Part 66
A. My testimony will bear entirely on the restoration of order and closing scenes of the riot. I will state that on Saturday, the day the riot broke out, I left my office here, at fifteen minutes after five o'clock in the evening, and took the train to a place I was boarding at, in the country, with my family. I did not hear before I left the office, nor hear on the train, one word of any disturbance that had taken place on the Pennsylvania railroad. I knew that there had been a strike. I knew that the trains were prevented from running by the strikers, but I did not know of any overt act of violence having been committed, either by the public authorities or the strikers. There is no telegraphic communication with the place I was boarding at, and on Sabbath day, late in the day, rumors commenced to circulate throughout the country of the scenes that were occurring in the city, and when the night was pretty far advanced, the light from the burning could be seen at that distance, over twelve miles--the glare in the sky. I made arrangements with some persons, thinking that, probably, the train might be detained at Little Washington, and not come in. I made arrangements to come with some other gentlemen by private conveyance, but the train came along that day, and I arrived at my office on Monday at half past eight o'clock. The first message I received was from Mayor McCarthy to come to his office without delay, and I took one of the county commissioners and started for his office. I had no opportunity of learning the extent of the disaster that had occurred. I met him on the corner of Fifth and Smithfield. He appeared to me to have been coming up in this direction. As soon as he saw me, he hallooed me, and said that the Philadelphia military had been driven from the city, and had taken refuge at the Allegheny county work-house, and the authorities had refused to provide them with victuals, and requested me to order the authorities at the work-house to provide the soldiers with something to eat. Mr. Begard and I--Mr. Begard is the county commissioner--started for the Western Union telegraph office, and at my request, the telegraph company put one of their lines--gave me the use of one of their lines to communicate as long and much as I wished. The nearest telegraph station to the work-house was a mile and a half away from the work-house. The operator tried his line, and found that they were down, and reported the fact, and stated, that probably if I would go to Allegheny City, and the West Penn station, that probably I would get communication there. I went over to the West Penn station, and the proprietor there tried the lines also, and his lines were down--could not get any communication. He then advised me to go to the transfer station of the West Penn railroad, about three quarters of a mile out, and probably I could get communication there. When I went out there, we got telegraphic communication, and discovered that the soldiers were all loaded on cars, and were then on their way to Blairsville. On my return to the Allegheny depot, I met one of the soldiers of the Philadelphia command, who had straggled away from his regiment, and who was in citizen's dress. Some citizens called my attention to the man, and said that he was eager for protection, that he was in fear of personal danger, and they requested that I would take charge of him and do something for him. I told him the circumstances, where his command had been shipped to, and went to one of the officials of the West Penn railroad, and got him transportation on the first line that left the depot. I took a card out of my pocket, and directed it to the commanding officer, requesting him to come back with his command to the work-house, and that he would be provisioned there and be taken care of. I don't know whether that note ever reached the commanding officer or not. It certainly had no effect. That and the meeting of the committee of safety, in Pittsburgh, on Monday afternoon, in which they requested the prompt coöperation of the county authorities, and especially the use of the means under our control, and restore order, was my first day's work. On Tuesday, at the request of the committee of public safety, I went to Colonel Howe, superintendent Western Union Telegraph Company, and requested him to send a man to Claremont to put the work-house in telegraphic communication with the city, as there were very serious rumors prevailing that the coopers, who were much opposed, in this vicinity, to prison labor, were about to assault the work-house, and probably destroy it. Colonel Rowe did so. He sent his men there, and in less than two hours I had a dispatch from the superintendent of the work-house. The dispatch was to the effect that I should send him out arms and ammunition. Senator McNeil was then in the city, and he and I got a buggy, and went out to the arsenal, stated our case to the commandant of the Allegheny arsenal, and he told us he had authority to issue five hundred stand of arms from the Secretary of War--authority from the Secretary of War to issue five hundred stand of arms to the mayor of Allegheny City. As the mayor of Allegheny had only drawn four hundred, he had one hundred left, and suggested that we should get an order for the balance. We took a flour wagon over to the arsenal. The mayor of Allegheny told McNeil, and some citizens also told us, that we could not possibly get away from the arsenal with arms and ammunition, as we should be watched, and that all avenues leading to and from the city were carefully guarded by the rioters. We got one hundred stand of arms from the arsenal, five thousand rounds of ammunition, and loaded it in our flour wagon, and, with a single driver, and McNeil and myself in the buggy, took them to the Allegheny work-house, a distance of eight miles, by country roads. We were not misled nor questioned by any person. At the time we left the arsenal, the commandant showed us out a private entrance. I might state here that the superintendent of the work-house proposed to defend that institution with the employés