Workers for Denver Tramway, the cities streetcar company, went on strike on this day in 1920.
Founded in 1886, Denver Tramway had expanded aggressively and become a monopoly in the city. Its workers founded a union in 1918 and were demanding fare increases in order that their wages could be raised. Denied their goal, they went out on strike on this day.
Cable car barn on 14th and Arapahoe.
The company responded by bringing in strike breakers, with the first street car piloted from the cable car barn at 14th and Arapahoe by strike breaker John "Black Jack" Jerome, whom the company had hired to organize strike breakers. The strike would soon turn violent and up to 1/3d of the cities police reported by August 6 to have received serious injuries. Denver's mayor called for armed citizens to enforce the peace on that day and Federal troops arrived later that day and restored order.
Cheyenne State Leader from August 1, 1920, noting that strike breakers were being brought in.
The net result was that the union was broken and would not be reorganized until 1933. Seven Denverites were dead, all of whom were in the nature of bystanders to the violence.
Jerome, who was born Yiannis Petrolekas in Greece, would go on to have a successful career in his dangerous profession. A poor immigrant to the US who had arrived in 1905, he had first sought his fortune in aviation but in 1917 he changed his name and founded the Jerome Detective Agency. Having worked in the streetcar industry, he offered its services to strike and union breaking, which made him a rich man. His company expanded during this time and at one time even employed Dashiell Hammett, prior to his becoming famous.
He invested in real estate and, during the depression, in horse and dog racing. In 1933 he returned to Greece a rich man, while still retaining business interests in the United States. He died in San Francisco in 1953, his funeral delayed as an undertakers union went on strike in protest over his having broken a strike of theirs in prior years.
