Part 22

Q. How many men were arrested in that crowd on Thursday in the vicinity of the trouble?

A. McCall was the only one I arrested. I left about three o'clock. While I was there no other act was committed by any person in the party, and no effort was made by the railroad to run out trains, and we were simply there under the instruction of the railroad men.

Q. You do not know of any others being arrested that day in that vicinity?

A. I do not.

Q. Nor on Friday in that vicinity to your knowledge?

A. On Friday morning, I think, the military was out with the sheriff and his posse.

Q. But answer my question?

A. No.

Q. On Saturday?

A. On Saturday, no, not on Saturday. The military were in charge of the railroad property on Saturday.

Q. Did you or any other officer that you know of have a warrant in his hands for the arrest of some ten or twelve men?

A. Yes; I had a warrant for the arrest of ten or twelve men that were interfering with the railroad employés.

Q. You had the names of those parties?

A. Before the warrants were served they were re-called from me.

Q. By whom?

A. The information was taken away by the attorneys of the railroad company.

Q. Did they recall them?

A. Yes.

Q. From you?

A. Not the warrants; but I was notified by the mayor that the information was taken from the office, and that the matter was placed in the hands of the sheriff.

Q. Did he instruct you to return the warrants?

A. The warrants were null and void then when the information was taken away. The warrants were transferred to the sheriff.

By Mr. Means:

Q. Did you hear anybody make any threats against the railroad officers?

A. Well, Davis jumped on the switch, and swore that no trains should go out, that he would die in his tracks first. Those were the only threats I heard on Thursday.

Q. Were those directed against the railroad officers or any of their employés?

A. The threats were against the running out of the trains.

Q. Do you know anybody going to the officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and advising them to leave the city for fear that they would suffer violence?

A. Not to my own knowledge.

Q. You did not hear anybody make such threats?

A. No.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. When did you first get the warrants for the arrest of those men--what day was it?

A. It seems to me the warrants were issued on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning, but I am not positive about that. I can refer to the warrants and see.

Q. How long did you hold them before you got notice that the information was withdrawn.

A. I think the warrants were held by me--I am not positive about the time that they were issued to me--but it seems to me that the warrants were in my hands; just one day and night.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Were not your instructions to quietly take those men?

A. My instructions were to quietly take those men up. They were my instructions. At the time the warrants were issued there was considerable excitement, and the instructions I got in relation to it were that after the excitement allayed somewhat, the warrants could be quietly served without bringing about a conflict, and owing to the pretty slim police force, it was considered wise to wait until the trouble would be over.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Who gave you those instructions?

A. The mayor--the chief of detectives, I think it was. I do not say the mayor, but one of my superior officers, I know it was.

Q. Who was the chief of detectives at that time?

A. Mr. O'Mara, I believe.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Your instructions were to wait until the excitement was allayed?

A. Yes.

Q. And not to go after your men that night after the men had retired to their homes, and take them up quietly, and take them to the station house?

A. My impression is, that the men did not retire to their homes on that day or night; the crowd kept there all night, or staid around the tracks at Twenty-eighth street, and also at Torrens station.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Was any effort made by the police to disperse the crowd during the night?

A. I was not there.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Could you at any time have taken the men out of the crowd with your force?

A. If they had resisted I could not, I know.

Q. Could you not have quietly slipped up and taken them?

A. Those men I had warrants for were employés of the road, and I did not know anything about their being in any crowd, but it appears they were active leaders. I did not know they were in any crowd, but owing to the state of excitement at the time, it was considered advisable to wait until the excitement was allayed before arresting those men.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Who made the information against those men?

A. I think it was Mr. Watt. That is my impression. The information was drawn by Messrs. Hampton and Dalzell, and sworn to by Mr. Watt.

* * * * *

Roger O'Mara, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Where do you reside?

A. No. 267 Webster avenue.

Q. What was your business in July last?

A. I was chief of detectives of the city of Pittsburgh.

Q. Were you in the city on the 10th of July?

A. Yes.

Q. State what knowledge you have of any disturbance of the peace on that day?

A. The first knowledge I had, Mr. Watt came to the mayor's office that morning. I was in the office at the time. He stated that there was a disturbance, that the men were on a strike, and he wanted to get some officers to go out with him. Our force was reduced shortly before that, and no men were on duty in the day time. We only had one hundred and twenty men, and ten were lamp watchers, and ten were at the station-houses. One hundred and one in all were left for police duty.

Q. State what occurred?

A. I asked Mr. Watt how many men he thought would do, and he said about ten men. I had the men gathered up from those men who were dropped from the rolls, and brought them in there, and told Officer Fowler to take charge of them, and to go with Mr. Watt. I afterwards asked the mayor, and he told me that Mr. McGovern should be placed in charge. I then sent him on up.

