THE STRIKE ON THE ERIE RAILROAD.
The Strike at Hornellsville—The Road Completely Blockaded at that
Point—The Demand of the Strikers—Action of the Officers of the
Road—The Situation at the Home Office, New York—Apprehensions of
Further Complications.
The strikes were extending rapidly all over the country. The railroads
in Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, New York and New Jersey were all liable to be blockaded at
almost any moment by the action of the employes.
The situation on the Erie road was far from reassuring as early as the
17th. The next day, the difficulty commenced, the firemen and brakemen
of the Western Division of the Erie Railway decided to strike at one
o’clock the morning of the 20th. At Hornellsville, the night express
leaving there at midnight, was the last train permitted to pass. All
trains, both ways, were stopped at Hornellsville. The train due in New
York at eight P. M., left Buffalo, via the Rochester division, that
morning, but went no further than Corning. A train was made up at Elmira
to run on the regular time to New York. No intimation that there would
be a strike was had until the action of the men was made known. Railroad
communication was cut off, only telegraphic communication being had with
the place up to a late hour Saturday. About four hundred men were in the
strike. They demanded that the pay of the firemen be increased to the
amount received before the late reduction; that brakemen and switchmen
receive $2.00 and head switchmen $2.25 a day; that $1.50 be the wages of
yard trackmen, and $1.40 for section trackmen; that monthly passes be
given firemen and brakemen, and passes be issued to switchmen and
trackmen, and that the Company give a free lease of all property
occupied by trackmen, a large majority of employes of that class being
squatters on Erie land. These demands the Company emphatically rejected.
[Illustration: RIOTERS TEARING UP RAILS AT THE BRIDGE.]
By prompt action the Erie officials struck a severe blow against the
strikers. As soon as the news of the strike was received they ordered
all trains bound for Hornellsville to stop. Passenger trains were sent
over other divisions, and freight trains were held all along the line.
This kept hundreds of men, ready to act with the strikers, away from
Hornellsville. These men resorted to various means to get there, some
seizing hand-cars and thus reaching that point. A fireman, named Pratt,
risked his own, with the lives of hundreds of passengers by seizing a
locomotive at Andover, twenty miles west, and running it in the face of
advancing trains between that place and Scio, picking up men to run them
into Hornellsville. The peril of the undertaking led to its abandonment,
although Pratt was anxious to carry out the plan. A train arrived at ten
P. M., having been stopped at Olean by the Company, thus preventing an
army of sympathizers from joining the strikers. The train went no
further. The train that left New York at 9:15 Saturday, arrived at
Hornellsville the same evening. General Superintendent Bowen, and O.
Chanute, his assistant, went up with it. Its westward passengers were
transferred at Corning to the Rochester division. The train went to the
yard and no attempt was made to move it farther. The strikers were on
guard in large force.
J. S. Beggs, Superintendent of the Western Division, started for Dunkirk
to proceed to Hornellsville Saturday morning. At Salamanca he found the
men had struck. They cut the locomotive loose from the train, but
finally allowed the Superintendent to proceed. He was stopped again at
Andover, when the train was boarded by a crowd of boisterous
sympathizers with the strikers, but was permitted to go on its way after
some delay. The Sheriff of the county, with a number of deputies,
proceeded to Hornellsville with the intention of arresting the principal
leaders.
Passengers who left Buffalo Saturday evening for New York on the Erie,
narrowly escaped detention by the strikers at Hornellsville. The train
was within a few miles of that station when the conductor was notified
by telegraph of the situation, and ordered to return to Attica with the
train. The train was sent over the Attica branch to Avon and thence over
the Rochester division to Corning where it was held until the afternoon
of the 20th, when it started for New York to make the stops of local
trains held at Hornellsville. General Superintendent of Transportation
Wright, and Division Superintendent Cable, were at this time in
Hornellsville. General Superintendent Bowen was on his way to that
point. There were fears in Elmira that the strike would extend to the
divisions east of that place. The demonstration at Hornellsville was not
crushed. Traffic was entirely suspended west of Hornellsville, and the
yards of every station were filled with freight, stock and other trains.
