THE TUMULT AT BUFFALO.
The Beginning of the Trouble—A Militia Company Arrives—Exasperated
Strikers—Business Suspended—The Railways all Cease to
Transport Freight—Threatening Outlook—Governor Robinson’s
Proclamation—Military Movements—The Strike Collapses.
The trouble at Hornellsville did not immediately effect the regular
course of business at Buffalo. But it became manifest from the movements
among the workingmen, that the city was not to be so fortunate as to
escape an infliction of tumult and business stagnation such as other
cities were suffering. It came to Buffalo rather suddenly, although not
wholly unexpected.
About nine o’clock, Monday evening, July 23d, a Lake Shore train having
on board a company of militia from Westfield, was stopped at Tifft’s
Station, just out of the city, by a party of strikers. They swarmed into
the cars and began to take the soldiers’ muskets away from them. This
brought on a fight, in the course of which there was some pretty brisk
firing at close quarters. The result was that the militia fled, leaving
ten muskets in the hands of the strikers. Only one of the latter,
Michael Lyon, is known to have been killed. Following is the list of
wounded: William Berrigan, right side; Patrick Breen, mouth and neck;
John Clay, switchman, through the lungs, afterward died; W. J. L.
Hickey, in the leg; Paul Lang, right thigh, badly; M. Murphy, knee,
badly. None of the soldiers were killed.
The morning passed without serious disturbances. Gangs of men and boys
made the rounds of the factories, urging the hands to quit work, but
they accomplished nothing. Nearly all the engines were in the shops and
yards, which, with the depots, were heavily guarded. No freight trains
had been started during the day, and only one passenger train—that for
Niagara Falls, over the Central road. Two Falls’ trains arrived, and the
Erie mail. On all the crossing switches white flags were displayed with
the words, in black letters, “We will let the mail go.” The strikers
were quiet but resolute.
Travel was stopped on every one of the ten lines touching Buffalo, and
the only way out then was by boat. All day the depots were surrounded by
the mob, numbering about two thousand men and boys—a very large
proportion of them roughs, with whom the real strikers did not
sympathize. No hostile demonstration had been made against railway
property since the preceding night, when the mob numbered nearly three
thousand, being much larger at night than in the day. The mob later in
the evening began to collect in large force in various parts of the
city. It became a vast multitude before ten o’clock at night.
The railroad yards at Buffalo stretched nearly ten miles eastward, and
the rioters were scattered along this distance, thus making no great
show at any one point. The arrangements for the defense of the city were
wholly inadequate. There were only seven hundred soldiers there. Of
these, one company was thoroughly thrashed by the mob Monday night,
seventeen of its men being wounded or missing; another, an artillery
company, was armed with muskets, and a third was an unmounted cavalry
company. There were only three hundred police, aided by a few specials
sworn in Monday. Several of the wounded Westfield soldiers came out of
hiding at noon the next day to have their wounds dressed.
There was great annoyance and some suffering from the embargo on travel.
Women travelling with funds sufficient only for the journey were left in
bad straits, and some required the assistance of the charitable. Ten
“drummers” hired a tug Tuesday afternoon and started for Rochester by
the canal, hoping to reach that city by the following morning. Many
passengers from the East had come from Niagara Falls, twenty-three
miles, in carriages. There were miles of freight and passenger cars on
the tracks, and, it was estimated, more than a million dollars worth of
freight.
The few soldiers who were at Buffalo spoke with great repugnance to
firing into the mob. Many of them sympathized with the strikers, and
many women and children followed their husbands and fathers into the
crowds. A mail train for Elmira was allowed to go out on the Erie,
Tuesday morning, and several Canada Southern passenger trains were
permitted to pass, but at a late hour in the evening everything was shut
tight.
Hot work was anticipated. The air was full of rumors of an attempt to
burn the roundhouse of the Lake Shore Railroad. General Rogers was
making all possible preparations. Some three hundred special police were
sworn in, and the Board of Police issued the following notice:
“The Board of Police desire each and every citizen of Buffalo who
believes in the supremacy of the law, to call at the headquarters of the
Police Department and take the oath and responsibility of special
patrolman, without pay, for the maintenance of order and the protection
of the property of our citizens.”
The Sheriff also issued a call to over five hundred citizens for a
meeting at his office. The citizens were fully aroused to the urgency of
the case.
