428 



LABOR-STRIKES. 



Government to curb capital or organize labor. 

 The " communistic " element in the disturb- 

 ances consisted of foreign workmen indoc- 

 trinated with the ideas of the German and 

 French socialists, and their fellow-enthusiasts 

 and followers. The most remarkable develop- 

 ment of this disturbed period was the unex- 

 pected extent to which these social-political 

 teachings have spread in this country. Some 

 of the political aspects of the strike are pre- 

 sented farther below. The following brief 

 chronicle recounts the chief occurrences in the 

 different parts of the country, in the order of 

 time in which they took place : 



The strike commenced on the Baltimore & 

 Ohio Railroad, some 40 brakemen and firemen 

 stopping work and attempting to prevent the 

 passage of freight-trains on the morning of 

 the 14th of July. On the 16th, the firemen of 

 all the freight-trains at Martinsburg, W. Va., 

 struck work, and drove off the men sent to 

 replace them, defying the police of the town. 

 In the morning, 75 militiamen, sent by Gover- 

 nor Matthews, attempted to guard a Western- 

 bound train ; but the strikers, increasing in 

 number to about 100, and joined by several 

 hundred outsiders, prevented its moving, ex- 

 changing shots with the soldiers, and frighten- 

 ing off the volunteering fireman and engineer. 

 A train had been thrown off the track at South 

 Baltimore in the night. The road was effect- 

 ually blockaded at Martinsburg. By evening 

 the strike had extended along the line to Wheel- 

 ing, and on the side-route to Parkersburg. The 

 whole road was thus in the hands of the strikers. 

 The Governor, perceiving the inefficience of the 

 slender militia forces, requested the aid of the 

 General Government, and a detachment of two 

 or three hundred United States troops started 

 for the scene of the disturbances on the 18th, 

 under the command of Colonel French, arriving 

 in Martinsburg early on the morning of the 

 19th. A hundred engines and 1,500 freight-cars 

 stood on the tracks. In the course of the day 

 several men were arrested, and two trains were 

 started off under military escort, after much 

 difficulty in finding engineers and firemen to 

 run trains. A proclamation by President 

 Hayes was posted and distributed along the 

 line. On this day the strike extended over the 

 entire length of the line. On the 19th, in the 

 morning, a strike was declared by the conduc- 

 tors and brakemen on the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road, at Pittsburgh; all freight-trains were 

 stopped, and by night the strikers and their 

 abettors had congregated, to the number of 

 1,400, in the freight and stock yards. On the 

 20th an emeute occurred in the streets of Balti- 

 more, on the occasion of the 6th Regiment of Mi- 

 litia being ordered by Governor Carroll to Cum- 

 berland, where the strikers were defying the 

 law. Toward evening a turbulent concourse of 

 people surrounded the armory^o demonstrate 

 their fellow-feeling for the strikers. When 

 the soldiers marched out, they were stoned by 

 the mob, and, after a little, commenced to shoot 



into the crowd, though without orders, keep- 

 ing up a continuous, irregular fusillade all the 

 way to the station. Nine of the rioters were 

 killed, and 20 or 30 were wounded, including 

 several soldiers. The excitement in the city 

 was intense, and the order for the departure of 

 the militia was recalled. The railroad-station 

 was set on fire. When the 5th Regiment 

 marched to the depot, it was assailed, but no 

 shots were fired. On the 20th, all freight-traffic 

 was arrested on the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

 The strikers at Pittsburgh defied the civil au- 

 thorities, and the militia of Philadelphia were 

 ordered to the spot. The train-hands on the 

 Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago lin struck 

 work in the afternoon. Trains were block- 

 aded at Newark, 0., on the Baltimore & Ohio, 

 and the State troops were ordered out by Gov- 

 ernor Young. That morning, also, the firemen 

 and brakemen on the New York & Erie Rail- 

 road went out on strike at several stations 

 along the Western division, and the strikers 

 took control of the track at Hornellsville and 

 other points. On the 21st, the 6th Division of 

 the Pennsylvania State Guard arrived in Pitts- 

 burgh. At 5 o'clock P. M. they attempted to 

 clear the Twenty-eighth Street crossing, at the 

 command of General Pearson, and replied to 

 the missiles of the populace by several volleys 

 of musketry. That aroused the fiercest passions 

 of the mob, who soon returned to the attack 

 provided with firearms and three pieces of ord- 

 nance, belonging to a local association. They 

 had broken into a gun-shop and warehouses 

 of firearms to obtain weapons. They repeat- 

 edly assailed the round-house, in which the 

 military had taken their position, but were 

 driven back with musket-shots. They planted 

 and loaded a field-gun near the walls of the 

 round-house, and numbers were shot down 

 while attempting to fire it. The mechanics of 

 the city, returning from work, swelled the 

 mob. The exasperation of the citizens was in- 

 tensified by the fact that several innocent per- 

 sons standing at a distance had been hit by the 

 first musket-shots. The rioters assaulted the 

 building repeatedly, and firing was kept up on 

 both sides. Finding themselves unable to dis- 

 lodge the soldiers by assault, the rioters deter- 

 mined to set fire to the round-house and roast 

 them out. Oil-cars on the neighboring track 

 were first set on fire, but the flames did not 

 reach the building. An incendiary rage seized 

 the crowd, and torches were applied to the 

 freight-wagons indiscriminately ; and when the 

 firemen appeared, they were forbidden to ex- 

 tinguish the railroad property, although the 

 rioters themselves assisted in putting out other 

 burning property. The flames not yet pene- 

 trating to the round-house, a car laden with 

 coke was saturated with petroleum and set on 

 fire, and then pushed down the track against 

 the building. Other ignited cars were sent 

 down toward the round-houses. At 5 A. M., 

 when the crowd had for a short time with- 

 drawn from the vicinity of the round-house, 



