Part 70

Q. You think it was ill advised, to undertake to move trains at the time?

A. They could not have moved a train, because they had not the men to move it, but they could have done there what they did elsewhere. They could have let it exhaust itself. The very presence of the soldiers begat excitement, and if they intended to intimidate the great crowd, I suppose the calling of the soldiers would do that, if they had cool leaders, men who understood what was to be done in an exigency of that sort. They ought not to be thrown into a crowd to be assaulted by stones.

Q. Would the mob have exhausted itself before there would have been great destruction of property?

A. There would not have been any destruction of property whatever.

Q. Would not there not have been a loss of perishable property that was in transit, too?

A. They seemed to be willing to make provision even for that. It seems to me the whole labor movement has failed signally in strikes in coal mines, in mills, and in large places, because it was only local, and the whole community failed to sympathize with them. They failed to get their rights by strikes, because it did not affect the general interests. They discovered, for the first time, where forty millions of people could be stricken as with a blow, by all the people on these roads refusing to work. They found out, for the first time, where the weak point was, as well as the strong point, in this country. They can do it again. When the employés--brakemen, trainmen, conductors, and engineers will agree not to run a railroad in this country, that is the end of traffic, and they can starve out whole communities. They discovered that fact, and then it was on Saturday evening, that labor sympathizing with those people, they partook of the strike, and helped to burn cars and carry on the work of destruction. That is a danger we are subject to, and the Governor, in this city, when he came back from the West, the very first proclamation he issued, was this:

PITTSBURGH, _July 25--1.30, A.M._

_To the people of the State of Pennsylvania_:

WHEREAS, There exists a condition of turbulence and disorder within the State, extending to many interest, and threatening all communities, under the impulse of which there has grown up a spirit of lawlessness, requiring that all law observing citizens shall organize themselves into armed bodies for the purpose of self-protection and preserving the peace; therefore,

I, John F. Hartranft, Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, recommend that all citizens shall organize themselves into associations, with such arms as they can procure, for the purpose of maintaining order and suppressing violence, and all good citizens are warned against appearing in company with any mob or riotous assembly, and thus giving encouragement to violators of the law.

(Signed)

J. F. HARTRANFT, _Governor_.

He did not confine it to Pittsburgh, but called for the whole power of the United States to put it down.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. It was not on railroads?

A. It got into coal and everything. It struck labor. They found when you hit the mills it was only local; but when you struck the railroads it struck everybody. I will furnish you files of the papers. Also the official report of the coroner, and the testimony taken before him, and the number of people killed on Saturday.

Q. You have the official report of the coroner in the files?

A. Yes. The first fire there were ten people killed outright, and there were some sixty or seventy wounded--I have the names of all of them. The first fire the people were killed that had no right to be killed--the fire of Saturday night. Anybody that was killed after Saturday night had a right to be killed; but it is a very dangerous doctrine--judges have to charge that--that everybody is constructively a mob that is then around, but that won't do in the United States, to charge that everybody is a mob.

Colonel Gray, re-called:

The witness: When I dismissed my command at the Union depot, at eleven o'clock on Saturday night, just in advance of that I want to say, because I took all the responsibility, General Brown left Twenty-eighth street on that afternoon about one or two o'clock, and came to the Union depot and left me in command, and it is in your testimony that I sent an officer to Colonel Howard, with the purpose in view--that purpose I want to say--I had felt all day that whatever orders they had were not carried out, and I thought it was impossible, so far as I was concerned, that something should be done, and I sent an officer to Colonel Howard, to ask his coöperation, and I would take a different course. I intended to vacate that railroad and prevent any one from coming on it; and I want to say in connection with that, there was some great difficulty--the local trains running in from Walls and East Liberty were coming constantly, and the strikers at all points on the railroad were arriving to and fro. They were getting off these trains and getting on them, so that the military were at a great disadvantage. Hundreds came in on every train, and got off right on the track; and another point I want to say, that after my men assembled--the companies coming at the original call--the men that wanted to come in on the railroad were put off; they couldn't get into the city; they wanted to report to the companies here on duty. They were put off the trains. I was telegraphed to for two or three days, men along the railroads were put off. I re-organized my regiment Monday morning--all the companies--two companies at the request of Mr. King, who was here from the Allegheny Valley railroad. At his request, I left one company in charge of the sheds, and my command was re-assembled, very promptly, to my great astonishment, Monday morning. There was no difficulty in getting the men to the armory and re-assembling, and I had two hundred and forty or two hundred and fifty men, and had two companies outside of the city. My command was in service until the 6th day of December, and did faithful service. My officers are men that don't run away.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. You account for the small turn out of your command, when you first assembled them, from the fact that they were prevented from coming on the trains, some of them?

