Part 1

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

_Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878._

HARRISBURG: LANE S. HART, STATE PRINTER. 1878.

Transcriber's Note: Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. Missing words, dialect spellings, and inconsistencies have been retained as printed.

LEG. DOC.] No. 29.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE RAILROAD RIOTS IN JULY, 1877.

_Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878._

Mr. Reyburn, from the committee appointed to investigate the causes of the riots in July last, made a report; which was read as follows, viz:

_To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania_:

The committee appointed on the 3d day of February last, by virtue of a concurrent resolution of your honorable bodies, which resolution reads as follows, viz:

"_Resolved_, That a committee consisting of five members of the House of Representatives and three Senators, none of whom shall be from any of the counties in which said riots occurred, be appointed, whose duty it shall be to examine into all the circumstances attending the late disturbance of the peace in certain parts of the Commonwealth, known as the railroad riots, and endeavor, if possible, to ascertain the causes, and by what authority the troops of the State were called out, for what purpose, and the service and conduct of the same; and said committee shall have power, in pursuing their investigations, to send for persons and papers, examine witnesses under oath or affirmation, administer oaths, and employ a competent phonographer to take all the proceedings of the committee, and the testimony; the committee shall report in full, in writing, to the Senate and House of Representatives within twenty days, &c.,"

Beg leave to submit the following report, viz:

On the 4th day of February, 1878, the committee met at Harrisburg, and organized by the election of William M. Lindsey as chairman, Samuel B. Collins as clerk and stenographer, and J. J. Cromer as sergeant-at-arms. At said meeting it was also decided to commence taking testimony, first at Pittsburgh, that being the point where the first, and by far the most serious, riots occurred.

Your committee arrived at Pittsburgh at half-past eleven, P.M., February 5th, and on the 6th instant met at the orphans' court-room in said city, the authorities having kindly tendered the use of the same to the committee for the purposes of the investigation, and discussed the manner in which the testimony should be taken, and what class of witnesses should be subpoenaed, whereupon it was decided that the chairman should conduct the examination of the witnesses generally on behalf of the committee, and that all citizens who knew any facts of importance should be subpoenaed to testify and to furnish to the committee the names of those known to possess valuable information. The taking of testimony was commenced on February 7th, and proceeded with as promptly as possible. After a =week's continuous work it became evident to the committee that they could not accomplish the work required of them and report within the time named in the above resolution. They therefore returned to the capital and presented to your honorable body a preliminary report setting forth what they had done, and what was still necessary to be done to complete the work required of them, when the following resolution was adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives:

_Resolved, (if the Senate concur)_, That the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, appointed to investigate the late railroad riots, etc., be and are hereby authorized to pursue their investigations according to the plan indicated in their preliminary report, and that to this end an extension of time over and above the limitation of twenty days of the resolution under which they are acting be given and granted under this direction, that the committee make a full and thorough inquiry, and report as soon as practicable. The committee afterwards took testimony at Harrisburg, at Philadelphia, at Scranton, and at Reading, and have made as thorough an investigation of the matter submitted to them as they reasonably could. As the result of the testimony taken, your committee is of the opinion that the following state of facts has been proved, viz:

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, some time after the panic in 1873, reduced the wages of its employés ten per cent., and on account of the general decline in business made another reduction of ten per cent., which took effect on the 1st day of June, A.D. 1877; these reductions to apply to all employés, from the president of the company down to those whose wages by the month or otherwise amounted to one dollar per day or less.

These reductions applied not only to the Pennsylvania railroad proper, but also to the roads which were run by the Pennsylvania Company, a corporation controlling several railroads, including the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad and the Pan Handle railroad, each having one of its _termini_ at Pittsburgh, and running these railroads in connection with the Pennsylvania railroad, and all being practically under one management.

These were not the only railroads in the country to reduce the wages of employés, a reduction of ten per cent. having gone into effect on the New York Central railway on the 1st day of July, A.D. 1877, and a similar reduction on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad on the 16th day of July, A.D. 1877; your committee having no information as to whether or not any prior reduction had been made by the last named roads. In consequence of these reductions of wages a great deal of dissatisfaction was produced among the employés of the roads, especially those known as trainmen, consisting of freight engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, and flagmen.

