Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-08-10
THE STRIKE OF 1877.
MUCH MORE VIOLENT THAN ANY
OTHER.

tory Repeats Itself I'm Some Par
| ticulars.
Peoples memories are short. 1t il
common to see the statement that the
great railway strike was unprecedcnt.
ed, and that the violence and disorder
which attended it were never before
equalled. This is all nonsense. All
great strikes are accompanied by more
or less violence. This is one of their
most unfortunate features. This one
has been no exception to the rule, but
when the number engaged in it is
considered, it makes an exceedingly
favorable comparison with other
strikes. Indeed it has been quite
peaceable in comparison to the big
coal strike. Compared to the great
railway strike of 1877 it has been
a rough frolic. The Springfield Re.
publican recalls the events of the
strike of 1877 as follows:
A brief review OF the leading events
of July, 1877, will duly bear out this
claim. The strike of that year began
on July IA on the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad, and within three days the
militia OF West Virginia was in the
field, while within four days the
United States regulars had gone to
their assistance. On the 30th the
Maryland militia was called out and
in riot in the streets of Baltimore
the soldiers killed nine and wounded
~ or 80 more. On the same day the
strike burst upon Pittsburg, where the
most terrible scenes were to be enacted,
in comparison with which nothing in
our history can be mentioned. The
mob there defied all authority, and on
the 2lst the sixth division OF Pennsyl-
vania militia arrived to maintain
order.
Marching through the streets the
soldiers were stonedby the mob, and
their answering volleys killed sixteen
and wounded many more. The mob
then broke into the gun shops and
some 5000 returned fully armed to do
battle with the raw and iil-trained
militia. The troops retreated to a
railroad round-house and there the
mob, now grown 10000 strong, at
tackled them. Three or four cannons
had been obtained, and these the mob
trained on the round Unable
to dislodge the soldiers, whose answer
ing shots were occasionally fatal, the
mob ran blazing oil cars up against
the round-house in the endeavor to set
it on fire. These tactics were tried in
various ways, the accompaniment be-
ing a saturnalis OF fire and destruction
of railroad property wherever it could
be found. Finally, the militia were
forced TO retreat from their furnace
like fortress, and, escaping across the
Allegheny river, under fire OF the
rioters, they disbanded in wretched
humiliation. The mob was now su-
preme in Pittsburg. Depots were
burned together with 1000 freight
cars and 125 locomotives, and thous-
ands of the inhabitants gave way to
the mad spirit of plunder. Between
$S,OOO,000 and $l0,OOO,OO0 worth of
railroad property was destroyed. The
entire militia of Pennsylvania and
400 regulars under General Hancock
were at last on the scene, but too late
to be of much service.
The outbreak at Pittsburg was so
extreme that the troubles Of that en-
tire month have come to be known
in q general way as the Pitts
burg riots; yet, as a matter of fact,
the field Of disturbance spread over the
entire country from New York to
San. Francisco. 1t is impossible to
trace the strikes in chronological order
or in detail, but mention of some i'm
portant events will suffice to indicate
the range of the convulsion. In
collision between the militia and
mobs at Buffalo and Reading, II riot
ers were killed and 43 were seriously
wounded. In Chicago, on July 26,
there was All encounter between the
police and the mob more sanguinary
than any like encounter during the
past few days, in which 19 were killed
and many wounded. In st. Louis a
great mob surrounded the quarters
of the militia and police aud dared
them to fire. In San Francisco q
huge mob took possession of the city,
and on the same day of the Chicago
riot a bloody battle took place be.
tween the rioters and the reorganized
vigilants under ex-Goyernor Coleman,
to whose courage was due the preser.
vation of Mob Hill from fire and
plunder. In New York great meet
ing was held to express sympathy with
the strikers everywhere, but there was
no violent outbreak in that city. At
Columbus. o., a mob forcibly closed
all mills and industries, and in many
other places through the field of dis
turbance all industry came to a stand
still. Fully 10000 men were on
strike, and at st. Louis, Chicago,
Indianapolis, as we'll as at Eastern
cities. there was complete embargo
on the railroads. Some 6,OOO to 1000
miles of road were at one time or
another in the hands of strik ers, and
to name the companies "tied up
would require much space in this
paper.
When it was all overland it passed
with the suddenness of tornado-the
militia of nearly dozen States had
been in the field in cooperation with
the United States army; between SO