how the blows which caused the death knell of the

knights of labor were administered.—stirring

scenes and incidents connected with

the big strike of 1886.

if you have an ambition to lead a strenuous life, young man, and feel that excitement would serve as a tonic for your nervous system, and you want to gratify your ambition and secure the tonic in greater than homeopathic doses, both at the same time, just get yourself appointed chief special agent of a big railroad during a general strike. i am "dopeing" you right, for i have been "on the job" on several occasions during a strike, consequently know what i am writing about. the most strenuous thirty days of my long career, however, were the thirty days in 1886, when the whole southwestern system of gould roads were tied up, and there was nothing doing in the traffic line. while there had been differences between the shopmen and the company for some time, these differences were considered trivial, and neither side had expected that they would result in a strike, consequently neither the men nor[pg 307] the company were prepared for the struggle when it began—at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of march. the shopmen, as well as many other employes of the gould roads, including engineers, firemen and trainmen, were nearly all members of the knights of labor. organizers and professional labor agitators had been busy all along the line for months, coaxing and coercing the men into the order. martin irons had been selected as chairman of the grievance committee, and while in texas [pg 308]attending a meeting of the committee, called the strike, without consulting the national officers of the organization, a violation of one of the order's most stringent rules. he afterwards admitted that he would not have called the strike had he been sober.

chairman of the knights of labor strike committee on

the gould system in 1886.

irons was a little weazen-faced scotch-irishman, with a past—as most of these professional labor agitators have. at the time of the strike he was on the payroll as a machinist of the pacific company at sedalia, where he was living with what is now-a-days called an affinity, he having deserted his wife and several children in ray county years before. he was thoroughly unreliable, a drunkard, and was hated by most of his followers. there were two redeeming things about him, however. a good voice was one of them. he could have earned a large salary as a train-caller or a barker for a tent show, and he was a good actor. notwithstanding his repulsive appearance, and the fact that the shopmen did not like him, he could sway them as he pleased, if granted the privilege of addressing them—fill them with either tears or indignation, as best suited the occasion. he never made a speech in his life, though, during which he did not pay his respects to me and my men, and tell how we were shadowing and hounding him day and night. he did this to create sympathy. as a matter of fact, there never was a time when any of gould's c-a-p-i-t-a-l-i-s-t-i-c b-l-o-o-d h-o-u-n-d-s, to use his own favorite expression, were ever on his trail. he was always regarded by my men and myself as a harmless demagogue, and not capable of doing anything that would cause us much trouble. in fact, the only thing he ever did in which he did not leave a trail behind him as wide as a railroad right-of-way, was the wire-tapping job he supervised during the strike, which will be referred to later.

[pg 309]

as stated previously, the strike was called at ten o'clock on the morning of march 4, 1886. the sound of the big whistle, the blowing of which was the signal for the men to quit work, had hardly died away before the main yards of the company at st. louis, which were just west of the old twelfth st. station, were filled with a mob of at least ten thousand knights of labor and sympathizers. the company's shops at chouteau and 29th streets were also at once taken possession of by the strikers and their friends. notwithstanding the fact that many of the employes of the company were loyal, and did not want to leave their jobs, these demonstrations caused them to do so. a call was sent in to police headquarters by general superintendent kerrigan, who was in charge of the operation of the missouri pacific and iron mountain roads, in the absence of vice-president and general manager hoxie, who was detained at his home on account of illness, asking for police protection for the company's loyal employes and property. maj. lawrence harrigan, then chief of police, responded to this call by detailing sergt. jack campbell, who was afterwards chief of police, and eighteen men for duty on the company's property. the reader can easily imagine the predicament in which this little handful of officers found themselves in attempting to handle a mob of at least ten thousand. on orders from mr. kerrigan, i secured three engines and crews, and we began to make up a train. at this sign of activity the mob became frantic. two of the engines were soon derailed and disabled. i then placed my force of special officers, which consisted of but a few men, on the remaining engine, and attempted to continue the switching of cars in order to get out a train of perishable goods, but we could not make any headway, as the mob pulled the pins, threw switches, derailed cars[pg 310] and otherwise interfered with the work. after a couple of hours had been thus consumed, i suggested to mr. kerrigan that we had furnished enough entertainment for the mob for one day, and told him i was going to take the engine to the round house to keep it from being disabled. "do you think you can succeed in doing it, tom?" asked mr. kerrigan. "i will do my best," i replied. "for goodness sake, do it, then, and when you get through come to my office as i want to consult with you."

