The Labor Uprising of 1877 Part 2

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Eric Gaskell, and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast. And problem I didn't give you many names,
and joy a blunder. Look, I'm Raisling, I'm got the

(00:24):
ba A long struggle for freedom. It really is a revolution.
Last time I began telling you the tale of the
Great Labor Uprising of eighteen seventy seven, a strike that
before was done stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific,

(00:47):
a streth that was a result of the nation's various
railroad corporations basically deciding to slash their workers' wages in
the name of maximizing profits. In most cases, this wasn't
even the first time they had done this in recent years,
but it seems that this latest cut was the final straw.
Workers and their families simply could not see how they
could possibly survive on these further reduced wages, and so

(01:09):
they went on strike, demanding their baby restored to what
it had been now. So far, these strike had been
mainly contained to the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia, where
workers for the b and Ol Railroad had gone on
strike and in doing so proclaimed that no freight trains
would be allowed to run through their town, which served
as an important junction in the railroad. Hundreds of freight
cars would then begin to pile up in the Martinsburg

(01:31):
yard as a ground freight traffic along the B and
O to a halt, a situation that of course displeased
the railroad's president, John Garrett, who, rather than negotiating with
the workers and repealing the wage cuts, instead called upon
the Governor of West Virginia, Henry M. Matthews, to use
the state's National Guard forces to end the strike. However,
when the local guardsmen were seen as being too sympathetic

(01:53):
to their striking neighbors and co workers, Garrett decided that
the only answer was federal troops. Together with Governor Matthews,
Garrett then worked to convince the new President of the
United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, to dispatch troops to Martinsburg
to break the strike, which they seemingly had done, as
after days of delays, free trains on the B and
O began moving out of Martinsburg again, with one of

(02:15):
these trains being manned by George Zepp, the older brother
one of the purported leaders of the strike, Dick Zepp,
who had been arrested for trying to stop the very
train his brother was now on. The strike, though, was
far from over, as the actions of these citizens of
Martinsburg had already begun inspiring others to follow their example. Yet,
before I continue the story of how the strike began

(02:35):
to spread, first, like always, I want to give credit
to my sources for this series, which include Philip Sphers
the Great Labor Uprising of eighteen seventy seven, David o'
stowells The Great Strikes of eighteen seventy seven, and Robert V.
Bruce's eighteen seventy seven Year of Violence. And like always,
these and any additional sources like websites that I used,

(02:56):
will be available on this podcast, Blue Sky and Covey Pages.
Plus for anyone who doesn't want to be bothered skipping
through commercials, there is always an add free feet available
to subscribers at patreon dot com slash Distorted History. And
with all that being said, let's begin. As the strike
spread beyond Martinsburg. It didn't do so based upon the
direction of any person or group. There was no individual

(03:18):
or shadowy caball controlling events. Instead, people were just assigning
on their own and with their friends and co workers.
To join in following the example of the people of Martinsburg.
In fact, it wasn't only railroad workers who would be
taking part in this next stage of the strike. As
you see, some of the first to join the trainmen
in their efforts were boatmen working the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal,

(03:40):
men who notably had their own grievances with the B
and O as the railroad had basically put them out
of business by undercutting the canal with their free charges.
The boatmen, you see, simply could not match the rates
being offered by the railroad, especially with the canal refusing
to reduce tolls. It would then be hundreds of these
boatmen who encountered George Zepp's freight train after successfully departed

(04:01):
from Martinsburg. As when the train reached Sir John's Run,
a halo of rocks began striking the train and the
men inside it, including the aforementioned George Zepp. The train
then came to a stop in response to this assault
so as to allow the federal troops on board to
deal with these troublemakers. However, as the troops tried to
pursue the individuals responsible, the canal men and their allies

(04:22):
had already faded into the underbrush. So George Zeb's train
continued on, but as they arrived in Cumberland, Maryland, they
were yet again met by an angry crowd. As you see,
Cumberland was both they can now poured any railroad town,
and so no one there was at all happy to
see the strike breaking train's arrival. The train, though, would
still manage to keep rolling on. However, when it arrived

(04:44):
in Kaiser, West Virginia, they found that the workers there
had joined those in Martinsburg by going on strike. Indeed,
some of these men were able to manipulate the switches
in such a way so as to force the train
onto a sidetrack, where they were able to force the
crew to abandon the train, at which point all the
strike breakers, including George Zepp, gave up and headed home.
Which is all to say that while yes, the railroad

(05:06):
in the government had managed to disrupt the bottleneck in Martinsburg,
it was quickly becoming apparent that the spirit of resistance
had it started in that town, was not just isolated
to that community, as workers in other towns were simply
picking up where those in Martinsburg had left off. Indeed,
the railroad would also find their efforts dimming in the
city of Grafton, West Virginia, as these strike breakers, who

(05:27):
had been hired to drive a freight train from Grafton
to Parkersburg, were met by a score of striking worker's
armed with revolvers, who then made it clear that they
intended to kill anyone that tried to move the train. Indeed,
among them was a conductor who had been fired by
the railroad. This conductor then made it clear to the
strike breakers that between his two revolvers he had fourteen
shots and he was prepared to die before allowing that

(05:49):
train to move an inch. It was then a result
of this friendly discussion that these strike breakers decided to
abandon their attempt to move the train, and coincidentally, no
one else picked up the gun all behalf of the
B and O for the rest of the day. Meanwhile,
no freight was moving through Wheeling, West Virginia either, as
the local firemen there all refused to work, while the

(06:09):
joblessmen who came to town looking to act as strike breakers
were dissuaded from such a course by the locals, which
was yet another example of the public by and large
siding with the workers. Indeed, many an individual tote to
gathering outside the newspaper offices and willing to await updates,
hoping to get news of the railroad's defeat. Meanwhile, also
in Wheeling, some of the guardsmen who had been despatched

(06:31):
to Martinsburg were returning of their own accord, after apparently
deciding they did not want any part of this fight,
or at least not as guardians of the railroad. Indeed,
some on the trip back had even taken the time
to attend a fund raising dance for strikers in Grafton. Meanwhile,
over in Sir John's Run, the canal workers, both white
and black, would be joined by coal miners who proceeded

(06:52):
to help them stop and decouple train. The following morning,
more demonstrations of support for these strikers in their fight
against the railroad would also be seen in com Erland, Maryland,
when a train carrying railroad officials and multiple reporters was
met by an angry, threatening crowd, which one reporter noted
featured a significant number of boys who ran circles around
the various cops and federal troops they taunted and arrest.

(07:13):
Things were arguably even worse. When the train passed through
kaiser As. There a striker was overheard yelling quote, one
the hell do why care if I do get killed?
And might as well do us to starve to death. Meanwhile,
others were heard openly talking about resisting the federal troops,
especially now that they supposedly had the support of some
twelve hundred local miners who had apparently pledged to support

(07:35):
these striking railroad men. There was more than just angry
talk as well, as Cumberland, Maryland, would effectively take over
for Martinsburg as the place where freight trains could arrive
but could not leave, as the people of Cumberland, just
like so many other places across the country, had been
pushed to the breaking point. Indeed, there were reports of
families in town actively starving due to the ongoing economic depression.

