How did President Cleveland begin operations in the Chicago strike.
Among the first things he did, as he himself tells us, was to appoint
Edwin Walker as special counsel for the government.
Who was Edwin Walker?
“An able and prominent attorney,” says Mr. Cleveland.
Is that all?
Not quite. At the time President Cleveland and his Attorney-General,
Richard Olney, designated Edwin Walker, upon recommendation of the
railroads, as special counsel to the government, for which alleged
service he was paid a fee that amounted to a fortune, _the said Edwin
Walker was already the counsel for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway._
[Illustration:
CORRIDOR IN WOODSTOCK JAIL WHERE DEBS EXERCISED
]
Turning for a moment to “Who’s Who In America,” we find:
“Walker, Edwin, lawyer, * * * removed to Chicago in 1865; has
represented several railroads as general solicitor since 1860. Illinois
counsel for C., M. & St. P. R. R. since 1870; also partner in firm of W.
P. Rend & Co., coal miners and shippers. Was counsel for the railway
companies and special counsel for the United States in the lawsuits
growing out of the great railroad strike of 1894.”