Part 102
Q. Did they enter into this article of agreement with a perfect understanding of what they were doing?
A. They received a printed copy. They agreed to give us thirty days' notice. They all agreed to work on in case of a strike, in case of any commotion elsewhere, they agreed to give us thirty days' notice. If they struck after thirty days' notice, they forfeited all pay due them at the time of the strike. That our miners, in case of a general strike, they agreed to work on through it and we agreed to pay them back pay when the railroad company pays.
Q. The railroad also engages in mining?
A. Yes; the D., L. and W., and the Delaware and Hudson are also mining. We mine no coal except for our own purposes--for our mills and steel-works--and we necessarily make a good deal of fine coal that is not convenient to use ourselves, and we sell what little fine coal we make that we don't want ourselves. We send nothing to New York.
Q. Did you notice any uneasiness among the men, or disposition to strike, prior to the strike at Pittsburgh?
A. No, sir. Of course, the great depression of business, and all that kind of thing contributed to make things very hard. There was a great many men out of work--that made it somewhat hard. Of course, a reduction of wages is a thing you never take until a necessity comes on, and you cannot help yourself.
Q. Had there been any talk or organization among the men about a strike prior to the strike at Pittsburgh?
A. Not that I know of, sir. It went like wild-fire everywhere, and took these men like everybody else.
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... Powell, re-called:
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Are you prepared to give the figures as to the pay for mining per ton or per car?
A. You referred back, while I was on the stand before, to 1873. I have some figures for the price of mining coal from 1871 to 1878. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company in '71, 2, 3, and 4, the G vein would return per car, $1 17-1/2, the E vein, what they call the Diamond vein----
Q. One dollar seventeen and a half cents per car?
A. That was in 1874.
Q. The E vein, how much?
A. Ninety-three and a half cents. Six cars constitute a full shift between the miner and laborer.
Q. That makes what you would call a day's work?
A. A full shift; that is in the G vein. In the E vein, it is seven cars. The laborer draws one third of the total mined, then what remains after deducting expenses, on an average, amounts to about $1 10 at that time.
Q. One dollar and ten cents for a day for the six or seven cars?
A. Expense. That is the wear and tear that has got to come out of the miners. The miner at that wages, would get $3 50, and the laborer about $2 35.
Q. The miner how much?
A. Three dollars and fifty cents. That is, taking now the highest rates ever given. In January, 1875, I was getting ten per cent. reduction, and G vein was then reduced to $1 06 per car.
Q. Just give us the reduction?
A. March 15, in 1876, the Diamond G vein per car, ninety-five and one half.
Q. Was there reduction there?
A. Ten per cent.
Q. In addition to what you have stated?
A. Yes, sir; March 15, fifteen per cent. reduction.
Q. When was the ten per cent. reduction?
A. March, 1877.
Q. Now there is ten per cent. more?
A. Fifteen per cent.
Q. On July 1, was there any reduction?
A. June, 1875, ten per cent.; March 15, 1876, ten per cent.; January, 1876, ten per cent.; March 15, 1877, fifteen per cent.
Q. Was there any reduction after that?
A. No, sir; not for the miners. There is one thing, we have another vein here which we call the G vein, top and bottom, that is seventy-two cents per car.
Q. Has this reduction been general in all the mines, the same per centage?
A. The same per centage.
Q. Is there anything else?
A. You refer to the number of days worked. I can give you that.
Q. Your own days?
A. Through the courtesy of the superintendent of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western I got the number of days from their books. The number of days worked in 1876, one hundred and sixty-five and three quarters. That was the breaker work in a year, making an average of $14 per month, that is the whole breaker work. You take the mines there, and all they make is an average of $12 per month--of the miners. In 1877 it averaged about--the breaker work--about $16; that would give the miners about $13 per month. In 1878 it lacks an average of $12, which would give the miners nearly $10.
Q. How many days did you make in any month?
A. I took the whole average of the mines.
Q. Got that from what?
A. The books of the company.
Q. Of the company you are working for?
A. Yes, sir.
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Isaac Felts, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State whether your store was broken open on the 1st day of August last?
A. The 1st day of August I found it was broken open. They said it was broken open in the morning.
Q. Done in the night or during the morning?
A. After midnight.
Q. How far from Scranton is it?
A. It is about three miles, or three and one half, I should judge.
Q. In which direction?
A. It is south from here--pretty nearly south.
Q. How far beyond the silk-factory?
A. It must be two and one half miles, probably.
Q. Is it near the church that stands out at Greenwood?
A. It is beyond the church; it is about half a mile or so beyond the church.
Q. State what your damage was?
A. As near as I can judge, I think it is between $3,000 and $4,000.
Q. Goods that were carried off?
A. Goods carried off.
Q. What kind of goods?
A. All kinds of merchandise. Goods pretty much that belong to a country store. We had to keep a little of most everything there.