of the institution, and with some trusty criminals that he had in charge. He thought that if he had the arms and ammunition he would be perfectly safe. We remained all night at the work-house, and on Wednesday morning instructed the sheriff of the county--the county commissioner and myself, instructed the sheriff of the county, in view of the fact that the railroad officials had appeared to have abandoned their property entirely, to immediately throw a guard of men of not less than one hundred around all the burned district to protect what remaining property was on the ground, scrap iron, &c., and it was rumored that a car load of bullion had been melted and run into the debris, and the sheriff immediately did so. We also called into our aid--although we were advised that it was out of our jurisdiction--that is, there appeared to be no person to undertake these things--we called into our aid the county detective, and instructed him to employ as many detectives, and as many wagons as he could possibly use, and to hunt for and restore the stolen property that had been taken away, and to bring it to a warehouse that we rented on Liberty street--a large warehouse for the purpose, and also put notices--had notices inserted in all the papers, morning and evening, directing any persons who had any property in their possession that had been taken during the riot to deliver it to those detectives, or at that warehouse. A very large amount of property was recovered--property of all descriptions, and under an arrangement with the officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as this property was nearly all theirs and taken from their cars, they were delivered over to the officials of the railroad company, and their receipts were taken for the same. That covers a period of probably two weeks, and various instances happened in regard to that property that would scarcely be necessary for me to repeat. Some of them were very curious. A great deal of the property was voluntarily brought back, and the excuse was given that, as it seemed to be a general thing, and as every person was taking property, thought that that property, a barrel of flour, or a ham, or box of cigars, or whatever it may be, might as well be taken by them as be lost. I had a conversation with the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company a few days after that--Colonel Thomas A. Scott--and an arrangement was entered into in regard to those losses--in regard to an account being taken of them, and to have them as definitely settled as possible. The county commissioners and myself appointed a commission, composed of the fire marshal of Allegheny county, and Robert Thorn, an experienced insurance adjuster, and Mr. Trimble, an experienced carpenter, to go upon the ground and thoroughly investigate any claims for loss or damage, which they did, and I have in my office now over one hundred and sixty-nine adjusted claims; that is, claims that were settled--the amount settled by this commission. Colonel Scott was to investigate the losses of freights, which would take a very considerable time, and obtain such proofs as were in the possession of the railroad company in regard to the losses; and the estimated value of the goods that were returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company could not have been much short of sixty thousand dollars, at first cost--the cost to the owners. They were disposed of by auction, many of them being broken packages, and much of the goods being such as would spoil by being kept on hand. We also appointed a commission, composed of three experienced locomotive and car builders, to go upon the ground and carefully estimate the damage that was done to locomotives and cars. I have also that report on file in my office; and after a period of about four weeks we suspended, as the civil officers--as the financial officers really had no jurisdiction in thosematters--suspended all operations in that line, and handed it over to the civil authorities of the county. I may say here, in addition to that, that we considered, as financial officers of the county, that no expense should be spared nor efforts spared to make restitution, and return all the property it was possible to get hold of. A great deal of property was returned to private individuals, besides that that was returned to the railroad company.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. What was the amount of losses adjusted by the two commissions?
A. The amount that was adjusted of strictly private property, that has been finished by the fire marshall's commission, as we call it, has been fixed at about $160,000, in round figures. The locomotive engineers' report----
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Let me understand. What do you mean by strictly private property, does that include furniture?
A. No; that includes houses that were burned, and furniture destroyed.
Q. Any railroad property?
A. No railroad property. I will also state that there was some claims of that nature, that the parties who had the claims refused to present them to the commission, and have them adjusted by the commission. A notable instance of that kind is the Pittsburgh elevator. Their claim for loss is above, I believe, $200,000, alone. Some person will come along with a claim for a suit of clothes, or something of that kind, that was lost in a hotel, or in some house. The commissions reported in regard to locomotive property--railroad property. I considered it private, and have not given the figures to the public.
Q. Have you any estimate of the loss of freight?
A. We have no authentic estimate. I wrote to Colonel Scott in regard to that before I published my annual report, and got no reply, but I understood that the matter was in the hands of a gentleman in Altoona, who had not got through with it. I want to impress the committee with the fact that every effort was made to make restitution.
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James Little, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. Twenty-first ward, city of Pittsburgh.
