History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 184

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

ceed from Fort McHenry and Washington to Mar- tinsburg, where they arrived on the morning of the 19th. The presence of the military overawed the strikers and prevented violence. The trains might now have been sent on had not the threats of the strikers so intimidated those who would have served that they were afraid to come forward, and only two trains were moved that day, one eastward, which reached Baltimore in safety, and one westward, which was stopped at Keyser.

By this time the strike had extended to the Ohio Division of the road, and alarming reports were re- ceived as to the intentions of the men on the Pitts- burgh and other Western roads, among the rest the Fort Wayne and Chicago, the Lake Shore and Mich- igan Southern, Ohio and Mississippi, etc. The West- ern Division of the Pennsylvania was blocked, and there was trouble on the Erie. Troops were called out in both Pennsylvania and New York. The apparently vast extent of the combination caused extreme alarm, and there was an almost total paralysis of trade in Baltimore and towns along the road. The direct loss was also very great, many of the cars detained being loaded with perishable goods, and others with live-stock that were dying with hunger and thirst.

Thus far no act of malicious violence had been done, and it is probable that, beyond the stopping of the trains, none was originally intended, and even this design was confined to a part of the whole force. But, as is always the case, the turbulent and unruly, the vicious and idle gathered around the strikers, swelled their forces, and could not be restrained from violence and outrage.

In St. Louis, while there was no bloodshed, there were many violent demonstrations, and for several days the situation was threatening in the extreme. The first symptoms of trouble were manifest on the morn- ing of July 21st, when it was announced that the brakemen on the Ohio and Mississippi Railway had determined to strike on the following Monday (July 23d), in consequence of a reduction in wages on the 16th of that month. This movement was antici- pated on July 21st by a strike on the Central Division of the Ohio and Mississippi Road at Vincennes. East St. Louis being the real western terminus of the roads centring in St. Louis from the East, and their several freight-yards and depots being there, the strike began there in a meeting on the night of July 21st, which adjourned to meet the following day. On the latter date day and night meetings were held, and the strike was formally inaugurated by the employés of the Ohio and Mississippi, Indianapolis and St. Louis, St. Louis and Southeastern, Vandalia Line, Rockford and

Rock Island, Cairo Short Line, and the Cairo and St. Louis Railroad Companies, and the Union Transit and Railway Company, which controlled the traffic over the bridge. An executive committee was ap- pointed, consisting of one representative from the em- ployés of each road, with power to appoint sub-com- mittees from the different branches of railroad service represented in the strike. A resolution was adopted cautioning all of the men against the usc of intoxi- cating liquors. On this day also meetings of working- men in St. Louis and Carondelet were held, and resolutions sustaining the Eastern strikers were adopted. The St. Louis meeting adjourned in a body, and attended one of the meetings of the disaffected railroad men in East St. Louis.

On July 23d the strikers' executive committee had complete control of all the railroad property on the east side of the river, and compelled or persuaded the employés of the railroad shops and stock-yards to join them. They placed sub-committees in the vari- ous depots and yards, and guarded the railroad property at all such points. On this day the commit- tee issued, under date of July 22d, its " General Order No. 1": " Freight-trains are forbidden to leave any of the yards after twelve M. to-night, and em- ployés are cautioned against interfering with express-, mail-, or passenger-trains."

In conformity with this order all freight traffic was stopped, and the strikers seized two yard engines for use in frustrating any attempt to get freight-trains away. On this day also the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company acceded to the demands of its employés for the restoration of wages to the old figures, and there was a large demonstration of laboring men.

On July 24th the cigar-makers, coopers, and one or two other branches of trade went on a strike, and paraded the public streets of St. Louis. Delegations of railroad strikers visited the city from East St. Louis, and compelled the employés of the Missouri Pacific and the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroads, who had resunied work on an increase of pay, to stop, as did also the Harrison wire-workers. Six companies of the Twenty-third United States In- fantry, with two Gatling guns, under command of Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, reached St. Louis for the purpose of protecting government property. The Vandalia, Indianapolis and St. Louis, Chicago and Alton, Ohio and Mississippi, Cairo Short Line, and St. Louis and Southeastern Railroad suspended pas- senger traffic. In East St. Louis everything was quiet and orderly, and the saloons were closed. The executive committee of the strikers issued " General Order No. 2," as follows :

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" No person or persons are empowered to settle with any road, except the executive committee. 'All or none' of the employés on the strike to go to work. We, the strikers, will maintain order at all hazards."