Q. Did you have any difficulty in getting the men you wanted?

A. I gathered them in about five minutes. I just asked for ten, and got them.

Q. Plenty of others were willing to go?

A. I suppose so.

Q. Was anything said between Mr. Watt and the mayor about the pay of the men?

A. Mr. Watt told me he would pay the men.

Q. Who introduced that subject of pay?

A. I do not know. I told him these men are not on the force, but we could gather them up if he agreed to pay them.

Q. They went then?

A. Yes; in charge of McGovern.

Q. State what occurred from the time that they went away--whether any report was made to you or not?

A. I understood about the trouble. McGovern told me about arresting this party after he came back.

Q. Was any report made to you of what occurred?

A. I had a conversation with him after he came back.

Q. At what time?

A. About four o'clock on Thursday.

Q. What did he state to you when he came back?

A. He told me he had arrested that party--that Mr. Watt went to turn the switch, and somebody hit him, and he arrested him, and put him in the Twelfth ward station-house. Information was afterwards made against some ten parties.

Q. What time was that?

A. I think on Thursday afternoon, after this arrest.

Q. You say against some ten parties?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. In whose hands were the warrants placed?

A. They were given to me first. A lawyer in Mr. Hampton's office was here. He had them drawn up. I gave the warrants to McGovern. On account of the excitement we proposed to locate the parties in their houses, and to get them there. But the next morning a young man in Hampton's office came in and told me not to make the arrests until further orders. I thought then that the men were going to work, perhaps. I then told McGovern not to make the arrests.

Q. Do you state you told McGovern not to arrest the men, but to get them at their houses?

A. Yes.

Q. How many policemen do you think you could have gathered up that afternoon for duty?

A. I have no idea how many. A good many of them were about there just at the time that Mr. Watt came in and said he wanted some. We might have gotten thirty then. More went out afterwards.

Q. Who sent them out?

A. I do not know. But I understood, however, more men were wanted, and they were sent out.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. These men that were picked up--these men that had been dropped from the rolls, did they go out on the ground in uniform, or did they go out in citizen's dress?

A. I guess some in uniform and some in citizen's dress. I cannot say whether they were in uniform or not.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Were they armed as usual with maces?

A. I cannot say that.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Usually when you send out a squad, don't you arm them with maces?

A. Yes; but these men were not on the rolls, and I just gathered them up, and sent them out as quickly as possible.

Q. If not armed, they would not have been of much use?

A. No; not of much use, if there was much disturbance, without arms.

Q. You do not know whether they were armed or not?

A. I do not, because I did not go out with them.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Was there any call made on the night force for it?

A. I do not think there was that night.

Q. They were on duty regularly on Thursday evening, I suppose?

A. Throughout the city, yes.

Q. The one hundred and one men were on service throughout the city proper?

A. On Thursday night, yes.

Q. None of them went to the scene of this disturbance?

A. Not to my knowledge, except the men on in that district.

Q. How many men were regularly stationed in that district?

A. I suppose about ten men were on in that district--the third district--from the Union depot to Twenty-eighth street. The lieutenant in charge of the district may have had his men there.

Q. Who had charge of that district?

A. Henry Coates, I think. I think he had charge of it.

Q. Were any of them sent out there on Friday morning--any of the night force?

A. I do not think they were, to my knowledge.

Q. Or during the day Friday, at any time?

A. I do not know that they were.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. Were you at the scene of the disturbance at any time during the trouble?

A. I was out there on Sunday morning early, along the line on Liberty street. There was a good deal of trouble about the city, and we were gathering the police in and sending them out throughout the city. We were afraid that the mob would break into the gun shops. The excitement was so great that I thought they might attempt to break into places, and so I gathered the men up and sent them to different places.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. If the mayor had made a call for policemen on Thursday afternoon, how many men could he have raised?

A. I do not know. I have no idea.

Q. Would there have been any difficulty in raising any number of policemen, do you think?

A. There might have been some. That call was made through the Sunday papers, and a good many responded.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. How many officers and men does the night force consist of?

A. The whole force was one hundred and twenty men--nine of them were engaged in the station-houses, and ten of them watched lamps--patrolmen, detectives, and all. That was for the whole city.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. How many men were discharged from the day force?

A. One hundred and sixteen men were discharged. Our whole force consisted of two hundred and thirty-six men, all told. The appropriation ran out, and we had to knock the men off.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. What reason was given by the officer for not serving the warrants? He had them one night, had he not?

