Re: [CBQ] The Great Burlington Strike of 1888

[Kenneth Martin <kmartin537@surewest.net>]

I  don't know if it was from the 1888 strike or another but condensed from "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore"  p308 

The Q was going on strike  so the Wabash in St. Louis wanted to get rid of all Q cars before the strike got started. So a crew was ordered to take all Q cars to the to the Q transfer. When they got there the yard was full so the foremen on the crew (who was in a foul mood) went in the transfer and kicked off the brakes on the cars. He then told the engineer to couple on and pull up making slack. He then had the engineer back up as fast as he could. When the cars cleared the gate he closed the gate and left feeling satisfied. The next morning he was fired, when he asked why he was shown a report from the Q. chief clerk. "Last night some crew filled our yard with cars, piled them all over the yard go that the wrecker will be busy for a month cleaning up the mess. It was a Wabash stunt."  As the foreman stormed out he said "I'll sue them, who ever heard of Wabashing?" The crew laughed at the strange charge.

Ken Martin

On Mar 28, 2013, at 7:10 PM, qutlx1@aol.com wrote:

In an effort to get the group back on subject..................

So I got out my copy of "The Great Burlington Strike of 1888" by Donald L. McMurry who wrote the book as a study in labor relations in 1956 while at Harvard.

 

Leo Phillipp

 

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