Chapter C: A. Fife, sworn with uplifted hand (3)

A. Dispersed and secreted themselves in buildings and every place. I went as far as Seventeenth street--the crowd had started, too--then the fire had not got that far. It was about the middle of the day. We stopped there, and during the time we were there undertook to prevent parties from breaking open the cars and setting them on fire, which we did succeed in stopping some. Afterwards I saw men dropping coal down below the track, and rolling barrels of oil down and setting them on fire. They were strangers to me. We couldn't get the force apparently together. If we had got them together at that time, a hundred men would have subdued the riot at that time, because it was apparently the work of boys. There were not as many men as boys, but the force had got scattered.

Q. What time did the troops come out of the round-house?

A. Near seven or eight o'clock.

Q. Not many of the crowd were there at that time?

A. No.

Q. Was any burning going on at that time?

A. I saw the first car fired to drive the Philadelphia troops out. It was a car on the Valley track. It was set on fire, and a wheel of it was chocked. They dropped other cars down against it, and they caught on fire, until it got pretty hot. But this carpenter-shop didn't take fire for some time. I helped to shove some cars away back from the entrance leading in between the round-house and the carpenter-shop. Those cars didn't catch on fire.

Q. They kept dropping those cars down all night?

A. Yes.

Q. Did they remain near the round-house?

A. They kept back towards Twenty-seventh street. They had a gun there. A man named Stewart I saw carried away from there dead. He was apparently a railroader. He had a watch with that name on it. I went to see the gun, and if they had ever fired it, it never would have hurt anybody in the round-house--if they had ever fired it. The wall is too high there.

Q. What was it that caused that crowd to be scattered? Was it fear of fire from the soldiers?

A. I reckon that was it.

Q. After the soldiers got away, did the crowd re-assemble?

A. No; not there.

Q. Were the burning cars below there?

A. Yes.

Q. They were still going on down with the burning and the pillaging?

A. Yes.

Q. They marched in regular order--the troops you saw?

A. In every good order.

Q. Suppose they had formed in line, at that time, and marched on the crowd what would have been the effect?

A. They would have got the best of the crowd because I didn't see many around there.

Q. Could they have driven the crowd away from the burning cars?

A. I think they could.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. And restored order?

A. I don't know about that.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Who directed you to go out there first?

A. The mayor--to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Q. Did you have anybody with you?

A. No.

Q. Did you see the mayor before going?

A. I saw him that day before going.

Q. Where?

A. At the city hall, in his office.

Q. Were you on regular duty that day?

A. I was on other duty that day--I was on a little special duty that day, but was detailed and sent to where this trouble was supposed to be. I was to meet the men where I was going. About this Officer Motts. On Saturday night the mayor was in the Twelfth ward, and shortly after I went there I saw him there, and on Sunday morning. On Sunday he was on the railroad. I was standing alone, and he came to me and said to me, for God's sake get some men, you can stop them from breaking into these cars. I went towards the crowd, but there was no use for one man--but I did. They then commenced to hurl stones.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. What was the crowd--boys?

A. Yes; and some men were among them. They were all getting pretty drunk then.

Q. You say the mayor was there attending to his duties?

A. Yes; using all the efforts he could to stop the riot; but we could not get the men together. Our force had been cut down, and it was impossible to get the men together. I asked men to stand alongside of me, but as soon as you would turn your head around again they were gone. In relation to Johnston and Bown's gun shops--I was at both places. At Johnston's, a demand was made for guns, and they gave them some muskets. I don't think that Johnston's was broke in.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. They gave them?

A. That was what was said. I know I took a musket with a bayonet on from a fellow, and gave it back to the store. I was sent by the mayor's clerk to Bown's--some eight of us--but there were no uniformed men among us; we were in citizen's clothes. It was a hard matter to tell what they wanted; but eight of us went there at the time. Then this party came along Wood street, and they had a drum with them, and some of them had muskets with bayonets on, and others had revolvers, and others, what I took to be a large rammer, and they commenced ramming against the door. Officer Downey was one of the first officers to the store. I got in with him. They were then carrying out the stuff, and we took several guns from them and handed them back. They were still carrying out the stuff, and it was impossible to prevent them breaking in, because the force was not strong enough.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Were you armed?

