The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 484 - George Pullman Part 2 - The Strike

Episode Date: June 8, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine rich guy George Pullman and the Pullman Strike. SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

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bilingual American History podcast for each week. I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American History to my friend. Lover of beaches, a man with pockets, doctor of science, Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Boom. Do you think stealing someone's craft? Stealing. Stealing. You're stealing my craft. You're stealing my essence. Stealing sir. I merely. That's my essence. Have had a had an idea for how to spice up my side of the intro. I'm not sure where this is coming from. This relationship is hostile. It's not hostile. You use you say things like that often and it's certainly not fair or accurate. Last

episode, about six weeks ago, I mentioned how that intro is a cry, a mental health crisis, if you will, and your response this week is to. You're not, you're just, it doesn't even make sense what you're saying. Do you know what I'm saying? Like it's just sort of like it's not even tethered to reality so it's like how much should I even listen to. You shouldn't work in the mental health field because this is not. You shouldn't. You're, no you're acting like you know what you're doing. You shouldn't act like a professional when you have no idea what you're talking about. I know that about the mental health field. Don't tell

me how to do something you don't know how to do yourself. I'm a doctor. You know you're an American and you think you're a doctor. That's all of us. All Americans are doctors. We have to be because we have to treat ourselves. We have to treat ourselves for all wounds. Dude, I've got to tell you this very quickly. I'm gonna do stand up about it at some point but I just have so much good material Dave. I can't figure out where to put it. But my cousin when I was in England was telling me this story that I remember. I just don't remember this part of it. So she lives in England and she'd come to LA and I was showing her around and I had a gig at

like some raffle thing or whatever. So I was hosting some raffle. Things were good career-wise too. So I'm hosting this raffle and she enters or I with one of my free raffle tickets enter and win this enormous bottle of Cacidore's tequila. Like enormous bottle of Cacidore's tequila. And so we're going around just to a couple parties and we were drinking it. Anyway that night she stayed at my apartment with me. One bedroom. So I'm like you can go sleep in my bed and I'll just sleep on my floor in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sleeping bag. Which I did. In the middle of the night after much Cacidore's I had

to take a piss. I go I take a piss. I'm coming out of the bathroom and I just walk into my wall because I'm like disoriented as far as where I'm sleeping and just and there's a lot of Cacidore's going through me. And so I lay down and I feel my face and I just feel that it's covered in blood. So I'm like oh shit. So I have to wake her up covered in blood. So I'm like morning hey I need to go somewhere to get stitches. And so I figure I am it's not too far away from where I'm going. I'm living in Koreatown at the time. I go to this 24-hour rapid care. And when I'm in there because of I had no insurance and because of price I

was negotiating the doctor down from seven stitches to five for price. And she was like what is happening right now. And I'm just going can you get away with five. And he's like maybe five. And I was like yeah I remember all that and even that part of it but I remember it not being strange to me at all. It was just so beautiful. What I was doing was I was just negotiating down the medical care that was necessary in order to be able to afford my food. And she was like this country is not great. No it's not. And called it quote his jam-packed. Jam-packed. I'm the fucking hippo guy. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tickly podcast. Okay. This is like an ad-hoc. And a five-part coefficient. My room's a place. Now hit him with a puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep though hippo. No sleep though hippo. Action partner. Hi, Gary. No. I see Doug, my friend. No, no, no. Ronda, Ronda in the park.

June 1894. So where we last left off the the workers. Things were good. At the Pullman car company have gone on strike. The Pullman town is a unbelievable nightmare. And the GMA, which is the General Managers Association, a bunch of rich anti-union railroad guys in Chicago, have decided to go to war with the American Railroad Union, which is run by Eugene Debs, and his boycotting in support of the strike. Now the GMA has decided to bring the U.S. into this. And President Grover Cleveland's attorney general was a guy named Richard Olney. Now Richard Olney had been a, he was a Boston corporate lawyer for 35 years

representing railroads. Okay. He's the attorney general. Yeah, so the umpire is, yeah. It's all good. Perfect role. He's still on several railroad boards. Yes, but Dave, he's able to divest his brain from that commitment and also at the same time be, it's like when Michael Jordan was the ref when the, when he was still playing for the Bulls. It just is fine. It's how it works. Kelly, I should say who Kelly is again. Kelly wrote the book The Edge of Anarchy, Jack Kelly, and a lot of this is taken from his work. So with the help of Sarah June. That's correct. Sarah June did the research on this. So Kelly quote, he was

said never to have had direct contact with any member of the working class except his own servants. Well, that's, I mean, that, that's a man of the people. He disowned his daughter for marrying a lowly dentist. A dentist. I mean, so, so only is just a nightmare of a human being. Right. It's just, I mean, wow, that is crazy. A dentist doesn't seem that bad. And so only as a, as a railroad man and attorney general of the United States is now determined to crush the strike. Sorry, Dave, you misspoke. Determined to figure out the problem and help. Crush. Crush. To decipher the issues and make sure that they are able to squeeze the life out of

help and the existence negotiate a middle. Find. Holy shit. So he argues the boycott is illegal because it obstructed interstate commerce and US mail. And US mail is the key. US mail is a big fucking deal. All right. Everyone's like the mail must go through. And so that's like a big thing. Right. Right. He told a railroad agent in Chicago that the US was going to crush the strike there because failure in Chicago would assure it wouldn't spread everywhere else. Right. Right. You're going to the epicenter. But it really already has, but he's more worried about, you know, Chicago is really shut down compared to other places. So he's worried

that will happen everywhere. And it's, and it's getting heated in other, you know, California, Oakland, there's a lot of fighting going on. It's definitely getting heated in other places. Right. Okay. A US attorney goes to a GMA meeting and assures them of attorney general only support. And then he asks them, asks US attorney to hand over the names of strikers who were stopping the mail. This is really cool and fair. And that's what I love about it is that it's fair. It's fair. It's also, it's, I know when I cheated on my wife, I suggested we go into counseling and I'll be the therapist. It's also a wink like, Oh, by the way,

