REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE Railroad Riots IN JULY, 1877.

Q. Just go on and make a statement and what you know of the causes of the riot that came within your knowledge by conversation with the employés of the road, etc., and what came under your observation during the riot and the days of the progress of the riot?

A. I think I should prefer to answer questions first before I go into anything like that, because my personal observation does not extend over a great deal.

A. On Friday morning. The first was on Thursday at noon. I did not know anything about it at all till Friday morning's paper. I do not know any of our people knew there was any trouble beyond the railroad employés, but it was mentioned in Friday morning's paper, and on Friday morning we learned that a proclamation was issued, and the military were called for. I went to the depot about twelve o'clock. About half-past one I went out to the Eighteenth regiment, at Torrens station. Remained there three or four hours. There was considerable of a crowd there. I talked to Mr. Hice—he is on trial here now—he appeared to be a leader of the party there. Colonel Guthrie talked with him. He told him that he would get on the trains as they were coming into the city and inform the conductors and engineers and trainmen that there was a strike, and have them abandon their trains when they came in. I talked with him a good while, expostulating with him. He said they did not intend to perform any overt act, that they felt persuaded they could accomplish their purposes by abandoning their trains. It required experts and people of experience to take them out again. They knew such people were not about. I told them I thought it would soon get out of his hands. The sheriff and General Pearson had been out there just before. I came on the ground while he was there—probably came out on the cars. The military were called into position two or three times. The crowd was uneasy. There were no trains going eastward. I think there were some trains passed while I was there on Friday, and a good many people came out on an engine during the afternoon. I came in on Friday night. I was about at the office. Around town there was no particular excitement. We had been subject to these things for years—strikes of employés in the mills and in the mines—and they generally exhausted themselves without any violence. We did not anticipate any trouble, but on Saturday the knowledge came that the Philadelphia troops were coming, and we had our Sixth division out—the regiments and two batteries—and had a kind of a circus. Great crowds of people gathered. Crowds of women and children gathered on the hill side. I was not at the depot nor at Twenty-eighth street at the time the firing occurred, but was somewhat conversant with the condition of things.

Q. Did you know on Friday, when you went to Twenty-eighth street, that the militia had been called out? At that time did you know it?

A. There was a printed proclamation, purporting to be coming from the Governor. On Friday morning, at nine o'clock, it had been posted on the streets, calling for the local troops here. General Pearson's orders were printed in all the papers, as well as the orders of Thursday night. All the telegraphic dispatches were in the papers on Friday morning—from the sheriff, from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Attorney General, the Adjutant General, and Mr. Farr—some eight or nine dispatches were all printed on Friday morning, and our division called out. At that time, the whole public was informed as to the fact of the military there.

A. I learned, after the firing, that a great deal of excitement prevailed. I might as well state now, that the fact of the firing upon the mob did not make any difference, whether it was by orders or without orders. The crowd supposed it was by orders, because their vengeance seemed to be concentrated on General Pearson, who was in command. They thought he gave orders, but practically it made no difference whether it was by an order or without an order. It makes a difference, in fact, so far as parties killed were concerned, or the act itself; but they supposed that an order had been given to fire, and that they then had a grievance, which they had not before. Before that, it was confined to railroad employés. They assumed that they had not got wages enough. There were double-headers put on, but when people were killed, they said there was then a good cause for grievance, and they rushed to the gunshops—one right opposite my office—took all the weapons they could find in there, broke open the whole place, carried off the guns, and paraded the streets. The feeling then was intense—bitter, and revengeful feelings seemed to pervade all classes of labor. There had been a sympathy with them all the way through—they were part of the labor element. I think myself that if the military had not been there, and had not provoked a collision at that unfortunate time, that there would not have been a life lost, nor a dollar's worth of property destroyed. As everybody can tell after the battle is lost how it might have been won, we find that after we survey the whole thing over again, it is pretty hard to lay the blame on anybody. The action of the militia just at that time has been the common action of the militia all over the world. It requires the strictest and sternest discipline of the regular soldier, to obey the command after he has been struck or knocked, to refrain from resistance. The militiaman is not paid for it; he carries his humanity into the ranks, and when he is struck he resists. What our militia did here, they did in Baltimore, they did all over the country, and they would do again under similar circumstances. The question of their firing without orders, is a thing you never can provide against with militia.

Q. Sunday morning, what was done by the military or civil authorities, county or city?

A. Sunday morning, at nine o'clock, when I came to my office I found a number of gentlemen there, merchants, manufacturers, and business men, alarmed and dazed by the condition of things. About the first thing that was done, was to write a resolution—they wrote a resolution to get the citizens together, and provide a leader. They waited from Thursday until Sunday, the city, the county, and the State at her back, and we had not provided any other agency for self-protection or the preservation of the peace, but these. When we ascertained on Sunday morning, that twelve hundred soldiers, veterans, under the command of experienced officers, had not been able to quell this violence, we felt that no fifty or one hundred men could do it, and we were at a loss to dam the brook on Saturday night, and the flood was then over, and we had to wait until the water subsided before we could get foothold or make a landing. We went to work as fast as we could. I went to the Union depot until about half-past nine or ten o'clock. I saw quite a lot there, they appeared to be cool but utterly unable to provide for the difficulty, the military having gone away, contrary to their instructions or their orders. While I was in there, General Gallagher, I think it was, came in. He had been around the city, and they asked him how many troops it would take to hold the city at that time, and he said, it would require at least fifteen thousand. I stayed there that time, and a servant came up and said we were the last people in the hotel building, and we had better go off. Then we went to the Monongahela House.