These employés had consulted together in relation to the question of wages, and as the result of these consultations, a committee had been appointed some time the latter part of May, composed principally of engineers, who waited on Thomas A. Scott, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and stated the position of the men and their alleged grievances. Colonel Scott talked frankly with the committee, and stated the position of the railroad company, which was, in substance, that in consequence of the depression in all branches of trade, commerce, and manufactures throughout the country, the business of the company had so fallen off that it became a matter of necessity to reduce the wages of the employés, and, that as soon as the business of the company would warrant it the wages would be increased. The committee expressed their satisfaction at the statement made by Colonel Scott, and said they would go back to Pittsburgh and report the same to the employés, and that everything would be satisfactory and all right thereafter. The committee retired, and soon returned with their views set forth in writing, and signed by them, stating that their conference with Colonel Scott had proved satisfactory, and that his propositions were acceptable to the committee. No complaint as to wages was made thereafter by any of the employés of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company or of the Pennsylvania Company to any of the proper officers until after the strike of July 19th.

Immediately after the order for the ten per cent. reduction, to go into effect on June 1st, 1877, was issued, the employés of the different railroads having their termini at Pittsburgh, commenced agitating the question of a strike on account of said reduction, which agitation resulted in the organization of "The Train Men's Union," a secret, oath-bound society, the declared object of which was the protection of its members, in all lawful ways, by combination, but more particularly to bring the railroad companies to terms by all striking on a given day, and leaving the railroads with no men of experience to run the trains. The first meeting to organize a lodge of the society was held in Allegheny City, on the 2d day of June, A.D. 1877, and the first person to take the oath of membership was R. A. Ammon, better known as "Boss Ammon," then a brakeman on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, who had been in the employ of the company about nine months. Boss Ammon seems to have been the leading spirit of the society, and he was immediately appointed as general organizer, to go out and organize branches of the Union on all the leading trunk lines of the country, especially on those centering at Pittsburgh. In a short time the Union was in full working order on the Pennsylvania railroad, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the New York Central railroad, the Erie railway, and the Atlantic and Great Western railway, and some others, and a general strike by the members of the Union was arranged to take place on the 27th of June, A.D. 1877, at twelve o'clock, noon. The report of the committee of engineers of the result of their conference with Colonel Scott was not satisfactory to the members of the Union, they believing, or at least saying, that the engineers were only looking after their own interests and taking care of themselves, and therefore the action of the committee did not arrest the preparations going on within the Union for the proposed strike. Allegheny City was the headquarters of the organization, and it was here that the general arrangements for the operations of the Union were perfected, the members claiming that at least three fourths of all the train men, whose headquarters were at the two cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny City, belonged to the organization. The proposed strike on the 27th of June was to take place on the Pennsylvania railroad, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, the Allegheny Valley railroad, Pan Handle railroad, and the branches of the roads named, the Union having been more thoroughly and better organized on these roads than on any others, and the movements were to be directed from Allegheny City. Other roads were to be brought into the strike as fast as possible, so as to make it general and comprehensive.

In accordance with this plan of operations, on Sunday, June 24th, some forty members of the Union were sent out on the different lines centering at Pittsburgh, to notify the members on these roads of the time for the strike to take place, and to make the necessary arrangements to make it a success. On Monday night, June 25th, a meeting of the members of the Union on the Pan Handle division was held, and it was there developed that a portion of them were dissatisfied with the proposed strike, and trouble ensued on this account. It was also ascertained that some member or members had divulged the plans of the Union to the railroad officials, and that the latter were taking measures to counteract and defeat the strike. The moving spirits saw at once that with divided counsels, and their plans known to the railroad officials, the strike, if commenced, would prove a failure, and measures were at once adopted to prevent it from taking place by writing and sending word to all points possible in the short time left. The strike did not take place on the 27th, and the members of the Union felt as if they had met with a defeat, which left a sore spot in their bosoms, and which rankled for a long time. It may be well to state here that the subsequent strike on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, at Martinsburg, West Virginia, on the 16th of July, and the strike at Pittsburgh, on July 19th, was not a strike of the Trainmen's Union, nor did the Union, as an organization, have anything to do with either, there having been no meeting of the society either at Pittsburgh or Allegheny City, after the 27th of June, 1877, up to that time. The main and almost the only grounds for the proposed strike was the ten per cent. reduction of wages, although some complaint was made of the abuse of power and overbearing actions of the minor railroad officials. Some time in July, 1877, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company issued an order that all freight trains from Pittsburgh east to Derry should be run as "double-headers," the order to take effect on the 19th of that month.

