The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-15
THEOLD STRIKE LEADERS
ALL ARE NOW IN DEEP OBLIVION,
WHETHER LIVING OR DEAD.
The List Includes Irons, Sweeney,
Connolly, O'DOnneII and Others
-RatchfOrd's Prospects.

-RatchfOrd's Prospects.
New York Press.
M. D. Ratchford, the head of the big coal
miners strike. IS a Napoleon just nova
leader of men. His name appears daily in
the newspapers. His picture is to be seen
everywhere The power he possesses over
thousands of his fellows is as autocratic in
its way as that of a great military general.
He is on top of the wave, applauded and
blindly obeyed by his fellows and feared
by those to whose interests he is opposed.
But unless the lessons of the great strikes
of the past are in this instance to be dis
proved8 Mr.. RatchfOrd's prominence will
be of short duration even if the strike be
won. The history of the labor movement
in the United States is strewn with the
wrecks of born leaders of men, who have
organized great uprisings like the present
strike. generate them to victory or defeat
and then sunk to utter oblivion Perhaps
the most striking case of this sort was
that of Martin Irons, the leader of the
strike on the Gould Southwest system in
1886. Not so many men were under him as
are now striking in the coal regions, but
his power was even more absolute than
Ratchford's, and by reason of the impor-
lance of the Southwest system and its
connections with other railroads his name
was known even better than the present
strike leaders. The knights of Labor, then
of really vast numerical strength, and of
which Irons was a prominent member,
hailed him as one whose word might bring
about an industrial revolution. He was in
vited to come East to confer with Jay
+l,a nf
Pacific, and they treated him with the con-
sideratiOn his seeming Importance war
ranted.
HIS FOLLOWERS DESERTED HIM.
But the strike was a failure, and when
the wheels of the Southwest" system were
all turning again Martin Irons found it
| impossible to secure employment anywhere
in spite of the fact that he was an expert
| mechanic. His wife had died while the
struggle was on and his home was desolate.
| The men for whom he had sacrificed every
| thing, with many Of whom he was decided
| ly unpopular because he had at the first
| opposed the strike, turned from him unan-
| imously in his hour of need. Then he went
| to his old home at Rosedale, near Kansas
| City, but he could find nothing there, and
| he finally settled down TO the occupation OF
| selling peanuts and candy and odds and
| ends from a stand in the old French mar
ket at st. Louis, worn, whte-haired man,
! aged before his time. Later he developed
| tendencies which covered his name with
| shame and need not be further alluded to
here.
The case of the late Mr.. Frank Sweeney
is typical of the plight of the strike leader
who fails. AS many strikes of magnitude
fail, and their leaders with them, the latter
individuals invariably are the under dogs
when the wOrkmen get their feet again. 1t
may be through no fault of the leader that
the strike failed, but that makes no differ
The of the unsuccessful leader.
to use a we'll understood phrase, is Mud.
Frank Sweeney, of Chicago, was grand
master of the Swtchmen's Union in 1892
when the strike was on in Buffalo. which
called out nearly the entire National Guard
of New York State. He conducted the
strike with no greater, perhaps 10 less than
the usual ability. When he called it off the
feeling against him was strong He was
accused of having sold out the cause.-the
same charge that was laid to John Mcbride
when president of the United Mine Work
ers when the mine strike of 1894 resulted in
a compromise.
John Quinn, chairman. Of the grievance
committee on the Nickelplate Railway,
pitched into Sweeney at the corner of swan
and Main streets. Buffalo, day or two
after the strike ended. Sweeney was hit
hard in the face. pounded and kicked. The
day following Sweeney went to his home
in Chicago. The next fall he was defeated
for reelection as grand master He died
of consumption a year ago in March.
The big street-car strike of 1886 was di-
rected by Andrew Best, for whose services
the strikers of New York were indebted to
Brooklyn. He played we'll his part, and
then returned to obscurity across the East
river
John McKenna tried to direct one of the
'longshoremen's strikes in New York. When
the strike failed he went into politics. He
joined the United Labor party and stayed
with that organization as long as there was
any chance that it might get at the reins of
in that direction fell through McKenna
joined Tammany Hall, and was appointed
to q cerkship in the registers office. He
died three four
James H. MCGEE, master workman of d.
A. No. 229, engineered the surface railway
strike.
Who nowadays hears of O'Donnel and
Dempsey. the leaders of the great Home
stead strike? After they had served their
time for completely in the poisoning of the
new workmen at Homestead they dropped
out of the world apparently.
CONNOLLY'S DISEASED BRAIN.
Master Workman Connolly. who led the
big street-car strike of 1895 in Brooklyn, is
another labor leader whose lightest word
was for weeks listened for by thousands
who was sought at all hours of the day and
night by reporters and who fondly believed
himself able successfully to cope With the
existing order of things. For a time he
made a stir. Even before the strike was
called off he was being treated for abscess
on the brain. Now no one seems to know
anything about him.
James Graham, who led the big strike on
the ,Ihird-avenue horse car line in 1888 was
another. So far as New York is concerned
he was one of the best known strike eadL
ers of the last quarter century He was
master workman of the Kings County Sur
face Railroad Mems District Assembly X
of L., and was invited to come to New
York to conduct the struggle. He organized
mis- forces with cOnSummate skill, and the
boycott placed on the Thlrd-avenue line was
one of the most successful in the entire
local history of labor movements 1t lasted
fully two years, and was accompanied by
the formation of a corporation to operate
an omnibus line in opposition to the Third
avenue cars.
The Knights of Labor here stood by Ora
ham much better than usual, for they sub
scribed in great numbers to the s. shares
of stock in the omnibus company. They
also rallied to his support politically and
sent him to the Assembly on the Tammany
ticket, but he failed TO retain his grip as
a legislator. the omnibus line became bank
rupt. and where he is now or whether he
is still alive even, few persons in New
York know.
1t was the same with Jerry Murphy who
led the freight handlers strike in Jersey
City that created so much excitement a
few years ago, while the name even Of the
leader of the big lOngshoremens strike of
1888, which cOnVulsed New York as few
strikes ever have, is entirely forgotten
Joseph BarOndess, leader of the cloak
makers. may come to the front again and
so may Meyer Shoenfeld, leader of the
Brotherhood of Tailors but both Of these
men have suffered from the strikes they
engineered out of all proportion To the good
the strikes accomplished for those VINO