USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1913 > Part 34
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Some time prior to this General Sheehan had discovered that the east end of the depot was unguarded and unoccupied by the strikers, and he suggested to General Dickinson, who was with the San Fran- cisco troops in the rear of his command, that he occupy it. Major Douglas, who was sent by him to General Dickinson with the sugges- tion, forced his way through the crowd and delivered the message, and General Dickinson referred him to General Dimond, who was in con- sultation with Marshal Baldwin in the office of Superintendent Wright. General Dimond, on Major Douglas' explanation of the situation, ap- proved of the suggestion and calling Colonel Hooper, his chief of staff, directed him in Major Douglas' presence to instruct General Dickinson to carry out General Sheehan's suggestion, and detail a body of his men to pass around the depot and occupy it from the other end. Meanwhile General Sheehan endeavored for more than an hour to induce the strikers to give way, but they still refused, baring their breasts and inviting the soldiers to use their bayonets. "You wouldn't put that steel through me, would you, Bill?" said one striker to his brother, who was in uniform, and whose bayonet was within a few inches of the striker's breast. "Then, for God's sake, step aside, Jim," said the soldier, pale and quivering with excitement. "Go ahead, Jack; jab your bayonet through me, and make your sister a widow," said another. "Go ahead, boys, and run us through; we might as well die here as to starve," said others.
Seeing the situation was hopeless unless force was used, and that General Dickinson had not taken any action towards occupying the east end of the depot, and that his order to the troops to "charge bayonets" had produced no effect on the mob, General Sheehan went to Marshal Baldwin and told him of the situation, and that nothing but force would dislodge the mob; that if it was the marshal's desire to use force, he must decline to use it unless he received the written order of the marshal to do so. The marshal took the position that the troops were under the orders of General Dimond, to whom he referred General Sheehan. General Dimond was present, and thereupon exer- cised his privilege of turning over the command of the troops to the marshal. Finding that the responsibility now rested on him, Marshal Baldwin told General Dimond that if he must take charge his first order would be that the Sacramento and American river bridges must be immediately guarded and protected by troops. General Dimond thereupon turned to General Sheehan and directed him to detail two of his companies and a light battery to take position on the bridges
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named. All of this time the strikers were endeavoring to persuade the men of Companies E and G to lay down their arms, but they re- membered their duty, and refused. The men were suffering terribly from the heat and many fell exhausted, and had to be removed and cared for. An injunction issued by Chief Justice Fuller of the United States supreme court had been served on Harry Knox, chairman of the strikers, restraining him from interfering with any and all trains, but he paid no attention to it, and the wreck of the first train out occurring a few days later, so far as known no punishment was ever meted out to him for his contempt of the court's order. He refused the request of the committee of the board of city trustees that he would consult with the officials of the railroad company. That after- noon Major Steinman issued a proclamation requesting all citizens to abstain from visiting the depot or grounds or helping to swell the mob.
Marshal Baldwin ascended a locomotive cab and harangued the strikers to no avail and finally suggested that they call together their calmest and ablest leaders and see if they would not agree that it would be best to leave him in peaceable possession of the depot. After some opposition this was agreed to, and a truce was declared till three o'clock, and afterwards extended to 6 P. M. The troops were dismissed and left the grounds. During the afternoon armistice a crowd of strikers went to Smith's hall on Seventh street, where the Bersaglieri Guard, an independent Italian organization, kept their arms, and took possession of the entire outfit of guns and accoutre- ments, it is understood, without much opposition.