(07:58):
People in general then had simply had enough, and so
these striking workers in Cumberland would be joined not just
by the Afromachican now workers, but also unemployed locals and
even tramps who had been traveling about the country and
looking for work. Now. John Garrett, the head of the
BNO Railroad, responded to the situation in Cumberland, just like
he had the one in Martinsburg, which is to say

(08:19):
that he reached out to the governor of the state,
this time John Carroll, the governor of Maryland, to demand
the National Guard be called in, and much like Governor
Matthews of West Virginia, Carol would do the bidding of
the railroad by dispatching a pair of National Guard regiments
to deal with these striking workers, with one of these
regiments coming from Baltimore, a city which somewhat surprisingly had

(08:40):
yet to see any major incidents despite it being a
major nexus for the Beno Railroad. Indeed, while there were
some workers striking, the Baltimore Sun would praise them for
having quote maintained perfect order, unlike their fellows who were
striking in West Virginia. Despite this, Baltimore was a powder
keg just waiting for the right spark. As you see,
the cities workers had been hit just as hard by

(09:01):
the depression and the demands of the heartless corporations as
the rest of the country had been, while at the
same time, Baltimore's mayor had shown no real interest in
helping the large numbers of unemployed workers residing in the city. Additionally,
while all this was going on with the railroad and
their wage cuts, some seven hundred canmakers in the city
were also going on strike to demand better pay. Meanwhile,

(09:23):
public opinion in the city, which represented the Bee in
the b and O, was also just in general decidedly
not with the railroad. They in particular dislike Garrett and
how much power he had, and they also just didn't
like how he and the railroad treated the people who
worked for them, as they believed the railroad should be
cutting its dividends rather than their workers' wages. It was

(09:44):
then into this mix, and on the same day that
the National Guardsmen were being dispatched to Cumberland, the newspapers
carried word that the railroad had decided that those on
strike were fired, and as such they were now trespassing
on railroad property. Things in Baltimore would then come to
a head that night when at six p m. On
the twentieth of July, the big bell in City Hall

(10:04):
known as Big Sam, and all the bells in the
firehouses throughout the city were wrong. This was a signal
that the city's militia, the National Guardsmen, were being summoned
to duties. So that they could board a train bound
for Coverland to break up the strike there. Now, the
timing of the signal is important because it also coincided
with many of the men and boys who were still
employed getting out of work for the day. The streets

(10:26):
of the city were then filled with people who were
curious about the unusual ringing of the bells, as the
National guardsmen had never been called out in such a
matter before. A number of people then rushed to the
various National Guard armories located around the city to see
this unique set for themselves. Yet, as the various regiments
attempted to march from their armories to the train station,

(10:47):
the thousands of individuals who had gathered in the streets
would greet them with rocks and cobblestones, which there was
apparently a healthy supply of, as a number of the
streets had recently been torn up so that gas pipes
could be laid and run into building. Now, one group
of the guardsmen would manage to make it a waste
down the street before they encountered a hostile crowd, at
which point rocks and stone started flying through the air,

(11:09):
some of which were thrown by people in the street
while authers were thrown by women in windows overlooking the streets.
Some of the soldiers would be injured by this barrage
and would then be assisted by their fellows to the station,
where they encountered a group of quote unquote, rough looking
men blocking the road. However, when the guardsmen advanced upon them,
the crowd dispersed enough to allow them to pass through,

(11:29):
but not without having to run through another gauntlet of
flying stones and broken bricks. Now twenty five of the
guardsmen who made this journey would be injured along the
way be seen. However, was if anything worse outside the
six armory, as the crowd outside there had no interest
in letting them leave. Indeed, when this regiment first attempted
to depart, they were met by such resistance that they

(11:50):
were forced to retreat back inside. A squad of cops
was then called to the scene in an attempt to
provide ad digital protection for the guardsmen. However, they proved
to be ineffective, as both the militiamen and the police
escort were driven back into the armory. The next time
the soldiers attempted to depart, then they simply opened fire
into the crowd, apparently doing so without orders and with

(12:12):
their captain yelling at them to stop, although it has
to be said that he was a one responsible for
providing them with twenty rounds of ammunition, which, as you
saw with Kent State decades later, is not something you
do unless you want to see a bunch of civilians killed.
The people outside the armory then fled as a result
of this deadly response, taking their dead and wounded with
them to nearby saloons and drug stores. In the meantime,

(12:34):
the brave soldiers ran for the train station, as some
among their ranks fired random shots behind them as they fled.
Eleven civilians would be killed as a result of these actions,
with at least another forty being wounded, and I say
at least because a number of those struck down by
the soldiers' bullets were carried off to friends or relatives
and thus not counted. Among the dead was a forty

(12:55):
year old Fresco painter who left behind a wife and
five children, a thirty three year old unemployed oyster dredger
who left behind a widow, an eighteen year old messenger boy,
a sixteen year old who had dreams of becoming a
photographer and whose last act in life was preventing a
woman from rushing into the street as the troops approached,
and a fifteen year old newsboy who worked that job

(13:15):
to support his mother. A mother who win her son
didn't return home to help her finish moving their belongings
into their new rooms, would go out looking for him,
only to find the body of her son laid out
on a bench, his skull crushed by a bullet. Meanwhile,
among the wounded was an eighteen year old boy who
had only been on the street to sell paltry to
help support his mother and sister, and had not even

(13:36):
been involved in the aforementioned events when he was shot
through both thighs. In contrast, the only serious injury among
the National guardsmen was William Young, whose nose had been
broken his face disfigured when he had been struck by
a large stone. Other than his injuries, however, there were
none other to note among their ranks. However, of the
one to twenty who had set off from the sixth Armory,

(13:57):
only fifty nine ultimately decided to stick her around when
all was said and done. As for the rest of
the soldiers, they did not even apart from the city
that night, as no trains period departed from the city
after the Crown drove off the scabb engineer and firemen
who'd been brought in the crew that train then, as
if to ensure they wouldn't be going anywhere, some of
the crowd, after beating back a squad of police who

(14:18):
had tried to restore order, literally tore up some of
the train tracks. These events marked the first major outbreak
of violence of the eighteen seventy seven strike, and in response,
Governor Carroll, at the behest of the B and O officials,
called upon President Hayes for assistance, with the President responding
this time without hesitation, setting in multiple companies of federal
troops to Baltimore. However, by the time the request was

(14:40):
sent to Washington, the crowd had already dispersed and the
emergency had passed. Indeed, Governor Carroll would then form the
President that the federal soldiers were no longer needed, but
Hayes sent them anyway. Come the following morning in Baltimore,
things were actually quiet, indeed bestriking railroad workers simply took
up their normal positions on lights as they waited quietly

(15:01):
hoping for word that they could go back to work
without their wages being slashed for no reason. As you see,
as far as anyone could tell that or now, the
strikers had not actually played any role in the events
of the previous night. In fact, reportedly, as soon as
they heard that trouble was brewing, the leaders of the
strike ordered their men to return to their homes and
stay off the streets. Yet slowly b and O blamed

(15:22):
them for everything, while also reasserting that they had no
intention of negotiating with the strikers, who they considered to
be effectively fired. Now keep in mind, all this was
happening because the railroad had decided to slash their employees'
wages by ten percent to maximize the returns for their investors,
a decision that was reportedly costing them thousands of dollars
for every hour that their free translated dormant. And still

(15:46):
they had no interest in negotiating, even though all the
workers wanted was to, in their own words quote, obtain
wages which would enable them to live. Meanwhile, despite all
the evidence stating that these striking workers had not played
any part of the violence of the twentieth, Governor Carroll
would declare to the striker's quote, you are responsible for
the violence that has been done, whether you were actually

(16:08):
engaged in it or not. You, on your part, must
drive away from you the evil disposed people who have
done so much harm and discountenance a degree of responsibility
that Carol strangely did not hold himself or the railroad too,
despite it being the National guardsman that he had called
out on behalf of the b and O who were,
you know, the ones who had done all the actual killing. Instead,

(16:30):
it seems that all the governor actually cared about was
protecting the railroad and its property. Meanwhile, the eleven civilians
who had been slayed as a result of his orders
did not seem to matter all that much, as he
would further declare in his opinion, quote interference with men
who work as equally a violation of law. With riding,
you can then see the true priorities of those in authority.

