Part 76
Q. Were you ordered by the railroad officials in charge of you to go behind trees?
A. To go up on this road. He didn't tell us to go behind trees.
Q. And conceal yourselves?
A. And conceal ourselves.
* * * * *
John Davis re-called:
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Were you out at Torrens, Mr. Davis, during Thursday?
A. I was.
Q. Will you be kind enough to state what occurred there, and what efforts were made by the police to disperse the crowd?
A. When I got there there was nothing special going on, for everything was quiet. I didn't remain there but a short time--came back to Twenty-eighth street, and when I was there everything was perfectly quiet.
Q. Officers had possession of the track?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You have testified to what knowledge you had of the occurrences at Twenty-eighth street?
A. With the exception of Thursday night--a little matter I forgot. After I had got the men their suppers, I went to the depot, and reported at the telegraph office I had men to go out. And the reply came back that everything was quiet, and they needed no more men, and they could not send an engine for us. I told the men what transpired, and directly a second despatch came, that we could go out if we wished to. Some of the men walked out, some remained around the depot, and went out afterwards. As I have stated in my other testimony, on Friday morning I sent officers up to the depot, and they returned and stated that they were not wanted; they had all the men they wished.
Q. I believe you testified to that?
A. Yes; I testified to that.
Q. Anything else?
A. Nothing further than I was a witness of the transaction of the firing.
Q. Have you testified as to that?
A. No, sir. You stopped me right at the firing. I was present when the troops came up, and witnessed the whole transaction.
Q. Go ahead?
A. After the troops came up there were civilians in front of the troops. They halted probably five or six feet from Twenty-eighth street. The column left faced, and marched towards the sand-house. The first two columns about faced and marched towards the hill side--formed an open square--and a detachment of soldiers came between the two columns, with the Gatling guns in the rear of them. A detachment of soldiers came up between the two columns--came towards where the crowd was gathered--at a carry arms, and it appears they could not get further, and they fell back five or six paces, and came to a charge bayonets. At that time, when they came to a charge bayonets, there was in the neighborhood of a dozen or two missiles thrown from the house. I only saw one stone among the lot. At that moment they commenced to fire. I was on the hill side.
Q. Was the crowd resisting the soldiers?
A. There was such an immense gathering there they could not get away--they had no chance to get away.
Q. Did the soldiers attempt to press them back at first?
A. They first came to carry arms--carrying their guns at the side of them--then they stepped back and came to a charge. Just at that point these missiles came from the little house, thrown by the boys.
Q. Did you hear any pistol shots?
A. Previous to that? No, sir; I did not.
Q. Did you hear any command to fire?
A. I didn't, sir. I was probably sixty yards above the railroad track. I could witness the movement of the troops, but could not hear any orders given. After the firing I immediately came down the hill the way I went up--took the same course. Came down past the soldiers, and went into the railroad buildings. I saw this soldier, who was carried off the ground before they had formed a square, and helped to bring him to.
Q. Who was there?
A. There was two men there--a reporter of one of the city papers.
Q. Do you know these men?
A. Only one of them.
Q. What was his name?
A. Mr. Rattigan. Him and I went in together. He is a reporter--used to be on the Pittsburgh _Chronicle_.
Q. What office was he carried to?
A. Telegraph office. The first floor in that building, Twenty-sixth street.
Q. Was there anybody in the room at the time besides these two men?
A. There were two other men attending him. One of them had a bandage around his head, and said he had got hit with a stone. He said he was not hurt very much. There was a small bandage around his forehead.
Q. You didn't know who gave the orders to fire?
A. No, sir. After the firing there was quite a .... raised. Some parties were excited over it--some of their friends being killed. It was quiet Thursday, Friday, and Saturday along the railroad. Had no trouble.
Q. How soon after the firing did you go down to this telegraph office?
A. The minute they commenced firing I saw dust flying pretty lively round me, and I started up the hill. I suppose I was three to five minutes going up and coming down. After the firing was done I came right down the hillside again--I came down the same course I went up.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. You say a sick soldier was in the telegraph office?