All passenger and freight trains on the Erie Railroad, except on the
Falls branch, had been abandoned. Tickets issued by that road were
honored by the New York Central, and tickets issued by the Erie road
over the Atlantic and Great Western were honored by the Lake Shore and
Michigan Southern and the Buffalo and Jamestown road. Orders were sent
to Buffalo to the Erie Railway shipping office to take no stock for
shipment East on account of a railway strike in the vicinity of
Hornellsville.
It was late Thursday night when the officials of the road at the New
York headquarters, received information that a riot was in contemplation
by the firemen and brakemen of one of the Western divisions of the road,
but nothing definite as to the extent of the demonstration, or the
demands of the strikers was reported, and business was resumed Friday
morning as usual. The regular evening express from Buffalo, left that
city at 9:45 Thursday, and ran to Hornellsville, ninety-one miles
distant, on regular time. Hornellsville is the point at which the
Buffalo division ends, and the Susquehanna division begins, and there
the engineers, firemen, and other train hands “lay off,” and are
replaced by another team, who take the train to the end of the division
in Susquehanna, and are in turn relieved. The engineer was on hand
Friday morning to take the regular train to Susquehanna, but the fireman
and brakemen refused to work, and the train was kept standing on the
track. The switchmen and trackmen joined the strike, and the business of
the road was at a complete standstill throughout the entire length of
the division—one hundred and thirty miles.
After four hours’ delay the train was allowed to pass. The express and
mail train was also stopped, but was held only forty minutes. The first
reached New York three hours, and the second seventeen minutes late.
The express which left New York on Thursday night, proceeded as far as
Corning, and was there tied up by the strikers, but the passengers were
brought back to Elmira, and were sent over the Northern Central Road to
Canandaigua, and thence by the New York Central to Buffalo.
By the policy adopted by the strikers, trains were permitted to run both
ways as far as Hornellsville, but none were suffered to return either
way, and in the course of the day some seven hundred freight cars were
blockaded there, the strikers taking out the coupling-pins and throwing
them away, as soon as a train arrived. Two or three passenger trains
were run into the town by order of the railroad officials, for the
purpose of demonstrating the fact that they could not get through, but
most of the passengers were sent by the Central Road, by which Erie
through tickets were received. After the extent of the strike was known
in the Chambers street office, in New York, orders were telegraphed the
agents of the road to suspend the sale of through tickets until further
notice.
The officers of the Erie Railway, with Mr. Jewett, the receiver,
included, appear to have made a mistake in regard to the nature of the
strike at Hornellsville. They believed that the strike there was a part
of the demonstration inaugurated at Martinsburg, and continued at
Pittsburgh. It was supposed that all three were ordered by the supreme
authority in the organization of brakemen and firemen, to which nearly
all the employes on all the great lines in the United States belong, and
it was feared that the strike would spread all along the line from Omaha
to New York, and that the Western and Southern roads would share the
same fate. The facts that the Hornellsville strike was begun without due
notice, that the grounds of the strike were not presented to the Company
until late in the afternoon, and when presented, proved to be the old
issues that were settled three weeks before, strengthened this belief.
In the Company’s yards in Communipaw, the men professed entire ignorance
of the affair. They declared that they did not know the causes which led
to the strike, and pretended that the organization to which the strikers
belong had no existence east of Port Jervis.
These men were in all probability right. The officers were evidently
wrong. If the strike at Hornellsville had been the part of a great
movement among railroad men all over the country, it is not probable
that the disturbance on the Erie Railroad would have been confined to
the Western division. Simultaneously with the movement at Hornellsville,
the firemen, brakemen, and switchmen at Salamanca, on the Western
division, quit work, and when Mr. Beggs, the Superintendent of that
division, who had started out from Dunkirk for Hornellsville, arrived at
Salamanca, his engine was cut loose from the train and put into the
engine-house, and the strikers notified him that no engine or train
would be permitted to pass Salamanca.
It was claimed by the officers of the Company that when a committee of
the train men visited New York, late in June, in relation to the
reduction of July 1st, they were kindly received by Receiver Jewett, and
the necessity and propriety of the reduction explained to them, which,
after a few days’ deliberation, they apparently accepted, and the men
continued at their posts, with the exception of the known promoters of
the discontent, who were discharged.
