202:"When a railroad company hauls tramps or unemployed penniless men into this State it cannot dump them into a barren desert and murder them by torture and starvation without atoning for it, if there is any virtue in the machinery of justice. Nor will I permit them to be shot down on Texas soil by any armed force whatever, no matter how much the Southern Pacific and the other enemies of the state may howl about the
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31:
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800 people had been enrolled in the new movement and preparations began to be made to take the "army" east to put political pressure on
Congress for implementation of the group's objectives. A call was made to supporters for the donation of food and blankets to supply the unemployed activists who would be making the trip.
178:. In El Paso the group raised additional provisions from sympathetic citizens following a peaceful march through town before stealing another train, which railroad officials permitted to depart the town with about 800 people aboard. Once outside the city, the stolen train was intentionally sidetracked at the tiny town of
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A standoff emerged between the railroad, which continued to hold Fry's Army as virtual prisoners in an essentially unpopulated desert whistle stop, and the so-called
Industrial Army and their supporters. The stalemate was broken only when trade unions and concerned citizens of El Paso raised funds to
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On March 5, Fry's newly organized "army" approved a simple three-point program for enactment, calling for federal employment of the unemployed, a ban on immigration to the United States for ten years, and a prohibition of ownership of land by non-citizens. By the middle of that same month, more than
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Beginning with an enrollment of 850 people, the "army" made a difficult cross-country journey by foot following the refusal of railroads to transport the protestors. Two trains were stolen in the course of the march, which brought Fry's Army into conflict with the authorities. Key support was gained
154:
for his effort in the form of provision of free railroad passage. The railroad unsurprisingly refused this request and on March 16, 1894, Fry and a reduced force of 600 disciplined supporters set out on foot to make the several thousand mile trek from Los
Angeles on the west coast to Washington, DC
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during the decade of the 1890s, signaled by a dramatic drop of the stock market and a financial panic beginning in May 1893. By the end of 1893 more than 16,000 businesses and 500 banks had closed their doors, with approximately 2 million workers cast into the ranks of the unemployed. By the height
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On April 3, 1894, the 600 remaining members of Fry's Army arrived in St. Louis, where they were refused additional rail transportation. The decision was made to once again begin the long trek to
Washington by foot. Although the size of the group swelled to about 800 during the early part of this
129:
In
February 1894, with an inadequate 6-week city-level program for unemployment relief coming to an end, "General" Fry began to organize his so-called Industrial Army. An experienced political activist well accustomed to public speaking, Fry carefully screening all those who wished to join the
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from the governor of Texas, which prevented mass arrest or a worse outcome, but rail transport ended in St. Louis and the remaining members of the group began a difficult march by foot. In these adverse conditions the movement melted away, splitting into rival factions in
218:
Fry was aware that he was targeted for arrest as the ringleader of the train-stealing escapade and he attempted to elude arrest by boarding a passing freight train. He was soon discovered, however, and removed from the train, making his own way to the state capital of
223:, where the rest of Fry's Army was now located. An effort was made to march to the governor's mansion to thank him for his support but this was prevented by local police, who packed the would-be protestors tightly into boxcars and sent the group north to
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it was bitterly divided over tactics and split into two rival groups. Only a small number of participants ever reached
Washington, DC with Fry for the May 1 march on Congress, which ultimately proved ineffectual.
193:
was sympathetic to the cause of Fry's Army, however, and he ordered the
Rangers to end their action against what he termed the "petition in boots." In a show of public support, Gov. Hogg sent a telegram to the
479:
The Story of the
Commonweal: Complete and Graphic Narrative of the Origin and Growth of the Movement: Similar Movements in History — The March — Portraits of the Leaders — Other Pictures — The Objects Sought.
122:. Fry was captivated by the idea of the Industrial Army movement of 1894, the notion of gathering and transporting unemployed workers stricken by the economic crisis for a mass march on the halls of
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pg. 156 is explicit about this departure date, noting that it was "eight days before Coxey's start." The survey of this and related movements by Folsom has the departure date as March 26 (pg. 171).
146:
Texas
Governor "Big Jim" Hogg deescalated the situation when Fry's Army was sidetracked in the Texas desert, making possible their departure from the state by rail.