A so called "double-header" consists of thirty four cars, and is hauled by two engines, a single train consisting of seventeen cars, hauled by one engine. This was one of the measures of economy adopted by the company in consequence of the great reduction in business, caused by the financial situation of the country, and the reduced rates at which the business was done, caused by the great competition of the different railroads to secure business, and would enable the company to dispense with the services of one half of their freight conductors, brakemen, and flagmen on the Pittsburgh division of the road between that place and Derry, as only one set of men, aside from the engineers and firemen, were used on a "double-header." One engine could haul the same train from Derry to Philadelphia that it took two engines to haul from Pittsburgh to Derry. "Double-headers" had been previously run between these two points, especially coal trains, but no general order for all freight trains to run as "double-headers" had ever before been issued. In selecting men to discharge under the order to run "double-headers," single men, and men who had been the shortest time in the employ of the company, were chosen, and the men with families, and old men, were kept so far as they could be. Quite a number of men had been discharged by the company prior to this time, some for cause, and more on account of the decrease in business since the panic of 1873; and the company had still in its employ many more men than could be employed at full time, keeping them along and allowing them each to work a portion of the time, probably believing in the old adage that "half a loaf is better than no bread."

Robert Pitcairn, the general agent and superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania railroad, had leave of absence for a short time, to commence on the 19th of July, and that morning he left for the east with his family, over the Pennsylvania railroad, no complaint, as he says, having been made to the officers of the company by the men, on account of the order to run "double-headers," and he having no knowledge or suspicion that any trouble was brewing or expected. The early morning freight trains left Pittsburgh as "double-headers," but when the time (8.40 A.M.) came for the next train to leave, the men (two brakemen and one flagman) refused to go out on a "double-header," and the train did not go. The conductor notified the dispatcher that the men had struck, and the dispatcher undertook to find men who would go, but all the train men refused. He then made up two crews from the yard men, and gave orders for the engine to back down and couple on the train, when the striking men, led by one Andrew Hice, threw coupling pins and other missiles at the brakeman who was attempting to couple on the engine, one of which hit him, and, in the words of one witness, he had to run for his life. There was some twenty or twenty-five men in the crowd at this time; all men in the employ of the railroad company. The strikers took possession of the switches over which the trains would have to move, and refused to let any train pass out, and their number was from this time gradually increased by the addition of the men who came in on freight trains, who were induced to join the strikers as fast as they came in. Between ten and eleven o'clock, A.M., David M. Watt, chief clerk of the Pittsburgh division, who was acting in place of Mr. Pitcairn in his absence, went to the mayor's office and asked for ten policemen to be sent up to the yard of the company, to protect the men who were willing to go out on the trains, and arrest any one who should commit a breach of the peace, telling the mayor that, in his opinion, ten good men, with his (the mayor's) presence, would be sufficient for the purpose.

