Curran did refuse, and the Knights of Labor went to his employers and demanded that he be dismissed.
The Brewing Company had an agreement with the Knights of Labor to employ only members of the association in its works. They dared not refuse the request for fear of a strike being ordered, so they discharged Curran.
True to their threat, the Knights of Labor watched Curran, and prevented him from getting work in the city of Rochester.
He finally was forced to go to another town, but he soon found that he was a marked man. Word was sent from one branch of the Knights of Labor to another to follow Curran, and prevent his getting work.
From being a prosperous, well-to-do man, he became very poor, and finally suffered for food.
Then he went to the courts and asked for help.
His case has been before different judges for seven years, but at last it has been decided in his favor.
The Court of Appeals, the highest court in the State, has decided that it was not lawful for the brewers of Rochester to make a contract with the Knights of Labor, agreeing only to employ members of the society in their works. Further, that it was not lawful for this contract to be used as a means of depriving a man of the opportunity to earn a living.
The Court ordered that Curran should be given money for the damage he had sustained through the loss of his work, that the Knights of Labor should pay him this money, and should besides pay all the expenses of the trial.
This Labor Trust has been one of the most dangerous of all the Trusts, because the members of it have made it a practice to force every workman to join it, or else treats them as it treated Curran.