St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-18
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HOW THEY RAN,
The New and Green Men Did Not
Know Their Business.

hhOW lHeIt business.
The cars on the University, Fourth
avenue and Plymouth avenue lines
came bowling along at irregular inter-
walls, with two policemen Oh each car,
one at the front and one at the rear. In
most cases there were two drivers, one
to attend to the brake and the other to
drive, and two conductors. The new
men did not seem greatly elated over
their new positions. All appeared de-
cidedly seedy and looked hungry and
weary. The men on the University
line handled the cars in the best shape.
They did so well, i'll fact, that had they
looked the same as the old men,
few would have known the differ
ence. They were supposed to be
scab car men from other cities. The
Plymouth and Fourth avenue lines had
the poorest lot of men, and the frantic
endeavOrS they made to run the cars in
anything like decent manner were
comical in the extreme. None of the
alleged conductors knew enough about
the street car business to pull the bell
cord when they wanted. the driver to
start or go ahead, and not one of them
made any attempt to work the fare
register when he collected the fare of
the FEW people who got on. Time
after time all the cars were run off the
track at various places along the lines,
simply because the men handling the
car did not know when to put on
brakes. At the turntables another
serious difficulty was encountered.
Nearly every driver ran halfway over
the table, and then had to push his
car back. amid the jeers of the crowd.
Sometimes the police were called on to
assist, but they always had hard work
keeping the wild mob" away from
helping the poor devils. As one officer
put it:
1--WE are not here to help run this
car. We are here to protect you, and
of course we will do it, but for heavens
sake don't ask US to help you manage
this car, for we won't do it.'
The horses were feeling very gay
after their long rest, aud the ineXpe-
rienced men had world of difficulty in
managing them, particularly at the
switches, where there were big crowds
ready to guy the ''scabs" when anything
went wrong. AS rule nine out of
every ten cars ran clear over the switch
and had to be pulled back by main
force. One of the Fourth avenue cars
jumped the track at the Sixth street
switch, and for ten minutes the poor
driver pleaded with the crowd to help
him, so that he would not lose his
''yob." All the satisfaction he got was
replies of: go and get some more
scabs." Don't ask honest men to help
you, you dirty scab." Finally, after
few minutes hard work. the wheels
were put on the rails again, and the
car pursued its way, followed by the
jeers of the crowd. AS it passed a
building in course of construction out
Oh Seventeenth street, some one in the
building began throwing bricks on top
of the car. The police were unable to
find the man who threw them, however
Soon after o'clock a car on the Plym-
outh avenue line jumped the track near
the corner of Bloomington and Plym-
outh avenues. A large crowd immedi-
ately gathered, but no one would help
on again. At last the crowd set up a
yell which frightened the horses. They
gave jump forward, breaking the
doubletree, and pulling the driver over
the dashboard. Then the new men took
the horses back to the barn. Before the
crowd began yelling, some one be-
gan to throw decayed hen fruit
at the drivers, and the
conductor. The police made a dash
into the mob and arrested two men and
took them to the station, where they
were booked for disorderly conduct.
One of the men arrested, Henry Gros-
ser, a contractor, states that he was
doing nothing. and declares that the
officer who arrested him did so because
he had a spite against him.
On one line two cars were abandoned
by the men who had started out with
them, after comforting with some of the
union men on the cars. The company
had expected some such move as this,
and soon had other men sent to the
place to run the cars.
The conductors all started out in the
morning without cent of change in
their pockets, and as a consequence
any one who presented a coin larger
than quarter for his fare rode free.
The ICONS" made struggle to get all
the fares they could, for it was gener-
ally understood that they were to have
all that they took in in addition to the
s. per day for running the cars.