Q. Was anything in the shape of ammunition or arms taken away?
A. No, sir; not that I know of. I had mining supplies. I had some little powder there, and one thing or other that was not taken. There was no ammunition that I knew of.
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Joe Shoemaker, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Were do you live?
A. Over in the Eleventh ward, Sixth street.
Q. What is your business?
A. Blacksmith.
Q. Where were you on the 1st day of August last?
A. The 1st day of August I went to work in the morning at the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company's--down here at the flats.
Q. Go on and tell us what you did that day?
A. I worked there, and about between eleven and twelve o'clock--the miners had a meeting at the silk-factory, and the men came down and called us out. My woman was down there. "Joe," she says, "Come out, the miners will kill you;" says I, "I guess they won't do that." I went out and came up near the boiler-shop--and went out--I was the last man that went out of that shop. I didn't want to go out, I was satisfied with the wages Scranton offered me. I didn't want to go out, but they all went out, and so I went out--I closed the door of the shop, and I went out when everybody was done. I wanted to see what was going on, and I seen them--they went in the boiler-shop. There was a man working in there by the name of Hilton, and there was hollering inside, and I didn't know what was the matter, and I saw a man jump out and some fellow standing outside the door, he was jumping against the door. The door fly open and knocked them fellows back, and they run right in. They picked up stones and fired at them. They seen me, I had my sleeves rolled up. They thought that is a working man, and they fired at me. I got four stones, one on that shoulder, and one on that, and one right here, [indicating.] I sat down. I could not move myself any more. I hopped up, and when I got there he said, "Joe that blow I would not have for fifty dollars." I didn't want to tell them I got hurt. The engineer was getting out, he was half ways in the window and half ways out when they got at him.
Q. Do you know any of those men that were hammering your engineer?
A. I was too far away. I was up at Robinson's brewery. I was too far off. I didn't go near them any more. He run around the building, and when he got to the foundry there was a pile of pig iron of about three foot high, and he run down, and some people stopped there by the foundry, and they picked up stones and fired at him. When he was behind that pig iron, he was gone from my eyes. That was all I could see of him. If it was not for the stopping work, I would have had about $120 in my pocket, where I didn't have a cent. I was willing to work on, but they didn't let me.
Q. How long was you idle?
A. Three months idle. Had a family with three children, and was willing to work, but I couldn't work.
Q. Because they would not let you?
A. No.
Q. How much did you get a day when they drove you out of the shop?
A. I had $1 53. My wages is $40 any how, and then the three months makes me $120 lost. Whose fault is it? Not mine. I was willing to work. It was not the company's fault either.
Q. The fault of strikers, was not it?
A. Yes; and then they hit me, and I had to lay two weeks in the bed, and the society to where I belong had to pay me benefits.
Q. What society do you belong to?
A. To a Dutch society--to two of them. I belong now twenty years--to one of them twenty-five years.
Q. What is the name of that society?
A. St. Joseph's Verein and Lackawanna Mutual Association.
Q. What is that society for?
A. For to pay benefits, same as Odd Fellows. Pay benefit if a man is sick. If you die, the woman gets $50. If you are sick, you have $4 a week. The society paid that at the time they hit me, and they had to pay me for it because it was not my fault. They didn't want to do it, but they had to do it. I said it was not my fault. I went to work for my family, and I got hurt. It was not my fault, and they had to pay me, so they did.
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Charles F. Mattes, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State your residence and your business, if you please?
A. My residence is here in Scranton. I have general charge of the coal mines, and real estate agent of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company. In reference to this matter, I will state just here that I was not an eye witness of those riots. When this suit was brought against the parties who were engaged in the shooting, I was charged with the gathering of evidence in the case on the part of the defendants, and it brought me in communication with a great many persons who were witnesses who were directly concerned, and I presume it is supposed for that reason that I could give more information than, perhaps, any other person in reference to it; but what I would have to say would not be from observation, but from other parties.
Q. We don't care to have you describe the riot as it occurred here that day. That has been described by so many gentlemen. I wish you would give us what information you have as to the cause of the riots, and what your information is as to what produced them, based upon information that you collected in making these defenses?
