Part 80

A. When I came to Allegheny there was a large number of citizens--a committee in fact. They had telegraphed to me before I arrived. The names in the dispatch were John Kirkpatrick, John Harper, chairman of committee, G. Johnston, Joseph McCune, John B. Guthrie, George A. Berry, John H. Bickelsen, John D. Scully, and there were some twenty or twenty-five citizens, most of whom I was personally acquainted with, asked me to remain. My intention was to go right to Philadelphia, to consult with General Hancock, who had charge of the regular troops that had been sent into the State, and with General Schofield, who represented the President of the United States. I did not see what I could do in Pittsburgh without troops, but, to satisfy them, I remained, went to the hotel, and had the wires brought into the room, and probably lost no time by doing it. I did a great deal of work that night. I became satisfied, by my inquiries, that the roads leading into Pittsburgh would have to be opened as soon as possible. The committee claimed that their supply of coal for the manufacturing establishments, for their water-works, and gas-works would not be sufficient to hold out more than about a week, at least, not two weeks, and if that supply should give out, together with the supplies of food, there would be a terrible state of affairs, and that made me more earnest and determined, perhaps, to organize a force and get back as soon as possible. I then went to Philadelphia and consulted with these gentlemen--the officers I named--and we all agreed that there was but one thing to do, and that was to organize a sufficient force and go to Pittsburgh and open the roads, which was done.

Q. Was there any resistance in the city of Allegheny to your passage through the city?

A. No, sir.

Q. By the rioters or strikers?

A. No, sir; they received me very kindly. They cheered me. I would not say they were rioters, but they were the strikers connected with the road.

Q. They were blockading freight, or holding freight trains, at that time in Allegheny city?

A. Yes; but there was no destruction of property. Mr. R. A. Ammon sent the following dispatch to me as I was coming into Pittsburgh. I received it about fifty or one hundred miles out of Pittsburgh: "We bid you welcome home, and assure you a safe passage over Fort Wayne road." He was very prominent at the depot when I arrived, and I did not see any other person that assumed to have any authority over the road when I arrived.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Will you please state who this R. A. Ammon is?

A. I saw him that day, and have never seen him since.

Q. Was he a railroad official, or was he one of the strikers?

A. I think he was one of the strikers. I think he had possession of the telegraph--I am not sure about that. He told me--I do not know whether it is proper to state this--that the principal railroad official, I forget his name, sent him word to protect the property, which he said he did.

Q. Mr. McCollough, was it?

A. I do not remember now. Very likely it was--Layng, I think, was the name.

Q. State when you left the State, whether there was anything at all to induce you to believe that there was any liability of a disturbance of the peace?

A. Not the slightest in the world. I said at the time I had the conversation with General Latta, that I thought things never looked better than they did now--at that time.

Q. Since that time, in your intercourse with the railroad officials of the State in any way, have you got information as to the causes of the outbreak?

A. Not sufficient for me to express any opinion. I have never investigated that.

Q. Far enough to express any opinion on the subject?

A. No, sir; I guess you know more about that than I do, by this time.

Q. Have you had any conversation or communications with any of the railroad employés who were engaged in the strike, other than Mr. Ammon?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did Mr. Ammon give any reasons for his taking charge of the railroad and telegraph at Allegheny City?

A. No; the only reason he gave, so far as protecting the property was concerned--I think it was Mr. Layng that sent him word to protect the property that night--the night of the 21st--and he claimed that he had. He claimed a good deal of credit for what was done--I do not know, of my own knowledge, whether he had anything to do with it. I might say that there was a committee of engineers came to see me at Pittsburgh, when I was there with the troops on Sunday. They pretended that they were informed that I had authority to settle this question between them and the railroad company. Of course, I told them I had nothing more to do with it than any other citizen, so far as their differences were concerned. Another committee also came to see me, when I was at Kingston with troops--that was in Luzerne county--but there was nothing of any importance passed, because there was nothing that we could do--nothing that I could do. I went simply to preserve order.

Q. Had you been at home at the time of receiving the call from the sheriff of Allegheny county for troops, would you have asked him what measures he had taken to suppress the disturbance, before you would have ordered out the troops?

A. It is very likely I would; but I would have been influenced by the magnitude of the threatened disturbance to a very great extent. Of course, we always resist the sending of troops to the last moment; but, in this instance, I think it was perfectly proper to send troops.

Q. You would be influenced by the magnitude of the disturbance, then, rather than by the efforts put forth by the sheriff to suppress it?