Q. What is your business?
A. Wholesale liquor.
Q. I believe you are called to give us some information as to what was done to suppress the riot on Sunday night?
A. The trouble is to know where to begin and not detain you with unnecessary ideas. I came in on Sabbath morning, when I heard of it. As I came down street, William Smith, the pipeman, proposed we would hold a meeting, and I went down street, and as I went down every prominent man I met I announced it to them, and went on down at the meeting--down at the old market-house.
Q. Citizens' meeting?
A. Citizens' meeting, Sunday. When the meeting was called to order, James Parke was called to the chair, and he assumed to run the whole meeting. He didn't want any one else to speak but himself, and he had been managing the strikers for twenty-five years, and cut me out entirely, and I felt, perhaps, a little personal disgust with how it was managed. I went up to the depot. Citizens came to me and pleaded with me to take part. I went among the railroad men I knew, and asked, Where are the leaders--where is the man that has this thing in charge, where can we go to get parties to prevail on them to stop? They would say, That man over there, pointing to some man; and the first answer he would give would be a rebuff, very harsh generally. I would tell them, That is no use--I don't want to be treated in that way. This thing is disgracing and injuring you and all of us. I treated them as railroad men. Railroad men would send me to those parties. They were invariably strangers. Those that took command were men that were not known here--that is, gave the hints to stand along and managed the guards that were keeping the citizens back that were interfering with them firing the cars.
Q. Railroad men seemed to know who they were?
A. Railroad men knew who they were. At first they denied me any conversation, then I would get and talk with them, and after awhile they would say. So far as I am concerned we will consent to have the thing stopped. Then here was a crowd that I did see some among--I knew the faces of a large number--that would not permit the fire to stop. Told them to burn, apparently, through spite they had of the employers. About the time the fire got round to Seventh street, they had exhausted the line of railroad there--it goes into the tunnel--and we heard the remark, "Now for the point depot." They were quite drunk. There was a car of whisky behind the elevator--they had broken open the car--high wines--and it was perhaps the saving of any further destruction--had made them dead drunk. We gathered up five or six and started with them, explaining to them what districts would be burned, if they didn't furnish assistance. One or two men set fire to cars and in a short time we prevailed on the citizens. I made a speech on a barrel, and we found we had backing enough to call in the police officers and have one of the men arrested, and to stop the riot there. They made declarations that have come before the courts here--that the attorney who has been attending to these courts will recollect--how they were going to proceed to burn the railroad property on the south side.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did these men tell you how they were going to proceed?
A. They said they would not stop until they would burn the cars that were standing on the south side, and the different depots--they were going to burn these depots, and so forth. Some of them made remarks, and some of them did not, on that question. I was treated with perfect respect--announced myself, and we discussed it there. I was one of those unfortunate men that thought I could stop that riot with fifty men.
Q. You mean by remonstrances?
A. By talking, not by force.
Q. Pick handle persuasion?
A. No; white handkerchief. Go right at it, and when a man won't submit to be arrested, try to put him out of the way; if we had to hurt him, hurt him. I served a short time in the military, and we done things very quick in that way there. We would try to handle men gently, and if he would not submit, he was handled roughly.
By Mr. Englebert:
Q. What you would call knock down arguments?
A. There was no chance for white handkerchief nor pick handle arguments there. The crowd was too close.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Could you have quelled the disturbance without the use of fire arms?
A. No, sir; not at all. Perhaps, without the use of them. I would think that, if they had seen men determined to do their work, there would be no necessity for any trouble.
Q. The idea was to be prepared, in case there was a necessity for using fire arms.
A. I, unfortunately, employed in the army, on police duty, through the country, and would arrest many a man who shot a dozen, and you come at them quietly and determined, and they would surrender.
Q. You thought it was necessary to use a show of force and resolution?
A. Yes; and I consider State officers and all were interested by "don't hurt anybody," that that idea got through the crowd, and they were confident that there was nobody going to be hurt.
Q. Do you know of anybody waiting upon the city authorities?
A. I was not connected with that part. I had connection with the mayor's proceeding, to some extent, as a councilor.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. What efforts did he make?
A. He sent for some of the leading councilmen, and called a meeting of the council, and we met in general session, and resolved that we would sustain the mayor in paying any expense that he would incur.
Q. When was that?
A. I think on Monday.
Q. After the riot?
A. They supposed the riot was still unquelled.
Q. What I mean is, before the breaking out of the riot--before Saturday night--during Thursday and Friday--was there any steps taken before any consultations with the councilmen?