the mail is really important. Wink, wink. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So that's, it's direct collusion between the government and the businesses. Yes. It's what we call the economy. YouTube devs gave specific instructions to strikers and boycotters that trains carrying mail cars were to be allowed through. So any train with mail goes through. Okay. So mail is, mail's off limits. It's that important. And yet some mail had been delayed in Indiana, Idaho and San Francisco, but most mail is getting through. Some cars are, cars are rerouted, but it's going through. I feel like we're going to find a wedgie. Now they've been hiring scabs since the

beginning, but scabs in different cities, cities start quitting. Some are even joining the union. There should just be a scab union. We demand scab rights. Scabs have feelings too. But in other places like Omaha, workers are refusing to boycott or strike. In Denver, train engineers convinced the porters who had been rejected by the ARU to couple Pullman cars. So this is the, this is the, this is the point where when, when the ARU didn't vote to bring in black porters, that they're now paying for that. Paying the price. Right. So black newspapers are not supporting the strike. They're saying, fuck this shit. Some

black journalists called the strike a white man's war. Yeah, you just, you cannot have exclusivity with class. No. Like, you know, it's, it's, yeah, it's a, again, it's, it's always astounding how racist Americans can be. It's, there's no, there's no ceiling. It's impressive. It is. So supervisors started coupling male cars to the back of Pullman cars. So they're basically just like, huh, what are you going to do now? What a quandary. Right. So if the Pullman cars detach, the male car would be too. Then they put male cars on all suburban passenger trains, which brought those trains under federal protection. So

they're just using the male cars. Yeah, they're just, right, they're just finding wiggle room to make it. And really, I mean, essentially, like what they are doing is setting it up so that if they're like that once bullshit is called, that it's fully on the striking workers. It's fully their issue. So chief U. S. Marshall, John Arnold, recruits 5,000 marshals in Chicago. Okay. At first, he's just picking random dudes off the street. Smart. That's good. But railroad managers convince him it would be better to pick from their, their workers. And they pick their, I mean, imagine being that blind to begin with

like, oh, that's a good idea. Yeah, that probably, they'd like that. Okay, right. Well, because that, right. No, he's picking guys that are want to kick ass off the street. Oh, he's not ready. He's picking guys like, do you like to hurt people? Right. He's picked beaters and clubbers as I believe the positions we refer to them as. So, so they start picking from the railroad workers who are supportive, strongest guys devoted. Right. They swear them in, give them a U. S. Marshall's badge, a gun. I believe the, the medical term is boot licker. Give them a badge, a gun, and then send them out to arrest strikers. Well, yeah. I mean, you'll

never, you'll never be able to compete with giving people power over other people in this country. It's the way of manufacturing status there. So these guys that are being taken out of the railroad ranks are being paid by the railroads. And at the same time are authorized to arrest and use deadly force. Jesus Christ. Okay. On several occasions, Chicago police arrested the marshals for quote indiscriminate shooting. Well, I mean, so that used to be illegal in a minute. That's interesting. A union leader in Chicago spoke to a group of Chicago and Northwestern rail union men. And at this point, he's angry.

And he called George the quote, rottenist hearted individual who ever stood on American soil. And then he yelled, I'd like to see him hung. And the men started chanting, let's hang him. Oh, boy. Oh, dear. Oh, somebody's pissed. But as this is going on, more and more people are joining the union. They're seeing, well, this is powerful. Right. So the chief U. S. Marshall sends marshals by stagecoats to places important in the strike effort, where strikers move trains and remove have a good movement cars and switch cars to let mail cars through right those places. Strikers in one of those places had attacked a

scab and threatened to kill a scab crew. And in Hammond had stopped a train carrying a Pullman dining car, moved it onto a sidetrack, then boarded it and feasted on the steaks ice cream and champagne. Those guys win. Those guys. I know. It's just it is. And it's like it's unfortunate that that's like the littlest victory. We're like, yeah, they ate their lobster. It's like it's so little, but it is just anything to just dent it. You just think about how much joy those guys were getting. Like, yeah. Yeah. No. Yes, exactly. Yeah. The strike has a lot of supporter on the country. Railroad magnets. They're hated. The

railroad guys are just hated even by other businessmen because they're greedy. There's poor management. They're monopolies, right? Must be hard to be a railroad magnet. I mean, they're made of steel. You're gonna. It is true. Go right to it. It is true. Hard to get up from it. Yeah. You know, you'll stick right. Yeah, you stick to it. Anyway, go ahead. Stick you had. I'll handle the comedy like this. And then just you plow through how to how do magnets work? Well, I'll tell you, can't put two of them next to each other. They don't want to be ready. Just move away from each other. If you try to get them. They're magnetic. I'm gonna go.

Yeah, please. New newspapers are against the strike and and the air you but they're still ripping into George Pullman for stubbornly refusing to arbitrate. What a weird little line. It really is. It's completely bizarre, but he's so evil that you can't deny it. You can't defend it. He is. He's yes, but you can defend his practice. It's really weird. Well, they want they want to have a less brutal capitalism that's not so blatant. But they need right. They write essentially. The choice not to arbitrate looks worse and worse as the strike goes on. The press starts calling Pullman cold-blooded, cold-hearted,

soulless. Debs called him greedy as a horse leech. Then did he start wearing a fuck off? He got a headband and wrote fuck off on it and just wore that around. Yeah, yeah. A strike spokesman explained why they were striking. Quote, we do not expect the company to concede our demands. We didn't. We do not know what the outcome will be. And in fact, we do not care much. We do know we are working for less wages than we'll maintain ourselves and our families in the necessaries of life. And on that proposition, we absolutely refuse to work any longer. So they're just saying like it's just untenable. Like even if we lose,

it doesn't fucking matter because we're not able to survive anyway. So what's a fucking point? Well, yeah. I mean, if the stakes for the people who are striking are so much higher because you're just like, yeah, well, no, we're like trying to survive. Yeah. We can't survive. It's a pretty nice negotiating tactic. So on Monday, July 2nd, two anti-union judges on the U.S. Circuit Court issued a very broad injunction that had been written by Attorney General Olney. The unbiased rest, as we call it. So basically, a railroad guy got a law pass. It's when the police investigate themselves. Yes, that's right.