A. Yes, sir.

At this point the committee adjourned until to-morrow morning, at eight and a half o'clock.

PITTSBURGH, _Tuesday, February 26, 1878_.

The committee met, at half past ten o'clock. Mr. Reyburn in the chair. All members present except Messrs. Larrabee and Lindsey.

* * * * *

Captain J. D. McFarland, _sworn_:

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. What is your full name?

A. John D. McFarland.

Q. Where do you reside?

A. 78 Logan street, Seventh ward.

Q. You were a member of the militia?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. In what capacity?

A. Captain of the Washington infantry.

Q. Were you called out during the late disturbance?

A. Yes, sir; called out--got my orders on Friday morning.

Q. Will you be kind enough to make a statement of what you know in relation to the late riots?

A. On Friday, I believe the 21st of July, I received orders from the adjutant of the regiment to which we are attached, to assemble my command as soon as possible, at the armory. I sent a notice to the sergeants of the company, and about two o'clock in the afternoon, I reported to Colonel Howard, commanding the regiment, at Union depot. We stayed there some time--a short time--I suppose an hour, perhaps an hour and a half. The regiment was ordered out on the street, with two pieces of Breck's battery, to proceed to Twenty-eighth street. We were halted, after marching three or four hundred yards. We had no ammunition, and there was a box opened on the stone wall near the depot, and to the best of my recollection, we there received one hundred and twenty rounds for the company--that was issued to us--to the whole of the command, and we remained on the street some time, I suppose, maybe three quarters of an hour, and then we were ordered back on to the platform of the depot, inside of the railroad company's lines. We remained there all that night, the night of Friday, and until Saturday morning, until about four o'clock. At four o'clock we were ordered to move out along the line of the tracks. Two pieces of Breck's battery was placed on a gondola car, and the regiment I understood had been sent around in the rear on the hill. We were the first company on the track at Twenty-eighth street, and arriving there, we found from twenty-five to thirty men, citizens. There were not over thirty, I think; and to the best of my knowledge, the colonel ordered me to clear the tracks, and put them off the company's property, which we did. We moved up and down the track, and that was repeated, I suppose, a couple of hours. When we would move down the track to clear it, the parties would gather in on our rear and flank, there had been no pickets out, and they would gather in on our rear on the track. We remained there with the command, clearing the tracks, I suppose, until about two o'clock in the afternoon.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. On Saturday?

A. Yes; on Saturday, perhaps later than that. I am not certain about the time. At that time I came in, had permission to come in and attend to some private business, and I was not there during the firing. As soon as I heard there was such a thing, I hastened out, and found that the Philadelphia troops had been put in the round-house, and it was reported that the Fourteenth and Nineteenth regiments, which constitute our division, that the Eighteenth had been sent to the Union depot. I learned this at the hospital. There was then a great mob making such a noise, as a mob usually does. I hastened to the Union depot, and met the sergeant, who informed me that our regiment was out at the transfer office. I went out there, and found General Brown and Colonel Howard with a portion of the command in a shed surrounded by cars. I asked Colonel Howard--he was the first officer I saw--asked him what he was doing there. He said he was there by orders, and asked me the state of affairs in the city. I told him the condition in the neighborhood of the Union depot. There was a large mob upon the street--from the Union depot to Twenty-eighth street was crowded with a mob, and they were hooting, yelling, and threatening what they would do. I heard them shouting, they would break into the armories and gun stores--that was the common threat that was used by the mob on the street. That afternoon, Colonel Howard said to me, that he would see General Brown, who was up stairs in the transfer office. General Brown came down. He asked me the condition. I made to him the same statement I had made to Colonel Howard, and I advised him to take another position than that--he had first asked me what my advice would have been. I told him that I thought he might get a better place for the men than that. I then came down to the city, to the armory, and found the mob there who had broken in and taken all the arms that had been left in the armory, with the exception of those that had been concealed. They got the arms and left.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Where is your armory?

A. It is on Market street. It is in the city property, over one of the market-houses. All of the regiments are quartered there in the city property. I suppose I had been there fifteen or twenty minutes when the balance of the officers, and the men of the regiment, came down into the armory. There was nothing more done that night. I was on the streets, I suppose, until twelve o'clock, until an alarm from the box at Twenty-eighth street sounded for fire, and, in company with several other persons, we started on the hill above the hospital, or near the hospital, not quite so far out, and there saw what I took to be the first car that was burned that had been set on fire. It was running down near the round-house. I remained on the hill a good portion of that evening--it was then morning.

