Editing Pullman Strike (section)

==Federal intervention==
[[File:940721-remington-givingthemthebutt-harpersweekly.jpg|thumb|right|Violence erupted on July 7, 1894, with hundreds of boxcars and coal cars looted and burned. State and federal troops violently attacked striking workers, as this study by [[Frederic Remington]] illustrates.]]

The strike was handled by US Attorney General [[Richard Olney]], who was appointed by President [[Grover Cleveland]]. A majority of the president's cabinet in Washington, D.C., backed Olney's proposal for federal troops to be dispatched to Chicago to put an end to the "rule of terror." In comparison to his $8,000 compensation as Attorney General, Olney had been a railroad attorney and had a $10,000 retainer from the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. Olney got an injunction from circuit court justices [[Peter S. Grosscup]] and [[William Allen Woods]] (both anti-union) prohibiting ARU officials from "compelling or encouraging" any impacted railroad employees "to refuse or fail to perform any of their duties". Grosscup later remarked that he opposed the involvement of the judiciary system as he believed labor disputes to be a “partisan action.” After hearing the injunction was put in place, railway operators telegrammed Olney to request their own injunction in anticipation of strikes. The injunction was disobeyed by Debs and other ARU leaders, in a telegraph to the western ARU branch, Debs responded "It will take more than injunctions to move trains, get everybody out. We are gaining ground everywhere."<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal |last1=Wish |first1=Harvey |title=The Pullman Strike: A Study in Industrial Warfare. |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40187904. |journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |date=1939 |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=288–312 |publisher=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society|jstor=40187904 }}</ref> After injunctions were issued to other states, federal forces were dispatched to enforce them. Debs had been hesitant to start the strike, because he worried that violence would undermine the progress of the strike as well as provide reason for military intervention. Despite these concerns, Debs decided to put all of his efforts into the strike. He called on ARU members to ignore the federal court injunctions and the U.S. Army:<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web |title=Pullman Strike {{!}} Causes, Result, Summary, & Significance {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Pullman-Strike |access-date=2021-12-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
<blockquote> Strong men and broad minds only can resist the plutocracy and arrogant monopoly. Do not be frightened at troops, injunctions, or a subsidized press. Quit and remain firm. Commit no violence. American Railway Union will protect all, whether member or not when strike is off.<ref>Quoted in Wish, (1939) p. 298.</ref></blockquote>

Debs wanted a general strike of all union members in Chicago, but this was opposed by [[Samuel Gompers]], head of the AFL, and other established unions, and it failed.<ref>Salvatore, ''Debs'' pp 134–37</ref>

United States Marshall John W. Arnold told those in Washington that “no force less than regular troops could procure the passage of mail trains or enforce the orders of federal court”. Federal troops were dispatched and arrived in Chicago the night of July 3.<ref name="jstor.org"/> Debs first welcomed the military, believing that they would help to keep the peace and allow the strike and boycott to continue peacefully. The military was not, however, impartial; they were there to ensure that the trains ran, which would eventually weaken the boycott.<ref name="britannica.com" /> Federal forces broke the ARU's attempts to shut down the national transportation system city by city. Thousands of US Marshals and 12,000 US Army troops, led by Brigadier General [[Nelson Miles]], took part in the operation. After learning that President Cleveland had sent troops without the permission of local or state authorities, Illinois Governor John Altgeld requested an immediate withdrawal of federal troops. President Cleveland claimed that he had a legal, constitutional responsibility for the mail; however, getting the trains moving again also helped further his fiscally conservative economic interests and protect capital, which was far more significant than the mail disruption. His lawyers argued that the boycott violated the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]], and represented a threat to public safety. The arrival of the military and the subsequent deaths of workers in violence led to further outbreaks of violence. During the course of the strike, 30 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. Property damage exceeded $80 million.<ref name="Ray Ginger 1962 p 170"/><ref name="Papke 1999 35–37"/><ref>{{cite book|author=John R. Commons |title=History of Labour in the United States |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J1ShTnok40C&pg=PA502 |year=1918 |publisher=Macmillan |page=502 |display-authors=etal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426201210/https://books.google.com/books?id=6J1ShTnok40C&pg=PA502 |archive-date=April 26, 2016 }}</ref>