Rioting Strikers Attacked Pelham Trolley Passengers and Fought With Pelham Police in the Great Streetcar Strike of 1916
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A Long-Simmering Dispute
In July 1913, workers on the trolley lines of the Westchester Electric Railroad Company serving Mount Vernon, Pelham and New Rochelle, together with workers on the Yonkers trolley lines went out on strike stopping streetcar service in lower Westchester County. The strike eventually spread to transit lines in New York City. Much violence followed as companies tried to run trolleys despite the strike.
The 1913 strike lasted many weeks. Even after the matter was "settled," disputes arose over firings of union workers who participated in the strike. Various union members in New York City voted to go out on a second strike. The renewed dispute continued well into 1917.
The Long-Simmering Dispute Flares Yet Again
The long-simmering dispute flared across the New York region again in early September, 1916. Union members were unhappy with a host of issues, not the least of which were a desire for better pay and a desire of the unions forming the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Workers to limit the work day to an eight-hour day.
On the morning of September 7, 1916, the front page of The Sun reported that "New York city this morning is in the grip of the biggest and most vital strike in its history; union employees of the Interborough Rapid Transit, which embraces the subway and 'L' lines of Manhattan and The Bronx, voted to quit its service at 9:28 last night and at 11:05 the unionized strength of the New York Railways Company, which gathers within its compass all but two of the important municipal car lines within the same borough limits, had followed suit." See SUBWAY AND ELEVATED STRIKE ON; GREEN CAR MEN ALSO VOTE TO QUIT; 5,000 POLICE PUT ON GUARD DUTY -- Motormen, Guards and Station Men Leave Posts -- Interboro Promises to Operate Trains To-day -- Violence at the Start -- TWO ARRESTS ON ELEVATED -- Company Discharges 200 Union Employees for Urging the Unorganized Men to Quit -- 'A Lockout,' Says Organizer Fitzgerald, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 7, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 7, p. 1, cols. 5-8.
For the next few days the screaming front page headlines of New York City newspapers themselves tell the troubling story. See, e.g.:
STRIKE FAILS ON L AND SUBWAY; MOTORMEN STAND BY INTERBORO; TIEUP ON N. Y. RAILWAYS LINES, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 8, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 8, p. 1, cols. 5-8.
INTERBORO TO EXTERMINATE UNION; NEW 3D AVENUE TIEUP IMPENDING; SHOTS FIRED AT CROWDED L TRAIN, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 9, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 9, p. 1, cols. 5-8.
SHONTS REJECTS PEACE, UNIONS BITTER; LEADERS VOW TO BEAT INTERBOROUGH; BIG GENERAL STRIKE GAINS IN FAVOR, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 14, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 14, p. 1, cols. 6-8.
On the evening of September 9, another vote expanded the strike on surface lines including suburban trolley lines in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Westchester County including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham, and New Rochelle. As one report noted, "Tieup of the surface lines became general in Manhattan, The Bronx and Westchester at 10 o'clock last night, when after a strike vote the carmen of the Third avenue, the Second avenue and the First avenue lines ran their cars into the barns. They pledged themselves to remain out during the progress of the battle begun on the Interborough and New York Railways by the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees." 1ST, 2D AND 3D AVE. CARMEN STIRKE; TIEUPS IN BRONX AND WESTCHESTER; FIGHT TO FINISH AGAINST INTERBORO -- Manhattan, Bronx, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle Workers Vote to Stay Out Until I.R.T. Yields -- NONUNION LIEUTENANT SHOT -- Firemen in Power Houses Ordered Out -- 35,000 Longshoremen Plan Boycott on Traction Fuel -- Police Guard Increased, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 10, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 10, p. 1, cols. 5-8.
By late September and throughout much of October, the "battle begun on the Interborough and New York Railways by the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees" spread to the little Town of Pelham, just northeast of The Bronx. The local trolley company wanted to use loyal company employees and strike-breakers to run the trolleys. Strikers sought to bring trolley service to a complete halt in Mount Vernon, Pelham, and New Rochelle during the months of September and October, 1916. On September 27, 1916, the Public Service Commission of the Second District entered the fray. It ordered the Westchester Electric Railroad Company to begin operating trolley cars in Pelham.
Early Violence in Pelham
Shortly before 8:00 a.m. on September 29, trolley cars No. 83 and No. 85 departed the Fulton Avenue trolley car barn and passed through North Pelham along Fifth Avenue and Wolfs Lane. When the cars reached the intersection of Wolfs Lane and Colonial Avenue, they were met by Pelham Manor Police Chief R. H. Marks and his police officers who accompanied the streetcars for protection.