A. Yes; in Westmoreland, I think. The whole town was out, you know. I think there has a very great delusion taken possession of the public mind, in regard to the Sunday's burning. There were not many people on the tracks at any time during Sunday, because they were crowded with cars—cars burning slowly, and the work of destruction commenced at night. The motive was, they wanted to burn these troops out of the round-houses, and communicating fire from car to car, was rather slow, and many people imagined, that because there were but few people on the tracks during the day, therefore a few people could have controlled them. The reflection seems to be made upon the officers of the city and county, and the military, that a few policemen, or a few military, could have driven those people off the tracks, and that would have been the end of it. But anybody that stood there during that day, and was among these people, found thousands of people on the streets and on the side-walks, the side streets, at Liberty street, that prevented any water being thrown on the cars, and prevented any interference. It was not necessary for many people to be there to fire the cars. They were strangers. I suppose the railroad men who had the first grievances, did not go there, because they might have been recognized, but they all stood on the streets, and not a drop of water dared to be thrown on these tracks. It is the sheerest nonsense to talk about ten men, or twenty-five men, or two thousand men, to have stopped this. They had broken open barrels of whisky, and they knew the military were gone, and they were perfectly satisfied there was no police force to stop the people, and unarmed citizens called by the sheriff to put down the mob, was simply ridiculous. The sheriff did what any sheriff would do—he called a posse, a lot of clerks, or—lawyers, to put down a mob. The mob understood as well as anybody else, that that could not be done, it was not his fault, and it was not the fault of the mayor that there was not any police. The State prevented the city of Pittsburgh from borrowing any money. The bankers in this city offered to furnish the amount of appropriation that was short for police, but they could not get the money back again, because the city could not borrow any money. The bankers offered to provide us with our usual number of police, but the State law stated that we could not borrow any money for that purpose.

A. Yes; it is in the Constitution, too. The State stepped in, and would not let us do it. Eighty-five men to cover twenty-five miles square. The patrolmen were up all Thursday night, and on Friday we hadn't any police. We held a meeting at half past twelve, and in the meantime a committee five was appointed, of which I was one, who went into the crowd, and asked them to stop. There was one man, he was in a blouse, he seemed to be dressed as a railroader—he attached a burning car to a locomotive, and jumped the track four or five squares east of the depot. When our committee came in, and when Bishop Tuigg was speaking, he rang his bell, and started off with his steam whistling, not allowing people to hear what was said, and there were words lost on the crowd that was in front. They were not railroad men. If it hadn't been for the fireman the city would have been in ashes. If it hadn't been for the citizens preserving the peace, there is no telling what would have happened. The matter was of such dimensions, and extended over so many cities, and miles of railway, that if this whole city had have burned down, and if every man, woman, and child had been arrested, that was not the end of the thing. It was only a small element—a portion of it. I think it extended over nine cities, and twenty thousand miles of railway. It had proclamations from six or seven Governors, and proclamations from the President of the United States. It was a matter not of contagion, but of organization. I have here the proclamation of the Governor, and meeting of trainmen.

A. Not being a member of any of their organizations, although I am of some other societies, I only get it by publications which I have in my bound files, and can furnish you the meetings of trainmen, and the fact that on the 16th of July, on Monday, that these same railroad men, on account of wages in West Virginia, Martinsburg, resisted the authority. They called on the Governor, and the Governor appealed to the President of the United States. That on Wednesday, the 18th, the proclamation of the President of the United States was issued, which was twenty-four hours in advance of the first interruption here, and that it extended over nine of the most populous States in the Union. It is a matter of current public positive history, which of itself would be sufficient to show that all the railroad employés were in consultation, and had, of course, an organization. I suppose that railroads had to reduce wages in consequence of reduced receipts, and that these people, with their oath bound organization, had agreed that the only way they could cure that, would be by stopping work. I think that was their only object.

Q. Have you any facts, aside from the actual existence of the strike, to show that they had secret organizations and a pre-arranged plan to strike throughout the nine States?

A. Not being a member of any secret organization myself, I was only governed, as a public journalist, by the facts that came to me.

Q. You arrive at that conclusion, then, from the existence of the strikes themselves, and their spreading over so large a territory?

A. Yes; and at the same time, it could not be simply contagion from one line to the other. There was not time enough to communicate from man to man along all the line of railroads, and that they having possession of the telegraphic wires at the same time, they had all the works of the entire railroad itself, and it was communicated to the whole of them, and they had their resolutions and perfected their organization.

Q. Do you know how many railroads in this country reduced their wages ten per cent. on the 1st of June?

A. I do not, except from the current reports at the time that the four great trunk lines did—branches of the roads east agreed with it. About forty thousand miles of railroad in the United States agreed with it. About all, although the strike was not developed all over. I think some of the New York roads, perhaps, arranged it with their employés, but still there was trouble. The main trouble here, was the reduction of wages. I don't know that it would be of benefit to this committee, but I would be perfectly willing to give my bound files which give the current history of that during the two weeks. It might be useful to look over to show the existence of this thing. There are many things that are official—the Governor's proclamation is official.