A. No; no more than we usually carried--our pocket revolvers.

Q. Had you maces?

A. The men that were there were not in the habit of carrying maces. I suppose they had billies and revolvers. The proper course to save Bown's store would have been to let eight or nine men get in there and arm them, and then keep them out there.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did this crowd seem to be bent on plunder?

A. Principally on plunder; I don't think that many of those guns taken out there ever went into the riot.

Q. Did they carry off pretty much everything?

A. Yes; according to the looks of the shelves and show cases. There were a couple of men arrested for stealing from that establishment, that are now doing terms in the western penitentiary.

By Mr. Englebert:

Q. Did you recognize them as any particular class of men?

A. I did not; their faces to me were apparently strange--they apparently looked like workingmen. A great many thieves were among them, and some, I know, have had to leave the city since, or we would have had them.

Q. You don't know where they were from?

A. Those I speak of?

Q. Yes?

A. I do; yes, from Pittsburgh.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. They have left the city entirely?

A. Yes.

Q. You were about the city a good deal attending to your duties, and you know a large part of the population?

A. I do.

Q. That crowd of men that went out there on Saturday and Sunday--was the crowd composed of men about the city?

A. No; they were pretty much all strangers; the biggest portion of them were strange men.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. In your duties as a roundsman, had you noticed any unusual influx of strangers into the town?

A. I had--a great many. We had a large crowd of them, I believe from Cumberland--in the neighborhood of twenty-five or thirty--that is, one batch, and I took notice of others.

Q. Sufficient to attract the attention of the police authorities?

A. It would have attracted my attention, and I have been following up that business for my living for eight or nine years.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. When did these men come into the city first?

A. The first I noticed of them was on Saturday night, when I got into the Twelfth ward. To show you that there were a great many people that didn't belong in the city, I arrested some nine or ten up there that night, and among that nine or ten, eight of them belonged to Allegheny, and their faces were all strange to me.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. This party from Cumberland--when did they come?

A. I can't remember.

Q. After or before the fire?

A. I can't be positive which.

By Mr. Dewees:

Q. You said there was no cellar under this round-house?

A. There was no cellar, but I found a turn-table in the middle of it.

Q. How deep is a round-house generally dug out--from the top of the rails down?

A. It is on a level, but it has got to be so deep for the turn-table.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. The carpenter shop was connected with it?

A. Yes.

Q. And the superintendent's office and car shops?

A. Yes.

Q. Didn't they all have cellars under them?

A. The office might have had a cellar--I know the office had.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. When you went out there on Thursday afternoon, what class of men were there?

A. Principally railroaders.

Q. How many were there?

A. One hundred and fifty, or more than that. I knew a great many of them.

Q. Could the trains have been run out that afternoon, if the engineers and firemen had gone?

A. Yes; they could have taken this train out I was on--I don't know how far, though. They had four policemen on each engine to protect the engineers and firemen, and from what I understood, there were men to be put along on the train to protect the brakemen.

Q. You were out again on Friday?

A. No; not until Saturday. I remained there until Sunday morning, about eight o'clock.

Q. How large a posse could you have raised in the city to go out there and restore order, if the mayor had made a call, or a demand for a posse?

A. It would have depended on how much time you would have given me.

Q. In a day?

A. I might have got in the neighborhood of one hundred men. There were but one hundred and twenty men, and some of them were there.

Q. But from any class of men in the city--if he had just called for a posse from any source--for extra men?

A. He could not have got many at that time. Wherever I went, to judge from the talk, the people were all in sympathy with the mob.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Do you mean the tax-payers?

A. I suppose so.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. But the mayor made no call, so far as you know, for a posse?

A. I saw him trying to get men together on different occasions.

Q. But he made no official demand?

A. Not that I know of.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. He made no effort to increase his police force by swearing in extra men?

A. I believe he did as quick as he could do it.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. When did he do it?

A. In a couple or three days--may be two days.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. After the riot?

A. Shorty after the riot. I think he did it as quickly as he could get the men together. I think he tried all he could to prevent this riot, which he don't get the credit for here. He ordered me on Sunday morning to go to the fire department, about one o'clock, and I went in search of the chief, in company with another officer, Motts. He did the talking. I didn't talk to him myself. We went to look for the chief, and could not find him. We went down to Twenty-first street and Penn street, and we saw a foreman there--I believe, in fact, several of the fire department were there, and we requested them to come and play on the fire, that the mayor had sufficient force, and that he would protect them, and the answer I don't remember, but I know they didn't come up and play on the fire. They were not going to run the danger.

