followed. More than a thousand freight cars were burned. Trains
were derailed, passengers fired at, and lives lost. The officers
of the union, after two or three weeks, wrote to the managers of
the railroads principally affected, describing the strike as
threatening "not only every public interest, but the peace,
security and prosperity of our common country."[Footnote: United
States _v._ Debs, 64 Federal Reporter, 724, 729.] A
temporary injunction was issued against these officers and others
by the Circuit Court of the United States in an equitable action
brought by the United States under the direction of the
Attorney-General. They disobeyed the injunction. Their arrest
for this contempt of court promptly followed. This stopped the
flood at its source. To quote from testimony given a few weeks
later by Mr. Debs, the President of the Union, "As soon as the
employees found that we were arrested and taken from the scene of
action, they became demoralized and that ended the strike....
The men went back to work and the ranks were broken and the
strike was broken up,... not by the army, and not by any other
power, but simply and solely by the action of the United States
court in restraining us from discharging our duties as officers
and representatives of our employees."[Footnote: United States
_v._ Debs, 64 Federal Reporter, 724, 759.] The defendants
in the contempt proceedings having been found guilty and
sentenced to jail for terms varying from three to six months,
appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but without
avail.[Footnote: _In re_ Debs, 158 U. S. Reports, 564,
600.]

Injunctions not infrequently are granted as an equitable relief
against a legal judgment. _Summum jus, summa injuria_ is an