252:
After changing the spelling of his first name to Louis, Lewis C. Frye would twice run for
Governor of Missouri, appearing on the ballot as the nominee of the
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of the depression in 1894 nearly 20 percent of the non-agricultural workforce would be idled by the crisis, remembered to history as the
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pay for provisions and a special train with five passenger coaches and two baggage cars to transport the unemployed workers as far as
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81:. Only a small handful of protestors eventually arriving in Washington, DC with Fry, where their protest efforts were ineffectual.
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61:. Fry's Army was one of about 40 "Industrial Armies" formed in 1894 to organize and transport unemployed workers for a march on
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moved in at the railroad's behest to hold the train-stealing "Industrial Army" as de facto prisoners.
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224:
156:
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General Lewis C. Fry, organizer of the Los Angeles-based "Fry's Army" march to Washington in 1894.
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Impatient Armies of the Poor: The Story of Collective Action of the Unemployed, 1808-1942.
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Impatient Armies of the Poor: The Story of Collective Action of the Unemployed, 1808-1942.
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70:
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477:
170:
Thus provisioned, the stolen train proceeded eastwards across the desert lands of the
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was the informal name given to a short-lived radical protest movement organized in
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overland trek, hunger and exhaustion set in and the so-called army melted away.
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Encampment of Fry's Army across the river from Terre Haute, Indiana, April 1894.
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273:
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Lewis C. Fry, a former soldier, was a general organizer for the fledgling
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to force ameliorative and substantive change to end the economic crisis.
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30:
303:
The Samuel Gompers Papers: Volume 3, Unrest and Depression, 1891-94.
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29:
66:
457:
Coxey's Army: A Study of the Industrial Army Movement of 1894.
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Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1955; pg. 156.
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on the east. The group seized a Southern Pacific train at
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Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1989; pg. 363.
318:
Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1991; pg. 170.
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Fry initially attempted to garner the support of the
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Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1955.
459:Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1968.
167:, bacon, and beans were gathered by sympathizers.
159:and proceeded with it some 20 miles eastward to
102:The American economy went through a protracted
452:Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1991.
301:Stuart B. Kaufman and Peter J. Albert (eds.),
375:History of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles,
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466:Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.
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471:Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles.
336:Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles.
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65:, the best remembered of which was the
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511:Protest marches in Washington, D.C.
163:, where several thousand pounds of
464:Coxey's Army: An American Odyssey.
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254:Socialist Labor Party of America
120:Socialist Labor Party of America
501:1894 labor disputes and strikes
482:Chicago: W.B. Conkey Co., 1894.
130:so-called Commonweal movement.
239:By the time the group reached
1:
434:Impatient Armies of the Poor,
418:Impatient Armies of the Poor,
388:Impatient Armies of the Poor,
362:Impatient Armies of the Poor,
116:American Federation of Labor
506:History of Washington, D.C.
527:
172:Southwestern United States
27:Political protest movement
152:Southern Pacific Railroad
69:-based movement known as
496:1894 in Washington, D.C.
469:Grace Heilman Stimson,
334:Grace Heilman Stimson,
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174:, making it as far as
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49:in 1894 and headed by
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462:Carlos A. Schwantes,
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145:
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256:in the elections of
180:Sierra Blanca, Texas
118:and a member of the
455:Donald L. McMurry,
196:Dallas Times Herald
157:Ontario, California
57:political activist
161:Colton, California
148:
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448:Franklin Folsom,
314:Franklin Folsom,
16:(Redirected from
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63:Washington, D.C.
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476:Henry Vincent,
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443:Further reading
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189:Texas Governor
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191:"Big Jim" Hogg
176:El Paso, Texas
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390:pp. 171-172.
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279:Coxey's Army
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182:, where the
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71:Coxey's Army
59:Lewis C. Fry
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18:Lewis C. Fry
231:Dissolution
213:San Antonio
51:trade union
43:Los Angeles
490:Categories
274:Bonus Army
198:declaring
104:depression
90:Background
47:California
39:Fry's Army
373:Stimson,
285:Footnotes
225:St. Louis
138:Departure
55:socialist
436:pg. 173.
432:Folsom,
420:pg. 172.
416:Folsom,
386:Folsom,
364:pg. 171.
360:Folsom,
268:See also
165:hardtack
124:Congress
241:Indiana
204:commune
85:History
79:Indiana
248:Legacy
221:Austin
262:1900
260:and
258:1896
67:Ohio
53:and
492::
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292:^
264:.
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206:."
111:.
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20:)
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