Q. What firemen did you see?

A. Motts can tell you. Several were standing there.

Q. What ones were standing there?

A. Different ones. A man named Kennedy was there, and one named Miller.

Q. Do you know where those two men are now?

A. I suppose they are still on the fire department. The mayor at that time had dispatched from the Twelfth ward station for police, and had got, I guess, sixty or may be more. I know that many, for I knew the lieutenant that came up.

By Mr. Dewees:

Q. Were the round-house and those shops very hot when you went in?

A. No; No cars were burning there yet.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Was the fire department near there--some of them?

A. Yes; close up.

Q. If they had played on the burning cars could they have prevented those buildings from getting on fire?

A. I think they could have prevented it.

Q. Were you ready to give protection then?

A. The mayor was there, and his force, and those were the orders.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. When you went inside of the round-house were the doors still intact.

A. They were. I could not see any fire about them.

Q. How many engines were in there at that time?

A. I can't be certain. A number were in there at that time--a great many. They were shoved in the stalls. There would, apparently, be one in each.

Q. You think you examined those doors, do you?

A. I was close to the doors, and if there had been any fire--in case of a fire I would have seen it.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Was the upper round-house burning then?

A. I believe it was pretty much burned at that time.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Where did the troops come out of the round-house?

A. I saw a portion of them come out of the entrance on Twenty-sixth street, and I think a portion of them came out of the rear end of the carpenter shop. I saw some twenty-five or thirty come out.

* * * * *

Thomas Hastings, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. What is your business?

A. I not doing anything at present.

Q. What were you doing in July last?

A. I was a police officer.

Q. What connection had you with the efforts to suppress the riot?

A. I did everything, so far as I could, at that time. I didn't know much about it until Saturday evening. Our time for going on duty was eight o'clock in the evening. I went on at seven o'clock, and had orders from the lieutenant to go down and notify each tavern-keeper to close his saloon, at the request of the mayor. I did so, and we were distributed in the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street. There was a large crowd at Twenty-eighth street and Twenty-sixth street, and the crowd increased up to eleven o'clock.

Q. What time did you receive orders to close the saloons?

A. About seven o'clock in the evening.

Q. In the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street?

A. All along Penn street. I went up about eleven o'clock, and stayed looking around for a while at Twenty-eighth street, and then came down as far as Twenty-sixth street, and went back again, and just as I got at the corner of Twenty-eighth and Penn streets I saw the fire, and I ran up Liberty street and saw a car of oil. I then ran down and pulled the alarm, and just as I pulled the alarm I was thrown out in the street. Just then the mayor passed me, and asked me what the car was, and I told him it was a car of oil. He asked me if I pulled the alarm, and I said yes. I didn't see any engine coming. I went down then to the Twelfth ward station-house, and I asked the captain if he had pulled the alarm, and he said he had tried to, but couldn't. I then went down a little piece, and saw an engine and the Independence hose carriage standing at Twenty-fourth or Twenty-fifth street. Somebody made a remark that they would not let them come up any further--that they had threatened to shoot them. I stayed around there all that night, and on Sunday morning, after the Philadelphia troops left----

Q. Did you see the Philadelphia troops come out of the round-house?

A. I saw what they called the Philadelphia troops.

Q. Where did they come out?

A. They were in this round-house and in the carpenter shop. They appeared to come out of the west end of the carpenter shop.

Q. On to what street?

A. On to Liberty, and then down Twenty-fifth street to Penn. Some were deployed as skirmishers, at the head of the column. They appeared to be pretty well frightened.

Q. Were they marching in good order?

A. Yes; but they appeared to be pretty well scared.

Q. They marched regularly, did they?

A. Yes.

Q. Was any attack made on them?

A. Not to my knowledge--so far as I saw. I only stayed a few minutes, and went over into the round-house and carpenter shop. I went into, I believe, where D. O. Shater had his office, on the east end of the round-house. I went in there, and went in through the round-house into the carpenter shop.

