Part 82
A. Said to be eleven, those that were killed, and fifty odd were wounded. When I was there they had torn up the track. I saw that. They had torn up a rail or two out of the track, and overturned the watchman's box there, and had stone piled up. There was certainly no attempt to make a barricade--there was not much of a barricade.
Q. How large a force was assembled there of the rioters when you got there?
A. There were only a few men standing round.
Q. Were they railroad men that were standing about--railroad employés?
A. That I don't know. Of course there were a great many people on the streets, and there were crowds walking around.
Q. What night was it that the conflict took place between Reeder's troops and the rioters?
A. Monday night. The bridge was burned on Sunday, I think--Sunday night.
Q. Did they gather in any considerable force after your arrival in the city?
A. No, sir; I saw no mob.
Q. There was no further disturbance nor breach of the peace?
A. None at all. They commenced to arrest people who were engaged in it immediately.
Q. State what efforts were made by the civil authorities to punish those that were engaged in rioting, so far as you know of your own knowledge?
A. They had arrested--they arrested about sixty or seventy. I think then the next week they were all held for appearance at court. Two of them pleaded guilty--the two that were engaged in burning the bridge. Those two were in court, and the others were tried, and so far as I know of my own personal knowledge, there were about a dozen that I know of were tried and acquitted, and the others were held for the next term of court. I don't know whether they have been tried or not. I suppose they were, but I do not know.
Q. Were those arrests made by the mayor?
A. They were made by the chief of police, assisted by the coal and iron police, and the police of the city.
Q. This coal and iron police you speak of, is that a police kept up by the company--a private company?
A. I understand that to be under some act of Assembly, by which the Governor has power to appoint special policemen. I never looked up the act of Assembly. I know there are policemen appointed that way--special policemen.
Q. For the city?
A. No, sir; for the protection of corporate property. I don't know whether it specially applies to corporate property or not.
Q. Is that a general act?
A. Indeed, sir, I never looked at the act. I don't know. I really don't know where the authority comes from, except I know these appointments are made.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Confined to the coal regions?
A. They call them coal and iron police. I don't know under what act of Assembly.
Q. How are they paid?
A. I suppose they are paid by the companies, I don't know though.
Q. How many of these were there in the city of Reading?
A. I don't know of my own knowledge. I heard there were seventeen or eighteen. There is one correction I want to make. I don't know whether I have stated that I know of my own personal knowledge that Mayor McCarthy came to the room, or whether I said I understood he was sent for. I don't remember him as coming to the room.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. That was at Pittsburgh?
A. At Pittsburgh. I learned afterwards he had been sent for, and did come. I was not introduced then, and had no conversation myself, and didn't enter into the conversation.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Do you know whether he was sent for?
A. That I do not know of my own personal knowledge.
* * * * *
James W. Latta, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. State to the committee where you were on the 19th of July last, or when the news first reached you of the disturbance on the Pennsylvania railroad at Pittsburgh, and what action was taken by you with reference thereto?
A. On the evening of the 19th of July, 1877, I was sitting in the room of Post No. 2, Grand Army Republic, at one of its regular weekly sessions, at the corner of Spring Garden and Thirteenth streets, Philadelphia. About nine-thirty o'clock, there was a rap came at the door, and the messenger announced that I was wanted outside. I went outside and found a gentleman in a carriage, who announced himself as an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He told me there was some difficulty upon the railway, and that they would like to see me if I could go down to the West Philadelphia depot. I went back and left word it was doubtful whether I would be back again that night, and I went with him to the depot. I there met Mr. Lockhart, superintendent of the Philadelphia division, and went with two others, whom I do not now recollect by name. They told me all the circumstances that had occurred at Pittsburgh. They produced a number of dispatches, described the action that had been taken by the strikers during that day of Thursday, pulling off men from their trains, and pounding some of their officials when they attempted to run them, and the fact that the mayor had been called on, and had been found to have gone to Castle Shannon. This further fact I am not positive whether it appeared in the dispatches, or whether I simply recollect from having learned it subsequently. My impression is it appeared in the dispatches that the fact was that an effort had been made by the mayor, with some thirteen or fifteen policemen, to assist the railroad people in getting the train out, and it had failed. I have endeavored to get those dispatches, but have not been able to do so.