A. If I knew the exact character of the sheriff I would be very much influenced by his call; but they are nearly always strangers, and I do not know to what extent they can be relied upon. I always avail myself of all the information I can get, and is very difficult to say what would control the Executive in making up his mind just at the last moment. Some sheriffs are very timid, and they throw the responsibility off as soon as possible. They think the moment they get troops that they are relieved. Others have a good deal more pride, and they try to control matters themselves. I think a great deal more could be done by sheriffs than is generally done.

Q. After ordering out the military force of the State, are the civil authorities relieved or superceded by the military force?

A. No; not as long as they appear active and on the ground. If they retire, of course the responsibility falls upon the Executive and his troops.

Q. To preserve the peace?

A. Yes, sir. Then we come under the act of 1864, which, I suppose, was the case in this instance.

Q. If the civil authorities in the locality should retire and do nothing towards the suppression of the riot, then you deem it the duty of the military to preserve the peace?

A. Yes; I would not hesitate a moment.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Would you not regard it the duty of both military and civil authorities to coöperate?

A. I would have the military support the civil authorities, and I think the latter ought to appear somewhere all the time, even if not in any great force, or with much power, because the rioters must be arrested and tried by civil authorities.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. And the military is to support?

A. Is to support.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. And the civil authorities are not relieved from any responsibility after that just because the military are present?

A. I do not think so. I do not think that the laws relieved them. They relieved themselves.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. I understood you to say you have never found it necessary to fall back upon that act of 1864--the particular section that authorizes the commander-in-chief to call out troops--I think it is the ninety-second section?

A. At Susquehanna Depot the sheriff was active all the time, and there was no conflict. In fact, we never had a conflict before. We ordered the troops to Luzerne county again the next year--they were sent there upon the call of the sheriff. He was not very active. I finally told him to come to my office, and we consulted as to the necessity of withdrawing the troops, and we both decided that it was not the time to withdraw the troops. He would not take the entire responsibility, but I divided it with him. That was the nearest to taking the supreme control before. I considered the July riots of such a magnitude and so wide spread over the State--railroad communication stopped--the highways of the State obstructed--that it was necessary to exercise the authority given by the act of 1864. Although the troops went to Pittsburgh on the call of the sheriff, and to Luzerne on the call of the mayor of Scranton and the mayor of Wilkes-Barre, after they got on the spot, it was necessary, I think, to assume general control.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Under the act of 1864, you have the authority or the power to call out the military whenever you get information from any source that there is a disturbance of the peace that cannot be quelled by the civil authorities without being called on, or request made by the sheriff or mayor or other civil authority?

A. That is my construction of it. I am quite sure that that was the intention of the act, when it was passed.

Q. We are required to examine, and inquire into the conduct of the military during the riot--will you please give us a statement of their conduct--of the militia.

A. I think that would be simply expressing an opinion which the committee is called upon to do after investigating the facts. I have investigated the facts, and give my opinion in my message. You can take that as my evidence.

Q. What you know of your own professional knowledge of the conduct of the military?

A. That is a very comprehensive question. A great deal might be said, _pro_ and _con_.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. I suppose you can tell what the conduct of the militia was after you came home and took charge?

A. I had every faith in them. The troops that I went to Pittsburgh with, and the troops I went to Luzerne county with, I think they would have done anything I could have expected with that many men.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Did you consider their conduct, as troops, commendable during the time that you had charge of them after your return to the State?

A. Oh, yes; we had no conflict afterwards at all.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. I suppose what Mr. Yutzy would like to know is, whether there was any individual instance of misconduct on the part of any officer or soldier, after you took charge, that came within your own knowledge--came under your observation?

A. No, sir; I had no occasion to have anybody court-martialed for any misconduct.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. If they had misconducted themselves you would have had them court-martialed?

A. I would have taken notice of it in that way. A militia officer occupies a very singular position. He ought to have more judgment and more courage than an officer of like grade in the field if he is confronted with any great emergency. The men that he commands are part of the people--part of the very people he is called on to oppose--and in a disturbance like this, suddenly thrown up, a large proportion of the community may be against the troops and in favor of the disturber of the peace. It is a very difficult position to hold, and it requires a great deal of judgment. In fact, a great deal more than it would require in the field.

By Mr. Means:

Q. It is not like meeting an enemy on the field to meet these people?

A. No. Of course this is only at first blush. After everybody cools off and they begin to realize that there must be law and order, then the reaction comes, but in the first instance it is a very difficult thing to determine just what to do. I would not like to loosely condemn people. I cannot tell what I would have done if I had been there. No man can tell. It is probably much easier to tell what ought to have been done after it is all over, and I am very confident now what I would do in the future. I have learned a great deal from these riots that I never knew before, and the experience has been quite valuable to the officers of the National Guard, and everybody. I do not think the like would occur again, unless there is a general revolution.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. I would like to ask you this question: Whether you have noticed any tendency of the civil authorities of the State to rely upon the National Guard and shirk their own responsibility since the organization of the guard?