As might be expected, strikers and sympathizers had tipped off protest organizers that the trolley cars were on their way to Pelham. A group of about two hundred strikers from Mount Vernon and New Rochelle gathered in the area as the streetcars passed. According to one account:
"In fact some of the strikers had reached the [Pelham border] before . . . [J]ust before the trolleys passed into Pelham Manor there is a small street in Pelham Heights which was left unguarded. After car 83 had made one trip some one clogged the switch. Car 83 was the first to reached [sic] the switch in charge of Motorman James Baily No. 2064, who has for many years operated on the Pelham Manor line and who is the oldest employee at the point of service in the company. His record is over 14 years. The conductor was a strike breaker named James Burdick, of Brooklyn. Bailey was unmolested other than being called names. While he was cleaning out the switch a crowd of strikers gathered about and some one cut the rope and the trolley pole and pulled the pole from the wire. The conductor left the rear platform and said that he climbed on the roof of the car to get the rope and some one struck him in the stomach with a stone. When he reached the ground again a number of the strikers grabbed him and attempted to carry him away at the same time urging him to join them. He was rescued by Chief Marks and the policemen and placed back on the car. During this excitement several sympathizers had gathered about the car and on the sidewalk, when a boy in the bushes nearby hurled a stone through one of the windows. The police stated they were positive that this was not the work of strikers. . . ." [See complete article below.]
The trolley cars proceeded into Pelham Manor along Pelhamdale Avenue. As they proceeded the motorman and conductor repeatedly had to clear rocks and boulders that had been placed on the trolley tracks. When the streetcars reached the railroad overpass above Pelhamdale Avenue near its intersection with today's Grant Avenue, it was noticed that "an effort had been made by some one to short circuit the feed wire." James Bailey had to repair the overhead wire so the cars could proceed to Shore Road and then return the length of the line.
The violence that day, thankfully, was limited. As the little Pelham Manor trolley that inspired the "Toonerville Trolley" created by cartoonist Fontaine Fox bounced along the tracks on Pelhamdale Avenue, one of the oldest motormen employed by the Westchester Electric Railroad Company, a man named Daniel Smith who was out on strike, stepped out of the shadows with a rock and threw it at the trolley. Smith was later arrested and charged in the incident. One local news account noted that "There are two penalties for the crime if convicted. One is 20 years in prison if life was endangered, and the other is five years in prison if no life is endangered."
Nine Streetcars Battered and "Wrecked" in Pelham on October 1
Within days, the trolley car company prepared for a full-scale battle with strikers using non-union employees as well as loyal motormen and conductors. On October 1, 1916, the trolley company decided to take on the strikers directly. The motorman's area of the first trolley car to depart the trolley barn that day was reinforced with wire netting to protect the motorman from stones hurled by rioters. Armed police officers rode along on the front and rear platforms of the car. Only nine cars were deployed to run the gauntlet of what certainly would be crowds of angry streetcar strikers.
All hell broke loose as strikers and sympathizers moved along the lines throughout the region attacking the cars. By nightfall, according to one report, all nine trolley cars "were battered and wrecked." Pelham was the scene of one particularly savage attack. There, the strikers destroyed all the track switches and as the trolley car attempted to move along its route, strikers shattered all the windows of the trolley car forcing the motorman to return to the barn with "what remained of his car."
The attacks in Pelham and New Rochelle were so violent that the following day, newspapers as far away as Topeka, Kansas were reporting on the violence. Such reports also indicated that on October 2, police prepared for follow-up attacks and accompanied trolley cars as armed guards.
Violence Continued Through the Region in the Next Two Weeks
Violent incidents plagued the region for the next few weeks. Indeed, the atmosphere was so poisonous between strikers and those who sought to break the strike that fights were breaking out in the streets of our region. On October 4, 1916, eight strikers lunching in an outdoor restaurant area in Mount Vernon overheard a group of four men discussing their plans to begin work for the local trolley company the following day. Words were exchanged and the strikers attacked the four men who ran for their lives down the street, chased by the strikers. The commotion attracted the attention of a traffic cop and another police officer who jumped off a trolley car he was guarding. The officers stopped the chase and arrested two of the strikers, one of whom was held on $500 bail on a charge of disorderly conduct. Tensions, in short, were running high.
Only a few days later on October 9, rioting mobs of strikers took over parts of New Rochelle. A headline across the entire page of a local newspaper reported "BIG TROLLEY RIOTS IN NEW ROCHELLE TODAY" and included a second headline saying "Mobs Rule in New Rochelle For Several Hours." Before the riots began, the strikers tried to prevent several trolley cars from entering New Rochelle on the tracks along Boston Post Road through the Village of Pelham Manor. The strikers rolled "huge boulders" from nearby lots onto the trolley tracks on Boston Post Road. Those boulders had to be cleared and "After much difficulty in clearing the way, the trolleys made their way to the New Rochelle line."
Once the boulders were cleared and the trolleys passed into New Rochelle, massive crowds gathered and riots followed. News accounts detail the ebb and flow of police battling with strikers and carting some off to jail.
