Part 67
Q. State whether the militia under the command of General Brinton came to the work-house, and what you saw and heard?
A. On the Sunday afternoon General Brinton came to the building, about two o'clock, I guess, him and another gentleman from Philadelphia came there in a buggy, and wanted to know if he could put his troops inside. I told him the superintendent was not at home, and I did not feel like them going inside, as they would not be more secure than outside. I advised him to take his men up on the hill in camp. They said they had been driven from the city, and the mob was following them. I told him I did not think there would be much danger in taking the men up on the hill. They would be just as secure. He inquired the way back to Sharpsburg. He had not his troops with him. He was in advance of them. I told him the way to Sharpsburg, and he wanted to know if he could get back without going back on the public road. I told him he could not, unless he would leave his horse there, and walk through the field. He appeared to be very much frightened, and very much demoralized. He started back to meet his troops, and took them upon the hill, and kept them in camp there. The next morning he left, I believe, and put them aboard cars, and took them to Blairsville. In the evening some men came down, and asked if we could give them some provisions. We gave them as much bread as they wanted, and all the meat about the institution. At that time the superintendent came back, and him and I went up, and we saw more bread than the troops had any use for. I believe the poor-house gave them all the coffee they wanted.
Q. Did you converse with the troops any?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you see them when they marched up?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did they march in regular order?
A. Some of them, and some did not--kept straggling up there all the evening, after the main body came through, they kept straggling up all the evening. In fact, the next two days they came there one or two at a time. Some of them had their uniforms on, and several came around with citizen's clothes on. The next day after they left, there were two came there, one of them had been wounded. We took him inside, and had our hospital steward dress his wound, and kept him there until we got transportation for them, and they were sent to Blairsville.
Q. Did any of the mob follow them up Sunday?
A. No, sir; no person came after them at all.
Q. Was there any attack made upon this institution, or threatened?
A. It was threatened very strongly, but they never made any attack.
Q. What preparations did you make to meet them?
A. There had been a lot of arms sent out to us through the county commissioners, and we were prepared to meet any emergency.
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W. G. Johnson, _sworn_:
Witness: I do not know that I can give you anything in addition to what you have already had.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. There was information that it was suggested that you might give about something that was done on the south side in the way of protection of the depot or the trains there--of patrolling the approaches to the city on that side.
A. The committee of safety on Monday immediately took steps. They organized military force of the citizens. General Negley had already made a start in that direction, and our committee coöperated with him. In fact, he was a member of that committee. He was in continual correspondence with the committee. Quite a number of military organizations were formed under General Negley's command; among others was that of Major Paul. That was a mounted patrol. The safety committee purchased horses and hired horses for some two or three weeks; had them patrol all the highways and streets at all hours of the day and night, and wherever there was any disturbance they were, of course, sent in that direction to see what was necessary to put it down. I suppose what you refer to is over at the Cork Run tunnel. There were no disturbance there, but there were some threatenings of burning of cars in the tunnel. Major Paul visited that point and scoured the whole country.
Q. Is that on the Allegheny road?
A. No, sir; that is on the Pan Handle. He scoured the country around and found--the only thing he found in that direction in the way of an assemblage was a lot of miners out by Mansfield holding a meeting there. They saw nothing that looked riotous among those miners. They were holding a meeting in regard to the strike at the time. Whether any damage would have arisen to the cars there in Cork Run tunnel, we would see if there were any parties having an eye to it, and Major Paul's command would have kept the post pretty clear.
Q. You do not think of anything new, Mr. Johnson, in relation to the organizations. We had a pretty full explanation of the organization by the citizens.
A. You have had a pretty full explanation through Mr. Park and Mr. McKune and others. They have testified to the main facts in relation to what the committee did. At the very outset the pledging of these individuals to unlimited amounts to restore peace and order. They have already told you of what the nature of the disquiet was on Monday morning. The streets were crowded to excess, apparently by strangers never seen here before, and it looked very threatening, indeed--very alarming. Every precaution was taken by this committee at the time. They were in session continuously from Monday morning until Saturday night, from nine o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock at night, and sometimes until midnight. We were in correspondence with the Secretary of War, as to ammunition, and got all we wanted--arms and ammunition; in correspondence with Governor Hartranft on his route from the west here. We met him on his arrival. Urged him to remain here, thinking his presence would be of great benefit, but he only consented to remain until three o'clock on the following morning. He remained from eight or nine o'clock until three o'clock the following morning, saying he could do us more good by going to Philadelphia to consult with General Hancock, and he would have sufficient force of military here to restore perfect quiet.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. I understood you to say that you organized this citizens' committee--this committee organized of companies--and armed them?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How did you arm them?