the engine, which had been abandoned by the engineer and fireman, was standing just east of 12th st., a portion of it being under the viaduct which spanned that thoroughfare. the viaduct was lined with spectators and strikers and their sympathizers, many of the latter being armed with paving stones, links, pins, etc. as i climbed aboard the cab some miscreant hurled a paving stone at me. it came within a few inches of landing on my head. it is needless to state that if it had struck me i would not be writing this story. david r. francis, at that time mayor of st. louis, was viewing the situation from the viaduct, and witnessed the attempt on my life. turning to robert s. mcdonald, former circuit attorney, and a well-known lawyer, the mayor exclaimed, "that man furlong will get killed by that mob." after the incident, i espied the engineer standing in the crowd. i called to him in a loud voice, "come here and let us take this engine to the roundhouse." on hearing this a mighty shout went up from the mob, and there was much rejoicing and clapping of hands, they thinking they had achieved a great victory—just what i wanted them to think. the engineer climbed on the engine and we made the trip to the roundhouse without molestation.

after the engine had been safely placed in its stall, i[pg 311] went at once to the office of general superintendent kerrigan. after thoroughly discussing the situation which confronted us, i suggested that he call on judge portis, at that time general attorney of the missouri pacific, and insist on him preparing a legal notice to be served on the mayor and police board and sheriff of st. louis, setting forth that the company was being hindered in the operation of its property within the city and county of st. louis, and state of missouri, by a mob; that the company had many hundred thousand dollars' worth of perishable property in its cars in the yards in st. louis, and also had plenty of competent and loyal employes who were willing and anxious to do the work of switching the cars and running the trains, but were prevented from doing so by said mob. therefore, the company, after the serving of this notice, intended to hold the said city and county and state liable for all damages sustained by the company by reason of said mob's interference, as aforesaid. mr. kerrigan, acting on this suggestion, immediately called in judge portis, c. g. warner, general auditor, w. h. newman, the general freight traffic manager, and some other officers of the road, and had me repeat the suggestion to them, which i did. the attorney did not take kindly to the proposition at first, but at the demand of mr. kerrigan the notices were prepared, and later served on the officials named.

the receiving of these notices by the officials awakened them to their responsibilities. that evening a meeting of the police board was called by president blair, and at its close an order was issued to chief of police harrigan, instructing him to don his uniform early the next morning and lead every available man in the department to the missouri pacific yards, where he was to so station his men that[pg 312] none but loyal employes could enter the yards. the board's orders were carried out, the chief causing a line of men to be formed around the yards before the strikers had entered upon the property of the company.

at the head of a force of twenty-eight men, including a full train crew, conductor, engineer, fireman and three brakemen, i made up a train of ten cars and started west with them. we were not molested until we arrived at the compton avenue crossing. at this point a number of strikers under the leadership of a notorious agitator named geary, were seen on the track. each striker carried a small american flag, which they stuck up in the middle of the track at the crossing, and then every one began signalling us to stop, shouting to us that "we did not dare run over an american flag."

i want to state right here, that no man in this country has a greater respect for old glory than i have. i put in four years, one month and eight days defending it on one occasion, and thus helped to make it what it is today, and it made me feel pretty bad to see it put to the use it was on this occasion, and it is the only time in my life that i failed to pay the flag the respect due it. to make the story shorter, we paid no attention to the flags, and would have run over the mob had they not skeedaddled out of the way of that train.