It turns out we actually found out no intentional wrongdoing. Really? Crazy. How did that go? Well, it's internal. So the injunction restrained, commanded, and enjoined organizer Eugene Debs, the ARU, and all other persons combining and conspiring with them from interfering or encouraging anyone to interfere with railroad traffic. What a crazy, what? I mean, again, like, it's just, it's crazy. They're essentially saying that the union leaders cannot communicate with any union members. So, and it's just amazing how we mince freedom of speech constantly. Oh, yeah. It's like one of the things that we're

like, that's what makes us different. And yet, it's like the thing that we're like still basically not allowed to do if it affects the establishment. That's right. Yeah. So this order basically made what was perfectly legal in normal times now illegal. Right. Once a man committed for written act, like suggesting to a friend that he stay home from work, he could be arrested and locked up. Crazy. One of the judges called it a quote, gaffing gun on paper. Yeah, he's basically saying it's like a fucking machine gun to mull everybody down. It's an order to just take everybody out. Sorry, I thought you

said gaffing gun. Okay. It's like a gaffing gun on paper. Yeah. So, right. It could be a gaffing gun, but it could also be a gaffing gun. It could be different from the time. I don't know. Gaffing gun. I feel like could be Gatling gun on paper. Could be. Either way, what we're saying is they've weaponized law. Yeah. And that's cool. And that's one of the judges saying that. And that's cool too. That because he that's cool. It's very cool. It shows that they're being fair. Again, the system is fair. And I question it. It's good for you to be a part of it. Just don't ever need too much. And then it's perfect as

long as you're not one of these whiny writers, you know, who's like, I need rights. Then it's tough. But if you're one of these people that just shuts up and goes to work, it's gonna be great for you. The Chicago Sun Time said the order was not to prevent people from interfering with trains, but to quote lay a foundation for calling out U.S. troops. It's called the shut the fuck up act. That day, Chief Marshal Arnold and a sheriff took 135 deputized men to the Blue Island Railroad Yards outside Chicago, where train had been derailed on Saturday night. As they approached, a warning bell was rung by a sentinel.

And over 2000 men then came and gathered within minutes. This is 2000 of the workers. Yes. And others. It's supporters, not just workers. Right. Right. That's how you use a bell, by the way. Yeah. Also, since the court order forbid Debs from communicating with anyone on the ground, he had to stop. But he could communicate through that bell. Yeah. He's like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. He's trying to tell us something. What is it, Debs? Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Oh, boy, they're coming closer. Well, he had been spending all his time telling everyone to remain

calm, sending out telegrams. Everyone calm down. This is going to be fine. Like, that's what he'd been doing. So now he's not, now he's not allowed to do that. Right. Right. Right. So what are, and, okay, go ahead. So five passenger trains have been stuck at Blue Island Rail Yard for a day and a half. The marshals tried to move them. The crowd stopped them, standing a hundred deep across the track to not let them near. A fight breaks out. Marshals and deputies start swinging their clubs. They're dragging people out of the crowd and arresting them. But then their fellow strikers would pull them out and

free them. A train engineer was hit in the head by a stone. Men pulled coupling pins to break the train into separate cars. After dozens of deputies quote, literally fell over one or another in their rush to the rear, they gave up. So they beat back the deputies and the, they beat them back. Right. They fled. Good. Good. They bled, the old bled and fled. Yeah, the bleed and flee, bleed and flee. Yeah. So Arnold, the chief marshal, then gets up on the, a mail car and he says he's going to read an order from the federal government. Okay. Wouldn't that be a good way to start? Like, isn't that the wrong order?

Shouldn't you do that? And then be like, oh, no. Oh, violence. Instead, he's like violence. Oh, son of a bitch. I think we're going to have to try to talk to him. Well, at first everyone, everyone listens quietly. They're like, okay, what does this guy have to say? And he says, quote, I command you in the name of the president of the United States to disperse and go to your homes. We don't have homes anymore. You prick. And then they just lose it. Quote to hell with the courts and we are the government. And then they drag bad baggage cars across the tracks to stop any trains from passing. Man. So the power Arnold the

wires only quote, I'm here at Blue Island having read the order of the court to the rioters and they simply hoot at it. Mail trains are in great danger. Yes, we've got to watch out for the lives of these train cars. So they matter too. So the court order also allowed President Cleveland to send troops into Chicago from Fort Sheridan 50 miles away. Okay. Wow. Now it's Wow. I mean, it's like we're always in a civil war. It's just sometimes it's official. I mean, yeah, I mean, labor versus capital is always Yeah, constantly. Now there's class. I mean, it's not a coincidence that Fort Sheridan is 50 miles away from Chicago. Fort

Sheridan had actually been a pet project of a guy named George Pullman. I was are you kid? So he's got the Pullman army. I mean, this is like Jeff Bezos is gonna need to change his shorts. If he hears this, it'll be like, Oh, there's just too much come. Oh, just covered. Oh, yeah. So George, another Chicago businessman after the hay market bombing, they thought that troops, the closest troops were at Fort Leavenworth. So they're like, that's too far away. So they sent a suit build a fort. Yeah. It's called Fort Pullman Pullman. We now have a fucking army Pullman. It's now officially crazy because we have an army Pullman.

