New-York tribune., 1899-05-19
LAKE BUSINESS TTfREA TENED.
THE STRIKE AT BUFFALO REACHES
CRITICAL STAGE.
BISHOP oUIGLEY's EFFORTS REPUDIATED =
MASS s-MEETING OF THREE THOUSAND
MEN ELEVATOR AND DOCK
OWNERS AROUSED.


OWNERS AROUSED.
Buffalo. May 1s.-The possibility Of an early
settlement Of the dock strike was removed this
afternoon. and tonight the end of the trouble
is apparently further off than ever before.
The grain shovelIers have once more declared
their intention of refusing to return TO work
until the contract between the Lake Carriers
Association and Mr. Conners Is abrogated. The
situation is a peculiar one. Yesterday bsnop
Ouigley advised the men to accept the terms
offered by Contractor Conners, and TO noid
themselves in readiness to go to work when he
gave the word The Bishop also warned them
to hold no more meetings. To-day st. Brldget
Hall the headquarters of the strikers. which is
owned by the Catholic Church. was closed ana
locked by order of the Bishop. This afternoon.
notwithstanding the fact that at least ~ per
cent Of the strikers are Of the Roman Cathohc
religion a large number Of grain shovciiers pup
lcly repudiatei the Bishop, refusing TO accept
his advice. and removed their headquarters u
Fillmore Hall.
Shortly after 3 o'clock this afternoon over
one thousand grain shovellers formed In line IN
frcnt Of ST. Bridgets Hall, and marched TO Fill
more Hall. where they were joined by ABOUT
two thousand striking freight handiers ana
the union was summoned When Mcmahon
appeared the men voted unanimously to refuse
to work while Mr. Conners holds the contract.
and a committee was appointed TO reopen direct
negotiations with the Lake Carriers Associa-
ton.
Resolutions were adopted dscharging the
CON mittee that has been acting In conjunction
with Bishop Qugey, expressing confidence In
ID. NcMo and
attention whatever to any call for a meeting
issued by the Bishop. Timothy p. Donovan, the
inspector appointed by the Bishop to represent
the men the docks and who had prougnt
about the last agreement with contractor Coh-
ners, was denounced
Bishop Quigley is out Of town tonight and me-
statement as to his future course could be Sc
cured He will return to the city tomorrow
morning Information was received To-Day from
an authoritative source that the elevator men
and others who have valuable interests on the
docks have determined upon radical action.
They propose to exert every effort TO secure men
from ont OF town to take the place OF the strik-
ers The action OF the strikers to-day, they say,
makes II necessary to adopt measures other than
negotiations In order to bring about resunp-
ton Of business here.
The public investigation now being held by
the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration
brought out the fact this afternoon that not
only the port of Buffalo, but the entire COM
merce OF the lakes, is in danger OF being per-
manently crippled by the strike. Gibson c.
Douglas Of the Western Transit Company, tes-
tilted that ves3el-owners already had sustained a
loss Of over 500 900 that agents were refusing
m load vessels for this port and that the COM
merce was being diverted to other routes He
said that as a result Of the strike Western
grain-shippers had discovered that they could
shin grain by rail from Indiana, Illinois and
other sections cheaper than IT could be shipped
by boat 10 Buffalo His opinion was that II the
dock troubles continue good portion OF the
lake commerce would be permanently destroyed.