Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877: Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
History
Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877: Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878
Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
"Boss" Ammon and his party, which consisted of about one hundred
railroad men and a crowd of two or three hundred outsiders, roughs, and
laborers, continued to run the Pittsburgh division of the Pittsburgh,
Fort Wayne and Chicago road until Tuesday evening, the 24th instant, at
which time Governor Hartranft arrived from the West. When Ammon heard
that the Governor was on the train, coming to Pittsburgh, he
telegraphed him, welcoming him to the State, and assuring him a safe
passage. On the Governor's arrival he was met by Ammon and introduced
to the crowd, and gave them a short talk, counseling obedience to the
laws, which was well received. It was now felt by all that the strike
must come to an end immediately; that there was a man at the head of
affairs who knew his duty and would not be trifled with, and that all
parties would be fairly and justly treated. Boss Ammon immediately made
arrangements to turn over the railroad to the proper authorities, he
seeing very clearly that the proper time to do so had now come, and
that further delay was dangerous. Some of his men could not agree with
him that it was best to make terms while they could, and, at a meeting
of the men, he was hissed, and they refused to hear him speak.
Thus fell from his position of boss the man who, with only eleven
months' experience as a brakeman, for four or five days successfully
ran one division of a great railroad.
It has by some been considered an extraordinary performance for a young
man of twenty-five, with the small experience he had, to control the
men he did, and keep the passenger trains running regularly without
accident on such a railroad; but when the circumstances are considered
it is nothing wonderful. In the first place, a mob or crowd are always
willing to follow any person who has nerve, and is willing to assume
the responsibility and take the lead. Ammon had the nerve; was
naturally shrewd and sharp, and knew how to control men, and they had
been used to look up to him as the organizer of the Trainmen's Union.
The mob always wants a dictator, and in Ammon they had one. In the next
place, the great railroads of the country are so organized, and their
trains are run by such a regular system in connection with the
telegraph, that the trains can be run for days without a break if the
superintendent should abandon the road entirely. Ammon was a king so
long as he led in the direction the crowd wished to go; when he
undertook to put on the brakes and get them to reason about their
situation, and ran counter to their opinions, he was dethroned with as
little ceremony or compunction as one school boy shows in knocking off
the hat of another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account