Part 31
A. They kept back towards Twenty-seventh street. They had a gun there. A man named Stewart I saw carried away from there dead. He was apparently a railroader. He had a watch with that name on it. I went to see the gun, and if they had ever fired it, it never would have hurt anybody in the round-house--if they had ever fired it. The wall is too high there.
Q. What was it that caused that crowd to be scattered? Was it fear of fire from the soldiers?
A. I reckon that was it.
Q. After the soldiers got away, did the crowd re-assemble?
A. No; not there.
Q. Were the burning cars below there?
A. Yes.
Q. They were still going on down with the burning and the pillaging?
A. Yes.
Q. They marched in regular order--the troops you saw?
A. In every good order.
Q. Suppose they had formed in line, at that time, and marched on the crowd what would have been the effect?
A. They would have got the best of the crowd because I didn't see many around there.
Q. Could they have driven the crowd away from the burning cars?
A. I think they could.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. And restored order?
A. I don't know about that.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Who directed you to go out there first?
A. The mayor--to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Q. Did you have anybody with you?
A. No.
Q. Did you see the mayor before going?
A. I saw him that day before going.
Q. Where?
A. At the city hall, in his office.
Q. Were you on regular duty that day?
A. I was on other duty that day--I was on a little special duty that day, but was detailed and sent to where this trouble was supposed to be. I was to meet the men where I was going. About this Officer Motts. On Saturday night the mayor was in the Twelfth ward, and shortly after I went there I saw him there, and on Sunday morning. On Sunday he was on the railroad. I was standing alone, and he came to me and said to me, for God's sake get some men, you can stop them from breaking into these cars. I went towards the crowd, but there was no use for one man--but I did. They then commenced to hurl stones.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What was the crowd--boys?
A. Yes; and some men were among them. They were all getting pretty drunk then.
Q. You say the mayor was there attending to his duties?
A. Yes; using all the efforts he could to stop the riot; but we could not get the men together. Our force had been cut down, and it was impossible to get the men together. I asked men to stand alongside of me, but as soon as you would turn your head around again they were gone. In relation to Johnston and Bown's gun shops--I was at both places. At Johnston's, a demand was made for guns, and they gave them some muskets. I don't think that Johnston's was broke in.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. They gave them?
A. That was what was said. I know I took a musket with a bayonet on from a fellow, and gave it back to the store. I was sent by the mayor's clerk to Bown's--some eight of us--but there were no uniformed men among us; we were in citizen's clothes. It was a hard matter to tell what they wanted; but eight of us went there at the time. Then this party came along Wood street, and they had a drum with them, and some of them had muskets with bayonets on, and others had revolvers, and others, what I took to be a large rammer, and they commenced ramming against the door. Officer Downey was one of the first officers to the store. I got in with him. They were then carrying out the stuff, and we took several guns from them and handed them back. They were still carrying out the stuff, and it was impossible to prevent them breaking in, because the force was not strong enough.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Were you armed?
A. No; no more than we usually carried--our pocket revolvers.
Q. Had you maces?
A. The men that were there were not in the habit of carrying maces. I suppose they had billies and revolvers. The proper course to save Bown's store would have been to let eight or nine men get in there and arm them, and then keep them out there.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did this crowd seem to be bent on plunder?
A. Principally on plunder; I don't think that many of those guns taken out there ever went into the riot.
Q. Did they carry off pretty much everything?
A. Yes; according to the looks of the shelves and show cases. There were a couple of men arrested for stealing from that establishment, that are now doing terms in the western penitentiary.
By Mr. Englebert:
Q. Did you recognize them as any particular class of men?
A. I did not; their faces to me were apparently strange--they apparently looked like workingmen. A great many thieves were among them, and some, I know, have had to leave the city since, or we would have had them.