Q. Was this information communicated to you by the railroad officials at Philadelphia, or was it contained in the dispatches that you received from Pittsburgh?
A. It was communicated to me by them. They showed me the dispatches that contained the information to them, and I read them there in the office. Colonel Scott, it appears, had been sent for. He was somewheres out in the country, and they then said to me, we want troops. I told them they would have to take some other steps to secure the calling for troops before any troops could be ordered. I said, it appears the mayor has been doing something and you must look to the sheriff. They then showed me a dispatch that had been addressed by Mr. Cassatt to the Lieutenant Governor. I was satisfied the Lieutenant Governor had no power in the premises, but, fearing that there might be some question as to whether he had or not, I got the Constitution, and they had Smull's hand-book. I made up my mind conclusively, that he had not, and I telegraphed to the Attorney General. In the meantime, however, Mr. Scott came in, and they, I believe, started off some requests to other people about getting the sheriff on the ground, and I telegraphed to Pearson at the same time, to know something about it myself, and believing it was going to be a serious affair, I went immediately back to my home and took a carriage and drove to the eleven o'clock train, and found Mr. Gardner, who was on a special train. We jumped on his train and came to Harrisburg.
Q. Who is Mr. Gardner?
A. He is general superintendent of the railway. He was going to his home in Altoona.
Q. Pennsylvania railway?
A. Pennsylvania railway. My impression is that is all that occurred at the depot. I got on his train at Lancaster. We had a pretty slow run, we were stopped a good deal, and at Lancaster I got a dispatch from the sheriff which appears in my report and appears in all the official documents.
Q. Sheriff, Allegheny county?
A. Yes, sir; it was addressed to me. It was stating that he had addressed one to the Governor.
Q. That is the one dated July 20, 1877, at one-fourteen, P.M.?
A. That is the only one.
Q. Contained on page No. 1 of your report?
The dispatch referred to, is as follows:
PITTSBURGH, _July 20, 1877--1.49, A.M._
General JAMES W. LATTA:
I have addressed to Governor Hartranft the following message, and learning that he is absent, I forward it to you for your information.
R. H. FIFE, _Sheriff of Allegheny county_.
PITTSBURGH, _July 20, 1877--1.14, A.M._
Honorable JOHN F. HARTRANFT:
A tumultuous mob exists on the Pennsylvania railroad, at East Liberty, in the Twelfth ward of Pittsburgh. Large assemblages of people are upon the railroad, and the movement of freight trains, either east or west, is prevented by intimidation and violence, molesting, obstructing the engineers and other employés of the railroad company in the discharge of their duties. As the sheriff of the county, I have endeavored to suppress the riot, and have not adequate means at my command to do so. I therefore request you to interfere your authority in calling out the military to suppress the same.
R. H. FIFE, _Sheriff of Allegheny county_.
Witness: Meantime, I had seen some telegrams from the Lieutenant Governor, either before or after this, I forget which, that he had no power in the premises. Having received instructions from Governor Hartranft before he left the State of Pennsylvania, which was upon the Monday previous to this date, that in case of trouble, I should assume the responsibility, and the case being one of serious magnitude, knowing the fact that the regular army had been three or four days endeavoring to open the Baltimore and Ohio road, and had failed, I thought the time had come for prompt and immediate action, and I sent a dispatch which reads as follows--from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to General Pearson. This dispatch shows conclusively, that the military were acting subordinately to the civil authorities:
LANCASTER, _7, 20, 1877--2.35, A.M._
Major General A. L. PEARSON, _Pittsburgh_:
You will assume charge of the situation in the Twelfth ward of Pittsburgh, to aid the civil authorities in suppressing existing disorders. Place one regiment on duty, advise me which command you so place, and report generally.
JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_.
And I immediately advised the sheriff from Lancaster; the same telegram went to the sheriff:
LANCASTER, PA., _July 20, 1877--2.35, A.M._
R. H. FIFE, _Sheriff, Pittsburgh, Pa._:
Have directed General Pearson to place one regiment on duty to aid you in suppressing disorders.
JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_.
Q. What time did you send those despatches?
A. Two thirty-five, A.M., in the morning of the 20th July, on the way from Lancaster to Harrisburg. We were running very fast. It was a matter more of form than anything else, to prepare a proclamation. The proclamation I did not conceive to be of any moment, and I thought, as a matter of form, I would let one go out. I got it pretty well finished by the time we got to Harrisburg, and at Harrisburg we met Mr. Farr, and I told him to complete it, and let it go out. That is the proclamation that has been referred to in his testimony and the Governor's, and which appears in the Governor's message--in the appendix to the Governor's message.
Q. The first proclamation that was issued?
A. Yes, sir; the first proclamation.
Q. State what advice you gave them?
A. At Harrisburg--we moved on Friday quickly from Lancaster, and when I got to Harrisburg--an hour and a half afterward I sent the dispatch, which appears on page 2 of my report, as follows:
Governor J. F. HARTRANFT, (care S. H. H. Clark,) _Omaha, Nebraska_:
Mob stopped all freight trains at Pittsburgh. Sheriff called for troops. Ordered Pearson to take charge, and to put one regiment on duty. Says he may need more.
JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_.
Q. What time did you send them?
A. That was about four o'clock in the morning.
Q. When did you inform the Governor that you had issued a proclamation?
A. Not until eight or nine o'clock that morning in another dispatch that the Governor produced. The proclamation really had not gone out then.
Q. Did you inform him before or after the proclamation had gone out to the public?
A. I think the proclamation went over the wires about that time, but it had not really become a proclamation and about the time.... I did not recollect of anything of moment or importance occurring between that time of the sending of that dispatch, about the proclamation, which was read here on Saturday, until some time during the morning. I sent a ... General Pearson, to know how things were progressing, what things had been done, and at two o'clock I received a reply, which appears in my report, on page 2. It left Pittsburgh one-fifty-eight, P.M. Reads as follows, addressed to me:
PITTSBURGH, _July 20, 1877--1.58, P.M._
General JAMES W. LATTA, _Harrisburg_:
I have ordered out all my infantry and two sections of Hutchinson's battery. The Eighteenth regiment, under command of Colonel Guthrie, are at Torrens station, where several hundred determined rioters are assembled, and defy the officers of the law. The Fourteenth and Nineteenth I will station between the Union depot and East Liberty. At the outer depot, fifteen hundred or two thousand men are congregated, and refuse to allow the passage of any freight trains. I will station the artillery at that point. It will require a strong hand to quell the disturbances, and disperse the mob. Thinking it better to overawe the mob by an appearance of strategy, and to save bloodshed, I have ordered out my command as above. A portion of the eighteenth regiment were on duty at eight o'clock, A.M.
A. L. PEARSON, _Major General_.
I then left Harrisburg with Mr. Farr and Colonel Hassinger and Mr. Russell on the fast line west. During the morning, I might say that Colonel Scott was telegraphing me quite considerably about whether or not there were enough troops, and earnestly suggesting me to put some more in the field, and to show the opinion in which the troops of Pittsburgh were held at that time, there is a dispatch here which has never been published, and which I will read now. I thought I could understand how to handle people I had been with for a good while, and there ain't any question about it, but this Sixth division, of the National Guard, stood the equal of any in the Commonwealth, on the morning of the 20th day of July, and I assured Colonel Scott, the troops were, in my judgment, so far as I understood the situation, satisfactory to me. I sent to Colonel Scott this telegram, dated Harrisburg, July 20, at noon.