The order of Marshal Baldwin withdrawing two companies of General Sheehan's command for the purpose of guarding the bridges over the American and Sacramento rivers was an unfortunate one, and being misunderstood, had the effect of encouraging the strikers. On receiving the order, General Sheehan requested the crowd to fall back about five feet in order that he might not be compelled to use force on them. His request was complied with, and on the command "Fours right! Column right! March!" the two companies of Sacra- mento troops that had faced the crowd marched off the ground and proceeded to the bridges as ordered. No sooner did the crowd see the troops marching away than they began to cheer, and the report soon spread that the troops had refused to fire on the people when ordered to do so. The Sacramento troops having departed, and no orders having come to take further action, Colonel Nunan, command- ing the Stockton troops, took upon himself the responsibility of order- ing his men, who were weakened and almost prostrated by the heat, to break ranks and seek the shade. Again the crowd cheered, and again the false report spread that the Stockton troops had been ordered to fire, and had refused. This left only the two regiments of the Second Brigade, under General Dickinson's command, who still
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stood in line. Many of these had fallen out of the lines and were being cared for by the surgeons. After the truce between Marshal Baldwin and the strikers was declared, the troops were allowed to seek the shade, and at 6:30 P. M. they were ordered to fall in for supper, and were marched to the hotels.
On July 5th the troops were ordered to put up tents and make their camp in Capitol Park, which was done, and the camp was main- tained there until the order to dismiss them was given.
Excitement over the occurrences on the Fourth quieted down next day and the troops took up the routine of camp duty. On the 11th, however, there came a terrible change that caused a revulsion of the tolerant feeling with which the strikers had been regarded, and which cost five lives. On the morning of the 11th, nearly eight hun- dred United States troops arrived on the steamer Alameda and the steam barge Acme, consisting of two troops of cavalry, five bat- teries of light artillery with several gatling guns and two Hotchkiss rapid-fire cannon, six companies of marines and one company of infantry. There was also a full corps of surgeons and hospital stew- ards, army wagons with supplies, etc. They were under the command of Colonel Graham, commandant at the Presidio, in San Francisco. The whole river frontage was at the time occupied by the National Guard, eight hundred strong, under the command of Brigadier-General Sheehan. The boats landed at the foot of Y street and the troops debarked, being covered from interference by the militia. The cavalry deployed and took possession of the cross streets, to guard the march of the infantry and the guns, and lining up the spectators driven from the streets, in the rear of the cavalry. The command took pos- session of the depot grounds, without resistance, the strikers realiz- ing that here was a force it would not do to trifle with. Guard lines were thrown out rapidly and the batteries planted, and in a short time the whole railroad property was enclosed in a line of sentinels. While the guards were clearing the grounds, the switch engines, under the guard of a heavy body of soldiers, began to clear away the congestion of cars and locomotives. The gatling guns were cleared ready for service and a detail was sent to guard the supply train, which soon arrived. The hospital tent was set up near the baggage room, and the surgeons put their instruments in order. Meanwhile, a detach- ment of marines had taken possession of the Yolo bridge, cleared it and had taken up its position at the Yolo end, having been preceded by a cavalry company which took an advantageous station.
Meanwhile the militia had been under fire and had returned it. About 8:30 A. M., opposite the foot of O street, five shots were heard. and the bullets came whizzing overhead. About fifty shots were sent back, and one man was seen to fall from a tree, while others were seen behind a sand bank on the Yolo shore, deliberately aiming at the troops. One shot from the troops entered Reed's cannery, wounding
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a Japanese. A boat with a white flag was sent across, and several men were found behind the levee, who were unarmed and claimed that they had been sent over by the strikers to patrol the levee and see that no more shots were fired, but they were not believed. However, there was no proof against them, and they were not arrested.
Heretofore there had been no bloodshed, but it seemed as if the arrival of the regular troops, although it had served to clear the depot and give possession of it to the railroad company, had served to make the strikers desperate. It developed afterwards that Worden and others had planned to use dynamite to destroy the regulars when they arrived and disembarked. Probably nothing but the fact that the militia had occupied and guarded the river bank prevented the murderous scheme from being carried out. The strikers' leaders, angered by their temporary defeat, had resolved on desperate meas- ures. Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers stated that they had been threatened by members of the American Railway Union, and that they had been told that they would never live to haul a Pullman car ten miles. In view of the events of this day, and the testimony adduced at the trial of the strike leaders, Harry Knox, Thomas Compton and James Mullen, later on, there remains no reason to doubt that they had determined to prevent the moving of trains by all means in their power, however desperate. The body of the strikers were not admitted to the councils of the leaders, and it is certain that the large majority of them would never have sanctioned the means employed. Indeed, a large number of the strikers not only took no part in the unlawful acts, but even stayed at their homes, not coming to the vicinity of the shops at all.
