Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-03-30
THE GREAT STRIKE.
A Riot Occurs In Which an Ohciai
Beaten Up.

4
Beaten. Up.
CHICAGO, March % The war on th
Burlington railway continues without tn
slightest indication of weakening on eithe
side. Both the engineers and the officer
of the company profess to be confident o
success. Fifteen switch engines were q
work in the freight yards to-day, but q
the stock yards they were unable toacccm
plish great deal, as it was found necessa
ry 10 put an engine on each end Of ever.
train in order to get over the difficulty
caused by the strikers or. their sympathizer
pulling the coupling pins The company
has now hired all the switchmen it ha
need of to take the strikers places. AL
are not at work, but will be by to morrow
afternoon. One hundred of them are il
this city, and ninetylthree will arrive from
the Reading district in the morning.
The Chicago, st. Paul and Kansas City
road has 700 cars consigned to the BurliDg
IOu IOtu uu tutll IldChE- hC othSh A0$ao'
are in similar condition.. and the 20
cannot take care Of the freight the othel
roads will tender it.
THE FIRST ENCOUNTER.
The first encounter between the sympa
thizers of the striking switchmen and
men who have displaced them took place
at 4:30 this afternoon. When "Q
switch engine aud its crew attempted tt
tran> fer some freight cars to the North
western tracks, crowd Of switchmen o.
other roads were about the place and be-
gan to jeer at The new men on the 80" en-
gine. When the train reached kipsit
street and Western avenue it ran of
switch that had been turned, and a number
of cara were ditched.
The mob then set upon the crew Of the
engine and train and the fireman and engi
neer took to their heels, getting numerous
cuffs az they escaped. The new switchmer
followed suit and were pursued and rough
ly used by the crowd, which was made ny
of the toughest kind of citizens, The Pink
erton men, of whom there were six or eight
on the train, attempted TO protect the
trainmen, but the mob set upon them with
savage glee and disarmed them in twink
ling. They were powerless, and aitel
making few efforts to defend themselves,
took 10 flight 10 escape the drubbipg they
were receiving at the hands of the furious
mob. Several Of the Pinkerton men were
hurt and one of them is thought to have
sustained serious injury.
AN OFFICIAL BEATEN UP.
On the same train was Division Super
intendent John Besler, of the Burlington
road, When the trouble commenced h
hurried to the front and some one in the
crowd recognized him. The disclosure o.
his identity was the signal for the mob Il
fall on him and beat him. The attach
came from all sides, and II was only aftel
having been badly used up that he escaped
and ran to a switch house and locked him
self in and escaped further punishment
The riot created considerable excitement
and the Pinkerton men and officer
fiocked to the scene. The mob quickly
dispersed, however, and only one mar
was arrested. His name is William
Quirk, and he is locked up at the Wes
Madison street police station. The police
were ordered to the scene of the disturb
ance from nearly all the stations. Quirk
who was arrested, was Chicago, st. Pau
and Milwaukee switchman. HIS arres
precipitated strike of III switchmen, p
engineers and % iremen OIL the c., st. p
& NJ. road. When it was known that QuirE
had been arrested, crowd followed him
to the West Madison street station and en-
deavored TO gst him released. Numerous
offers OF bail were made. Eight thousand
dollars surety for his appearance was Of
fered but he was locked up.
DESERTED THEIR ENGINES.
When the crowd realized that their com
rades had to remain in the police station
the Milwaukee and st. Paul men in theil
rage decided to strike and Immediately de
serted their engines. The whole yard fOrct
of switcbmen, engineers and firemen, 22I
in all, quit work, leaving twenty eight en-
gines standing on the tracks. II is ru
mcred that the brakemen Of the same road
will 20 out. The strikers say the Mil
waukee and st. Paul road has been par
ticularly friendly to the Darlington, and
they have been ready and willing to quit
for some time.
Division Superintendent Besler, who
took refuge from the mob in the switch
house, had both his eyes blacked and wa:
very badly bruised up. The fireman and
engineer of the train which was attached
were aisoNbadly pounded.
MEETING OF ENGINEERS AND swITCHMEN,
A meeting OF 500 engineers, firemen and
switchmen was held at Fourteenth and
Jefferson streets this afternoon. There
were representatives from all the roads
present, and it was resolved that a general
boycott be declared against Burlington
freight on all roads. The sentiment ex
pressed was that the Burlington road had
gone too far. There was n reason why
the engineers demands should not be com
piled with. They were reasonable aud the
time had come to enforce them.