at the city limits, sergt. campbell, who had been riding on the engine with me, left the train, and we continued on our journey westward. sitting on the running board on either side of the engine i had two men, billy bonnell and mike gibbons, each armed with a shot gun. on the deadwood, or cowcatcher, in front of the engine, i had two other men, jim mccane and w. k. moir, each armed with revolvers, and each carrying a clawbar. we had expected[pg 313] to find some spiked switches, and these clawbars were to be used in pulling the spikes. the balance of my guards, all armed, were placed in the caboose and on top of the box cars. no trouble was encountered until we neared pacific. we pulled into the town slowly, with all brakes set, so there would be no slack in the train, thus making it impossible for any one to dodge in between the cars and pull the pins, thus uncoupling the cars. we knew a lot of strikers had gone out to pacific over the frisco that morning, and expected trouble on arriving at that town. we were not disappointed. the first switch encountered had been turned for the side tracks and spiked, as had every other switch leading from the main line. my men who were armed with clawbars soon pulled the spikes and reset the switches and we slowly creeped into the town. the strikers were holding a meeting in an old brick house on the first road east of pacific, but on hearing our train coming the meeting was broken up and the men ran to a sand bin located just east of the depot and took refuge behind it. as our train pulled by this sand bin at least 100 shots were fired at the train. strange to say, not one of my men was hurt, but the cab and caboose and some of the cars were badly splintered by the bullets. after pulling by the sand bin the mob ran after the train, and one of the leaders, named davis, picked up a drawbar and rushed to the front of the caboose, which he was enabled to do as we were running so slowly, and attempted to throw the draw bar under the front wheels of the caboose, for the purpose of derailing it. he would probably have succeeded had not marshall f. mcdonald, the noted st. louis attorney, who had volunteered to act as one of my guards, saw what the man was attempting to do. the lawyer was so enraged at davis' audacity that he picked[pg 314] up a coupling pin, which was lying on the platform of the caboose, and hit the striker over the head with it. it is needless to add that we had no more trouble with davis that day, as he went down for the count, as the sporting writer would put it.

when we were fired upon by the mob entrenched behind the sand bin, i had hard work to control my men, they wanting to return the fire. i had previously told them not to fire a shot without my orders, but in the event i was compelled to order them to fire, i had instructed them to shoot to kill. after the first volley, and there being no return fire, the strikers concluded the guards were afraid to shoot, and immediately set about to uncouple the train. in this they were foiled, as they could not pull the pins. they then tried to climb to the top of the cars for the purpose of disarming the guards and throwing them from the train. in this they were again foiled, for the guards, using their weapons for clubs, beat them off. as soon as a striker's head appeared at the top of the ladder he received a blow over it that caused him to either fall to the ground or scamper back down the ladder. many of them were badly injured, either from the fall or the blow from the weapon in the hands of the guards. one of the mob singled me out and kept peppering away at me with a revolver. one of my men, mike gibbons, from his seat on the running board of the engine, and who was armed with a shotgun, wanted to "get" this man, but i would not let him do it. the fight was fast and furious, however, and lasted until our train had passed through the town.

our train met with no further trouble of importance until we arrive at chamois, the end of the first freight division. here the foreman of the round house had [pg 315]deserted his post and joined the strikers, and was acting as leader, and not one of the company's employes were on duty—that is, for the company. as soon as we pulled in the strikers surrounded the train, but attempted no acts of violence, they evidently being over-awed at the sight of the twenty-two armed guards. i made a short but "impressive" talk to the men, using as near as i can recall it, the following language:

"gentlemen, i am special agent of the missouri pacific railroad. these men you see with me here are in my department. we have no grievances against the company and are in no way interested in this strike, except to protect life and property. i want to convey to you, mr. foreman, the thanks of the management of the company to yourself and your associates for the good care you have taken of the company's property. i am here now with these men to relieve you of any further responsibility in the matter, and all of you are hereby notified to get off and stay off of the company's right-of-way until the trouble has been satisfactorily adjusted. if you attempt to get back on the right-of-way, or in any manner attempt to interfere with my men while in the discharge of their duties, or with the movement of trains, or commit other depredations, you are liable to get shot."