It was also claimed that all classes of men on the Erie Railway had been
treated by the Company with consideration. Their pay was not only
reasonable but liberal for the times, and if there were any employes
expressing dissatisfaction, the receiver was ready to pay them off
promptly and hire other men to take their places, and expressed his
determination to carry out the order of July 1st to the letter.
But the strike had assumed formidable proportions. There can be no doubt
that a riot existed at Hornellsville, and that the rioters had things
for a time pretty much in their own hands. They had assembled in force
sufficient to control the railroad communications at Hornellsville, and
trains were not allowed to pass either east or west. There are two lines
between Hornellsville and Buffalo, one, the main line, and the other a
branch line between Hornellsville and Corning. At Corning the branch
line connects with the Rochester and Buffalo division. So far the
strikers had not interfered with the movement of trains on the branch
line, but they could have cut off communication at any moment.
Practically as far as the traffic on the road was considered,
intercourse was cut off between New York City and Buffalo. Only a small
portion of the business of the road could be conducted over the branch
line in any event, and in the present case it might as well be left out
of consideration entirely. If the strikers considered it important to do
so, they could undoubtedly have blockaded the trains on that line also.
A Brakeman named Donahue was understood to be the chief instigator of
the movement. Donahue was discharged a few weeks before from the service
of the Company, and he had been going about secretly since to stir up
the brakemen to make a strike. He is the brother of the President of the
Brakemans’ Association, and is a man of considerable influence. By his
agency and the assistance of his brother the strike was no doubt
organized. It was the opinion of Receiver Jewett that Mr. Arthur, the
President of the Engineers’ Protective Union, had taken an influential
part in organizing this as well as the strikes on other lines. He had
not been in the neighborhood, but the movement had been probably guided
to some extent by his directions. The engineers were not inclined to
unite in the movement, at least directly. The only support they would
give it would be by objecting to the new brakemen and firemen taken on
in the place of the strikers, on the ground of inexperience, but they
would not strike themselves.
Already an informal application had been made by the officers of this
road to Governor Robinson of New York for protection.
During the morning of the 21st an effort was made by the Erie officials
at Hornellsville to start a train East, carrying a mail car. The
strikers on guard would not permit anything to leave the yard but the
mail car. They also prevented any one getting aboard but the mail agents
and an insane woman, who was being taken to Elmira. Everything was quiet
after that till a later hour in the day. Then the Pacific express, which
left New York the previous evening, arrived with a mail car and a
passenger car. The sleeping coaches and westward-bound passengers were
sent over the Rochester division at Corning.
The strikers took possession of the trains, the passengers had to get
out, and when the baggage was unloaded the cars were pushed to a siding
by the strikers. The mail car was permitted to start, the men first
placing a fireman and brakeman of their own on the engine and car. An
effort was made by the Company to attach the postal car to the passenger
coaches at the lower end of the yard. The strikers suspected a move of
this kind, and two hundred rushed to that part of the yard and took
possession of the switch. The effort was thus defeated, and the engine
and postal car were left on the side track.
The Erie officials refused to recognize any of the committees of the
men, and issued orders forbidding B. J. Donahue, chairman of the
Brakemen, Switchmen and Trackmen’s Committees of the Buffalo, Western
and Susquehanna division, and leader of the strike, from coming on the
grounds. He established headquarters in the Titusville House near by,
and directed the operations of the men. The great grievance the men
complained of, was that the Company broke faith with them in discharging
from its employ members of the Grievance Committees sent to New York in
the matter of the reduction of July 1st, after agreeing not to do so if
the men accepted the reduction. General Superintendent Bowen positively
denied that there ever was such an agreement made in the first place,
and insisted that no man had been discharged in consequence of his
having been on a committee, the Company having approved of the men
waiting upon the manager by representatives to state any grievance they
might have. The men discharged were dismissed for absenting themselves
from their posts without leave, and for violating the discipline of the
Company. Donahue declared that the firemen struck because they were
pledged to the brakemen, and that the engineers were pledged to them,
too, but did not strike. Representative engineers denied that their body
ever made any pledges to the brakemen.
