Part 100
A. At the corner of Lackawanna and Washington. The first time these men shot, he hit my gun, and knocked a piece of the wood off. I have the gun yet. The next time he took me about four or five feet from the corner. I felt the ball strike by my knee. I felt down, and saw I was shot; felt the blood running down my leg, and right after that there was firing. Just at that time there was a man, probably about a head taller than the other man, who shot two men at the rear end of the column. I heard those balls come by, and I saw both shots.
Q. Were those shots fired before there was any firing?
A. Yes; they were firing before any shots were fired.
Q. Were you struck before any firing?
A. No, sir; I was struck after the general engagement commenced.
Q. Any stones thrown at the posse by the crowd?
A. Yes; there were stones thrown. I dodged one stone that struck a man by the name of John Stanton in the back.
Q. Was that before any firing?
A. That was before any firing.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. I understood you to say that the first pistol shot fired at you was before your posse fired?
A. I was not shot until after.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. I understood you there was a shot that hit your gun?
A. My gun and myself was shot after the firing.
Q. You say that the two shots fired by the tall man was before any firing done by the posse?
A. Before any firing in the line.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. You don't know who that was that fired, do you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Ever know what became of him?
A. No, sir.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Were you one of the men that were indicted for murder?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Were you arrested?
A. I was arrested.
Q. By the constable?
A. No, sir. I went to Wilkes-Barre, and gave myself up with the posse.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Did you receive any information that this crowd were about to drive your men out of these furnaces?
A. My men told me at the blast furnace that some men had told them they had better get out. My foreman, as well as the men who were at work there, told me. That is the reason I went up on to the store so as to get a good view of the crowd, and be in readiness.
Q. Were you up in the store when you saw the crowd coming up?
A. I was on top of the store.
Q. Could you see any demonstrations they made in the furnace and work-shops below?
A. After we commenced moving, I left that position, and passed down to the steel-mill, which is on a high embankment, I did not see what the crowd were going to do for certain. I supposed they were going to just have a parade. When I saw them make this demonstration at the lower shops, then I immediately went to the furnaces, and got out whatever iron there was in the furnaces, because I supposed that would be the next point of attack.
Q. You were close enough to those shops below the steel-works to see distinctly that the men were being driven out?
A. Yes. Saw them throwing stones at them. Saw the men who fired the boiler-house, and they threw stones at them at the same time. Saw two or three men running up the embankment on the opposite side they were stoning them.
Q. Did you see any of them hurt?
A. I could not tell whether the stones hit them or not.
Q. Do you know anything else that would be of interest to our committee, any information that you have not already stated?
A. These are just about the facts, so far as the riot is concerned.
At this point the committee adjourned to meet at four o'clock, this afternoon.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
SCRANTON, _March 30, 1878_.
The committee met, pursuant to adjournment, at four, P.M. All members present except Mr. Dewees.
* * * * *
John Mucklow, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. Down at Greenwood.
Q. How far from here?
A. They call it three miles.
Q. What is your business?
A. Working in the mines.
Q. Were you at home on the 1st day of August last.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had the miners been at work up to that time?
A. I believe not, sir.
Q. What time did they quit work?
A. I could not tell exactly. They had not worked for a week or so--nearly a couple of weeks, for all I know.
Q. Were they on a strike?
A. Our men did not strike at all. Our men were all working, and stopped for want of cars.
Q. Stopped because there were no cars to carry the coal away?
A. Yes. Our men did not strike at all. Did not hear a word about striking among our men.
Q. Do you know where Isaac B. Felts lives?
A. I guess he lives over in Taylorville.
Q. Do you know where his store is?
A. Yes, sir; his store is right opposite my house.
Q. Opposite your house?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know anything about its being broken into on the morning of the 1st of August--some time after midnight, or before daylight?
A. Broken open between twelve and one o'clock that night--that morning.
Q. Did you hear the disturbance?
A. Yes, sir; saw it, too.
Q. Were you up?
A. I was up laying on my porch.
Q. How many men were there that broke into the store?
A. I could not tell. There might have been some twenty; may be thirty, more or less. I could not say. It was moonlight.
Q. How did they get in. How did they break in. Give us a description?
A. I heard the first noise in the store. There was a crowd outside, and the first noise I heard in the store, and then they opened the front door to the store-room, and they went in there. There were some in the store before that, because they opened the door.