It's a whole Fort Pullman. So they send a civil war hero to Washington to lobby for a fort closer to Chicago, and they got it. Man. And now they're proven right. Well, yes, technically, yes. The commander of the troops asked President Cleveland if he should order president Pullman, Cleveland, Cleveland, if he should order his men to fire on rioting strikers, Cleveland responded. Oh, man. Cleveland responds. The commander should, quote, be the judge on questions of that kind. Man, oh, man, that is so fucking crazy. And the commander is literally says things like, and we'll start shooting and not stop until we want to. I'm sure.

Well, Dave, you normally find that those people at the Army heads are pretty calm. No, a guy who's like, Hey, can I just kill American citizens? Then that guy's fine. Well, use it your own discretion. OK, because I'm going to try to kill them. I love killing them. Well, if you think it's right, I do think it's right. Situation by situation. Every situation to me is one where murder needs to happen. You will see and decide when you get there. I've already predetermined I will kill as many people as I can. Good luck. On July. It's crazy. That's so crazy. On July 3rd, when, according to the order, they were

supposed to return to work. Pullman laborers did not return to work. This meant that they were committing a crime, according to the order. Yeah. And the violent one at that. Only then announced that Eugene Debs would be arrested on conspiracy charges and contempt of court. The guy who they silenced. Yeah. You should you shut up too much. Now that that's the crime. Troops from Fort Sheridan arrived in Chicago by train, horse and a flat car just after midnight on July 4th. It would be so great if those trains got like side trains. Damn it. They. They marched through the streets to Lakefront Park. They were

cheered by middle-class residents. There we go. The solution. The problem. So they arrive outside of Pullman that morning. At first there's a very sort of quiet sense of defeat by the strikers when this happens. It's also like a, it was described as like a really weird calmness in the air. Like a. Resignation. Resignation, but also like fuck this. Like it's a very interesting sort of fear. Yeah. Well, when they, it's this, when you take away everything from people, don't be surprised when they fight like they have nothing to lose. Well, and then, you know, the crowds that are gathering, they're not just workers. Now you have

just immigrants, unemployed people, like it's, it's a gathering of. Recognizing that this is a representation of many things. Yeah. Right. True. Class amalgamation. Troops are also sent out around the country to different locations. In Colorado, the governor said the U.S. Marshals were being allowed to create a private army. Quote. Waging an active war in Colorado without any declaration thereof by the U.S. and utterly in violation of the law. A conservative paper headline the next day, read, quote, governor wait on Anarchy's side. Oh my God. Like he's literally saying you're sending in fucking troops to

wage war on Americans and a conservative papers like, well, okay, Anarchist. All right. All right, Antifa. And remember, this is, this is when people are terrified of anarchists. This is when anarchists are assassinating and right. So when the term Anarchy is very loaded. That's cool that they used it then. A federal attorney in Los Angeles told only that open rebellion was a legitimate possibility. In Ogden, Utah, strikers set fires in seven different parts of the city right when troops arrived. Railroad bridges were burned in Carlin, Nevada in response to troops. Wow. George went and spoke to the press. His

version of events was that workers in his plant had been satisfied until the ARU got in their ears. Yeah, because he's like, I went down there and walked around and no one said anything. I talked to three people who pay. I pay very well and they said everything was fine. He's basically saying the ARU created the Pullman strike and it has nothing to do with the people not being able to fucking eat. No, no. And it, well, by the way, even if it did, that's okay. Yeah, it is okay. You're allowed to do that. George refused to give in to the ARU's demand for arbitration saying, quote, the Pullman company could not settle the strike

now. If it could, it is now in others hands. So he's saying it's just there's nothing we can do is the Pullman company. What are we going to do? It's very, very, very much how we're handling climate change where they just go, it's not there. It's not there. It's not there. Well, now that it's here, I don't know what we can do about it. He continued to, you know, say that he had a right to set his own wages and rents as he chose. Quote, the question to my mind has resolved itself to this. Shall the red roads be permitted to manage their own business or should they turn it over into the hands of Debs Howard and the American Railway Union?

I know the answer. Is it rhetorical? Yeah, they should turn it over. Actually, they should totally be worker-owned. That's the thing that you're... Yes, I think, yeah. A lot of us are saying that sounds pretty good for a change. Hey, what if the, what if it was turned over to those people? Do you think that there would be, you know, fucking fighting in the street and all the... Do you remember the term bone soup? So the next morning the mood changed. As the sun rose, a mob of thousands of workers appeared over the horizon of Pullman. I'm picturing nice fog, a long shot as they sort of crest over the hill day. If we're seeing him

silhouetted back. Eagle swipes, flies low. A sick eagle. A railroad agent shot two in a crowd on the Illinois central line. Wow. The crowd attacked the yards. That, sorry, that just happened right away. A guy just... In the morning, in the morning, look, the troops came and then everyone is like, fuck this. I mean, basically, you had a situation where there was a strike and now they're bringing people in to kill them and everyone's like, fuck this shit. It's the spark. Having the troops there is the spark. Yes, right. At Pullman armed troops stood their ground so the mob overturned railcars, burned station houses, and went on a

rampage that lasted at least three miles along the coastline of Lake Michigan. Wow. They torched buildings and railcars full of merchandise. As the morning progressed, the crowd swelled to 10,000 and now outnumbered troops three to one. And what are the troops doing? They're just kind of letting it happen? No, they're trying to stop it, but it's just too big. I mean, it's just... It's overwhelming, right, right, yeah. President Cleveland was supervising everything from Washington and he ordered the Illinois National Guard and more troops from bordering states to converge on Pullman in Chicago. All

through the night, fires grew and the crowd became more disorderly and irritated. The local police reported that at least 20 men were killed as fires raged and buildings crumbled. Crazy. That night, the white city, the wood, iron, and plaster structure that had housed the Colombian exposition the year before was burned down. But again, that's... As we stated before, that just sounds like, oh, why'd they do that? But again, the opulence, it's a rich, it's a rich fair for rich people. Right, yeah. They're not burning anything. By the way, if there's any time to get the screwjacks back, it's for this occasion, just move the

things. Time to, you know, jenga the situation. Newspaper headlines the next day. Mob Will is law. I can't, I can't, I can't, of course. The uneducated angry for some reason again. Riots defy Uncle Sam's troops. Oh, the poor hate America, can you believe it? Regular's powerless before Chicago's riotous army and then my favorite, guns awe them not. Wait, what is that one? Guns awe them not. Oh, I mean, they, like, I could still, I would still be able to read these and be like, these are good things that are happening. Like, these are people who are fighting hard. Guns awe them not. The workers didn't care. They kept going on.

