Pinkerton Riot, Pittsburgh

1948
Simboli-McFadden Collection

Oil on Canvas      29.5" x 34.5"        Signed 'R. Simboli' (lower left corner)     Inv 1006

Simboli's recreation on canvas of the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike. Around 1886, Homestead, a few miles from Pittsburgh along the Monongahela river, was the heart of the U.S. Steel Industry. Carnegie Steel, the central industry, did a lock out of its employees, creating great aggitation. Three hundred Pinkerton guards were sent out to quell some 5000 workers. This resulted in nine deaths, many injuries, and shortly after, the arrest of Alexander Beckman, who had attempted to assassinate the plant manager, Henry Clay Frick.