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, HARRISBURG, _July 20, 1877--12, M._
Colonel THOMAS A. SCOTT, _Philadelphia_:
Pearson is moving his whole force, and is doubtless on the ground by this time. He is an efficient, energetic, and judicious commander, with a body of troops under him that are as well disciplined and drilled as any National Guard forces in the country. They are officered by gentlemen of military experience and proved ability. I appreciate the situation, and no energies of mine shall be spared to bring matters to a successful issue. I go west on fast line. Will keep you advised. Have read Mr. Cassatt's dispatch to you.
(Signed)
JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_.
Shortly after this dispatch went, some two and a half hours, I got some intimation through the railroad people that the troops were not coming out right, and I told them I could say nothing to them until I heard from General Pearson, who had the whole charge of matters. This dispatch of Pearson's, which appeared in my report, page 3, confirms these suspicions which I had about what these railroad officials had said to me:
PITTSBURGH, _July 20, 1877--5, P.M._
Major General JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_, (_on Fast Line west_:)
Matters are getting worse. The Fourteenth regiment, up to this time, four o'clock, have not reported a man. The Nineteenth has but fifty (50) men. The Eighteenth regiment has had one hundred and fifty (150) on duty since morning. Captain Breck has his battery horsed and ready for duty. Is now at Union depot. I fear the majority of the troops sympathize with the strikers. Mr. Cassatt is most anxious to have other troops, and as it will take a long time to get country troops together, the Philadelphia troops could be brought here in less time than any others, and would not be in sympathy with the strikers. Mr. Cassatt suggests that you have a good regiment under arms, and if I fail with what I have got, they can be ordered here by special train, and would arrive early in the morning. I will make the attempt to run the trains through in less than an hour, and will notify you of the result.
A. L. PEARSON, _Major General_.
To which I replied, as follows.
MIFFLIN, _July 20, 1877--5.45, P.M._
General A. L. PEARSON, _Pittsburgh_:
Your dispatch received. You say Cassatt suggests that another regiment be held under arms. Do you ask that the order be issued?
JAMES W. LATTA, _Adjutant General_.
Then immediately after that I got one from Pearson which opened up the whole situation, and was acted on. That dispatch is on the same page, and reads as follows:
PITTSBURGH, _July 20, 1877--6.35, P.M._
Major General JAMES W. LATTA, (_Fast Line west_:)
After every exertion on the part of myself and staff, since four o'clock this A.M., I have but two hundred and thirty men on hand. There are not less than four or five thousand strikers, and increasing in large numbers hourly. The sympathy of the various companies is with them, and I have no hesitation in saying, that to avert bloodshed, we should have not less than two thousand troops. While I can scatter the crowd, it will be only for the time being, and at fearful loss of life. I suggest that two thousand men be sent to-night.