Q. Were you on duty during the week prior to the riot?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you learn of any arrangement among the men for the strike?

A. I knew nothing of it until I got out of bed on Thursday, that was the first I heard of it.

Q. What time did you get up?

A. I generally got up about four or five o'clock.

Q. What did you learn then?

A. I learned that there was a strike, or that there was going to be a strike.

Q. Who informed you?

A. I don't remember. Some railroad man.

Q. What did he say about it?

A. That there had been a strike, or was going to be a strike.

Q. You knew of no pre-arranged plan for a strike?

A. No.

Q. Had you noticed any influx of strangers into the city prior to that time?

A. I had noticed a great many.

Q. What class of men?

A. They appeared to be tramps--fellows hunting for work, but who didn't want it.

Q. Any more than there had been previously?

A. Yes; that week there had been a great many traveling back and forward on the streets.

Q. A great many all the time are traveling, are they not?

A. Not as many as that week, I don't think.

Q. Did you have any conversation with those tramps?

A. No.

Q. What do you do with the tramps who come into the city here?

A. We don't do anything at present.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. What was the first day you noticed more tramps than usual?

A. It appeared to be the beginning of the week of the riot--for six or eight days previous.

Q. You noticed it before the strike commenced?

A. Yes, sir.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. You did not do anything with those tramps who gathered and collected?

A. We had not for some time.

Q. You allowed them to come in and go away when they choose?

A. Yes.

By Mr. Larrabee:

Q. Where had you noticed this extra influx of tramps?

A. I had noticed it on Penn street, particularly. A great many were going in and out. They would ask me where there was a place to stay over night, or if they could stay at the station-house, and I always directed them to the Young Men's Home.

Q. Did they come there in larger numbers than usual--that is, in larger crowds than six or eight or ten?

A. Sometimes I would see one or two, and then six, and they increased to as high as eight in a party.

Q. In a party?

A. In a bunch.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. How soon were you up to the round-house after the troops vacated it?

A. In eight or ten minutes.

Q. Did you go through the round-house or the shops?

A. Yes.

Q. Were any of those buildings on fire?

A. The machine shop was on fire--thirty or forty feet on the east side--that is, sixty feet from the east end of the round-house.

Q. Do you know anything about any oil cars that were dropped down on the Pennsylvania railroad towards the round-house?

A. I know that oil cars were dropped down there.

Q. At what time?

A. They were afire when I saw them. I don't know how close to the round-house they went.

Q. How were they stopped?

A. I think they were bumped against other cars.

Q. You don't know of any obstructions placed on the tracks that prevented them from running clear to the round house?

A. No.

Q. Was there much heat in the round-house when you got there, soon after the troops left?

A. The machine shop was on fire. How long it had been burning before, I cannot say. It was burning when I went into D. O. Shafer's office.

Q. Had any of the troops been in this machine shop?

A. I can't say; some had been shooting out of the bell tower that night.

Q. Of the machine shop?

A. Yes, sir; the round-house was not on fire, nor the carpenter shop.

Q. What has been your avocation for the last eight or ten years?

A. I have been a railroad man up to within three years.

Q. Have you ever been a conductor on passenger trains?

A. No.

Q. On freight trains?

A. I have been a conductor on freight.

Q. Had you any conversation with freight conductors up to the time of the riot, or before that time in relation to any contemplated strike?

A. No.

Q. Or with any men belonging to the Trainmen's Union?

A. No; I never took any stock in that union.

Q. Did you see the troops retiring from the round-house?

A. Not until they came up on Penn street.

Q. Did you see them fired at?

A. Not on Penn street. I saw a man who is in jail now, firing from the corner of Twenty-sixth and Penn streets.

Q. At the troops?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you see any whisky running into any of those buildings on fire?

A. I saw two cars of high wines on fire. They had stopped them in front of the superintendent's office, and they were throwing water out of the windows to put the fire out. When I went up there I saw it was high wines.

Q. Could that have run into the cellar of the buildings or the superintendent's office?

A. It would have taken a good bit, for the stone sill was eight or ten inches from the ground, and it would take a great deal to run in there, though a barrel might have rolled in through the window.