After the regulars had completed their investment of the depot, their attention was turned to the making up of a train for move- ment. The cars belonging to overland train No. 4, which had been "killed" by the strikers two weeks before, were assembled and prepar- ations made to start the train for San Francisco. The train was com- posed of a locomotive, two mail and three express cars, one baggage car, three day coaches, and the three Pullman coaches and the Pull- man diner that came in with the train originally. The locomotive was handled by Samuel B. Clark, one of the oldest and most popular engineers in the employ of the company, with J. S. Denekamp as fire- man, and conductor Samuel Reynolds. The train was guarded by twenty-one men of Battery L, Fifth United States Artillery, under the command of Lieutenant Skerret, as it was thought that the strikers or their sympathizers might fire on it or assault it. How many strik- ers had knowledge of the plans to wreck it will never be known, but it is certain that many of them freely prophesied that the train would not go far and it is certain that many of the strikers knew of the wrecked train before the messengers bearing the news arrived at the depot. It is known that the strikers applied to Father Grace for
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permission to use the Cathedral tower as a signal station, but that he refused. It also developed afterwards that several of the strikers were in the Capitol dome watching the train with field glasses and that they signalled to persons in the street below.
The train steamed out of the depot with its guards, the crowd that had assembled outside of the sentry-line looking sullenly on and casting an occasional jeer at the trainmen and soldiers. It passed on out of sight, six of the soldiers perched on the locomotive and the rest scattered along on the car platforms, with rifles ready to repel attack. "The blockade is broken at last," said some of the railroad officials, not dreaming of the terrible fate impending over the occu- pants of the train. It was nearly an hour after its departure, and the railway officials were awaiting news of its arrival at Davisville, when a colored Pullman porter came running into the depot and proceeded to Superintendent Wright's office with a message from Conductor Reynolds, stating that the train had been wrecked at the long trestle, two miles from the city, and Engineer Clark and several United States soldiers were killed. In a few minutes the wrecking train was prepared and sent, with a couple of coaches, to the rescue, carrying several surgeons and men with stretchers, as well as a number of armed soldiers. As the wreck had occurred on the trestle, it was difficult to get on the farther side of it, and there was some delay before the wrecking train returned with the wounded men, who were im- mediately cared for.
Conductor Reynolds stated that the train was running about twelve miles an hour when it came to the trestle. As soon as it struck the trestle there came a crash, and he evacuated the mailcar in which he was, as quickly as possible; the engine had gone over and lay in about six feet of water and deep in the mnd, with two express cars piled on top of it. Engineer Clark and three soldiers lay buried under the engine, and others were floundering in the water, one soldier named Dugan having his arm cut off, being caught between the engine and a trestle beam. Denekamp, the fireman, saved his life by jump- ing when he felt the engine topple. Besides Engineer Clark, Privates Clark, Byrne, Lubberdon and Dugan were killed, the latter dying that evening. An inspection of the track told that the wreckers had done their work well. The spikes and fishplates of a rail had been pried up and taken away, leaving the rail in place, with nothing to show that it was loose, and deceiving the engineer. As it was reported that several men were lurking in the brush on the other side of the river along the track, a squad of cavalry was sent to scour the ground. Such was the revulsion of feeling in the crowd over the horrible plot, that the crowd cheered them as they swept by. The Southern Pacific immediately offered $5000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of one or all of the murderers, and the United States district attorney offered $2000 more.
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During the afternoon four men were arrested and lodged in the county jail. They were Salter D. Worden, A. G. Greenlaw, William Burt and H. E. Rodmer, the first being charged with wrecking the train, and the others with conspiracy and obstructing the marshal. Detectives who had been investigating found that Worden had hired a team and wagon and taken a party of four or five into Yolo county, the team being returned without them. It was also learned that Worden stopped a lineman of the Western Union Telegraph Company and took his tools from him. Worden presented himself at the stable later in the day, and was arrested, and some dynamite and fuse was found to have been left in the wagon by the wreckers when it was returned.