Q. Sunday morning?

A. Sunday morning; yes, sir. Sunday morning I came home and laid down awhile, and got breakfast, and started to the city to see if anything had been done to gather the battalion together. I saw none of the officers on the street at all, I believe, with the exception of the assistant adjutant general, Colonel Moore, of our division, and one officer of General Pearson's staff. There was nothing done that day until afternoon. A citizen came up to the house--I had gone home. He said to me, says he, "The citizens are going to put this thing down. They would like to get your arms." I said, "No; if the citizens will back us up, we will find a gun for every man. We have got all ours. All we want is ammunition and backing." I sent out and I had as many men of my company who lived near me come to a room in my own house, and I there ordered those men to go out, and order the balance of the company to take their accoutrements, which they had so thrown off, and come to the mayor's office. I did not want to go to my own armory. In fact, I was afraid to go there, from the fact that it was a place that could not have been defended at all. It could easily be set fire to. Went to the mayor, and asked him if I could have one of the rooms in which to assemble men. He said, "Certainly." He was glad I had come. I sent one of my officers out--my first lieutenant, Mr. Brown--out to our colonel's house. I sent my lieutenant out to notify Colonel Howard what I had done--I had ordered the company to assemble at the mayor's office--and asking if he would procure us more ammunition than what I had. He came in--General Brown came in--and General Brown gave me an order on Major Buffington, and Mayor McCarthy furnished us with a wagon in which to go out and get ammunition. Major Buffington returned word that they had scarcely sufficient ammunition to give to their own guard. I stated the case to Mayor McCarthy, and Mayor McCarthy, about eleven o'clock, started out, and, in the course of a half or three quarters of an hour, he came back and handed me two hundred and forty rounds which he had got. He asked me if I would remain with him during the night, and put down any disturbance. I said I would, subject to the orders of my superior officers. On Monday morning, about half past eight or nine o'clock, I had left the men go to get something to eat, and the mayor said to me, "I don't want you to let the men go away from here unless under orders, and I will see that they receive provisions; that I should take my men around to a saloon near there; they would be attended to there." Shortly after breakfast he notified me there was a boat load of miners coming down on the packet from Elizabeth. He had received information that they had come down, and expected a pretty rough time, and asked me to go with them. I assembled the men, and General Brown went down with us. There was a squad of police. As I recollect the line of march, there was a squad of police in front. There was my company, and then there was a company of citizens, armed with shot-guns, rifles, and carbines, under the command of General Negley. General Negley and Mayor McCarthy and General Joe Brown were with us. We went down to Smithfield street, and we learned that the men, in place of coming down on the packet as far as its regular landing, had got off about half a mile above the landing, and come down that way; I suppose, so as to get in the city without any trouble. I threw my company across Grant street, and blocked up the passage. Ordered the men to load, and I saw then, while standing in front of the command, General Negley and Mayor McCarthy and others, making addresses to this band of miners--they were all reputed to be miners--I do not know whether they were or not. The crowd was dispersed. We marched down to Water street. There were no shots fired--no disturbance of any kind. They seemed to be pacified by the remarks made by the officers. We then went back to city hall, to the mayor's office, and were quartered there until the afternoon, when I received orders to report to my colonel. I reported to him on First avenue, and after supper we were sent to our armory again. During the night, between ten and eleven o'clock, I was ordered out again to support another detachment of the police. It seems that a party of roughs from Cumberland had taken a train, and taken possession of it, and the mayor was notified, and he sent down a detail of police, and we were sent down to support the police. The police had men under arrest before we got there, and the next day we escorted these men and the police over to Allegheny, to take the cars for Claremont. That was about all the trouble--all the duty we really did, with the exception of some ordinary patrolling--marching around. There was nothing of any importance.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. You came from the transfer station to your armory in the city--this was on Saturday night?

A. This was on Saturday night.

Q. What time in the night?

A. I should judge it would be about eleven o'clock.

Q. Bring your command down to the armory?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did you leave your command there?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And never went back to the regiment after that, that night?

A. That night. No, sir. The regiment was disbanded, as I understood it.

Q. You understood that next day?

A. Yes, sir; well, I knew of the fact within half an hour afterwards as I stated. The balance of the officers came there while I was still in the armory.

Q. What was your object in going to the armory?

A. My object in going there was to save any property that could possibly be saved. We had considerable property there of ours independent of the State's.

Q. Were you in uniform when you came down to the armory?

A. No, sir.

Q. Citizen's dress?

A. Plain clothes.

Q. Were you in citizen's dress during the time you were in command?

A. No, sir.

Q. You changed your uniform?

A. It would be impossible, in my own opinion, for any man to have gone through that mob in uniform.

Q. You rallied your men on Sunday and went to the mayor's office--did you remain there during all of Sunday?

A. All of Sunday evening and Sunday night and up until Monday, until we went with the mayor to stop the progress of these miners.