A. I will furnish them to you or send them to you at Harrisburg by express. You can keep them as long as you want. I can get them very well. I have extracts taken out of them, all of which I would be very glad to furnish. There is one thing I might state——

A. The daily and weekly are bound together. I have them bound, and I will furnish them gladly to you.

A. You can have from July 28, to August 24, that is two weeks. We felt here the crisis approaching, and the importance of this whole matter, and I telegraphed to Mr. Scott, president of the Pennsylvania railroad, these words:

Pittsburgh, Saturday noon, 1877.

To T. A. Scott, Philadelphia:

Don't you think you could best serve your company, rescue imperiled interests, and perhaps save valuable lives by your presence here, and make in person some proposition to convince our people your company has rights and grievances. The current sets against you with every shade of labor, and it is important that you should be on hand to decide whatever may be presented to you. I can assure you the situation is critical.

J. P. Barr.

That was on Saturday, about eleven o'clock, before any firing—before I knew that the Philadelphia people were here at all. I was so utterly convinced of the critical situation of affairs here, that I thought if Mr. Scott was here in person, that he might be able to say to these people that they were then an unlawful assembly, and that an appeal from him would settle this thing. If the committee desire, I will read his answer:

Philadelphia, July 21—4, P.M.

James P. Barr, Pittsburgh:

I have just received your message, and fully appreciate the grave importance of the matters transpiring in your community. You will speedily discover that the strike of a few of our railway employés is simply being used by the mob violence, which some of your people are permitting or encouraging, to effect other purposes, which, if successful, will destroy many of your leading local interests. The strike on our road at Pittsburgh was inaugurated without any notice to or conference with the officers of our company as to the existence of a grievance. The reductions in the compensation to the people in the service of this company are to-day less than in any other branch of business in the country, and were made only because of the great depression in trade interests, to enable us to aid the various communities in carrying on business at all. When violent possession was taken of our property, and the business obstructed, there was no recourse left us but to call upon the authorities of the city, county, and State to take charge of the matter, and vindicate the laws by the restoration of order in such form as to them should seem best. If I could be of any possible service in Pittsburgh, I would go out, but at present I think it would be most unwise to interfere in any manner with the State authorities in their enforcement of law and order.

Thomas A. Scott.

Philadelphia, July 25—12.30, P.M.

To James P. Barr, Pittsburgh:

What is the situation of affairs in Pittsburgh to-day? Are the loyal people in shape to protect life and property? The statements of my message of last Saturday to you have been terribly realized. I think there is not and cannot be any safety for life or property unless the State and United States authorities will adopt the measures necessary to restore absolute law and order, and make it permanent. Would be glad to have your views of the situation this morning.

Thomas A. Scott.

Pittsburgh, Wednesday, July 25—2, P.M.

To T. A. Scott, Philadelphia:

The local military and organized citizens, animated by a determination to quell mobs, are quite sufficient to preserve the peace and property of this city. Everything is quiet. Our impending danger is the suspension of general labor and thronging our streets with idle men. Local traffic for coal and provisions is first demanded.

Neither you nor labor will surrender, because it involves humiliation, but you can suggest or agree to a board of arbitration to present a compromise, which will relieve you and labor without disturbing the rights or grievances of either. Compromise governs the daily business of the world. You have it in your power to restore peace and preserve society. The discontent of many years against the extravagance of railway management has culminated, and forms the subject of complaint, as well as the reduction of wages.

I implore you not to assume the ground that military can settle anything but defiance of law. Have this compromise effected at once, and the country will owe you a debt of gratitude.

J. P. Barr.

Philadelphia, Wednesday—4, P.M.

To James P. Barr:

I like your suggestion as to the restoration of the local business of the country, and the giving of employment to mines and factories. This it has always been a pleasure to me to do, and we will do it to-morrow, if your people will protect the employés of the company who are willing and anxious to work and preserve the interest of the country, as highways like our own are able to do.

My own judgement is that the restoration of law and order can only be effected by a return to common sense by the people, and by them refraining from encouraging or connecting themselves with mobs or violence of any kind, and that the channels of trade and business will immediately fill up, and give employment to every man that the depressed condition of the business of the country will permit. I am sure we shall be glad to aid them, but to do it in any other way would be but simply temporizing with the worst evil the world has ever seen; but to effect permanent peace and order, and protection to life and property, the matter must be settled by the governmental authorities of the country as they exist, and independently of the transportation companies of the country, which have been doing and are anxious to do their full duty.

I believe if our men are protected by you and by other good citizens, there won't be an hour's delay in opening our roads for the convenience of traffic. I am sure that nearly the entire force connected with our road is thoroughly loyal, and that no trouble will come from them, but that they will do their duty.

Thomas A. Scott.

It is well enough in Scott to say—I think he stated in an independent communication, that ninety per cent. of the Pennsylvania railroad employés were loyal. If there were ten per cent. of them loyal I think it would be nearer the truth, for if on Sunday twenty-five men could have put down that riot—they have three hundred clerks, and three or four hundred more in their machine shops, that could have been sworn in by the mayor—they had a better right to protect them. I suppose it is well enough for Scott to say, that they were not invited by the citizens of Pittsburgh. It was a rebellion on the part of the employés, because of grievances they had, or supposed they had, and when mad riot was inaugurated after that, other people came in to do it. It was not the people of Pittsburgh, the taxpayers or representatives of the people of Pittsburgh, any more than it was in Philadelphia in 1844, while a riot held possession of that city for over a week, notwithstanding the military. It was an unfortunate thing that the military were ever called. They did the very best they could. They supposed they were coming to restore order, by the quickest method. I have no complaints to make in that regard, because if our foresight was as good as our hindsight, I don't think there would have been any trouble in this case.