(16:51):
Because of the twelve hundred federal troops sent to Baltimore,
some seven hundred of them, along with two gatling guns
and several other artillery pieces, were back to the Camden
station to protect the Beno's property, as that was what
they truly cared about Meanwhile, as these events were playing

(17:34):
out in West Virginia and Maryland. Up in Pennsylvania, Robert Pitcairn,
the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh Division, would issue
orders at all freight trains heading east out of Pittsburgh
from the nineteenth of July on would be double headers,
meaning that these trains would have two locomotives, a move
that would cut down on delays and allow them to
have longer trains while also cutting labor crosts. As you see,

(17:57):
this move essentially allowed for two trains worth of cars
while only employing the same number of conductors in brackmen
as they would for a single train, a move that
would effectively cut the number of train crews in half.
As a result, some fifty to sixty realmen looked to
lose their jobs as a direct result of this change,
which was bad enough in and of itself, but double

(18:18):
headers were also dangerous, which is to say, more dangerous
than they already were, considering that the railroad refused to
equip their freight trains with safety devices. Brakemen, for example,
would now have to handle twice the number of cars,
which was especially bad because of something happened, and the
locomotive was forced to try and stop. Unexpectedly, the cars
trailing behind could crash into one another if the brakemen

(18:40):
were unable to get to all of them in time. Now,
but carn was aware of all of this and the
fact that it would cause some grumbling among the men. However,
since a fair number of trains heading east were already
double headers, he assumed that would be the extent of
the issues coming from this declaration. Indeed, upon reading this announcement,
the men grumbled and about not working the double headers,

(19:02):
but they notably did not bring up their complaints with
piccarin primarily because they knew they would just be ignored
at first glance and had seen that Picaran was right.
There were, however, a couple of factors that the rail
boss had not figured into his taculus. Namely, he had
not anticipated the effect they strike in Martinsburg would have
on the men in Pittsburgh. As you see, the bellegued

(19:22):
employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who had already had their
pay slash by ten percent, were inspired by what was
taking place down on the B and O. In fact,
there was a widespread sense in the city of Pittsburgh
that it was only a matter of time before the
local railroad workers started striking as well. In data was
reportedly a frequent topic in the Pittsburgh steel mills, where
the men would say that quote, it'll be here in

(19:44):
a day or two. Another factor that would prove in
fulluential in the Pennsylvania railmen's decision making was the fact
that the day before the double headers were scheduled to
go into effect was when they would get their previous
month's wages, a reality that meant they would have money
to survive upon for eight time at least. This was then,
if anything, the best time to make the displeasure known

(20:05):
by going on strike. Now, it has to be said
in some ways this movement, especially in Pittsburgh, was an
outgrowth of the Trainman's Union movement at the same time,
though it was in no way organized by that union.
This wasn't the case, as some would claim, of these
workers having their strings pulled by some dastardly labor agitators
or whatever. Instead, what was going on here was the

(20:26):
same issues that had motivated these men to attempt to
foreman join the Trainman's Union were now driving them to
go on strike. Indeed, Robert Amand, one of the men
who had taken on a bit of a leadership brawl
in the union, had actually departed from Pittsburgh before these
events take place, having left town on the eighty of
the July to take a job in the oil regions.
As such, he was not directing things, nor was anyone else.

(20:49):
These events that were simply the product of workers being
pushed too far, while also being inspired by the actions
of other workers who had similarly been pushed too far.
Events in Pittsburgh would get started right on about eight
thirty in the morning only nineteenth of July, the day
when it happened to Creed that the new double header
policy would go into effect, and the same day that
federal troops arrived in Martinsburg to break the deadlock there now.

(21:12):
So for on this morning, things seem to have been
proceeding as normal as the train crew set to work
preparing to take out the first of the double headers.
It's at this point that flag Mean August Harris, better
known as Gus, on his own, decided he would refuse
to join the others in this work. Now, to be clear,
there was no plan to go on strike at this point,
this was just one man making a decision that he

(21:34):
simply could not carry on like everything was normal. This
singular act would prove to be the tipping point, as
when Gus refused to participate in prepping the double header,
so did the other members of the crew. After all,
pretty much every worker had been against the idea of
the double headers in the first place. They were barely
scripping by as is, and this newscheme thread to put

(21:54):
a number of them out of work completely. All they
needed then was for someone to be the first to
say they wouldn't do it. Their boss then trying to
talk them into doing their jobs, but they refused, at
which point, round about nine am, he sent for replacements.
By doing so, though, he was also effectively spreading the
word that someone was standing up against the unpopular double
header decree. As a result, all twenty five breakmen and

(22:17):
conductors who were waiting in the trainsmen room at the station,
when asked to take the place of those refusing to
go out on the double header, would refuse as well,
for which they were fired on the spot in retribution.
So far, then, management weren't exactly winning anyone over to
their side, and their next move would also prove to
be a mistake, as well as a next turn to
the yard brakeman for assistance, three of whom they managed

(22:40):
to get to agree to cruely double header. The problem
here was there was apparently a pecking order of sorts
between the men who operated the trains for the long
haul and those who jobs were limited to the rail yard.
As such, trying to use men from the yard to
man a train for the long haul seems to have
been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, as
when this replacement tried to go out, their train was

(23:01):
met by a group of twenty angry strikers, who had
at this point decided that no doubleheaders would be leaving
the yard period. It's at this point that things started
getting ugly, as one of the volunteer brakmen had a
link thrown at him by one of the strikers, who
was described as being quote a little worse for his beer,
meaning he was drunk now. The link did not do
any permanent damage, but it was apparently enough to knock

(23:24):
the win out of the brakeman in question, while also
causing him to rethink his choices. Indeed, the same was
true of the others who had not been struck, as
they too gave up abandoning the train. Meanwhile, over on
twenty eighth Street, some of these striking trainmen, along with
various supporters, including strikers from a nearby coal mine, started
gathering around a switch that led from the yard to
the main track. As with control of this switch, they

(23:47):
could prevent any trains from leaving the yard and heading east. Now,
management was obviously growing increasingly frustrated by the situation, as
they would insist that while the men had the right
to refuse to work, they had no right to prevent
others from doing so, to which flagman Andrew Heyst, one
of the men who had emergency kind of vocal leader, responded, quote,
it's a question of bread or blood, and we're going

(24:09):
to resist, basically saying that either the railroad guaranteed that
the men would be able to feed themselves in their
families or things were bound to get ugly. Now, again,
I have to emphasize that none of this was organized,
as while men like Heist might have emerged as a
vocal spokesman for the crowd, there really had not been
any kind of planning ahead of time. Indeed, it was
such a surprise at one engineer, who had taken a

(24:31):
train out to Dariu three that morning, was baffled and
confuse when on his way back he didn't encounter any
of the normal train traffic heading out from Pittsburgh. He
initially assumed then that there had to have been a
wreck of some sort that was blocking the tracks. It
was only when a conductor joined him on the way
back that he was informed of what was going on
back in Pittsburgh. The ranks of the strikers then began

(24:51):
to swhile around noon that day, as the early morning
freight trains began returning to the yard. Meanwhile, the crowd
that was forming around the twenty eighth Street crossing coming
out of the U Yard soon had more people who
weren't real men than railroad workers. We see that here
in Pittsburgh the same thing we were seeing in West
Virginia and Maryland, as other workers who had been struck
hard by the depression came out to show their support

(25:13):
for the railroad workers and by doing so, give vent
to their own anchor and frustrations that had been building
up for years. This sense of solidarity was very potent
in Pittsburgh because it was a working class factory town,
as in the region. In and around Pittsburgh there were
one hundred and fifty eight coal mines, seventy three glass factories,
thirty three iron mills, twenty nine oil refineries, eight steel

(25:36):
whirling mills, and seven white lead factories. Now, to be fair,
the city had recovered better and faster than a lot
of the rest of the country, as by this point
its various mills were running at semi five percent of
where they had been before the depression struck. That being said, though,
this was a city of people who were well acquitted
with labor disputes, and thus they knew how to strike. Indeed,

(25:57):
the mill workers had their own list of grievances, as
some had recently been the victims of wage cuts themselves.
In fact, during a meeting that was held at the
end of the day, a man who worked in one
of the city's rolling mills declared that these striking railroad
workers had the support of the rest of the city's workers,
as he stated that quote were with you, were in
the same boat. I heard a reduction of ten percent

(26:18):
hated at an r mill this morning. I won't call
employers' desponse, I won't call them tyrants, but the term
capitalist is sort of synonymous and will do as well. Meanwhile,
much like the residents of Baltimore were let's say not
fans of the B and O Railroad, the people of
Pittsburgh also had their issues with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which
more or less held a monopoly over transporting freight into

