Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-07-18
RAILROAD WAR.

TIE TROUBLs At OONsROAOCKEN.
Te.risg up sssiaGD-kzpis.msns - ~
Uapdes ssanh-Ths Sheriff snd
Roase- On the Ground 81
Conshohocken Cor. Philadelphia Ledger. -
The railroad war in CopshohOckeu,
which was terminated some months ago
by the courts, was renewed Friday With
more determination than marked the
former. The route of tho PcnnsylvAnia
Schuylkill Valley line lies over the
property of the Plymouth Rolling Mill
company. A siding connected the Rolling
Mill company's furnace with the tracks Of
the Plymouth railroad, which forms a
junction with the Readings main line, iu
the borough. All the stock for the fur
mace reached it over this siding.
Tuesday morning, contractor Dyer com
menced the work Of shifting this siding in
order to admit of the erecting of pier by
which the new line will be enabled to cross
the Plymouth railroad tracks at the re-
quired distances above grade. A large
force of men was engaged, and the work
was completed before 4 O'Clock. The
siding was shifted distance of about 80
feet, and, after being relaid. was as good
as formerly in respect to bed and curva-
ture.
Shortly after o'clock about one hun
dred and fifty men in the employ OF the
Reading company commenced tearing up
the shifted siding, aud finished the job
| before 6 o'clock in the presence of the
sheriff, who had been sent to the scene of
| war, but had no authority to stay the pro.
ceedings.
During the evening one hundred and
fifty of Contractor Dyer's men were en-
gagged in shoveling bank of cinder over
into the depression occupied by tie siding
before it was shifted. Within one hun
dred yards were a number Of Reading
la5Orers engaged in the demolition of a
trestle bridge across the Plymouth creek,
and over which the siding crossed. Prior
to this the rails and ties forming the now
disappeared siding were conveyed on
trucks on the Plymouth short distance
and unloaded.
| In tearing down the trestle bridge a
locomotive was used for drawing the
heavy timbers across the creek. One Of
these, in being removed, rolled from the
abutment on the large pipe leading frOm
the water company g pumping house to tie
reservoir, crossing the creek above the
surface of the water. The pipe burst and
instantly the water commenced flowing
from the reservoir at an alarming rate.
1t required some time to find the
| engineer, the only man who could close q
valve between the basin and tho break in
the pipe. This was accomplished after the
water had been wasted for nearly an hour,
and at this hour the residents of the upper
end of the streets through which the pipe
is laid are without water supply, wells
having long since been abandoned in that
section.
The affair has created an excitement that
has never been equalled in CoDshohOcken.
For several hours during the evening
there were at least 2, 500 men, women and
children at the scene of the conflict, but
the best of order was maintained through.
out. Sheriff Frankinfeld remained on the
ground, and sent to Norristown for a force
of officers to prevent an outbreak, which,
however, does not at all seem likely to
| occur.
Shortly before clock about 200 Swedes
and Hungarian labOrers from Contractor
Lemons section arrived upon the ground
having been sent for to assist in rela ying
the siding and relieving the workmeD en-.
gagged on the cinder bank. Messengers on
horseback rode between ConshOhocken
and the headquarters of Mr.. Lemons men
carrying dispatches.
The new line has legal authority to con.
struct it's road over the Plymouth rolling
mill compauy's property, aud shifted its
siding by the permission and to the entire
satisfaction of that company, as was
learned from Pennsylvania company's
engineer and from leading member of the
rolling mill company, who says that the
siding was the rolling mill company's
property, and that his company erected
the trostle bridge over the Plymouth
creek which the Reading men have torn
down. There is now no connection be
tween the furnace and the railroad, which
renders it impossible to get ore. coal and
lime to the furnace without the employ
ment of carts.
A Plymouth rolling mill company man
says that the freight received by the Read
ing company through the now destroyed
siding amounts to about 81. 500 per week,
He says the Iron company will let the two
railroad companies fight it out, that his
company do not care to give the thing a
triangular shape. The Reading people
claim that the material entering into the
construction of the siding in dispute is
their property, and that they had lega
right to remove 1t.
At 1890 o'clock p. m, nearly all the
workmen had dispersed. The sheriff and
posse were on the grounds. The waite,
main is still leaking and bids fair to draiu
the reservoir, the cutoff valve having
failed to perform its functions.