A. In the room in the left of the building as you go in.
Q. Is that the telegraph office?
A. They call it a telegraph office, but it is not in that room.
Q. Train master's office?
A. I don't know whose office it is. They call it a telegraph office.
Q. The instruments are in the adjoining office?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Could you see into the telegraph room?
A. I opened the door to look in.
Q. Anybody in?
A. No; the operator was working with this young man on the floor. He was having a spasm, stiffened up. They worked with him for probably ten minutes before he came to.
Q. He had a fit, didn't he?
A. A fit of some kind.
Q. That was fifteen minutes before the firing took place?
A. I came down the hill immediately after the firing took place, and went there to see these parties in the room.
Q. Did you see General Pearson on the ground just before the firing or during the time of the firing?
A. Didn't see him out after the troops went into the round-house; then I saw him in the yard, probably six o'clock in the evening--between five and six--I saw him in the yard.
Q. Did you see the officers in the hollow square?
A. I saw some, but could not recognize any of them.
Q. Do you know General Pearson?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Didn't see him?
A. No; didn't see him until the firing was all over.
Q. If General Pearson had been in the hollow square, wouldn't you have seen him?
A. My attention was not directly called to the officers. I was watching the movements of the men, and the minute these stones were thrown, my attention was called to that. In fact, I was not looking at the officers, I was watching the movements of the men. I suppose if I was looking for General Pearson, I could have picked him out from others. I have known him for a good many years.
* * * * *
Richard Hughes, _sworn_:
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What is your full name?
A. Richard Hughes.
Q. Where do you reside?
A. 2512 Carson street, south side, Twenty-fifth ward.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. I was on the police force.
Q. Were you on the police force on the 19th day of last July?
A. I was one of those suspended.
Q. Did you offer your services to the railroad officers on the 19th of July?
A. Yes; I went up to the Union depot, two or three parties along with me, ex-policemen, Thursday morning. Stayed there until about eleven o'clock. The first thing, I seen about ten or fifteen, or twenty policemen, with two or three detectives, walking through the Union depot. That drew my attention, and I followed them. George Crosby, and two or three other parties went back, and met Mr. Davis on Smithfield street, and he told us they wanted to see us at the office--wanted us to go out to the Union depot. We went down to the Union depot, and seven of us, with detective White, and taking a train between one and two o'clock from Union depot to the stock-yards, we went out--seven of us. Sam Leary, at East Liberty, he came in, too. Mr. Watt was along with us. There was two or three hundred people around there, and they told us to clear the track, they were going to start a train then. We went to move them off the track, so they did, and when the track was clear, they couldn't get engineers, firemen, or brakemen to take out the train. Stayed there until seven or eight o'clock that evening, and everything was quiet. The regular force came out about half-past six that evening, in full uniform, around the stock-yards. There was nothing going on there. We came on on Monday morning following. I came to town; went up to the Union depot. I saw two or three policemen, and asked who hired them, and they said Fox. I asked him if they wanted any more policemen, and he said he had plenty. I asked for Mr. Watt, the superintendent, and he told me he was at the round-house. He told me they wanted no more policemen. I asked him to pay me what he owed me, I want to leave town in the afternoon. He said he couldn't pay me, to go to the office. He told me he didn't want any more police. I went to Mr. Watt myself.
Q. Did you tell him the mayor had sent you?
A. I told him the mayor had ordered us out there. The day before that we wanted to know who was going to pay us. They told us the pay was all right. Clerk Davis asked me, why ain't you on duty, and I told him they didn't want me.
Q. Did you see anything of the fire that night?
A. No, sir; I left two o'clock Friday afternoon.
* * * * *
George W. Crosby, _sworn_:
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What is your full name?
A. George W. Crosby.
Q. Where do you reside?
A. No. 1117 Carson street, south side.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. Formerly a policeman and laborer.
Q. Were you on the police force on the 19th of July last?
A. No, sir. I was taken off on the reduction. The 11th or 12th of July the suspension took place.
Q. Did you offer your services to the railroad officials on Friday, the 20th?
A. Yes. I went to the Union depot on Friday, the 20th, between nine and ten o'clock. I met Mr. Fox, a police officer of the Pennsylvania railroad, offered my services to him, and he told me he didn't want any more. He had all the men he wanted, and mentioned the number of men he had.
