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[[Image:1908strike.jpg|thumb|right|Strikers and citizens pose with car seized by strikers on [[April 6]]]]The next day, Monday, [[April 6]], McCain and the striking workers stopped and boarded a Bayshore car returning to Pensacola from [[Fort Barrancas]]. The company agents operating the car surrended control to the strikers without violence. The strikers then returned the car back to Pensacola, let off its passengers, and took the car into the barn, disrupting service for the remainder of the day.<ref>“Strikers Capture Street Car This Morning Without Bloodshed,” Pensacola Evening News, April 6, 1908.</ref> Pensacola mayor [[C. C. Goodman]], though he had initially tried to arbitrate the dispute, ultimately took the position that, as head of the City government, his utmost obligation was to ensure the Pensacola Electric Company met the demands of its franchise agreement with the [[City of Pensacola]] to furnish reliable streetcar service, even if that meant running the lines with strikebreakers. Goodman sent the following dispatch to the offices of the Pensacola Electric Company: “Gentleman{{cquote|''Gentleman: I notice that your cars are not being operated this morning on all lines of the city. As mayor of Pensacola, I hereby demand that you shall renew and continue the operation of your cars in accordance with the provisions of your franchise ordinance. Let me have your answer in regard to this matter today.”<ref>''|20px|20px|“Pensacola Electric Company and Its Employees Lock Horns,” Pensacola Journal, April 7, 1908.</ref> }} The union viewed Goodman’s actions as hastening the company’s use of strikebreakers, and Goodman was regularly disparaged in the union’s strike bulletins.<ref>“Dope About Town,” Union Bulletin (Pensacola,) May 12, 1908.</ref>

[[Image:1908militia3.jpg|thumb|right|State militia escorting strikebreakers]]At the onset of the strike, the Pensacola Electric Company had begun placing ads for local strikebreakers, but only one man responded. Thereafter the company sought to import strikebreakers from out of town in order to resume service. The strikebreakers, brought into the city by the Pensacola Electric Company from New York and elsewhere, began arriving in Pensacola [[on April 10 ]] and continued to come into the city for the next several days.<ref>Wayne Flynt. “Pensacola Labor Problems and Political Radicalism,” The Florida Historical Quarterly 43, no. 4 (April 1965): 319.</ref> The company erected housing for the men in the car barn. After a mob of strikers and sympathizers met the first train strikebreakers violently, Florida Governor [[Wikipedia:Napoleon B. Broward|Napoleon B. Broward]] ordered the state militia into Pensacola. Companies K and M of the state militia arrived on the evening of [[April 11]]. After their arrival the militia provided security for the strikebreakers, meeting them upon their arrival and escorting them to the company’s car barn.<ref>“43 Strike Breakers Arrive in Pensacola,” Pensacola Journal, April 11, 1908.</ref> Mayor Goodman ordered all saloons closed until further notice on The state troops were quartered at the [[April 10Old Escambia County Courthouse]], and on April 11 issued an order imposing a 10:00 pm curfew and prohibiting until further notice all public gatherings other than sessions of schools and churches.<ref>“State Troops Arrive; More Are Expected,” Pensacola Journal, April 12, 1908.</ref> On in tents in the afternoon median of North [[April 14Palafox Street]], the company resumed limited service on two lines,<ref>“Cars Are Operated Guarded By Troops,” Pensacola Journal, April 15, 1908.</ref> with the cars being operated by strikebreakers, and the lines being guarded by more than five hundred state militia troops.<ref>Flynt, 323.</ref>

On April 10, Mayor Goodman ordered all saloons closed until further notice, and the next day issued an order imposing a 10:00 pm curfew and prohibiting until further notice all public gatherings other than sessions of schools and churches.<ref>“State Troops Arrive; More Are Expected,” Pensacola Journal, April 12, 1908.</ref> On the afternoon of [[April 14]], the company resumed limited service on two lines,<ref>“Cars Are Operated Guarded By Troops,” Pensacola Journal, April 15, 1908.</ref> with the cars being operated by strikebreakers, and the lines being guarded by more than five hundred state militia troops.<ref>Flynt, 323.</ref> [[Image:1908militia.jpg|thumb|left|State militia camping in the median of [[Palafox Street]]]]As the lines continued to be run by strikebreakers, Florida Adjutant General Clifford Foster, Escambia County Solicitor [[Scott M. Loftin]], and other parties worked to bring the two sides together to mediate the dispute. Progress seemed to be made (Foster stated on April 15 that the prospects of a settlement were “very bright”),<ref>“The Prospects of a Settlement of the Strike Very Bright,” Pensacola Journal, April 15, 1908.</ref> and as a result, strike-related tension and violence tapered off, and state militia troops began to withdraw from the city, with only one reserve company remaining in the city by [[April 20]]. However, on [[April 21]], a crowd fired upon a streetcar on the West Hill line and fatally wounded the conductor, a Mr. [[G. Hoffman]].<ref>Flynt, 323.</ref> Two strikers were arrested in connection with the shooting, and, although the men were later released, the previously widespread support of the public at this point began to diminish. Stenographer [[W. L. Wittich, Jr.]] was also fired upon while boarding a streetcar. On the evening of [[May 11]], an empty a streetcar was dynamited in on the [[East Hill]]line. No one Although there were no passengers on board, and the two operators were uninjured, and there was injuredonly minimal damage to the car, and the act was vilified in the press. The ''Pensacola Journal'' called the act "dastardly". The union promptly denounced the act and denied that any of its members were responsible. A ''Union Bulletin'' of [[May 12]] noted, “It is to be regretted because whether or not a union man did the work, the company will so charge, and at least a portion of the public so believe.”

<gallery perrow="23" widths="200px">Image:1908strike.jpg|Strikers and citizens pose with car seized by strikers on [[April 6]]Image:1908militia.jpg|State militia camping in the median of [[Palafox Street]]