People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-08-19
STRIKING SWITCHMEN.
They Become Very Disorderly at
Buffalo and Burn Trains.
a Passenger Train Derailed, Other Trains
Burned and General Riotous Conduct
Every Means Resorted to to Win
70 Very Serious Outlook. .f......
Strike on the Erie.

Strike on the Erie.
BUFFALO, N. Y, Aug. 15.-The strike
of Erie & Lehigh Valley switchmen is
serious Riot and incendiarism mark
its tidal wave.
Property belonging to the railroad
com any has been destroyed by incen-
diary fires, men engaged in the peace
full performance of their duties in the
company's service have been assaulted
and sent to the hospitals, the movement
of trains has been seriously interfered
with and the lives of innocent persons.
who were in no way connected with
the strike and had not even heard of it
have been endangered by the derailment
of a passenger train on one of the roads.
There had been more or less trouble
Saturday between the strikers and their
sympathizers and the men who are do
ing the strikers work and few desul-
tory assaults had occurred. Things be-
ganto put on more serious aspect at 3
o'clock yesterday morning, .'Then a
series of incendiary fires broke out
simultaneously in the Lehigh Valley
yards. Eighteen or twenty freight
cars filed with wool, cottons,hay and
various other merchandise, two passen-
ger coaches and two watchmen's houses
were burned among the cars of mer-
chandse. 1t took the hose from
three carts to reach the flames
from the nearest hydrant The fire.
Een, however, prevented the destruc-
ton of great number of cars and the
loss Of hundreds Of thousands of dollars
worth of property The cars destroyed
were in the midst of great number of
other cars. The iremen uncoupled
number of cars and removed them from
danger A dozen or so of cars were
thrown from the Lehigh tracks and
similar number from the Erie by mis-
placed switches.
The first intlmation of anything
wrong was when the coal cars were set
loose and demolished the water tank.
Then the fires broke out simultaneously.
Capt Writ, of the Eleventh precinct,
put force of a dozen officers in the
yard as soon as the alarm was given,
but they were unable to find anv sus-
picious characters
That briefly is what had happened
up to daylight But that was only the
beginning. The strikers or their
sympathizers have pulled pins, turned
switches and driven off crews. One was
assaulted at 3 o'clock, two others at II
and another later One man was as
saulted at the Western New York &
Pennsylvania crossing. He was on his
way for the wrecker at the time and
was turning a switch. The strikers
had turned switches and thrown six
cars from his train before that. lie
was struck on the head and when taken
to the hospital was completely dazed
and did not know what had occurred.
One of the most cowardly things done
was the throwing of switches under
passenger train No. II at William
street at 7:SO last evening. Two pas
senger coaches were derailed, but no
body was hurt, though many were
badly frightened. Fifty men boarded
passenger train No. at II o'clock this
morning, driving the employees off. The
crew finally succeeded in getting the
train to the station. The mob took
possession of the Seneca street switches
three or four times during the day and
drove off the signal men.
In the Lehigh yards at Cheektowaga
the scenes of the previous night were
repeated. 1t is plainly intimated by
the Erie officials that workmen from the
east have been engaged to take the
places of the strikers. Three stalwart
policemen were stationed in the hall
way leading to the superintendent Of
fee to-day.
The strikers say they are determined
to win the fight and say that the roads
are losing heavily by not having men to
perform the work Of the strikers. They
say the Erie is demoralized by the
strike and that every sidetrack on the
Buffalo division is completely blocked.
Two trains of freight cars on sidinps
at Cheektowaga, the railroad suburb of
Buffalo, were burned last night The
Lehigh Valley called on the sheriff
for protection and he sent six deputies
to the scene. The police have yards in
seven out of eleven precincts in the city
to guard and all reserves are called out.
The strike has extended to Waverly
and Sayer on the Lehigh, and all
freight traffic on that line is at a stand
still. A train of beef stands on an Erie
siding there, the switchmen refusing to
allow it to be switched to the Lehigh
tracks The division superintendent
OF the Lehigh has telegraphed to
Oswego for the sheriff to come to
his aid, although the men are making
no demonstration. To-day it is ex-
peeted the Erie men will also go out
and then all traffic through these towns
will be at a standstill The men are
non-communicative and their future
movements are unknown.
Word was received at o'clock this
morning that train Of forty-two cars
on the Erie road filed with fine mer-
| chandise a mile cast Of Williams rtraot