The next day, the crowds overturned 150 empty boxcars on a mile-long stretch of tracks near the stockyards. They set fire to isolated switching towers and other like hulk level damage. Yeah. Oh, no, it's crazy. 150 cars in a day. The arson spread during the afternoon and by nightfall, a roaring wall of fire had formed along the tracks from 55th to 61st Street, a few blocks west of the site of the fair. Six, six blocks of a firewall. Cars filled with meat, coal, and relief provisions meant to help the Pullman strikers burn. Okay. Well, some of the coal cars are really burning. That's gonna happen. I apologize that we

did that to ourselves. But if you can get some of the meat out there early, just it's like deliciously brazed. Falling off the bone. More than one person noted that the 700 freight cars that burned along the Panhandle Road outside the stockyard seem to be set on fire very quietly and systematically. Interesting. The accusation would be put out there but never, never proven that the railroads had hired provocateurs to ramp up the riots and do more arson. So it does come down to the, again, like the optics of damaging property. Yeah. I mean, look, we saw it in Black Lives Matter, a cop, we saw cops clearly dressing up in black

gear and breaking windows and stuff. We've seen it. It's what they have always done against unions and union actions. They send guys in to do bad shit. Right. Yeah. It's just part of the game. It always has been. Yeah. And it's also, it's like, I mean, yeah, like I understand being, even if it's not, like, I get being upset by, you know, riots and things, but how do you not understand what's happening? It's like, if you keep breaking the back of people, they will, you know, there's gonna be some damage. There's gonna be collateral damage. Also people don't, it's very strange to me that people don't seem to understand this.

The way to fight capitalism is to harm it, its ability to make profit. And the way to harm its ability to make profit is to destroy property. That's how this works. Well, what did the target do to you? It's like, well, we don't have much. I mean, I don't know how you penetrate the impenetrable. I mean, when you tell people not to harm property, you're basically saying, don't, don't fight capitalism the way it, that you can do the most harm to it. I mean, essentially, yeah. So, yeah, anyway, yeah. So, a lot of the targets of arson turned out to be worn out and surplus freight cars without any Pullman cars attached. So that's another thing

that's like, well, that's weird that that's burning. They're avoiding Pullman cars and going after cars that don't really matter. Sounds, Pullman, boy, we're sure lucky somehow. Pullman. Also, fire department officials reported that when firefighters put up blazes on the night, quote, they caught men in the act of cutting the hose and that these men were the badges of deputy marshals. Well, I mean, that's just sloppy. Take off your badges. Yeah, take your, put it in your pocket for God's sake. So no previous day before the six had damage to property been more than

$4,000. Well, that changed. Well, yeah, on the sixth, it was $340,000. That's a bit of a, it's higher. It's higher by a bit. Yeah. The corporations then announced they intended to sue the city for $1 million in damages because police had failed to protect their property. And now more people are like, okay, well, that's even more suspicious. Like you're now you're like, oh, we're gonna be fine. We'll make money. We'll make our money. Right. Right. That night, the Illinois National Guard had rocks thrown at them by some teens and their captain told them to load their rifles. And that cause, I mean, what are you kidding? Like, that is

just, I mean, again, like, come on, you're the, the job is peace. They threw rocks at us. Well, it's time to start killing. Yeah. So when that happened, it caused more people to come and see what was going on. And pretty soon, several thousand people are there and they start throwing stones at the guard. The cops are there now. The cops shoot over the head of the crowd. People get more angry when that happens. They start throwing more stuff. And then a guardsman gets hit by a large stone and knocked out. And the captain gave the order to fire. Wow. They shot into the crowd. People Jesus Christ, people drop all hell breaks loose. One man who was

there, quote, then ensued the real rioting. I mean, I feel like we've really heard a lot. Okay. So now it's just street battles. Soldiers are charging at crowds with bayonets and just stabbing people. People are fighting back. It spreads out. It's happening in alleys and streets. They're kicking in. Cops are kicking in doors of billiard ball rooms where people are trying to hide and people like there's just blood all over the floor. That would be my move. Just take the cue. I'll go one off the cushion. Hello, officer. What seems to be the issue? I was just trying to get the one ball in the corner off the cushion. People are

shooting guns out of apartments at the cops. Cops are shooting back. Many who were shot were taken to homes and their deaths were never reported because they're these insular immigrant communities. A lot of people say that they were being counted as COVID deaths. So the numbers got so high. At the end of this night, they say at least six were dead, but it could be much higher. It could be up into the 30s. Right. Because you're not counting that basic street triage. Yeah. And the Chicago Tribune headline was quote, Day of Blood. Okay. So the papers are finally finding the right

headline. Yeah. Not very biased. That is so crazy, though. Like, you know, you see that that happens. It's just crazy when that happens. When it's just like, yeah, okay, just shoot at him. I mean, it's just not. Yeah, it's really crazy. So remember, George's at his vacation home in New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore. Gosh, I hope that he could not hear any of the gunfire. I know he was far away, but good Lord, David, he's trying to relax. Again, he's done nothing wrong. He's done nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. So he heads to his vacation home in up in New York, Castle Rest. Castle Rest, right? He told a reporter he did not feel up to giving an

interview quote, I am so worn out and tired. Oh, you wouldn't understand. I feel like I've been shot. That's how tired I am. I feel like blood is draining for me. I'm exhausted. The strike has gone beyond me, and I could say a little interest. To me at this point, I've been there, seen it, move on, good Lord. I'll tell you, the only thing I'd be interested in is getting some rest in a Pullman Diamond car. Pullman Diamond cars, unbelievable beds and rest areas. Pullman, dip some lobster into that butter, then put an oyster in your mouth and choose some cheese. Have a nap. Pullman, Pullman Diamond cars. Pullman, I'm the real victim.