A mob from the Lake Shore and Erie Railroad, Tuesday morning, took the
firemen and brakemen from the New York Central trains, and unloaded the
stock and warned employes from further work. No disposition was shown on
the part of the New York Central employes to join the strikers.
The Lake Shore and Erie shops were closed. The mob was in quiet
possession and undemonstrative. Lake Shore live stock trains were
stopped at Collingwood and unloaded indiscriminately. Stock was being
received regularly by the Canada roads.
At seven o’clock Tuesday evening, the mob reinforced by large numbers,
called at the car shops of the Lake Shore and Erie Companies and ordered
all workmen to quit, which they did with the greatest alacrity.
About four in the afternoon of that day, a Buffalo and Jamestown train,
which departs from the Erie depot, on arriving at Compromise crossing,
two miles from the depot, had the passenger coaches blocked and stoned
on the central track, and the fireman forcibly taken from the engine.
Superintendent Doyle, who was on the train, remonstrated with the
strikers, stating that there had been no reduction of wages on the road
since its inauguration. The effect of the statement resulted in bringing
back the coach by the strikers, who coupled it on and assured the
Superintendent that nothing would be done in any way to interfere with
the working of his road.
Early in the afternoon an assault was made by nearly two thousand
rioters on about two hundred soldiers, who were guarding the Lake Shore
roundhouse. The military were obliged to leave the building, which was
barricaded by the mob, who proceeded to place cars in position as a
defence against attack. Colonel Flack, of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, with
about thirty men and three officers, exhibiting a total want of
judgment, proceeded to the roundhouse to retake it from the mob. They
were met with yells of derision from the crowd, and, under a shower of
stones, were obliged to retreat with precipitate haste and force their
way through an angry multitude at the point of the bayonet. Some
soldiers were seriously cut on the hands with knives, and many others
were clubbed. Four soldiers lost muskets, which, however, were afterward
recovered. Colonel Flack, who was severely beaten and twice knocked
down, fled across the canal, and was obliged to take refuge in the Lake
Shore paint-shop.
The engineers of the Erie and Lake Shore roads signed an agreement with
the firemen not to run with green hands; New York Central engineers
followed by agreeing to the same pledge that evening.
During the night the excitement in Buffalo was very great. The situation
was critical. No number of troops sufficiently strong to contend against
the vast multitude of rioters, was within easy distance of the city. The
experience of Pittsburgh, had the effect of intensifying the general
feeling of apprehension. All business was suspended. Banks refused to
discount drafts on New York, and the consequence was a stringency in the
money market, which had a most depressing effect upon the people.
Meanwhile the number of the rioters was increasing, and the workingmen
in other industries than railroad operations had quit their employments.
The tramps from a wide section of the adjacent country, were
concentrating in the city.
The managers of the New York Central and Lake Shore Railroads declined
to forward the mails unless permitted to send out passenger trains also,
to which the strikers objected, and a deputation of strikers visited the
postmaster the afternoon of the 24th, and asked him to forward the
mails, stating that they would see them safely through. A mail car was
sent East that morning, and another went the next morning on the Erie
Road.
The citizens organized as special police, and arrangements were made for
the protection of the city. The military were on guard at the Exchange
street depots all day, and notwithstanding large crowds filled the
streets in the vicinity, no serious collisions occurred. At ten o’clock
Tuesday evening the police charged upon the mass on Michigan street, and
succeeded in clearing an open space. A gang during the day visited many
of the large manufactories, and attempted to drive out the workmen, but
in only a few places were they successful. Whenever the police found
them in force they were promptly dispersed. The Westfield company, who
were set upon and scattered the previous night by the strikers, came
into the city Tuesday morning with only thirty-six men and seventeen
guns. They left Westfield with fifty seven men. The following were the
names of the wounded belonging to that company. Corporal James C. Hale,
Privates, Orville Ogden, William Rickenbro, Dell Barber, George Hursted,
W. J. Harvey and Walter H. Dixon.
The members of the Grand Army of the Republic residing in Buffalo,
numbering about one hundred and seventy-five, organized as a company,
and tendered their services to the Mayor for the protection of the lives
and property of the citizens. Mayor Becker, Tuesday evening, issued his
proclamation ordering all saloons to be closed during the evenings,
until order could be restored. He also called upon the citizens to
enroll as special police for the protection of the city.
