The Pullman Strike | Northern Illinois University Digital Library
4000 workers went on strike in Pullman, Illinois, beginning in May of 1894. Pullman was a company town outside Chicago, built to house workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which built railway sleeper cars. Illinois Governor John Altgeld was labour-aligned and refused to intervene to break the strike.
The American Railway Union (ARU) responded by refusing to move trains carrying Pullman cars. Pullman cars were relatively common, and the sympathy boycott was extremely impactful, affecting most rail lines west of Detroit.
In July, the General Managers Association (GMA), aligned with Pullman, obtained an injunction forbidding ARU organizers from convincing workers or sympathizers to respect the boycott, even by peaceful means, on the grounds that the boycott was a conspiracy restraining trade under the Sherman Act. Shortly thereafter, president Grover Cleveland ordered 10,000 federal soldiers to Chicago. Altgeld protested, but eventually sent the Illinois militia to join them.
ARU founder Eugene Debs recognized the danger and offered to call off the boycott in favour of arbitration. Pullman refused. Debs was eventually arrested for violating the injunction and served 6 months in prison.
Soldiers killed 13 people and seriously injured 53 others. The boycott ended by mid-July and the Pullman strike by September.