meeting
discourteously by keeping his hat on, he was no gentleman; if he
remained and took off his hat, he had been crushed by the rebuke. I
didn't care which course he took. He had only two and either of them
was fatal. He had delivered himself into my hands. He very slowly took
off the hat and put it on the floor. Not a word did he speak
thereafter in that conference. I was told afterward that he had to
leave the place. The men rejoiced in the episode and a settlement was
harmoniously effected.
When the three years' scale was proposed to the men, a committee of
sixteen was chosen by them to confer with us. Little progress was made
at first, and I announced my engagements compelled me to return the
next day to New York.
Pages:
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332