Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-10-18
HUMORIST BARBER.
A Funny Man Causes a Lot of
Trouble.
STRIVE ON THE SANTA Re RAILWAY

Brought on by a Telegraph Operator Who
Wanted a Joke Manager Sweet
Twelve Hours Wasted by the Pleasantly
The Strike Ordered or and the Joker
in. Danger of an Opportunity to Wonder
Where the Fun Comes In-The Missouri
Pacific Operators.
ST LOUIS, Oct. is - The railways
throughout the southwest were supposed
yesterday TO be on the verge of
what would probably prove to be the most
complete tie-up in recent years. Yesterday
dispatch reached Topeka purporting to
come from Chief Ramsey, of the telegraph
ers' order, calling out all the men on the
whole Santa Fe system as part of the strike
inaugurated Sunday on the Gulf, Colorado
and Santa Fe General Manager Robinson
in vain declared the dispatch bogus. The
men went out all the same The general
manager said the dispatch emanated from
a waggish ~ operator of Dodge City as
joke. But the strikers kept right on strik-
ing.
Produced . Document.
Then the general manager produced
proof of his correctness. He showed the
strikers another dispatch, purporting to
come this time from the cause of all the
trouble, III. NJ. Barber, Dodge City" This
humorist telegraphed that the strike
order was a fraud perpetrated by the said
Barber as a joke on Manager Sweet. The
strikers looked on this askance and wanted
to know what the manager took them for.
They insisted that Chief Ramsey's sigma
ture must be on any order they got before
they will obey the same. So the trains wre
all stopped and not wheel was running.
More Trouble Looming Up.
Such was the situation at Topeka. And
the possibilities was quite serious. Yester-
days tie-Up was only a beginning There
are 400 operators on the St. Louis and San
Francisco and 500 on the Atlantic and Pa
cific roads both of which are operated by
the santa Fe. The striking operators here
say that all of these will go out if the
troubles with the Gulf road are not adjnst-
ed. The Gulf road is not owned by the
Santa Fe, but it is operated by it under a
lease. General Manager Robinson is its
vice president Grand Chief Ramsey was in
this city, and said he had mo doubt Il at
the order TO strike at Topeka was genuine.
The deputy grand chief, f. s Tobey. has
charge of the Santa Fe matter
Dropped Work at Kansas City.
The Kansas City operators were as
prompt to quit work as those at Topeka.
1t was little after 10 a. m. that the Kan
sas City men received The message to go
of a surprise, but as soon each of them
wrote the word Ramsey" he took his hand
from his instrument and from that time
forth he was deaf to any business message
over his ticker. All he could hear was
when some brother operator called him up
to talk about the strike. There are twelve
operators in Kansas City-five at the freight
depot one on Union avenue, two at the
Chicago crossing, and the others in the
yards. At 1920 o'clock for all practical
purposes the lines along the Santa Fe were
as dead as though every one grounded.
Mixing with the Train Men.
At Denver there is already tie-up, the
result of a strike of train men. The opera
tors propose to "miX" and have announced
that unless their grievances are also at
tended to at once they will go out. And
the trainmen say that their case must soon
be attended to or they will have every man
in the transportation department of that line
the Rio Grande-out on strike. President
Jeffries invitation to the arbitrationcon-
mittee to meet him at Denver, he offering
a special car fromPueblo, has been scorned.
The men say that the president must con-
fer with them there, although he is known
60 be seriously i'll.
Was Bogus After All.
AT $40 last night the following message
was received at Topeka, bringing the strilzeto
a sudden termination. 1t is dated: Emporia,
Kas., Oct. Il, and addressed TO all opera
tors and despatchers:
"The message dated Galveston, Tex Oct
is, signed d. c. Ramsey has been proven to
be a bogus message All members will re-
turn to work on receipt of this message.
This does not apply to men on the Gulf, Colo
RADIO and Santa Fe.
"D. G. RAMSEY. Grand Chief,
u. d. SOMER, Chairman"
The men all returned to work