A. L. PEARSON, _Major General_.
Q. What hour is that dispatch dated?
A. That dispatch is dated six-thirty-five, P.M., Pittsburgh, July 20, 1877, and I got it at McVeytown tower, east of Huntingdon. I immediately ordered the divisions of Generals Brinton, Gallagher, Huidekoper, and White, and the Fifth regiment of General Beaver's division under arms, and advised General Pearson of this by telegram. In view of this fact of sympathetic tendencies on the part of the strikers with the rioters, after I got Pearson's dispatch, in another answer to Colonel Scott, I said I didn't deem it advisable to take any action with the troops just then, until we found out exactly how the troops felt. If the troops were going to be in this condition all over the State, we better study a little before making further movements, and I telegraphed Brinton a private and confidential dispatch, inquiring what the sentiment was there. He telegraphed back, assuring me his people were right, and I might use them on any emergency whatever. Immediately after that I put Brinton in the field, and ordered him to move the whole division to Pittsburgh. I directed Brinton to supply himself with ammunition, such as he had in Philadelphia. I had forty-five thousand rounds prepared for him, and handed to him as he passed through, with instructions to issue it to his troops, not less than ten rounds a man, before they went any further, and I also put in his charge two Gatling guns, which we had at the Harrisburg arsenal, leaving their heavy guns behind them. I pursued my individual movement to Pittsburgh, and, I think I got there some time about one or two o'clock in the morning of Saturday. I do not recollect exactly the time. I found excitement, and things conditioned during the night as I supposed I would find them, from what reports I had. Found these two regiments, the Fourteenth and the Nineteenth, partially gotten together in cars. Pearson was about to execute a movement to carry them out by some strategic plan, about daylight, to Twenty-eighth street, and there hold the crossing with these two regiments and a battery, the object being entirely to avoid bloodshed, that being the tenor of all the dispatches I received. From what I could learn, I thought the movement of that battery and the necessity for two thousand men was rather an unwise one, and I advised against it; but the battery was taken out, and the measure was successfully accomplished. I discovered, much to my surprise, that public sentiment and the press were in pretty strong sympathy and accord with the people who were defying the law. No sheriff, no mayor, that I saw at all. Matters went on until two o'clock, I think, without any change worthy of comment, when Brinton arrived with about six hundred and fifty men. I then asked Pearson distinctly whether he was satisfied, or had enough troops to master the situation, and he said he was satisfied with them, and the movement commenced. I remained at the Union Depot hotel, to say nothing of the transaction at Twenty-fifth street. The firing was first announced to me in a dispatch, which was given in my report. It might be stated, in this connection, that the whole forty-five rounds of ammunition were brought to Pittsburgh, and it was a pretty serious embarrassment in future operations. These facts are all set forth in my report, and the troops were supplied with twenty rounds per man, and the guns with two thousand rounds each--the Gatling.
Q. Before they started from the Union depot?
A. Before they started from the Union depot. We had a vast amount of it lying there. If we had only got it issued, it might have made some change in circumstances. The dispatch announcing the fire, I received at the Union depot, five-twenty P.M.
Q. What page is that on?
A. Page 5.
OUTER DEPOT, _July 21, 1817--5.25, P.M._
Major General LATTA, _Union Depot_:
Send for Huidekoper's, Gallagher's, Beaver's, and White's, divisions. The location of the ground is such that it is almost impossible to handle troops. The troops have just fired into the crowd, and I am informed a number are killed. I am satisfied no trains can be sent out to-night. The appearance of affairs is desperate.
A. L. PEARSON, _Major General_
The object of the movement, was, of course, to open the road, and Mr. Pitcairn told me shortly before the movement commenced, in reply to an interrogatory, that he had fifteen crews ready to carry out trains.
Q. Ready to take out trains?
A. Yes, sir. I never knew the reason why the trains did not run until I read General Brinton's report, which was some ten months afterward. I inquired from a gentleman connected with the railroad company why the trains did not move that day when the tracks were open, ready for them to move, about an hour after the fire occurred, and he told me the reason was that General Pearson said it would not do; but upon referring to General Brinton's report, I found that an offer had been made by the troops to guard the trains, and the railroad people said, we have not got the men to move the trains, and the trains, consequently, could not move. The road was open. The soldiers had discharged their duty, and opened the road.
Q. How long was it kept open?
A. I do not know, but I presume some couple of hours, from all I learn from the official reports, before they withdrew from this position to the round-house.
Q. What time was it that Mr. Pitcairn stated to you that he had fifteen crews to move trains?
A. I should think it was about--just a little while before Brinton came in, with his troops, and he got there at two o'clock. I saw him in the hallway of the hotel, standing about ten or fifteen feet from the desk of the Union Depot hotel clerk's office. I think Pearson stood beside me. I am not so sure of that, though.
Q. Did you have any consultation with General Pearson or railroad men about the propriety of undertaking to start trains that evening--that afternoon?
A. I have no distinct recollection of any consultation with him.
Q. Do you remember of any citizens calling at the office of the Union Depot hotel, and advising against moving the trains that afternoon?