Violence and Injuries and a Pitched Battle with Police in Pelham on October 21
Efforts to run cars through the region into late October. On October 21, 1916, nearly 99 years ago to the day, a gang of about fifty trolley line strikers and sympathizers hid along the trolley tracks passing through Mount Vernon, Pelham, and New Rochelle. As a trolley car bounced along the tracks in the Village of Pelham Heights (presumably on Colonial Avenue or Wolfs Lane, the only places the tracks passed through The Heights), the gang emerged from hiding with an arsenal of stones and began showering the trolley with rocks. According to an account in the New York Times, "the crowd savagely attacked the cars and their crews, hurling stones through the windows." News reports of the attack emphasized that there were women and children in the trolley car. The stones broke the windows of the trolley, showering passengers with glass. Several of the women and children were hit and cut by glass shards.
Barely an hour later, a trolley car traveling along Mayflower Avenue in New Rochelle was stoned by a roving gang of strikers and sympathizers. All the windows of the trolley car on one side were broken with stones thrown by the gang. New Rochelle police were nearby and "charged the stone throwers." The gang ran to bushes in a grove of trees at the border between Pelham and New Rochelle. As the police charged the gang in the bushes, a second gang of trolley strikers rushed from the woods on the opposite side of the trolley car stopped on the tracks and "attempted to capture the car." An all out battle of hand-to-hand combat between the police and the striking trolley workers ended only when the police were able to drive the gangs off with nightsticks.
Streetcar Strike Drags On as U.S. Entry Into World War I Looms
The cat and mouse game between the trolley companies in the region and the strikers continued for weeks and began to drag on. On Saturday, December 16, 1916, members of seven transit unions voted overwhelmingly to continue the strike. One brief report stated:
"CAR STRIKE TO CONTINUE.
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Vote Taken by the Members of Seven Unions.
Members of the seven local unions affiliated with the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes voted yesterday to continue the strike against the traction companies.
Only fifty-eight votes were cast in favor of returning to work."
Source: CAR STRIKE TO CONTINUE -- Vote Taken by the Members of Seven Unions, The Sun [NY, NY], Dec. 17, 1916, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 108, p. 1, col. 2.
Throughout the last few months of 1916, the nation's railroad workers -- in addition to surface transit workers including streetcar employees -- threatened to strike hoping for better working conditions, higher pay and an eight-hour workday. To avert a strike of critical railroad workers, President Woodrow Wilson pushed the Adamson Act through Congress the Adamson Act to set an eight-hour work day for the industry. (Trolley company employees were not covered and undertook efforts to amend the Adamson Act to add them as well.) Once the United States Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional, the railroads had to comply, giving the railroad unions a partial victory and delaying the threatened railroad strike.
Once the United States entered World War I on April 4, 1917, the railroads and their workers began to support the war effort through private cooperation including the creation of the Railroads' War Board. As the efforts at cooperation ran into antitrust issues and other problems, the Federal government finally took federal control of the railroad industry to support the war effort.
On December 26, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued a "Proclamation" taking possession of the nation's railroads including their auxiliary water lines, and placed them under the charge of the Secretary of the Treasury who would serve as the "Director General of the Railroads." The President reserved the right to take over at a later date all street and electric railways including trolley systems, subway systems, and elevated lines.
It appeared as though the strike that had roiled Pelham and its trolley cars for months had cooled -- for the time being.
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I have written about the trolley strikes and the attacks on Pelham trolley cars before. For more information about the attacks in Pelham, see:
Wed., Dec. 23, 2009: Attack on the Toonerville Trolley Line by Strikers in 1916.
Mon., Jul. 10, 2006: Streetcar Strike of 1916 Included Violence in Pelham.
Beneath the trolley car image below is a collection of news accounts of the streetcar violence during the Great Streetcar Strike of 1916. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.
Trolley car that ran from Pelham Station along Wolfs Lane
with a short stint on Colonial Avenue then along the length
of Pelhamdale to Shore Road where it turned around and
repeated the trip. The two trolley operators standing in
front of the car were Skippers Dan and Louie (on Right).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
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"Stones Thrown And Strike Breaker Is Hit As Car Service is Resumed in Town of Pelham
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Strikers from New Rochelle and Mount Vernon Gather and Jeer Arrival of Cars Early Today -- Trouble for a Time, But it Finally Subsides -- Windows Broken -- No Arrests Are Made.
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Pelham Manor, Sept. 29. -- In compliance with the order issued Wednesday afternoon by the public service commission of the second district that cars be operated in the village of North Pelham, the Westchester Electric railroad this morning started two trolleys in this village, Pelham Heights and North Pelham. Trouble ensued for a time.
Shortly before 8 o'clock, cars, 83 and 85 were met by Chief of Police R. H. Marks and his men at the corner of Wolf's Lane and Colonial avenue. The movement of the two cars from the Fulton avenue car barns was tipped off to the strikers from Mount Vernon and New Rochelle had gathered at the city line.
