Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-07

RAILWAY union In US present struggle against the Pullman company and the rail- roads.
 VANDALISM BREAKS OUT.
 FREIGHT CARS AND CONTENTS BURNED
 AND SWITCHES TORN UP.
 CHICAGO, July 6.-Two hundred and twenty-five freight cars on the Pan Handle tracks between Fifth and Fifty ninth streets, distance of about one mile, were totally destroyed by fire between the hours of and O clock tonight.
 Shortly after 5 o clock this afternoon inn mense crowds of men, women and boys were seen coming from the stock yards to- wards the net work of tracks at the cross- ing of Forty-fiftn street. The mob was never ending stream of strikers and their sympa: h zers and about 6 o'clock fully 4000 people were massed along the tracks from Forty fifth street south. They were - the stock yards crowd, and the few police who remained on duty were utterly power less. They were not even noticed by the strikers, who went to W ork at once.
 cDown the tracks,'' was the cry, and with a rush the mob started southwark. Bunches of waste were stolen from switch mems shanties~ and soaked with the rdope" used in oiling the cars and made an excellent torch. At Forty second street five cars standing on the Grand Trunk track were the first to meet destruction. Some of them were loaded. Seals were broken and doors slid back. A bunch of burning waste thrown inside quickly ig- nited the con ntents and in less than three minutes the five cars were blazing hercely. Without waiting to see that their work was complete the crowd surged on. They kept to the Pan Handle tracks and at Forty ninth street came upon six more cars These were fired in & twinkling and on went the crowd.
 In the Garfield boulevard yards of the Pan Handle four tracks were full of freight cars, more than half of which were loaded. AL this crossing is located a switchman's 8 tower and this was first to be fired. The mob turned it's attention to the cars on the the sidings, but for some reason fired but one of them-a car of dressed beef, which had been started eastward several days ago. They suddenly stopped their incendia- rism and turned their attention 10 tearing up switches. After a numbers had been rendered useless the mob continued on it's way southWard.
 At Fifty eighth street is situated the sta tion house of the combined roads. This was fired and quickly destroyed. A strong wind was blowing and the flames were quickly spread across three or four tracks, which were filled with cars. The people which were loaded. All were soon mass of flames. About thirty of the cars were filled with coal and the heat was intense. Fifteen of the cars contained meat from the Dlk pdCkluR UOuseS Ol ATHOuT, SWllb anu Nelson Morris. By this time the fire de- partment had been advised of the fires fur ther north on the tracks and had sent their forces there. But on learning of the se- riousness of the situation at Fifty-eighth street they abandoned their fight further northward and came to the scene of the conf1agratioD, which promised to be se- rious.
 Upon the approach of the fire and police departments the mob turned about and s.to ta1f f1r thAa aykx Iafa t<1E rf., seventh street they set fire to all the cars they had missed on thelr trip souttward. No water could be obtained near the Gar field boulevard yards and the cars were slowly burned. It was noticed that the leaders of the mob were mostly foreigners, and as they retraced their steps a few of the. leaders, accompanied by hundreds, started off in the direction of the stock yards. There are $50 cars in the district now in possession of the mob, and it is possible that all will be destroyed by mid- night. A number of hoodlums were in the gang and they seemed especially proficient with the torch.
 The mob contin ued its work of destruc- ton on it's march to the stock yards. Both gangs again met at Forty ninth and Hal stead streets, and continued their march to the yards. The $50 cars in the yards were completely destroyed, and when the mob reached the stock yards they divided up into small gangs and separated among the
 
 worst is to come, and that the crazed mob will destroy the big packing houses during the night.
 On it's return march the rioters set fire to dour cars standing on the Grand Trunk tracks just west of Ashland avenue. The cars were loaded with baled twine. An alarm of fire was sent in from Forty ninth street and Ashland avenue, but it was sev- cral minutes before the firemen reached the scene. The overworked horses were so ex- hausted that it was with difficulty that they could be forced off a walk.
 The firemen in this district had re- sponded to nearly sixty calls during the past twenty-four hours, and as they reached the tracks they were received with jeers and curses by mob of Bohemians, Poles and Italians.
 The firemen succeeded in quenching the flames before the carswere completely de- stroyed, but had hardly reached the engine house again when they were called out from the same box. The mob had set fire to the cars again. This time the worn out fremen made but feeble efforts to extn- guish the blaze. At Q o'clock the cars had been reduced to ashes, and after destroying these cars tue mob disbanded into small gangs and started into the stock yards in n half dozen different directions. It is feared that the big packing houses of Armour, Swift, Morris and others will fail prey to mob violence during the night. T7
 At o'clock the Lake Shore sent ont a train to repair the tracks. At Forty-sev- enth street two men dropped from the train with the intention of repairing some switches which had been wrecked by the