Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-08-23
GRAND MASTERS
 CONFER TO-DAY
They Hold in Their Hands the Fate of the Switch
 mems Strike.
CHIEF SARGENT SAYS FlREMEN WILL
 NOT GO IN ALONE.

Switchmen Join the Other Strikers Vice
 President Webb Goes Home--SeveraI
 Men Wounded d Early This Morning in 8
 Fight Between Soldiers and Strikers--A
 General Tie Up Not Looked For--All De-
 bends on the Meeting To-Day.
 BUFFALO, N. Y., Aug. 23.-The eleventh day of the switchmen's strike is here, and though the refusal of the Western New York and Pennsylvania men yester- day afternoon to handle freight received from the Central was emphasized by 65 men quitting work, it is not believed much increased vitality is shown by this action. True enough, the official ending may be delayed yet another 24 hours, for no one expects Grand Master Sweeney to make an official declaration of failure until af- ter the conference of the chiefs of the leading orders, which will be held some time to-day.
 A general strike of all the allied organi- zatlons of railroad employees is, u ere fore the one and only conundrum yet to be solved, and if a negative decision is reached the strike of 1892 will vanish from view as factor of interest to the general public of the country.
 Even should Sargent and Sweeney act together, it is safe to assume that Chief Arthur, of the engineers, and Grand Mas ter Clark, of the conductors, will both be against action that will involve their re- spective bodies in any other position than that of conservatism, for which their record is proven.
 Hence, if the conference consists of five members and maj ajority vote is to rule, it is possible that the attitude of Grand Master s. E. Wilkinson, of the trainmen, may be the deciding factor. It is thought, however, that his natural position will be on the side of the engineers and con ductors.
 Beyond the daily instances of malicious annoyance, to which the men now busy moving trains have been subjected since operations were resumed under protec- tion, the railroads are doing a fairly nor nal amount of traffic. At least they are doing as much as they can probably ac- complish with green men.
 So far all efforts to capture the train wreckers who tried to throw Erie express train No. 1 from the track eight miles east of Alden, Saturday night, and partly succeeded, have proven fruitless. Supt. Brunn has been investigating the case and to United Press reporter early this morning, he said:
 Ut was a dastardly piece of work and am sure it was the work of strikers.
 
 railing our trains ? Not tramps, surely. Not anybody not interested in seeing men beat us in a labor conflict because the | stockholders of this road like to operate | as they think best. I believe strikers are responsible for the work and we intend to | find out.
 -Four attempts were made to wreck our , trains last week, and the last one, Satur- | day night, almost succeeded in throwing z c--. 1 an embankment. That train was running | fifty miles an hour, and to have derailed l it meant a terrible loss of life. Fortunate | ly engineer Wyman had presence of mind enough when he found his engine off the rails to apply the air brakes and thereby prevented the coaches from being over | turned. It is a miracle no lives were | lost
 NIr Webb of the Central was seen at | the station just as he was about to board a train for New York. He has performed his mission to Buffalo and goes away with | the feeling that the strike is ended, so | far as the Central is concerned at any l rate.
 | Everything is satisfactory with us" | he said, smiling. "Our trains are run l ming on time and no trouble is expected. | As to the switchmen we have now, they | are good men; many of them are eXperi- l
 II don't think it possible that a gener- al strike will take place" said Mr. Webb, l "and that question is not worth discuss l ing. 1 can't see that these kindred | organizations have any grievance, at least not on our road. No, do not think it even probable that they will strike"
 ''Would you meet the issue in the same l way if it came as in the case of the | swift chmenf'
 l There can be no answer to that ques- | tiOn because 1 do not think a general strike will take place. All can say now is that we are moving our freights regu- larly under proper protection" | In the military situation there is not likely to be any material change before tomorrow, for in spite of the talk about sending troops away, there still seems to be plenty of picket duty to be performed ill protecting the supposed exposed points on the more than 800 miles of the tracks within the city limits, to say nothing of the coal trestle of the Lehigh and Lacka- wanna in Cheektowaga, two or three | miles from the eastern limits
 The homeward move may be expected as soon as the conference on the tapis is concluded, unless it should happen that a general strike is ordered. Such q con clusion seems illogical, however, from the very character of the leaders, who l the men. Grand Master Sweeney, of the Switchmen, will probably not order switchmen out at other points without he is sure of the support of the other organi- cations.
 | General consternation was thrown into the switchmen's camp last night by the arrest of Joseph Heimerle, the recording secretary and treasurer of Buffalo Lodge, No. 39, of tine Switchmen'si Mutual Aid | 1a is aH ne one of the most powerful men in the or ganization, and so far during the strike he has acted as leader of the men when Grand Master Sweeney and Master Mori- arity were busy arranging for conferences with the railroads and State Board of Ar bitration and looking after the hundred odd things that demanded their atten- G,, Il.
 | te is accused by the railroads of as saulting their green hands, of threatening them with violence if they did not join forces and with interfering with passen- Il n,,A fraSfr V11,s N.1