Q. How many did he say he had?
A. I couldn't say positively. Three or four, or four or five. I couldn't swear to the exact number, but I know he mentioned it to me. He had all the men he wanted.
Q. You were not on duty on Thursday?
A. Yes; I was.
Q. Did you see anybody besides Mr. Fox?
A. At the Union depot?
Q. No, sir; that day--on Friday?
A. No, sir. I only offered my services to him.
Q. Did you see Mr. Watt, the superintendent, at any time?
A. I was in company with Mr. Hughes at the time he saw Mr. Watt, and I had nothing to say to Mr. Watt at all.
* * * * *
William J. White, _sworn_.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. City of Pittsburgh.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. On the detective force.
Q. Were you out at Torrens on Thursday, the 19th of July?
A. I was, sir.
Q. Will you be kind enough to state what occurred, and what efforts were made by the police force to disperse the crowd?
A. I will state that about the neighborhood of twelve o'clock on Thursday, the 19th of July, I met the chief's clerk, Mr. Davis, and he told me he wanted all the available police he could get, to go out on the railroad, there was a strike. I hunted around and got one or two, and going up Fifth avenue I met the mayor, and the mayor told me to go out and get all I could, and go to Twenty-eighth street. I went up to the depot, and got about six or seven men, besides myself, and took up some on my way--about seven men, I guess--and went to Twenty-eighth street, getting off the cars there; and Mr. Watt was with us, and he told us we had better go on to Torrens station. We got on the cars and went to Torrens station, and got off there. There was quite a crowd--I suppose seventy-five or one hundred strikers. Mr. Watt asked me to clear the tracks. I done so. Told the men to get off the tracks, and they all went off the tracks, and had no trouble or difficulty whatever. Stayed around there for a considerable time, and I think Mr. Gumbert, a gentleman connected with the dispatcher, came to me and said, "We are going to send a train out." Says I, "All right." Says he, "What I want you to do, is to get the men up the track, and see that nobody mounts the train." I told the men to scatter along, in different positions, on the track; that this train was going out, and see that nobody got on the train, and that the train went out. No person interfered whatever.
Q. What day was this?
A. Thursday, the 19th.
By Mr. Dewees:
Q. Was that a double-header?
A. I could not say. I suppose there was over twenty cars on it.
Q. Do you know whether there were two engines on it?
A. No, sir; there was only one engine.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. How long did you remain there?
A. I remained until seven o'clock in the evening.
Q. Any further effort made to run trains after that?
A. No, sir.
Q. Any threats made by any of the men when the train started? Was the engineer threatened by the crowd?
A. No; I talked to some and they said they did not wish to intimidate any person. They were talking to the engineer and fireman. There was no threats or violence while I was there.
Q. Were you at Twenty-eighth street during the firing on the troops?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know anything connected with the riots?
A. I was not up at Twenty-eighth street, from the fact that the rules at the mayor's office require that a man has a week in the office, and it was my week in the office, and Friday and Saturday I was in the office all day. Sunday, after dinner, I started out. Then I started to help the fire department, and do what I could in that way.
Q. You were at the office after the Thursday of that week?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. While there, did you hear any demand made on the mayor for a force of police?
A. I cannot say that I did. The mayor was a good deal confused about it. We had not the force, in fact. I think it was Friday or Saturday morning. I seen a party come down to the mayor, and go into the office, and ask for that--some warrants that should have been served--that they hand them over. I believe they were handed over to a young man that came there--some warrants issued, I think, for some of the head rioters.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Do you know anything about those warrants?
A. No, sir; I do not.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Did you see any one ask the mayor to go along up to the railroad, and see Mr. Cassatt or Pitcairn or anybody else?
A. I did not.
Q. Did you hear any conversation in the office by some men, in regard to the burning of all the railroad property, on Sunday?
A. I did not; no, sir. I was in the office until dinner time. There was a good deal of excitement around there. Citizens running in--and the mayor was doing all he could, under the circumstances.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Who was the man that demanded the warrants?
A. He was a young man. I could not tell.
* * * * *
James Scott, _sworn_.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What is your name?