Q. Did they break in the door or unlock it?
A. The door was broke in--shoved in.
Q. Did you hear them when they first came there?
A. Yes; I was lying on the porch.
Q. What class of men were they?
A. I could not tell anything about that.
Q. Where did they come from?
A. I could not tell. They came up the road. That is, going down towards Pittston. They came up that way.
Q. Towards Scranton?
A. Came from towards Scranton. Towards Taylorville, the opposite side.
Q. What did they say?
A. Did not hear anything said, sir.
Q. Were they noisy?
A. No noise at all.
Q. Done quietly, was it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What damage did they do?
A. I could not state. I know they took goods away. I saw them carrying goods away. Could not tell how much or how little.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What kind of goods?
A. I saw them carry boxes away, blue boxes, and other things.
Q. Was it store goods, groceries, or was it iron?
A. Carried every sort away. I guess we found everything of every kind lying along through the woods and places afterwards.
Q. In what direction?
A. Right down towards the Lackawanna.
Q. In this direction, [indicating?]
A. No; more towards north.
Q. Would it be on the road toward the silk-works?
A. No, sir; it was down kind of katty-cornered from that; north-west.
Q. Did you go over to the store to see who it was?
A. No, sir; I did not. I knew better than that. Did not want to get my head broke.
Q. Did you consider it dangerous to have gone there?
A. I would consider it, and I had a pair of revolvers with me, too.
Q. Pair of revolvers?
A. I had a pair.
Q. And you would not want to risk it?
A. No; I would not want to risk it at all.
Q. Did you know any of the men?
A. No, sir; I did not know a man--had no knowledge of any man that was there.
Q. No knowledge?
A. No knowledge.
Q. Do you know whether those men came from the silk-works?
A. No, sir; I did not.
Q. Was there a meeting at the silk-works that same morning?
A. I heard there was afterwards, but I did not hear nothing of that until it was over. The first I heard of that was Langon and Dunledin was shot at Scranton. We heard out there, there was four men shot. That was all I know about it. The news was carried up there in the afternoon.
Q. Did you know those two men, Langon and Dunledin?
A. I knew Dunledin when he was a boy, and I knew Langon because he worked in our works.
Q. Last summer?
A. Yes. He worked there when he was killed.
Q. What kind of a man was this Langon?
A. I never saw anything wrong about him. He was assessor of our township.
Q. Assessor of the township?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had he been instrumental in instigating the strike?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. How was the other man--what kind of a character or reputation had he?
A. I do not know anything about him from the time he was a young boy.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. How old a man was he?
A. Langon? I could not state.
Q. The other one.
A. He might have been, may be twenty--from twenty to twenty-five.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Did Langon say anything to you about going to the silk-works?
A. Not a word.
Q. Did you know anything about the meeting before.
A. Not a word. Did not know until about three o'clock, in the afternoon.
Q. Had there been any talk among the men where you work about striking?
A. Not that I ever heard. Our men were all at work.
Q. What company were you working for?
A. Messrs. Correy & Co.
Q. Had your wages been reduced any during the spring?
A. Not from the fifteen cent drop, or whatever time the drop was.
Q. When was that?
A. I could not tell exactly what month it was in.
Q. What year?
A. I guess it must have been 1856 or 1857.
Q. 1876, you mean?
A. 1876 or 1877.
Q. How much were you making per day at the time you had to quit work?
A. We had to work pretty hard long hours if we could make one dollar and ninety cents a day as a miner.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. One dollar and ninety cents?
A. That was all we made that month.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Were you paid by the ton?
A. We were paid by the car.
Q. How much were you paid by the car?
A. Sixty-six cents. I think our vein is small--three foot thick and about three or four inches----
Q. How many cars can you put out to-day?
A. Six are our day's work. We had too much work. We could not do it.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. For how many men?
A. Two.
Q. You don't know of any reduction in the price for mining than that of last year?
A. Not from the fifteen cent drop.
Q. What was the grievance of the miners then?
A. Didn't seem to be any grievance at our place at all. I didn't hear them say anything, only they couldn't get cars enough to load the coal.
Q. Was there any demand for coal?
A. The cars didn't come for taking away.
Q. It was not so much then the price that was paid per ton as it was as to the number of cars furnished?
A. They had the same price, but they could not get as much as they could do.
Q. It was the want of work?
A. It was the want of work.
Q. Not the amount paid?
A. The amount of work, that was what it was for.
Q. What was the cause of this want of cars?
A. I could not tell that. It seems like this: we did not get the cars because the engineers and firemen stopped for wages. That was what I understood it was for.
