Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-08-09
|STRUCK ON DEPEW.
Part of the Vanderbilt System
Tied Up Tight.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR STOP TRAFFIC.


The Persuasive Chauncey Mighty Badly
Needed In New York-His Third Vice
President Says the strike viii Be
1t Is Struggle to the Death-Police on
Guard and the Militia Held in Readi-
ness for Trouble.
New YORK, Aug 9.-Rumors have been
thick for the past few days that strike
was imminent on the New York Central,
where the employees are nearly all Knights
of Labor. The complaint of the knights
was that mem bers of that order were be-
ing discharged because they were men,
bers, in some cases the victims being men
who had been employed on the road for
twenty or more years. Yesterday ]. j.
Holland, member of the executive board
Of K. of L. arrived here and the grievance
committee tried to have an interview with
Vice President Webb but failed, Mr..
Webb refusing to have anything to say
to them and waving them out of his office
II Is probable that this was the last straw.
The Strike Is on In Great Shape.
At 7:3o last evening the strike began
here and not train has left the station
at Forty-second street since that hour.
The Grand Union hotel is crowded with
people who expected to leave the city and
had engaged passage for various points.
At $50 a gentleman reached the hotel and
announced that the engineer and men en-
ployed in running an incoming train had
deserted their posts in the tnnnel at
Eighty-sixth street and left the train
standing there. He as well as the other
passengers had to get out and make their
way to Forty second street on foot or by
horse car.
Who Ordered the Striker
No one seems to know how the strike
was ordered, or who gave the signal to
strike. J. j. Holland, a member of the
executive board of the Knights of Labor,
denied that he had ordered 1t, or even
knew a strike had been ordered, when
seen by a United Press reporter at 8 o'clock
last night. At II: 80 o'clock Mr.. Holland
was again seen, and repeated the state
ment. He said the head of the local di-
vision, X. of L. might have done it. He
will remain in the city for the next few
days. Several of the strikers were inter
viewed on the matter. but declined to talk
further than to say that it would prove to
be the biggest strike before it was over
that the people i'll the east had seen for
some years
Statement of Vice President Webb.
In an interview last evening Vice Presi-
dent Webb, of the Central, said that the
strike extended only TO Albany. Those
men who had gone out from the service of
the company, Mr.. Webb said, would be
promptly discharged, while those who re-
manned true to their posts would be pro-
tected and taken care of as would all who
came to work for the company. The vice
president announced with great emphasis
that he would fight the strikers to the
bitter end
Demands of the Men.
He had never seen and knew nothing
whatever about the new demands for 3
minimum days wages of 81 80 and an in
crease of S. per month for station agents.
These demands also comprise provision
for equalizing the wages of the yard men
at Troy and Green island on the basis of
wages paid the same class of labor at
Schenectady and East Albany. Firemen
on six-wheel engines must receive az cents
a mile, and engineers on the same cents
On four wheel engines the engineers must
be paid 815 cents mile, and their firemen
2 cents for the same distance.
The switchmen Are the Kickers.
At a late hour last night Vice President
Webb stated that in the yards of the
Grand Central station at Forty-second
street, at Fifty-ninth street. and at West
Albany there were about $50 men out.
These were all switchmen. There was no
trouble with the engineers or firemen.
Between midnight and daylight he in
tended to put on men and clear the tracks
of few stray cars and get ready to run
out trains at an.
Called Out the Police Reserve.
The officials of the New York Central
have called upon Acting Superintendent
Byrnes, of the metropolitan police force,
for protection. In compliance with this
request the reserves in ell precincts on the
east side below Forty second street have
been ordered held in readiness for any
emergency. Above Thirty-second street
to Yonkers onsthe east side and on the
west side from st. Johns park to Yonkers
the police are on duty guarding the tracks
and property of the railroad company.
AT THE ALBANY END OF THE LINE.
The Strikers Preventing Engineers from
Running Trains.
ALBANY, n. Y, Aug. 9.-The men in the
West Albany shops of the New York Cen
trail and Hudson River Railroad company
were ordered out at o'clock last night.
This will cripple the road and little bust
ness can be done. At the headquarters of
General Superintendent Bissell at the
Union station a big policeman guarded