A. James Scott.
Q. Where do you reside?
A. Ninth ward, Pittsburgh.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. I am a detective officer.
Q. Were you on the force at the time of the disturbance, in July?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you hear the mayor offer the services of the police force to the firemen to protect them, at any time during the fire on Saturday night or Sunday?
A. I will just state, as brief as I can. On Sunday morning I was sent by the chief to the Twelfth ward station to take charge of the telegraph office, and I met the mayor coming down. He asked me if I was going down. He told me to remain at the station there until I was relieved. In an hour and a half the mayor came back again in a buggy and asked if any squad of police had come up. He left his buggy there, and went to Twenty-eighth street. The station-house is at Twenty-sixth street. We went up street and came back again, and about the time we came back the squad of police was there. They brought in some prisoners. They had their arms full of goods. The mayor gave them orders to string along on Liberty street and protect the firemen, and arrest anybody that would interfere with them, and they started. I stood there all day, until seven o'clock in the evening.
Q. Do I understand you went with those men to Liberty street?
A. No, sir.
Q. You stayed at the station-house?
A. I stayed until I was relieved by the night captain. There were one hundred and fifteen men taken out. I think there are seven different station-houses that have a police wire in, and you have to have a man to attend to it; but in daylight they have none.
Q. There is no man left in the station-house at that time?
A. Nobody to do that. When we had the one hundred and sixteen men on, the lieutenant was always on duty more or less, and it was understood he could operate, and if there was anything wrong in the district, he could telegraph to head-quarters. We have one in East Liberty, one at Lawrenceville, one in the Twelfth ward, one at Centre avenue, one at the Fourteenth ward, and three on the south side. I came down in the evening at seven o'clock. Some parties threatened they would be around in the evening to burn the water-works, and the citizens of those two blocks surrounding that and edging on the Fort Wayne sheds considered if any of those places got started it would be liable to burn them out. I went down to the mayor's office and reported this danger, and I thought we ought to have a squad of police, fifteen or twenty. I reported to the chief and also to the mayor, and said I would start back and get together what citizens I could; and it was not an hour until there was twenty-five police there. We surrounded these water-works and stayed there until daylight.
Q. The morning of----
A. That was Sunday night at the time of the fire. During the night, about eleven o'clock, we smelled smoke at the far end of the Fort Wayne, and a couple of citizens, by the names of Moran and Reed, went down there and put it out. If it had got started there would have been quite a fire there.
Q. You are a detective, I understand?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Were you on duty on Thursday?
A. On duty on Thursday; yes, sir, on duty right along.
Q. Did you witness any of the occurrences?
A. No, sir; was not out there at any time. No orders to go out.
Q. You received no instructions about arresting these men. There was a warrant for some men who were supposed to be leaders?
A. There was a party detailed for that purpose.
Q. You were not in that party?
A. No, sir.
Q. Would it have been possible that night for these men to get hold of these parties--those officers that had the warrants? Were you out that night on duty?
A. Not that night--never off duty, you might say--we are always on duty.
Q. What I want to know is, whether these officers could have arrested these men they had warrants for?
A. I think it would have been almost an impossibility to have got them, unless they were got at their homes. To take them out of that crowd would take twice the force to get one or two men.
Q. You believe that with the force of the mayor, it would have been impossible to have taken these men?
A. To take these men right in the crowd, it would have been dangerous. I felt that way. I have had occasion to be where there was something like a riot at the bolt works, this same summer, and we had about twenty police there, and I suppose there was some fifteen hundred or two thousand men. We gave them to understand they could not pass into the gates, and they did not pass in, and it all passed quiet, and nobody hurt; but if we had fired one shot, I do not think we would have been of much use.
Q. As an experienced officer, you would not have made the arrest that night in that crowd?
A. Not in that crowd.
Q. Do you know whether there was any effort made to shadow these men--following them to their homes?
A. No, sir.
* * * * *
Charles L. Schriver, _sworn_:
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. Reside in Harrisburg.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. Locomotive fireman.
Q. Were you employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company?
A. I was.
Q. At the time of the strike on the 19th of July?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Were you there on Thursday?
A. I was there on Thursday morning.
Q. Be kind enough to state what occurred?