Martin Irons, a native of Scotland born in 1833, came to the United States at age fourteen as a machinist's apprentice and, after learning the trade, lived and worked in numerous places across the country. By 1884 he was employed in the Missouri Pacific Railway shop in Sedalia, Missouri. Believing strongly in organization as a way for individuals to improve their lives, he took an active role in groups including the Knights of Pythias and the Grange. In Sedalia he became interested in the early union society called the Knights of Labor and was instrumental in organizing workers employed on Jay Gould's southwestern railroad lines. In 1886 the railroad union, District Assembly 101, went on strike, and Irons, then chairman of the executive committee, rose to prominence as its leader. The strike was marked by violence, and after it ended Irons was blacklisted. He retired in nearby Bruceville but remained active in social reform movements until his death in 1900.