A. We did not get the houses all located. It seems they were out that night, and we could not get them served, and the next morning we were ordered not to serve them. The case was put into the hands of the sheriff on Friday, I think.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. While you had those warrants for the arrest of those ten men, could you not have arrested them?

A. I do not think, with the few men we could have got, that we could have arrested them out there, on account of those men out there. It might have made the thing worse if we had attempted to arrest them on the ground. I thought it was better to arrest them away from there.

Q. Did you attempt to locate them at their homes that night--you did not go to their homes?

A. No; we did not go to their homes, but we got information from the parties who made the information.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did you have any arrangement to watch those men?

A. From all accounts, the men seemed to be in the crowd. We had no one watching their houses that night, because we did not find out that night were they all lived.

Q. Did you not have men to watch these men or follow them around?

A. No, sir; not to my knowledge.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Didn't you see some of these men out there on Friday?

A. I did not. I was not out there.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. How did you expect to know that these men went to their homes, if you did not follow them or have them watched?

A. The warrants were withdrawn before we located the men.

Q. What efforts were you making to locate them?

A. We were making inquiries from parties who knew them.

Q. Were you trying all the time to find out where they were?

A. We asked the parties who made the information. We wanted to locate them all, and to make the arrests. We did not expect to arrest them in the crowd. We thought we could not do it there.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Did you have any spotters out in the crowd at all?

A. Several of the officers there saw the different parties, and what they did. Or, if information was made against them, we had them arrested and tried. Some of them are not tried yet. Any of the officers who knew any men, or saw them do anything, afterwards made information against them.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. The officers reported to you, did they?

A. Some of them.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. You being the chief of detectives, did you send any men out to spot those parties?

A. No, sir; after Friday, the thing was taken out of our hands. If any party gave information in regard to what was done, we would have them arrested. The detectives were out. We made inquiries of people as to what they saw other people do.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. Was it not on Saturday morning that you considered the complaint withdrawn upon which the warrants were based?

A. I think on Friday, it was, that I was notified to hold them until further orders.

Q. Was it not on Saturday morning instead of on Friday morning?

A. My recollection is, that it was Friday.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Were you present at any time during the destruction of the property of the railroad company by fire?

A. I was along the line Sunday morning, in Liberty street. I drove along with the mayor in a buggy. My mother and sister both lived back of the Union depot, and they were burned out. I tried to help them get their things away.

Q. During the fire, were you ever called on by the chief of the fire department, or by anybody connected with the fire department, to protect them in their attempts to put out the fire?

A. No, sir.

Q. Do you know of any other officer of the police force being called upon to assist them?

A. No.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did you take any measures to prevent this destruction?

A. We could not do anything after the first firing was done. With what police force we had, we could do nothing at all. They commenced breaking into houses, and gun stores, &c., and we tried to prevent them from doing that.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Did you see them breaking into any gun stores?

A. Yes; on Penn street I saw a couple of men breaking into a pawn shop. I heard of the mob coming, and I hurried up the officers, and placed men in front of different gun stores, but on Wood street they got into one in spite of the men. Before that, we had notified the different parties to put their guns away, that the excitement was very great, and that the soldiers had fired upon the men, and that they would be apt to break into places to try to get arms. I notified the different parties to put their goods away that the mob should not get them.

Q. Who composed that crowd--did you recognize any of them?

A. They seemed to be working men--men that came from the south side. One squad that came from the south side--I saw them going down the street--a couple of young men--the same that I saw marching down Penn street. Some of them have been arrested since.

Q. You think the men were principally from the south side who broke into the gun stores?

A. About the time that they broke into them, at different places, I had squads of men. On Fifth street a couple of young men came down firing off guns, and I went to the mayor's office for more men, and I was not there two minutes when word came that Brown's gun store was broke into. I then got some men and placed them in front of the door.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Did you succeed in keeping the crowd out then?

A. Yes; but it was not much good then, for the things were gone. They had ransacked the place.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. What time was that?

A. It was on Saturday night. It was just about dusk when this party came down, and went in on Liberty street and on Penn street. I was going up that way towards Twenty-eighth street, when I saw this mob coming down. I followed on down to see what they proposed to do.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. You had no men stationed about any of these gun stores before they broke into them?

A. Yes, sir; at Brown's, on Wood street.

Q. Were they uniformed men?

A. Yes; on the regular city force. I sent them to the places where I thought they were most needed, and I tried to prevent the mob from getting fire-arms.

* * * * *

Charles McGovern, re-called.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Were those men that you took to Twenty-eighth street dressed in uniform?

A. No; just a few of them had vests on with uniform buttons on. And all of them that had badges about them, I had them place them on their coats in order to show that they were officers.