Q. Did you have any consultation with the sheriff about his calling for militia?

A. No; I never heard of any call. I did hear, to some extent, I may say. I knew that the railroad authorities were more perfectly aware of the extent of this trouble than the community generally, and when the strike was made, on Thursday, July 19—when the day for putting the order for double-headers into effect. That when an officer of the railroad was assaulted, and the police were asked to arrest that man, which was done, and immediately communication was made with the State authorities to provide for a military force.

A. As a member of a grand jury, I cannot tell who swore to these facts, although I did make certain facts public. I can state here the facts that came before me—that the general of the Sixth division here was called several hours before the civil authorities were called upon. That he was at the railroad depot, and in communication with the State authorities. That he was called there by the State authorities to consult with them. Under the law, I take it, that the civil authorities must come in as a sort of figure head. It was not intended that the sheriff could get any posse of our citizens to put down the riot, but he had to follow up the requirements of the law. That was after the railroad had called upon the State to do this work, being perfectly aware that we had no police force sufficient. The sheriff did his full duty. It was not the fault of the mayor that there was no police. So I do not think the railroad, if they intended to meet this thing, had anything else to do but to call on the State. I think it is a most dangerous power, and one that will stab the liberties of this country, that by the click of the telegraph they can call for a thousand armed men, instead of exhausting the civil authority, if it takes two weeks to do it. It is a dangerous power to give them.

A. I say it is a power entrusted to him, that Mr. Scott can call on the Governor of the State and furnish transportation, after the sheriff only says so, because the sheriff must conform with the law.

A. It is dangerous that any man has a right to … with a thousand armed troops.

A. The Governor or any other man. The bill reads: It says that the military shall be subordinate to the civil authorities. It means that the civil power are paramount, and the military should never be called in except to kill—they are not to be degraded into police.

Q. I want to know whether you wish to convey the idea that the railroad company or the sheriff has the power to call out the military, or that he can only make a request, and the Governor has the power?

A. Under the old militia law of the State the sheriff could call them out, or General Pearson, or the major general in command of this division, and he could oblige them to serve as a posse. As it is to-day, he cannot do it.

Q. I understand, from what you have already said, that it was not necessary, in your opinion, to call out the militia in this instance, at the time they were called?

A. I don't exactly mean that, but I do mean to say, it seemed to be the only power at hand, as we have not enough provided in the city or county. It was ill advised and bad judgment when they were called to put them inside of the mob, and not to keep them in reserve. The purpose of a soldier is simply to kill, and it was particularly ill advised on Saturday, in the teeth of protests made by representative citizens. It could effect nothing but what it did effect, and that was violence in every form.

Q. You had not sufficient police force here to cope with a mob of its extent and power?

Q. And I understand it would be folly for the sheriff to attempt to raise a posse of citizens to cope with it—then there was nothing left but to call out the military?

A. I do not see anything else—if they intended to do what they supposed they could do. I do not think it was necessary to call out anybody.

A. They could not have moved a train, because they had not the men to move it, but they could have done there what they did elsewhere. They could have let it exhaust itself. The very presence of the soldiers begat excitement, and if they intended to intimidate the great crowd, I suppose the calling of the soldiers would do that, if they had cool leaders, men who understood what was to be done in an exigency of that sort. They ought not to be thrown into a crowd to be assaulted by stones.

Q. Would the mob have exhausted itself before there would have been great destruction of property?

Q. Would not there not have been a loss of perishable property that was in transit, too?

A. They seemed to be willing to make provision even for that. It seems to me the whole labor movement has failed signally in strikes in coal mines, in mills, and in large places, because it was only local, and the whole community failed to sympathize with them. They failed to get their rights by strikes, because it did not affect the general interests. They discovered, for the first time, where forty millions of people could be stricken as with a blow, by all the people on these roads refusing to work. They found out, for the first time, where the weak point was, as well as the strong point, in this country. They can do it again. When the employés—brakemen, trainmen, conductors, and engineers will agree not to run a railroad in this country, that is the end of traffic, and they can starve out whole communities. They discovered that fact, and then it was on Saturday evening, that labor sympathizing with those people, they partook of the strike, and helped to burn cars and carry on the work of destruction. That is a danger we are subject to, and the Governor, in this city, when he came back from the West, the very first proclamation he issued, was this:

Pittsburgh, July 25—1.30, A.M.

To the people of the State of Pennsylvania:

Whereas, There exists a condition of turbulence and disorder within the State, extending to many interest, and threatening all communities, under the impulse of which there has grown up a spirit of lawlessness, requiring that all law observing citizens shall organize themselves into armed bodies for the purpose of self-protection and preserving the peace; therefore,

I, John F. Hartranft, Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, recommend that all citizens shall organize themselves into associations, with such arms as they can procure, for the purpose of maintaining order and suppressing violence, and all good citizens are warned against appearing in company with any mob or riotous assembly, and thus giving encouragement to violators of the law.

