, 1884-08-14
A BATTLE OF GIANTS.
Several Thousand Employees of the
Union Pacific on a Strike.
A Reduction of Wages at One Place
Causes Trouble.
United Action From Omaha to Ogden
Results in Victory.

hesuits III sictOry-
-
1t will be remembered that shortly after
the strike of JTn;on pac,6c amrloves
which occurred last Nav. IT ra-sa nnounced
BY the papers that the road would not
again seek to make a sweenino reduction
in the wages of its employees. but it came
to be understood that reductions would be
accomplished By slow degrees. Indeed.
the Denver press announced. with a semi
official air. that, station by station. section
by section. and shop by shop. reductions
would be made during the present year,
this being, in the opinion of the managers
of the road, the only way in which the
pay account expenses could be reduced
with causing a general strike. That the
men understood the policy ofthe road and
we're organized to defeat it, became ap-
parent yesterday. During the morning
vague and uncertain rumors were heard
that trouble was again brewing between
the Union Pacific and its employees but
nothing tangible could be learned until
noon, when it was ascertained thai the
men employed in the shops here had quit
work.
A reporter of TIE LEADER made an in
yestigation at the hour when the men
would ordinarily be at work afterthe noon
recess, and found the shops deserted.
Tools lay where they had fallen when the
men ceased their labors at 10 o'clock.
Machinery looked as though it was only
idle for a moment ere it was again guided
to its task, and a general air of sudden
cessation from industry prevailed the
hops. Preceding to the office Of Mr.. r.
McDougall, the master mechanic, the re-
porter met that gentleman on his way to
the telegraph Office, bearing in his hand n
dispatch. In reply to a Question, Mr..
McDougall handed the telegram to the
reporter, saying as he did so; THE men
are on a general strike us you will see by
the dispatch
The message in question was as follows:
]. II. Condor
All employees are out on 4 strike here,
which began at noon. The cause is n re-
duction of wages at Ellis, Kansas.
(Signed) r. McDoUeALL.
1t Was further learned from Mr..
McDoupal that at noon u committee. re-
presenting the strikers. called on him at
his Office and formally notified him that
the strike had been decided upon. At
that hour there was no accurate informa-
ton respecting the number of men here
who had gone out on the strike, it was be-
lieved, however, that the strike was a
general one. extending from Omaha to
Ogden, and including all of the branches
and leased lines of the road.
There were no groups of excited men
around the shops, in the yards nor in the
vicinity of the depot, and full particulars
we're not at once obtainable. Later in the
day it was learned that all of the shop
men, the carpenters, painters, round house
laborers, section men, and coal shed men
had Joined the strike, making in all about
seventy men at this point.
Desiring to obtain the grounds of the
strike from those in a position to speak
advisedly, the reporter next interviewed
some of the railroad men who were among
the strikers. From them it was learned
that they had long know that the man
ayers of the road intended to accomplish
a reduction by degrees, and their action
was taken with a view of checkmating
those plans. 1t seems that at Ellis,
X II there are only about twenty-five
for thirty men, but their wages had been
reduced. The object of a general strike
was to prevent any reduction at Ellis or
anywhere else. The former information
that the strike was a general one was cor
rect. At Denver, Cheyenne, North
Platte, Omaha and intervening points the
men all stopped work at noon. At Lara
mic. nearly three hundred men nuit work
aLh.uuL 10 IL IL.
nno~A as,n arSla'I - -.
- G. en- ~ Ml
- al vii tho hranohas g ,Lo
80 ~ |, - 49, a.
81 ,ho ;.n,oa 81 ,ba str;lo : tho d;s-
- L., - g -. c..
man ., nonror ~ 800 .s~os,na 80
h.;sr ioadors % H. ~ af -.
anJ H. Lora;,"l s.Sd - H.