Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-30
THE EXPECTED HAPPENS.
OCCURRENCE OF THE INEVITABLE
RIOT OVER A STRIKE.

| Burlington Yardmen aud West Chicago
Roughs Enter Upon the BulIdozing Pc.
riod of the neutrality-suspicious. eni
BesIey Set Upon-C.. NJ. 4 st. +. Train.
men Quit-General Boycott Declared.
CHICAGO March 30-Thursday afternoon
there was a serious encounter between the
| striking Burlington switchmen and the men
who have replaced them The crew of a "QH
switch engine were engaged in transferring
| some freight-cars to the Northwestern tracks,
and while they worked crowd Of switchmen
Of other roads gathered in the vicinity and
| began 10 jeer them. When the "Qn train
reached Kinzie street and Western avenue it
ran Off "A switch that had been turned, and
one or two cars were ditched. The crowd
same running TO the spot and set upon the
20" trainmen in savage manner. The en-
gineer and fireman took TO their heels get
ting many severe blows as they escaped. The
new switchmen followed suit as quickly as
possible, but they were pursued by the angry
crowd and some of them were roughly used
before they could get away.
The Pinkerton men, Of whom there were
six or eight on the train, attempted to protect
the tranmen, but the mob set upon them with
savage glee and disarmed them in a twinkling.
They were powerless, and after making few
efforts 10 defend themselves, took to flight to
escape the drubbing 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 injuries.
On the same train was Division Superin-
tendent John Besler, of the Burlington.
When the trouble commenced he hurried to
the front and some one in the crowd recog-
nized him The disclosure of his identity was
tb.. OF, nj for hn tn fol inn nd
beat him The attack came from all sides,
and it was only after having been badly used
up that he escaped and ran to a swtch-house
where he locked himself in and escaped fur
ther outrage. As soon possible policemen
were sent to the scene and dispersed the mob.
One of the rioters named William Quirk was
arrested.
General passenger Agent Morton, of the
Burlington, said in reference to the affair
that it was not wholly unexpected, as the
company had anticipated trouble of this
kind He said, however, that he did not
think it would occur again, as the company
would take preventive measures.
While the police were clearing the yards of
the mob Henry Gallagher and William Quirk,
both switchmen, became refractory when the
officers crowded them closely, and they were
unceremoniously bundled into patrol wagon
and sent to the West Madison street station
and locked up. Gallagher, it is said, was the
man who pummeled Engineer Rice, and if the
latter can identify him he will be prosecuted
under the riot act. Quirk belongs to a Mil
waukee & St Paul switch gang.
The arrest of Quirk had the effect of pre-
cipitating strike of the engineers, firemen
and switchmen on that road. The total num-
Der of men who struck is 1874, consisting of
$40 switchmen, twenty seven engineers and a
M III
a train was moved over this road and bust |
ness, so far as Chicago was concerned, was at
a standstil Superintendent Collins, of the
road, gives the following statement in regard
to the strike He says that the train of cars |
which was received from the Burlington road
Thursday consisted of entirely new box and |
cattle cars, which were manufactured by |
Wells a. French for the St Paul road. |
After the attack was made on the |
Burlington engine and the arrest of Quirk, |
the men demanded that the officials eff |
feet the release of the prisoner OF they would |
refuse to work They We're given to under
stand that the company had nothing to do |
with interceling for Quirk, and declined to
take any action in the matter The men then |
quit. This was at 4;3O o'clock. At half-past |
S the men reconsidered their action and an
their desire to resume their labors. |
Collins then informed them |
that if they desired to come back they must |
handle the cars received from the Burlington |
road in the Afternoon and properly dispose of
them. This caused another hitch, and with |
one accord the men decided to strike rather |
than touch the cars designated According
ly they all left the yards in body and went
their several ways.
Ameeting of 500 engineers firemen and
switchmen was held at Fourteenth and JEFF
ferson streets Thursday afternoon. There
were representatives from all the roads pres
ent, and it was resolved that a general boy
colt be declared against Burlington freight
on all roads. The sentiment was that the
Burlington road chad gone too far" There
was no reason why the engineers demands
should not be complied with They were
reasonable and the time had come to enforce
them.
The Wabash men, in defiance of the court,
will go into the matter as strongly as any of
the others. The Wabash men lay themselves
liable to punishment for contempt Of court,
as this, on their part, is in direct violation of
he courts order.