(Signed)

J. F. Hartranft,
Governor.

He did not confine it to Pittsburgh, but called for the whole power of the United States to put it down.

A. It got into coal and everything. It struck labor. They found when you hit the mills it was only local; but when you struck the railroads it struck everybody. I will furnish you files of the papers. Also the official report of the coroner, and the testimony taken before him, and the number of people killed on Saturday.

A. Yes. The first fire there were ten people killed outright, and there were some sixty or seventy wounded—I have the names of all of them. The first fire the people were killed that had no right to be killed—the fire of Saturday night. Anybody that was killed after Saturday night had a right to be killed; but it is a very dangerous doctrine—judges have to charge that—that everybody is constructively a mob that is then around, but that won't do in the United States, to charge that everybody is a mob.

The witness: When I dismissed my command at the Union depot, at eleven o'clock on Saturday night, just in advance of that I want to say, because I took all the responsibility, General Brown left Twenty-eighth street on that afternoon about one or two o'clock, and came to the Union depot and left me in command, and it is in your testimony that I sent an officer to Colonel Howard, with the purpose in view—that purpose I want to say—I had felt all day that whatever orders they had were not carried out, and I thought it was impossible, so far as I was concerned, that something should be done, and I sent an officer to Colonel Howard, to ask his coöperation, and I would take a different course. I intended to vacate that railroad and prevent any one from coming on it; and I want to say in connection with that, there was some great difficulty—the local trains running in from Walls and East Liberty were coming constantly, and the strikers at all points on the railroad were arriving to and fro. They were getting off these trains and getting on them, so that the military were at a great disadvantage. Hundreds came in on every train, and got off right on the track; and another point I want to say, that after my men assembled—the companies coming at the original call—the men that wanted to come in on the railroad were put off; they couldn't get into the city; they wanted to report to the companies here on duty. They were put off the trains. I was telegraphed to for two or three days, men along the railroads were put off. I re-organized my regiment Monday morning—all the companies—two companies at the request of Mr. King, who was here from the Allegheny Valley railroad. At his request, I left one company in charge of the sheds, and my command was re-assembled, very promptly, to my great astonishment, Monday morning. There was no difficulty in getting the men to the armory and re-assembling, and I had two hundred and forty or two hundred and fifty men, and had two companies outside of the city. My command was in service until the 6th day of December, and did faithful service. My officers are men that don't run away.

Q. You account for the small turn out of your command, when you first assembled them, from the fact that they were prevented from coming on the trains, some of them?

At this point the committee adjourned until to-morrow morning, at eight and a half o'clock.

The committee met, at half past ten o'clock. Mr. Reyburn in the chair. All members present except Messrs. Larrabee and Lindsey.

Q. Will you be kind enough to make a statement of what you know in relation to the late riots?

A. On Friday, I believe the 21st of July, I received orders from the adjutant of the regiment to which we are attached, to assemble my command as soon as possible, at the armory. I sent a notice to the sergeants of the company, and about two o'clock in the afternoon, I reported to Colonel Howard, commanding the regiment, at Union depot. We stayed there some time—a short time—I suppose an hour, perhaps an hour and a half. The regiment was ordered out on the street, with two pieces of Breck's battery, to proceed to Twenty-eighth street. We were halted, after marching three or four hundred yards. We had no ammunition, and there was a box opened on the stone wall near the depot, and to the best of my recollection, we there received one hundred and twenty rounds for the company—that was issued to us—to the whole of the command, and we remained on the street some time, I suppose, maybe three quarters of an hour, and then we were ordered back on to the platform of the depot, inside of the railroad company's lines. We remained there all that night, the night of Friday, and until Saturday morning, until about four o'clock. At four o'clock we were ordered to move out along the line of the tracks. Two pieces of Breck's battery was placed on a gondola car, and the regiment I understood had been sent around in the rear on the hill. We were the first company on the track at Twenty-eighth street, and arriving there, we found from twenty-five to thirty men, citizens. There were not over thirty, I think; and to the best of my knowledge, the colonel ordered me to clear the tracks, and put them off the company's property, which we did. We moved up and down the track, and that was repeated, I suppose, a couple of hours. When we would move down the track to clear it, the parties would gather in on our rear and flank, there had been no pickets out, and they would gather in on our rear on the track. We remained there with the command, clearing the tracks, I suppose, until about two o'clock in the afternoon.

A. Yes; on Saturday, perhaps later than that. I am not certain about the time. At that time I came in, had permission to come in and attend to some private business, and I was not there during the firing. As soon as I heard there was such a thing, I hastened out, and found that the Philadelphia troops had been put in the round-house, and it was reported that the Fourteenth and Nineteenth regiments, which constitute our division, that the Eighteenth had been sent to the Union depot. I learned this at the hospital. There was then a great mob making such a noise, as a mob usually does. I hastened to the Union depot, and met the sergeant, who informed me that our regiment was out at the transfer office. I went out there, and found General Brown and Colonel Howard with a portion of the command in a shed surrounded by cars. I asked Colonel Howard—he was the first officer I saw—asked him what he was doing there. He said he was there by orders, and asked me the state of affairs in the city. I told him the condition in the neighborhood of the Union depot. There was a large mob upon the street—from the Union depot to Twenty-eighth street was crowded with a mob, and they were hooting, yelling, and threatening what they would do. I heard them shouting, they would break into the armories and gun stores—that was the common threat that was used by the mob on the street. That afternoon, Colonel Howard said to me, that he would see General Brown, who was up stairs in the transfer office. General Brown came down. He asked me the condition. I made to him the same statement I had made to Colonel Howard, and I advised him to take another position than that—he had first asked me what my advice would have been. I told him that I thought he might get a better place for the men than that. I then came down to the city, to the armory, and found the mob there who had broken in and taken all the arms that had been left in the armory, with the exception of those that had been concealed. They got the arms and left.

