When the officers of the American Railway Union were indicted by a
special and packed grand jury and placed on trial for conspiracy, the
general managers of the railroads were put on the witness stand to
testify as to what action had been taken at the joint railroad and
Pullman meeting described, and each and every one of them perjured
himself by swearing that he had no recollection of what had taken place
at that meeting. Sitting within a few feet of them I saw their faces
turn scarlet under the cross-examination, knowing that they were
testifying falsely; that the court knew it, and that every one present
knew it; but they stuck to their agreement and uniformly failed to
remember that they had resolved to stand together, the railroads
agreeing to back the Pullman company in defeating their famishing
employes, and the Pullman company pledging itself to stand by the
railroads in destroying the American Railway Union.
That is what their own record shows they resolved to do, and a little
later they concluded to forget all about it, and to this they swore in a
Federal Court of law.
I have copies of the court records, including the testimony, to prove
this, and the files of all the Chicago dailies of that time contain the
same testimony.
These are the gentlemen who have so much to say about law and order—the
vaunted guardians of morals and good citizenship.
When A. B. Stickney, president of the Chicago Great Western, who had
been victimized by them, told them to their faces that there was not an
honest official among them and that he would not trust one of them out
of his sight, they did not attempt any defense, for they knew that their
accuser was on the inside and in position to make good his assertions.