In fact some of the strikers had reached the city line before and just before the trolleys passed into Pelham Manor there is a small street in Pelham Heights which was left unguarded. After car 83 had made one trip some one clogged the switch. Car 83 was the first to reached [sic] the switch in charge of Motorman James Baily No. 2064, who has for many years operated on the Pelham Manor line and who is the oldest employee at the point of service in the company. His record is over 14 years. The conductor was a strike breaker named James Burdick, of Brooklyn. Bailey was unmolested other than being called names. While he was cleaning out the switch a crowd of strikers gathered about and some one cut the rope and the trolley pole and pulled the pole from the wire. The conductor left the rear platform and said that he climbed on the roof of the car to get the rope and some one struck him in the stomach with a stone. When he reached the ground again a number of the strikers grabbed him and attempted to carry him away at the same time urging him to join them. He was rescued by Chief Marks and the policemen and placed back on the car. During this excitement several sympathizers had gathered about the car and on the sidewalk, when a boy in the bushes nearby hurled a stone through one of the windows. The police stated they were positive that this was not the work of strikers. The identity of the boy is unknown. The police made no arrests.
The car then proceeded to Pelham Manor on the Pelham road. At the New Haven railroad station at Black street the trolley goes under the tracks and here an effort had been made by some one to short circuit the feed wire. This was noticed by several residents. The attempt was discovered by Motorman Bailey and the obstacles were removed from the wire. Rocks had been placed on the track and had delayed the car considerably on the first trip. Motorman Bailey said he was the man who had been recently called by Union headquarters under the guise of a special meeting and when he arrived
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(Continued on Page Five)
STONES THROWN, STRIKE BREAKER HIT AS CAR SERVICE IS RESUMED IN PELHAM
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(Continued from page one)
was abused because his son had remained loyal to the company.
Car 85 after being taken to the city line by Motorman Bailey was turned over to the new crew which consisted of Harry Berrian, who had been in the service of the company for years and at the time the strike was called was starter at West Farms, and the strike-breaker conductor. This car made the trip to the Boston Post road without trouble, but was followed part of the way by about 150 strikers and sympathizers. When the car on the return trip towards North Pelham passed Witherbee avenue on Pelhamdale avenue, one man was seen to pick up a stone and throw it through a window in the car, which had been broken partly by another stone thrown by an unknown persons. The man who threw this stone is known to the police, but made his getaway before they could catch him.
Chief Marks stood on the platform of one of the cars and told the strikers then that they could all be placed under arrest for loitering on the streets of the village and he now gave them their choice of leaving the village at once or be arrested. The crowd at once began to move towards Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, and the excitement was over, and with not indications of further trouble the cars were operated from Mayflower avenue in North Pelham through the village of Pelham Heights and to the Boston Post road in this village. Each car has one policeman riding with the conductor. Chief Marks rides on the cars alternatelly. The cars are followed by automobiles containing policemen.
The police departments of the three villages are co-operating in the protection of the railroad's property and the village presidents have extended as a courtesy to each other the right of the policeman of one village to go into the other villages on the cars. The situation is in charge of Chief Marks. At noon today he said everything was going along nicely. The cars are being operated from North Pelham to Pelham Manor, but up to noon no passengers were carried. This line carries but few passengers in times when there is no strike, so this is no unusual. Neither of the three villages through which the cars are being operated today have the 15-day ordinance. [I.e., an ordinance requiring motormen to have at least 15 days of experience operating trolleys before they can operate one in the jurisdiction.]
The police called to do strike duty are: North Pelham, Patrolmen Godfrey Keller, Michael Fitzpatrick, William Marvel and Bruce Dick; from Pelham Heights, Patrolmen J. Ralston and J. Cavanaugh; from Pelham Manor, James Butler, John W. McGuire, Michael Lyons, Frederick Ring and John Flanagan. Other members of the departments are on guard along the streets. Chief Marks assigned Patrolman McGuire, of this village, and Marvel, of North Pelham, to guard the conductors. No one was injured in the melee this mmorning other than the slight bruises which the strike breaker of car 83 received when he was struck with the stone. No arrests were made, altho several were threatened for a time. The cars will be continued until 6 o'clock this evening."
Source: Stones Thrown And Strike Breaker Is Hit As Car Service is Resumed in Town of Pelham -- Strikers from New Rochelle and Mount Vernon Gather and Jeer Arrival of Cars Early Today -- Trouble for a Time, But it Finally Subsides -- Windows Broken -- No Arrests Are Made, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Sep. 29, 1916, p. 1, cols. 5-7 & p. 5, cols. 1-5.
"OLD MOTORMAN, DANIEL SMITH, IS INDICTED NOW
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Daniel Smith, one of the oldest motormen in the employ of the Westchester Electric railroad, well known in Mount Vernon, and a resident of New Rochelle, had an indictment against him returned yesterday by the Westchester county grand jury at White Plains, charging him on the 29th day of September with casting a stone at one of the trolley cars operated by the Westchester Electric railroad as it proceeded along Pelhamdale avenue in Pelham Manor.
There are two penalties for the crime if convicted. One is 20 years in prison if life was endangered, and the other is five years in prison if no life is endangered. Smith was indicted under the law charged with a five-year penalty. He was placed under arrest last night and taken to the county jail, where he was later admitted to bail of $1,000 to await trial."