Pressure is now building to call for a general strike. Yes. The Building and Trains Council representing 25,000 workers voted for a sympathy strike and called for a nationwide general strike. Oh, David. On July 8th in Hammond, Indiana, soldiers fired into a crowd blocking trains. The mayor, quote, I would like to know by what authority US troops came in here and shoot our citizens without the slightest warning. Finally, like, yes, fair. In Spring Valley, Illinois, troops fired into a crowd killing two. Detroit mayor, Hazen Pingree, traveled to Chicago with telegrams from the mayors of 50 cities urging Pullman to negotiate

a settlement. Oh, I would, but I'm just so tired. I've been in the pool all day. You know how the sun gets you. Everyone got the same answer, quote, nothing to arbitrate. Wow. God, you know, I just hope there's a point in this story where someone's pouring oil into his mouth saying there's nothing to arbitrate. There's nothing to arbitrate. A Chicago alderman met with wicks and heard that same thing again. He was shocked the company wouldn't budge with everything that's going on. I mean, it's battles in the street and they're like, hmm. Yeah, but I mean, to what, like we've been saying, I mean, as far as a

general impact upon this person's life, nothing, not much, absolutely nothing. Wicks told the alderman, quote, there's a principle involved in this matter, which the Pullman company will not surrender. We must manage our own business. We cannot allow our employees to do it for us. They're not. We're not managing the business. They're asking for a living fucking wage. We do not negotiate with terrorists. This is ludicrous what they're asking for. Unbelievable. It's disgusting. The greed of these workers. This is why they don't deserve summer homes. Of course, President Cleveland now sent more troops, eight infantry

companies around the country. Awesome. Good work. By July 10th, the militia had broken the blockade of trains in the stock yard. So all of these armies and deputies and, you know, they start finally, they start breaking through and getting the stockyards running. Right. Right. Federal Marshals on July 10th plundered the ARU office. They went in, they seized books and documents and mail and notes. The Department of Justice would later call this completely illegal. Oh, interesting, because it sounds highly illegal. On July 11th, Eugene Debs is arrested and he would be sentenced to six months in an Illinois jail. What did he

do? Yeah, you shut up too much. He, you know, he, yeah, he's to them. I mean, yeah, he's, I mean, I know what he did, but it's like, what did they get him on? Anything new? Yeah, it was conspiracy to be cool. I think it was the... Right, right, right, right. Yeah, possession of empathy. Now, before he's jailed, he tries to call for a general strike. He really saw the writing on the wall. He was like, this is a fucking thing that can change everything. Right, right. It doesn't happen. The other national unions, like the AFL and the Knights of Labor, refused to join. Awesome. The military invasion, Debs arrest, and the breakdown of communication between the

strike committee throughout the country and the hard line stance of the Pullman Company just unified the will of the General Managers Association. And then the riot fever was quieting down and that caused the ARU boycott to collapse. Oh, it just takes so much. I mean, it's just takes so much. You've got to be able to give so much. I mean, really, there was momentum. Everything was moving towards this. It looked like a general strike could be a thing. And then, really, the AFL killed it. I mean, really. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's very much like the... From an emotional standpoint, it feels like betrayal. If

you're out there boycotting and striking and then the other union is like, hey, you're on your own. The unions have to support each other and work together and fight together. And if they don't, then it's... You're deflating the balloon. Well, and it eventually comes... Like, that temporary decision to not disrupt your life temporarily or your union temporarily is good for you in the moment. But look at where we are now and where we've been. Long term, that is the downside, is that they will... I mean, the second that you have a strong union, they're trying to break into it. They're

trying to break it down. They want it gone. So it takes everything. Yeah. You're being stalked by capitalism. On July 4th, the Chicago Tribune headline read, Debs Strike Dead. On July 18th, the army was ordered to leave. Now, people kept dying in incidences around the country. There was still stuff flaring up. And the Illinois governor visited Pullman. Now, the Illinois governor was very labor-friendly and really mad at Pullman and President Cleveland. Right. So he visits Pullman and it's a nightmare. People are starving. Oh, he visits the city. Yeah. He asked George Pullman, quote, I assume that you

will not be willing to see them perish. Oh, my God. Finally. And George's answer was basically, well, it's their fault. I can't do anything. They did this. What am I supposed to do? Put food in them? The governor then put a call out for charities to help and newspapers. Oh, that's how you know things are good. Newspapers, you know, jumped on it. People responded. George's refusal to help those people would never be forgotten. He would always be viewed as a monster. Good God, man. I mean. So President Cleveland appointed a three-member strike commission to investigate the events. I think that was legally, legally he had to do that.

Right. I was gonna say, I mean, it's like, oh, really? Tell me, who was at fault here, President Cleveland, about the decision that President Cleveland helped make? The commission found George Pullman's policy had left his workers, quote, without local attachments or any interested responsibility in the town, its business, tenements, are surroundings. That's putting it nicely. His ultimate design was, you know, far from offering a great social order. Instead, it had torn the entire country apart. So he, he was trying to curate the perfect capitalist community, and what he did was fucking destroy a country. He created

the perfect capitalist community. I mean, that's essentially what he did. They, the commission, criticized the company's refusal to arbitrate, saying they were, quote, impressed with the belief by the evidence and by the attendant circumstances as to closed, that a different policy would have prevented the loss of life and great loss of property and wages occasioned by the strike. The Secretary of State of the US called for George Pullman to resign from his company. Wow. Now, George was questioned by the strike commission. How old is he now? He's in his early 60s. 130? No, he's still in his 60s. He's not that old. Okay.

