(May 11–с July 20, 1894) Massive railroad strike in the U.S. After financial reversals caused the Pullman Palace Car Co. to cut wages by 25%, local union members called a strike.
The company's president, Eugene V. Debs called for a nationwide boycott of Pullman cars. Sympathy strikes followed in 27 states. Violence broke out in Chicago, Ill., but Gov. John Peter Altgeld refused to intervene. The U.S. attorney general, Richard Olney , obtained an injunction against the strikers for impeding the mail service, and federal troops were called in. Debs's conviction for conspiring against interstate commerce established that the {{link=Sherman Antitrust Act">Sherman Antitrust Act could be enforced against labour-unions.