Source: OLD MOTORMAN, DANIEL SMITH, IS INDICTED NOW, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Oct. 4, 1916, p. 1, col. 1.
"NINE CARS WRECKED BY STRIKE RIOTERS
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Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Pelham Prove Storm Centres.
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THREAT OF MILITIA CALL
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Westchester Traction Managers Try to End Tieup -- Calm in New York.
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Strike riots started in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Pelham yesterday following the attempt of the Westchester traction managers to break the street car tieup that has existed there since September 10. Nine cars were started out of the barns in the morning and afternoon and by nightfall all were battered and wrecked.
So violent were the Mount Vernon rioters and so defiant of police restraint that Mayor Fiske last night said he would call out the militia if necessary to give his city street car service. Louis Fridiger, counsel to the Amalgamated Association, tried to control the men, but they refused to heed his warnings.
Yonkers had its first excitement in the morning at 11 o'clock. With two car inspectors as a crew and policemen on front and rear platforms the car reached Getty Square before the strikers succeeded in stopping it. The trolley pole was jerked from the electric wire, the wire netting torn from the motorman's box, windows were smashed and the wooden framework of the car battered in before the police could do anything.
Cane and Silk Hat Calm Mob.
Leslie Sutherland, vice-president and general manager of the Yonkers Railroad Company, rode in an automobile to the stalled car. Standing up in his tonneau, waving his cane and silk hat, he finally commanded the attention of the mob. He promised to have the car taken back to the barn, and on this pledge the crowd ceased its assault.
Fifteen minutes afterward another car left the Yonkers barn. The strikers were ready for it. A five minute bombardment drove the crew out of the car, and it was not until another pair of men promised they would attempt no further operation of the car that they were permitted to take back what was left of it.
In the afternoon, about 3 o'clock, after a vote in the barn, another crew started to take out a car bound for the 242d street station of the subway. By running at full speed it was able to get away from the mob, but the rioters followed and heaped upon the tracks a series of obstructions to impede the return trip.
Nineteen Men Arrested.
At Highland avenue, when the car on its way back could go no further, the crowd surrounded it and drove away the motorman and conductor. An hour afterward Patrick Donovan, superintendent of the company, personally ran the car back to the Kingsbridge barn. The series of attacks resulted in the arrest of nineteen men.
Mayor Fiske of Mount Vernon patrolled his city all day in his automobile in an effort to frustrate the rioters. For the greater par of his tour he was accompanied by Michael Silverstein, Chief of Police. Both men were armed.
One lone car started through Pelham. After the switches had been plugged and all the windows shattered the motorman brought back what remained of his car.
New Rochelle was a storm centre in the afternoon. On Third street, near Fulton avenue, 150 strikers formed to head off a trolley car. When they found Mayor Fiske's automobile serving as pacemaker, they included him in the blockade. His machine was blocked against the curb when Chief Silverstein gave orders to his motorcycle men to charge the mob.
Further along the street another car was wedged by the strikers. As the Mayor rode up to break the deadlock one of the crowd bitterly criticised him for giving the carmen police protection. So incendiary was his speech Chief Silverstein put him under arrest. One of the Fifth avenue line conductors was hit on the head with a stone and severely injured.
Sabbath Calm in Manhattan.
A real Sabbath calm overhung the strike in Manhattan and The Bronx yesterday. The 'green car' operators said they had the service within twenty cars of normal. Only two instances of violence were noted and these were of ineligible importance. This quiet, Amalgamated officers said last night, must not be interpreted as an indication that the strike is over.
They argue their chances of success now are better than they have been at any time in the three weeks since the walkout. The New York Railways has proved its weakness, they insist by cutting down the emergency wages that were granted to those who remained loyal to the company or who took employment while the strike was on. Furthermore, according to their contention, the service of the cars is greatly exaggerated, even though the 'green car' men are working to their limit.
'I rode from the Battery to The Bronx yesterday,' said William D. Fitzgerald, the strike leader. 'I can tell you that the operation is nothing like what is claimed by the company. We have reports from our men that indicate the company is duplicating on the police who give out service reports. These police statisticians have been misled by the simple device of shooting a car out of the front of the barn and bringing it back unseen by the police through a side door within a few minutes.'
Accusation Against Police.
Fitzgerald intends to report to Police Commissioner Woods to-day two instances of policemen who have been engaged in car work contrary to their duty. One of these men, he says, he saw changing car signs. He has the shield numbers of both.
William D. Mahon, president of the Amalgamated, was expected to arrive yesterday on the Philadelphia or Nieuw Amsterdam. He was not on the sailing list of either vessel and last night Fitzgerald said he had had no communication from him.
All that remains of the 'sympathetic strike' will be carried into Beethoven Hall this morning and will be mourned with appropriate rites by the conference committee of thirty-five union leaders who ten days ago decided on the walk-out. The committee by formal action probably will call the phantom strike at an end."