The wrecking of the train caused a revulsion of feeling in the community. A great number of citizens who had sympathized with the strikers suddenly awoke to the fact that murder and violence like this could not be condoned, and that it had placed the leaders beyond the pale of sympathy. They realized that the talk of peaceful resist- ance to the law was only a hollow pretense, and that the men most active in the strike were prepared to go to any length in order to carry out their purpose. The naked fact stood out in bold relief in all its hideousness and could no longer be ignored. Men whose heated imagination had placed the strikers and their leaders on the pedestal of martyrdom realized that they had been deluded and their ardor of sympathy suddenly cooled. The press of the state, which had largely expressed itself as on the side of the strikers, changed its tune and voiced the general horror and indignation at the cowardly act. An attempt by a number of men on the morning of the 24th to wreck a Southern Pacific train by taking up the rails on the track near Arcade station, on the grant, and who fought a pitched battle with the soldiers who discovered them, augmented the revolution in the minds of the people. It is probable, also, that many strikers, whose passions had been excited to a high pitch by the organizers and leaders, began to realize whither their zeal was leading them. An attempt was also made at Dutch Flat on the 18th to wreck a train by piling obstructions on the track. Fortunately it was discovered in time to save the train, which had on board a large number of women and children. In consequence, Colonel Graham ordered that anyone found tampering with the rails should be shot first and allowed to explain afterwards. The strikers began to fall away from the organ- ization, and when the notice was given on the 17th by the company, that those who had not resorted to violence or destruction of property could return to work when the whistle blew on the morning of the 18th, several hundred men gladly availed themselves of the oppor- tunity, and in a few days all the men that were needed were once more at work, only a couple of hundred of the violent strikers being barred out. Some of these began to threaten the men who returned
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to work, but Colonel Graham quickly put his soldiers on patrol duty to protect the workers, and the recalcitrant strikers soon decided to let them alone.
The regular soldiers were not at all backward in obeying orders regarding the strikers. They had been deeply angered by the dastardly slaughter of their comrades in the wreck at the long trestle, and were eager to avenge their death if the strikers gave. them prov- ocation to do so. The militia shared this feeling, for they also had been abused and threatened. A number of strikers and sympathizers had been arrested for insulting soldiers, but a much sterner lesson was necessary, and on the 13th it was given. A number of soldiers had been detailed to ride on the flat cars and protect the railroad employees in their work in the yards, there being many cars of valu- able freight that should be moved to more secure quarters. Captain Roberts and Lieutenant Skerret, with men of Battery L, Fifth Regi- ment, U. S. Artillery, some marines, and Company F of the Third Infantry, N. G. C., were overseeing the switching, when they were abused and stoned by a group of men in the rear of the sheds, and some shots were fired at them from the sheds. The soldiers made a rush for them, when most of them threw up their hands, but some ran away. They were called on to halt, but not heeding the warn- ing, the troops fired, wounding two, one of whom, named Stewart, died that night. A number of prisoners were also gathered in, and held to answer before the federal court.
On the 19th Debs telegraphed to the Oakland strikers' executive committee to effect a settlement with the company, allowing the men to go back to work, and on the 22nd the local union declared the strike off.
In the meantime Knox, Compton and Mullen, who had been ar- rested, were charged with the murder of Engineer Clark and the soldiers. Their preliminary examination began at Woodland on the 18th, before the justice of the peace. The case against Worden was postponed for a time. A number of telegrams sent by Knox were produced in court, among them one to a person living in Willows, which read: "Sacramento, July 7, 1904-To Lizzie McMillan Sehorn, Willows, Glenn Co., Cal .: We need financial assistance, but armed assistance would be more acceptable. John Buchanan, by H. Knox."
