The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-03
HISTORY OF THE STRIKE
FROM START TO FINISH.

, resembled the big road at the approach 90
county fair. Fortuna tely the weather was
ideal and The crowds for the most part tuui;
the Inconvenience as a huge joke. business
stores downtown had to lay off from half "a
thr-e-tourths Of their employees. The strike
was al once and keenly felt in every part of
the city and in every walk of life.
For three days no definite steps were
made TO end the strike or effect settle
ment of the difficulties. by which IT was
! Mayor Ziegenhein offered his services as
al arbitrator. but did not follow this by
| amy SUCCESSION as 10 the means OF DrlnsI
/ ing the belIigerents together; Ills propose
WAS not accepted and the Mayor subsidized
into a state OF mastery inactivity, which
lasted during all the rest OF the disturb
On May Il. the officials of the company
offered To rrlEstate any OF the Strikers VINO
should prs<ent themselves for service on
the following sunday. May L. In the mean
lime. = few cars were operated with great
difficulty on the Llndel system, always I'm,
deT the guard OF several 'ofiCeis. SeVefaA
persons We're shot by rioters or ofhceTs.
some OF them fatally. ON saturday. tne
men and the company MADE proposals look
ing toward a settlement That OF the strik-
ers Withdrew the demand That only union
men be employed by the transit company.
II also asked that the asro ement OF Mdrcn
10 be restored. A conference Was arranged
between representatives of the strik. rs ana
the company TO take place the following
ON Sunday General Manager Jenkins Of
the Suburban system offered TO arbitrate
the troubles with his employees. ard nego-
tiations were begun, which speedily re-
suited in a settlement of the Suburban
strike. The traffic situation was thus some
what relic ed. but the strike sympat hlz'rs
turned their attention to the transit lines.
and the situation became graver than ever
Chief Of Police Campbell called Tor Z:Jv9
emergency policemen to assist ia uii.intdiIl-
ing order until the strike should be SET
tied. Governor Stephens directed a letter 10
tn Poliee Board Grsing mat body TO use urs
suppress every violent demonstration al All
Negotiations Failed.
The conference of Monday. Tuesday and
Wednesday failed TO bring the strikers and
the company together. The proposal OF the
company was satisfactory 10 the strikers, II
was announced. with one exceptiOn-the
plan OF reinstatement for the men VINO were
out. The company simply proposed TO re-
instate them. but the strikers Insisted that
the old men should be restored 10 the places
which they occupied previous 10 the strike.
The company at tie same time held THAI
the new men In Its employ should be re
been guilty of criminal acts towards the
company's property or its employees should
De taken back
Upon the failure Of the negotiations. the
strikers issued an appeal TO all the unions
in the city to take up their cause and force
u satisfactory settlement by sympaShetic
strike I'm all trades. The matter was urged
on all the labor organizations. but was
quickly allowed TO drop: the other unions
cause would be a breach of faith on their
part towards the firms that employed them.
Most Of the unions. however. contributed
largely to the support or the strikers.
The next turn of affairs was reached when
the matter Of obstructing the tracks of the
transit company was brought up in the
Federal Court. It WAS alleged that the ac-
tons of the strikers had resulted In acts
which caused delay In handling the United
States mail by means of the cars recently
placed in service. a temporary restraining
order was issued by Judge Adams which
was later made temporary Injunction.
prominent leaders of the strike were includ-
ed in the injunction.
For several days nothing definite was
done towards 4 settlement. In the mean
time cars Were operated on several lines
and a few lines In North and South ST.
Louis Were run, though with great difficulty.
No cars were run at night any of the
transit lines, and the cars in the day time
had 10 b., guarded 10y the police. 4 pro-
pCsal for settlement was drawn up by
president Harry n HAYES NJ the poItce
Board. and at first approved 10y the strik-
ers. oa. second thought. however. they
Sam. as one which had been already re-
jected, and this effort went no further.
Governor stephens again visited the city
and conferred with officials as to the b. Il
means Of preserving public safely. Tho
volunteers for duty as special policemen
did not prove entirely satisfactory as 10
numbers or qualifications. many of those
who were accepted refusing 20 guard tran
sit company or men from assaults, assert
HslrS tHat thes We're IN sympathy Win
the strikers In the meantime the demon
STATIONS against the cOmpanys property
rad extended TO the persons who supplied
the companys employees with food. and
even those who rode on the cars. These
became so bitter that several women were
assaulted In South st. Louis and stripped
by mobs on the street though they had
done nothing more than use the cars.
Posse Conitatus Ordered.
Finally the situation became so grave that
the Police Board called on Sheriff Pohiman
to summon a. posse comitatus To assist In
restoring order. The number Of men asked
for was first placed at 100. but was later
increased 20 200, and the work OF enroiilns
the men for active service began at once:
The men were placed in command OF Colonel
Lavender and were recruited as fast as Dos
STOLE Their number finally reached more
than eco. and they did effective service IN
preventing riotous outbreaks.
Shortly before the posse coniitatus was
asked for committee Of leading Citizens
assembled at the Merchants Exchange and
took steps TO bring about an adjustment OF
the trouble. This committee, after careful
| " reviewing the situation, proposed 10 the
str kers and the transit company that both
sides submit their views. looking towards
peaceful arrangement OF the troubles
This resulted after some delay, in d pro-
posal from the Company to at once rein
state 1.o0o of the strikers and give places
| to 80 more as soon as vacancies should
occur.
This proposal was sent to former Cover
nor Stone. who had been employed as coun-
| sci for the strikers, Saturday, June 2 II
was reported that the strikers had rejected
day, after the company had announced that
1 IL did not have as many places 10 MI as
when II had made the proposal. Governor
Stone asserted that the strikers had never
company of acting In bad faith. There were
! q few more communications between Gov