A. We procured arms from the arsenal.
Q. Muskets?
A. Muskets--rifles--Springfield rifles.
Q. What class of men were those you organized into companies?
A. Some of them--some members of them--were men who had been out in the last war.
Q. Were any of them in those companies among the rioters or part of the rioters?
A. Yes; I will explain a little matter of that character. General Negley had his head-quarters in Lafayette hall, and I think it was on Tuesday noon I had left the Chamber of Commerce rooms to go to my dinner, and I noticed a squad of probably sixty men, about as rough looking chaps as I had ever laid eyes on, going through some military motions on Wood street. I saw General Negley on the opposite corner, and I asked him the question whether he was feeding a lot of tramps. We were paying the expense of feeding them. Says he, "You are about right. We are mustering those fellows out." He had taken under his command all that would offer, and he had to sift them out afterwards. He said these he had sifted out, and he was going to muster them out--going to pay them a dollar a piece and tell them "go." The night previous he discovered that some of these men had been among the rioters. They were regular tramps, undoubtedly, and he had these men arrested and sent to the lockup, and found that they had been among the rioters, and these others were undoubtedly tramps of the same character. The city was infested with them at that time.
Q. These men had been armed by your committee, without knowing what class of men they were?
A. General Negley had placed arms in the hands of the men under his control.
Q. Some of them had turned out to be some of the rioters?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. As soon as it was discovered----
A. As soon as it was discovered, those he knew to be rioters he had arrested, and sent to the lockup. The others were picked out by their appearance, and he had them mustered out.
Q. Did you keep any men in these commands you knew were among the rioters?
A. None we knew of. General Negley was very particular in regard to them. My own knowledge in reference to tramps was brought out on Sunday, the day of the riot. I wanted to come to town to see what was going on, and my family persuaded me to remain at home for a double reason. They were not very far from the stock-yards, which were threatened by fire, and the hotel out there, and another reason for my remaining at home was the great number of tramps, that for some days before had been coming along the road and getting food. East Liberty was a great camping ground for these tramps.
Q. Were there more than the usual number of those tramps?
A. A great many more than usual. At that time I did not connect the fact of the unusual number of tramps with the riots.
Q. What direction did they go?
A. Heading towards the city invariably.
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J. L. Bigham, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. I now reside in Allegheny.
Q. Are you a member of the National Guard?
A. Yes, sir; I am captain of the Nineteenth regiment, commanding company G, of that regiment.
Q. Were you with your command on the 21st of July?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. State what orders you heard given by General Brown, at the transfer station, in reference to the regiments disbanding?
A. General Brown came in, I suppose, about eleven o'clock. There was some consultation between him and the colonels--Colonel Howard and Colonel Gray. There was some move talked about. I came down and asked Colonel Howard what was to be done, and he said he didn't know, and in a few moments General Brown came up, and directed him to have his arms and equipments concealed in the building, where the mob would not get them when they came in, and dismiss his men there in the sheds, and directed them to find their way home the best way they could, each man for himself.
Q. That was done, was it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was done by you and by the balance of the regiment as to re-assembling?
A. I went home that night. The next morning when I got up--I had breakfast about eight o'clock--everything was on fire then. I got my lieutenant to come out and hunt up some of the men, and sent for my sergeant to have the armory open, and went over to the Union depot to see what was to be done. I saw General Brown there, and asked him if he would allow the regiment to be re-assembled and let us go out to protect the fire department. I got information that the mob had stopped the fire department from work. He says: No, it will exasperate the mob. I saw General Latta, and made the same request of him; he first said our regiment had not behaved well the day before, and there was no use in re-assembling us, and finally he said he would not take the responsibility--refused to allow us to re-assemble and go out. I went from there down to see the adjutant, and told him what occurred, and I understand that he went up by some direction of the colonel, and asked for orders to the same effect. That evening Mayor Philips organized the citizens, and made arrangements to go down and protect one of the lower bridges there. Part of my men were in that, and partly citizens. There were twenty of my muskets used there. I was down at the bridge when Colonel Howard came there, about one o'clock in the morning, and ordered me to re-assemble and report for duty at nine o'clock. I left there, and started men out to order the other men to report, and reported shortly after nine o'clock with a portion of my men, and got the other men gathered by eleven, and we were on duty from that time, continuously, until we were dismissed.