at the conclusion of my talk the strikers left the company's premises. on investigation i found 19 "dead" engines, that is, 19 engines from which the water had been removed. the supply water tank was also as dry as the proverbial powder horn, and the pumping machinery disabled, parts of the engine having been removed, and as i afterwards learned thrown into the little creek from which the water to supply the tank was obtained. as it was getting late in the day i went over to the hotel to[pg 316] make arrangements for getting supper for my men and crew. the proprietor told me there was nothing doing, as he did not want to take chances on getting his building burned down by the knights of labor. all of the balance of the regular eating houses and boarding houses in the town refused to accommodate us for the same reason. they had been notified by the committee not to do so. they would be boycotted if they did, and it had been intimated that even greater punishment might be meted out to them in case the committee's orders were violated. later a good old german lady named mrs. stoeppleman, who had two sons who were loyal employes of the company, sent for me and told me she was not afraid of the knights of labor, and cared nothing about a boycott or what her neighbors might say, and she would feed us if we desired her to do so. it is needless to add that we accepted of her hospitality. after a good supper, i learned where the missing parts of the pumping engine had been thrown, and two of my men, messrs. mccane and moir, who were both good machinists and engineers, were set to work to repair the engine. the water in the creek, where the missing parts of the engine had been thrown, was about four feet deep, and was partially covered with ice. mccane and moir entered the icy water, while i and others held torches, and fished out the missing parts. the engine was repaired, and by morning we had the supply tank nearly full of water.

early the next morning, we fired up one of the dead engines, and attaching it to the train of ten cars, sent it on to sedalia in charge of a crew and two guards. leaving eleven men at chamois in charge of mr. w. k. moir, i made up a train of 15 loaded cars, and with the remainder of my men started on our return trip to st. louis. no[pg 317] trouble occurred until our arrival at pacific, where the scenes attending our arrival there the day before were partially re-enacted. we got through pacific without any serious trouble, however, and arrived in st. louis about 2:00 p. m.

the st. louis strikers had not been idle while i was out on the road, however. on pulling into the chouteau avenue yards the first thing i saw was that the big turntable had been put out of commission. the strikers had deliberately run an engine into the pit, not only blocking the turntable, but badly damaging the engine.

the next morning (wednesday) mr. kerrigan sent for me to call at his office. on arriving i was told that the strikers had attacked the washington accommodation, containing three coaches loaded with passengers bound for st. louis, at gray's summit, a little station west of pacific, and had run the train onto a siding and "killed" the engine. i at once repaired to the chouteau avenue yards, and taking an engine, attached it to a coach, into which i placed ten picked men, all well armed, and the run was made to gray's summit in fairly good time. the strikers and sympathizers soon dispersed when commanded to do so by me. one of my men, jim mccane, who was an experienced engineer, disconnected the disabled engine, taking off the side rods, and in a remarkably short time we had coupled the disabled engine and the coaches on behind our coach. we then ran our engine to a "y" west of the little town, and after turning it around brought the passengers safely to st. louis, where we arrived a little before dark. the rescue of this passenger train was the entering wedge which broke the strike.

on arriving at the roundhouse that evening, a messenger was awaiting me with a note from general manager [pg 318]kerrigan, asking me to call at his office at sixth and locust streets to consult with the officers of the company. on arriving at mr. kerrigan's office i found mr. newman, freight traffic manager, and mr. werner, the general auditor, awaiting me. these three gentlemen were handling the strike situation for the company in the absence of vice-president and general manager hoxie. they had learned of the conditions at the chouteau avenue shops, of the running of the engine into the turntable pit, and also of the large number of men the strikers had on guard, both outside and inside of the fence which surrounded the shops. mr. kerrigan, recognizing the fact that we could do but little without engines, and as all the engines, save one or two, were safely locked within the round house, expressed himself as wishing to again get possession of the roundhouse. in discussing the best means of doing this the gentlemen thought it best to call on the police department for enough men to drive the strikers away. i told them that it was not necessary to do that, as i could get possession of the shops at any time. "how can you do it, tom?" asked mr. werner. "it will not take as long to do the job as it will to tell you about it," i replied, and further told them that we would be in possession of the shops again by daylight the next morning, if they so desired. they told me to go ahead and get possession of the shops in my own way. at that time i knew where i could get my hands on between forty and sixty of my men. i sent messengers to hunt up these men, instructing them to report to me on the handlan lot, southeast corner of grand and laclede avenues, promptly at 2:30 the next morning. they were further instructed to slip into the rendezvous quietly, not more than one or two going in together at a time, and all were given a pass word[pg 319] by which they would be able to identify each other. at the time fixed, forty-six men had reported, all well armed. i formed them into a double line, and after cautioning them to be careful about stumbling or coughing, or making a noise of any kind, marched them down grand avenue to the railroad track, and then down to the west gate of the fence surrounding the shops. on arriving there and finding the gate fastened on the inside, four men were boosted over the high fence. these men soon had the gate open and the balance marched in. immediately on entering the shopyard the men split ranks, half going to the right and the other half to the left, jim mccane heading one squad and i the other. the strikers had placed pickets every few rods all along the inside of the fence, but our entrance had been made so suddenly and noiselessly that these pickets had no time to sound an alarm. they were quickly disarmed of their clubs, or bludgeons, and taken along with us from one station to the other, until every picket in the yard had been captured. they were taken to the gate and boosted out. we then entered the shops, where we found many strikers asleep on benches and work tables. these were thrown out of the building before they hardly had time to get their eyes open. a good sized crowd of watchers and beer-canners were on the outside of the east gate of the fence. these men, too, were driven from the right-of-way. by daylight we were again in complete possession of the shops, as i had promised my superiors we would be, without a blow being struck or any one hurt.

