I have a postcard showing a large crowd of people surrounding a windowless railroad or streetcar, captioned "Car of Mystery about to enter the Barn, May 7, 1907." Anyone know what this was?

-- Gordon Smith (zibbis@sirius.com), July 04, 2000

Answers

I don't have my reference books with me, but if I recall correctly, there was a huge carmen's strike in May, 1907. This may have been a car operated by strike breakers. United Railroads hired Jim Farley, a famous strike breaker, to organize the scabs. There was a lot of bloodshed.

Check the sf museum website. I think they have a link to an article about the strike: http://www.sfmuseum.org/

-- Joe Thompson (cable_car_guy@hotmail.com), July 07, 2000.