Griggs courier., 1892-08-19

DISORDER At BUFFALO
! switchmen Strike. and Resort to violence
\ -Accused Of IncentiiaEism.
BUFFALO. N. Y, Aug. 16.-There Il
no further Disgusting the fact that the
strike OF the Erie and Lehlgh Valley
switchmen is a serious matter. Whether
it would have proved so very serious to
I the railroads to have $50 or 200 men
leave their posts of duty without warn-
ing is not now the question. Property
belonging to the railroad company
has been destroyed by incendiary
fires; men engaged IN the peaceful per-
Torrance of their duties haYe. been as
saulted and sent to the hospitals; the
movement of trains has been seriously.
! interfered with, and the lives of inno-
cent persons who were in no way con-
even heard of it have been endangered
by the derailment of q passenger train
on one of the roads.
There had been more or less trouble
Saturday between the strikers and
their sympathlzers and the men who
were doing the strikers work, and Q
few desultory assaults had occurred.
Things began to put on q
more serious aspect at Q o'clock
Sunday morning, when seriea
of incendiary fires broke out
simultaneously in the Lehigh valley
yards. Eighteen or twenty freight
cars, filed with wool, cotton, hay and
various other merchandise, two passen-
ger coaches and two watchmen's houses
were burned. The fires occurred at
places where the fremen could not sue
cessfully stay the flames on account of
an absence of water, besides the diff
Guilty of access to the fres The water
tank adjacent to the coal trestles was
smashed and an engine that was taking
water there was wrecked by string Of
runaway coal cars that had been turned
loose from the trestle.
Fire was discovered in the east bound
yards, east of Dingen street. Here q
little Office building and two or three
freight cars were destroyed. At this
time Yardmaster, Mead discovered
flames in two passenger coaches used
for the conveyance of workmen and
turned in an alarm from William and
Dingen streets.
In the yards east of Dingen street
fire ragged among the cars of merchan-
disc. 1t took the hose from three carts
to reach the flames from the nearest
hydrant. The firemen, however, pre-
vented the destruction of great
number of cars and the loss of
perhaps hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of property. The cars
destroyed were in the midst of great
number of other cars. The firemen un-
coupled number of cars and removed
them from danger. A dozen or SO cars
were thrown from the Lehigh tracks
and similar number from the Erie by
misplaced switches.
The first intimation of anything
wrong was when the coal cars were set
loose ind demolished the water tank.
Then the fires broke out simulta-
neously. Capt. Wurtz, of the Eleventh
precinct, put q force of a dozen officers
In the yard as soon .as the alarm was
given. The officers were unable to find
any suspicious characters
Three men are at the hospital badly
hurt One was assaulted at 8 o'clock
Sunday morning, two others ut II and
another at Sunday afternoon. The
man who was assaulted at the West
ern New York & PENNSYLVANIA
crossing was on his way for the
wrecker at the time and was turn
ing switch. The strikers had turned
switches and thrown six cars from his
train before that He was struck on
the head and when. he was taken to the
hospital was completely dazed and did
not know what had occurred. One of
the men was assaulted at the passenger
station and two at William street.
One of the most -cowardly things done
was the throwing of switches under
passenger train No. II at William street
at 7:so o'clock Sunday night Two
passenger coaches were thrown from
the track, but the conductor does not
think any body was hurt, though many
were badly frightened.
Fifty men boarded passenger train
No. 3at II o'clock Sunday morning and
molested the employees, driving them
off. The crew finally succeeded in get
ting the tt ain 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.
Two trains of freight cars standing
on sidings at Cheektowaga, the rail-
road suburb, of Buffalo, were burned
Sunday night The Lehigh Valley has
called on the sheriff for protection. He
sent six deputies to the scene and will
swear in more this morning. The po-
lice have yards in seven out of eleven
precincts in the, city to guard and all
the reserves are called out.
The strikers say they are determined
to win the fight and they assert the
roads are losing heavily by not having
men to perform the work of the
strikers. They say the Erie is thor
oughly demoralized on account of the
strike and that every side track on the
Buffalo division is completely blocked.
ELMIRA, N. Y, Aug 15.-The strike