Source: NINE CARS WRECKED BY STRIKE RIOTERS -- Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Pelham Prove Storm Centres -- THREAT OF MILITIA CALL -- Westchester Traction Managers Try to End Tieup -- Calm in New York, The Sun [NY, NY], Oct. 2, 1016, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 32, p. 1, col. 3.
"POLICE GUARD CARS
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Mobs Halt Attempt to Run Surface Cars -- Try Again Today.
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New York. Oct. 2. -- The police of Mount Vernon, Yonkers, New Rochelle and Pelham guarded the trolley lines of West Chester county today in preparation for another attempt to resume operation, prevented yesterday by mobs who stoned the cars and beat the conductors and motormen.
In this city leaders of the striking street car men today submitted their appeal for a general strike to a convention of organized labor leaders whose decision is expected to be final.
Motorcycle police, like cavalry, charged the strikers. Union heads failed when they counselled order. In the city proper, cars run normally, but the expected formal calling off of the strike was halted by the non-arrival of President Mahon, of the international body, from Europe.
Car Strike Over Employes Fired.
Albany, Oct. 2. -- Street car service in this city and suburbs was at a standstill today as the result of a strike order issued by officers of the Street Railway Employes' union. The strike was caused by the refusal of the company to reinstate a motorman who had been disciplined on the charge of having run past a 'dead stop.' sign. It involves about eight hundred men.
Strike for Union Recognition.
Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 2. -- With the police under instructions to prevent crowds gathering on the streets and to arrest any one interfering in any way with car crews, service on the local and suburban lines of the Georgia Railroad & Power company, on which a strike of carmen was called Saturday to enforce recognition of the union, was resumed early today. Officials of the street car company asserted that less than 100 out of more than 1,000 carmen had quit. Union officials asserted that nearly 400 men were on strike."
Source: POLICE GUARD CARS -- Mobs Halt Attempt to Run Service Cars -- Try Again Today, The Topeka Daily State Journal, Oct. 2, 1916, p. 6, col. 7.
"MAY CALL STATE TROOPS TO HALT STRIKE RIOTING
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Mayor Fiske, of New Rochelle, Contemplates Taking Drastic Action.
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POLICE ARE GUARDING ALL LINES OPERATED
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New York Strikers in Move to Call Out All Union Workers.
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New York, Oct. 2 -- The police of Mount Vernon, Yonkers, New Rochelle and Pelham guarded the trolley lines of Westchester county today in preparation for another attempt to resume operations, prevented yesterday by mobs who stoned the cars and beat the conductors and motormen.
Mayor Fisk, of New Rochelle declared if necessary he would ask for the protection of the militia. He threatened to call upon the board of aldermen to rescind an ordinance which prohibits motormen from operating cars in that city unless they have had 5 days' experience. This would enable the companies to employ strikebreakers.
In this city leaders of the striking street carmen today submitted their appeal for a general strike to a conference of organized labor leaders whose decision is expected to be final."
Source: MAY CALL STATE TROOPS TO HALT STRIKE RIOTING -- Mayor Fiske, of New Rochelle, Contemplates Taking Drastic Action -- POLICE ARE GUARDING ALL LINES OPERATED -- New York Strikers in Move to Call Out All Union Workers, Bridgeport Evening Farmer [Bridgeport, CT], Oct. 2, 1916, Vol. 52, No. 233, p. 1, col. 5.
"PELHAM GANGS STONE CARS; WOMEN HURT
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Fifty strikers and sympathizers in Pelham Heights yesterday stoned the three cars run on the main line between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle. There were women and children in the cars, and several of them were hit and cut by glass.
A car in Mayflower Avenue, New Rochelle, was stoned an hour later, and every window on one side broken.
Patrolmen Lewis, Odell and two others of the New Rochelle force charged the stone throwers, who hid behind bushes in a grove near the Pelham line.
As the police charged, another gang rushed from a wood opposite and attempted to capture the car, but the police drove them off with nightsticks."
Source: PELHAM GANGS STONE CARS; WOMEN HURT, NY Tribune, Oct. 22, 1916, p. 15, col. 5.
"STRIKE BREAKERS ARE ATTACKED
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Four Set Upon by Eight Carmen in Fourth Avenue This Morning -- Two Men Arrested -- George Randles, a Conductor, Allowed to Go, but John Braneo is Held in $500 Bail on Charge of Disorderly Conduct
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Excitement again interrupted the lull in the street car strike this morning when a man hunt occurred on South Fourth avenue, eight or ten strikers giving chase to four strike breakers who had been brought here preparatory to the general resumption of traffic as soon as the amendment to the fifteen day ordinance becomes operative.
The strikers and the men who are going to take their places met in a restaurant, threats were made and the strike breakers, outnumbered two to one, hotfooted it south on Fourth avenue toward First street, pursued by the strikers, yelling at the top of their lungs.
Traffic Policeman Schulz, standing at Fourth avenue and First street, saw the men charging in his direction and running out he tried to stop them. Policeman Stelz, a guard on a passing trolley, seeing the trouble, alighted and gave assistance. Two of the strikers were taken into custody, placed in Acting Chief Silverstein's automobile which made an opportune appearance and taken to headquarters.
