1883 - July - 9

Labor unrest was present in Hamilton in July 1883 as the telegraphers of the city were on strike.

          On Tuesday July 24, 1883, the Spectator sent a reporter to the office of the Great Northern company to have a chat with Mr. Black, manager of the company’s Hamilton office.

          In the interview, Black claimed that he and his firm were coping with the situation as much as possible :

          “ ‘We are getting along well,’ said he, ‘and refusing employment to men every day. We have eight in the office now and two more are coming. We manage to keep the work up well. The only time we were really bothered was the day the men struck. That threw us back some. But we are getting bravely over that. Why are we refusing outsiders employment? Because we want to give the old men a chance to come back again. We don’t want to ask them, but if they would come to us it would be alright.’

          “ ‘The men we have working here are all practiced telegraphers and know their business well. The Knights of Labor are threatening to ‘settle’ them if they don’t quit working. If we can find out who is doing the threatening, we will make an example of him or them.’ ”¹

“The Broken Circuit : The Striking Telegraphers are Still Out” Hamilton Spectator. July 24, 1883.

          The strikers who were interviewed later disputed some of Mr. Black’s claims, including his statement that the salaries at his company ran from $35 to $50 a month:

          “This the men said is not so. They claim that two of the men were working at the office here for $15 a month as the last pay list would show.”¹

The men also disputed Mr. Black’s claim that the replacement were first rate men:

“ ‘Why,’ said one of them, ‘one of the new hands tried to get up the Spec’s baseball special from Buffalo the other night and couldn’t do it. Smith had to read it out to him. I know that for a fact.’ ¹

“When told what Mr. Black had said about taking them back, the reply was that they would not return unless the whole brotherhood did. ‘We will make no local compromise,’ said one, ‘but will stick to the brotherhood to the end.’ ”¹

A less confrontational story appeared in the July 24, 1883 issue of the Spectator under the headline “A Lucky Find” :

“The other day, John Mitchell, of Sheaffe street, made a lucky find on the mountain side. He is geologist, and while searching for the rare and curious stones, came across something that made his heart leap for joy and the blood in his veins throb like the pulsation of a 40 horse power steam engine.

“It is a stone, he says, that bears a marvelous resemblance to a flying squirrel. He says it is a petrified flying squirrel.”

A catastrophe was nearly caused by workmen who set up a derrick in front of the old Academy of Music building on James Street North:

“When changing the position of the derrick, it is necessary to hold in the top to keep it from falling, and for this purpose a man is employed.

“Monday morning shortly before 12 o’clock, the derrick was being moved, but instead of being properly secured, the top was left loose, the men thinking that the slope was such that it would remain in position. It was not, however, and the huge derrick, weighing almost a ton, fell across the street, breaking the ropes, smashing the fence, and sweeping down about a dozen lines of telegraph wire.

“In the fall, one of the side beams was smashed and a number of smaller pieces broken. It measured about 45 feet in length and completely crossed the street, but fortunately did not reach to the opposite sidewalk where a number of people were walking. A street car had passed up the street just as the derrick fell and had a narrow escape from being demolished.

“The accident was the result of gross carelessness on the part of the workmen, and had it occurred a little earlier in the day, the results would have been attended by fatalities. A gang of men was put to work and the derrick was repaired and raised in the course of an hour.”²

² “A Careless Workman : Allows a Derrick to Fall – Narrow Escape of Several People” Hamilton Spectator. July 24, 1883.

Finally, the Spectator’s The Diurnal Epitome” column carried several small items of particular interest:

- The street railway company did a rushing business yesterday. Owing to the great crowds attending Barnum’s show, they found it necessary to put on seven extra cars, and these were scarcely sufficient to supply the demand.

-      The Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway ran special trains into Hamilton yesterday bringing the people from Dundas and vicinity.

-      The farmers had most favorable weather during the past week for securing their hay. Some thousands of tons have been safely barned in neighboring townships.

-      Dundas people had a public holiday yesterday, and they made good use of it. By the immense number of people that came down on the Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway, it would seem that no one was left in the valley city.

-      Saturday’s terrible storm committed fearful ravages in the country around. Crops were injured right and left. Five head of cattle belonging to John Stonehouse, butcher of West Flamboro, were struck by lightning a killed in a field near Rock Chapel. Marshall Lyons, of the same place, lost one cow, and J. Bowers, another.

-      The holiday in Dundas yesterday was quietly observed by those who did not come into this city. All the places of business were closed, and the streets of the town were almost deserted.

 
- Sunday night, a large pane of plate-glass in the window of Charles Black & Co’s hardware store on King street east was smashed and rendered useless. The stone which caused the damage was found in the store. The pane was valued at from $75 to $100. No trace of the perpetrator can be got. Stone throwing by boys is altogether too prevalent in this city. Anyone found offending in this direction should be severely punished.”

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