Q. Where is the battery room under the superintendent's office?

A. It is in the west corner of the building--in the cellar.

Q. Is it below the grade of the Allegheny Valley track?

A. I am not sure. Yes; it is below, the bottom part of it, but along the window sill, I think, it is five or six inches, may be more.

Q. It is below the grade of the railroad track?

A. The inside of it is, but the outside is about six or eight inches above the ground. I would have to send up to be sure about it.

* * * * *

William Coats, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Were you connected with the fire department of the city of Pittsburgh last July?

A. I am one of the fire commissioners of the city of Pittsburgh.

Q. State the organization of that department last July?

A. We had eleven steam fire engine companies and two hose companies and three trucks in the city of Pittsburgh last July, and an average of about seven men to a company. But we didn't have a full force on. Our appropriations ran short, and we were compelled to put off some twenty-two men just previous to the riot.

Q. How many men had you at that time?

A. One hundred and four, telegraph operators and all--a working force of about ninety-eight men.

Q. They are a paid force, are they?

A. Yes.

Q. State what aid they rendered in putting out the fire?

A. The first alarm, the night of the riot, occurred on the 21st of July, I think--I am not positive--and was sent in about fifteen minutes after ten o'clock. I was then at engine house No. 7, on Penn avenue, near the corner of Twenty-third street. There were three companies that answered that alarm, and one hose company and one truck. The department was stopped on the street, between Twenty-third and Twenty-eighth street. The crowd caught the horses of No. 7 engine, and drew the fire out of the engine, and made the men pull into the sidewalk. The department did no service on Saturday night, but they went into service when the Philadelphia troops vacated the round-house, on Sunday morning at seven o'clock. Our men went there then; and, if you will allow me, I will tell you why they did not go into service before.

Q. We want to know it?

A. The people would not allow them to.

Q. That is the mob?

A. Yes; but we considered them in service from the time the alarm struck, though they didn't throw any water. We couldn't get to the round-house building, or to where the fire started, because the mob stopped us. They made the assistant chief engineer get out of his buggy. I sent off the second signal myself from No. 7 engine house when they commenced to fire cars down about Twentieth street. In the meantime, an alarm came in from East Liberty, and we thought it was the cattle yards there. From the corner of Twenty-second and Liberty streets, we laid a line of hose, but they commenced to cut it as soon as we laid it, and they made us take it up again. A fellow put a pistol to my ear and said, take that up.

Q. Did you know the fellow who did that?

A. No. I have not seen him since. We reeled the hose up. There was no use in getting it out. We could only get into service when the Philadelphia troops came out of the round-house on Sunday morning.

Q. What kind of service did you render during the day?

A. We saved this town from burning down. I don't suppose that ever a body of men worked harder than the Pittsburgh fire department. We did not have a man who was not at his post from ten o'clock on Saturday night until eight o'clock on Monday morning. It was the only body of men in Pittsburgh organized.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. They were ready to do their duty?

A. They did their duty.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. You say they saved the city? How?

A. In the first place, when we went into service, opposite the round-house or the machine-shops, there were a lot of frames or tenement houses that were on fire. Well, we put out this fire, and we kept on following the fire down Liberty street, and kept the buildings wetted down. The fire was very intense--very hot, and it was a continual fight with fire all the way down Liberty street.

Q. The crowd of rioters and pillagers were ahead of you?

A. Sometimes they were ahead, and sometimes along with us; sometimes the rioters kept ahead of the fire, and sometimes they were among us.

Q. They didn't break open the cars and pillage them until the fire started along?

A. There were places on Liberty street where no man could have stood, even to wet the houses down, and where they couldn't have pillaged, because it was too hot, and occasionally along Liberty street there were a lot of coal dumps and some oil bins, and where that occurred the heat was very intense. We had to keep things wetted all the time. Along there the pillagers would sometimes be very plenty.

Q. I suppose all the private property burned caught from the heat of the railroad cars?

A. Yes; the only private property that was burned was on Washington street.

Q. Did those houses catch fire, or were they set on fire?

A. They caught from the Union depot.

Q. You saved the private property here by wetting down the buildings?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you receive any protection from the police force?

