W. F. Burns

W. F. Burns is known for The Pullman Boycott: A Complete History of the Great R. R. Strike, published in 1894. In the book’s introduction, he says it was his first attempt at writing and explains that his work since boyhood had been mainly in railway service.

That firsthand background shapes the book. Burns describes himself specifically as a switchman, and he presents the Pullman Strike not as a distant historian but as someone whose own interests were bound up with the outcome. He also says he wrote in response to what he saw as one-sided press coverage of the conflict.

Very little biographical information about Burns appears to be readily documented beyond this book and the details he gives about himself in it. What does come through clearly is his point of view: he wrote from within the railroad labor world, with sympathy for workers and a strong sense that the strike mattered far beyond the rail yards.