The Knights fail in the highly visible Missouri Pacific strike in 1886.
At the time of the strike, Gould owns all the elevated rail lines in New York City, the Western Union telegraph service and the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Missouri Kansas & Texas (M-K-T) railroads.
In total, Gould owns almost twelve percent of all railroad track in the U. S. The strike begins when a member of the Knights of Labor in Marshall, Texas is fired for attending a union meeting on company time.
The local chapter of the Knights calls a strike.
Soon, more than two hundred thousand workers are on strike in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.
Although the dismissal of the leadman in Texas had sparked the initial strike, wages, hours and unsafe working conditions motivate most of the strikers.
From the start there are problems.
The Brotherhood of Engineers refuses to honor the strike, and its members keep working.
Meanwhile, Gould immediately hires strikebreakers to work the railroad, allegedly declaring, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half."
Pinkerton detectives are employed to protect railroad property.
On March 19, 1886, Powderly meets in Kansas City, Missouri with other leaders of the Knights, the governors of Kansas and Missouri, and railroad officials to try to bring an end to the strike.
The meeting continues for two days, but the parties are unable to reach an agreement.
After several incidents of 'union violence' occur, Gould requests military assistance from the governors of the affected states.
The governor of Missouri mobilizes the state militia; the governor of Texas mobilizes both the state militia and the Texas Rangers.
The governor of Kansas refuses after local officials report no incidents of violence, despite claims by railway executives that mobs had seized control of trains and rail yards were burning.
The exercise of state police power on behalf of the railways leads union members to retaliate.
Switching houses are burned, mechanic shops wrecked and trains uncoupled.
Shots are fired at a moving train in Missouri.
A favorite tactic of the rail workers is to let steam locomotives go cold, forcing the railroad to spend up to six hours slowly reheating the engines for use.
As the violence spreads, public opinion turns against the workers.
The physical attacks by the Pinkerton agents scare thousands of workers into returning to work.
The strike peters out during the summer of 1886.
By September, the strike is over.
