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THE STORY OF ERIE 34i
where the boarders slept. Besides these structures there were
many smaller shanties scattered about in the Hollow, and also
on the side of the mountain, in which certain laborers
"boarded themselves," or where buxom " widdies" sought
to turn an honest penny by catering to the railroaders in the
ways of pork and "peraties," or a kindly " drop of the
craythur." Thus the Shin Hollow of fiftyyears ago might
have boasted of a steady population of at least 200, and, on
occasion, of a floating population of a hundred or so more.
In searching for the impelling cause of the Shin Hollow-
War, fiftyyears after it occurred, with no written record to
guide him, the historian is confronted with the testimony of
tradition, and the uncertain memory of a few who were
among those living in the locality when the noisy riot occurred,
and who live there still. The pay of railroad laborers
on the Shawangunk Mountains section of the New York and
Erie Railroad had been fixed at seventy-five cents a day.
One story is that the Corkorian sons of the Green Isle came
pay the men off and discharge them. In this assault many
of the assailed were knocked down and badly beaten, and it
was said, and is still believed by many, that one man was
killed in the melee.
After dealing thus with that gang of Corkonians, the triumphant
Far-downers marched, with fierce yells and dire
threats, upon that part of the work where the Germans were
employed, vowing that they would show the "Dootch" no
mercy. They were not prepared for the reception that
awaited them. The Germans, although few in numbers, had
cool heads among them, and they received the confident
Irish with such vigor and determination that the latter were
soon flying from the field,bearing with them two or three of
their number whose ardor was not proof against the sturdy
blows of the resolute Germans.
These raids of the Far-downers created a panic among the
other laborers, and work was almost suspended along the
mountain. The Germans were the only ones that did not
first upon the work, and established a precedent by accepting lose a day. The Irishmen who had been driven from their
that pay as sufficient and satisfactory. Later, the Shamrocks,
jobs still loitered about Shin Hollow. All remained quiet
or Far-downers, began to respond to the call for men, along the line after the affray until the evening of Wednes­
and their rich and hot blood soon rebelled at seventy-five cents day, February 3d. The rumor had spread that the Corkonians
a day, although Jim O'Brien is reported to have declared, in had resolved to return to work. Early on the evening of
an early burst of confidence, that " Divil a wan o' cithern was
afther earnin' dthe likes o' dthat in six days on dthe ould
February 3d, firingof guns was heard at frequent intervals
in the woods at different points between Shin Hollow and
sod, bad 'cess to dthem ! " Another version is that the the Hog-back, as the summit of the Deerpark Pass was
trouble began with the boarding-houses at Shin Hollow called, and through which the railroad was being constmcted.
"skimping" the men in their rations, and with the contractors'
These shots seemed in the nature of signals of some kind,
clerks cheating them in settling, and overcharging but they ceased at last, and everything was cpiiet. The
Cork­
them at the stores for their supplies. Still another account onians at Shin Hollow had climbed to their bunks in the
fixes the responsibility of the Shin Hollow War on the hiring boarding-house lofts, and the stores and shanties were closed
of the Germans by the contractors, and putting them on the
work. But the weight of evidence is that the number of
Far-downers after awhile became much greater along the line
for the night.
It is to be presumed that Shin Hollow was wrapped—'
profound slumber when, at midnight, the Far-downers, in a
than that of the Corkonians, and that at last the Old Adam body one hundred strong, and armed, marched into the
got the better of them, and they felt that they would not be
true to their traditions if they did not rise up and break an
occasional Corkonian head.
At any rate, about the middle of January, 1847, the Fardowners
place, divided their forces, and proceeded half to one boarding-house
and half to another. The inmates of the houses
were ignorant of the presence of their enemies until they
were awakened by the smashing of windows and doors, the
began to be aggressive. Fights with groups of the
. n
other faction of their countrymen became of daily and nightly
discharging of guns and pistols through the breaches thus
made, and the wild yells and cries of the assailing party.
occurrence, anywhere between Otisville and Shin Hollow.
The Corkonians seemed to have been but poorly armed, for
Saturday, January 30th, a large body of Far-downers formed they made but a weak resistance to the attack. At O'Brien's
near the top of the mountain, and marching to a section of boarding-house, where most of the men were in the lofts,
Carmichael & Shanahan's contract, attacked the Corkonians
they hastily pulled up the ladders by which they climbed to
there with clubs and stones, wounding several severely, their bunks, and huddled down, as they supposed, out of
and compelling the gang to throw away their tools ami take harm's way. The Far-downers swarmed into the place and
an oath that they would leave the work. The following Monday
quickly beat into subjection such of the inmates as were to
a still stronger force of the belligerent Far-downers, many be got at. The men in the lofts refusing to come clown and
of them armed with guns which they had in some manner got
possession of, proceeded to another part of Carmichael &
Shanahan's section, surrounded the laborers, fired a volley
meet with similar treatment, the attacking party hunted up
axes, and quickly chopped down the posts that supported
the lofts, and brought the latter and their frightened occupants
over their heads, and declared that they would riddle them
crashing into a heap on the floor. After hammering
with shot if they did not quit work. The Corkonians threw the Corkonians until there were few unbroken heads, or noses
down their tools. Their foes then drove them before them that were not bloody, the rioters made their victims swear, at
to Shin Hollow, where they forced the contractors' agent to the gun's muzzle, that they would quit that locality forthwith.