Up to this time the demonstrations in St. Louis had been confined to publie mass-meetings and pa- rades, in which a few labor agitators, styling them- selves the "International Executive Committee of the Workingmen," were the ruling and directing spirits. They had worked on the sympathies of some working- men, and ineendiary and inflammatory speeches, added to the startling events attending the riots in Pitts- burgh, Baltimore, and other points in the East, had resulted in the enlistment of many mechanics and laborers. But there were very few, if any, railway men identified with the agitation in St. Louis proper, although these had at times given their moral support; the mass of the disaffected in St. Louis were tramps and irresponsible persons, idlers and curiosity-seekers. On Wednesday, July 25th, however, the demonstra- tions culminated in open violence. The beginning of the outbreak oeeurred at a meeting called for eight A.M., to be followed by a labor procession. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Inter- nationalists' Executive Committee, which had prepared a list of industrial institutions at which the procession was expected to call and compel the employés to stop work. The procession, which subsequently degener- ated into a mob, started from the Lucas Market, after hearing specches from several of the exeeu- tive committee. Prominent in the ranks were a number of eolored roustabouts from the Levee, who had been invited by the executive committee to join in the demonstration. This they had done after eom- pelling the captains of such steamboats as were lying along the Levee to advanee the wages of their colored workmen.

After marching up and down Lucas Market Place, the procession passed down Locust Street to Fifth, to Poplar, to Twelfth, to the Four Courts. At the corner of Twelfth and Spruee Streets a stop was made at the Phoenix Planing-Mills, and the proprietor was allowed fifteen minutes to close up, which he did. The demand was made by a committee of spokesmen previously appointed from the ranks. While at this point the rank of the procession was broken and was not reformed. The St. Louis Bagging-Factory, at Twelfth and Austin Streets, was the next place vis- ited. The crowd dashed over the Twelfth Street bridge in great confusion, shouting and yelling and alarming the employés of the bagging-faetory, who hastened to close the doors and windows before the mob arrived. The spokesmen were met at the en-

trance by Henry Odell, the superintendent, who at once acceded to a demand for instant stoppage of the works. Before he had had an opportunity to do this the mob clambered over the fenees, and yelling and hooting, created a scene of confusion as the employés, one hundred of whom were females, were being dis- missed.

While at this place the negro roustabouts foreed themselves to the front, and during the remainder of the day they were most conspicuous in the scenes of disorder and riot which ensued. All of the places on the programme having received previous notice from the executive committee to close, the mob regarded it as an insult when they were found open, and was apparently greatly ineensed thereat. At the foundry of Shiekle, Harrison & Co., a square farther west, similar seenes were enaeted, and the rioters took possession of the works and compelled the engineer to shut off steam. At the Douglass Bagging Company's works, 1030 Stoddard Avenue, the disorder was even greater. Windows were broken, the door of the engine-room was burst in, and the engineer, under threats against his life, was compelled by the negroes to shut off steam. There were a great many females employed here, and they were peremp- torily ordered to quit work, and in some instances rceeived rude treatment at the hands of the negroes. Samuel Wainwright's malt-house, south of the Bag- ging Company's works, was visited by a crowd of negroes, wlio finding only a few carpenters at work, compelled them to leave. A heavy shower of rain now drenched the mob, but did not check its progress in the least. The employés of the Park Foundry of Christopher, Simpson & Co., on Park Avenue, were next driven away, and a number of rioters direeted their attention to a small groeery kept by a man named Kaemper, which the negro element were only prevented from sacking by the threats of a committee- man to place them under arrest. The mills of the Southern Bagging Company, at Decatur and Barry Streets, were closed by a committee of rioters, who drew the fires in the engine-room and forced the em- ployés to leave. The St. Louis Trunk-Factory was next closed, and the main body of the mob then desisted and started on the return. The negroes, however, attended by a few disorderly white charae- ters, continued east on Lombard Street as an inde- pendent mob. They elosed the Saxony Mills and the Southern White-Lead and Color Works, with threats of burning if operations were resumed. Thence the mob, ripe for any disorder, swept on to the Plum Street Depot, where the negroes attempted to stop a passenger-train which was on the eve of departure,

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and grossly insulted the passengers, but were finally induced to leave by two or three speeches from their white colleagues. The Atlantic Mills next received a visit, and George Bain, who was in the engine room, being insulted by a negro, knoeked him down, where- upon another negro assaulted Mr. Bain with a hatehet, and the latter only eseaped by flight. After stopping a few brieklayers, at work on a new building, the mob raided a small cooper-shop on Third Street, where they sawed a number of hoop-poles into elubs, and, with threats of murder and arson, influeneed the em- ployés to leave. At Third and Poplar Streets the little shop of a poor widow was raided by negroes, who were about to saek it when compelled to leave by others in the mob. Page & Kraus' zine-works were next elosed, and the rioters, many of them fired with drink, continued northward, their passage being marked by similar outrages. At Garneau's bakery, at Seventeenth and Morgan Streets, and the Great bakery, on Morgan, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, they carried off whatever they desired and destroyed a quantity of stock.