A. It is on Market street. It is in the city property, over one of the market-houses. All of the regiments are quartered there in the city property. I suppose I had been there fifteen or twenty minutes when the balance of the officers, and the men of the regiment, came down into the armory. There was nothing more done that night. I was on the streets, I suppose, until twelve o'clock, until an alarm from the box at Twenty-eighth street sounded for fire, and, in company with several other persons, we started on the hill above the hospital, or near the hospital, not quite so far out, and there saw what I took to be the first car that was burned that had been set on fire. It was running down near the round-house. I remained on the hill a good portion of that evening—it was then morning.

A. Sunday morning; yes, sir. Sunday morning I came home and laid down awhile, and got breakfast, and started to the city to see if anything had been done to gather the battalion together. I saw none of the officers on the street at all, I believe, with the exception of the assistant adjutant general, Colonel Moore, of our division, and one officer of General Pearson's staff. There was nothing done that day until afternoon. A citizen came up to the house—I had gone home. He said to me, says he, "The citizens are going to put this thing down. They would like to get your arms." I said, "No; if the citizens will back us up, we will find a gun for every man. We have got all ours. All we want is ammunition and backing." I sent out and I had as many men of my company who lived near me come to a room in my own house, and I there ordered those men to go out, and order the balance of the company to take their accoutrements, which they had so thrown off, and come to the mayor's office. I did not want to go to my own armory. In fact, I was afraid to go there, from the fact that it was a place that could not have been defended at all. It could easily be set fire to. Went to the mayor, and asked him if I could have one of the rooms in which to assemble men. He said, "Certainly." He was glad I had come. I sent one of my officers out—my first lieutenant, Mr. Brown—out to our colonel's house. I sent my lieutenant out to notify Colonel Howard what I had done—I had ordered the company to assemble at the mayor's office—and asking if he would procure us more ammunition than what I had. He came in—General Brown came in—and General Brown gave me an order on Major Buffington, and Mayor McCarthy furnished us with a wagon in which to go out and get ammunition. Major Buffington returned word that they had scarcely sufficient ammunition to give to their own guard. I stated the case to Mayor McCarthy, and Mayor McCarthy, about eleven o'clock, started out, and, in the course of a half or three quarters of an hour, he came back and handed me two hundred and forty rounds which he had got. He asked me if I would remain with him during the night, and put down any disturbance. I said I would, subject to the orders of my superior officers. On Monday morning, about half past eight or nine o'clock, I had left the men go to get something to eat, and the mayor said to me, "I don't want you to let the men go away from here unless under orders, and I will see that they receive provisions; that I should take my men around to a saloon near there; they would be attended to there." Shortly after breakfast he notified me there was a boat load of miners coming down on the packet from Elizabeth. He had received information that they had come down, and expected a pretty rough time, and asked me to go with them. I assembled the men, and General Brown went down with us. There was a squad of police. As I recollect the line of march, there was a squad of police in front. There was my company, and then there was a company of citizens, armed with shot-guns, rifles, and carbines, under the command of General Negley. General Negley and Mayor McCarthy and General Joe Brown were with us. We went down to Smithfield street, and we learned that the men, in place of coming down on the packet as far as its regular landing, had got off about half a mile above the landing, and come down that way; I suppose, so as to get in the city without any trouble. I threw my company across Grant street, and blocked up the passage. Ordered the men to load, and I saw then, while standing in front of the command, General Negley and Mayor McCarthy and others, making addresses to this band of miners—they were all reputed to be miners—I do not know whether they were or not. The crowd was dispersed. We marched down to Water street. There were no shots fired—no disturbance of any kind. They seemed to be pacified by the remarks made by the officers. We then went back to city hall, to the mayor's office, and were quartered there until the afternoon, when I received orders to report to my colonel. I reported to him on First avenue, and after supper we were sent to our armory again. During the night, between ten and eleven o'clock, I was ordered out again to support another detachment of the police. It seems that a party of roughs from Cumberland had taken a train, and taken possession of it, and the mayor was notified, and he sent down a detail of police, and we were sent down to support the police. The police had men under arrest before we got there, and the next day we escorted these men and the police over to Allegheny, to take the cars for Claremont. That was about all the trouble—all the duty we really did, with the exception of some ordinary patrolling—marching around. There was nothing of any importance.

Q. You came from the transfer station to your armory in the city—this was on Saturday night?

A. Yes, sir; well, I knew of the fact within half an hour afterwards as I stated. The balance of the officers came there while I was still in the armory.

A. My object in going there was to save any property that could possibly be saved. We had considerable property there of ours independent of the State's.

A. It would be impossible, in my own opinion, for any man to have gone through that mob in uniform.

Q. You rallied your men on Sunday and went to the mayor's office—did you remain there during all of Sunday?

A. All of Sunday evening and Sunday night and up until Monday, until we went with the mayor to stop the progress of these miners.

