David D.
Law 1852 – 1916
David D. Law was born in
It is unknown whether David’s
parents emigrated to
David is best-known for
his thirty-three years of work with
the Bloomington-Normal streetcar line. He had a good reputation as a
cool-headed
and reliable driver who had friendly relationships with his riders.
When asked
how far he had traveled, he would tell of how some of the “smart”
university
student passengers calculated his distance over the seventeen years he
had been
working at that time. They concluded that with his fifteen, five-mile
roundtrips each day between
Life as a horsecar driver
was tough. Drivers sometimes woke
up as early as 5:00 in the morning to walk about a mile to be at work
by 6:45.
Their work week included Sundays, and their day lasted until 10:30pm
with two,
twenty-minute breaks for lunch. The wages were enough to live on, but
did not
allow much room for luxury. New men earned $40 a month while those who
had been
with the company longest, earned $50.
On March 9, 1886, David
married local resident Sarah Pratt,
who was born in
David, however, was
devoted to his job and said the company
treated their men well and never discharged a man except for cause. In
the 1889
interview, he said, “I have stood on this platform with the thermometer
twenty-four to thirty degrees below zero, and I have made my way
through
mountainous snow drifts, and when the rails were a glare of ice, as
well as
through beating rains and burning suns. No, we haven’t a soft job and
we
literally earn our bread by the sweat of our brow…I have never done
anything
else…and to begin to think now that I never will until I get to the
other
world, where wings are said to be used as motive power in preference to
mules.”
Even with the
difficulties of having a profession in the
streetcar line, David experienced a few moments of proud recognition,
such as
in 1879, when David’s coolness came in handy when a runaway horse and
wagon
crashed into his car. Just before the impact, David managed to turn the
mules
to the side, avoiding greater damage and possible injury to the
passengers. His
calm came through once again in 1888, when something frightened the
mules
pulling the streetcar that David was driving. The team consequently
flew from
the track, dragging the streetcar with its passengers down the
embankment near
the bridge over Sugar Creek. David brought the car and animals under
control
before they all fell into the nearby north branch of the creek.
Perhaps the proudest
moment of David’s career occurred
towards the end of his career on August 31, 1903. The electric power at
work
was turned off for a day to allow a new boiler to be installed in the
power
house. The streetcar men decided to turn the day into a celebration and
got out
one of the old horsecars, decorated it, hitched on a team of mules, and
rode it
around on the streetcar lines singing “In the Good Old Summertime.” In
the
afternoon, the men even played a game of ball, conductors versus
motorment, at
Wesleyan’s field. David drove the mules around town while wearing the
same
corduroy cap he had worn in the old horsecar days, and according to the
Daily Pantagraph, he looked “natural to
many a resident as he smiled and gave the mule a clip with the whip.”
However, David’s career was not
without incident, and he encountered trouble on March 17, 1893, when he
was
involved in a horrible accident that resulted in the death of 21
year-old Harry
Ryburn. Harry had been leaving his butcher shop, Ryburn and Shrigley,
in
downtown
This incident caused much
controversy because the first jury in court took testimony of only two
witnesses, David and Ryburn’s partner, Harry Shrigley. They gave
accounts that resulted
with the jury declaring that David, who had a great reputation as a
cool-headed
and trustworthy driver, was not at fault and that the death was
accidental.
However, it was later noted that four passengers were in David’s car
and their eyewitness
accounts had not been heard. The passengers admitted that David has
been in the
back of the car collecting fares when the car came up against Harry and
his
horse. David had stopped and reversed the car after the moment of
collision. At
this news, Harry’s mother initiated a lawsuit against the Bloomington
City
Railway, and after two trials and a refusal to accept a $1,350 offer
out of
court by the company, received a mere $500 in settlements. This would
equal
about $11,888.88 today. She did not sue David because she realized that
he
would not have much money to offer, and his reputation with the
streetcar
company and as a positive member of the community would have most
likely evoked
the jury’s sympathy. The company was to blame because the accident
could have
been avoided if they had both a conductor to collect fares and a driver
on
board, as was required by city ordinance. Because of this accident,
company
policy was changed to make it a standard procedure for a two-man crew
on board
all street cars. David never again drove an electric streetcar after
the
incident and was henceforth referred to as “the veteran streetcar man.”
In 1902, the streetcar men organized
a union and received a contract from the company for the year 1903. At
the end
of the year, the union bargained for a contract with higher salaries
and
shorter hours, claiming they had the lowest wages of all of Illinois
for the
industry. The company would not consent, so on January 1, 1904, the
union
called a strike and David was one of the thirty-two men who went out
after the
company posted a notice informing the street car men to either report
for duty
the morning of January 2nd, or to surrender their badges and
other
company property they owned.
The union was large and
refused to end the strike, so on
January 3, 1904, the company brought in strikebreakers from Chicago,
which led
to an outbreak of violence. Six streetcars were partially demolished,
several
people were hurt by missiles thrown by strike sympathizers, and three
arrests
were made. For seven months, neither side were willing to compromise
and the local
unions even boycotted the streetcars by leasing gasoline buses to
compete with
the streetcars, placing David as conductor to gain recognition.
Eventually, in
August, the remaining members who had not left the community called off
the
strike, having been defeated. The strike cost labor organizations of
Bloomington and friends of the strikers a totally of $9,000 to
prosecute the
strike. That would equal about $216,232 today.
Shortly after the strike
ended, David’s wife Sarah, passed
away on December 29, 1904 at their home at 1111 North McLean Street.
She died
from Bright’s disease, which was a historical classification of kidney
diseases
that would be described today as acute or chronic nephritis.
David did not return to work at the
streetcar company after the end of the strike. Instead, he went to work
for the
Illinois Central Railroad in the freight house on the east side of
Bloomington.
For some time, David left the railroad to start his own business as a
dealer in
gas and coal oil, but due to a lack of success, he returned to work at
the
freight house.
On March 27, 1916, David died at his
home located at 203 Kreitzer Avenue, after feeling ill for about five
days. Many
former fellow employees of the street railway company were present to
pay their
last respects. He was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery next to his
wife.
David’s obituary in the Daily Pantagraph stated
that “the passing of David Law removes a character who was an integral
part of
the city life for a third of a century. He was of a genial disposition
and
enjoyed a large acquaintanceship and popularity.”