There one of the strikers, John Branco, a conductor, of 522 South Ninth avenue, was locked up on a charge of disorderly conduct while the other man, George Randles, a conductor, was permitted to go. Branco's bail was fixed at $500. He occupied a cell at the city jail until shortly before 2 o'clock this afternoon when his father put up a bail bond pending his arraignment in special sessions tomorrow.
The last seen of the strike breakers for some time was their backs as they ran west on First street, disappearing finally in the distance. Many persons witnessed the chase on Fourth avenue and a big crowd collected on First street, between Fourth and Fifth avenue, where the arrests occurred.
According to the account of the affair given by the strikers, they had gone into an out of doors restaurant at the rear of the lunch wagon on the east side of Fourth avenue near First street. While eating some lunch, they said, they overheard the remarks made by four men who were boasting that they were going to work for the Westchester Electric railroad tomorrow. The strikers pricked up their ears at this and as it was a question vitally affecting them they took a hand in the conversation.
It was claimed at first that the strikers used peaceable means to exhort the out-of-town men not to go to work. The newcomers refused and hoop-la for anybody, they were going to work. Then hot words were exchanged. The strike-breakers, unanimously agreed that the atmosphere inside the restaurant was not conducive to their welfare, and so they left. So did the strikers.
The strikers admitted that they chased the strangers once they got outside on the pavement. The sight of about a dozen men flying down the avenue at full tilt caused many people to turn in wonderment, while people not so near were attracted by the screams of the strikers. Branco, according to the police, was yelling the loudest.
Persons who saw the pursued men said that they were evidently greatly frightened, for their eyes were bulging out and fear was depicted on their features. They didn't stop for anything or anybody, but plunged headlong, swinging around the corner and turning west into First street.
By the time the pursuers came up Schulz was galvanized into action and he started out to stop them. He grabbed Randles and Branco and a moment later Policeman Stelz went to his assistance. Acting Chief Silverstein, Lieutenant Atwell and three other uniformed men were driving on South Fourth avenue in the police auto and they witnessed the end of the chase. The acting chief was
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STRIKE BREAKERS ARE ATTACKED
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present when the arrest was made and assisted in getting the men to the police station.
It was also reported today that the strikers got wind of the fact that strike breakers were in town from one of their number who in some way learned the four men had gone to a local store to get measured for caps. In this way, word was passed along and the strikers were looking for the men, this account said."
Source: STRIKE BREAKERS ARE ATTACKED -- Four Set Upon by Eight Carmen in Fourth Avenue This Morning -- Two Men Arrested -- George Randles, a Conductor, Allowed to Go, but John Braneo is Held in $500 Bail on Charge of Disorderly Conduct, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Oct. 4, 1916, p. 1, cols. 1-2 & p. 10, col. 4.
"BIG TROLLEY RIOTS IN NEW ROCHELLE TODAY
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Mobs Rule In New Rochelle For Several Hours
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Three Arrests Made, Including Police Sergeant -- Charge Crowds with Clubs -- Mayor Calls on Fire Apparatus -- Men Respond but Do Not Play Hose -- Cars Stop After Being Operated for a Short Time -- Situation is Grave -- Mayor Urged to Ask for Militia?
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New Rochelle, Oct. 9. -- Riots broke out in this city this morning, when an attempt was made to operate the trolley of the Westchester Electric railroad, which had been idle since September 8.
Five cars were taken from the Fulton avenue barns at Mount Vernon, manned by crews as required under the 15-day experience ordinance in Mount Vernon to the Pelham line and turned over to a strike-breaking crew. The cars proceeded to the Boston road, where they found the tracks blocked with huge boulders, which had been carried from nearby lots and placed upon the track. After much difficulty in clearing the way, the trolleys made their way to the New Rochelle line.
Mayor Edwin S. Griffing has prepared for trouble with the strikers and earlier in the day had sworn in fifty of Dougherty's military police as special police officers and had placed them as guards on the trolley cars and along the streets, the regular police doing duty only along the streets. the military police wore drab uniforms, similar to those worn by the New York Water Supply.
The five trolleys made the trip from the Pelham Manor line to the trolley stand at Huguenot and Mechanic streets without trouble. In the meantime, however, the strikers had been gathering and a guard was placed at the corner of Drake avenue and Main street, where the Glen Island cars leave the main line.
The first car to leave the stand was a Hudson Park car and this car made the trip without being molested by the strikers. After the Hudson Park car had left the station, a Glen Island car in charge of a strike-breaking crew followed and made the trip through the business section without trouble. At Drake avenue and Main street the motorman had to stop to turn the switch, and this he did under the guard of the Dougherty men, but as he turned into Drake avenue with the car there was a shower of stones from all directions. The car was bombarded with stones and several windows demolished, but fortunately the crew nor guards suffered any from the stones.