Q. What?
A. The firemen and the engineers struck. That was the reason we could not get cars.
Q. For how long did this last, that you didn't have cars enough?
A. I could not say how long it was we could not get cars enough; and we don't get enough yet.
Q. Was there any plan before that time that the engineers should refuse to work and run the cars?
A. I did not hear anything before that.
Q. Was these grievances complained of?
A. No, sir; but there was not enough cars then.
Q. Have there been cars enough since?
A. In our place I only make six days a month now.
Q. What is the cause of the want of cars now?
A. Can't tell anything about it.
Q. Is it the want of demand for coal?
A. They say so. I don't know what it was.
Q. Was there a general understanding of the miners throughout this region, before the strike took place, that there would be a strike?
A. I never heard anything about it.
Q. Was there a strike among the other miners for higher pay?
A. Not as I know of.
Q. How much damage was done to Mr. Felt's store?
A. I could not say.
Q. You don't know the value of the goods they took?
A. No, sir.
* * * * *
John Jones, _sworn_.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. Greenwood.
Q. What is your business?
A. Stationary engineer.
Q. Were you at home in July last, or August the 1st?
A. I was at home on the day of August 1st.
Q. How far from Mr. Felt's store do you live?
A. About fifty feet, or seventy-five feet. Just opposite the store--nearly opposite.
Q. Did you hear anybody breaking into the store during the night, and if so, at what time?
A. I was not home that night. I was working.
Q. Where were you working?
A. At the Greenwood slope.
Q. Running an engine?
A. Running an engine.
Q. At what time did you come off?
A. Seven o'clock in the morning.
Q. You heard nothing of what took place at the store during the night?
A. No.
Q. Do you know who the parties were that were at the store?
A. No, sir; I do not.
Q. Do you know from where they came?
A. No, sir.
Q. Or what class of men they were?
A. No, sir.
Q. When did you learn of the store being broken open?
A. Learned of it when I came home in the morning--when I reached home.
Q. Who told you?
A. My wife.
Q. Did she hear any of the parties?
A. She did not say she heard any of the parties that were at the store. She heard from the neighbors. The neighbors told her of it.
Q. Did you know anything about the meeting at the silk-works?
A. Not until the day they had the meeting.
Q. What time did you learn of that?
A. I learned of it after the shooting.
Q. Where were you when you heard of it?
A. Sitting on the store porch.
Q. At Greenwood?
A. At my home; yes, sir.
Q. For what company were you working at the time?
A. The Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Company.
Q. What wages were you getting, running the engine?
A. One dollar and eighty-five cents a day.
Q. Had there been any reduction made?
A. Not for six months previous to that, there had not been from that time on. There had not been, not very lately.
Q. When was the last reduction?
A. I think it was in December.
Q. Of 1876?
A. Of 1876.
Q. How much was that reduction?
A. Fifteen cents.
Q. There had been none since?
A. None since that.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Fifteen cents a day?
A. Fifteen cents on a dollar--fifteen per cent.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Were you working for the same company that John Mucklow was?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there any strike of the men that were working for that company?
A. No, sir; not that I know of. Would not call it a strike, anyhow.
Q. What do you call a strike?
A. I don't know what to call it. When men turn out for wages, for their rights, that is what they term a strike--stick out for their rights.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Tell what they propose to do when they go out for their rights--propose to simply quit?
A. Simply quit, and stand out until they get their rights.
Q. And prevent others from working, at the same time?
A. I don't know. I should not prevent any man, if I was striking. I should not prevent any man from work.
Q. Is not that generally done?
A. It seems so.
Q. Is not that the rule?
A. I don't know whether that is the rule or not. I could not say.
Q. What has been the custom, generally, when they went out on a strike? Would they permit anybody to work?
A. It has been a custom not to let them work.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Were you one of the strikers?
A. No, sir; I was not.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. You had charge of an engine?
A. Pumping engine and hoist.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Were you interfered with in your pumping?
A. No, sir.
Q. Not asked to quit pumping?
A. Not asked to quit pumping.
Q. Do you know of any other places where they were requested to quit pumping?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you quit?
A. No, sir.
Q. Tended your engine?
A. Worked right along.
Q. Is there anything else you wish to state to this committee?
A. No, sir; nothing at all.
Q. We want to give a full hearing to all sides?
A. I am one of those kind of men that I don't go around much, and I don't know much; therefore, I can't tell you much of anything.
By Mr. Means:
Q. You are taking care of No. 1?
A. I am taking care of No. 1.
* * * * *
W. W. Scranton, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State where you reside and your business, if you please?
A. I live here in Scranton. General manager of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company.
Q. I wish you would give us a statement of what took place prior to the 1st of August, in the way of organization for protection, and what you learned about the strike, and causes that induced it, &c., in brief?