and calling on Americans to protect their lives and
homes. During the night the mayor issued a procla-
mation calling a meeting of the citizens at twelve
o'clock on Wednesday, to take measures to restore
peace and quiet to the city. At eleven o'clock the mer-
chants met at the Exchange, and devoted the business
hour to the consideration of the existing riots and
their suppression. The meeting was organized by
calling James H. Lucas to the chair, and appointing
1840
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Hudson E. Bridge secretary. After brief addresses
by Messrs. Lucas, Blennerhasset, and P. G. Camden,
on motion of Walter B. Carr, the following resolu-
tions were unanimously adopted :
" Resolved, That the mayor be requested to issue his procla-
mation, calling upon all citizens of the city to abstain from as-
sembling at any of the places where disturbances have recently
taken place, and to remain at their homes at night during the
existing excitement.
" Ketah-ed, That the mayor be requested to suspend for the
present the existing police, and to detail a temporary patrol
force from among the citizens, to be composed of discreet and
reputable men, and that they be authorized to use such author-
ity as may be vested by the laws to arrest offenders against the
peace and quiet of the city."
The meeting immediately adjourned to the court-
house, where another meeting was held, at which
Mayor How and the Hon. Edward Bates addressed
the people. Joseph Charless, after a few remarks,
offered the following resolutions :
" Resolved, That it is the duty of every good citizen in a
crisis like the present to support the mayor in preserving the
peace and quiet of the city, and that, in the opinion of this
meeting, the object can be most effectually accomplished by the
selection by the mayor, from the ranks of the oldest and best-
known citizens, of one thousand persons to act as a special po-
lice and committee for the restoration of order, whose duty it
shall be to patrol the city, and disperse all assemblages of per-
sons manifesting a disposition, as well by moral suasion as the
exercise of force where it may be found necessary.
" Kenolved, That the supremacy of the law shall be sustained
and the spirit of disorder quelled at whatever cost, that the fair
name of our city may no longer be disgraced by bloodshed and
murder, and to that end we pledge ourselves to sustain the mayor
in maintaining the public peace as proposed in the above reso-
lution."
These resolutions were unanimously carried.
Gen. Ranney proposed that N. J. Eaton be ap-
pointed captain of the new police force. It was also
proposed that the proprietors of the drinking estab-
lishments should close their doors at dark, and that
parents, guardians, and 'masters should restrain the
boys under their control from roaming the streets at
night.
Mr. Bates then asked the citizens before him to
volunteer one thousand efficient men, and the meeting
adjourned to the City Hall to carry these practical
suggestions into effect. The regular police organiza-
tion was temporarily suspended by order of the mayor,
and Capt. Eaton was appointed to take charge of the
special police. A meeting of persons who had en-
rolled their names during the afternoon was called at
five o'clock at the court-house, and about seven hun-
dred met at the appointed time. Capt. Eaton read
the names of thirty-three well-known citizens who
were requested to act as captains. He then assigned
to each of the captains twenty men, from whom he was
to select his lieutenants ; the captains and lieutenants
all to be mounted. The military were also ordered to
hold themselves in readiness, if additional force should
be required. Capt. Eaton appointed Maj. M. L.
Clark to take charge of the outdoor operations, and
made such other disposition of his force as was neces-
sary. These timely and vigorous efforts completely
crushed the riots, and at midnight the city was quiet.
As nearly as could be ascertained, about ten persons
were killed and about thirty wounded.
The mayor, after an informal consultation with the
Board of Aldermen, appointed Messrs. Foster, Knott,
and Moore, all competent builders, to examine into
the nature and report the amount of damage sus-
tained. This duty they performed, and reported the
names of those whose property was injured by the
rioters as numbering about ninety-three, and assessed
the total amount of damages at $4250.80. Some of
the assessments were as low as two dollars, and the
highest about four hundred dollars.
