The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Telescope 49 " The Captain turned Red, The air turned Blue " from "Tales of the Sand Merchant" by R.H.Davison Because they weren't served mashed potatoes for dinner six of the firemen of the Steamer Eastland, which runs between South Haven, Michigan and Chicago, went on strike just two hours out from South Haven. They not only wouldn't work, but they banked the fires. Capt. Pereue said "please" and promised them mashed potatoes and gravy three times a day, with huckleberry pie and cream puffs for chasers. They laughed and figuratively told him to jump off the dock when he reached port, because, as a matter of principle, the mashed potatoes should have been provided without their asking. Then the captain turned red, the air blue, and the strikers were ordered locked up in the baggage room. Steam went down, so low in fact, the steamer stopped. Among the large crowd of passengers there were quite a few who would have liked to tie the six in a ounch and drop them over the side. Once the six were locked up, Capt. Pereue quickly sent other help into the hold to shovel coal and soon steam was back up. The Eastland proceeded on its course to South Haven and arrived an hour late. The prisoners were then turned over to the police and held subject to the orders of the United States Marshall at Grand Rapids. All were handcuffed while under guard on the steamer, and the irons were still on when they reached the jail. They were charged with 'leaving their posts which temporarily rendered the steamer helpless at sea' . This was a criminal offense and carried a penalty of seven years. The general manager of the Michigan Steamship Line, said that the case would be pushed against the men to the limit. Several times during the season firemen have sulked on steamers in midlake, and the company is determined to make an example of the offenders. It is also related by vessel men that the year before, firemen on the steamer Western States, running between Detroit and Buffalo, struck late one hot night out in Lake Erie because they wanted ice cold lemonade and were refused it. Another time they struck because one morning, when the steward was shy cream, they were served milk for their coffee.