04/28/2026
On April 28, 1919, companies from the Indiana state militia traveled to Linton to quell a riot that stemmed from striking female workers of the New Home Telephone Company. On April 24, thirteen operators took off their headsets and refused to resume work until their manager, Harley Guthrie, gave them better working conditions, better pay, and recognition of unions. Many Linton residents supported the striking workers and 500 citizens took over the telephone building, hoping to get strikebreakers to leave. According to Donald Edward Jones of Butler University, “Two recently returned World War I veterans in uniform scaled the building and removed the U.S. flag claiming that, ‘it should not fly over such a man as [Harley] Guthrie.’” When one strikebreaker reportedly shot at the veterans, chaos broke out and the crowd launched stones at the building, and broke windows.
Governor James P. Goodrich declared martial law and dispatched the state militia. Jones noted that the militia's presence only exacerbated protests and “Several militiamen patrolling the streets were grabbed by the mob, their guns torn from their hands and thrown to the street [while] the men [were] cuffed and kicked aside.” Despite the armed guards raising their guns, the crowd managed to remove the strikebreakers and refused to work until the National Guard left Linton. Residents also refused to serve militiamen at restaurants and hotels, and many citizens cancelled their service with the New Home Telephone Company. Linton’s mayor and police chief eventually managed to bargain with New Home officials on behalf of the strikers and Governor Goodrich signed an armistice.
The photo below shows the New Albany, Indiana office of the New Home Telephone Company from circa 1910, courtesy of New Albany Floyd County Public Library.
