Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-07-13
U. S. TROOPS AT CHICAGO.
But They DO Little Good-1iov. AItgeld
Asks Cleveland to Withdraw Them.


were called out TO aid in lifting the
blockade caused by the Pullman boy
colt their first objective point was
Blue Island, ILL.,, south of Chicago,
where the most serious embargo was
laid and where all endeavors TO move
trains had been balKed by the strikers.
One train had been derailed there and
other acts of violence had caused Blue
! Island to become a center of attrac-
! ton. When the first squad of troops
arrived there and read the injunction
of the T.. S. courts and the orders of
President Cleveland for the quelling
of the disturbance they were hooted
and ieered and could do nothing but
await rcinforcements. When more
! troops arrived the excitement Sim
mered down as the wicked-looling
! Calling and IIotchkiss guns had a
| very quoting effect. The troops had
no sooner left their train than two
coaches were deraiied and the engine
disabled by showing coupling pins into
the cross-head guides. However, the
troops managed to hold the turbulent
element at bay while the trains block
AIDED were moved and the situation
was somewhat improved. Every train
that moved was well supplied with
armed deputies.
Blue Island was not the only point
where the strikers were having their
own way. In fact they divided up into
so many mobs and blocked trains at SO
many points in Chicago that the troops
were soon found entirely insufficient.
! The opening of the way at Blue Island
had given the impression that all roads
would he enabled 10 resume at once
under the protection of the soldiers,
! but it was big mistake.
Instead of fleeing in fear before the
| faces of the veterans, as was expected
| they would do, the turbulent thou
sands surged about the soldiers, jeered
and hooted at them, stopping trains at
will, and generally rendering the en-
] barge in the military district more
| effective, if possible. than before. The
! thronCs of strikers dId not resist Uncle
| Sans police. Again and again when
there were thousands of them about n
train which il was sought TO move, and
on the track in front of it, they gave
way like water before the leveled bay
onets. Like water, too, they closed
in again at point just beyond. They
! turned switches, derailed freight ears
in front of the slow-moying train and
! played all sorts of railroaders tricks
with which the soldiers were unac-
quainted.
Great mobs gathered on the Lake
shore, Rock Island, Alton and Western
Indiana tracks and proceeded to OBJ
struct them by ovcrturning box cars,
breaking switches and the like. At
one point they set fire to a switch
tower and an interlocking switch box,
! though the flames were eXtinguished
before serious damage was done. In
two instances there was bloodshed.
On the Western Indiana tracks hard
pressed special policeman fired at his
pursuers, wounding "A striker in the
leg. On the Lake Shore road an officer
of that company in charge of train
which nc was endeavoring to force
through emptied his revolver point
/ blank into the massed strikers about
him, wounding two or three, il is be-
| lieved. He was saved from the fury of
the mob by his engineer, who put on
steam and ran back to the point of
starting.
Gov. Altgeld does not like the action
of Washington authorities in calling
out the L. ;. troops and sent lengthy
! telegram to President Cleveland in
which he says: The state of Illinois is
not only able TO take care of itself,
but il stands ready today to furnish
the federal government any assistance
IL may need elsewhere. Our military
force is ample and consists of as good
soldiers as can be found in the coun-
try. They have been ordered out
promptly whenever and wherever they
were needed. SO far as | have been
advised the local officials have been
able to handle the situation. But If
any assistance were needed the state
stood ready to furnish 100 men for
every one man required, and stood
ready 70 do so at a moments notice.
! Notwithstanding the facts the federal
government has been applied to by
men who had political and selfish
motives for wanting to ignore the
state government. Gov. Altgeld con-
tinued by saying that at present some
of our railroads are paralyzed, not by
reason of obstruction, but because they
cannot get men to operate their trains
For some reason they are anxious TO
keep this fact from the public, and for
this purpose are making an cutlery
about distractions in order TO divert
attention. He quotes two instances
which were investigated and showed
that the roads could not secure men
enough to man n train, with full pro
lection. lie denounces the most of
the newspaper stories about violence
and serious disturbances as pure fabri-
cations or wild exagerations, then turns
his attention to the statute under which
the u. :. troops were called out and says
it was passed in 1861 as war measure.
This statute authorized the use of fed
cral troops in state whenever II
shall be impracticable to enforce the
laws of the United States by the ordi-
nary judicial proceedings. Such a
condition does not exist in Illinois.
There have been few local disturb
ances, but nothing that seriously inter
fered with the administration of
Justice. or that could not be easily
controlled by the local or state author
tiles, for the federal troops can do
nothing that the state troops cannot
do. The governor then "gets up on
his ear" and says that the state OF
Illinois has been insulted by calling
out federal troops and he. as governor,
protests against it and asks the imme-
date withdrawal of federal troops