Deadly Night During Streetcar Strike

該 1900 聖. 路易斯電車罷工是工人階級和上層階級之間的戰爭射擊. 它開始作為一個作業操作由新合併的路面電車線的電車工人. 然而, 它迅速劃分城市工人階級支持罷工而上，專業類無視罷工.

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, 六月 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 比前收市價. 先生. Bohne, described by the Monday, 六月 11, 1900 版的 聖. 路易共和國 as an old man, was watching a demonstration by strikers from his front porch at 1724 Ñ. 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.

該 聖. 路易共和國 stressed that a firearm was never found. 先生. 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.

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