Ragtime

E L Doctorow

An interesting note is that this poor fellow, Charles Victor Faust, was actually called upon to pitch one inning in a game toward the end of this same season when the Giants had already won the pennant and were in a carefree mood. For a moment his delusion that he was a big-leaguer fused with reality. Soon thereafter the players became bored with him and he was no longer regarded as a good luck charm by Manager McGraw. His uniform was confiscated and he was unceremoniously sent on his way. He was remanded to an insane asylum and some months later died there.

The Great Railroad Strike - 1877
July 14, 1877 Governor of Maryland directs the National Guard to put down strikers in Baltimore, firing on an attacking crowd and killing 10 and injuring 25. Several National Guardsmen were injured by the crowd. July 21, 1877 Militiamen in Pittsburgh bayonet and fire on strikers, killing 20 and wounding 29 others. Local law enforcement officers had refused to fire on strikers. July 22, 1877 Militiamen in Pittsburgh fire on and kill 20 more strikers. July 25, 1877 Chicago mayor asks for 5,000 militiamen to restore order, 20 strikers are killed. July 25, 1877 Shamokin Uprising: 1000 coal miners march on railroad depot in Shamokin; mayor forms vigilante group that kills 2 strikers and wounds 14.


Homestead Strike - 1882
July 6, 1982 Three hundred Pinkerton agents are given Winchester rifles in order to help break Steelworkers' strike. Fighting erupts, a striker and a Pinkerton are both injured. Pinkertons fire on the crowd, killing 2 and wounding 11; the crowd fires back, killing 2 and wounding 12. The strikers, now more than 5,000 people (including women and children), set up a brass cannon. Pinkertons fire on them again, killing 4. Pinkertons end up surrendering but state militia arrive and quell the strike.
 

Haymarket Affair - 1886
May 3, 1886 Striking workers in Chicago are fired on by police at a rally, two men are killed. At a rally the next day, a man throws a pipe bomb at the police, who return fire. At least eight policemen and four workers are killed. Over 60 policemen were injured and at least as many more workers. 

Pullman Strike - 1894
June 29, 1894 President Grover Cleveland orders 12,000 Federal troops and U S Marshals to break up the strike because it prevented the delivery of the mail. 13 strikers are killed and 57 are injured.

The Bread and Roses Strike - 1912
February 24, 1912 Strikers try to send children via train to refuge in other cities. Lawrence city authorities attempt to prevent strikers from sending the children to Philadelphia. Police begin clubbing mothers and children, causing one pregnant woman to miscarry.

The Southern Colorado Coal Strike - 1914
April 20, 1914 Two companies of Colorado National Guardsmen install machine guns on a ridge overlooking the camp of striking mine workers. Miners, resenting machine guns aimed at their families, try to flank the militia and a firefight breaks out. Fighting lasts for most of the day. 19 strikers are killed, four of these are women, and eleven are children. Three company guards and one militiaman were killed.

Columbine Mine Massacre - 1927
November 21, 1927 Colorado police and guards working for the mine fire on unarmed coal mine strikers, allegedly with machine guns, killing 6 and wounding dozens. 

How many owners, managers, politicians, and CEOs have been killed in labor disputes? How many times have police fired on wealthy crowds? How many people who were comfortable have been shot to death by National Guardsmen? Any look at our history shows that people with money tend to be safe. But the history of abuse that has fallen on the shoulders of people who haven't money is as long as history itself.

Now
1,954 people died crossing the US-Mexican border between 1998 and 2004. In 2005, more than 500 immigrants died crossing the border, according to the United States Border Patrol.