The right to organize for mutual protection was questioned, nay more, the right to be heard, a right granted to the greatest criminal in any part of the civilized world, was refused by the power representing the capital of this country. This power fortified by the Federal troops, by the mandate of the Federal courts, instigated by the chief executive, the president of the United States, the account of this strike as presented to the public by the Associated Press, was George M. Pullman's and the General Managers' side of the question, distorted and colored to suit their purposes. My aim in presenting this book, is to disabuse the minds of the people as far as possible, from the misleading statements given out by the General Managers' Association through their mouth piece, the Associated Press. To this end I have carefully collected facts from the best and most reliable sources, aside from what personal knowledge I had of this strike. I obtained information from telegrams received in our Central Committee rooms, from all parts of the country, also from committees appointed to investigate the authenticity of reports received from different parts of the country where the strike extended. The general accounts I quote largely from the "Chicago Times," a paper whose honorable and manly stand throughout that great struggle, gained for it a world wide reputation for honesty and fairness. The accounts herein contained are truths pure and simple, and upon these truths I base the merits of this book. Very respectfully, W. F. BURNS. CHAPTER I. THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION. In order to give a clear conception of the greatest strike in the history of railroad organizations, it will be necessary to go back to the birth of the American Railway Union. This organization was instituted on the 17th day of August, 1893, in the city of Chicago, and owes its existence to its present leader Eugene V. Debs. Mr. Debs' connection with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen dates back to the early seventies, and be the credit due to that organization for introducing to the laboring people of America, a leader who stands absolutely without a peer in the labor world to-day, possessed of the collective traits of some of the greatest men of the past.