i then sent trusted men down into the city to the quarters where men out of work usually congregate, with instructions to hire all the men they could find and quietly get them into the shops in small groups. i did not care[pg 320] what the previous occupations of these men had been, just so they were able-bodied. it did not make any difference to me whether they had ever seen the inside of the railroad shop before. all i wanted was men—men who could make a noise. we soon had a sufficient number of these men inside of the shops to serve my purpose. engines were fired up, fire was built in the blacksmith forges and the big engine in the powerhouse was set in motion. in fact, to those on the outside of the shop who could see the smoke coming out of the smoke stacks and hear the noise, and to those who could get a peep through the gates, the shops presented a scene of great activity. men were pounding great molten pieces of iron on the blacksmiths' anvils, while others were pounding away on big pieces of boiler iron, but they were not blacksmiths or boilermakers; they were simply playing a part assigned to them by the master mechanic and myself. other men represented machinists, while others were painters, car repairers and helpers.

of course, all these actors and guards had to be fed, so we established a commissary and a kitchen and brought in a lot of cots for these men and guards to sleep on, which were placed in the building. to those who are not familiar with the handling of strikers, i will tell why we employed all those unskilled men. it was for the purpose of making the strikers believe that we were fast filling their places, which it did, for in the next day or so many of the men who went out quietly made application for reinstatement. in many instances these applications were acted upon favorably and the men put to work, and the backbone of the strike was thus broken.

as on all such occasions, many acts of violence were committed. when the strikers learned that men were being[pg 321] slipped into the shops they were very wroth. now and then one of the strike breakers would stray away from the shops. they were fortunate, indeed, if they did not fall into the hands of the pickets, for if they did, and which was usually the case, they were badly beaten. of course, we always attempted to prevent the men going out after they were once inside of the enclosure, knowing what they would be up against, but we were not always successful in keeping them inside. on the second day, after we had retaken the shops, a coach painter named haller, who had been employed at the shops for several months, and who was at home at the bedside of a sick wife when the strike was called, showed up at the shops and resumed work. at quitting time that evening he picked up his dinner bucket and started down the track to jefferson avenue, as had been his custom. on arriving at jefferson avenue he was approached by a number of pickets, who remonstrated with him for going to work. "i cannot afford to loaf now, as my wife has been sick a long time," said haller; "besides, i am satisfied with the wages i am receiving and intend to keep on working," and started up jefferson avenue towards his home, which was in the 2600 block on either franklin or easton avenues. the pickets began to assault him with rocks and clubs, and he sought to escape them by running. at every step, almost, the ranks of the mob were augmented. as haller ran past the strikers' headquarters, which were in eutopia hall, at walnut and jefferson avenues, a crowd of several hundred joined in the chase. the long run up the hill had winded haller. besides he had been weakened by the blows which had been showered upon him. seeing that he could not make his escape on account of his weakened condition, he backed up against a brick building at the northwest corner[pg 322] of the street named and stopped. a big bully rushed up to him and struck him, whereupon haller jerked out a revolver and shot his assailant, who dropped dead in his tracks. this stopped the mob from doing further violence to him. the police from the mounted district rushed to the scene and placed haller under arrest. no attempt was made to arrest any of the mob. later in the evening he was removed to a cell in central station, from which the company's officials, at my request, secured his release on bond. he was later acquitted by a coroner's jury, and in a day or so thereafter was again back at work. after that, for quite a while, i sent a guard home with him each evening, but no attempt was made to molest him. this, i believe, was the only fatality growing out of the strike in st. louis. mr. haller is now a prosperous business man in st. louis, and is highly respected by all who know him.

