You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Wednesday July 21, 1915
Bayonne, New Jersey - Shots Fired as Strikers and Police Clash, Plant Shuts Down
Trouble in Bayonne
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From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of July 20, 1915:
OIL PLANT CLOSED AS RIOTING BEGINS
IN BAYONNE STRIKE
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Standard Oil Co. Won't Yield to Demand
of 1,000 Men for More Wages.
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POLICE QUELL DISORDER.
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May Call Out Militia If Rioting Continues-
May Affect Other Plants.
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The Bayonne plant of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was closed down today, following a strike of about 1,000 still cleaners and barrel makers for increased wages. Four thousand other workmen refused to go to work either through sympathy, as claimed by the strikers, or intimidation, the view given by the company's officials.
The order to close down was given by General Manager George B. Gifford and the few scores of men who had entered the plant, willing to work, were sent to their homes. It was said that the company had sufficient supplies on hand or within reach to permit the plant to lie idle for a year. Some serious rioting, which occurred early today, it was said, was a factor in influencing the shut down.
Several hundred men alleged to be strikers and their sympathizers took part in the disorder today. They first tried to stop men who were willing to work from going into the plant, and then attacked a detail of police who were on the ground to prevent disorder. Inspector Daniel Cady, who was in command, ordered the police to charge with clubs and draw revolvers. Dozens of shots were fired, over the heads of the rioters, and before this and the threatening night sticks, the crowd drew back. No one was seriously hurt, but six arrests were made. Nearly the whole of Bayonne's police force were on the ground later to maintain order. If the disorder is renewed, it was stated, special policemen would be sworn in, and if this measure did not suffice the militia would be called. The strikers during the day held numerous street corner meetings and listened to addresses by their leaders.
It was stated that the strikers would make efforts to have the men employed at the Tidewater works and at Bay May, N. J., join the movement tomorrow.
The strike trouble at the works first appeared last week when the still cleaners, a comparatively small part of the working force, went out because their demands for an 11 per cent increase in wages was not granted. They were followed yesterday by the men in the barrel shops, 900 in number, who had asked for a 15 percent increase. Today the rest of the employees refused to go into the works.
The strike puts an end for the time being to the loading of case and barrel oil for Europe. There are six steamers now tied up at the piers in the Kill Von Kull, which skirts the plant. They will probably be towed out into the stream and anchored off Tompkinsville if the strike continues. They are in various stages of loading. All six are said to be destined to England.
The men who struck today made no demand for increased wages, but it is thought likely that they will do so before they return to work. At present their strike is of a sympathetic nature.
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SOURCE
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BrooklynNew York
-July 20, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGE
Bayonne Standard Oil Strike of 1915,
fighting in the streets
(Note: the source does not give an
exact date for this photograph.)
http://www.loc.gov/...
See also:
The New Republic
-Aug 14, 1915
"The Bayonne Strike"
https://books.google.com/...
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High Hopes - Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello
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