Q. You don't know where they were from?
A. Those I speak of?
Q. Yes?
A. I do; yes, from Pittsburgh.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. They have left the city entirely?
A. Yes.
Q. You were about the city a good deal attending to your duties, and you know a large part of the population?
A. I do.
Q. That crowd of men that went out there on Saturday and Sunday--was the crowd composed of men about the city?
A. No; they were pretty much all strangers; the biggest portion of them were strange men.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. In your duties as a roundsman, had you noticed any unusual influx of strangers into the town?
A. I had--a great many. We had a large crowd of them, I believe from Cumberland--in the neighborhood of twenty-five or thirty--that is, one batch, and I took notice of others.
Q. Sufficient to attract the attention of the police authorities?
A. It would have attracted my attention, and I have been following up that business for my living for eight or nine years.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. When did these men come into the city first?
A. The first I noticed of them was on Saturday night, when I got into the Twelfth ward. To show you that there were a great many people that didn't belong in the city, I arrested some nine or ten up there that night, and among that nine or ten, eight of them belonged to Allegheny, and their faces were all strange to me.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. This party from Cumberland--when did they come?
A. I can't remember.
Q. After or before the fire?
A. I can't be positive which.
By Mr. Dewees:
Q. You said there was no cellar under this round-house?
A. There was no cellar, but I found a turn-table in the middle of it.
Q. How deep is a round-house generally dug out--from the top of the rails down?
A. It is on a level, but it has got to be so deep for the turn-table.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. The carpenter shop was connected with it?
A. Yes.
Q. And the superintendent's office and car shops?
A. Yes.
Q. Didn't they all have cellars under them?
A. The office might have had a cellar--I know the office had.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. When you went out there on Thursday afternoon, what class of men were there?
A. Principally railroaders.
Q. How many were there?
A. One hundred and fifty, or more than that. I knew a great many of them.
Q. Could the trains have been run out that afternoon, if the engineers and firemen had gone?
A. Yes; they could have taken this train out I was on--I don't know how far, though. They had four policemen on each engine to protect the engineers and firemen, and from what I understood, there were men to be put along on the train to protect the brakemen.
Q. You were out again on Friday?
A. No; not until Saturday. I remained there until Sunday morning, about eight o'clock.
Q. How large a posse could you have raised in the city to go out there and restore order, if the mayor had made a call, or a demand for a posse?
A. It would have depended on how much time you would have given me.
Q. In a day?
A. I might have got in the neighborhood of one hundred men. There were but one hundred and twenty men, and some of them were there.
Q. But from any class of men in the city--if he had just called for a posse from any source--for extra men?
A. He could not have got many at that time. Wherever I went, to judge from the talk, the people were all in sympathy with the mob.
By Mr. Engelbert:
Q. Do you mean the tax-payers?
A. I suppose so.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. But the mayor made no call, so far as you know, for a posse?
A. I saw him trying to get men together on different occasions.
Q. But he made no official demand?
A. Not that I know of.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. He made no effort to increase his police force by swearing in extra men?
A. I believe he did as quick as he could do it.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. When did he do it?
A. In a couple or three days--may be two days.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. After the riot?
A. Shorty after the riot. I think he did it as quickly as he could get the men together. I think he tried all he could to prevent this riot, which he don't get the credit for here. He ordered me on Sunday morning to go to the fire department, about one o'clock, and I went in search of the chief, in company with another officer, Motts. He did the talking. I didn't talk to him myself. We went to look for the chief, and could not find him. We went down to Twenty-first street and Penn street, and we saw a foreman there--I believe, in fact, several of the fire department were there, and we requested them to come and play on the fire, that the mayor had sufficient force, and that he would protect them, and the answer I don't remember, but I know they didn't come up and play on the fire. They were not going to run the danger.
Q. What firemen did you see?
A. Motts can tell you. Several were standing there.
Q. What ones were standing there?
A. Different ones. A man named Kennedy was there, and one named Miller.
Q. Do you know where those two men are now?
A. I suppose they are still on the fire department. The mayor at that time had dispatched from the Twelfth ward station for police, and had got, I guess, sixty or may be more. I know that many, for I knew the lieutenant that came up.