thursday afternoon the big crane at the shops was rigged up for business, and, under the guidance of skilled men in my employ, ran out to the edge of the roundhouse pit, into which the strikers had dumped an engine, as referred to before in this article. this engine so blocked the turntable that not one of the company's engines in the roundhouse could be taken out. the engine was lifted out of the pit, and in a short time the turntable was in working order. that same evening, i decided to straighten out things at pacific. to do this i had made up my mind to place the ring-leaders of the mob which had attacked the train there earlier in the week under arrest. i knew it would take quite a force of men to do this, so i instructed twenty of my men to assemble quietly in the neighborhood of st. malachy's church, at 29th and clark avenues, at ten o'clock that night. they were to come to the rendezvous in ones and twos, and instructed[pg 323] to do nothing that would attract attention. i had an engine and caboose in waiting at the shops, and when the men had all assembled they were marched to the caboose, and between 11 and 12 o'clock we started to pacific. on arriving at the first cut east of the town the little train was stopped and left in the cut under guard of the engineer and fireman, and two of my men. the engine carried no lights, and no sound had announced our arrival near the town. in fact, we approached it as quietly as possible. the men were divided into two squads, one headed by billy bonnell and the other by myself. we then marched into town and to the homes of the men wanted. they were aroused from their slumber and placed under arrest. we had no trouble, except at the home of a big blacksmith, who had been especially prominent in the riot at the sand bin the day we ran the first train through the town after the strike had been called. he was soon subdued, however, and taken with the balance of the men arrested, to the caboose, which had been left standing on the track near the edge of the town. many of these men were still suffering from the blows they had received at the hands of the guards who were on the train they had attacked. davis, the leader of the mob, who was hit on the head with a coupling pin by marshall f. mcdonald, for attempting to derail the caboose of the train attacked, had his head still covered with bandages.

after all the men had been arrested, we boarded the train with our prisoners and ran to washington, where we loaded them into hacks and wagons and took them to union, the county seat of franklin county, where they were placed in jail. in due time they were tried before judge seay, and vigorously prosecuted by prosecuting attorney gallencamp, and all of them convicted.[pg 324] davis, the leader, was given three years in the penitentiary, while the blacksmith and several others were let off with lighter terms, and the balance of the men, who proved to be mere tools of the leaders, at my suggestion, were given jail sentences. davis, after entering the penitentiary, contracted consumption, and after serving a little over half his time, was pardoned so he might go home to die. he was released from prison one saturday, returning to pacific at once. the following monday he died.

two of the gentlemen connected with the trial of these strikers have since made reputations for themselves. judge gallencamp, who prosecuted the cases, is now, and has been for several years, surveyor of the port of st. louis, while judge seay, who presided, has received high honors at the hands of the people of oklahoma, his new home, he having served as governor at one time. mr. w. k. moir, whom i left in charge of chamois, proved to be a valuable man for the company. he being a good engineer and machinist he was retained there as general foreman for several years, until the division was removed to jefferson city. he was then given an engine in the yards of the company at that point, but later resigned and moved to st. louis, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred a few years ago.

