Evening star., 1951-10-27
Fighting Flares
On Picket Lines
In Dock Strike
Rebel Leaders Reject
Truman Appeal to
End Wildcat Tieup
BY the Associated Press

NEW YORK, Oct. 27.-Fist
fighting broke out in the New
York dock strike today when 200
non striking longshoremen
crashed through a wildcat picket
line.
Police quickly quelled the melee.
outside Pier 90. where the Cunard
liner Britannia was due to deck
later today.
The violence came quickly after
the strikers rejected an appeal
by President Truman to return to
work in the interests of national
defense.
In another development as the
paralyZing strike went into its
18th day, pickets appeared for
the first time outside United
States Navy supply depot at Bay
onne, N. j.
Fifteen mounted and Is foot
police on duty outside Pier 90 said
they had expected the non-strik-
erS would skirt the picket line of
about 250 men to go to work.
Forced Way Through.
Instead, the non strikers
plunged directly at the line and
forced their way through amid
fighting, showing and arguing,
while the police rushed in to re-
store order.
The non-strikers. members of
Local 824 of the AFL Interna-
tional Longshoremen's Union,
fought a similar battle with pick
cts Thursday morning.
Longshoremen also crossed two
picket lines on Staten Island,
without violence.
About $50 men chosen in a reg
ular union shape-up crossed a 60
man picket line to work on Navy
military transport vessels at the
Army's Staten Island terminal of
the New York Port of Embarka-
ton.
Three hundred men had worked
at the same terminal yesterday
on a provisional civil service basis.
Truman Appeal Made.
The President stepped into the
East Coast port dispute last night
with an appeal that the wildcat
walkout end "at once" in the in
terest of national defense.
1t took the strike committee
just Is minutes to turn down the
Presidents request.
Mr.. Truman now may invoke
the Taft-Hartley Act. He also
can call in the Wage Sterilization
Board. which is consulted in mat
ters affecting defense.
Under the Taft-Hartley law,
Mr.. Truman can seek an 8O-day
injunction to enable a find
ing board to look into the dispute.
Strike leaders stood on their
demands for a new contract as
they defied the President with the
same Stubbornness they chal-
lenged their union. shippers and
city and Federal mediators.
Possible Solution Hinted.
However, rebel leader John
fGene) Sampson hinted at pos
sible solution for the President.
Mr.. Sampson said the strike was
continuing "as long as the Presi-
dent does not see fit to declare
national emergency"
President Truman's action came
at the end of a day that saw the
wildcat strike spread to Portland,
Me, and Philadelphia. New York
and Boston have been strike
bound for days, with more than
100 ships idle.
He acted after the New York
Board of Trade appealed to the
White House for intervention.
The strike. Waged by dissident
members of the International
Longshoremen's Association, has
halted some military shipments
and piled up cargoes estimated at
$500 million.
10000 Are Involved.
About 10000 longShoremen are
involved, and thousands of other
workers, such as truck drivers,
have been made idle by the strike.
Mr.. Sampson, head of the Man
haitian local that sparked the
strike, said the Strike Committee
was sorry" to tell the President
the walkout would continue.
But it's how the men feel" he
added.
Mr.. Sampson said there was
lot more to the dispute than ap-
peared on the surface. He said the
men will not return under pres
ent conditions" and asked for the
Government to conduct a proper