By Mr. Dewees:
Q. Were the round-house and those shops very hot when you went in?
A. No; No cars were burning there yet.
By Mr. Engelbert:
Q. Was the fire department near there--some of them?
A. Yes; close up.
Q. If they had played on the burning cars could they have prevented those buildings from getting on fire?
A. I think they could have prevented it.
Q. Were you ready to give protection then?
A. The mayor was there, and his force, and those were the orders.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. When you went inside of the round-house were the doors still intact.
A. They were. I could not see any fire about them.
Q. How many engines were in there at that time?
A. I can't be certain. A number were in there at that time--a great many. They were shoved in the stalls. There would, apparently, be one in each.
Q. You think you examined those doors, do you?
A. I was close to the doors, and if there had been any fire--in case of a fire I would have seen it.
By Mr. Engelbert:
Q. Was the upper round-house burning then?
A. I believe it was pretty much burned at that time.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where did the troops come out of the round-house?
A. I saw a portion of them come out of the entrance on Twenty-sixth street, and I think a portion of them came out of the rear end of the carpenter shop. I saw some twenty-five or thirty come out.
* * * * *
Thomas Hastings, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. What is your business?
A. I not doing anything at present.
Q. What were you doing in July last?
A. I was a police officer.
Q. What connection had you with the efforts to suppress the riot?
A. I did everything, so far as I could, at that time. I didn't know much about it until Saturday evening. Our time for going on duty was eight o'clock in the evening. I went on at seven o'clock, and had orders from the lieutenant to go down and notify each tavern-keeper to close his saloon, at the request of the mayor. I did so, and we were distributed in the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street. There was a large crowd at Twenty-eighth street and Twenty-sixth street, and the crowd increased up to eleven o'clock.
Q. What time did you receive orders to close the saloons?
A. About seven o'clock in the evening.
Q. In the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street?
A. All along Penn street. I went up about eleven o'clock, and stayed looking around for a while at Twenty-eighth street, and then came down as far as Twenty-sixth street, and went back again, and just as I got at the corner of Twenty-eighth and Penn streets I saw the fire, and I ran up Liberty street and saw a car of oil. I then ran down and pulled the alarm, and just as I pulled the alarm I was thrown out in the street. Just then the mayor passed me, and asked me what the car was, and I told him it was a car of oil. He asked me if I pulled the alarm, and I said yes. I didn't see any engine coming. I went down then to the Twelfth ward station-house, and I asked the captain if he had pulled the alarm, and he said he had tried to, but couldn't. I then went down a little piece, and saw an engine and the Independence hose carriage standing at Twenty-fourth or Twenty-fifth street. Somebody made a remark that they would not let them come up any further--that they had threatened to shoot them. I stayed around there all that night, and on Sunday morning, after the Philadelphia troops left----
Q. Did you see the Philadelphia troops come out of the round-house?
A. I saw what they called the Philadelphia troops.
Q. Where did they come out?
A. They were in this round-house and in the carpenter shop. They appeared to come out of the west end of the carpenter shop.
Q. On to what street?
A. On to Liberty, and then down Twenty-fifth street to Penn. Some were deployed as skirmishers, at the head of the column. They appeared to be pretty well frightened.
Q. Were they marching in good order?
A. Yes; but they appeared to be pretty well scared.
Q. They marched regularly, did they?
A. Yes.
Q. Was any attack made on them?
A. Not to my knowledge--so far as I saw. I only stayed a few minutes, and went over into the round-house and carpenter shop. I went into, I believe, where D. O. Shater had his office, on the east end of the round-house. I went in there, and went in through the round-house into the carpenter shop.
Q. Were you on duty during the week prior to the riot?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you learn of any arrangement among the men for the strike?
