The sun., 1916-09-12
STRIKE BREAKERS
ACCUSE INTERBORO
Ten Testify Of Peonage Before
Mayor and Public Ser
vice Commission.
ALL BEATEN BY GUNNER
Lured Here, They Say, by
False Promises, and I'm
prisOned in Car Barn.

prisOned in Car Barn.
Imprisonment. harsh treatment, short
rations and intimidation with weapons
have been the means Of keeping the
strikebreaking forces Of the ~Interborough
New York Railways intact It wa,
charged yesterday by ten "nnks." OF
strikebreakers. who gave testimony be.
fore Mayor Mitchell and the Public Ser.
vice Commission. This condition OF
peonage has been In effect ever since the
start Of The strike, the men alleged, and
policemen not only have failed to stor
the roughness Of the methods. but have
contributed a few lne touches Of Their
own.
Ten men. unkempt. uncouth Of speech
typical industrial soldiers Of fortune
recited their woes. Most Of them said
they had been tempted to New York with
a s. daily wage offer. When they 20,
here. they said. they found TREY com
manded only - or 81. They were
muicted further, they asserted, by
crooked gamblers who they said were In
league with the strikebreakins con.
tractors.
From their stories the barns Of the In.
terborough and the Railways company
are crowded with gunner and other
vicious types whose main employment,
seems to be the subsection Of the re.
bellious non-unionists.
Mayor Orders Investigation.
These emergency men have been
housed In quarters devoid Of comfort AND
sanitation. they said. 80 graphic were
the recitals Of several Of the strike.
breaker that Mayor Mitchell ordered ar
immediate investigation. In order tina,
these men who deserted-through sub.
terfuse. they said-could get their money
Tor he weeks time since their arrival
the Mayor gave them the protection Of a
policeman to the strikebreaking cor.
tractors once.
l.. II. Durham. Deputy Police Com.
missioner. inquired into the situation.
He said he had satisfied himself the men
are not prisoners In the police sense OF
the word. II necessary. ne said, they
could desert their rains OF cars at any
place they wished. Men in the barns,
however. he reported to the Mayor, re-
Quire q pass to leave their headquarters.
The plight OF the men was called 70
the attention Of the Mayor and Oscar 8.
Straus. chairman of the commission
Just as they were about to begin their
hearings yesterday. Al the Mayors re.
quest they were put on the stand.
Il am much interested in this he
said. Il want to know whether men arc
being Imprisoned. We have plenty of
police to take care Of such a condition II
1t exists"
offered Job AZ aJ . Day.
Merton Wyatt. who gave his address
as Chicago. said he had been hired in
that city on September 5 by an agent OF
Berghoff Bros. 4 Waddell. After his
arrival here he was Quartered In the
barn a. Fiftieth street and Seventh ave.
rue.
81 was told in Chicago l would be
given a job as motorman with s. a day.
! never have been a motorman. but I
have worked on railroads and know air
and signals. About fifty miles out OF
New York Dick Dinneen got on the train
and passed out contracts for - n day.
l told him l had been promised IS. He
said
"'You are in New York row. Take
that or nothing go I took the contract
Yesterday We were brought to the
l79th street barn. We got q handful OF
hash each and a little potato. We all
got up and rebelled. We quit. We said,
we won't stand for this kin Of eating.
and started for the door. We told them
we were going down to l20 Liberty
street and the strong arm men started
TO plugging. I got II In the jaw and
two or three others got knocked cold.
1rL-.. AAA ,NIs N~A ~,.rA ntANA~ 80 &Inn
One fcllow q a piece OF RUBBER
don't know what was in It."
He escaped. he said, by pretending
illness,
sixteen Kept 200 From Q%uittinG.
IT told them I wanted TO 60 out and
get some medicine. ] thought that would
be the easiest way. The boss says, NO
body goes out OF this place said,
What Is this? a PRISON. He said
You will think II 10 worse h a prison.
and he had W Officers behind him.
Now listen this man Carson said. 4
will clean you up n at a time II you
start anything or I will clean up the
whole bunch He knew we had no
weapons. The sixteen men kept 400 from
quitting"
Wyatt said none OF the other men who
came on ITOm SUICdBo udu any more
knowledge Of he work Of a motorman
than he.
Edward F. Wilson of Brooklyn. who
said he actually Ii III. had a hard time
p~ersuading the strike breaking leaders.
When he quit he was m~anhandled al
the 10th street barn.
II should think q man was a pris-
oner," ne explained. III he was not al
lowed 10 go when he wanted. was
kept In there twenty-four hours II day.
! should think that was a prison, SO far
as anything ! know about a prison"
Time permitted the questioning Of only
one other Of the strike breakers. George
Brown, who has been a "fnk" for seven
years. He had observed many OF the
s Q s. s..