the st. louis strikers made their headquarters in eutopia hall, jefferson avenue and walnut street, and an ex-convict named martin o'neal usually presided over the meetings. i lived, at that time, at 2729 walnut street. my wife was very sick, being confined to her bed, and many of these strikers in going to and from their meetings always passed by the house, and never failed to jeer at the children, if they happened to be in the yard, and otherwise conducted themselves in a rude manner. one striker,[pg 325] a tough switchman named duffy, went so far as to enter the yard and ring the door bell a couple of times, when he knew i was not at home, and when the door was opened by my little daughter, had forced his way into the house. he would then let on as though he wanted to see me, telling my daughter that he knew all about a conspiracy to take my life, and his call was for the purpose of putting me on my guard. his story and rudeness always frightened my family very badly, they thinking that possibly there might be some truth in his story. i knew duffy and his reputation as a general bad man, and knew he had no business with me. i also knew he was aware of my whereabouts during business hours, and i decided to put a stop to his visits at my private home at the first opportunity. as luck would have it, i was at the house the next time he called, one night about ten o'clock. i had slipped home to spend a few moments with my sick wife, and had been in the house only a short time, when the door bell rang. my daughter saw him enter the yard from the window, and called me. i answered the ring of the bell by opening the door and grabbing duffy by the collar and jerking him inside. i at once went to work on him with both fists. he was either too cowardly or his surprise was too great for him to make any resistance. after i had given him a few good stiff jabs, he began to beg for his life. "i am not going to kill you, you cur," i rejoined, "but i am going to teach you better than to come to my home," and i lit into him again. after punching him until i was tired, i let up. i then issued a few orders for the cowering wretch's guidance in the future, and also sent a message to his followers, couched in about the following language, "you people can go up and down this street, of course, but don't any of you let me catch you on this side[pg 326] of it. another thing, i will 'get' the next one of your cowardly curs who jeers at this house again while passing. i don't want any of you to ever even look at my house. if you do, and i find it out, there will be trouble." after making him promise to deliver the message, i again grabbed him by the collar, and pulling the door open, booted him into the street. i always gave duffy credit for delivering the message, for that gang always behaved themselves when passing the house thereafter, and always kept to the other side of the street.

st. louis was not the only scene of rioting and mob violence during the strike. at sedalia, where the main engine building plant of the company is located, and where about 2000 machinists and other shopmen were employed, conditions were very bad. sedalia was also the headquarters of the operating department of the "katy," one of the gould properties, and a division point for all missouri pacific lines at that time running through missouri. in fact, it was what might be called a railroad town. it was also the main headquarters of the strikers. the knights of labor were very strong, even most of the business men of the city belonging to the order. the strikers had their own way for several days. each attempt on the part of superintendent sibley to move trains was the signal for rioting. to illustrate the boldness of the strikers, i will relate one incident. adjutant general j. c. jamison, of governor marmaduke's staff, had been sent to sedalia to investigate conditions there. he went to the yards and with two police officers, boarded an engine, attached to a train, which the officials were attempting to get out of the yards. the engine was given steam and the train started. before it had gone a hundred yards, however, a mob climbed aboard the engine, stopped the[pg 327] train, uncoupled the engine from the train, put on steam, and ran the engine down the katy track about two miles, and after letting all the water out of the boiler, ran the engine back to the yards and into the roundhouse. no attempt was made to harm the adjutant general and the police officers by the mob. immediately on the arrival of the captured engine at the roundhouse, the leaders of the mob, who proved to be john perry and fred page, two of martin irons' most trusted lieutenants, were placed under arrest by chief of police barnett of sedalia and a couple of his officers. the arrest caused one of the worst riots ever witnessed in the little city. the men were finally locked up, however, by the plucky chief of police, but were soon released on bond. this riot caused a change of sentiment on the part of the business men, which up to this time had been with the strikers entirely, and within a few days enough volunteer guards had been secured to handle the situation. traffic was then resumed on the roads. many of the ringleaders were indicted by the grand jury, but none of them were tried, they being allowed to leave the county.

at kansas city, parsons, denison, ft. worth, palestine, little rock, and many other places much rioting was indulged in by the strikers, and much property was destroyed, and worse, several lives were sacrificed.

martin irons, after the strike, was completely deserted by the men whom he had led, and became a wanderer and an outcast, a veritable human derelict. his constitution had become so weakened by the excessive use of liquor that he could not hold a job as a machinist, although he was a good workman. he then tried lecturing, but in this he was not successful. later he opened a lunch counter at kansas city. this enterprise was also a failure.[pg 328] he finally wandered down into arkansas, and one morning was found dead in a hovel. never was the biblical admonition, "as ye sow, so shall ye reap," more plainly illustrated than in the case of poor martin irons.