A. I knew nothing of it until I got out of bed on Thursday, that was the first I heard of it.
Q. What time did you get up?
A. I generally got up about four or five o'clock.
Q. What did you learn then?
A. I learned that there was a strike, or that there was going to be a strike.
Q. Who informed you?
A. I don't remember. Some railroad man.
Q. What did he say about it?
A. That there had been a strike, or was going to be a strike.
Q. You knew of no pre-arranged plan for a strike?
A. No.
Q. Had you noticed any influx of strangers into the city prior to that time?
A. I had noticed a great many.
Q. What class of men?
A. They appeared to be tramps--fellows hunting for work, but who didn't want it.
Q. Any more than there had been previously?
A. Yes; that week there had been a great many traveling back and forward on the streets.
Q. A great many all the time are traveling, are they not?
A. Not as many as that week, I don't think.
Q. Did you have any conversation with those tramps?
A. No.
Q. What do you do with the tramps who come into the city here?
A. We don't do anything at present.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. What was the first day you noticed more tramps than usual?
A. It appeared to be the beginning of the week of the riot--for six or eight days previous.
Q. You noticed it before the strike commenced?
A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. You did not do anything with those tramps who gathered and collected?
A. We had not for some time.
Q. You allowed them to come in and go away when they choose?
A. Yes.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. Where had you noticed this extra influx of tramps?
A. I had noticed it on Penn street, particularly. A great many were going in and out. They would ask me where there was a place to stay over night, or if they could stay at the station-house, and I always directed them to the Young Men's Home.
Q. Did they come there in larger numbers than usual--that is, in larger crowds than six or eight or ten?
A. Sometimes I would see one or two, and then six, and they increased to as high as eight in a party.
Q. In a party?
A. In a bunch.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. How soon were you up to the round-house after the troops vacated it?
A. In eight or ten minutes.
Q. Did you go through the round-house or the shops?
A. Yes.
Q. Were any of those buildings on fire?
A. The machine shop was on fire--thirty or forty feet on the east side--that is, sixty feet from the east end of the round-house.
Q. Do you know anything about any oil cars that were dropped down on the Pennsylvania railroad towards the round-house?
A. I know that oil cars were dropped down there.
Q. At what time?
A. They were afire when I saw them. I don't know how close to the round-house they went.
Q. How were they stopped?
A. I think they were bumped against other cars.
Q. You don't know of any obstructions placed on the tracks that prevented them from running clear to the round house?
A. No.
Q. Was there much heat in the round-house when you got there, soon after the troops left?
A. The machine shop was on fire. How long it had been burning before, I cannot say. It was burning when I went into D. O. Shafer's office.
Q. Had any of the troops been in this machine shop?
A. I can't say; some had been shooting out of the bell tower that night.
Q. Of the machine shop?
A. Yes, sir; the round-house was not on fire, nor the carpenter shop.
Q. What has been your avocation for the last eight or ten years?
A. I have been a railroad man up to within three years.
Q. Have you ever been a conductor on passenger trains?
A. No.
Q. On freight trains?
A. I have been a conductor on freight.
Q. Had you any conversation with freight conductors up to the time of the riot, or before that time in relation to any contemplated strike?
A. No.
Q. Or with any men belonging to the Trainmen's Union?
A. No; I never took any stock in that union.
Q. Did you see the troops retiring from the round-house?
A. Not until they came up on Penn street.
Q. Did you see them fired at?
A. Not on Penn street. I saw a man who is in jail now, firing from the corner of Twenty-sixth and Penn streets.
Q. At the troops?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you see any whisky running into any of those buildings on fire?
A. I saw two cars of high wines on fire. They had stopped them in front of the superintendent's office, and they were throwing water out of the windows to put the fire out. When I went up there I saw it was high wines.
Q. Could that have run into the cellar of the buildings or the superintendent's office?
A. It would have taken a good bit, for the stone sill was eight or ten inches from the ground, and it would take a great deal to run in there, though a barrel might have rolled in through the window.
