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These documents, found among the collection donated to the Bangor Public Library by Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, consist of reports from a Bangor Railway & Electric Company (BREC) employee who served as a spy, or "spotter" as described in these pages, who reported to the company the activities of motormen and conductors of the railway who hoped to form a union.

The "spotter" is identified only as R.B.R. Looking at the 1912 Bangor City Directory, a likely candidate to be R.B.R. is Robert B. Robinson, a patrolman. Police in the early part of the 20th century were known to be union busters. The 1914 Bangor City Directory also lists Robinson as a patrolman. Page 3 of this document confirms that R.B.R. was hired by the company only after presenting suspicion of a union forming within the company. [Further research into this will be made and changes to this description will be made as needed].

R.B.R. reveals the names of many, many men who worked at BREC during 1912, as confirmed by the 1912 city directory. Hereafter is list of these men with a brief explanation of the role each played at BREC and in the union.

J.P.C. (not fully identified and unable to confirm via the city directory): listed as Assistant Superintendent for BREC

Maurice E. McCormack: Assistant Superintendent of BREC; hired R.B.R. into the company, fully knowing why R.B.R. was being employed

Howard Corning: Treasurer of BREC; also knew the purpose of the hiring of R.B.R.

Walter D. Merrow: BREC conductor and union organizer

John McGreal: BREC motorman and union president; fired by company, but remained a key figure in the union forming efforts

Fred A. Merrill: BREC conductor and union organizer

G. Ivan Smith: BREC conductor and union organizer; identified by R.B.R. as instigator of union

John H. Reardon: A union organizing specialist from Worcester, Massachusetts who counseled the men; worked with Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees

LaForest T. Hinton: BREC motorman and union member

Ralph L. Whiting: BREC motorman and union member

Charles S. Bullock: BREC conductor and union member

Louis E. Grant: BREC conductor and union member

Nicholas Driscoll: BREC conductor and union member

Clifford Jellison: BREC conductor and union member

Charles H. Johnson: BREC superintendent; not known to be part of union

Fred S. Emery: BREC motorman: not known to be part of union

Thomas F. Allen: a state detective who investigated the union organizing at the behest of BREC President John R. Graham

John P. Griffin: BREC motorman and union organizer

Carl C. Nason: BREC motorman and union organizer

Christian Billie: BREC inspector; known to be anti-union

Fred B. Avery: BREC mechanic and union vice president

Nathaniel F. Lambert: BREC conductor and union member

Michael Kelley: BREC motorman and union member

John Fred Boyce: BREC motorman and union member

Henry Crowe: BREC motorman; known to be anti-union

David F. Rice: BREC conductor and union member

Willis L. Conners: BREC conductor and union member

Fred S. Feltch: BREC motorman

Leroy M. Boulter: BREC motorman and union member

James Frank Armitage: BREC conductor and union member; fired by company

Gerald E. Richardson: BREC conductor and union member

Elbridge Atherton: BREC conductor

George P. Lawrence: BREC motorman and union member

William F. Silliman: presumed to be lawyer who represented company President John R. Graham in negotiations with John Reardon

Ambrose Eisnor: BREC motorman and union member

William E. Kelley: BREC conductor and union member

J. Thomas Fillier: BREC motorman and union member

William A. Severance: BREC motorman; not a union member

Many other men are mentioned throughout R.B.R.'s reports, but their first names could not be determined. A man named DeWitt was of particular amusement to R.B.R., as he thought DeWitt a fool and said so in multiple reports.

This is truly a one-of-a-kind slice of Bangor 1912. It details the safety concerns and pay demands of the conductors and motormen behind their union forming. It also explains at length the steps taken by BREC employees to defraud the company out of fares, fares they pocketed for themselves. Numerous locales like restaurants are referenced. We hope you enjoy.

Publication Date

1911

City

Bangor, Maine

Keywords

Bangor Railway & Electric Company, Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, unions 20th century, union busting 20th century, John R. Graham, John H. Reardon, Bangor Maine history

Bangor Railway and Electric Company Union Spying in October to December 1912

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