Source: Reports of the Criminal Cases tried in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston before Peter Oxenbridge Thacher (Boston: 1845)

October Term, 1840
Commonwealth v. John Hunt, Patrick Hayes, Daniel O’Neal, Supplier Woods, Michael O’Connor, Edward Farrington, John Odiorne, and others unknown.


Dennis Howard, a master bootmaker, said he had had some trouble on account of the society. He did not feel himself at liberty to employ any person who was not a member of the society. The first “strike” was made in 1835. A fair workman could then make about five pairs of boot a week. The work is now done considerably better, and a man can make about four pairs a week. The wages of a journeymen are not unreasonably high. The better work now done on boots is not the consequences of this organization. Thinks the same prices are paid for work on boots to persons who are not members. There was a general rise on the expense of living, at the time the society was organized, and also in 1836.