Saint John's trolley-toppling railway strike of 1914 inspired N.B. playwright's new work

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 05, 2025 8:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 5

Just 2 weeks earlier the outbreak of the First World War, a railway onslaught that turned into trolley-toppling riots broke retired successful Saint John.

More than a period later, one New Brunswick playwright is taking that pivotal infinitesimal successful labour past and bringing it backmost to the forefront.

"You person to imagine, successful the main uptown thoroughfare successful Saint John, 10,000 radical rioting, turning implicit streetcars, mounting them connected fire, cavalry complaint from the barracks by the Royal [Canadian] Dragoons to effort to disperse the crowd," said playwright and Université de Moncton professor Thomas Hodd. 

"It's conscionable this amazing, epic lawsuit that happened successful Saint John history, and astir cipher successful this state astir apt has ever heard of it."

Hodd's play, titled O'Brien, volition beryllium touring the state starting Wednesday with Theatre New Brunswick. The play is based connected the July 1914 lawsuit which started with simmering tensions betwixt the recently formed national and the railway company.

According to the website for the Frank and Ella Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre successful Saint John, the railway institution fired the national person and much than 130 men walked retired connected strike. 

A assemblage of supportive citizens began to signifier implicit the adjacent 3 days and a riot yet broke out. The politician astatine the clip work the Riot Act and authorized the deployment of a tiny detachment of Dragoons. 

The assemblage overturned 2 stalled streetcars and took to the company's powerhouse, causing a city-wide blackout.

Eventually, a woody was negotiated betwixt the sides and trolley work returned to normal.

And portion Hodd is lone present bringing the communicative to the stage, this lawsuit has been connected his caput since the aboriginal '90s when he worked for the New Brunswick Museum arsenic a humanities interpreter.

He was fixed the task of sharing stories with the nationalist relating to objects successful the museum. Using the trolley strike and a subject uniform, helium wrote a five-minute monologue to stock with tourists. 

Then, conscionable a mates of years ago, the communicative came backmost to him with planetary conflicts increasing — specified arsenic the penetration of Ukraine — and the combat for reproductive rights successful the United States. Coupled with that, Hodd learned that 2023 was an exceptional 1 for labour strikes.

The magnitude of disruption — measured utilizing person-days not worked — reached an 18-year precocious successful 2023.

Hodd said everything happening successful the satellite sounded akin to the larger issues astatine play successful 1914.

"I thought, 'Wow, possibly this is the clip to effort to yet enactment the communicative to insubstantial and to enactment it connected stage,'" helium said.

But erstwhile helium decided to constitute the story, helium didn't privation to constitute astir the politician oregon the national caput oregon a subject leader. He wanted to archer it utilizing the mean working-class national member. 

"Having grown up arsenic the lad of a working-class national worker, I understood a spot astir what it means to person to marque those choices and what it means to woody with striking and putting nutrient connected your table," said Hodd.

So the communicative is told from the position of a third-generation Irish New Brunswick family.

The household dynamic is 1 of dysfunction, with 1 extended household subordinate being a salient section suffragist, a fewer of them moving for the railway institution and 1 of the sons being a subordinate of the section militia. 

Hodd said helium likes to picture the play arsenic a practice play arsenic opposed to a humanities play due to the fact that the communicative is rooted successful the family, exploring the existent conflicts and tensions that would person existed astatine the time.

Hodd said helium hopes radical tin spot themselves successful the household — from the dysfunction to the existent concern of imaginable occupation nonaccomplishment and struggling to marque ends meet.

"This is ultimately, I think … a communicative of resilience and sacrifice."