The early part of 1886 was exceedingly harsh in the Carolinas both in temperatures and the spread of a dangerous strain of influenza. Absenteeism was high in the mills, and the owners sought to increase hours of healthy workers without additional pay. In addition, when production slacked and profits fell, the company stores prices went up to try to make up the difference. Relations were strained between owners and workers and the community was disheartened at the steady rise in deaths resulting from the influenza’s spread.
Reverend Horton found himself conducting more and more funerals and consoling more and more poverty stricken families. Even as summer came and the influenza retreated, the depressed wages and inflated prices continued and the gap between worker and owner grew. With the support of his congregation and other clergymen, the Reverend became more and more outspoken and the Rock Creek Church identified itself as pro-union.
Throughout these desperate times, Norman continued to prosper as a gambler. He remained true to his parents recognizing both that his life and theirs were separating, but that he would have had no life at all had they not saved him. He supported his father’s railing against the mills but not because he cared about the workers but he loved his father.
Occasionally Norman would be invited sit in on a game at the Anson Club, but only on a slow night, like a rainy Tuesday. It was during one such game that he met, competed hotly against, lost to, and then spent most of the evening drinking with Henry Pike, son of the Pike Mills owner. Several times in the summer the two would wind up in a games and grew familiar and fond, in a limited way, of each other. It was early September when Henry invited Norman to a game at the Charlotte Men’s Club.