They asked why he created the Pullman, and he read a prepared answer. Quote, working. I want all the, I want all the stuff. I want it all. I deserve all the things and the stuff. Quote, working people are the most important element which enters into the successful operation of any manufacturing enterprise. The town he said was an attempt to attract the best class of mechanics, and he wanted to eliminate baneful influences, which he meant, he meant saloons and brothels, and quote, other bad places. So that was why he refused to let the employees buy their homes because he thought they might use it for naughty

things. Right. Yes. So he could, he could kick in out any bad element at any time. Yeah, that's how you create the, yeah, that's how you do it, Dave. You just make sure that you know people's personal intimate details, and then you're able to decide if they will be part of your nightmare factor. And that was part of what the spies were doing. They were keeping an eye on people to make sure that they were in their homes doing the proper things. Yeah, falling in line, right. Oh my God. And then he told the commission. What a great, oh my God. And then he told the commission, again, he just says this like it's normal, that he wanted to earn a reasonable 6%, but never

had, he had only got a return of 3.18%. He fucking says it out loud, again, as if it's not the craziest. Again, it is, it just, it's like you're just so insulated by your class. So by choosing to ignore everything, by choosing to not listen to anybody, by deciding that you deserve all these things, you don't, you're not ready to talk to the regular world. You're not ready to say the things that you actually think because they're fucking crazy. Yeah. It's like when George Bush went to the grocery store and didn't know what the scanner was. Yeah. It was like, I mean, just, you know, just don't go to the store, you idiot. Don't pretend.

So the commissioners are like, look, since you, since the company made so much money, shouldn't they have, quote, borne some of the losses for employees who had been working for a long time? And Pullman's like, well, no, no, that's, that would have seemed like a gift to the workers and he did not hand out gifts. I don't give out gifts. Pullman, it's all about me. Pullman, the cars are now filled with money going directly to the train station in my pocket. Pullman. Quote, it was simply a matter of business. And then he's just disgusting. I mean, that essentially is why Jeff Bezos is allowed to be where he is now, because this is the, you are in

this game, it is to acquire everything. So there's nothing wrong with the man who's doing it the best. Yeah. He said it's not true that the workers were not getting a living wage because they were living on it and they currently are. They were eating bones. They were making bone soup, you animal. My God. And then the commission wanted to know why he wouldn't arbitrate. Quote, it was the principal involved, the principal that a man should have the right to manage his own property. It's not property. It's human beings. It's labor, you fuck. Yeah, no. I mean, it makes you wish that Hitler hadn't killed himself to just hear what

he had to say, you know? Just walk me through why it was okay. Let me hear your pitch. After his testimony, George went back to his mansion and spent the next four days in bed due to exhaustion and nervous depression. Just so tired from being accused of the things I've done. It's just exhausting being under that microscope where people are evaluating the crimes against humanity that I've committed. So lightheaded from being the worst. Over the next years, George keeps working. He's making money, manipulating stocks. He tries to create cracker and match monopolies. But he's always tired. He's always irritable.

He's frequently getting sick. He has daily headaches. His friends are talking behind his back that the whole thing could have been avoided, but he was stubborn. He's crossed off a guest list at the fancy parties. In June 1897, it was the Pullman's 30th anniversary as a couple. Had he gave George a sterling silver toilet set? Oh, my what? It's 30. It's the 30th. It's silver. So what about... Yeah, but yeah, you know that's the 30th, where we celebrate my husband's bowel movement. I'm wondering if it's like a toilet set. It's like a brush and a comb. I'm picturing a seat. Yeah, I think that's better. I don't know why I'm picturing

little spoons. I just would imagine that the elites are like, yeah, give this to the pours. See if they'll use some of the fecal spoons. In turn, I was born with a silver spoon in my ass. In turn, George gave Hattie nothing. Yep. Cool. Cool. Well, I mean, it makes you feel like, all right, it wasn't just to the pours. Soon after, he picked out his barrel plot in a cemetery. Oh, my God. It's going to be a Disney world. A few months later, George and Hattie fought, and he came back from New Jersey alone. And a couple days later, he died alone in his sleep at the age of 66 on October 19th. As he requested, workman at

Graceland Cemetery dug an underground vault lined with concrete into which they put his led-lined coffin, which was wrapped in tar paper. Oh, my God. So he, this, I mean, this dude is like, shut up. So this guy is making the popemobile grave. He's like that concerned about people uprooting him and burning him or cooking him or fucking him or whatever it is. And I want an armed guard of ghouls. I'm looking for the King Tut. Is that possible? The coffin was coated with hot asphalt. They bolted iron rails across the top of the vault. Then they poured on more concrete. It all took two days. He was just worried that the people from

the strike would come and dig up his body. Oh, my God. Which just shows you he knows how fucking wrong he was. It's the dumbest on eight levels, but yeah. One is the admission of clearly how hated you are. Yeah. And the other is caring so much about your body. I will never understand why anybody cares about their body after they die. Why not just shoot yourself to space? Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. You're dead. Who gives a shit? What happens to your body? You know what I mean? Yeah. Dave, I've said it repeatedly. Stuff me and keep me going. Yeah. I want to be at all the events. I want to be doing the stuff. And again, I want to be there. Stuff. I am,

