Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1877 — How the Late Strike Was Inaugurated. [ARTICLE]

How the Late Strike Was Inaugurated.

The Trainsmen’s Union, which inaugurated the late strike, was organized between June 2 and July 10. It was started when the Pennsylvania Company and the Pennsylvania Bailroad Company ordered the reduction of 10 per cent, in in the wages, to take effect on June 1. Mr. A. R. Ammon, then employed on the Fort Wayne road, was dismissed from the service, and at once proceeded to the organization of the Union. Three years ago, when the engineers struck, the firemen took their positions at the throttle, and there was no interruption to business. This time it was concluded to begin at the other end of the trains, and flagmen, brakemen, conductors and firemen took the oath, which the members refuse to disclose. Ammon was the first to sign the roll and take the oath, and following came the names of the Fort Wayne men. This was all the organization there was about it. A trip was made over the Baltimore and Ohio railroad by the leaders, and trainmen the length of the line took the oath. About this time the managers of the Connellsville division got wind of the association, and discharged all the men who joined the Union. The work of organization meantime went on, and a strike was ordered for June 27, the going out of the Fort Wayne men to be the signal for a general strike on the trunk lines. The men on the Fort Wayne line weakened, and the etrike did not take place. Mr. Ammon predicted that a general strike would follow the action of the Fort Wayne road, and the news by telegraph from all parts of the country seems to justify his statement. The union was a strong one, considering that it was a little over a month old. The engineers, although not members of the union, are nevertheless in sympathy with the strikers, and it does not require much intimidation to cause them to desert their engines. This is the statement made by the leading strikers in the union. — Pittsburgh Chronicle.