Omaha daily bee., 1912-06-08
TRACTION S.,IKE AT BOSTON
Men 60 Out to Force Recognition OF
Their Union.
SEVERAL CARS ARE ATTACKED
Number of Cars Are Running
Lines to Several Suburbs
Are Tied Up.

BOSTON. Mass, June 7.-Violence
marked the beginning Of a strike Of sew
eral thousand employees of the Boston
Elevated railway at daylight. Those who
refused to work demanded recognition by
the company of recently formed union
The company refused to deal with them
other than individually.
The street railway service and the ele-
waited road were being operated on about
half time Five arrests have been made
| for assaults on motormen.
| Although the strike has been threatened
| for a week or more, II came shortly after
a. IN. with suddenness and clash
| that surprised not only the company Of
ficials, but the police OF Boston, Brook
lyn, Cambridge, Somerville Everett
| Chelsea, Medford and Maiden.
The men had been discussing the mat
| ter nearly all night at mass meeting
| and as daylight was breaking 1t was de-
| cided to tke vote AS soon as 1t was
| seen that those in favor Of going out were
in the majority. the gathering of nearly
1000 men began cheering and rush was
made for the first early morning cars.
First Car Wrecked.
The first one was met on fremont
| street near the hall. The car was stop
| ped. the trolley yanked from the wire.
the windows smashed and the motorman
and conductor badly beaten. A number
| OF passengers were rushed out OF the car
| although none was injured.
AS the clash was proceeding. a mail
| car suddenly came into sight and, recog-
| nizing the authority OF the government,
those who had stopped the first car
| suddenly ceased their activities and per-
mitted both cars to resume their way.
few minutes later word of the strike
had reached the vicinity Of the North
station and there two other cars were
stopped, windows smashed, some of the
| gearing disabled and several passengers
| were slightly injured by flying glass
Several arrests were made at this point.
crowd coming from the direction of
| strike headquarters encircled several
| cars on Adams square about 6 o'clock and
more violence ensued. Two arrests were
| made here. One of those taken In GUS
tody was charged with assault on a
| policeman and the other was charged
with melting riot.
Traffic to Cambridge Blocked.
dozen men rushed down into the
Cambridge subway as the first car was
| about to start and tried to persuade the
train hands to join them. They were un-
successful. but held up the starting of
| the trains for nearly half an hour. About
the same time four of the new semi-co
vertible viaducts we're so badly smashed
that the traffic between Cambridge and
Boston was completely blocked for sew
| eral hours. The outbreak In Charlestown
| was almost as severe, while similar oc-
currences took place In Everett and Chel-
sea.
1t was announced during the forenoon
that the actual vote In favor Of a strike
| was 1889 to s. evs.A,s
The strike committee claims that up
| to the time Of calling the strike today
ZOO men had signed union papers and
mad paid initiation fees At the same
| time the company issued statement
that 1850 employees were still loyal and
| that every effort would be made to keep
the car system In operation
Four hours after the strike began cars
we're running on nearly all lines, but
| with about half the usual frequency.
Fight Near Harvard Square.
Clashes between employees who con-
| lnued In the service. and others wearing
| street railway uniforms, but not numer-
| ous took place frequently during the
/ forenoon. Cambridge was the principal
| scene Of trouble during that time. Then
men rushed down into the Harvard
square station of the subway and tried
to push through the turnstlles. Two of
the guards grappled with them and were
cut and bruised, The police arrested ten
men, all of whom said they were former
| employees.
man giving his name as Chris Santas
from indianapolis. who said he had re-
Gently come here to help the strike.
was arrested near Harvard college for
cutting trolley rope.
Twenty-Five o. tests have been made
altogether,
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