The strikers gathered in such large numbers, reinforced with sympathizers, that Drake avenue was almost blocked. The car stood for almost an hour on Drake avenue while the riotous conditions prevailed in the vicinity of Drake avenue and Main street. The police had been instructed to use their clubs in case of necessity. Clubs were flying right and left and the police with the assistance of the special police had a lively chase after those who were seen to hurl stones at the car.
All this was going on with Mayor Griffing and Fire Commissioner Nestler sitting in an auto on Main street watching. The mayor saw that the situation was getting beyond control, and ordered the strikers to 'clear the way or stand the consequences.' He then instructed the fire commissioner to send for the Relief Engine company. The fire apparatus arrived and went through the large crowd and the mayor ordered a line of hose attached ready for use when ordered.
Firemen appealed to the fire commissioner not to allow the water to be turned on the strikers and while this appeal was being made, other volunteers won over the paid firemen who stood ready to throw the water, and that it was almost certain, that had the order to play the hose been given, the pair men would have declined to do so. The order was never given.
A few minutes after the first shower of rocks landed about the car, the police and the specials made a charge in an attempt to clear the street. It was at this time that police claim they spotted among the many, two men who had been in the act of hurling stones. Both these men are strikers and reside in this city. They are Thomas O'Connor and Edward Fay, motormen, formerly employed on the New Rochelle line. O'Connor was arrested in the mob as it was being charged and it is claimed that he did not throw the stone but resented being struck at by the officer and was knocked down with blows of the policeman's club upon his head. His scalp was opened and it is believed that he is suffering from a fracture of the skull. He was carried into an automobile and taken to the police headquarters. He revived on the way to the station and received treatment after arriving there.
He was held at the local jail under section 1991 of the New York state railroad law. This afternoon he was admitted to bail of $1,000 for arraignment tomorrow.
Edward Fay was taken in a police raid and it is claimed that he was in the act of hurling a stone when he was placed under arrest and in so doing a struggle took place and Fay received a battered head at the hands of the police. He was placed in an automobile which stood ready to carry prisoners to the police station, with Patrolmen Chenoweth and Sutton \who had been placed as guards at the automobile. They were standing on the running board of the auto when Fay who weighs over two hundred, stood up in the body of the car and dealt both the offers a powerful blow knocking them to the ground.
Fay did not try to escape but instead was rushed off to the station, where he was locked up and is now being held charged with violation of the New York state railroad law, under $1,000 for appearance tomorrow.
Immediately following being admitted to bail, Motorman Thomas O'Connor laid information against Police Sergeant Edward Devau, charging him with felonious assault. The police sergeant was placed under arrest. He was later paroled in the custody of the police commissioner for appearance in court Thursday morning. DeVeau, however, was not relieved from duty, as on being paroled he returned at once to strike duty.
Supervisor George Casey happened along at this time and knowing all of the trolleymen approached Mayor Griffing and told him if he could get the strike-breaking crew away from
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Mobs Rule In New Rochelle For Several Hours
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the car that the riot would cease. He asked for three minutes to do it. He then started out to quiet the men, and after getting the crew that had been imprisoned for thirty-five minutes in the car, with the strikers making overtures to them through the windows, into autos and sending them away, Supervisor Casey walked among the men and urged them to cease and disperse quietly. Five minutes after he had talked to them the street was clear, notwithstanding the fact that the fire company and police were used in the same effort with no results. Mr. Casey said this afternoon that the strikers were all neighbors of his and they have always done everything he asked of them, and that is what they did this morning.
The crowd then walked from Drake avenue to the trolley terminal and with the assistance of several of the trolleymen's wives, lead by Mrs. Hartery and Mrs. O'Neil who boarded the cars and persuaded the strike breakers to leave the cars there. Then they proceeded to North avenue where a large crowd approached one of the cars and the crew deserted their posts joining the strikers. William Smith, for the twenty-seven years has been in the employ of the company is still sticking to his post.
The mayor who had been abused by names yelled at him in the morning by the crowds, was awaited upon, it was reported this afternoon, by several well known residents of this city who are urging that the militia be brought to New Rochelle to prevent a repitition of this morning's affair.
Superintendent Wheeler this noon said he intended operating two lines in the city, the North and Webster avenues. All was quiet this afternoon.
At the New Rochelle hospital at 1 o'clock it was said that no o0ne had been treated there for injuries received during the riot."
Source: BIG TROLLEY RIOTS IN NEW ROCHELLE TODAY -- Mobs Rule In New Rochelle For Several Hours -- Three Arrests Made, Including Police Sergeant -- Charge Crowds with Clubs -- Mayor Calls on Fire Apparatus -- Men Respond but Do Not Play Hose -- Cars Stop After Being Operated for a Short Time -- Situation is Grave -- Mayor Urged to Ask for Militia?, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Oct. 9, 1916, p. 1, cols. 1-7 & p.14, cols. 2-3.
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Labels: 1916, Crime, Great Streetcar Strike of 1916, James Bailey, Pelham Manor Trolley, Strike, Toonerville Trolley, Trolleys, Violence
posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:51 AM
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