A. There was, to some extent, but in the shape of a meeting of council.
Q. Was there any talk about calling a meeting, and it would be necessary to take means to suppress any disturbance that might grow out of it?
A. There was, up to the time the county and the military took hold. Then it looked as if the force was immense to a great many--the military force being called out--they had called on them, and the exertions, perhaps, relaxed on the part of the city authorities.
Q. What seemed to animate these men among this crowd?
A. These men that stood back and threatened to shoot any man that would interfere--was a man that appeared to be animated by a spirit of opposition to the railroad--to burn out the railroad--and those that were doing the burning were parties that apparently acted under this direction and were generally strangers that none of us could recognize. On the other hand, it was citizens of Harrisburg that was generally doing the wrecking and carrying away goods. That is as near as I can judge from my connection with them, and I mingled right among them.
Q. Were you among them there Thursday or Friday--have you any knowledge?
A. The first that surprised me in the transactions--I went up to the Union depot on--I think it was Saturday, and the military there--some of the companies--were marched out to go to East Liberty, and instead of ridding the crowd away, they bundled through the crowd, so that they could hardly hold ranks--got out as best they could. I was surprised at it. I thought there was no disposition shown by the military to disperse these crowds.
Q. Have you any knowledge of the causes leading to the riot, at all?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. From personal knowledge?
A. Yes; I suppose I have as good a knowledge of that as most people, because you mingled with railroad men and heard them talk. They were clamoring on account of the reduction of wages and the double-headers. These two were the arguments they plead their cases on. As a general thing they had a good deal of sympathy, I think.
Q. What do you mean by sympathy?
A. They represented their case so that a great many people thought that they were imposed on.
Q. What cause did they assign--a reduction in wages?
A. The reduction in wages was such that, for instance, one brakesman I know to be of good character, he had his last check or warrant, showing that eighteen dollars and some cents was all he could make during the month. His argument was in this shape: Brakesmen would not go out for a day or so, and they could not make a living at the wages they paid; that too many of them were employed. He did not use that argument, but his argument went to show that there was too many of them employed, and that they could not get steady work, and it was still being cut down lower. That was the argument of one man, as a sample.
Q. He seemed to express the ideas of all of them--he was a man of intelligence?
A. He was a very nice man, a man I have known for some time. I think he has a wife and some children. He pulled out his warrant and showed me, as a part of his argument.
Q. He only received eighteen dollars a month?
A. Only got in time enough to make that. While the railroad men stood in the position of defending themselves, they had a great many friends, until it got into the shape of a riot, and then people began to complain. They were uneasy, and saw that things were changed.
Q. Have you any other information on that subject--the cause, which is, as you have expressed, this man's opinion?
A. No other argument that was used in regard to the double-headers. They were on these heavy trains, with only the same number of brakemen as on a single train, and it was so hard to work, and at the same time it was throwing a part of them out of work, and making their time so much less to the men--the same as that man described--he only made eighteen dollars. Numbers of them talked. There was a neighborhood handy to me, where railroad men live, and I often dropped in with them, and talked with them to see what their views are during the week, and that was a leading argument among the common men. I can explain that almost as fully as a road man. I am so familiar with that--any question you wish to ask about it. Double-header is where there is a locomotive put to thirty-six cars, and where they will take about half of that with a single one, and then they would put on a crew to break the cars and attend to them--one conductor and one or two brakemen--the same number that was put on a single train, and they would have to do the work of a number of hands, and they objected to that work--was too heavy, with the mountains and the heavy grades, and with the heavy trains, made their breaking so heavy that it was very hard and dangerous. They complained, of the way they were abused by handling these heavy trains.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Did the men appear to think that they should be allowed to make ... and higher up, and none of them discharged?
A. They argued, that the pay should not be reduced and the labor increased. They talked against these double-headers, the reduction being made on their wages, and their labor increased by doubling up the train, making their labor heavier and those who were doing the work. This is the shape they objected.
Q. Did you learn whether it was their idea that they should be getting full time, or were they willing that part should be discharged, and then let them make full time?
A. I never heard them express their views on that point, but they complained they were not getting full time. Were standing, waiting for days, looking for a job, and that if they were not there for a moment, they would lose their chance.
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J. L. Kennedy, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where is your residence, Mr. Kennedy?
A. Claremont.
Q. What is your official business?
A. Warden of the county work-house, at present.
Q. Were you in July last?
A. I was assistant warden at that time.