An Iriot original.

I was born with a special gift.

The ability to mentally transform any situation into the worst case scenario.

In my own brain.

My therapist calls my gift catastrophizing.

And that's why I'm uniquely qualified to scrutinize and analyze history's greatest disasters.

And find out who's to blame.

They say history repeats itself.

Not on my watch.

My name is Rebecca Delgado-Smith, and I am the alarmist.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the alarmist.

A comedy podcast where we talk about history's greatest tragedies and figure out who's to blame.

Today we're discussing the great railroad strike of 1877.

Here's what you need to know.

Following the American Civil War, the United States of America entered the Gilded Age.

A period of time when the political and financial elite became enormously wealthy on the backs of the working class

who labored for starvation level wages in dangerous conditions.

During a time of rapid industrialization and an economic boom,

the railroad industry exploded, becoming America's second largest employer.

Railroad construction was a huge expense and had to be built on speculation

with the help of loans and land grants.

When one banking firm filed for bankruptcy,

...