St. Paul daily globe., 1888-08-27
THREE ROADS TIED UP,
Engineers, Firemen, Brake
men and SWitehmen in In
diana Go on a Strike.
Five Hundred Miles Of Road
Scarcely Able to Move
a Wheel.
An Obnoxious Master Me-
chanic the Cause of
the Trouble.
President Maekey Says 1t Is
a Mean, Low, Contempt
ible Dodge.
Special to the Globe.

| EVANSVILLE, Ind, Aug. 26.-The
| locomotive engineers, firemen, brake
| men and sWitchmen on the Peoria.
decatur and Evansville, Evansville SS
| Ierre Haute, Evansville & Indian
apolls and Evansville Belt railroads,
about 500 miles in all, went out on a
strike to-day at 2 p. m. The Immediate
cause OF the trouble was the refusal of
President Mackey to discharge F. C.
Smith. master mechanic of the Peoria,
Decatur IL Evansville railroad at Mat
toon, LII. The men claim that Smith
is overbearing and unreasonable. and
That they are unable to agree with him.
smith has been on the road since Octo-
Der, 1887. Chief Arthur, of the
| brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers, and Chief Sargent, of the
Flremen's brotherhood, arrived in this
city last Friday, and in conference
with General Manager Ewing, of the
Mackey system, demanded the imme-
| dlate discharge of Master Mechanic
| Smith. This was refused. Upon the
receipt OF the refusal of Ithe Mackey
company to comply with their demands,
| Chiefs Arthur and Sargent, through
| their committeeman, Messrs. A. M.
klmball and G. j. Singleton, notified
President Mackey that the men would
strike on Sunday afternoon. Accord
| lngly the engineers, fremen, brakemen
and switchmen left their places. No
riot or trouble is reported so far. The
tralns leaving here this evening will, it
is claimed. get out some hours late.
Little is known of the motives of the
switchmen and brakemen in joining the
engineers and firemen, as all refuse to
talk. However, the
COMMON CAUSE OF COMPLAINT
the obnoxious treatment by Master
Mechanic Smiths believed to be the
prime reason for the move. President
Mickey, when interviewed this evening.
submitted the following as his side of
the case: ''In October, Mr.. F. C.. Smith
OF Cincinnati, was appointed master
mechanic at MattOon. Soon after there
were some petty differences, which are
constantly arising in all railroad work.
ana In brief time committee, COM
posed of some of the same men, waited
on me and demanded the dismissal of
Master Mechanic Smith, which re-
fused III the mos6 positive terms. From
that time on there has been
characterization to some extent con-
tlnuously to Master Mechanic
Smith. AT the last difficulty we
had, and when Mr.. Arthur was here,
anticipating we might dismiss some of
the prominent movers in that strike,
they imposed a condition that we would
not at any time dismiss an engineer or
fireman without hearing. This we
consented to, and after the dismissal of
the two men for improper conduct thew
called Chiefs Arthur and Sargent and
demanded an investigation, which was
accorded. They abandoned their case
as to these two men and then made a
new one demanding the dismissal of
Master Mechanic Smith. replied that
L would Investigate the charges and
take the necessary action.
SEE THE CONSISTENCY.
They demand the dismissal OF high
official without preferring a charge,
come to us with this demand when we
were overrun with business, seeking to
take advantage of our surroundings.
and all this week have been working on
our men to get them to join in this in-
famous work. | charged them with this
mean, low, contemplate dodge, and
their chief, p. NJ. Arthur. admitted this
time had been so chosen because of the
work we had to do, and now this after
noon at2 O'Clock they spring this on us.
when we have thousands of people TO
move, many of whom are long distances
from home, and but for the fact of hav-
ing engineers in all departments, much
Inconvenience would be visited uron
our passengers"
"Do understand, then, there is noob-
lection to wages or other conditions?''
None whatever. A band of men
here conspired to make us dismiss Mr..
Smith, and have sought this chance to
spring the matter upon US.
The three railroads, it is probable.
will be able to run very few passenger
trains. and no freights, for at least a day
or two. The strikers seem determined
to win. 1t is impossible to tell with
certainty the number of men that can
be obtained to take the place of the
strikers if no compromise is effected.
Neither Chief Arthur nor Sargent is i'm
the city, the former having returned to
Cleveland and the letter to Terre
Haute.