A. I do not know, sir. I know they were assembled on Monday—I do this from hearsay, which, of course, is not evidence—I know that there were two of the companies in Allegheny who were doing duty of one kind or other over there.

Q. There was no organization of the regiment—you received no orders from the colonel?

Q. Have you any information concerning the riots of July, the subject which we are investigating?

A. I was present at Twenty-eighth street, at the side of the hill, at the time the firing was done.

A. I was on my way home about a quarter past four o'clock, I think, to the best of my knowledge, and General Brown was in the car with me; the car was pretty well crowded; we were standing up. When we arrived at Twenty-eighth street he said to me, Come along up and see the military; come up along. I said I didn't care about going up, and I didn't think that any one outside of the railroad employés had any business there; but he said he was not going to stop, and rather insisted, and I got off the car, and went up there. We crossed over the track, and away from the crowd altogether, on the south side of the track, beside of the hill, and we walked up that way, leading along the public road—it is used as a public thoroughfare, to a certain extent—and there halted. I thought by going up there we could have a good view of everything that was going on, and get out of danger. I found out my mistake afterwards, though. When the military came up I was standing right about seventy-five or one hundred feet from the tracks, on the side of the hill. Was elevated a considerable distance, and had a good view over all that was going on. I kept moving my head, or rather my eyes rolling, from one point to the other, taking all in that was going on, and when the troops came up and cleared the track on both sides, the battery came up and across, through Twenty-eighth street; they could not get through, but part of them came to support the battery; came up, and when they got up to the crowd—there is a watch-box stationed on the side of the hill, by the side of the hospital gate, and there was a crowd of half grown boys congregated around that box. I seen, as soon as they came up by the boys, they stooped down and picked up stones, there was like to be trouble, but I concluded I would be safe where I was, and remained there. As soon as the troops came up to Twenty-eighth street crossing, the boys commenced to throw at the troops, and some missiles were thrown from the corner of the hospital grounds. Then the firing began, and continued for quite a length of time. I stayed where I was, until I saw two men fall, one of them as close as to that window, the other one further down, towards the track. There was a ravine in the rear of where I was standing, and I made the remark to a gentleman standing by me that it appeared to be getting very warm here, we had better get out of this, and I leaped right into the ravine, and there remained until the firing was over, and then came down and went home. I didn't come out of my house down the street, as I live eight squares further from there out. I didn't come in till that night. That was about what I saw of the occurrence.

A. Well, as I said, the starting point of the throwing came from the side of the watch-box—the watch-box of the man who tends switch. There was about a dozen of them around there, and that was where the throwing commenced.

A. No; I didn't see anyone struck particularly, but I would consider it would be impossible most to throw into that crowd without striking some one. I didn't see any missiles.

A. I was about seventy-five or one hundred feet when the throwing begun; I heard the word "fire" very distinctly.

A. I should say, that it came from the head of the military column—there was not more than a space of, I suppose, thirty feet, and it might have been a little more, it could not have been much more than that from the head of the column to Twenty-eighth street, where the crowd was.

A. No, sir; the company that marched up was then as close as I am to the other side of the table, with their arms at a charge.

A. Trying to press the crowd or make their way through them—was not thrusting or anything of that kind.

Q. You don't know who gave this command, or was it an exclamation you heard in the crowd?

A. I am under the impression that it was a command or a military order, but I would not swear who it was that gave it. I could not do that.

Q. Did it appear to be in front of the command—the head of the column where the command came from to fire?

A. I was standing immediately opposite the head of the column, and the sound of that command appeared to come directly opposite to me, down at the head of the column.

Q. At that time, when you heard this command, were any officers in advance of the column?

A. I seen several officers. The most of the officers were strangers. I don't know who they were. I could see they were officers, by their uniform.

A. They were in front of them at the head of the column. The troops were formed in a hollow square. They marched up, and then got the command front. They marched to the side of the hill, to clear the track of any that might be there, and those who were standing on the track got up on the side of the hill. There were very few on that side. The rear rank got the command, To the rear, open order, march.

A. Yes; very distinctly. They got the command to about, and then they marched to the north side, which left an interval of two or three tracks clear—formed a hollow square.

A. This company appeared to be at the head of the column, and they marched through up the lines. There was a portion of them came away to let them in, and they marched up.

Q. Was there a company marched up between those two lines, after the open order?

A. I don't think—I am not positive, but I am under the impression it was separated from the column. I would not swear positively. They were dressed in blue.

A. They marched up, I think, in sections of about four—I am not positive about that.

Q. And saw them open order, and one rank faced about, and they took positions on two sides of the track, which left a place between?

A. I am not positive, but I think this company was taken from the head, or a portion of it—it was not a full company, it was what you might term a squad—there was not, I suppose, over twenty-five.

A. I think a battery. I think this company, as I said, was taken from the head of the column, and marched up to support the battery, in order to get through the crowd at Twenty-eighth street.

Q. Did this company turn around and face the crowd—how did they face? This crowd, you said, they marched up and tried to press the crowd back, and they wheeled out from the column and marched up against the crowd, or did they go down between the two lines, and march up against the crowd?

A. I stated that they appeared to be reserved for the purpose of supporting that battery, as they were not brought from the rear in front rank at all.