Q. Where is the battery room under the superintendent's office?
A. It is in the west corner of the building--in the cellar.
Q. Is it below the grade of the Allegheny Valley track?
A. I am not sure. Yes; it is below, the bottom part of it, but along the window sill, I think, it is five or six inches, may be more.
Q. It is below the grade of the railroad track?
A. The inside of it is, but the outside is about six or eight inches above the ground. I would have to send up to be sure about it.
* * * * *
William Coats, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Were you connected with the fire department of the city of Pittsburgh last July?
A. I am one of the fire commissioners of the city of Pittsburgh.
Q. State the organization of that department last July?
A. We had eleven steam fire engine companies and two hose companies and three trucks in the city of Pittsburgh last July, and an average of about seven men to a company. But we didn't have a full force on. Our appropriations ran short, and we were compelled to put off some twenty-two men just previous to the riot.
Q. How many men had you at that time?
A. One hundred and four, telegraph operators and all--a working force of about ninety-eight men.
Q. They are a paid force, are they?
A. Yes.
Q. State what aid they rendered in putting out the fire?
A. The first alarm, the night of the riot, occurred on the 21st of July, I think--I am not positive--and was sent in about fifteen minutes after ten o'clock. I was then at engine house No. 7, on Penn avenue, near the corner of Twenty-third street. There were three companies that answered that alarm, and one hose company and one truck. The department was stopped on the street, between Twenty-third and Twenty-eighth street. The crowd caught the horses of No. 7 engine, and drew the fire out of the engine, and made the men pull into the sidewalk. The department did no service on Saturday night, but they went into service when the Philadelphia troops vacated the round-house, on Sunday morning at seven o'clock. Our men went there then; and, if you will allow me, I will tell you why they did not go into service before.
Q. We want to know it?
A. The people would not allow them to.
Q. That is the mob?
A. Yes; but we considered them in service from the time the alarm struck, though they didn't throw any water. We couldn't get to the round-house building, or to where the fire started, because the mob stopped us. They made the assistant chief engineer get out of his buggy. I sent off the second signal myself from No. 7 engine house when they commenced to fire cars down about Twentieth street. In the meantime, an alarm came in from East Liberty, and we thought it was the cattle yards there. From the corner of Twenty-second and Liberty streets, we laid a line of hose, but they commenced to cut it as soon as we laid it, and they made us take it up again. A fellow put a pistol to my ear and said, take that up.
Q. Did you know the fellow who did that?
A. No. I have not seen him since. We reeled the hose up. There was no use in getting it out. We could only get into service when the Philadelphia troops came out of the round-house on Sunday morning.
Q. What kind of service did you render during the day?
A. We saved this town from burning down. I don't suppose that ever a body of men worked harder than the Pittsburgh fire department. We did not have a man who was not at his post from ten o'clock on Saturday night until eight o'clock on Monday morning. It was the only body of men in Pittsburgh organized.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. They were ready to do their duty?
A. They did their duty.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. You say they saved the city? How?
A. In the first place, when we went into service, opposite the round-house or the machine-shops, there were a lot of frames or tenement houses that were on fire. Well, we put out this fire, and we kept on following the fire down Liberty street, and kept the buildings wetted down. The fire was very intense--very hot, and it was a continual fight with fire all the way down Liberty street.
Q. The crowd of rioters and pillagers were ahead of you?
A. Sometimes they were ahead, and sometimes along with us; sometimes the rioters kept ahead of the fire, and sometimes they were among us.
Q. They didn't break open the cars and pillage them until the fire started along?
A. There were places on Liberty street where no man could have stood, even to wet the houses down, and where they couldn't have pillaged, because it was too hot, and occasionally along Liberty street there were a lot of coal dumps and some oil bins, and where that occurred the heat was very intense. We had to keep things wetted all the time. Along there the pillagers would sometimes be very plenty.