THE COALMINERS’ STRIKE
APPROVAL OF THE TIMES. London, Sept 18. The Times, in an article, approves of the action of the Newcastle miners, and says the men are masters of the situation. A PECULIAR STRIKE. While the question of strikes is occupying so much attention just now the following information from a New York correspondent will be read with much interest: — Two or three months ago I mentioned the quarrel of one of the railway companies with its engine drivers and firemen and the strike of the men. The railway is the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and it forms an important link in our railway system. It is popularly known as the “Q” road, not in consequence of its course, but from the initial of the last word of its title. When the strike began the whole country looked on with interest, owing to the peculiarities of the case. The company is wealthy and powerful; and, on the other hand, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is the best organised trades union in the country, and hitherto has been guided by wisdom and moderation. Mr Arthur, chief of the brotherhood, has been considered a man of excellent judgment; and in his interviews with railway managers and lawyers he has ably sustained his cause, and generally succeeded in convincing his opponents that he had a fair share of right on his side. The brotherhood included fully 90 per cent, of the locomotive engineers in the country, and it was often said and believed that they could paralyse all the railways in the United States if they should quit work. At the time of the strike on the “ Q” road the company was in a bad way for a week or two, but managed to get on its feet again and run its trains as usual. The men of the brotherhood had always claimed that they would not resort to disnonorable or dangerous methods in a strike, but they broke their promise by using intimidation in various ways, and by derailing several trains and disabling locomotives. The officers of the brotherhood declared that these acts were performed without authority, and if the guilty men were discovered they would be expelled from the order, and the officers would unite with the railway in having them punished to the full extent of the law. In the last two or three weeks dynamite has been exploded under some of the moving trains, and though no lives have been lost there has been great risk to travellers and train hands. Detectives were set to work and they have unearthed a conspiracy which shows that the dynamite explosions were ordered by the officers of the brotherhood and have been conducted under their direction. The evidence was not easily obtained, but obtained it was, and afterwards it was fully confirmed by the confessions of some of the conspirators, who have made a clean breast of their performances and appear as witnesses against their associates. As frequently happens in the affairs of this frail world, one of the most important confessions was brought about by a woman. One of the dynamiters named Bowles made several trips to a town in Illinois for the purpose of buying dynamite which he and others used in blowing up the trains. There he fell in with a pretty girl and made love to her. He was a married man, but he represented himself as a single one, and in their researches the detectives fell upon the facts of the case and summonsed the girl as witness. Bowles was one of the accused, and had stoutly affirmed his innocence. The girl was brought into court along with the other witnesses, all unknown to Bowles, who did not know the de tectives had found her. When the district attorney asked the witnesses for the Government to stand up, Bowles saw the girl ; he turned pale, gasped for breath, came very near fainting and in a few minutes intimated to the district attorney that he was ready to tell all he knew. It was a case of keeping a woman’s tongue from wagging. Mrs Bowles is said to be a woman of jealous disposition and not disposed to look kindly upon any love-making on the part of her husband that i- 'irected otherwise than towards herself. A oargain was made by the district attorney and Bowles that the girl should not be called to the witness stand, provided that the incriminated man would make a clean breast. As I write the trial has not yet ended, but it is pretty certain to land some of the prominent men of the brotherhood in the penitentiary. and strike a heavy blow for the dissolution of the most powerful and best trade union in the country.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 198, 20 September 1888, Page 3
Word Count
796THE COALMINERS’ STRIKE Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 198, 20 September 1888, Page 3
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