New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-06
Ten Thousand Ladies' Garment
Makers Storm Doors IN
Riot at Hippodrome.
RESERVES HAVE TO CHARGE
Mrs. o. H. P. Belmont and Miss
Inez Milholland Listen to
Speakers and Urge Mem
bers to Join Strike.


members of the association and their
Friends, the majority of them women
krled 10 force the doors. AS result
hhe reserves from the East jlst street
tpolice station were called out and had
fto make several charges with drawn
tclubs. The glass in the doors in the
hobby of the Hippodrome was smasheu
Ito flinders, policemen were swept OH
kheir feet and many persons were
bruised as well as having their cloth
ling torn. The men members or the OIL
tganization. who were in the foretron'
bof the rush. were powerless 10 stem
1.-The tide of femninity eager to be the
kfrst inside.
A mass meeting of the Ladies Gar
luent Workers Association had been
advertised and several prominent labor
lieadeEs were announced 10 speak.
The meeting was to be held prepara-
tory to,a vote to determine whether or
mot the association would join the
lstrike of the Garment Workers Union
land practically all of the six thousand
Imembe.s of the association and many
nf their>friends were on hand.
When the Hippodrome doors were
Thrown open shortly after 1 o'clock the
tcrowdNt that had gathered in Sixth ave-
niue surged forward. A dozen police
men from the East 51st street police
letation found themselves helpless, ana
a call for reserves was answered by
lafty additional men. Tickets of ad-
mission had been distributed, but those
in front were catapulted into the the
atre nv the pressure from behind. The
ipolice attempted 10 close the doors,
with the result that every pane of glass
facing the sidewalk was shattered.
Police Had to Close Doors.
The doors were finally closed in the
face of the crowd, and the manage
ment. fearing further damage 10 the
theatre, instructed the police to refuse
further admissions. The auditorium
and top gallery of the theatre were al
ready filled by persons who had come IN
through entrances in Add and 44th
streets but there We're a number OF
iplaces in the first gallery which re-
manned untitled.
For a time the crowd tied up traffic
on Sixth avenue. and It required the
efforts of all the policemen under In
lspector Cahalane and Captain Gillian.
of the East 51st street station, to keep
jopen avenues for passing toley cars
and vehicles.
A mass meeting in Bryant Hall had
ibeen arranged 10 care for the overflow,
land many who had not been able to get
In the Hippodrome repaired there. The
lgreater part of the crowd was com
lprised of women but there was a good
IsprinkIng Of men.
John A. Dyche, who was made per-
lmanent chairman after the meeting
was opened. which was advertised to
istart at 1e3O o'clock. but which did not
begin until an hour and half after
THAT time. said that three years ago he
had addressed an audience in the same
theatre at the time Of the last strike
IN the ladies' shirtwaist and garment
making trade. The result, he said had
not been' entirely satisfactory, and he
urged his audience that when the call
FOR a strike was issued, in the course OF
n few days, to respond as a body.
The substance of the other addresses
In English and Yiddish was the same.
Ia strike was imminent. il was said,
the officials of the waist makers union,
after several days Of conference having
ascided that the time for revolt had
come. No mention of the vote that
will be taken shortly among the union
lrnembers was made. but the result OF
that ballot was accepted as a foregone
lconclusion. Their conduct after they
had ceased work was the main theme
lpf talk.
Mrs. Belmont a Listener.
Those who addressed the meeting
were Frank Morrison, secretary Of the
,American Federation of Labor; Hugh
,Frayne, general organizer Of the fed
Grafton; Abraham Rosenberg, president
OF the International Ladies Garment
Workers; Josephine Casey, Jacob
.Panken. John A. Pierce and Abraham
Cahan. editor of the Forward
At Bryant Hall the same speakers
addressed the crowds. The number
who gained entrance to the auditorium
was small owing TO the limited seat
ing capacity. Crowds in the street
and on the sidewalk, as we'll as across
the way in Bryant Park. were urged
to declare a strike to better their
working conditions and to aid the gar
ment workers.
Mrs. o. II. p. Belmont, Miss Inez
Milholland and Miss Milholland's
father, J. f. Milholland. occupied one
OF the upper boxes at the Hippodrome
meeting. Mrs. Belmont had come on
invitation, she said, partly out of curl
osity and partly because she was in
terested in the struggles Of working
girls All three listened closely to the
speakers and applauded vigorously at
times.
Mrs. Belmont. when asked II she was
taking an active part In aiding the
waist makers, as she had aided them
in their last strike, said she was sim
ply at the Hippodrome as the guest of
the shirtwaist makers union.