(26:40):
and out of their city. Now one of the main
sources of their agreevance with the railroad came from the
fact that the city used to be a major oil
refining center, a business that Pittsburgh had lost primarily because
of the raids charged by the railroad. As the rates
had made it soil was cheaper for other cities like
Philadelphia to get their oil from someplace else, even if
Pittsburgh was closer, and thus it should have been cheaper

(27:02):
to transport the oil. It was and partially because of
this that a year prior to these events, an editorial
titled Railroad Vultures had appeared in the pages of a
Pittsburgh newspaper. The writer of this editorial would then describe
the railroad barons as quote money jugglers who were guilty
of quote all known ways and byways of fraud, scheming
and speculating to accomplish the amassing of princely fortunes. This

(27:26):
displeasure with the railroad actually extended all the way up
to the Mayor of Pittsburgh, William Billy McCarthy, who owed
his political success to the working class voter. So when
the chief clerk of the railyard, one David Wantt, reached
out for support, Mayor McCarthy seemed uninterested. Indeed, not only
would the Mayor decline to personally go down to the
rail yard, but he would also insist that there were

(27:47):
no policemen available to go down there either, which actually
might have been true, as the city, due to budgetary constraints,
had slashed their police force to eighty two patrolmen and
nine lieutenants. Want The chief Clerk then would make an
agreement with the Mayor where the Pennsylvania Railroad would pay
the wages of ten of the recently dismissed comps so
they could come down to the rail yard to try
and keep the peace with this don The chief clerk

(28:10):
then decided to personally head out to turn the switch
that was preventing the trains from heading east out of
the yard. Yet, when Watt tried to brave the crowd
to flip the switch in question, a man who did
not even work at the rail yard, but who lived
on the nearby Painhandle Road, an notoriously rough part of town,
stood in his path, refusing to move. Watt responded to
this obstruction by grabbing the man by his coat and

(28:32):
calling for the police, at which point one of the
striking railroad workers standing nearby just took a swing at Watt,
punching him right in the eye before taking off so
as to elude the cops who were now in hot pursuit.
The worker, however, would eventually be caught in order to
pay fifteen hundred dollars fine and serve a year in
jail for his actions. As for Watt, the chief clerk,
after getting a black eye, decided to abend this personal

(28:55):
quest to flip the switch, and instead called upon the
mayor to send him fifty additional cops. He got seven.
That being said, this handful of cops would succeed where
Wat had failed, as he managed to flip the switch,
thereby allowing a freight train to exit the yard and
head onto the main line. The thing was that would
be the last freight train to leave the yard for
some time. Indeed, as a day wore on, the crowd

(29:17):
on twenty eighth Street only grew larger. At the same time,
the strike was expanding, as soon it was not just
restricted to the rail yard and the area around it,
as it spread to Torn Station, some three miles to
the east. Now, anticipating such an occurrence, One had attempted
to get forty six livestock cars out of the station
and out of the city before the strike spread there.
Yet before he could do so, Fireman Andrew Heyst and

(29:39):
a number of the other striking workers arrived, at which
point Heist declared again that what they had here was
an issue of quote bread or blood. So as far
as he was concerned, quote if I go to the penitentiary,
I can get bread and water, and that's about all
I can get now. As such, it didn't matter if
they threatened him with the rest, as his life couldn't
actually get any war. Meanwhile, joining Heights in these striking

(30:02):
railroad workers was a crowd of one hundred and fifty men,
women and children. It was then, with this first appearance
of any kind of opposition that the crew had been
set to man the livestock train opted to abandon their posts.
The subsequent arrival of a passenger train, however, promised more
support for Watt and his men, as on border were
half a dozen policemen. The problem was this same train

(30:24):
also brought scores of striking workers and people who were
sympathetic to their cause, events that were clearly turning against
the Pennsylvania Railroad and its management. Still, though through a
bit of trickery, Watt and his people would manage to
get the livestock train on its way by pretending they
were simply moving it onto a side track. Again, though
this would prove to be the last train to depart

(30:45):
from that station for some time. Meanwhile, at four o'clock
back at the rail yard, there would be an attempt
to send off one of the hated doubleheader trains, this
one complete with four policemen station in each engine to
act as a security force of sorts. The problem here,
well was the engineers on these trains had let these
strikers know that basically they would give up at the
first sign of resistance, and so as the train started off,

(31:08):
it had barely moved a dozen feet before a singular
striker stepped onto the tracks and waved his hands. At
this intimidating display, the crew on the train declared they
feared for their lives and thus abandoned their post. This then,
was the last attempt to move any freight out of
Pittsburgh that day. To fully understand the scope and potential

(31:47):
threat that the Great Strike of eighteen seventy seven seemed
to present to certain individuals, you have to understand that
a fair amount of the events that I will be
talking about over the course of the series were happening
simultaneously as the striker started spreading across the country, almost
like a disease. For example, on the eighteenth of July,
two days before the eruption of violence in Baltimore and

(32:07):
one day before the strike spread to Pittsburgh, freight firemen
and brickman in Newark, Ohio quietly met and decided to
also strike in response to a ten percent wage cut,
doing so around about eight o'clock that morning. Now, what
you have to know about Newark is that while it
was a small city, it was similar to Martinsburg in
that it was an important junction for the B and O.

(32:27):
As four divisions of the railroad came together there. Indeed,
they would follow the example of the workers in Martinsburg
by not allowing any freight trains to depart otherwise, though,
the scene in Newark was so quiet and peaceful that
the company wasn't even sure if the strike could spread
there or not for a full day, as they thought
that perhaps just normal delays were to blame. The fact
that Newar's workers were peaceful, however, did not seem to

(32:50):
matter to the men who ran the railroad, as they
immediately responded by reaching out to the Governor of Ohio
to request the National Guard intervene on their behalf. The Governor,
Howard was apparently out of town at the moment, so
in the meantime they attempted to use strike breakers to
get the freight trains moving again. These efforts, however, would
prove to be ineffective, although this was not due to

(33:11):
any use of force, violence or intimidation. Instead, when a
former fireman turned brick mason attempted to drive one of
the freight trains out of Newark, a striking fireman simply
stepped forward and held up his hand, a hand with
only two fingers. As the other three had been lost
on the job. Now the meamed fireman did nothing more
than hold up his mangled hand, but one of his

(33:33):
fellows made sure the message was clear as he shouted
to the man in the train quote, this is the
man whose place you're taking. This is the man who
works with a hand in a half to earn a
dollar and a half three days in the week for
his wife and children. Are you going to take the
bread out of his mouth and theirs? Being confronted with
the cost of his actions was apparently enough for the

(33:53):
strike breaker to rethink his decision, and so, after a
moment's hesitation, he hopped down off the train, a move
that earned him lounge cheers in the striking workers. Yet,
even as the strike continued to spread westward and continued
to play the Beno Railroad, it also spread to the
north into New York and the Erie Railroad, which was
another of the roads that had got their worker's bay

(34:14):
on the first of July. Now, times had been tough
on the Erie. In fact, the railroad had gone bankrupt
and was put into receivership due to mismanagement, which had
included its former president J Gould inm beazzling ten million
dollars from the railroad. However, the railroad's new president, Hugh J. Jewett,
decided that the best way to resolve this situation and

(34:35):
to maximize profits for these stockholders was to put the
burden on the workers. Doing so despite the fact that
Jude himself, a former Democratic politician who had made a
career out of catering to the prejudices of his constituents,
who then had subsequently been appointed by the court to
run the railroad, was now the recipient of the highest
salary to ever be paid to a railroad executive. Now,

(34:57):
when rumors first began to circulate that the Erie intended
to implement a ten percent wage cut, the workers formed
a committee of fifty men who would act as a
representatives and meet with Jewett in the final week of
June before the cuts were set to take effect. During
this meeting, Jewett would confirm that yes, they were implementing
a wage cut, to which the fifty man committee responded

(35:17):
that such a cut would mean that the workers could
not afford to support themselves or their families. Yet still,
Jewett insisted that the order could not be rescinded. However,
he would promise them that if the conditions changed, the
wages would be restored. The committee then returned to the
others and shared with them what they had learned from
their meeting with Jewett and which point the workers decided
to not go on strike. As again, this was weeks

