September 2, 1896 | Speech
Speech by William Jennings Bryan.
November 6, 1841 | Newspaper
The plight of African Americans and their abolitionist supporters on New England railroads is addressed in depth in this passionate editorial.
September 19, 1896 | Speech
This speech, delivered by Nebraska Senator John M. Thurston on September 19, 1896, addresses an audience of workingmen and mechanics in Chicago, Illinois. In his address, Thurston argues that the "promise of something for nothing is false and dangerous to the people."
October 16, 1894 | Newspaper
Speech by William Jennings Bryan.
July 23, 1877
This article from the July 23, 1877 edition of the St. Louis Dispatch advises the Missouri Pacific Railroad to "set the example to other roads to promptly acquiesce in all reasonable demands" by the workers in order to peacefully end the railroad strike.
October 14, 1894 | Newspaper
Plans for the joint Thurston-Bryan debate proceed.
August 25, 1894 | Newspaper
Republican U.S. Senate candidate John M. Thurston campaigned at local party club meetings across the state in 1894, poking fun of the turbulence in the Democratic and Populist opposition and of his opponent, William Jennings Bryan.
October 5, 1894 | Newspaper
In the era before direct election of senators, candidates often stood unofficially for a period of time, and in 1894 John Thurston was not officially nominated by the Republican Party with a platform. His standing was as a citizen and a party member. Bryan hopes to force Thurston's views into the open and directly challenge him, but the editor of the Bee and other Republicans consider these offers little more than political posturing.
October 28, 1894 | Newspaper
Even though the Omaha Daily Bee campaigned against railroad political power, the newspaper celebrates the opening of a new line it expects to reshape the West and enhance the prominence and position of Omaha, Lincoln, and other cities.
October 21, 1894 | Newspaper
Speech by William Jennings Bryan.
September 10, 1859 | Illustration
This image from the September 10, 1859 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a man dressed for a morning on the town.
October 27, 1854 | Letter
When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, the Board of Public Works attorneys sought sworn affidavits from white men who knew the enslaved men to determine their value for compensation to the slaveholders. The legal process regularized and the practice of industrial slavery on the railroads.
April 27, 1889 | Letter
Following the strike of 1888, railroad officials were careful to avoid hiring union members and employees who had "behaved badly" during the 45-day strike. Thomas Calvert, as General Superintendent in Lincoln, worked with railroad officials to help in the process of regulating re-employment.
September 7, 1894 | Newspaper
William Jennings Bryan's World Herald calls attention to the demands of workers and the situation evolving around the Union Pacific receivership.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) shows a number of railroad workers standing atop a wrecking train.
November 9, 1872 | Illustration
This image from the November 9, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a workmen's train in the subway of London, England as a part of a fictional story entitled London: A Pilgrimage by Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold.
July 24, 1877 | Newspaper
This July 25, 1877 article from the Pittsburgh Daily Post comments on the role of the workingmen in starting the strike and emphasizes their ability to end it as well.
1877 | Speech
In 1907, the Colorado Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States reprinted this account of General Grenville Dodge's campaign against the plains Indians. The Loyal Legion praised Dodge's 1864-1865 campaign as a "signal victory over the most vindictive, barbarous and treacherous enemies our soldiers have ever been called on to fight." Responding to Indian attacks on stagecoaches, trains, and telegraphs, Dodge's account recalls his efforts to "open and protect" the territories up to the Platte line, and to "whip all the Indians in the way."
July 27, 1877 | Newspaper
This article from the July 27, 1877 issue of the Pittsburgh Daily Post briefly accounts a court proceeding concerning a collision on the West Penn Railroad in which five men were killed.
June 18, 1868 | Newspaper
The railroad's segregation of Catharine Brown in February 1868 and her subsequent lawsuit against the company came to the immediate attention of Senator Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) and Senator Waitman Willey (West Virginia), both of whom sat on the Senate's District of Columbia Committee. At their urging, the Senate Committee launched an investigation into the affair, deposed dozens of witnesses, and issued a stinging report against the railroad company. Many of these same witnesses testified later in Brown's civil suit against the railroad company.