The assembly met in a large room reserved for such
purposes at the Union House. Some sixty members assembled at
Vermissa; but that by no means represented the full strength of
the organization, for there were several other lodges in the
valley, and others across the mountains on each side, who
exchanged members when any serious business was afoot, so that a
crime might be done by men who were strangers to the locality.
Altogether there were not less than five hundred scattered over
the coal district.
In the bare assembly room the men were gathered round a long
table. At the side was a second one laden with bottles and
glasses, on which some members of the company were already
turning their eyes. McGinty sat at the head with a flat black
velvet cap upon his shock of tangled black hair, and a coloured
purple stole round his neck, so that he seemed to be a priest
presiding over some diabolical ritual. To right and left of him
were the higher lodge officials, the cruel, handsome face of Ted
Baldwin among them. Each of these wore some scarf or medallion
as emblem of his office.
They were, for the most part, men of mature age; but the rest of
the company consisted of young fellows from eighteen to
twenty-five, the ready and capable agents who carried out the
commands of their seniors.
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