(35:40):
before the events in Marnsburg. Now this was great news
for Jewett and the Erie Railroad, and they responded by
firing all fifty members of the committee for I guess
daring to question them about cutting the workers' wages, a
move they likely felt safe in making, as apparently the
vast majority of the Eerie's workers hadn't even really given
any any serious consideration to going on strike. Predictably, then,

(36:03):
there were no immediate repercussions for these actions, as things
carried on pretty much as normal for the next two weeks.
That being said, as railroad workers started going on striking
places like West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania in response to
similar wage cuts, the men of the Erie Railroad could
not help but take note and be inspired. So they
came together and presented their bosses with a list of

(36:25):
eight demands, which included a restoration or increase of wages
and the rehiring of all fifty men who had been fired.
The Erie workers also vocalized concerns about the rents that
were being charged, as many were forced to rent their
living quarters from the railroad places that were shoddy, poor
excuses for apartments where oftentimes multiple families had to live
under the same roof, while still having to pay exorbitant

(36:47):
rents for such living conditions, rents which, by the way,
remained ridiculously high even as their wages were cut. Yet
as reasonable as all this might seem, railroad management flatly
rejected all of their demands. At which point, round about
midnight on the nineteenth of July, fireman and brickman from
three western divisions of the Erie Railroad met in Hornellsville,

(37:08):
New York. Now you have probably never heard of Hornellsville,
but it was incredibly important for the Erie Railroad. Indeed,
three of the Erie's main divisions came to an end
in this town, as it was the western terminus of
the Susquehanna Division, the eastern terminus of the Allegaatea Division,
and the southern division of the Buffalo Division. In this way,
Hornellsville was similar in importance to the Erie as Martinsburg

(37:31):
was to the B and O. That being said, Hornellsville
was actually even more important because the town was also
the home of the railroad's locomotive repair shop, meaning it
was basically the only place where the erie could send
its engines to get repaired. Plus for these aforementioned reasons,
Hornellsville also represented the greatest concentration of railroad workers at
any point along the line, as the majority of the

(37:53):
people in town either worked for or were dependent upon
the railroad to make a living, and a not insignificant
number all these individuals were Irish immigrants. As you see,
many an Irish immigrant had done work constructing the railroad
and then looked to make a living working for the
business they had effectively helped to build. That being said,
for all their hard work, they were often forced to

(38:14):
live in shanties. It was and one of these immigrants,
Barney J. Dunahue, who wouldn't be one of the main
voices addressing the gathered railroad workers as they came together
to discuss the prospect of going on strike. Barney, who
had been among the fifty men that had been fired
for taking part in the Grievance committee which had met
with the Eeries management about their wage cuts, was described

(38:34):
as being a half crippled brickman. Now, him being a
braakman explains a lot, as not only does it likely
account for the injuries behind the half crippled label, but
it also suggests he was no stranger to labor disputes.
Because of these six strikes that had taken place in
Hornhellsville prior to this, the brickman had been involved in
all but one of them. It was and thanks to

(38:55):
individuals like Barney, who is one of the few people
we can seemly point to as someone who was a
bit of a leader of these strikes, that the Eerie
railroad workers decided to go on strike, joining with the
growing list of other railroad workers across the country. That
being said, unlike these strikes taking place on the B
and O and Pennsylvania Railroads, the Eerie Men did not
just limit themselves to stop in the freight trains, as

(39:17):
they also took to stop in the passenger trains as well.
In doing so, though, they were still careful to allow
the mail trains to pass on unmolested in an attempt
to avoid federal intervention for interfering with the mail. You
begin to see then how the strike was growing organically.
There was no organizing or motivating force behind these strikes. Instead,
it was just workers in similar circumstances facing similar hardships,

(39:41):
often being inspired by what their fellows were doing and
deciding to act in kind. Indeed, as news of these
events spread, it wouldn't just be railroad workers who took part,
as in Pittsburgh, for example, the other workers in the
city would pledge their support to those who were on strike.
Pittsburgh also demonstrates how the own way the brotherhoods were falling.
As in the old days, if say, the fireman went

(40:03):
on strike, the engineers, the brakeman, and the conductors typically
would not join them in such an effort. Now, though,
even though the brakemen and the conductors were the ones
primarily being put out by the Pennsylvania Railroad's new double
header policy, the engineers were taking part in the strike
efforts as well. Doing so despite some of the older
members in the Brotherhood wanted to stay out of such
affairs as they typically would have in the past, As

(40:25):
this time, the younger and more belligerent members on the
Brotherhood forced a group to get involved. Such behavior can
likely at least partially be credited to the upstart Trainmen's Union,
which had look to unite all those who worked on trains,
regardless of the trade, into a single unified force. Speaking
of Robert Ammon, who had been crucial as an organizing

(40:46):
force of the Trainmen's Union and thus had been fired
for those efforts, had the day before the strike started,
departed Pittsburgh to working new job in the oil regions. However,
when Newsburger the strike, he came back to town, at which
point he was almost immediately contacted by workers in the
Fort winn and Chicago Railroad in Alleghany to come and
spearhead their efforts there. Meanwhile, the National Labor Tribune, which

(41:09):
since it was published in Pittsburgh, had a front row
seat to these events and thus would present the case
of these striking workers as a stated quote, these men
merely want to live and do not want their wives
and little ones to starve, which they must certainly do
if they aren't compelled to accept the terms of the
company and go to work, something that, according to the
Pittsburgh Critic, at least the people of Pittsburgh understood and

(41:30):
sympathized with as the paper would write, quote, they are
in sens beyond measure with the cold, corrupt legislation which
has fostered the quoder and more corrupt organization known as
the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was because, as I've hopefully shown,
times were tough for labors all across the country, and
not just for the railroad men. Indeed, throughout the course

(41:51):
of this depression, workers have been taken ten to twenty
to even forty percent wage cuts that they could ill afford. Meanwhile,
the own trade unions across also board had proven inadequate
for the job in hand, as time after time their
limited responses had proven easy to crash. While that was happening,
you also had a quiet militant spirit growing among certain
segments in the working class. People were being pushed too

(42:15):
far and things were reaching their breaking point. Indeed, following
the first round of the Molly McGuire hangings, the pro
labor Irish world would on the thirtieth of June mourn
that quote driver ran into a corner, and he will fight.
Drive your sirs to desperation. New grinding monopolists chain them
in enforced idleness half the year and lash them with

(42:35):
the whip of hunger to work at semi starvation, wages
semi starvation for themselves and their little ones the other half,
and in their desperation they will someday pounce upon you
and destroy you. This spirit was manifesting in the rapid
and organic spread of these strikes, as all workers across
the country apparently needed was a bit of inspiration. Inspiration

(42:56):
which had first been provided by the workers in Martinsburg.
Speaking of if, let's return to the events taking place
in Maryland and West Virginia with the B and O Railroad,
where on the twenty July, two days after the outbreak
of violence in Baltimore, one of the vice presidents of
the B and O, William Kaiser, held a meeting with
some of these striking railroad men to give the company's
response to their demands. According to Kaiser, then the railroad

(43:19):
would agree to adjust their policies so that workers would
have a more regular work schedule rather than long stretches
of being unpaid. Furthermore, the railroad also promised to set
up a system to fix the issue of long layovers,
where the crews are forced to stay on their own
diamond distant cities for extended periods. As now, instead of
having to pay for room and board, the workers would

(43:40):
instead be given passes to take a different train back home.
It was then with these concessions that the company hoped
the workers would quote see the wisdom and justice of
accepting propatly the company's terms, and thus a strike will
end in work will be resumed. That being said, the
company also made it clear that they would not be
relenting when it came to the ten percent wage cuts

(44:00):
that they insisted they had to follow through with because
of the economic depression and because of competition from their rifles,
a stance which may or may not have precluded any
chance of ending the strike in that moment. We'll never know, though,
if the workers would have accepted these terms or not.
As Kaiser, while riding out the company's official statement also
puttedly went off script as he declared that these striking

