The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-07-27


conspiracy to interfere with trans
portation of the mails, ETC., and got
an injunction from US Judge Peter
S. Grosscup restraining the union
from interfering with any of the
business of railroads entering Chi
cago, or any trains carrying the
mails.
Olney did more. He talked Pres
ident Cleveland into sending four
companies of the 18th Infantry to
the yards near Chicago to enforce
the injunction, despite the protest
of Governor Altgeld, who charged
the action was violation of states
rights. The presence of the troops,
the behavior of the deputies, led to
rioting, and in the end Altgeld
sent in the militia, which restored
order.
Olney was not satisfied. He got
Judge Grosscup to summon grand
jury and charge it, in effect, that
the strike was an insurrection
against the state. That very day
the grand jury indicted Debs, How
ard, Keliher, and Rogers, an ARU
director, charging criminal con-
spiracy.
That did it. An attempted SYM
pathy strike in Chicago fizzled. A
conference called under direction
of the AFL's Samuel Gompers to
discuss a nationwide sympathy
strike decided against it. Debs Of
fered to call off the Pullman boy
colt if the strikers were taken
back. His offer was ignored.
A week after the grand jury in
dictment, the four men were ar
rested again, charged with con-
tempt of court by violating the in
junction. Two days later, rs men,
including the original four, were
indicted again. In all, more than
700 strikers were arrested on var
ious charges. The strike was called
off officially Sept. 6, 1894.
But that was not the end. The
criminal conspiracy charge went to
trial six months later before the
very same Judge Grosscup, with
the same Walker representing both
the government and the railroads.
Clarence S. Darrow appeared for
the union men. He subpoenaed
Pullman, declared he intended to
quiz the members of the General
Managers Association to show how
they conspired to destroy the
union, and their actions brought on
the strike and interference with
the mails. Pullman left the state
to avoid testifying. Members of
the association lost their memory
on the stand. Darrow demanded
they produce their records. Court
adjourned for lunch, and after that
the judge announced a juror was
i'll and adjourned the case. There
were more adjournments and the
case was finally dropped. The gov
ernment and the railroads had ac-
complished their aim. They did not
want their dirty line washed in
public.
Not so with the contempt charge.
That was pressed, and Judge Will
lam A. Woods on Dec. Ia, 1894 ),
found the defendants guilty and
sentenced them to Jail. They APP
pealed to the US Supreme Court,
lost, and the four had to serve their
jail terms. Government by in
junction" in labor disputes had
been broadened Debs later appear
ed before the US Strike Commits
sion named to investigate the
strike. He charged flatly that it
was the US courts which broke the
strike.
The strike had its echoes in the
1896 platform of the Democratic
party, which denounced arbitrary
interference" by US authorities in
local affairs as a violation of the
US Constitution and "a crime
against free institutions" The
platform added, "And we especial
ly object to government by injunc-
tion as a new and highly dangerous
form of oppression by which feder-
al judges, in contempt of the laws
of the states and the rights Of the
citizens, become at once, legisla-
tors, Judges and executioners."