April 5, 2025
FIREWORKS ROUTED GREEKS.
Liberty Patriots Resented an In-
vasion of Foreign Labor.
LIBERTY, MO., April 4. -- A carload of Greek laborers, sent to Liberty for track work on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, started for Kansas City tonight after being subjected to a Fourth of July fireworks display that was not on the programme prepared by the railroad employment agent.
The Greeks did not come here with the cry of "Give me liberty or give me death" on their lips, but before they were allowed to emerge from the car they became convinced that there was absolutely no chance for liberty and almost certain death if they remained here.
The Greeks, although eager to earn and honest penny tamping ties and driving spikes, were glad to leave Liberty behind.
The home-grown laborers of Liberty do not want anything down here that looks or smells like Greeks. The information leaked out that about 100 Greeks had arrived last Saturday, were installed in a box car and were scheduled for work in these parts.
Armed with a full supply of spectacular skyrockets and Roman candles and noisy firecrackers, local anti-Greek enthusiasts surrounded the car and began what had all the earmarks of a patriotic demonstration. The Greeks looked at the affair from an entirely different viewpoint.
"Surely, this is not Liberty," said one of the Greeks.
"No, it is not liberty," said the captain of the gang. "This is hell."
Labels: fireworks, immigrants, Liberty, railroad
