Like the St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900, the events were associated with progressive civic reform.

As the strike loomed, one of the prominent officials of San Francisco's United Railroads, Patrick Calhoun, contracted with the nationally known "King of the Strikebreakers" James A. Farley, for four hundred replacement workers waiting on board ship.

The violence started two days later, Bloody Tuesday, when a shootout on Turk Street left 2 dead and about 20 injured.

[2] This development seriously undermined labor's political position, and the Daily News was the only one of the city's newspapers to support the strikers.

[3] The action effectively collapsed in November, and officially abandoned in mid-February with the dissolution of Carmen's Union Local 205.