A DAY OF DREAD.
The Strike Continues—The Governor of West Virginia Confesses his
Inability to Suppress Disorders—An Appeal to President
Hayes—Proclamation of the Chief Magistrate—Military Companies
Disarmed by Strikers—The Third Day of the Strike, and the Alarms it
brought—Wide Extent of the Disorders—Portentous Mutterings.
The events of the 17th were of an unusual character in this country. The
strikers had gone further than persons engaged in such movements had
been accustomed to go. In countries where the struggle for life is
keener than in America, such incidents to a strike as an attempt to
murder, and the theft of tools and implements necessary to conducting a
business, are common. But the attempt of Vandergriff to kill the
militia-man Poisal, because he undertook to adjust a switch to permit a
train to pass, taken in connection with the destruction or concealment
of the links and pins, necessary in the movement of trains, showed the
authorities the desperate nature of the enterprise in which the strikers
were engaged. It revealed the existence of a determination on their part
to enforce their demands at every hazard. The situation the morning of
the 18th was alarming. The strikers had been reinforced during the night
at all points by accessions of workingmen engaged in other avocations
than railroading. They had grown bold because they knew they had the
sympathies of the people with them, especially in that portion of West
Virginia where the strike had assumed the most threatening aspect.
The Governor of the State of West Virginia, apprised of the extent of
the lawless combination, found himself in the humiliating position of
complete inability to deal with the issue. Powerless to suppress the
disorders, appealed to by the managers of the railroad for that
protection which he was unable to afford; harassed by the knowledge that
a large portion of the people whom he governed were in sympathy with the
turbulent strikers, and tormented by the evidence that the few militia
at his command were unfaithful to their duty, the position of Governor
Matthews was sufficiently disagreeable.
The movement had now become so formidable that State authority could no
longer assert supremacy. Under these circumstances, the Chief Executive
of the commonwealth of West Virginia, was constrained to appeal to the
Federal Government for protection and assistance in quelling the riots
which had taken place.
During the afternoon of the 18th, Governor Matthews perceiving his
inability to deal with the emergency, with no little reluctance,
forwarded to the President of the United States the following formal
appeal for the intervention of the federal power in suppressing the
disorders in his State:
WHEELING, W. Va., July 18.
_To His Excellency R. B. Hayes, President of the United States_:
Owing to unlawful combinations and domestic violence now existing at
Martinsburg and other points along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, it is impossible with any force at my command to execute the
laws of the State. I therefore call upon Your Excellency for the
assistance of the United States military to protect the law-abiding
people of the State against domestic violence, and to maintain the
supremacy of the law. The Legislature is not now in session, and could
not be assembled in time to take any action in the emergency. A force of
from two to three hundred should be sent without delay to Martinsburg,
where my aid, Colonel Delaplaine, will meet and confer with the officers
in command.
HENRY M. MATTHEWS,
Governor of West Virginia.
Upon receipt of this call at Washington, President Hayes at once
dispatched a messenger for the Secretary of War, who immediately
answered the summons by repairing to the Executive Mansion. A brief
consultation between them followed. The result was the conclusion that
the information contained in the call was not sufficiently definite to
warrant the President in employing the military forces of the United
States for such purposes.
It was agreed, however, that the Governor of West Virginia be called
upon to furnish more definite information, and accordingly the Secretary
of War was instructed to send a dispatch to Governor Matthews,
requesting complete information. The Governor’s reply showed that there
were but four militia companies in West Virginia, two of which had
already fraternized with the Strikers at Martinsburg, a third was in an
interior county, thirty miles from any railway line, and the fourth
consisted of only forty-eight men, while the Governor estimated the
force of strikers massed at Martinsburg, at not less than eight hundred
men.
Notwithstanding his reluctance to interfere in the matter, the President
esteemed the emergency one of sufficient gravity to justify him in
taking decisive action. Accordingly he issued the following
proclamation, the same evening:
A PROCLAMATION.
_Whereas_, The Governor of the State of West Virginia has represented
that domestic violence exists in said State, at Martinsburg, and at
various other points along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
in said State, which the authorities of said State are unable to
suppress; and
_Whereas_, It is provided in the Constitution of the United States, that
the United States shall protect every State in this Union on application
of the Legislature, or of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be
convened, against violence; and
_Whereas_, By laws in pursuance of the above it is provided (in the laws
of the United States) that in all cases of insurrection in any State, or
of obstruction to the laws thereof, it shall be lawful for the President
of the United States, on application of the Legislature of such State,
or of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be convened, to call
forth the militia of any other State or States, or to employ such part
of the land and naval forces as shall be judged necessary for the
purpose of suppressing such insurrection or causing the laws to be duly
executed; and
_Whereas_, The Legislature of said State is not now in session and
cannot be convened in time to meet the present emergency, and the
Executive of said State, under section IV. of article 4 of the
Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance
thereof, has made due application to me in the premises for such part of
the military force of the United States as may be necessary and adequate
to protect said State and the citizens thereof against domestic
violence, and to enforce the due execution of the laws; and
_Whereas_, It is required that whenever it may be necessary in the
judgment of the President to use the military force for the purpose
aforesaid, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents
to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective homes within a
limited time; now, therefore,
I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, do hereby make
proclamation and command all persons engaged in said unlawful and
insurrectionary proceedings to disperse and retire peaceably to their
respective abodes on or before twelve o’clock, noon, the nineteenth day
of July instant, and hereafter abandon said combinations and submit
themselves to the laws and constituted authorities of said State, and I
invoke the aid and co-operation of all good citizens thereof to uphold
the laws and preserve the public peace.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord, 1877, and of the independence of the United States the one
hundred and second.