A. In the first place, the strike originated here with the railroad employés--firemen and brakemen ostensibly. Miners and mechanics, generally, and workmen generally were working on quietly, and with no demonstration of any sort, apparently reasonably well satisfied. There had been, from time to time, reductions in the wages, which are always accompanied, as every one knows, with more or less feeling of dissatisfaction on the part of those whose pay is reduced; but this strike here, it occurred to me, was a sympathetic movement in accord with the strike of the firemen. By that strike all transportation ceased. Of course the mines could not be carried on. The men were thrown out of employment; they could not work if they desired to, because there were no cars and no means of carrying away the product of the mines. The consequence was, they would meet together, and these matters were discussed. Agitators would go among them. The better class of men were overruled, and the more violent agitators carried the day, and it resulted in a strike and demand of an increase of twenty-five per cent. in the rate of wages, at a time when everything was depressed, and it was so preposterous. They were assured by a good many that it was a foolish demand, and one they could not expect to have acceded to, and must result in a prolongation of their idleness if they insisted upon that demand. I don't know as I could add anything to what has already been said here as to the cause. The strike on the railroad, in my view, was the primary cause, and it threw the men idle, and as is pretty nearly always the case, there was more or less trouble.
By Mr. Means:
Q. You think the strike at Pittsburgh was the cause of the strike at Scranton?
A. ...
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Why was it?
A. Because this movement was carried through on the railroads. The railroads were all stopped. Many other classes of men were working along contentedly, satisfied that they were doing the best thing they could do, if they were not satisfied with their wages. We all know they were feeling as though they were working for low wages, and those men who came among them did their utmost to create this spirit of dissatisfaction, and induce the strike.
Q. What combination, if any, was there between railroad men and other laborers?
A. I don't know that there was any direct combination. There was said to be a general labor union organized at the time. We heard a great deal of unions of various occupations, and of a general union of laboring and workingmen.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Did you succeed in tracing that thing to a reliable source to find whether there was a union organized here?
A. I was perfectly satisfied in my own mind that there was a union. As to the existence of it, I couldn't definitely say.
Q. Was there any riot organized in the city of Scranton?
A. I think so.
Q. Composed of what class of men?
A. Composed of all classes of workingmen, so far as I could get at it. I was satisfied it was so. I couldn't state that positively, nor I couldn't point to men as directly connected with it.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Were the railroad employés the prime movers in this strike?
A. It occurred to me they were. They took the initiative at any rate in striking. They spoke first.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. The railroad employés did.
A. Yes. I mean by the railroad men, the men operating their trains. There was a large mass of miners--much the larger mass of miners are employés of the railroad company in this vicinity.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. From the information you got, do you think there was an organization, and it was understood that the railroad men were the first to strike?
A. No, sir; I don't know that that is so.
Q. From your own knowledge of the state of the case then, as I understand it, you think the railroad men struck first of their own accord?
A. It appeared so to me, and, from any knowledge I have, I should judge it was so.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. And the rest followed from a general sympathy of all laboring classes with them?
A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. I want to know whether the railroad men struck before or after the strike at Pittsburgh?
A. I think it was directly after--just about that same time, and just about the same time the thing followed around all over in quick succession.
Q. Do you recollect the day when they struck?
A. No, sir; I don't.
Q. Do you recollect the day the trains stopped running?
A. No, sir. I could easily have ascertained this point, only I didn't suppose I would be called upon for anything of the kind, and made no preparations.
Q. You think it was not until after the strike at Pittsburgh?
A. It was just about that time. I think it was just after.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Have you learned whether it was by a pre-concerted arrangement that they should strike here?
A. No, sir; but it appeared as if they did so. We knew very well there were labor organizations among the railroad men. They had their brotherhoods of engineers, and of firemen, and of brakemen, &c.
Q. Was there such an organization here as the Trainmen's Union that you knew of?
A. I never heard of it by that name. I had nothing particularly to do with the railroad, and, of course, wouldn't be as well posted in that as in some other matters.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. From the investigation you made, and from your knowledge of the strike here, do you think there would have been any strike here had you heard nothing of the strike at Pittsburgh and other parts of the country?
A. I think there would have been.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Why do you think there would not have been?
A. The men were working on peaceably, and apparently contented, and there were no demonstrations made, whatever, and they were getting reasonable pay.
Q. Did you hear any of those strikers say it was because the men struck at Pittsburgh and in Virginia or any other place?
A. You could get no reason out of them. I conversed with many men, but there was scarcely an instance in which he would acknowledge that he was a striker. He stopped simply because the rest of the men stopped.
Q. It was apparently infectious?
A. I don't think I met with a dozen men who would acknowledge that they were interested in the strike.
By Mr. Means:
Q. He proposed that if he was in Rome he would do as Rome does?
A. There was another reason assigned, something in substance to that.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. They wouldn't acknowledge that they were engaged in striking, in the conversations you had with them?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was there any fear, you think, operating on the minds of those men with whom you conversed that if they did acknowledge they were engaged in a strike they might be discharged by their several employers?
A. There may have been. I have no doubt some were affected in that way--no doubt of that, whatever.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. I understood the witness to say that the railroad men struck first?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there not a strike among other classes of men--iron men and rolling-mill men?