The mayor, in a communication to the City Coun-
cil on October 10th, said,
"Anxious as I am to erase from my memory all recollection
of a time so discreditable to the fair fame of our city, I still
cannot depart from this subject without, in a becoming manner,
alluding to some of those whose assistance was so cheerfully
given in sustaining the laws, and in particular to the military
organizations urxler command of Cols. Renick and Knapp. To
these gentlemen, and the members of their respective commands,
I am deeply indebted. It became my unpleasant duty to order
the Continentals, under Capt. Blackburn, and the Washington
; Guards, under Lieut. Deegan, to fire upon the mob; and the
: promptness with which they discharged their disagreeable task
' showed that they were fully alive to the duties and responsibilities
i of the citizen-soldier, and were determined to perform their
| duties at any hazard. In this case five of these brave men,
members of the Continentals, were wounded, some of them
severely. I am also under many obligations to the companies
of Capts. Pritchard, Prosser, Byrne. Morrow, English, Suebott,
Allen, and Steife, for the valuable and efficient aid rendered me
in those the most anxious hours of my life. If the mob was
not suppressed at once, it was not for want of assistance from
these gallant men, but owing to the continually changing scene
of their operations, hardly quelled at one point before disturb-
ances would burst forth at another and a more distant one, and
not until a general meeting of the citizens authorized me to
enroll a volunteer police force of one thousand men, under com-
mand of Capt. N. J. Eaton, was the public peace restored. This
large force, a portion of which was mounted, was distributed in
various parts of the riotous district, and completely put an end
to the existing disturbance. In alluding to them, I can only
say that they were worthy of their gallant commander, whose
cool judgment and promptness of action well qualified him as a
valuable auxiliary in a time of doubt and danger."
On a Sunday morning in May, 1853, a riot occurred
which resulted in the death of two men. A member
of Franklin Fire Company interfered in a dog-fight
which was going on under the patronage respectively
of the residents of Green and Cherry Streets. His
MOBS AND RIOTS.
1841
interference was resented by the owner of the dog and
resulted in a fight. Being reinforced by some of his
fellow-members and others, an attack was made upon
the dog-owner and his friends. They drove their op-
ponents through their houses and up into the city.
Some of the houses in which the rioters had taken
refuge were partly demolished, and the refugees when
caught were severely beaten. One man was killed
outright, and another so badly beaten that he died a
few days afterwards.
The neighborhood of Almond and Poplar Streets,
between Main and Fourth, previous to July, 1860,
had been inhabited by a number of degraded men and
women, whose habits excited the popular indignation
to such a pitch that, on the night of July 25th, a gen-
eral assault was made upon their dwellings. When
the attack upon the first place was begun there were
some two or three hundred men and boys engaged in
it, which number was rapidly increased to a thousand.
Bricks and stones were hurled at the windows, on the
roof, and against the walls, driving the occupants into
the back yard, and from thence to whatever shelter
they could find. The commotion soon brought a
dozen or -more policemen to the scene, who endeav-
ored, without any plan or system, to quell the disturb-
ance, but their efforts were wholly ineffectual.
After breaking all the windows, doors, furniture,
etc., at this place, the mob continued on its course,
driving out the occupants and destroying and burn-
ing beds, furniture, garments, etc. It attacked simul-
taneously eleven houses, and heaped all their furniture
in the street and set fire to them. The work of dem-
olition went on until more than twenty houses had
been robbed of their contents, after which the mob
dispersed. Policeman Kennedy, on returning to his
beat from the scene of excitement, fell down opposite
Wyman's Hall and died in a short time from ex-
haustion.
Railroad Riot of 1877. The period of inflation
and factitious prosperity that immediately succeeded
the war was followed, as all painfully know, by a long
term of depression. The burden naturally fell heaviest
on the working classes, among whom privation begot
discontent and distress.
The great lines of railroad, of course, suffered with
the rest in the general stagnation. To afford all the
facilities in their power to the manufacturers and pro-
ducers, they reduced their freight charges to so low a
point as scarcely to cover the cost of transportation.
The force of hands employed at this time by the Bal-
timore and Ohio Railroad was about three times as
large as was necessary for the business of the road,
and with the greatly reduced revenue of the line it
was absolutely necessary to make some reduction in
this branch of expense. This could easily have been
done by discharging the superfluous hands, but in
view of the great suffering that such a step would
cause it was thought better to keep on as large a force
as possible and reduce the wages, and it was hoped
that the men themselves would see it in that light.
On July 11, 1877, a circular was issued by the road
(after the other great competing lines had taken the
same action) giving notice that the wages of all hands
earning more than a dollar a day would be reduced
ten per cent, from July 16th. At this the brake-
men and firemen of the freight-trains began to make
preparations to resist, and on the appointed day they
refused to work along the whole line. At once ap-
plications were made in Baltimore by men out of
work to take their places, and though a disposition
was shown to drive off these men, they were protected
by the police, and the freight trains were moved out
of Baltimore. The passenger-trains were not inter-
fered with on that day.
