When trying to determine when the T&P shops burned, I came across a story about a railroad strike in 1886 that commenced in Marshall and turned violent. This is the link to the site where this was found. https://sites.google/site/historyofrrunions/home/major-strikes The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 was a labor union strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads involving more than 200,000 workers. In March 1886, railroad workers in the Southwest United States conducted an unsuccessful strike against railroads owned by Jay Gould, one of the more flamboyant of the robber baron industrialists of the day. The failure of the strike led directly to the collapse of the Knights of Labor and the formation of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The strike began when a member of the Knights of Labor in Marshall, Texas was fired for attending a union meeting on company time. The local chapter of the Knights called a strike. Soon, more than 200,000 workers were on strike in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. Although the dismissal of the railroad worker in Texas had sparked the initial strike, wages, hours and unsafe working conditions motivated most of the strikers. From the start there were problems. The Brotherhood of Engineers refused to honor the strike, and its members kept working. Meanwhile, Gould immediately hired strikebreakers to work the railroad. After several incidents of union violence occurred, Jay Gould requested military assistance from the governors of the affected states. The governor of Missouri mobilized the state militia; the governor of Texas mobilized both the state militia and the Texas Rangers. The exercise of police power by the states on behalf of the railroad companies led union members to retaliate. Switching houses were burned, mechanic shops wrecked and trains uncoupled. Shots were fired at a moving train in Missouri. As the violence spread, public opinion turned against the workers. Physical attacks by the Pinkerton agents scared thousands of workers into returning to work. The strike eventually petered out in late summer of 1886. As a result of their success in breaking the strike, employers adopted a model for stamping out strikes that called for holding firm and calling for government troops.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 23:24:30 +0000
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