These dispatches were offered in corroboration of the charge of conspiracy against the defendants, and the manager of the Postal Telegraph company testified that they were sent through his office. Arthur J. Wilson, owner of the stable, stated at the preliminary exam- ination of Knox, Compton and Mullen, at Woodland, that Worden asked for a wagon that would hold nine people, but that he could furnish one that would hold six only. Worden presented an order which read: "Give bearer a rig to go to Brighton. H. A. Knox."
The trial of the defendants was long drawn out. There was
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difficulty in getting a jury, as public sentiment ran high on both sides ; also many were afraid to serve on the jury, as threats and intimida- tion were charged to have been made against jurymen and witnesses. The result of the trial was generally looked upon by unprejudiced people as a miscarriage of justice, the evidence clearly pointing to the guilt of the defendants. Worden, who was an impulsive, erratic man, and was regarded largely as the tool of the three conspirators, was the only one to suffer, and was found guilty and sentenced to hang. His sentence, however, through influential intervention, was commuted to imprisonment for life. At this writing (1912), he has presented an application for parole. It was found impossible to con- viet Knox, Mullen and Compton, and they escaped punishment.
The strike cost California many millions of dollars, ruined a large number of fruit growers through the loss of their crops, par- alyzed business for several months, and accomplished nothing of the purpose for which it was inaugurated. It is to be hoped that another one like it will never visit this coast.
September 30, 1911, the employes belonging to an association similar to the American Railway Union of 1894, which attempted to consolidate the various railway unions into one, with a managing board to make all agreements with the various railroads of the United States, and to claim recognition of the consolidated unions and the concession of certain demands, went on a strike, which is still pend- ing. Quite a few employes forfeited their chance for pensions in the near future by joining the strike, while a number of others refused to go out.
CHAPTER XXXI THE CHURCHES
The first church organization in Sacramento was Grace Protestant Episcopal church, of which the present St. Paul's church is the suc- cessor. During the first rush of the gold seekers to the coast the worship of Mammon was predominant. It seemed as if the lust for the yellow metal had taken precedence of all the early training of the men who had joined in the mad scramble for wealth. Church-goers and members, deacons, and even in some case ministers, turned aside from the straight path and threw off all the restraints that religion had imposed on them. It is recorded by Dr. Morse that one preacher descended to dealing monte in one of the early gambling tents, and another to playing faro. But many still remained faithful to their early training, and needed only the opportunity to avow their allegi- ance to the religion of Christ. The opportunity came about the mid- dle of August, 1849, when Rev. Flavel S. Mines, of San Francisco, visited Sacramento, and for the first time a church gathering was had, and the beautiful service of the Protestant Episcopal church was
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heard in the city. The place in which this and others of the earliest religious services were held, and which acquired thereby a historical reputation, was the blacksmith shop between J and K, on Third street.
On the day following the parish was organized under the name of "Grace Church, Sacramento," at the store of Eugene F. Gillespie, by the election of officers as follows: A. M. Winn, senior warden (Mr. Winn was at the time mayor of the city and presided at the meeting) ; F. W. Moore, junior warden; Eugene F. Gillespie, Henry E. Robin- son, E. J. Barrell, P. B. Cornwall, J. M. Mckenzie, William Prettiman and J. F. Morse, vestrymen. In the early part of September, Rev. R. F. Burnham of New Jersey, visited the city, and preached, and was called to the rectorship of the parish. His health, however, became impaired, and he died in April, 1850. Rev. Samuel P. Morehouse was then placed in charge of the parish, and held occasional services until about the 1st of October, 1850, when Rev. Orlando Harriman of New York, became the rector, but as he was attacked by typhoid fever shortly after and was left in a debilitated condition, he was able to officiate a few times only. During his sickness Rev. Mr. Pinnell and Rev. Augustus Fitch of New York, officiated several times. Mr. Har- riman left the city and returned to his home in the east in March, 1851, and an interregnum followed lasting until 1854, during which Rev. Orange Clark, Rev. John Reynolds, Chaplain, U. S. A., and Rev. John Gungan officiated occasionally, the causes being the great fire of 1852, which destroyed the church records, and later the flood which inundated the city for several months.
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