<P> At 4: 00 p.m., events at the mill quickly began to wind down . More than 5,000 men--most of them armed mill hands from the nearby South Side, Braddock and Duquesne works--arrived at the Homestead plant . Weihe wanted to prevent further trouble at Homestead, so he pleaded with Frick to confer with representatives of the Amalgamated to return to Homestead and stop the riot . Weihe urged the strikers to let the Pinkertons surrender, but he was shouted down . Weihe tried to speak again, but this time his pleas were drowned out as the strikers bombarded the barges with fireworks left over from the recent Independence Day celebration . Hugh O'Donnell, a heater in the plant and head of the union's strike committee, then spoke to the crowd . He demanded that each Pinkerton be charged with murder, forced to turn over his arms and then be removed from the town . The crowd shouted their approval . </P> <P> The Pinkertons, too, wished to surrender . At 5: 00 p.m., they raised a white flag and two agents asked to speak with the strikers . O'Donnell guaranteed them safe passage out of town . Upon arrival, their arms were stripped from them . With heads uncovered, to distinguish them from the mill hands, they passed along between two rows of guards armed with Winchesters . As the Pinkertons crossed the grounds of the mill, the crowd formed a gauntlet through which the agents passed . Men and women threw sand and stones at the Pinkerton agents, spat on them and beat them . Several Pinkertons were clubbed into unconsciousness . Members of the crowd ransacked the barges, then burned them to the waterline . </P> <P> As the Pinkertons were marched through town to the Opera House (which served as a temporary jail), the townspeople continued to assault the agents . Two agents were beaten as horrified town officials looked on . The press expressed shock at the treatment of the Pinkerton agents, and the torrent of abuse helped turn media sympathies away from the strikers . </P> <P> The strike committee met with the town council to discuss the handover of the agents to McCleary . But the real talks were taking place between McCleary and Weihe in McCleary's office . At 10: 15 p.m., the two sides agreed to a transfer process . A special train arrived at 12: 30 a.m. on July 7 . McCleary, the international AA's lawyer and several town officials accompanied the Pinkerton agents to Pittsburgh . </P>

What role did the goverment play in the homestead strike of 1892