A. There has always been a National Guard in the State. As to the main question, there is a tendency to rely too much on the guard.

Q. Is that tendency growing, so far as your observation is concerned?

A. About two years ago we had a good many calls. They seemed to want troops for every little disturbance. I think there were four calls for troops from the western part of the State--two in one day, I believe. The troops were not sent. There has been no call since this late riot, and there had not been before that for a long time.

Q. Has the National Guard been increased under your administration?

A. No, sir; we have diminished it. Companies that would not come up to the standard at the annual inspections were mustered out. Last year we mustered out twenty companies.

Q. I suppose the Adjutant General's book shows the number of the National Guard?

A. Yes; the most they can have is two hundred companies--two hundred is the limit.

Q. Those companies are not full, I believe, now?

A. Oh, yes; they are full. Our minimum is forty. They must all be above that. Some of them have fifty or sixty, and a few companies have more than that, even. The number of the companies is simply an arbitrary number fixed by statute.

Q. Any further statement you desire to make you can do so?

A. I have none. We have a large quantity of telegrams and papers.

Q. In addition to these that are published in the message--in the appendix?

A. Oh, yes; but they are not of very great importance. I picked out those that were the most important.

* * * * *

Chester N. Farr, _affirmed_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. You are the private secretary of the Governor?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. State where your residence is, Mr. Farr?

A. I reside in Reading, Berks county.

Q. State where you were last July--on the 19th?

A. I was in Reading, at home.

Q. Just go on and state from that point what intelligence you received of any disturbance in any portion of the State, and how it came to you, and your knowledge of what transpired after that?

A. On the evening of the 19th, about nine o'clock, I received a telegram from the Executive Department, embodying the telegram of the sheriff of Allegheny county to the Governor, and I left in the ten-thirty train to come on here with the expectation of meeting General Latta; and after I arrived here, I found that General Latta had left on the train from Philadelphia, and he was on the way, and during that time, sometime in the morning, about two o'clock, I think, of the 20th, I got a dispatch from the sheriff--at least a dispatch came--it was to the Governor, and I answered him that General Latta was on his way, and that there would be a consultation and action taken if necessary. On the morning of the 20th, I went down to the depot and found out when General Latta was expected to arrive, and went down to meet him at the train, and found he had ordered General Pearson's troops on duty in Pittsburgh; then prepared the proclamation, which is given in the appendix to the message, and went up to the hotel and took an hour or two's sleep, and in the morning the general telegraphed to the Governor that the proclamation was issued or would be issued. I don't remember the form.

Q. That was on Friday morning?

A. That was Friday morning.

Q. Friday morning, the 20th?

A. The 20th. During the day there was a number of dispatches by the general to the department, and at three-forty-five the general and myself and his clerk and the Assistant Adjutant General took the train for Pittsburgh, and on the way we received advices frequently in regard to the character of the situation--the threatening character of it--and having ordered General Pearson out, the general was waiting to find what had been the result. It was calculated that the Pittsburgh division--General Pearson's division--would furnish about a thousand men; but sometime in the afternoon we got advices from General Pearson that he had only succeeded in getting two hundred and thirty men. Then the general--if I recollect rightly--General Pearson in the same dispatch advised that the situation was so serious that he thought, in order to save bloodshed, there ought to be some other troops. General Latta then ordered General Brinton or requested General Brinton to have his troops notified, and afterward, when another dispatch came from General Pearson, very much of the same character stating that he had only a very small force out, and the men were not responding promptly, and that the situation was very threatening and would require a great many troops, he ordered General Brinton's division to report to General Pearson at Pittsburgh.