A. Not until after the railroad strike occurred.
Q. Another strike preceding that?
A. I have no recollection of any; no, sir. Not a matter of recent date. There may have been some local strikes about here, or some local difficulties, as is frequently the case. Sometimes there would be a strike at one mine because of some local difficulty. That won't affect the general region, whatever. That is frequently the case.
Q. What is the general custom of the men that strike? Is it their custom, when they quit work, to prevent other men from working?
A. Almost universally so.
Q. And by what means?
A. By intimidation of various sorts. Doing it at their houses mainly?
Q. Threatening them?
A. While the miners were idle, it has been the practice, heretofore, in this valley, for pump men to continue at work through the strike. I have never known a case but where they were stopped. In this case--I can speak positively to this one fact--that at one of the collieries that I have charge of, the pump men were visited by a crowd of men at night and threatened, and ordered to stop. This I have from the men themselves.
Q. Threatened with what?
A. Threatened with violence--to be beaten--forced out, if they didn't stop. The men, in this particular case, requested to remain until morning, and not to drop everything, and leave it unprotected. In the morning they were so badly frightened that they refused to continue at work. Then there was no recourse but either to let the mines fill, or to get other parties to work in their places.
Q. What means were resorted to prevent men from working that wished to work?
A. By beating them, going to their houses, and threatening them, sometimes, sending communications--sometimes are ornamented with cross-bones, and coffins, and pistols, and skulls.
Q. Drawings on paper?
A. Enough to frighten them. Sometimes men desire to be intimidated that way, as an excuse. I think so, many times.
Q. Have any of those threats ever been carried out?
A. Yes. Men have frequently been beaten.
Q. And killed?
A. I cannot re-call of any cases here, where men have been killed.
Q. Driven away by force?
A. Yes, sir. In this case of our colliery, the house of the man who was working as a pump-man--he had been working in the mines for years--been foreman at one time--his house--his house was visited twice, pistol shots fired into it, stones thrown at it, he was stoned and forced from his work; and another man, who was working with me was stoned, his house was stoned several times by parties, in the night. Who they were, we cannot tell, of course.
Q. Where men didn't obey the advice of those men that threatened them, was it generally followed by violence?
A. It very frequently has been.
Q. Has it been generally followed by violence, so far as your observation and knowledge extends?
A. No, sir; I wouldn't say generally, because threats have been so common. I could hardly say it was general; but, as a rule, men have been intimidated by the threats.
Q. I want to know whether, where they didn't obey the commands of these men that made the threats, and didn't cease work, whether that was generally followed by violence?
A. That is a very general question.
Q. So far as your observation extends?
A. I wouldn't say generally; no, sir; I would say that it has been frequently followed by violence.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Have you seen any of the threatening letters--letters with coffins, &c., on them?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. Been shown you by the men?
A. Yes. I have sometimes taken them off the works.
Q. Taken them off--how?
A. Found them posted up; because where they had been posted up, they had been so frightened by them, that they wouldn't go in--wouldn't go to work for a day or two, until they got over the strike. I have some of them. I think I could scare up a few.
Q. In our examination we have had a good many terms we are not familiar with, and I don't know but what we ought to have some definition of them. For instance, blacklegs?
A. A blackleg, as I understand it, is generally applied to a man who takes another man's place. This I understand to apply to a man who, when one man strikes, another goes in and takes his place; but it is just as commonly applied to those who continue at work, and will not go on a strike--they are denominated blacklegs. That was so in this case.
Q. Have you any scabs in this county?
A. I don't think that is used much about the mines. I have heard that applied to shoe-makers more than any one else. That is, fellows who were wandering about, without any settled place.
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L. C. Bortree, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State where you reside, Mr. Bortree?
A. I reside in the Ninth ward of the city of Scranton.
Q. What is your business?
A. I am going to be a farmer on Tuesday next. I am not doing anything now.
Q. What were you doing on the 1st August last?
A. Special policeman.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Of the city of Scranton--of the mayor?
A. Yes, sir; under the mayor.
Q. State where you were on the morning of the 1st August, when the men came from the silk-works into the shops, driving the employés out of the shops?
A. Allow me to state it as it was.
Q. In brief?
A. I was here on duty on the upper end of this avenue during the night of the last of July or the 1st of August. I had permission of the chief of police to leave here at five o'clock. Well, I did. During this time there was a fire at what was said to be the Pennsylvania railroad, No. 5. I went out and returned about ten o'clock. I called in to the coal and iron company's store up here, to get a rubber overcoat, with the intention of going home. While I was there, Mr. W. W. Scranton, says to me--I used to be deputy sheriff, was deputy sheriff for the past twelve years, off and on, at this end of the county. I had nothing else from the 24th of November, 1871, till the 12th April, 1878.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Just come to the facts?