Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 340 - The Numismatic Collectors' Series Sale
Lot: 1077

East Pennsylvania Railroad Company Assortment, some Signed by Baer. Teens and 1900s. Brown, locomotive. Most are issued, cancelled. Mostly VF+ details. George Baer (1842-1914) was a "printer's devil" at the Somerset Democrat, and later acquired the newspaper. In 1862 he raised a company of volunteers for the Union Army and served as a captain at the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. After the war he was admitted to the bar, moved to Reading, and was hired by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as their counsel. In 1901, Baer was appointed President of the Reading Railroad. He almost immediately faced with the Coal Strike of 1902, the largest strike of the United Mine Workers. Baer refused to put down the strike or speak to the strikers. Finally, President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and settled the strike in favor of the workers. Baer's views are reflected in his statements; "The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for -- not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men of property to whom God has given control of the property rights of the country, and upon the successful management of which so much depends." Must be seen. Sold as is. [26]

Estimate
$150 to $300