A. No; we did not.

Q. At any time?

A. No; not to my knowledge.

Q. You were with the department?

A. I was.

Q. At any time did you receive any protection from the police?

A. No.

Q. If you had been protected by the police, could you have cut the fire and stopped it?

A. We could, at any place.

Q. How many men would it have taken to protect you?

A. I think twenty-five or fifty men, at the outside, could have stopped that burning on Sunday morning. I say that, because there could have been no mistakes. Because, if they had shot some of them down, they could not have made any mistakes. They had no business there.

By Mr. Means:

Q. Did you see the mayor there during the day?

A. I saw the mayor there.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Was the mayor making any effort to keep back the crowd?

A. I did not see any force of policemen that day, but the mayor appeared to be moving up and down Liberty street. I saw him talking to the rioters.

By Mr. Means:

Q. After the Philadelphia troops left the round-house, how long was it before it was on fire?

A. It was, I think, on fire when they left, because we went up there right away.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. You say that the round-house was on fire, but we have evidence that it was not?

A. The offices that stood between were certainly on fire, because I worked that stream myself, and the heat got so intense at one time, that we had to move the engine away. The round-house could not help being on fire, for that oil sent down would have put anything on fire.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did you see the troops come out?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Were the burning cars around there?

A. They had been sending down the burning cars sometime before.

Q. Then it was afire when they came out?

A. As soon as the troops came out, the chief engineer ordered some apparatus there, and we went there at once. There was almost an entire square on Liberty street, all lumber yards and frame shanties, on fire. And this machine shop was on fire. I am not positive about the two round-houses at that time. I was working there myself.

Q. How many men, do you judge, were engaged in this burning?

A. I cannot tell you that--a great many.

Q. Actively engaged--that is, I want to distinguish between the persons standing around in crowds on the pavements looking on, and the parties actively engaged in the burning?

A. When I was down on Liberty street, there appeared to be a great many people on the railroad track. Of course, they were pillaging then--it was plain--any person could see it. Every now and then you could see the flames bursting out from the cars.

Q. Did you see this crowd--was it an organized effort to follow up the burning--did it seem to be followed systematically?

A. Yes; I think it was organized.

Q. Can you form any idea as to how many were actively engaged?

A. I cannot. I was not on the railroad track that day. Men and women and everything else were on the railroad track.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Behind the fire?

A. Yes; but they kept in front, too.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. They were pillaging and carrying the things away?

A. Yes; I got down to Eleventh street, and went to the Pan-Handle railroad yard, and they were breaking the cars open and setting the things on fire. I said to them, don't do it, or you will set the city on fire, and they said they did not care a damn if they did.

By Mr. Means:

Q. Did you know those men?

A. No; I never saw them before or since. On Saturday evening I was sitting in front of the engine house, and some men came up in front and said, "If there is a fire to-night, I suppose you will turn out." I said, "Certainly," when he said, "If you turn out there will be trouble. We will cut your hose and smash your apparatus."

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did he talk as if he came to warn you for that purpose?

A. Yes; he talked as if he came for the purpose of letting us know that. There was a great deal of feeling that night.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Did you have none of your engines in service before the troops left?

A. No.

Q. You played on neither private property nor railroad property?

A. No.

Q. Were the crowd generally disorderly?

A. Yes.

Q. Making threats?

A. O, yes; that they would kill the firemen, and one thing and another?

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. Did you see a proclamation or any official document of the mayor of the city of Pittsburgh ordering the rum shops and drinking saloons to be closed on Saturday or Sunday?

A. I do not know of seeing it. If a proclamation was issued on Saturday, I was not in the city on Saturday afternoon.

Q. Or any proclamation ordering the crowd to disperse?

A. I did not.

Q. No proclamation calling for a police force?

A. No.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did you see the shooting on Saturday night?

A. No; what occurred in the evening I didn't see. I was up there in the morning, but out of the city in the afternoon.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. If a determined effort had been made on Thursday by the mayor with the police force that he had at hand, could he have dispersed the crowd?

A. I do not know of any reason why he should not.

Q. On Friday, do you think so?

A. Yes.

Q. Could he on Saturday, up until the time of the arrival of the militia?

A. It could not have been done on Saturday morning, because the mill men had all commenced to gather.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Do you think he could have quelled the trouble without calling on the militia--that the police force could have suppressed the riot?