(44:23):
workers were the quote cause of this great disturbance and
will be rigidly held accountable for it, which to me
sounds like a disincentive, like shutting at someone you're chasing.
Come over here, I'm going to wring your neck. Why
would they go over there, and why would the strikers
ever accept the company's terms if they were also promising
to punish them. Indeed, Kaiser apparently went on like this

(44:45):
for some time, blaming these strikers for everything, like they
were responsible for taking men from their quote homes and
their families, and from peaceful pursuits to shoulder arms in
order to protect the property of this company, as apparently
the B and O and play no role whatsoever in
bringing these events about. However, it seems that the greatest
crime committed by the strikers, in Kaiser's opinion, was they

(45:08):
had quote aroused a spirit which, unless curbed and quelled,
strikes at the very fundamental root of the liberty and
life of this country, as it's apparently an American to
demand a living wage, I guess. Regardless, Kaiser would finish
his diatribe by promising these striking workers that if they
kept the sub quote, you may rest assured that the

(45:28):
entire power of the state and general government will be
exerted to preserve law and order. Kaiser had clearly made
no friends among the striking workers with his speech, and
nor apparently had he intimidated them, as when they put
the B and O's offered to a vote, it was
unanimously rejected. Kaiser, though did not seem overly worried about
this response, because he knew even as he was giving

(45:50):
a statement, the b and O, with the assistance of
the National Guardsmen and federal troops, were in the process
of crushing the strike. Indeed, rather than rescinding the wage
cuts and pay their workers what they already had been,
the company instead started offering bonuses of fifty dollars for
any man willing to work the trains, which was quite
a bit of money considering that many were making a

(46:10):
couple of dollars a day at most. Meanwhile, any attempts
by the strikers to confront or even speak with these
scabs who tried and convince them otherwise was prevented because
anyone who attempted to approach the men or the trains
were arrested on the spot. Despite this, the workers and
their supporters from various walks of life continued trying to resist. However,

(46:31):
the soldiers, who were essentially serving at the behest of
the railroads, were deployed to every city along the B
and O mainline, where they drove off any strikers who
were preventing the freight trains from running, while also responding
to any kind of resistance by firing into crowds of people. Indeed,
this process of breaking the strike would involve three days
of fighting to open the line between Kaiser and Grafton.

(46:53):
In the end, then the B and O strike would
last for sixteen days before was ultimately broken due to
the power of the state and the US federal government
deploying their military forces against workers who were just asking
to be paid enough money to support their families. In
the face of such force, a number of the workers
opted simply to quietly go back to work, defeated. That

(47:13):
being said, what they had started here would spread far
beyond the B and O and would last even beyond
the ultimate end of the Great Strike of eighteen seventy seven.

(47:49):
On the nineteenth of July, David Watt, the chief clerk
of the Pennsylvania Railroads rail yard in Pittsburgh, was in
a panic, as striking workers at this point had completely
put a stop to all freight trains departing from the city.
In response, Wat rushed down to city Hall to request
fifty more police to aid in his efforts breaking the strike.
What though would be disappointed as the mayor had left town.

(48:12):
You see, his wife was sick, and he wasn't overly
concerned with the events down at the rail yard, as
the police had reported that things were quiet concerning the strikers.
They weren't committing any crimes, and they weren't really rowdy either.
Things that were peaceful and under control, and so the
mayor had felt safe to depart and see to his wife. Plus,
even if the mayor had been in his offices, they're

(48:33):
really more and no more police to be heard of, because,
as a Previousease stated, the city's budget had been cut
and along with it the ranks of the police force
had shrunk. There really was nothing more for want to
do then but watch on helplessly as more and more
freight cars continued to pile up in the railyard. Indeed,
by the morning of the nineteenth some four hundred freight
cars that accumulated in the yard, more than a few

(48:55):
which were full of perishables like meat and fruit. This, however,
did not concern the striking because, as far as they
were concerned, the real reason why these cars weren't going
anywhere was the railroad's refusal to meet their demands. However,
these strikers and their supporters would make one exception when
it came to freight cars, and that was they would
allow livestock cars to proceed unhindered, as they did not

(49:15):
want the animals to suffer needlessly. Meanwhile, for all of
Watt's worries, nothing else of note really happened. There was
no destruction of property and no violence. Sure, the railroad
was losing money, but again they didn't have to. Still, though,
Wah would continue to bemoan the situation in communications with
his bosses, as he in particular complained about the fact

(49:36):
that the authorities in Pittsburgh weren't doing anything to stop
the strike so without aid from the local police force,
the Pennsylvania Railroad next looked to try and get the
National Guard involved. To do so, though, they needed to
demonstrate that there was a situation that warranted such intervention.
To that end, officials from the Pennsylvania Railroad went to
the home of Sheriff Robert five. Now Fife was at

(49:58):
this point an old man who had suffered a trio
of heart attacks in the past year. That didn't really matter, though,
as they did not want him to actually try and
do anything to stop the strikers. All they really needed
from Fife was for him to go down to the
rail yard to make a show of asking these strikers
to return to their homes. Such an act would then
allow the railroad to claim they had tried everything in

(50:19):
terms of working with local authorities and law enforcement, and
thus allow them to call for state troops to come
in and intervene. Fife then did as he was asked
by going down to the rail yard to speak with
these strikers and their various supporters, a group who by
this point numbered somewhere around five hundred individuals. Sheriff Fife
then attempted to talk these five hundred individuals into returning

(50:41):
to their homes, to which they responded that maybe he
should go back to his home, at which point Sheriff
Fife gave up and did just that, his job satisfied. Meanwhile,
the Trainmen's Union was effectively rising from the ashes. As
he striking Pennsylvania Railroad workers in Pittsburgh would meet under
its hospice. This is an agree to a series of

(51:01):
demands which they would then present to the company. Demands
which included repealing the wage cuts canceling the new double
header policy, and assurances that all the men now on
strike would be re employed without punishment, demands which, when
presented to Alexander Cassott, a vice president for the Pennsylvania Railroad,
led him to well quote, they proposed taking the road

(51:22):
out of our hands. Cassant, though, was apparently not alone
in this line of thinking, as like a bunch of bullies.
The heads of the railroads in general could not stand
the thought of someone actually standing up to them. Indeed,
they would not even present a counter offer of any
kind reviewsing to do so, even wins several of Pittsburgh's
most prominent citizens attempted to talk them into being reasonable. Instead,

(51:45):
the railroad executives insisted that if the workers were going
to take the law in to their own hands, whatever
that means, then the authorities had the responsibility to enforce
the law. The problem. According to the railway, though, while
support for these strikers was so widespread in Pittsburgh, the
local authorities were incapable of taking the necessary measures to
crush the strike, which they claimed is why they reached

(52:07):
out to Adjutant General James W. Latta for assistance. As
Lada had been empowered by Pennsylvania Governor John hart Ramft
to handle any disturbances while he was off quote unquote
junketing in the West, a trip which, by the way,
was apparently being paid for by Tom Scott, the president
of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Now, the Railroad had tried this

(52:27):
before and had been turned down, which is why they'd
gone through the song and danced with Sheriff Fife. Indeed,
this time, in making their case to General Latta, the
railroad officials included a statement from Fife in which he
said that quote, as the sheriff of the county, I
have endeavored to suppressed the rite and have not adequate
means at my command to do so, and therefore request

(52:48):
you to exercise your authority in calling out the military
to suppress the same, a statement which at his heart
wasn't true, as nothing that was happening resembled a riot,
and because his statement it wasn't even from Shriff Fife,
as it had actually been composed by the President of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, Thomas Scott. Such facts, however, like always

(53:09):
didn't actually matter. As a regiment of state troops under
the command of one colonel Guthrie were ordered to go
to Pittsburgh and break the strike. Now, there were three
hundred and twenty six men in Colonel Guthrie's regiment, but
only two thirds actually showed up and called into duty
this time regardless of men who did show up would
make their way to turn station in Pittsburgh, where they

(53:29):
were met by a crowd of some twelve hundred individuals,
meaning they were vastly outnumbered. However, Andrew Heys, a flagman
who had emerged as a bit of a vocal leader
among these striking workers, would assure the troops that they
were not going to interfere in any way with their
attempts to reopen the station. Furthermore, they would not interfere
with any attempts to get the freight trains moving. They