The arrest of B. J. Donohue, who was apparently the organizer of the
strikers at Buffalo, as well as Hornellsville, and indeed throughout
Western New York, was an episode in the history of movements in that
section of no little interest, and considerable importance. To this man,
more than any other, was due the completeness and effectiveness of the
strike on the Erie and Lake Shore roads. He organized it, not only at
Hornellsville, but throughout the Western Division of the Erie Railroad.
He managed it in his own way, establishing his headquarters with all the
confidence of a military chieftain taking command of his forces. His
orders were the law of the strikers and possibly the cause of the
strike. He showed himself as much a favorite among trackmen, brakemen
and firemen on the road as was Jack Kehoe, the King of the Mollies,
among the miners of the anthracite region. And as Kehoe was not a miner,
so Donohue, properly speaking, was not a railroader. Sometimes he served
as a brakeman, but then only as a substitute; and once he kept a saloon.
His real business was that of the “timer,” or “buyer of time,” and he
made large profits out of the people whose champion he assumed to be, by
advancing them money at a high interest—as much as fifteen per cent. it
is asserted—in anticipation of the paymaster. When the strike, which
impended because of the reduction of wages at the beginning of July
last, was ordered, Donohue was made chairman of the committee having the
matter in charge. In this way he naturally became the leader when the
strike actually came; and more than this, it may be said that the strike
was his own creation.
[Illustration: THE CONSTRUCTION GANG REPAIRING THE TRACKS UNDER
PROTECTION OF THE MILITIA.]
At Buffalo, the strike had almost spent its force. The failure of the
strikers to engage the employes of the New York Central and other roads,
having termini at that city, prevented a thorough organization of the
labor forces. A few regiments of men had been sent to Buffalo from other
points, but their services were not needed. By the 25th of July, the
main trouble was over. But for several days society was more or less
disturbed. The police authorities made numerous arrests—indeed the
prisons were for a time crowded, but, as in other cities, they were
nearly all subsequently released, and even those against whom charges of
overt acts were preferred, were enabled to secure acquittals and
dismissals in the courts.
During the first days of the troubles at Hornellsville and Buffalo,
Governor Robinson of New York, who had gone to Elmira, issued the
following proclamation:
ELMIRA, N. Y., July 22.
In the name of the State of New York,
A PROCLAMATION.
_Whereas_, The Receiver appointed by the Supreme Court of this State to
take care of the management of the Erie Railway and its properties has
made known to me that a conspiracy has been formed to prevent his
discharging his duty as such receiver under the orders of said court;
that the business of said road and the running of trains has been
interrupted by violence, which the civil authorities are unable to
suppress, and
_Whereas_, The honor and good faith of the State require that it should
protect the said court and its officers in the executions of its order.
Now, therefore, I, Lucius Robinson, Governor of the State of New York,
by virtue of the authority imposed upon me by the Constitution and the
laws, command all persons engaged in such unlawful acts to desist
therefrom, and I call upon all good citizens and upon all authorities,
civil and military, to aid in suppressing the same, and in preventing
breaches of the peace.
The law recognizes and protects the right of all men to refuse to work
except upon terms satisfactory to themselves. But it does not permit
them to prevent other men from working who desire to do so. Unless the
State is to be given up to anarchy, and its courts and laws are to be
defied with impunity, its whole power must be exerted to suppress
violence, maintain order, and protect its citizens in their right to
work, and the business of the country from lawless interruption within
our borders. It is no longer a question of wages, but of the supremacy
of the law, which protects alike the lives, the liberty, the property,
and the rights of all classes of citizens. To the maintenance of that
supremacy the whole power of the State will be invoked if necessary.
Given under my hand, at the City of Elmira, in the State of New York,
this twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
L. ROBINSON.
By the Governor,
D. C. ROBINSON, Private Secretary.
The last expiring throes of the mob-spirit was exhibited at Buffalo on
the 26th, when a mob of idlers marched through the streets, visiting
manufactories and other establishments where large numbers of men were
employed, for the purpose of inducing the laborers to strike. In these
movements they were unsuccessful, and were easily dispersed at a later
hour in the day by a troop of mounted policemen.
By the close of the day on the 26th trains had resumed on all the roads,
and the City of Buffalo had assumed its ordinary appearance, the people
having returned to their customary avocations. The days of excitement
were past, the strike had ended.