noon
Ai n't yez goin ' to give the hands their dues ? '' Then the superintendent turned and explained to the men that he could not sign any such agreement ; had no authority to ; only the directors in San Francisco and New York could authorize it ; that the mine could not afford it ; that the men had no complaint -- it was only false sympathy with distant strikes which caused them to make this demand ; that he would not sign such a document if he could . The men left in a rage . At the noon shift all the hands came up from the mine ; not one went down . The machinery stopped ; not a wheel turned , not even the pumps that were so necessary to keep the lower levels from being flooded . At one o'clock the men began to come for their pay , not one doing so in the morning . Each demanded a raise of twenty per cent .