of course, timing to the back of a truck and just drive across the country. Drag you. Drag you until you're nothing but whatever leash we've put you on. Supo. And just, yeah, until we're able to just make soup bones. So his... Campbell's bone. His estate was estimated at $70 million, which then, like in now, money, that's just fucking crazy. In his will, George is very kind to his daughters, but left his wife much less than an equal share. So Hattie... So he didn't like her. Yeah. It's very strange what the problem is with her, but Hattie used her Dower rights, which give a surviving spouse a large share of the

property. So she used a law, Dower rights, whatever. But she did that mostly so she could support her sons because the twins, George, Jr. and Sanger, did not get a lot in the will. Because they were the degenerate shit. They were the Trump sons. Yeah. As teenagers, they had promoted pit bull fights and were often seen riding around Chicago in cabs filled with champagne bottles. I love how that is frowned upon in his household. It's like, what? That is what you're doing. Replace pit bull with human beings. They went to Harvard Training School and were ranked 147 and 148 out of a class of 148 students. I love that they were the

bottom two. Oh, so great. So they were... Like, really is. I mean, holy shit. Talk about belonging in a silver toilet. They were taken out of that school in sight to an exclusive boarding school, but their schoolmates there hated them because they were so arrogant. They are only there for one term. Oh my god. They would for years be in newspapers across the world reporting on their affairs, the drunken antics, and their money problems. So George... By the way, now they would have over 2 million Twitter followers. So when George died, they were only 22, but he was already just like, fuck these guys. And he gave them each a

yearly stipend of $3,000. Wow. They publicly said they're not going to fight the terms of the will. George Jr.'s fiancé broke off the engagement after the will was revealed. Love is so strange. True love can be so vexing. After having an affair with a married woman, George Jr. then secretly married his twin brother's fiancé. Oh my god. So we know who was 148. His brother... What do you mean? You guys were seeing each other the whole time? Yeah, you idiot. Thank God for you. His brother's sanger then moved in with a woman that no one knows who they were, but that relationship ended when Hattie

paid the woman $10,000 to leave and never come back. I mean, what a job! So how'd you buy the home? It's an interesting story, actually. Oh my lord. The woman, the fiancé who bailed on George Jr. over the will, right? She now comes back, but she's married and so's George Jr. Okay. Okay, and George Jr.'s wife then leaves him because he starts having an open affair with his ex. With his ex, and then her husband sues George Jr. and wins $50,000 for breaking up his marriage. Oh, holy shit. Wait, hold on. Just to be clear. Go ahead. There's the two George kids. One of the George kids steals the other George... After he's left for not

getting enough in the will, he steals his brother's fiancé, marries her, then the ex, who left the other one because there was not enough money in the will for her, got married, came back, then George, who stole his brother's fiancé, starts banging the girl who left him because there wasn't enough money in the will, and then his current ex-brother fiancé wife leaves him because he's banging her, and then her husband, who finds out that she's fucking her ex who she left because she didn't have enough money, is granted $150,000. $50,000? Jesus Christ. Oh my lord. It's easier to keep up with the Kardashians. Now this may surprise you,

but both brothers are alcoholics. They were drinking. Sanger almost killed the newsboy when he went to an alcoholic health clinic on a horse. He was drunk and ran over the newsboy. Well, that's how you enter. That's like how Roy Moore was doing his voting that one day. Remember he wrote a horse? So you just, to your alcohol treatment, you're drunkenly ride a horse, and you almost kill a newsboy. Sir, are you sure you want to give up? Well, I know I have a problem. He's notoriously bad with money. He's always in debt. He was kicked out of the New York Athletic Club for not paying us dues. In 1901, a creditor confiscated Sanger's

sister-in-law's luggage, trying to get him to pay a debt. George Jr. died of pneumonia in 1901, and Sanger died being thrown from a horse in 1905. They were completely useless spawns of a soulless man and lived like it. I wonder what their graves were like. Oh god. Just two three-foot holes? Just wine glasses. Yeah. George left Arthur Wills, his longtime assistant, and Porter on his own private car $5,000, so about $160,000 today. Okay. He left $125 million to the town of Pullman to underwrite the Pullman Free School of Manual Training, a vocational institute for children of town residents and employees. Man, a death

double down. But it's also like, so that's your, this is why rich people shouldn't be allowed to be philanthropists and stuff. Die with money. Well, what he did was set up a way for kids to learn how to become Pullman workers. That's all it was. He set up indoctrination factories. The school was open from 1915 until 1949. A year after George's death, the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled that the Pullman Palace car company could not operate a company town. It was sold off within 10 years. Oh, that's good that they finally figured it out once he died. That's cool. That's great. 40 years later, the brotherhood of

sleeping car porters founded by Pullman porters became the first labor organization led by African Americans to be recognized by the American Federation of Labor. Most railroad unions excluded black members until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The city of Pullman, Washington, is named in George's honor. The town expected him to build major railroads in Pullman, but the route went instead to Spokane. Asked about Pullman's death, Eugene Debs offered a simple, simple eulogy. He's on a quality with the toilets now. At least 34 people died during the Pullman strike across the country, probably

many, many more. Right. You know, it's the most important, famous, impactful strike labor action in American history. So references Carl Smith, urban disorder, and the shape of belief, the great Chicago fire, the haymarket bomb, and the model town of Pullman. As I said, Jack Kelly, the edge of anarchy. Susan Eleanor Hirsch, after the strike, a century of labor struggle at Pullman. Thomas Crawwell with William Phelps, failure of the presidents from the whiskey rebellion to the War of 1812, to the Bay of Pigs, to the Grand Contra affair. Jimmy Stamp, traveling in style, and comfort the Pullman sleeper car. Jimmy Stamp's a

great name. That's a fucking awesome name. All right. Good to meet you, Dave. We signed soup bowls. Actually, Dave, we sign Pullman cars. That's the only car we'll sign here at the dollop. Pullman cars. Pullman cars. Now we'll put a signature on the car. Pullman. That's incoming bullet fire.