ANNALS OF THE GREAT STRIKES IN THE UNITED STATES. A Reliable History and Graphic Description of the Causes and Thrilling Events of the Labor Strikes and Riots of 1877. ILLUSTRATED. BY HON. J. A. DACUS, PH.D. _Late of the Editorial Staff St. Louis Republican._ CHICAGO: L. T. PALMER & CO. PHILADELPHIA, W. R. THOMAS: ST. LOUIS, SCAMMELL & CO.: CINCINNATI, W. S. FORSHEE & CO. 1877. COPYRIGHTED. L. T. PALMER & CO. A. D. 1877. GEO. J. TITUS & CO., KINGSBURY & WILSON, PRINTERS. BINDERS. [Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN THE MILITARY AND THE RIOTERS AT THE HALSTEAD STREET VIADUCT.] PREFACE. To collect and arrange the facts and incidents connected with the history of the great labor strikes in this country, is an undertaking of so much importance that it must commend itself to the favorable consideration of the American people. The interest in events of the nature and character of those treated of in the following pages cannot prove to be ephemeral. An epoch in the history of the nation is here marked, and from it will be dated the beginning of political discussions, and social movements which are destined to enlist the profound attention of thinking minds throughout the civilized world. These events are phenomenal. The world is witness to a spectacle, the like of which has never before been presented. A Republic still regarded in the light of an experiment, having lately terminated a long and fierce sectional conflict by engaging in one of the greatest wars of modern times; having achieved order, reconciliation and peace between all sections, having demonstrated the greatness and magnanimity of the people; having extorted from the enemies of liberal institutions acknowledgements that self-government was a possibility, having accomplished all these things—this Republic suddenly startles the world; drowns the noise of strife on the Bulgarian plains, and among the Balkans, and draws exclusive attention to a social _emeute_ on this side the Atlantic, unparalleled in the annals of time. Astonishing as was the suddenness of the movement, yet no less surprising was the facility and rapidity with which law, order, and profound peace were restored.