A. That is something I do not pretend to answer. The militia were called out a day or two previous to that. But I think this, that it was unfortunate for this shooting to have occurred in Pittsburgh. My sympathies were with the strikers, but not up to the point of rioting.

Q. You say you thought on Saturday morning the crowd could not have been dispersed without the militia?

A. No.

Q. By the police force?

A. No.

Q. Could the mayor or the sheriff have raised a posse, either in the city or in the county, including both, sufficient to have dispersed the crowd?

A. I think that the mayor of any city of the size of the city of Pittsburgh ought to be able, with his police force, to break up any assemblage of men.

By Mr. Engelbert:

Q. After the sheriff called upon the Governor for troops, didn't that intensify the feeling in Pittsburgh?

A. It did. I do not think that there was any necessity for that, sir.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. State what efforts were made to start trains that day?

A. On Friday afternoon no effort was made. The passenger trains came in on Saturday morning. The troops were mixed with the crowd, and no effort was made to start trains, I went to Allegheny City, and learned of the shooting while coming across the river. I happened to be away when the fun commenced.

At this point the committee adjourned to meet to-morrow morning, at ten o'clock.

MORNING SESSION.

ORPHANS' COURT ROOM,
PITTSBURGH, _Wednesday, February 13, 1878_.

Pursuant to adjournment, the committee assembled at ten o'clock A.M., this day, and continued taking of testimony.

The first witness examined was:

* * * * *

Henry Coates, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Were you a member of the fire department last July?

A. No; I was a member of the police force.

Q. What position did you hold?

A. I was a lieutenant.

Q. How many men did you have control of?

A. I had forty men that night of Saturday.

Q. Where were you on Thursday?

A. Sleeping. We had no day force in the city at that time.

Q. Were you not around during the day, Thursday?

A. No.

Q. Where were you on Friday?

A. In bed.

Q. During the night of Thursday, where were you?

A. On duty from Eleventh street to Thirty-third street.

Q. Taking in Twenty-eighth street?

A. Yes.

Q. Was there any disturbance--any overt act?

A. No; but there was a collection of people. Sometimes there would not be over thirty or forty.

Q. What class of people?

A. Railroaders, particularly.

Q. What was the conduct of the people?

A. They were quiet. There was no trouble at all.

Q. Did they remain there?

A. They would pass up and down, talking among themselves.

Q. Hid you have any conversation with them?

A. No.

Q. Did you ask them why they were there?

A. No; it was not an infrequent occurrence to see men there. It is a principal street to go up to go to work.

Q. On Friday night how large was the crowd?

A. One hundred or so.

Q. Were they railroad men on Friday night?

A. Yes; principally. They appeared to be very quiet talking among themselves.

Q. What were they saying?

A. That they did not let me hear.

Q. Did you report to the chief of police or the mayor?

A. I made a report every morning.

Q. You reported that crowd to him?

A. Yes.

Q. But received no orders?

A. No; no orders to disperse them or anything else.

Q. Were the saloons open in that part of the city during Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Were they closed at all?

A. I ordered them to close on Saturday evening.

Q. At what time?

A. About eight o'clock.

Q. During Saturday night, describe what took place?

A. I do not know that I can.

Q. You were not on duty during the firing?

A. No; that took place before we went on duty.

Q. How large was the crowd?

A. They began to come--three or four hundred--or two hundred--squads coming from different places all during Saturday night and Sunday morning. Nearly everybody in the city was in that neighborhood--or the biggest part of them.

Q. What time did the burning commence?

A. In the neighborhood of ten and half or a quarter to eleven o'clock. A crowd had congregated around the fire-alarm box, and would not let the men pull it.

Q. Where did the fire break out first?

A. I was about Twenty-eighth street when it broke out. I should judge between Thirty-first and Thirty-second street on the railroad.

Q. What was set on fire?

A. Oil, from the appearance of the smoke.

Q. What did they do with the cars after they set them on fire?

A. They cut them loose and ran them.

Q. How many men were engaged in that?

A. I cannot say that at all.

Q. Were you near the round-house during the night?

A. Yes; with the mayor of the city. I went to Twenty-seventh street, and passed the round-house, and tried to get in a place where it was reported a lady was shot--opposite the round-house. That was after the firing had taken place--about eleven o'clock.