Martinsburg, W. Va., was one of the company's
principal relay-stations, where the hands and engines
of the freight- trains were changed. The population
was to a large extent composed of employe's and
dependants of the road, and in sympathy with the
strikers. When the trains from Baltimore reached
this point all the firemen abandoned them. Others
offered to take their places, but these were forced
from the engines by the strikers, who openly declared
that no more freight-trains should be run until the
former scale of wages was restored.
As the Martinsburg authorities were powerless,
Vice-President King, of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road, telegraphed to Governor Matthews, of West
Virginia, asking his assistance to suppress the riot.
The Governor ordered his aid, Col. Faulkner, to
take the necessary steps ; but the latter soon found
that the Berkeley Guards, whom he had called out,
were too much in sympathy with the rioters to be
depended on for any efficient service. Governor
Matthews then telegraphed to President Hayes for
the assistance of the United States forces. The Presi-
dent at first hesitated, doubting whether the emer-
gency justified Federal interference ; but on receiving
a dispatch from President Garrett, of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, showing the serious character of
the disturbance and the rapidly-increasing danger, he
issued a proclamation commanding the rioters to dis-
perse, which was printed in hand-bill form and dis-
tributed all along the line. At the same time he
ordered eight companies of artillery, serving as in-
fantry, under the command of Gen. French, to pro-
1842
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 j
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, i
But, as is always the case, the turbulent and unruly, !
the vicious and idle gathered around the strikers, j
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- i
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 employes of the
Ohio and Mississippi, Indianapolis and St. Louis, St.
Louis and Southeastern, Vandalia Line, Rockfbrd 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-
ployes 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 use 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
employes 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-
ployes 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 employes 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 employes of the Missouri
Pacific and the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern
Railroads, who had resumed 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 Catling 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 :
MOBS AND RIOTS.
1843
" No person or persons are empowered to settle with any road,
except the executive committee. ' All or none' of the employes
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 public mass-meetings and pa-
rades, in which a few labor agitators, styling them-
selves the "International Executive Committee of the i
Workingmen," were the ruling and directing spirits. !
They had worked on the sympathies of some working-
men, and incendiary 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 occurred 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 employes to stop
work. The procession, which subsequently degener-
ated into a mob, started from the Lucas Market,
after hearing speeches from several of the execu-
tive committee. Prominent in the ranks were a
number of colored roustabouts from the Levee, who
had been invited by the executive committee to join
in the demonstration. This they had done after com- j
pelling the captains of such steamboats as were lying \
along the Levee to advance the wages of their colored i
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 Spruce 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 employes of the bagging-factory, 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 fences, and yelling and
hooting, created a scene of confusion as the employes,
one hundred of whom were females, were being dis-
missed.
While at this place the negro roustabouts forced
themselves to the front, and during the remainder of
the day they were most conspicuous in the scenes
of disorder and riot whic.h ensued. All of the
places on the programme having received previous
notice from the executive committ v ee to close, the mob
regarded it as an insult when they were found
open, and was apparently greatly incensed thereat.
At the foundry of Shickle, Harrison & Co., a square
farther west, similar scenes were enacted, 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
received rude treatment at the hands of the negroes.
Samuel Wainwright's malt-house, south of the Ba<*-
o
ging Company's works, was visited by a crowd of
negroes, who 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 employes of the Park Foundry of
Christopher, Simpson & Co., on Park Avenue, were
next driven away, and a number of rioters directed
their attention to a small grocery 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-
ployes 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 charac-
ters, continued east on Lombard Street as an inde-
pendent mob. They closed 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,
1844
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
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, knocked him down, where-
upon another negro assaulted Mr. Bain with a hatchet,
and the latter only escaped by flight. After stopping
a few bricklayers, 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 clubs, and)
with threats of murder and arson, influenced the em-
ployes to leave. At Third and Poplar Streets the
little shop of a poor widow was raided by negroes,
who were about to sack it when compelled to leave by
others in the mob. Page & Kraus' zinc-works were
next closed, 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, etc., were thrown into
the street, " so that poor people might pick them up."
The Park Mills, at Thirteenth and Market Streets,
and Halteman & Co.'s millwright-shop were also closed.
The scenes of disorder and outrage continued until
late in the day. While these two mobs were com-
mitting their acts of violence, a small contingent of