Q. Where was the balance of your regiment?

A. I do not know, sir. I know they were assembled on Monday--I do this from hearsay, which, of course, is not evidence--I know that there were two of the companies in Allegheny who were doing duty of one kind or other over there.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. There was no organization of the regiment--you received no orders from the colonel?

A. No, sir.

Q. You were acting independently?

A. Yes; I was acting independently in support of the mayor.

* * * * *

Thomas Graham, _sworn_:

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Give your full name and address?

A. Thomas C. Graham.

Q. Where do you reside?

A. I reside in the Fifteenth ward of Pittsburgh.

Q. What is your occupation?

A. I am janitor of the city hall.

Q. Have you any information concerning the riots of July, the subject which we are investigating?

A. I was present at Twenty-eighth street, at the side of the hill, at the time the firing was done.

Q. Be good enough to state, then, what you know about it?

A. I was on my way home about a quarter past four o'clock, I think, to the best of my knowledge, and General Brown was in the car with me; the car was pretty well crowded; we were standing up. When we arrived at Twenty-eighth street he said to me, Come along up and see the military; come up along. I said I didn't care about going up, and I didn't think that any one outside of the railroad employés had any business there; but he said he was not going to stop, and rather insisted, and I got off the car, and went up there. We crossed over the track, and away from the crowd altogether, on the south side of the track, beside of the hill, and we walked up that way, leading along the public road--it is used as a public thoroughfare, to a certain extent--and there halted. I thought by going up there we could have a good view of everything that was going on, and get out of danger. I found out my mistake afterwards, though. When the military came up I was standing right about seventy-five or one hundred feet from the tracks, on the side of the hill. Was elevated a considerable distance, and had a good view over all that was going on. I kept moving my head, or rather my eyes rolling, from one point to the other, taking all in that was going on, and when the troops came up and cleared the track on both sides, the battery came up and across, through Twenty-eighth street; they could not get through, but part of them came to support the battery; came up, and when they got up to the crowd--there is a watch-box stationed on the side of the hill, by the side of the hospital gate, and there was a crowd of half grown boys congregated around that box. I seen, as soon as they came up by the boys, they stooped down and picked up stones, there was like to be trouble, but I concluded I would be safe where I was, and remained there. As soon as the troops came up to Twenty-eighth street crossing, the boys commenced to throw at the troops, and some missiles were thrown from the corner of the hospital grounds. Then the firing began, and continued for quite a length of time. I stayed where I was, until I saw two men fall, one of them as close as to that window, the other one further down, towards the track. There was a ravine in the rear of where I was standing, and I made the remark to a gentleman standing by me that it appeared to be getting very warm here, we had better get out of this, and I leaped right into the ravine, and there remained until the firing was over, and then came down and went home. I didn't come out of my house down the street, as I live eight squares further from there out. I didn't come in till that night. That was about what I saw of the occurrence.

Q. How many people were engaged in this throwing?

A. Well, as I said, the starting point of the throwing came from the side of the watch-box--the watch-box of the man who tends switch. There was about a dozen of them around there, and that was where the throwing commenced.

Q. Did you see any of the troops struck with stones?

A. No; I didn't see anyone struck particularly, but I would consider it would be impossible most to throw into that crowd without striking some one. I didn't see any missiles.

Q. Were you close enough to hear any command given by the officers?

A. I was about seventy-five or one hundred feet when the throwing begun; I heard the word "fire" very distinctly.

Q. Where did it come from?

A. It appeared to come from the head of the column.

Q. Was it in the crowd?

A. I should say, that it came from the head of the military column--there was not more than a space of, I suppose, thirty feet, and it might have been a little more, it could not have been much more than that from the head of the column to Twenty-eighth street, where the crowd was.

Q. From the head of the column?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Which column do you mean?

A. I am not a military man.

Q. You mean the company marched up?

A. No, sir; the company that marched up was then as close as I am to the other side of the table, with their arms at a charge.

Q. Close to what?

A. To the crowd at Twenty-eighth street.

Q. Trying to press the crowd back?

A. Trying to press the crowd or make their way through them--was not thrusting or anything of that kind.

Q. You don't know who gave this command, or was it an exclamation you heard in the crowd?

A. I am under the impression that it was a command or a military order, but I would not swear who it was that gave it. I could not do that.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Did it appear to be in front of the command--the head of the column where the command came from to fire?