The San Francisco call., 1897-12-09

He was being soaked" all right enouob
anu would have been pitched downstajrs
into q basement IN another minute mad
not pOlicen an come to his aid and scat
tered his assailanfs
Inc lnclpient riot occurred at the cor
ner Sutter and Kearnv streets. shortly
after noon yesterday. Itwas the result of
strike OF 80 boys in the San Francisco
District Messenger service. The one boy
who did not join the strike was Frank f.
PoIk, and when he left the Office al 20
Sutter street on n errand he was setupon
oy hoHhng mob of juveniles and Sc
VereIy beaten before the police could res
cue him.
1he strike was short-lived and ended in
complete victory for the strikers in little
more than an hour after il begun The
trouble was due to Manager John Corcoran
OF the Sutter-street office and il has beer
brewing for some time
us dis way" said Sergeant kid"
Lewis the spokes man of the bows yester-
gay III mere Corcoran is no good. He's
always lumpin' on de bows an finin' us
.e1 nothln' a all. WY, If we comes into de
once Wit our coats unbuttoned, Corcoran
HneS US quarter Bein' five minutes late
means another quarter or half, lust as
he happens 10 1eei, an at de end NV de
mont we gets about two dollars for our
work. One kid he soaked a half cause he
couldn't go from 200 Sutter street TO 9I2
Market in tree minutes.
Ell, Corcoran's work got so raw we
couldn't stan fer it emmy longer. so we
got all de kids n de service Ter SIAN in
wit US and we struck at noon to-day. All
lie gang from de offices ut Pine and Mont
gomery, 9l2 Market, 5 Go.den Gate an
$40 Post comes down ter our Cffice at 200
SuIter. and We gives Corcoran big isff
de only boy wot wouldn't STAN in wit
rs wos dis mug Polk, who wocked from
New ork an pu he'd wheelbarrow ali
de way. Purity soon after be refused TO
message, an say, We didn't do q ting to
MIN. We nailed i'm at de corner, an
on'y fur de cop guess we'd a killed i'm
L guess he'd rather be in Cheyenne wild
his wheelbarrow dan go up against dis
gang again"
Has the strike ended yet2''
la y. We won In walk. Wen de
gangs from de other Offices got here we
sent word TO Superintendent Ackerman
an told i'm he'd have to fire Corcoran be-
fore we'd go back 10 work. Ackerman
kicked al first, but We had de kids rom de
other com panies an all dc newsboys
standin' in wit US, so he couldn't help
hlsself, an little after o clock he TOP
Corcoran to strap on his skates an git an
Ter us ter come back an be good boys"
was CoTcoran's harshness your only
grievance?"
We'll, we got another kick, but don't
see how we Can help oLrse.ves just yet.
lou see all dc messenger companies keep
a black list, and when a KIDS fired from
one its ali day with him, fer none Oh lie
oder companies Will hire nim. Mebby
some day We can make 'em stop de black
ilsl, put we amt ready to make fight on
ii yet"
1t was well along in the afternoon be-
lore the excitement died away in the
vicinity OF the messenger office st 200 SUIT
ter street and the sympathizers of the
boys scattered. During the strike the
messengers were augmented by large
numDer OF boys who had previously been
IN the service. and these latter were most
actlVe In their efforts to help along the
strikers. Manager Corcoran was bom-
barded with voileys OF groans, misses and
catcails, and when lie finally left the
Office he was followed some distance by a
jeering crowd.
Superintendent Ackerman was at first
inclined 10 transfer Corcoran 10 another
office, as TIE latter has proved a most ef-
ticient manager, but when it was shown
that all Tho boys in the service were in re-
belIion it was deemed advisable TO remove
the manager from the control OF the
messengers.
Ex-Manager Corcoran denies in toto all
charges of undue harshness. Hs says
that he simply lried 10 maintain disc-
pine In the interests of the company.
Flank Polk the lone messenger to re-
main with the company, arrived two
weeks ago from New York. He is an in
youth of about Is years and he |