The proclamation and orders of Governor Robinson, had called out a very
large force of the New York National Guards. The Erie Company knew of
their movements, the fact became known at Hornellsville, the afternoon
of the 21st, that the receiver had appealed to the state authorities for
military assistance, and the men held a secret meeting. They believed
that no militia could be brought to that place, a majority of whom would
not be in sympathy with their movement. It was not generally known at
what time the militia ordered then would arrive, but the Company was
kept informed of their progress. The Fifty-fourth Regiment New York
State Militia, Colonel G. E. Baker commanding, left Rochester in the
morning, and marched four hundred strong, arriving at Hornellsville
during the evening. The approach of the train was so quiet that few of
the strikers were at the depot, but in a brief time the yard was blocked
with men shouting and deriding the soldiers. Immediately after the
arrival of the train another came in from Elmira with two hundred men
from the One Hundred and Tenth Regiment, Colonel Smith commanding, and
Battery A of the Twentieth Brigade, Captain Walker. Great excitement
prevailed. The men affected to treat the matter as a joke and loudly
ridiculed the idea of the movement being suppressed by a few soldiers
with empty guns. The Elmira troops were formed in line and marched
through the yard, driving out all with whom they came in contact. The
Rochester troops were subsequently formed, and lines were placed all
about the Company’s yards. Every approach was guarded. No one could
enter without a countersign. The battery of two guns was planted in
Loder street, and commanded the yard and surroundings. The excitement
was intense. No attempt was made by the Company to move trains.
The strikers held meetings and unanimously resolved to resist the
Company even in the face of the bayonet. They were in receipt of
telegrams from Elmira, Susquehanna, Port Jervis, Corning and other
places calling on them to be firm, and saying that meetings were being
held that would result in the men in these places joining in the strike.
The leaders in the movement threatened a bloody time next day.
B. J. Donahue, the leader of the strike, warned all engineers against
going out with trains, as they would go at their own peril, the track
having been “fixed” by the strikers. In spite of the guards, the
strikers had disabled all the switch engines in the yard. Two
demonstrative strikers were arrested and quickly rescued by their
friends. There was great familiarity between the militia and the
strikers. General Brinkerhoff and W. W. MacFarland, counsel of the Erie,
arrived from New York in a special train. They held a consultation with
D. C. Robinson, the Governor’s Private Secretary, to which they were
escorted by a guard of soldiers.
All was quiet at Port Jervis. There was considerable excitement among
the employes of the Erie road, but nothing to indicate that a strike
would occur on the Eastern or Delaware division. All trains on these
divisions were moving regularly, no stoppages occurring on that side of
Hornellsville.
A second special train, in charge of General Wylie, with ammunition and
camp equipage arrived before morning.
Three reasons existed why Hornellsville should have been selected as the
scene of the origin of the strike: First, it is the most important
junction on the road; second, it is far from the large cities where
unemployed labor is plenty and the municipal authorities are strong, and
third, it is filled with bad and dangerous men. It is purely a railroad
town, although it contains some seven thousand inhabitants, and a
considerable amount of business is done there. It is the termini of
three divisions of the road—the Susquehanna, Buffalo and Western—and
consequently there have congregated and settled there a large number of
the worst class of men, those who have been employed on
railroads—chiefly the Erie—in various capacities, and discharged for
many causes. They comprised the best possible material for strikes,
riots and violence of all kinds, partly because of their natural
predilection to disorder, partly from motives of revenge for their
dismissal, and partly to get the men employed discharged, so as to make
room for themselves, the Company had evidence that some men, not
connected with the road, were secretly inciting train hands to strike in
the expectation that the Company would be forced to reinstate them in
the positions from which they were formerly dismissed.
But two cases of violence on the road had yet occurred. Some Buffalo
firemen stole a locomotive and ran out to the junction of the Falls
branch at East Buffalo, with the intention of blockading the trains
arriving from Utica, but a squad of police was sent out from Buffalo and
the firemen were quickly dispersed. The other case occurred at
Hornellsville, where General Superintendent Bowen made a personal
attempt to take out a mail train, but was stopped by the strikers.