A Railroad Strike Tests Seattle's Union Solidarity—and the Courts
As Great Northern strikers held firm, a federal injunction and a trainload of deputy marshals moved against them, while Seattle union men rallied at Labor hall and organized along the line at Skykomish.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Events in connection with the Great Northern railroad strike almost all happened at the eastern end of the line yesterday, and the same peace reigned as on the previous day. News came by telegraph that an injunction had been obtained in the East forbidding the strikers to interfere with the operation of the road by new men, and that a trainload of deputy marshals had started from St. Paul to serve the writs along the line. It was impossible to find any of the strikers to learn their opinions of this move. Those who were seen were reticent on the subject, but it is not likely to have much effect on their actions.
Another well-attended meeting of the Seattle local union of the American Railway Union was held at Labor hall yesterday afternoon, about 100 of the Great Northern men of all classes being present. They resolved to stand firm and were cheered by the reading of the following telegram from Organizer James Hogan at Butte to Secretary W. P. C. Adams: “Received sympathy of Butte Miners’ Union in the shape of $500 cash. Montana is labor’s Gibraltar.”
A meeting of the Seattle lodge of the Railway Union will be held at Knights of Labor hall tomorrow evening, at which a large attendance is expected. Secretary Adams went to Skykomish on a handcar yesterday and organized a union there. The local officers of the union yesterday received assurances from Northern Pacific employees that they would not handle Great Northern cars in any way and that they would not run trains carrying “scabs.”
St. Paul, April 19.—The Great Northern is showing fighting methods to be much the same as in the cases of roads in the hands of receivers. Judge Sanborn, of the United States circuit court for Minnesota and North Dakota, today issued an order restraining the striking employees from in any manner damaging the property, breaking up trains or interfering with the business of the railroad or with the men who want to continue work or who may be brought in to take the places of the strikers. The order calls for a hearing in this city on April 27. The United States marshal sent out on two trains large forces of deputy marshals to serve the orders. These trains had an engine at each end, so that if the strikers wished to interfere they would find some difficulty in doing so.
“Montana is labor’s Gibraltar.”
In 1894 Seattle unions were testing whether solidarity across crafts and railroads could hold against court injunctions and replacement workers. The same questions—legal limits on strikes, “scab” labor and regional union networks—still shape labor fights in Washington.
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