Deadly Night During Streetcar Strike

The 1900 St. Louis Streetcar Strike was a shooting war between the working class and the upper class.  It started as a job action by streetcar workers of the newly consolidated streetcar lines.  However, it quickly divided the city with the working class supporting the strike while the upper and professional classes defied the strike.

The result was a deadly four month struggle, which would take many St. Louisans’ lives.  It was never more evident how deadly the conflict would become than on Sunday evening, June 10, 1900.  After the evening’s blood clashes, three strikers were dead, an innocent bystander was also killed and a fourth striker was mortally wounded.

Fred Bohne, an innocent bystander, was the first to lose his life at the hands of an overzealous posse.  He was shot in the yard of his home about 3 p.m.  Mr. Bohne, described by the Monday, June 11, 1900 edition of the St. Louis Republic as an old man, was watching a demonstration by strikers from his front porch at 1724 N. 10th Street, a Missouri Department of Transportation salt and dirt yard today.

Strikers had been demonstrating against the streetcars on the North Side all day.  They tried to block the lines at several locations including N. 10th Street.  The crowds kept disappearing with the arrival of the deputies, so the posse men had not been able to catch any of the perpetrators.

Unknown to the strikers and strike sympathizers, a company of posse men were riding a couple of the streetcars.  When the posse observed three men assault a woman, who had ridden the streetcar, they gave chase.  The suspects fled down Eleventh Street to Mr. Bohne’s block.

The posse mistakenly believed that the suspects ran into Mr. Bohne’s yard.  The posse’s official statement was that the gate was locked, which was true, and someone inside pointed a revolver barrel through the knothole.  Deputy Robert Marsh fired a fatal shot through the gate.  Frederick Bohne was killed instantly when the bullet struck him in the forehead.

The St. Louis Republic stressed that a firearm was never found.  Mr. Bohne’s friends and neighbors said that Frederick Bohne did not own a gun nor did he favor one side or the other.  He was simply observing the spectacle of the chase, when he was shot and killed.

The other four men were shot during a riot by strikers and their supporters at Sixth Street and Washington Avenue.  It would seem that the Sheriff’s posse would shoot first and ask questions later.  It is not surprising.

While police professionalism was several decades away, the police officers at least had the benefit of experience.  Most of the posse men wee drawn from the upper classes.  Their lack of experience with order maintenance and working class issues ill prepared them for the task that they were given.  We are fortune that they only shot as many people as they did.

You can leave a comment or ask a question about this or any post on my Facebook page and Twitter profile.

Pin It