At Ninth Street and Franklin Avenue a store was raided, and dry-goods, soap, ete., were thrown into the street, " so that poor people might piek them up." The Park Mills, at Thirteenth and Market Streets, and Halteman & Co.'s millwright-shop were also elosed. The seenes of disorder and outrage continued until late in the day. While these two mobs were eom- mitting their aets of violence, a small contingent of the rabble attended a member of the International Executive Committee to the steam bakery of Dozier, Weyl & Co., at Sixth and Pine Streets, where there were about thirty employés, male and female. The bakery was elosed, and the retail portion was broken into and its contents appropriated by the mob.

Meanwhile the authorities were not idle, but being supported only by the city police, which, while efficient, was unable to eope with the law-breakers, they could not take any effective measures at this time. In this cmergeney the eity authorities called upon the law-abiding citizens for their co-operation in preventing destruction of life and property. The re- sponse was prompt, and Mayor Overstolz found him- self supported at once by two or three seore of the most prominent eitizens, among whom were Gen. Marmaduke, Gen. Cavender, Gen. A. J. Smith, Gen. Noble, Maj. H. S. Turner, Walter C. Carr, and others equally well known. Thicse counselors advised that a meeting of the better class of eitizens be ealled for organization and defense. The proposed meeting was held at the Four Courts, and Mayor Overstolz pre- sided. The following report of the executive com-

mittee, previously appointed, was unanimously adop- ted :

" Resolved, That there is hereby appointed the following- named persons tó recruit and organize the citizens in their re- spective wards to aid the mayor, as a posse comitatus, for the preservation of life and property and the due and prompt en- forcement of the law and the rights of all the people.

" First Ward [headquarters], court-house, north door. Gen. John S. Marmaduke, Gen. Oliver P. Gooding, Maj. Eugene Weigel, Joseph Lawrence, J. R. Harding, A. C. L. Haase.

" Second Ward, Fourth and Morgan Streets. Joseph Craw- shaw, Gen. Fullerton, Col. T. W. Hemm, George Mills.

" Third Ward, Convent Market. Capt. Charles Stressmeyer, Capt. Adolph Knipper, Capt. Frank Conway, C. A. Stifel, Charles A. Pratt.

" Fourth Ward, Ninth and South Cass Avenue. Capt. Henry Bishop, John McManus, F. A. Churchill, Thomas Foley.

" Fifth Ward, Soulard Market. Capt. Charles Ploesser, David Murphy, J. H. Amelung.

"Sixth Ward, Broadway and North Market. Christ. Winkel- meyer, George Hannihal, John G. Rubelman, W. C. Van Dil- len, Thomas Foley.

" Seventh Ward, C. H. Reighmann.

" Eighth Ward, Broadway and Saulshury. Capt. E. D. Meier, P. Gundlach, S. B. Stannard.

" Ninth Ward, Maj. De Gress, E. Vortriede.

"Tenth Ward, Col. T. T. Gantt, Frank Backof, R. H. Spencer.

" Eleventh Ward, Capt. Charles C. Soule, A. N. De Menil.

"Twelfth Ward, Capt. John I. Martin, John J. O'Brien, Pat- rick Sullivan, James Collins, Sr., Thomas Morrison, Richard Brown.

" Thirteenth Ward, C. H. Albers, John Williams, C. N. Mc- Dowell, Christ. Staehlin, F. Mansfield.

" Fourteenth Ward, Conrad Beck, Henry Brockman, H. C. Meyer.

"Fifteenth Ward, corner Mississippi and Park Avenues. Gen. John S. Cavender, Col. F. Burnham, Capt. John Woods, Dr. Frank Porter, Given Camphell, S. D. Barlow, A. W. Kel- sey, George Bain, W. B. Ryder.

"Sixteenth Ward, Col. L. S. Metcalf, Otto Kulage.

" Seventeenth Ward, Rink. Col. T. A. Meysenburg, Alfred W. Henry, Patrick McGrath, Robert McIlvaine.

" Eighteenth Ward, Garrison Avenue and Olive Street. Gen. John W. Nohle, Moses Fraley, Gen. John W. Turner, Preston Player, J. P. Krieger, Sr., Maj. Cahell Breckenridge, George Updike, P. C. Bulkley, John J. Sutter.