(Signed,) R. B. HAYES.
By the President.
F. A. Seward, Acting Secretary of State.
Orders were issued from the War Department, to General French,
commanding at the Washington arsenal, requiring him to take all the
available troops from that station and proceed at once to Martinsburg.
At the same time like orders were forwarded to General Barry, in command
at Fort McHenry, to detach all available forces from that post to join
the forces under command of General French at the threatened points. A
force of seventy-five men was got ready, chiefly members of batteries
acting as infantry, officered by Captain J. I. Rogers of Battery L.,
commanding, Captain James E. Wilson of Battery H., and Lieutenants
Crawford and Hoyle, Taylor and Curtis; the detachment of Light Battery
A., was commanded by Lieutenant Niles. The force from the Washington
Arsenal was organized under the following named officers; Battery D.,
Captain Litchfield; Battery C., Captain Graves; Battery F., Lieutenant
Simpson; Battery E., Lieutenant Gifford; Battery I., Lieutenant Howard,
and Battery G., Lieutenant Smith. These troops were armed as infantry,
the full strength of the battalion was about two hundred and fifty men.
General French commanded, Lieutenant Wolfe Acting Adjutant and
Lieutenant Maurice Acting Quarter-master. The whole force was in
readiness to proceed on their way to Martinsburg at an early hour in the
evening.
The marching of troops through the streets of the National Capital
created a profound sensation among the citizens. It was the first time
in the history of the country that a labor strike had become so
formidable as to require the intervention of the general Government to
preserve order. It was nine o’clock at night when the armed battalion of
regulars filed through the streets of Washington on the way to the
station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway to embark on the train to
proceed to Martinsburg. A vast concourse of people had assembled to
witness their departure. The scene was not unlike some of those which
characterized the early days of the year 1861. The train moved away from
the station at ten o’clock in the evening, bound for the scene of the
disturbance.
Meanwhile bands of strikers had taken possession of the railway stations
at Cumberland, Grafton, Keyser, and other points, and refused to allow
any freight trains to pass. Emissaries were dispatched from the
headquarters of the strikers at Martinsburg and Wheeling, to induce the
firemen and brakemen; along the Connellsville Branch, the Pennsylvania
road, the Pittsburgh and Chicago, and other railroads in that section of
the country to join in the strike. During the day the strikers at
Wheeling made a demonstration of a rather threatening character. The
single company of militia at that place paraded for action. But it was
evident that it was not strong enough to effect anything, and so the
citizen-soldiers allowed themselves to be quietly disarmed by the
striking workingmen.
The strikers at Martinsburg received the President’s proclamation with
indifference or positive disrespect. No attention whatever was paid to
the injunction to disperse. On the contrary, with constant accessions to
their numbers, they became more demonstrative and threatening in their
bearing.
During the day, a committee of strikers at Baltimore prepared and caused
to be printed and circulated a statement of the causes which impelled
them to pursue the course which they had adopted. They declared that
they had submitted to three reductions of wages in three years; that
they would have acquiesced in a moderate reduction; that they were
frequently sent out on a trip to Martinsburg, and there detained four
days at the discretion of the company, for which detention they were
allowed pay for but two day’s time; that they were compelled to pay
their board during the time they were detained, which was more than the
wages they received; that they had nothing left with which to support
their families; that it was a question of bread with them; that when
times were dull on the road they could not get more than fifteen day’s
work in a month; that many sober, steady, economical men became involved
in debt last winter; that honest men had their wages attached because
they could not meet their expenses; that by a rule of the company any
man who had his wages attached should be discharged; that this was a
tyranny to which no rational being should submit, and that it was
utterly impossible for a man with a family to support himself and family
at the reduced rate of wages.
These statements of the striking employes were not without effect in
awakening sympathy for them among the great mass of the people.
Anticipating the approach of the regular troops under General French,
the Martinsburg strikers proceeded to the Sand House, an advantageous
position a short distance west of the town, and proceeded to erect
barricades, and to take other measures for defense. At this point their
forces numbered about four hundred and fifty men.
It was now evident that the strike was destined to spread to other roads
than the Baltimore and Ohio. Mysterious journeys were undertaken by
non-communicative laboring men; workingmen’s unions all over the land
held meetings nightly; small bands of operatives were constantly meeting
and discussing the situation, and everywhere was manifested a feeling of
unrest among the working classes. Nor was evidence wanting of a deep
undercurrent of popular sympathy with the object aimed at by the West
Virginia strikers.
The close of the third day after the commencement of the strike
witnessed the following condition of affairs: The Baltimore and Ohio
Railway was still held by the strikers. The State militia of West
Virginia had either disbanded and had been absorbed by the strikers, or
had been disarmed by them; the Governor of West Virginia, confessing his
powerlessness, had appealed to the President of the United States for
assistance in suppressing the disorders in his State; the discontent of
railway operatives was manifested in an alarming degree; workingmen
engaged in other avocations had given unmistakable evidence of sympathy
with the cause of the railroad men, and gave ominous hints of a purpose
to join them, and to still further complicate matters, railroad managers
were demanding the intervention of the Federal Government in their
behalf to protect them while operating their roads.
Meanwhile General French with a force of regular soldiers of the United
States was preparing to move from Washington on Martinsburg for the
purpose of suppressing the strikers.
The movement had already become too great for control by the State
government. The national administration had been appealed to, and the
great strike was fully inaugurated. Mutterings, deep, and significant,
from a thousand different points, portended the storm which was ready to
sweep the country with unexampled fury. The day had been one of dread,
not because of what had occurred, as on account of forebodings of what
the future would bring to pass.