This poor wretch was scarcely ever seen without a load of some sort or other: carrying a sack of cement or plaster, a heavy ladder, a big bucket of mortar, or dragging a load of scaffolding on a cart.He must have been nearly as strong as a horse, because after working in this manner for Rushton & Co.from six in the morning till half past five at night, he usually went to work in his garden for two or three hours after tea, and frequently went there for an hour or so in the morning before going to work.The poor devil needed the produce of his garden to supplement his wages, for he had a wife and three children to provide for and he earned only - or rather, to be correct, he was paid only - fourpence an hour.
There was an old house to which they were making some alterations and repairs, and there was a lot of old wood taken out of it: old, decayed floorboards and stuff of that kind, wood that was of no use whatever except to burn.
Bundy and his mate were working there, and one night, Misery came a few minutes before half past five and caught Dawson in the act of tying up a small bundle of this wood.When Hunter asked him what he was going to do with it he made no attempt at prevarication or concealment: he said he was going to take it home for fire-wood, because it was of no other use.Misery kicked up a devil of a row and ordered him to leave the wood where it was: it had to be taken to the yard, and it was nothing to do with Dawson or anyone else whether it was any use or not! If he caught anyone taking wood away he would sack them on the spot.Hunter shouted very loud so that all the others might hear, and as they were all listening attentively in the next room, where they were taking their aprons off preparatory to going home, they got the full benefit of his remarks.
The following Saturday when the hands went to the office for their money they were each presented with a printed card bearing the following legend:
Under no circumstances is any article or material, however trifling, to be taken away by workmen for their private use, whether waste material or not, from any workshop or place where work is being done.Foremen are hereby instructed to see that this order is obeyed and to report any such act coming to their knowledge.Any man breaking this rule will be either dismissed without notice or given into custody.
Rushton & Co.
Most of the men took these cards with the envelopes containing their wages and walked away without making any comment - in fact, most of them were some distance away before they realized exactly what the card was about.Two or three of them stood a few steps away from the pay window in full view of Rushton and Misery and ostentatiously tore the thing into pieces and threw them into the street.One man remained at the pay window while he read the card - and then flung it with an obscene curse into Rushton's face, and demanded his back day, which they gave him without any remark or delay, the other men who were not yet paid having to wait while he made out his time-sheet for that morning.
The story of this card spread all over the place in a very short time.
It became the talk of every shop in the town.Whenever any of Rushton's men encountered the employees of another firm, the latter used to shout after them - `However trifling!' - or `Look out, chaps!
'Ere comes some of Rushton's pickpockets.'
Amongst Rushton's men themselves it became a standing joke or form of greeting to say when one met another - `Remember! However trifling!'
If one of their number was seen going home with an unusual amount of paint or whitewash on his hands or clothes, the others would threaten to report him for stealing the material.They used to say that however trifling the quantity, it was against orders to take it away.
Harlow drew up a list of rules which he said Mr Rushton had instructed him to communicate to the men.One of these rules provided that everybody was to be weighed upon arrival at the job in the morning and again at leaving-off time: any man found to have increased in weight was to be discharged.
There was also much cursing and covert resentment about it; the men used to say that such a thing as that looked well coming from the likes of Rushton and Hunter, and they used to remind each other of the affair of the marble-topped console table, the barometer, the venetian blinds and all the other robberies.
None of them ever said anything to either Misery or Rushton about the cards, but one morning when the latter was reading his letters at the breakfast table, on opening one of them he found that it contained one of the notices, smeared with human excrement.He did not eat any more breakfast that morning.
It was not to be much wondered at that none of them had the courage to openly resent the conditions under which they had to work, for although it was summer, there were many men out of employment, and it was much easier to get the sack than it was to get another job.
None of the men were ever caught stealing anything, however trifling, but all the same during the course of the summer five or six of them were captured by the police and sent to jail - for not being able to pay their poor rates.
All through the summer Owen continued to make himself objectionable and to incur the ridicule of his fellow workmen by talking about the causes of poverty and of ways to abolish it.
Most of the men kept two shillings or half a crown of their wages back from their wives for pocket money, which they spent on beer and tobacco.There were a very few who spent a little more than this, and there were a still smaller number who spent so much in this way that their families had to suffer in consequence.