The mayor answered that he did not have the men; that the day force, with the exception of nine men, had some time previously been discharged by the action of the city council, and he could not send the night force, and also refused to go himself, saying he had other business, and it was not necessary for him to be there. He said, however, that they might get some of the discharged men to go, if Mr. Watt would become responsible for their pay, to which Mr. Watt assented, and the ten men were found, sent out under charge of Officer Charles McGovern. This force went along with Mr. Watt to the Twenty-eighth street crossing, the scene of the difficulty, and five of the police were placed at one switch just above Twenty-eighth street, and Officer McGovern with the balance took possession of a switch just below Twenty-eighth street. An engine was there ready to back down and couple on to the train, and Mr. Watt gave orders to one of his men to open the switch, so the engine could run down on the proper track, but the man refused, saying he was afraid he would be injured by the strikers if he did so. Mr. Watt then stepped up and said "I will open the switch," when a brakeman by the name of Davis stepped in front of him, and said "boys we might as well die right here," and made some demonstrations. At this moment a man named McCall, standing behind Davis, struck Mr. Watt in the eye; that ended the attempt to open the switch at that time. After some difficulty and considerable chasing, McCall was arrested by the police, and taken to the lock-up. At this time, between twelve and one o'clock, P.M., there was about one hundred persons in the crowd, about one half of which were mere spectators. Twenty-five or thirty of the strikers attempted to prevent McCall's arrest by dodging around in the way, and by coaxing the police to let him alone. A few stones were thrown, but no very serious efforts were made beyond this by the strikers at this time. Soon after this, Mr. Watt sent one of his men to the mayor's office for fifty more policemen, and in answer to this call some five or six men came out about one, P.M., in charge of Officer White. With these men, Mr. Watt went out to the stock-yards, at Torrens station, a distance of five and one tenth miles from the Union depot, to see if the stock trains at that place, which had been some time loaded, could be got off.

At this place there was a large crowd of persons, a large portion of whom were either present employés of the railroad company or were discharged men, and others were unknown to the railroad officials. One train of stock was coupled on by the yard engine, and run out by stratagem before the crowd were aware that it was an attempt to send the train east, and this was the last freight train that was forwarded, until after the troubles were over. About four, P.M., another attempt to move a stock train from Torrens was made, but the engineers all refused to undertake to couple on to the train, as they had all been threatened by the strikers, and were afraid of their lives, and at any move made by the engineer the crowd would interfere, so that the crew gave up their trains. Mr. Watt returned to Pittsburgh, and the stock was unloaded. Mr. Watt, on his return to Pittsburgh, went again to the mayor's office, about five, P.M., and asked for one hundred or one hundred and fifty police. The mayor was not in, having gone, as he testified, to Castle Shannon, to see his wife, who was sick. The mayor's clerk was at the office, and informed Mr. Watt that the men could not be furnished, that the day force of nine men in all were all busy, that the night force, which consisted of one hundred and twenty-two men, were not yet on duty, and could not be spared to be sent out to the scene of the disturbances, as they must be kept in the thicker portions of the city, and advised Mr. Watt to call on the sheriff of the county for assistance. On Friday morning, July 20, A. J. Cassatt sent David Stewart, of Pittsburgh, to invite the mayor to come to the Union depot, as he wished to consult him in regard to the situation, and had sent a carriage to convey him to the depot. The mayor replied that he would have nothing to do with it; the whole matter was taken out of his hands; they had no business to bring troops there. Mr. Stewart asked him if he would see Mr. Cassatt, if he would bring him down to the mayor's office. His answer was: "No, I will have nothing to do with it," and he turned and left. It will be noticed that this was some time before any troops were brought there, and a day and a half before the Philadelphia troops arrived. This ended the call, by the railroad officials, on the mayor for assistance to disperse the crowd interfering with their property, although, on that day, warrants were placed in the hands of the police for the arrest of some fifteen or twenty of the ringleaders of the strike, and after this time there does not appear to have been any very serious attempt made by the mayor or police to assist in quelling the riots. The whole extra force raised by the mayor, as testified to by J. J. Davis, clerk of the chief of police, for whom bills were sent in for pay, was twenty-nine men.

During the afternoon of the 19th of July, one or two attempts were made to start freight trains from Twenty-eighth street, but when the engine was started some of the crowd would step in front of it, swing their hands, and the engineer would leave his engine, and soon all efforts to start trains from this place were abandoned for that day.

Although the engineers and firemen and some of the conductors and brakemen professed to be willing to run at any time, yet, on the slightest demonstration being made by any of the strikers, they would abandon their engines and trains without making one decent effort to do their duty. The railroad officials claimed that they had plenty of men willing to run out the trains if they only had the opportunity, but when the opportunity was made for them the men did not care to take advantage of it. In the meantime the crowd was increasing at Twenty-eighth street, and Mr. Watt, after he left the mayor's office, went to the sheriff's office, and not finding him there drove to his residence, but he was not there. It was ascertained that he would be back in the course of the evening, and Mr. Watt returned to his own office.