Q. What time was that order given to General Brinton?

A. Sometime late in the afternoon--I don't know the exact time.

Q. Do you remember the point from which the order was sent?

A. No, sir; I don't remember the point.

Q. It was while you were _en route_ to Pittsburgh?

A. It was while we were _en route_; yes. We arrived at Pittsburgh, at the Union depot, between twelve and one o'clock, on Saturday morning. We had been joined on the way by Colonel Norris and Mr. Linn. We were met at the depot by General Pearson; informed us that in the course of the few hours that had intervened, he had succeeded in getting together about six hundred men. I think he stated he had at the depot about three hundred and fifty men; the other two hundred and fifty, composing the Eighteenth regiment, were at Torrens station. The matter was talked over, and it was decided, as I understood, that no movement was to be made until the Philadelphia troops came. I believe General Pearson had intended that afternoon to attempt to run the trains, but had given it up for some reason. I suppose because he thought that if he had more troops, he could do it without a collision. In the morning, it was intended to wait until there was a large force there, for the purpose of having as large a force as possible, so as to avoid any collision if possible. During the morning--I suppose between three and four, or four and five o'clock--the hill at the side near Twenty-eighth street--I never went down to the ground, and don't know anything about it, except from the conversation that took place at the time--the hill at the side of the track at Twenty-eighth street, was occupied by the Fourteenth regiment, and Breck's battery. I believe the intention of that movement was to keep the crowd off the hill. About two o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, the first detachment of the First division arrived, and after the troops had been fed, they marched down the track, and shortly afterwards--I suppose it was five o'clock--between four and five o'clock--we were told a collision had taken place between the troops and the rioters. We saw one or two of the Pittsburgh soldiers coming up the streets carrying their guns. The crowd would collect around them, and something would pass between them, and there would be cheers or something of that kind. About six o'clock, or perhaps later, we were told that the troops had gone into the round-house, and about nine o'clock--the time is merely in my mind as a sequence of events--I did not look at the time--I suppose it was about nine o'clock--General Pearson himself came into the room, but left shortly afterwards. All telegraphic communications stopped about that time, and we had no communications with the troops in the round-house, or where they were, until some time after that, when Sergeant Wilson, of the cavalry, came in dressed as a laborer, and brought some dispatches from General Brinton. During the night there were several dispatches brought, and answers returned in the same manner, and in the morning, about nine o'clock--half-past eight or nine o'clock--we were told the troops had left the round house.

Q. At this point, Mr. Farr--because there are some questions I want to ask prior to that--what time was it after you received the dispatch at Reading bearing the sheriff's dispatch?

A. It was after supper some time. I don't remember the exact time, but about supper time.

Q. On the 19th?

A. On the 19th; yes, sir.

Q. Thursday evening, then, after supper?

A. It was Thursday evening, either about supper or after that time.

Q. Have you that dispatch, or can you get it?

A. I think I have it home. I don't think I have it with me.

Q. Who was that signed by?

A. It was repeated by Mr. Keely.

Q. From the Executive Department?

A. From the Executive Department. It might be I am wrong about the dispatch. It may have contained simply Gardner's dispatch. My recollection is, it was the same as the sheriff's, but the sheriff's may have come the next morning. I think I have all those dispatches collected together. I don't know whether that dispatch contained any man's name, or whether I simply assumed it was from the sheriff, from the fact that it may have said, "The following dispatch was received at this office." I think I have the dispatch, and I can get it when I go home and look over the dispatches.

Q. What time did you arrive at Harrisburg?

A. I got here--that train gets here about midnight; leaves Reading at ten-thirty, and gets here some time between twelve and one.

Q. Did you have any communication with the Secretary of State, on your arrival, Mr. Quay?

A. The Secretary of State was not here.

Q. He was not here?

A. No, sir.

Q. What time did you meet General Latta?

A. Some time between two and three o'clock, I think. The time may have been later. I think it was two-fifty; I am not positive.

Q. And you then prepared the first proclamation?

A. Yes, sir; drew the draft of it, and, after the general had ordered the troops out, the proclamation was issued.

Q. The general didn't make the order until after he arrived here and ordered the troops out?

A. I understood him to say he had ordered the troops from Lancaster.

Q. Did that proclamation appear in the morning papers?

A. That I don't know. I think it did. I am not positive of that. My recollection is it was telegraphed to Pittsburgh. I am not positive.

Q. Do you know what time you telegraphed it to Pittsburgh from here?

A. No, sir; it was sometime in the morning. It must have been some time about four o'clock.

Q. Had you any other intelligence from Pittsburgh than that contained in the telegram of Sheriff Fife?

A. That, and simply what I learned from General Latta.

Q. You had no other telegrams or communications to you or to the Executive Department?

A. Not to me.

Q. At the time of issuing the proclamation?

A. This other telegram may have been there. I had received one other dispatch from Sheriff Fife, just before I saw General Latta, which, as I stated, I had answered by saying that General Latta would be here. I think you will find that dispatch in the Governor's message.

Q. Was that directed to the Governor?

A. Yes; it was directed to the Governor, and I think it embodied this dispatch.

Q. If you can get both of those dispatches we would like to have them?

A. That I answered by stating that General Latta would be there.

Q. Where did you meet the Secretary of State first?

A. At Pittsburgh.

Q. On your arrival at Pittsburgh?