(53:50):
weren't going to obstruct the trains, and nor would they
try to intimidate anyone looking to operate them. Now, this
may look at first glance that Heys and the people
of Pittsburgh were given, but that wasn't true. Instead, what
Heist was doing was essentially betting that the railroad couldn't
get enough men to actually crew the trains. Heyst then
was seemingly determined to keep the peace, all the while

(54:12):
trusting the solidarity of the people of Pittsburgh to keep
the strike going. The thing was not everyone was apparently
of this confident and peaceful mindset, as a few minutes
after the arrival of Guthrie and the state troops, a
train arrived at the station that would change the complexion
of the situation. This, however, wasn't a free train, and
nor was it a train full of strike breakers. Instead,

(54:33):
it was full of men who, while they supported the strike,
were a good say more belligerent than those who were
currently backing up highs. Indeed, just as soon as this
train arrived, a man apparently known as Monkey John Richardson
gone off and started haranguing Guthrie and his troops. Guthrie, though,
wouldn't manage to keep things from becoming too violent by
ordering his men forward with fixed bayonets each time the

(54:55):
crowd threatened to get out of control. Which is all
to say that no bloodshed would be shed in torn station,
but the situation was still incredibly tense. Meanwhile, down at
the rail yard and the switch at twenty eighth Street
that was preventing any freight trains from leaving. Several more
units of state troops were supposed to arrive to get
the freight trains up and running. The problem was only

(55:16):
a bare fraction of the men who had been called
to duty actually showed up. One group, for example, had
fifty men, while another had just twenty five, and those
who were still a far sight better than the fourteenth Regiment,
of which not a single member had shown up. So
General Pearson, seeing as how he had only seventy five
men at his command, decided to not even make an attempt.

(55:37):
As you see the way General Pearson saw things, Sure,
with seventy five armed soldiers and a pair of artillery pieces,
he was very much capable of dispersing the crowd and
gaining control of the yard. Such an act, though, would
result in an immense loss of life. Furthermoics, Pearson would
tell rareroad officials it probably wasn't the best idea to
rely upon National guardsmen from Pittsburgh to take up arm

(55:59):
against their fellow residents of the city, some of whom
they likely knew, worked beside or even related to. So
the decision was made to call in troops from Philadelphia
under the command of one Major General Robert Brinton. So
six hundred men from Philadelphia two in the morning on
the twenty first of July would board trains bound for Pittsburgh.
Now nearly half of these men were veterans of the

(56:21):
Civil War, but most were also working class men. The
thing was, while working class sympathy was possible, in general,
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were very much at odds with one another. Indeed,
the people of Pittsburgh in general saw Philadelphia's being the
home of the hated Pennsylvania Railroad, so the presence of
troops from there was definitely not going to reduce tensions.

(56:43):
Plus or also reports of the troops as they major
way to Pittsburgh boasting about how they were going to
clean up the working class town. In other words, by
throwing these combustible ingredients together, a violent outcome was almost
guaranteed to happen. Indeed, one Pittsburgh paper would declare, quote,
and the same policy of calling Philadelphia troops to quill
a domestic quarrel is reprehensible beyond degree plus almost if

(57:07):
they were looking to maximize casualties. The train carrying the
troops on its way to Pittsburgh would stop off in Harrisburg,
where they acquired two Gatling guns and additional ammunition, with
Gatling guns being the early machine guns with rotating barrels. Now.
The morning of the twenty first of July and Pittsburgh
would start off much like the last day had left off.
Massy strikers had remained at their post guarding the rail yard,

(57:29):
making sure that no freight trains departed. Meanwhile, the local
National Guardsmen from Pittsburgh would just kind of hanging out nearby,
casually speaking with the strikers, which is to say that
there was no violence or even threat of violence in
the air. Indeed, most of the Pittsburgh National Guardsmen weren't
even carrying their weapons at this point, having stacked them
up instead. Meanwhile, as the day got underway, these trikers

(57:52):
were already joined by a number of supporters from around
the city. These crowds consisted of a combination of workers
from rolling mills and mechanics, who were also joined by
unemployed men as well as women and children. Their ranks, though,
promised to grow even further when the city's various mills
and shops shut down at noon because this was a Saturday.
It was for this reason that local merchants reached out

(58:13):
to the Pennsylvania Railroads management in an attempt to convince
them not to try and do anything that afternoon or
over the weekend in general, as they were convinced that
a large amount of the city's workers would make their
way down to the yard and station to show their support.
It was and a far better idea they felt, to
win until Monday, when all these additional individuals would more
than likely be back at their jobs during the day.

(58:36):
Alexander Gassat, a vice president for the Pennsylvania Railroad, though
had no interest in waiting. In his opinion, too much
time had already been wasted, and it was to the
state's responsibility to reopen the railroad regardless of the consequences.
Knowing then that there would be no avoiding this clash,
a group of men approached a striker's encouraging caution. Among

(58:58):
them was a doctor E. Donnelly, who would plead with
the assembled crowd quote, these men will come here strangers
to you, and they will come here regarding you as
re regarded the rebels during the rebellion, and there will
be no friendly feelings between you and them. For this reason,
I implore you, for God's sake, to stand back when
they arrive. Now, keep in mind, as I begin telling

(59:20):
you what happened next, that there had been no violence
or even destruction of the railroad's precious property up until
this point. Indeed, the grand list of injuries that had
been suffered as a result of this strike consisted of
a brakeman with sore ribs and a railroad official with
a black eye. The general opinion in the city then
was sure if Fife had been far too quick in
calling for troops, as there was no real justification for

(59:43):
them in the eyes of most. Regardless you, troops were coming,
and the National guardsmen from Philadelphia would arrive in Pittsburgh
on a pair of trains at about two in the afternoon,
at which point, after disembarking, the troops were informed that
the railroad intended to send a train out immediately, and
so the troops were to take control of the locations
where the most resistance was expected. The soldiers, led by

(01:00:06):
Robert Pitcaerran, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroads Pittsburgh Division,
Sheriff Fife, and some local police officers would then begin
marching out at about five PM, when this group approached
the railyard, they encountered a crowd that, as the local
merchants had warned, had only grown over the course of
the day. Indeed, at this point, the crowd reportedly numbered

(01:00:27):
somewhere between five to seven thousand individuals who were not
happy to see the Philadelphia Guardsmen, as the troops would
be greeted by hisses from the numerous women present, as
well as jeers and booze from the men in the crowd.
As this was happening, the Philadelphia Guardsmen would be approached
by some of their fellows from Pittsburgh, who urged them
to quote take it easy. Meanwhile, some of these strikers

(01:00:49):
also load to appeal to the troopers by encouraging calmness
and peace, with one man reportedly shouting to the new
arrivals quote, you sympathize with our cause and you wouldn't
shoot a working man, a declaration that was met almost
immediately with an order for the Philadelphia troops to charge
with bandonets fixed. Several in the crowd then would be
stabbed as the troops did as they were ordered. Now,

(01:01:11):
the sight of their wounded and bloody fellows did nothing
to calm the crowd. Instead, as you might have guessed,
such sites enraged them, and some especially young boys started
throwing stones at these soldiers, projectiles that apparently range from
pebbles being thrown by some nearby eight to ten year
olds to lumps of coal and old shoes being chucked
by fourteen year olds, at which point the National guardsmen

(01:01:32):
respotted and what seems to be the only way they
seemed to know how to respond to rocks being thrown
at them, which of course means they fired into the
crowd of unarmed civilians, this time apparently at the orders
of their officers, although none would actually own up to
doing so later, while also admitting that they had been
prepared to do so regardless. Indeed, if anything, this seems

(01:01:55):
to have been very much a part of the plan.
As you see, before the troops have been sent down here,
Alexander Cassot, a vice president for the railroad, had again
been advised that the best plan of action would be
to wait until Monday, when the crowd would most assuredly
be smaller and easier to handle. Furthermore, it was advised
and until that time they should just rely upon the

