Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-30
sMAsHlNe CARS AND HEADS.

Der of Others Badly Wounded.
ST.. LOUIS. Mo-, Oct 1O.-Riot and blood.
shed was the order of yesterday in the
street-car strike during both the morning
and the afternoon. On several of the lines,
in full sight of the police, the strikers
stopped the cars and turned them over.
This occurred at noon on Cass avenue,
and seven cars were actually torn
to pieces OH Choteau avenue. The
roof and sides were torn from three cars.
The strikers were charged whenever they
made an attempt to stop the cars, aid in
the riots which ensued several persons were
injured. The first life taken was that of
John Haney, one of the striking drivers of
the Green line. Police Officer Harmon,
who did the shooting, says:
"a Blue-line car, in accordance with instruc.
about Ho1 il feet south Of Hickory street. when
sides Of the road, suddenly closed in on the
car. They at once began cutting the harness,
and Griffith and called upon them to desist.
attacked us with clubs and rocks. l
was struck on the arm with a rock and quite
badly hurt. We fought the crowd with our
and one of the men came behind Griffith and
knocked him dow He held him face down
ward and was beating him when fired and
klllcu It'll Due UclNIc luC MAJ tlNtChCu AlII1
Griffith had fired Il shot at a retreating man.
/ fired only the one shot. When the crowd
Saw that the man was killed it had the effect
of quicting them for Il short time"
Police Officers Harmon and Griffith, who
claimed that the shooting of Haney was
done in self-defense, are not borne out in
their statement by eye-witnesses, who say
that HalIey was running away, with an Of
ficer in pursuit. The latter caught Haney,
threw linn down, and was beating him,
when Officer Harmon came up and shot
Haney, killing him at once. n03
Officer Harmon was arrested and impris-
oned. When Officer Griffith reached the
-Four Courts he displayed every evidence of
having been in a tight place. His uniform
was covered with dust, and there were
marks about his clothes which very clearly
had been left there by bricks or other mis-
siles. His story fully corroborates that of
Officer Harmon. Several OF the strikers
were arrested at the scene of the killed.
Among them was a man named Ed Haney,
a brother of the deceased.
At noon a serious demonstration was
made by the strikers against cars passing
along the Twelfth street bridge. About
fifty of the strikers were scattered at the
north end of the bridge, and when a Grav0is
line car approached they suddenly, and APP
palently in obedience to a ~preconccrted sig
nal, concentrated around the car and made
an attack upon it. There were very few
passengers on board, and these very hastily
left the car. The driver succeeded in max
ing his escape, but the conductor was less
fortunate. lie rushed for the front plat
form, but was caught there by the
strikers, who pummeled him unnlerci-
fully, and then tore him from the
car. After having kicked him unconscious
O,,1 1>,r,+p1 yIn nor h,rcn {1n trnyr Nv
this time largely augmented, made a rusl:
south along the bridge. and at Il point about
seyenty-fve yards south Of the Union depot
came up with q white car and attacked it.
The conductor and driver had fled, and the
atrrighted passengers were fast making
their escape, When the attacking party
seized the horses, cut the traces, and by
beating the animals with the car hook sent
them Tying along the bridge. They then
massed themselves upon the west side of
the car and with a united effort turned it
over upon the eastern track.
Another White car coming north was
next attacked. The conductor and driver
managed to escape, a fact which seemed
to infuriate the rioters, who made such
haste in their endeavOr to urn the car over
that they were actually tipping it up while
the passengers were still trying to escape
from it. Having also turned over a yellow
and a blue car, the rioters settled down t.
await the arrival Of others. At this INC.
ment the police appeared and scattered
them.
Shortly before noon trouble broke out
almost simultaneously on the Peoples line
and O II the Union Depot line. A gang OF
men whom officers declared to be street-car
employees started in 20 wreck the Peoples
line at Fourth and Choteau avenue. AS near
as could be estimated before the crowd of
spectators assembled there were fully
thirty or forty men in the wrecking force.
The first assault was made on car No. II,
which was running down town with a load
OF passengers. The men called TO the pas
sengers to get out. Several jumped on the
front platform. and, striking the driver two
slipped the pin out and started the horses
OH u full run. The car was then turned
across the two tracks, completely blocking
the way.
At about 1880 O'Clock a mob gathered on
O'Fallon street near Eleventh and stopped
the first car of the Union line that came
west. Ordering the driver and con-
ductor OFT, which was promptly obeyed,
the passengers were given barely time to
get OFT when the car was upset by the
mob. The next six cars that came
shared the same fate. III all cases the
boxes of the bobtails which were thrown
from the track were broken upon and the
money carried away. Several of the cars
which were thrown from the track were
manned by policemen. a detail OF police
men patrolled the streets in the neighbor-
hood soon after the trouble occurred, and
in many cases they were assaulted with
stones thrown by the crowd which was do
ing the wrecking.
At $3.50 a mob of 500 neil appeared at the
corner OF Cass avenue and Twelfth street,
and as the Cass avenue cars came along
each in turn was dumped into the gutter.
Seven cars were torn to pieces and their
windows and doors broken in before the
police appeared and scattered the gather
ing.
At dark all of the street-car companies.
except the Franklin avenue and Olive
street lines, gan their cars into the stables.
The above FWo lines have acceded to the
demands of the strikers.
The leading merchants held a meeting at
the Mercantile club-room last evening.
They concluded, after a lengthy discussion,
to meet the street-car managers to-day and
ask them to meet the strikers for the pur-
pose of etfecting some sort OF a compromise.
All OF the merchants at the meeting stated
that the strike was doing much damage to
| Iha1f nStln .ord $~ L., H.