Q. Were there any that had neither vests nor badges among them?

A. I think there were. Some of them did not happen to have anything with which to show that they were officers.

Q. Were they armed in any way?

A. No.

Q. They had no maces?

A. No; they were taken out in a hurry from the city hall--just taken out on the spur of the moment.

Q. What time were those warrants placed in your hands for the arrest of those parties?

A. My recollection of the warrants--I could very easily give you a definite answer if I had time to go to the office and refer to my memoranda. Then I could tell you. But I think it was Friday. That is my impression. I think it was Friday morning or Thursday afternoon.

Q. How long did you keep them in your possession?

A. A day, I think, and a night. That is my impression.

Q. Did you make any effort to arrest the parties?

A. We were so busy on other matters that there was no effort made, any more than to make inquiries and locating the parties. We did not anticipate any trouble in getting them after the excitement was somewhat allayed.

Q. Did you go to their houses during the time that you had the warrants?

A. No.

Q. Did you try to spot the men among the crowd?

A. No; I cannot say that I did, because it was a secondary consideration in regard to those men. The information was interfering with railroad employés, and we considered it a light matter towards what was going on at Twenty-eighth street--the riotous proceedings. We were kept busy that day and night trying to keep order.

Q. Those men were all participating in the riot as leaders when you first went out there?

A. I do not know that of my own knowledge, but I, of course, inferred it from the fact of the information made against them.

Q. Did you know any of the ten or twelve men that stood around, trying to prevent the arrest of McCall?

A. None of them tried to prevent the arrest of McCall. I knew some of them by face and a few by name.

Q. Were any of those men's names included in those warrants?

A. I believe they were, but I did not have those warrants at the time.

Q. You did not get them until that evening or the next morning?

A. I think it was the next morning.

Q. Then you did not go up to arrest them when you got the warrants?

A. Not immediately. It was considered a matter of judgment at the office by the mayor, and, of course, I was under his instructions.

Q. You followed the mayor's instructions?

A. Not specially his instructions, but chief O'Mara's instructions. I considered it would be easier to serve them afterwards than at the present time.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. When you summoned those men to go out, you did not provide them with maces and equipments as you usually do?

A. The police force of this city provide everything for themselves. If they want to carry a pistol, they must provide it. Our maces we buy, and our clothes we buy. The city supplies nothing. At one time the city supplied those things, but now we have got to supply all those things ourselves. We did not think it would be necessary to have them armed at that time.

Q. At the time of a row, if the men are armed, it is all right, and if they are not armed, it is all right, too?

A. It was a sudden summons, and nobody understood the extent of it. Of course, the gentleman who summoned us, said he did not anticipate any serious trouble at all; that he thought that our official appearance would be sufficient; that the presence of the officers there would be all that was necessary.

Q. But you, as an officer, did not exactly believe in official appearance, without something to knock down with in case of a row?

A. In case of a riot we ought to be provided with arms; but there was no riot at that time, nor did we anticipate any.

[A paper exhibited to witness.]

Q. State whether this is the information made upon which the warrants were issued?

A. I never saw it.

Q. What did you do with the warrants?

A. They are still in the office.

Q. You returned them to the mayor?

A. No; they are still in the closet at the office. I think they are there yet. I may have destroyed them.

Q. Do you know the date of the warrants?

A. I cannot remember the date. I told you I thought it was Thursday evening or Friday; that would be the 19th or 20th.

* * * * *

John J. Davis, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Where do you reside?

A. No. 114, Sixteenth street, on the south side.

Q. What was your business in July last?

A. I was clerk to the chief of police.

Q. Where were you on the 19th day of July--Thursday?

A. At the mayor's office, and at the railroad.

Q. State if you have any knowledge of the disturbances that occurred?

A. I was not at the railroad during the time of the disturbances.

Q. Did you receive information of them?

A. We got a second dispatch, or rather a young man came from the ticket office asking for fifty men. I was present in the office at the time.

Q. What time did you receive that dispatch?

A. Between twelve and one o'clock.

Q. By whom was it signed?

A. I cannot say now. It was brought by a young man at the ticket office?

Q. You mean the railroad ticket office?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Asking for fifty men?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. To whom was it addressed?

A. To the mayor. I started out and hunted up all the men I could find, and during my progress I saw the mayor, and he gave me orders to hunt up all the men I could, both the old men and the men that had been dropped. I met him on Fifth avenue.

Q. Did you inform him of the dispatch?

A. I did, and he ordered me to hunt up all the men I could possibly find.

Q. How many did you get?

A. In the neighborhood of twenty-five or twenty-eight that afternoon. I can not say exactly.

Q. What did you do with them?