Q. Had the regiment re-assembled as a regiment?
A. They re-assembled as a regiment on Monday morning, and were used in suppressing several disturbances that occurred on Monday.
Q. How many men were together on Monday?
A. I suppose about a hundred men. When the regiment came together, Captain McFarland was not with us. He had been assembled earlier than the rest of the regiment, and was sent up to Second avenue park here, where there was some disturbance, and was kept moving about. I, myself, had only about sixteen men. I and a part of Captain Batchelor's company and a part of Captain Archibald's were taken down to Limerick, where there had been an attack made on some cars. We went down there and came back, and when we came back, the regiment was re-assembled as a regiment. The balance of Captain Bachelor's company and Captain Gordon's company. He had been operating by scattered detachments until near two o'clock.
Q. You remained here until the arrival of the Governor with troops from the east?
A. We remained until I think the night of the 21st of July, when we left for Scranton.
Q. How many men did you have when you left for Scranton?
A. I do not how many, exactly, sir. I think thirty-six men with me, and I think our companies averaged about that--seven companies on duty.
Q. Something over two hundred, then?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What does the regiment number when all the men are present?
A. We had only six companies, of about thirty-five or thirty-six men. There should be forty men to each company. There were one or two companies that ran about fifty men, but usually the companies did not run over forty. We considered turning out thirty-six men as a pretty full turnout.
Q. Were the men obedient--did they perform their duty?
A. I had no trouble. None of my men refusing to obey orders. Two or three of them deserted. I had two of them in jail for it afterwards. There was no disobedience of orders.
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Colonel Robert Monroe, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State where you live, if you please?
A. In Allegheny City.
Q. What is your business?
A. Boiler manufacturer.
Q. I do not know what point you are called to testify to, but you may go on and state?
A. I could not say because I saw very little of the riot. I was kept down at the Point. My location is at the Point.
Q. I presume that it is perhaps best to state to us what was done towards protecting the Duquesne depot?
A. I was at the Duquesne depot on Saturday evening. When I first went there, probably, it was four o'clock. Persons that I was acquainted with there, stated there was going to be trouble. People were moving their goods from the houses around the depot. I asked them what the trouble would be, and they said they had been notified to move all their personal effects, as the mob would be down in a short time--to turn out, stating the hour.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did they say who notified them?
A. Persons that came down from the upper depot stated they were to burn it at a certain hour, I think five o'clock was the hour. My place of business was located just below it, and I kept at the lower part of the depot. Between five and six o'clock, there were seven or eight persons congregated at the lower part of the depot, trying to break open the depot. They talked as though they were going to set fire to the depot, and also burn up some cars that were across on Water street siding that was there. They broke open a car door and set fire to one of the cars. There were probably five or six of us standing there at the time. Several remonstrated with them for trying to set fire to the cars--objections were made. They had that on fire and it was kicked out. They got a keg of beer from some store or other, and about six or eight of them drank that keg of beer. They tried to start a fire in a second car, and Mr. Reeves, one of the party, told him he would put a ball through the man that put a match to that car. He asked me for a pistol at the time. He said he had none, but he made that remark to frighten them--the men were intoxicated. A number of us agreed to stick together in case any attack was made, that we could assist each other in resisting these drunken men that were trying to burn the depot and the cars. One young man hammered a good deal at the depot door, trying to get the door started to get in, but did not succeed. The crowd continued there probably an hour--from three quarters of an hour to an hour. Some gentlemen. Doctor Dixon among the rest, came down from the upper end of the depot, hearing that we were there, and, as I understand, they arrested the parties that were drinking and threatening the depot with destruction.
Q. These men intoxicated?
A. Every one of them.
Q. Any other facts?
A. I do not know of anything. I kept down at the Point all the time.
Q. How large was the crowd there; about how many?
A. They gathered towards six o'clock--a pretty large crowd--and at the time I allude to when they were trying to burn the cars in the depot, or wanted to burn the depot--the drunken men--about six or eight. They talked very loud. There were but three of us at first, when we were at the lower part of the depot, and stayed there until we got more force.
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John Slagle, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State to the committee where you reside?
A. Allegheny City.
Q. And your business?
A. Business is iron commission merchant, in Pittsburgh.
Q. You may state to the committee any facts--any information--you are in possession of, in regard to the riot, and the means used to suppress it, that have not been already fully gone over?