Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-07-19
AUDUBON, IOWA, THURSDAY, JULY 10, Iso

mined to burn them out. The sur
rounding tracks were filled with cars
loaded with various combustibles.
These were pushed singly toward the
doomed building. Loaded oil cars were
set in motion and the torch applied.
Car after car was ignited, swelling the
bosom of flame which now surrounded
the Imprisoned militia. The sight in.
tensified the frenzy Of the mob and the
incendiary's torch temporarily sup
planted the gun. An alarm brought
out the fire department, but the rioters,
massed in overwhelming numbers,
would not permit the firemen to work.
METHOD IN THEIR MADNESS.
| All this destruction, while increas-
ing the peril of the soldiers, did not fire
the roundhouse. Finally a section of
the mob secured car loaded with coke
On this they poured large quantities of
petroleum, ignited it and pushed the
car against the roundhouse. The
building was soon on fire and the SOL
dlers prepared to cut their way through
the surrounding mob. At o'clock in
the morning the soldiers made sortie
and routed the mob. This, however
did not improve their position. Hasti.
ly forming on Liberty street, they
started for the United States arsenal
hoping to secure protection there. AL.
most every foot of the route was con-
tested by the mob. The soldiers were
fired upon from buildings and every
cross street, and at their heels crowded
thousand maddened and armed men
Admission to the arsenal was refused
by the commandment, because of insult.
licient force to defend the place. The
militia then split up into small squads
and retreated out of the city by diff
ferent routes and finally escaped the
mob's vengeance. Five soldiers were
killed during the retreat.
ENORMOUS LOSSES.
During Saturday night and Sunday
the incendiaries burned railroad build
ings and rolling stock valued at So, 900,
600, and the taxpayers of the county in
which Pittsburg is situated subsequent
ly paid 100000 to liquidate the loss
The strike spread to Chicago and
precipitated several furious assaults
on the police, July "a and 25, resulting
in the loss Of several lives. Two weeks
thereafter order was restored through,
out the country. The strike was a
thing of the past, with record of at
least 100 lives lost.
The first federal report on strikes
was made in 1880. Mr.. Joseph d.
Weekes, statistician, reported 1852
strikes for the preceding year. The re-
port for 1887 states that between the
years 1895 and 1880 there occurred al
together 1,491 strikes of importance
and large number of smaller ones.
From 1880 to 1886 inclusive 24,51s
strikes occurred, involving 22,3O4 es-
Establishments and 1925, 203 men. OF
these 1900 occurred in 1886, causing a
loss of $2,S5S, l91 in wages and about
$S,OO0000 to the fifty-eight firms in
volyed. The total loss to the strikers
in these is placed by the government
at S51,Sl4,743. Employers also lost
enormously. .
THE IyNInIIu,c ~ ARr A HAM
The first great strike of the Knights
of Labor, then in the zenith of its
growth, occurred in March, 1886. The
order undertook to boycott the cars of
the Texas & Pacific system, which was
then in the hands of a receiver. Owing
to the general hostility to Jay Gould
and his methods, the strikers received
general sympathy and encouragement
at first, but after the Missouri Pacific
had suspended the running of trains
for several days and distress began to
be manifest in dependent industries,
public sentiment veered around and
the boycott was soon demoralized.
Four fifths of the strikers lost their
situations.
The next great strike of the knights
of Labor began on the Philadelphia &
Reading system, December 20, 1887.
Three thousand men went out to en-
force a demand for recognition of the
order by the company. The battle was
lost, the places of the strikers being
filled by other men. The glass work
ers' general strike of that year lasted
$50 days and caused loss of $4,000
in wages. Philadelphia, Pittsburg and
other cities were involved.
THE BURLINGTON STRIKE.
The most important and most dis
astrous strike undertaken by the Bro
therhood of Locomotive Engineers in
recent years was that on the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy system In 1888.
Repeated efforts had been made by the
engineers to secure scale of wages
nearly equal to the rate paid by COM
peting roads, and several months were
wasted in fruitless negotiations. An
ultimatum was finally delivered to the
officers of the company notifying them