Citizens of Pensacola were still dealing with a large riot that was taking place in their city between electric streetcar employee union workers and strikebreakers from New York on this date in 1908. The strike began on April 6, shortly after workers at the Pensacola Electric Company unionized, and negotiations over wages and other issues between the two sides were at an impasse. When the company decided to send in strikebreakers from New York on April 10, violence broke out and continued intermittently until early May. The result was dozens of injuries, at least one death, and thousands of dollars in damage, prompting Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward to send in the state militia. The 1908 electric streetcar workers’ strike in Pensacola was one of the largest in Florida up to that date. Although neither side won any real concessions as a result of the violence, it served as an impetus for other labor unions around the state to politically organize their membership.
~Florida Historical Society