A. All of them. I recognized Sheriff Fife, Mr. Pitcairn, superintendent of the Pennsylvania railroad, and General Pearson at the head. When they came up, the sheriff attempted to say something to the crowd, and there was such jeering and hallooing, it was impossible to be heard from where I was standing.

Q. You are positive about hearing this command to fire—was not this jeering——

A. That jeering and hooting was not at that particular time. There appeared to be a little confusion when that portion of the company came up, the jeering only began during the speaking of the sheriff. I don't know whether he was reading the riot act or not. I don't know what he was doing; of course I could not hear it.

A. I was there on Twenty-eighth street, on the side of the hill, when the troops were coming up, and I waited there until they came pretty well up the track, then I came down the hill, and I looked for my boy.

A. On Saturday afternoon, when I seen the troops come up—and they came in regular—I think it was four deep. They came up and stopped and halted. They turned around in open order, formed in a hollow square, and I turned around and came away with the young man, and I took him off the track, and started him down towards Penn street. I turned around and looked for my boy, and I could not see him. Walked in towards the cars, and stood by the side of the sand-house—the cars extended up a little ways beyond the sand-house—and I got right in to the end of the car. Then came orders to charge bayonets. I turned to get back, and the crowd was behind, and I could not get back. I got a bayonet right in behind here. [Indicating.] Just at that time Pearson stood in about that direction.

A. General Pearson, or Pierson, or whatever you call him. He was looking in the direction towards the watch-box. There was some stones being thrown over there—it would fly all to pieces, it appeared to be like clay. There was only one stone I could distinguish, about that large, [indicating,] the shape of an oyster shell. It came from there. Then there was a couple of old shoes—I didn't see anybody struck with them. Pearson turned around, when he was standing there he was looking about this—he turned around towards the men, and his officer standing here—I don't know whether they belonged to Pittsburgh, or where they belonged, and I don't know whether they were officers. Monkey jackets it was, I think. He says, "Order your men to fire." He repeated the word fire louder than he did the others, and turned around, and walked right down the track after that. I did not see them commence firing, and I dropped right down. They fired on that corner, on the side of the hill first—these men in front with the black plumes in their hat. I don't know one from the other. They wheeled round, and fired down Twenty-eighth street. They walked over the top of me. I laid there. I don't know where Pearson or any of the rest went after that. I got up, and helped this man in front of me, that was killed—I helped him back.

A. No; killed by the firing. A gun was right up against his breast when he was shot.

A. The military all around that hollow-square, except the lower end. I laid there; I was right underneath them; could see the whole thing that was going on. Some of the men fired right up in the air. I don't know whether they belonged to Philadelphia or not.

Q. Just say where the first fire commenced in that hollow square, so that the reporter can take it down.

A. It was right by those other fellows standing over on this side—right by them. I guess there was four or five of them repeated it. I took them to be officers.

A. They were facing the crowd to fire. Pearson turned and gave these men the command.

A. He gave the command to fire, and repeated the word fire louder than he did all the others.

Q. Were there any other officers in that hollow square, that you knew, besides General Pearson?

A. None to my knowledge, that I knew. There were some men that I knew, coming up ahead of them. Mr. Pitcairn and Mr. Watt came up ahead of them. I know some of them, beside, but don't know their names.

A. He was standing looking towards the switch box, where these were coming from. Right in front there were some men had a bayonet in another, and he wanted to get it away. He wheeled round this way and gave the orders for these men to fire, and then walked right down the track, but wherever he went to I could not say.

Q. Was he standing close to where the men commenced firing when he gave the order to those men? You say he wheeled around; those he gave the command to must have been behind him?

A. Here is where he stood. [Illustrating.] He wheeled around to the officers to the rear, and they passed the command to the officers in front. They repeated the order to fire.

Q. Did the officers who repeated that command repeat it in a distinct, loud tone of voice?

A. There were some three or four, I could not say exactly. I am positive there was three or four, if not more—positive of three.

Q. And then the firing was done—it was not a volley of musketry—it was just done at random, was it?

A. The first squad that fired there, I don't believe there was more than about half a second between them, and the squads, as soon as this squad fired on this side first, then these other fellows here fired, [indicating,] and the crowd broke away and run down. I laid there. They wheeled right down over me, and fired down Twenty-eighth street.

Q. When General Pearson gave the command to fire, then his officers under him repeated the command. Now how many soldiers fired when these officers repeated that command?

Q. Were the crowd resisting these men? What were they doing when the soldiers came up?

A. They were on Twenty-eighth street crossing—the railroad crosses Twenty-eighth street—they were on there. They were talking and hollering. Some man called Pearson—that was the man I took away—called Pearson a son of a bitch, and these men took Pearson's part. Says he: "Don't call Al a son of a bitch; he is a friend of mine!" I thought there was going to be a fight between them, too, and a man called me over and told me to get him away. I took him away with me across the track towards the round-house, and he started on down. There was nobody in front of me at all, and I had hardly got in there until the crowd was right at my heels.

Q. You say there was about twenty-five men fired? How many men fired after that?

A. I don't suppose it lasted more than about two and a half or three minutes—could not have lasted any longer, I think.

A. No, sir; they were all loaded before they got there. They could not have loaded in that time. After the first volley was fired, then I seen them loading—those men in front.