"Nineteenth Ward, Governor Thomas Fletcher, Capt. J. But- ler, William H. Clopton, Conrad Rose, George Brunaugh, Joseph Gafford.

" Twentieth Ward, B. Gratz Brown, R. G. Frost, W. F. Co- zens, John Finn.

"Twenty-first Ward, Joseph T. Tatum, W. L. Ewing, Jr.

"Twenty-second Ward, D. K. Ferguson, R. L. Jones, Henry W. Williams, Capt. Bart. Guion, John R. McDonough, Matthew Brennan, James Morgan.

" Twenty-third Ward, Lewis Nolte.

" Twenty-fourth Ward, P. O'Brien, A. L. Bergfeld.

" Twenty-fifth Ward, Richard Merkle.

" Twenty-sixth Ward, Maj. Philip Bamberger, A. P. Barbec.

" Twenty-seventh Ward, Jacob Thorp, G. W. Parker.

" Twenty-eighth Ward, Christ. Conrades, John A. Scudder,

C. O. Dutcher, Miles Sells, W. H. Scudder.

" Resolved, That all well-disposed citizens who wish to pre- serve the supremacy of law, and the lives and property of our people, are requested to assemble at nine o'clock to-morrow

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morning at their several voting precincts to enroll themselves under the direction and command of the aforesaid officers of their wards, and such aids as they may appoint.

" Resolved, That Gen. A. J. Smith, elected by the Committee of Safety, be and is hereby appointed commander of the citizens under the direction of the mayor.

" Resolved, That any company or body now organized, or which may hereafter be organized, report through its command- ing officer forthwith to Gen. A. J. Smith, at Police Commis- sioners' room, in Four Courts building."

After this meeting another was called for immedi- ate organization, at which Gen. A. J. Smith was elected chairman. The following persons were then elected to take charge of companies under the direc- tion of Gen. Smith : A. W. Kelsey, H. S. Turner, W. H. Clark, John E. Bloomfield, Thomas C. Flet- cher, Capt. McMurtry, J. T. Butler, C. E. Salomon, C. C. Slag, J. R. Claiborne. The persons designated proceeded at once to the work of organization, and their efforts were assisted in a great measure by the following proclamation of Mayor Overstolz, under date of July 24th :

"In the present distressed condition of affairs in this city, it becomes my duty as mayor to warn all persons against the com- mission of acts calculated to excite disturbances and violate the public peace, and to invite the co-operation of all good citizens in the maintenance of law and order. With the points in dis- pute between the railroad managers and their employés the city government has neither the right nor the desire to interfere; but the scenes of violence and plunder recently enacted in the city of Pittsburgh and elsewhere illustrate the terrible conse- quence that may result from such difficulties. We do not re- gard the railroad employés and workmen of St. Louis as en- couraging or countenancing these disorders, but it is a fact that cannot be denied that, taking advantage of these complications and of the opportunity afforded by prevailing confusion and ex- citement, a mob of reckless and lawless men have perpetrated the most outrageous depredations.

" The government of the city of St. Louis is determined to spare no effort to promptly suppress riot, to protect life and prop- erty, to vindicate our fame as a law-abiding and self-reliant people. With this object in view, I deem it necessary to invite to the aid of the government the volunteer services of all citi- zens in favor of law and order within their respective wards for such police duty as may hereafter be assigned to them. In order to make such assistance available, and to promote a proper organization, the following citizens have been selected as a Com- mittee on Public Safety, viz. :

"Gen. A. J. Smith, Judge Thomas T. Gantt, Gen. James S. Marmaduke, Gen. John S. Cavender, Gen. John D. Stevenson, Gen. John W. Noble. This committee has designated Gen. A. J. Smith as commanding officer of all organizations of citizens formed under this proclamation. In order to avoid causes of disturbance, all unnecessary assemblages of citizens are forbid- den. Parents are requested to keep minors under their per- sonal control. The headquarters of Gen. A. J. Smith will be at the Four Courts, where all reports will be directed."

