The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-30
| SMALL4SIZED OUTBREAK
The Striking Switchmen Derail a Train
and Attack the Crew.
The Arrest of One of the Rioters Causes
Strike on the St. Paul, Which Is Quickly
Brought to an End, However.

said to be Reading men, arrived last night from
Philadelphia to take positions with the Bu-ling-
ton roa d. Forty six additional switchmen, also
from the Reading and New York districts,
came over the Lake Shore road. They Ia
ken to the yards and the Western avenue round
house. where they remained over night To-
day the entire force will be set to work. Among
those who came were nineteen from the New
| York Central road, and few from the Boston s.
Albany and the Fitchburg. The remainder
| were from the Reading. and of them said
there were $50 more ready to come whenever
| summoned.
The first encounter between the sympathi zers
| of the striking switchmen and the men who
have replaced them took place at 4:30 this after
| noon, when %" switch engine and its
| attempted TO transfer some freight cars to the
| Northwestern tracks A crowd of switchmen
of other roads were about the place ana began
to 1eer at the new men in the 20" engine When
the train reached Kenzie street and Western av-
enue it off a switch that had been turned
and number of cars were ditched. The mob
then upon the of the engine and the
crew, and the iremen and engineer took TO their
heels, getting numerous cuffs they escaped.
/ The switchmen followed suit, and
pursued and roughly used by the crowd,
whlcn Was made up OF the TOUGHEST
kind of citizens The Plnkertou men, of whom
there were six or eight the train, attempted
to protect the train men, but the mob set upon
j them with savage glee and diSarmed them In a
twinkling They were powerless, and after
making several efforts TO defend themselves took
to flight escape the drubbing they were
ceIvlng at the hands OF the furious mob. Several
of the PinKerton men were hurt and one of
them is thought to have sustained serious iDju-
! ries. On the train Division Superin-
tendent John Besler. of the Burlington. When
the trouble commenced he hurried to the front
and some one in the crowd recognized him. the
disclosure of his identity the signal for the
mob to fall on him and beat him. The attack
came from all sides, and il only after hav-
/ been badly uaed that nd ran
to switch house, where he locked himself
/ and ESCAPED other punishment.
The riot CREATED great excitement, and the
] Pinkerton and officers focked to the sceue.
| The mob quickly dispersed. however, and only
one arrested. His name is William
| Qutrk, and he is locked up at the West Madison
| street police station. Police ordered to
| the scene of the disturbance from nearly all of
| the stations Quirk, who was arrested was a
| Chicago, Milwaukes g St. Paul switchman.
His arrest precipiIated strike OF III switch
men, tweEty-eight engineers and twenty eight
Gremen on the Chicago, Milwaukee 81 St Paul
| road When 1t was kown that Qurk
had been arrested a crowd followed him
to the West Madison-s street station and endeav-
ored to get him released. Numerous offers of
bail were offered Eight thousand dollars surety
for his appearance was offerede but he was
locked up When the crowd realized that their
comrade had to remain In the police station. the
Milwaukee q st Paul men, in their rage, de-
cided TO strike. and immediately deserted their
engines. The whole yard force of swtcamen.
engineers and fremen, 227 in all, quit work,
leaving twenty-eight engines standing the
tracks. 1t is rumored the brakemen of the same
road will go out tonight. The strikers say the
Milwaukee & ST. Paul road has been partcu-
larly friendly to The Burlington, 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 eyes BACKED and very badly bruised
The fireman and engeneer of the train
which attacked were also badly pounded
When asked about the companys position in
regard to the riot, Dir. Morton, of the 90 road,
said: ut was an unfortunate affair. bat it was
not wholly uueXDee ted. the cOmDanY had n
tcipated trouble of this kind. Ee said, how
ever that be did not think it would occur again.
as the comp any would try prevent a repetl-
ton of anything of the kind. MIR. Morton said.
in regard TO the progress the road making
toward handling their freight that they had
gagged forty new switchmen to-day. The COM
pany have sixteen switeh-engipes work.
Ninety cars OF stock we're brought in to-
day, and considerable work done at the
lumber district All of the empty freight
the company had at it's disposal were loaded the
freight-house and the reason a greater number
were not loaded was because Burlington empties
are tied up on other roads and are out in the
country.
An extra edition of an evening paper says:
"a. meeting of 500 engineers. fremen and
switchmen was held at Fourteenth and Jeffer-
streets, this afternoon. There were repre-
eentatlves from all the roads present, and IL was
resolved that a general boycott be declared
against Burlington freight ali roads. The
sentiment expressed was that the Burlington
road had gone too tar. There was no reason
why the engineers demands should not be COM
piled with. They were reasonable, and the time
had come enforce them"
The strike of the ST.. Paul came to end
quickly as it had begun At $50 P. NJ, two
officials of the St. Paul company succeeded in
having Qulrk released bail. He q once
TO where the strikers were in session. and was
greeted with enthusiasm. His presence nut the
mon in good humor, and it was speedy re-
soved TO that resumption OF work was the
proper course to pursue. AT P. NJ. the men
again at their posts and everything on the
st Paul was moving along smoothly as though
nothing untoward had happened
The arrival of the Reading men from Pitts
burg nearly resulted in another strike. Twenty
of Plnkertou's men, heavily armed, we're ordered
to go over the Fit. Wayne road to Valparaiso
Ind. and escort them When the Pinker-
boarded the Fl Wayne train, the engineer
stepped from his cab. auG said he would
touch the throttle while they
manned in the cars. News of the engineers
stand spread to other employees of the road. and
created much excitement he finally agreed to
take the train after each of the Pinkertons
had paid individually full fare n passenger.
The Reading men did not arrive IN the city until
shortly before midnight No crowds were about
and they quickly taken to a hotel under
escort of the Pinkertons.
The Burlington company received information
this morning that fifty of their switchmen at
Creston. Ia, had quit work. Their places are
reported to have been filed by conductors and
brakemen.
The allegations that a radical element in the
Brotherhood was cha6ng under the conserva- |
tive measures adopted by their chief and the !
statement that he contemplated q simultaneous |
retirement from the strife with the Burlington |
and from his Office as the head of she orgauiza |
tion was the all-absorbinc topic for discussion |
this morning at the headquarters of the striking
engineers. Chief Arthur talked frankly upon |
the situation rumors that current |
day. He said 1.-THE statement that the |
Burlington strikers have cut away from their |
leaders and their grievance committees |
is base falsehood There is not word OF truth |
in IT, The grievance committees yesterday |
unanimously Endorsed the action of the grand |
chief all the way through. If it Is true that |
committees have been appointed by the radi- |
Gals, and that they have visited every road rum |
ming into Chicago. reported, and obtained /
pledges from all the swirchmen and switch en-
giueers that under circumstances will they |
move q Burlington car. il has been done I'M |
known to me. do not believe the members of |
the Brotherhood will do anything contrary to /
the laws of the organization or not Endorsed by /
me
when the strike began, my advice to the men