(01:02:16):
local National guardsmen to keep the peace, as the presence
on the men from Philadelphia was likely to row things up,
advice to which Cassot had responded, quote the Philadelphia regiment
won't fire over the heads of the mob, a statement
which indicates that loss of life wasn't some unfortunate consequence
of their actions, but a part of the plan, as

(01:02:36):
the reason why the soldiers had been brought here was
because they would be willing to shoot into the crowd
instead of trying to preserve life. Indeed, when the soldiers
opened fire, Cassot's primary concern wasn't for the people in
the crowd, it was for the railroad's property. Meanwhile, the
scene in the crowd was pure chaos, as the Pittsburgh
Post would then describe, quote, Women and children rushed frantically about,

(01:02:58):
some seeking safety, others going for friends and relatives. Strong
Men halted with fear and trembling with excitement, rushed madly
to and fro trapping upon the killed and wounded, as
well as upon those who had dropped to mother Earth
to escape injury and death. And Lee's twenty civilians died
as a direct result of these events, with another twenty
nine at a minimum being wounded, with some counts putting

(01:03:20):
the numbers high as sixty to seventy wounded. Among the
dead was at least one woman and three small children,
a number which might not even include the little four
year old girl whose knee was shattered when it was
struck by a bullet. The little girl survived initially, but
her injury required the leg be amputated below the knee,
and unofficially, the word was the little girl had subsequently

(01:03:41):
died as a result of her injuries, which may have
just been a rumor based upon the state of medical
care in those days, but for that same reason it
might also very well be true. In contrast, not a
single member of the Philadelphia National Guardsman had been killed,
although fifteen would be hurt. All the local Pittsburgh guardsmen

(01:04:02):
very nearly returned fire upon the men from Philadelphia, before
being talked down from taking such an action. Instead, these
men proceeded to tear off their uniforms as it refused
to even be associated with such bloody, murderous, unjustified acts.
For the troops from Philadelphia, though their fellow guardsmen were
likely the least of their concerns, because as soon as

(01:04:22):
news started to spread, about what had just happened. Thousands
of workers from the various mills, mines, and factories around
town descended upon the scene looking to avenge the fallen.
Suddenly fearing for their safety, the Philadelphia troops quickly retreated
into a nearby roundhouse, where they were soon besieged by
the crowd who surrounded the structure. It could not have

(01:04:42):
been a very comforting scene for these soldiers, as the
angry crowd surrounded the building and started throwing rocks in
various other objects at the structure, so that before too long,
every window in the building was shattered. Meanwhile, some of
the crowd, thirsty for blood, started shouting for the troops
to send out railroad officials like Karin and Watt, because
they had quote coffins for them. The pair, however, would

(01:05:05):
not be sacrificed, as the two had already slept off
into the night when things started to get ugly. Meanwhile,
some of these soldiers in the roundhouse were not satisfied
by the blood that was already on their hands, as
one would later testify that had he been in charge,
he would have quote open fire with every weapon we had.
It just about dusk, the mob was so dense at

(01:05:25):
that time they could hardly have got out of each
other's way, basically saying that he would have started firing
then as it would have ensured maximum casualties, with this
soldier justifying as theoretical actions by claiming that the crowd
had been composed of quote criminal classes, vagrants, bombers, and
tramps of every kind, people who, in his mind, apparently

(01:05:46):
weren't deserving of life. Indeed, in this soldier's opinion, had
they killed everyone in the crowd, they would have quote
benefited the community by fertilizing the soil. Thankfully, though this
person wasn't in charge, so instead of opening fire with
gatling guns, the soldiers satisfied themselves by keeping the crowded
bay through the use of their non artillery weapons. Yet,

(01:06:07):
just because the people outside weren't about to risk their
lives by charging headlong into the roundhouse, that does not
mean they were satisfied. Indeed, after seizing a wagon that
had been attempted to bring food to the soldiers, the
enraged citizenry of Pittsburgh began setting fire to the Pennsylvania
Railroads property. You know this soffy Railroad officials had been
so desperate to protect. Now, keep in mind, things prior

(01:06:31):
to the arrival of the troops from Philadelphia had not
only been non violent, but there had also been absolutely
no property damage either. Once the troops had opened fire,
killing their friends and neighbors, though all bets were off. Indeed,
the people in the yard would even attempt to cut
the fire alarms off so as to ensure that the
railroad's property would be fully consumed by the flames, and

(01:06:52):
when the fire department attempted to respond, the crowd blocked
the way of their fire engines, preventing them from reaching
the fires to put them out. As the crowd grew
ever larger as more and more people came down to
watch the spectacle, it wasn't long before every freight car
that sat between the Roundhouse and twenty third Street was
consumed by the flames. Although before this happened, the crowd

(01:07:13):
did make sure to break into said railcars, pillaging them
of whatever they contained. Indeed, according to one person who
was there, quote, people were hurrying up the hill with
all kinds of shipping cases, webs of cough, silk, brooms, hams, bacon, umbrella,
liquor of every kind. Women were even seen running off
with flower held in their aprons, having liberated it from

(01:07:34):
the railcars that were about to be destroyed anyway. Meanwhile,
some cars fill with colum petroleum, when they started to
catch on fire, were pushed up against the large building
beside the Roundhouse where the Philadelphia troops had taken shelter,
with this being done likely in an attempt to catch
the structure on fire so as to chase the troops
from their hiding place, and indeed they spoke from this

(01:07:55):
neighboring building would ultimately force the troops to evacuate the Roundhouse. Yet,
while the Philadelphia guardsmen may have escaped the flames, they
were far from safe, as the entire time they were
marching down Penn Avenue looking to escape the city, they
were constantly being harried by the angry crowd and various
individuals who had raided nearby gun chops. Indeed, the troops

(01:08:15):
would be fired upon from Alley's street, corners, rooftops, and
even from open windows. One of these individuals in particular
would be remembered. This individual, a middle aged man in
a white linen coat carrying a breech loading rifle, would
haunt these soldiers throughout the retreat, as he would periodically
appear firing at the soldiers before stepping into a nearby

(01:08:35):
alley or doorway to reload. Over and over again. This
man would repeat these actions, doing so, according to one
witness who claimed to have overheard the man muttering because
a friend of his had been among those killed by
the soldier's initial volley into the crowd. Is for this
reason that this figure would come to be known in
legendist pat the Avenger. Now, the troops would respond to

(01:08:56):
these repeated attacks by periodically returning fire at no particular target,
actions which led to the deaths of another twenty civilians,
multiple of whom were innocent bystanders who just happened to
be in the area. As you know, it's not a
good idea to just fire your rifles randomly in the
heart of a crowded city. Now, to try and escape
from such pursuit, the troops sought shelter at the US

(01:09:18):
Arsenal in town, but his commander would refuse them entrance
as he had turned the entire city against him, and
he won and none of the consequences of their actions.
The Philadelphia Guardsmen were then left with no choice but
to leave the city altogether, eventually ending up in nearby
Sharpsburg the following morning. However, since a pair of the
town's residents were members of the Pittsburgh National Guard Force

(01:09:40):
who had witness the events in the rail yard the
previous night, the reception the Philadelphia troops received was generally chilly,
and so they continued on before finally being ordered back
to Philadelphia in the end, for the guardsmen had been
killed during the flight from the Roundhouse, with a fifth
later dying of his wounds. Meanwhile, thirty nine Pennsylvania Railroad buildings,

(01:10:01):
forty six passenger cars, one hundred and four engines, and
twelve hundred freight cars would be consumed by the fire
in the rail yard. The fire, though, had not spread
beyond that area, because while the fire Department was repeatedly
prevented from stopping the destruction of railroad property by the
angry crowd, they were allowed to save buildings across the
street that were not owned by the hated corporation. The

(01:10:24):
Pennsylvania Railroad, then, through their efforts to protect their oh
so valuable property, had cause the deaths of dozens of
individuals and the complete destruction of much of their holdings
in Pittsburgh. The Great Strike of eighteen seventy seven, though,
was far from over. However, the fallout from these events
in Pittsburgh and how the strike would continue to spread
across the country will have to for now remain a

(01:10:46):
story for another time. Thank you for listening to Distorted History.
If you would like to help out, please rate and
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until next time,

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