On the following day, at the request of the Mer- chants' Exchange, Mayor Overstolz issued another proclamation, calling upon merchants to suspend busi- ness temporarily, and directing the closing of all places

where intoxicating liquors were sold. On the same day Sheriff Finn, at the instance of the Board of Police Commissioners, issued summonses for a posse comitatus of five thousand men. The responses for volunteers to the committee's call were very liberal. Meetings were held in the various wards, and as fast as companies were enrolled they were armed at the Four Courts, where the mayor had also established his headquarters, and which was transformed into a huge barrack for the citizen soldiery. On Thursday, the 26th of July, the plans for the defense and pro- tection of the city had been so far systematized that Mayor Overstolz issucd the following proclamation :

"WHEREAS, The general suspension of the business of the city on July 25, 1877, has afforded ample opportunity to all eitizens to perfect their organizations in aid of the city author- ities in suppressing the riotous and unlawful action of evil- disposed persons which still prevails throughout the city ; and

" WHEREAS, I am now fully prepared to effectually end all further opposition to the peace and good order of this com- munity,

" Now, therefore, I, Henry Overstolz, mayor of the city of St. Louis, do direct and order as follows :

" First, That business and laboring men of all classes, ex- cept such as are enrolled among the forces at my disposal, do at onee resume their lawful occupations, and refrain as far as practicable from traversing or congregating upon the public streets of the city.

" Second, All persons are prohibited from interference by in- timidation or otherwise with the employés or employers of any mill, factory, business or business establishment, or railway. Any such interference is hereby declared to be at the peril of the person or persons offering it, and will be promptly resisted with all the force at my disposal. All offenders in this behalf will be at once arrested and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

" Third, Citizens of all occupations and pursuits are ordered to abstain from any conduct calculated to disturb the peace and good order of the city. It is earnestly desired to avoid the ne- cessity of resort to force, but the majesty of the law will be asserted, the honor and peace of the city maintained, and the property and lives of the citizens preserved. Laboring men, of whatever occupation, dissatisfied with the wages paid them, have the right to abandon their employment, but they have no legal right to interfere, nor can they justify such interference, with those who are content with their wages and desire to con- tinue their employment. To do so is to degrade the dignity of labor and destroy the freedom of the laborer himself. The city government, sustained by all good citizens, has determined that such interference cannot and shall not be tolerated. The re- sponsibility for any collision which may result from the dis- passionate but firm execution of this determination must rest upon those who force it upon the public authorities by their violation of the law."

On the same day that the mayor issued the above proclamation, Governor Phelps and Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Brockemyer arrived in the city, and the Gover- nor issued the following proclamation :

"WHEREAS, A large number of men have for several days been unlawfully and riotously assembled in the city of St. Louis ; and

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" WHEREAS, It has been represented to me that said men have unlawfully compelled other men to quit and abandon the pur- suits by which they supported themselves and their families, thus to give up against their wish their usual employment ; and " WHEREAS, Said men have impeded the prosecution of the internal commerce of the country by assembling in foree and preventing the transportation of the produets of the agricultu- rist, the artisan, and the manufacturer, thereby materially en- haneing the cost of the support of all persons in a time of finan- eial distress ; and

" WHEREAS, Other disturbances and disorders are threatened in this city and elsewhere in this State,

" Now, therefore, I, John S. Phelps, Governor of the State of Missouri, do hereby require said bands of men so unlawfully assembled to disband and return to their usual pursuits and avocations, and not further to molest the good citizens of this State, or to interfere with their industrial pursuits. And I do assure the people of Missouri, and especially of this eity, that I am here for the purpose of seeing that the laws are faith- fully executed and enforeed, and that the rights of all shall be respected ; that order shall be maintained ; that all assemblages of evil men shall be dispersed, and that quiet and tranquillity in future shall be preserved ; and with the aid of the good people of this State, I do solemnly deelare these pledges shall be re- deemed, so far as in me lies as their Chief Executive, not only for the peace and welfare.of this eity, but for every part of this Commonwealth."

Independent of the efforts of the authorities to organize a competent armed force, the merchants of the city held a meeting on Thursday, July 26th, at Armory Hall, to effect a similar organization. W. A. Hargadine, of Crow, Hargadine & Co., was elected chairman, and Goodman King, of Mermod, Jaccard & Co., was chosen secretary. As a result of the meeting a fund of twenty thousand dollars was raised, and a regiment of one thousand men, armed with rifles and navy revolvers, and officered by ex-soldiers, was re- cruited and placed under the direction of tlie mayor for guard duty in the business portion of the city. The general organization continued, and did not cease until the authorities had five fully-equipped regiments in the field, including two hundred cavalry from be- yond the suburbs, whose services were tendered and accepted through Judge James S. Farrar and James C. Edwards, a company of marines, who did efficient service along the river front, and a company of artil- lery, in all about four or five thousand men. Several companies were composed of employés of the St. Louis and Southeastern, the Iron Mountain, and other railroads, who were particularly effective. In addition ward patrols were organized throughout the city and suburbs, but these confined themselves to special police duty. The citizen military were utilized for several days in guarding public and private property and protecting points threatened by especial danger.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 184

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358