The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-08-19
A GREAT DRAMA CLOSED,
Injunction Against the A. R. U.
Strikers Finally With.
drawn.
An Action Which Was Authorized by
the Attorney.General of the
United States.

The last act in the great drama in which
two years ago the members of the Ameri-
can Railway Union in Alameda County
and the National Guard OF California
played important parts came to con-
cluslon in the United States Circuit Court
in this City yesterday afternoon. While
the fall of the curtain on the local portion
of the long drawn out struggle was moi
accompanied by any striking scene, the
event of yesterday was not without sig.
nificance and interest, because the only
suit still outstanding was formally with
drawn.
All the criminal suits were disposed o.
some time ago, but there still hung over
the head of Thomas ]. Roberts and, pre-.
! sumptively, Eugene V. Debs and Other
officers and members of the A. R. o.
vino took an active and prominent
part in the great strike and tie-up, an in
junction which forbade them to interf re
in any way with railroad trains which
carried the mails of the United States, etc
This WAS only a temporary injunction
but it has possessed sufficient vitality &c
survive, in a soft of moribund condition
ever since the summer OF 1894, when the
strike was in actual and daily progress.
Thomas J. Roberts was at the time oil
the strike the president of the Oakland
branch OF the American Railway Union,
and as such headed the movement i'll Ala
media County. The injunction was made
to read against Eugene F. Debs, Thomas
j. Roberts ct al, but as matter of fact
service was never made on any person
other than Roberts. Injunctions which
were issued by the United States courts in
other parts of the country were also
directed against Debs, so that there was
no necessity for service upon him in the
tenn porary injunction issued here. The
suit was instituted at the instance and
upon the order OF Attorney General Olney.
1t was begun while Charles A. Garter was
United States District Attorney.
When United States District Attorney
Foote came into Office, succeeding Mr..
Garter, he filed re plication to the answer of
the defendants, thus making up the
record, but the case has never gone any
further, reposing quietly for many months
in the calendar of the United States Cir
cult Court.
Some time ago Mr.. Foote wrote to the
United States Attorney General in refer
ence to this matter. He says that he has
not entertained any intention to push the
proceedings, and he so informed Mr.. Rob
erts when the latter called upon him to
make inquiries about the status OF the
case some two or three months ago.
In writing to the Attorney General Mr..
Foote suggested the advisa Dility of with
drawing the injunction from the calendar
where, under all the circumstances, it
could serve no useful purpose. The At
torney-General has apparently taken the
same view of the suit. A letter was
received from him by Mr.. Fooie yesterday
afternoon. Just before the adjournmento OF
the United States Circuit Court Mr.. Foote
made the motion to dismiss the order and
this was promptly granted, so that all the
A. r. U. litigation here on account of the
strike of 1894. bearing upon the strikers, is
now formally withdrawn or dismissed.