Q. Did you succeed in getting in?

A. No; it was in a small saloon, and I had notified them in the early part of the evening to close, and for that reason they would not let us in.

Q. Were you there on Sunday morning?

A. Yes; until after the troops left.

Q. Did you see them march out?

A. Yes.

Q. Where did they come out?

A. On Twenty-sixth street--out of the gate.

Q. Did they march in good order?

A. Yes.

Q. Were they fired upon?

A. Not in our neighborhood.

Q. By the crowd?

A. No.

Q. How large a crowd was there or around there when they marched out?

A. I saw one citizen.

Q. Did you know him?

A. Yes.

Q. Who was he?

A. Captain ---- McMunn. There had been quite a crowd before they filed on to Penn street, but they all broke.

Q. They broke when they saw the troops?

A. Yes; the cry was raised when they came out that they were going down to the Union depot, and the mob undertook to get down and cut them off.

Q. The mob broke and ran towards the river?

A. Any place where they could run away.

Q. You mean to say that the mob ran from the military, when they came out?

A. They did.

Q. How long was it before the mob re-assembled?

A. I did not see them re-assemble.

Q. Were you there during the day?

A. Shortly after that I had to come to the central station and take charge of the prisoners we had arrested.

Q. How many prisoners did you have arrested up there?

A. I cannot say the number.

Q. Can you give us an estimate?

A. About seventy-five, I suppose.

Q. What were they arrested for?

A. For having goods in their possession--cloth, and everything they could get hold of.

Q. Did you take them before the mayor?

A. Before Acting-Mayor Butler.

Q. What did he do with them?

A. Some of them were dismissed, and some were sent to jail, and some were fined.

Q. Some were dismissed?

A. Yes.

Q. Why?

A. That I cannot tell you.

Q. Was there no evidence against them?

A. Evidence of having goods in their possession, certainly. We arrested some of them with guns.

Q. Muskets?

A. Yes, and shot guns.

Q. Were any of those dismissed?

A. That I cannot say.

Q. About how many of those were dismissed?

A. That I cannot tell you.

Q. What time did you return to the scene of the riot?

A. After getting through with the prisoners, I was then ordered by the mayor to report to the chief engineer of the fire department for duty.

Q. What did you do?

A. I did all I could. Being an engineer by trade, I took spells at running an engine and worked with them after the neighborhood of seven o'clock that evening.

Q. Were you interfered with by the mob?

A. I was not.

Q. Whereabouts did you work?

A. Generally at the engine.

Q. At what points?

A. Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth, and Seventeenth and Sixteenth streets. And from there I went with the fuel wagon.

Q. Did you receive any assistance from the police?

A. They were there, and doing all they could, but the police was small at that time.

Q. Were you at the Union depot when it was set on fire?

A. No.

By Mr. Dewees:

Q. Those goods--what became of them?

A. They were turned over to the commissioners, I understood.

Q. They were goods taken out the cars?

A. Yes.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Why were those prisoners taken before Deputy Mayor Butler?

A. I cannot answer that question.

Q. Where did he sit?

A. In the central station, where we usually held the mayor's court.

Q. The mayor's office?

A. It is the central station-house.

Q. Where the mayor holds his court?

A. Yes.

Q. Where was Mayor McCarthy at that time?

A. I cannot tell you that.

Q. You say the police gave the fire department assistance and protection?

A. I say they assisted, so far as I saw.

* * * * *

William J. Kennedy, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. What is your occupation?

A. Foreman of engine company No. 3.

Q. Did you occupy that position last July?

A. Yes.

Q. State what part you took in putting out the fire that occurred on the night of the 21st--Saturday night?

A. It was eleven o'clock and twenty minutes when the alarm came first. We started out the house, but we were stopped at the grain elevator. But we got through that crowd, and got on to Penn street, when they began firing at us or at our horses.

Q. How many shots were fired?

A. I cannot tell that. It was just firing here and there along the street.

Q. With pistols and guns?

A. With all kinds of arms.

Q. How long was that kept up?

A. All night until daylight.

Q. Go on and tell us what occurred?

A. We turned on to Liberty street, and at Twenty-first and Liberty they hit me with something, and surrounded the horses. Then we turned on to Penn again, but they wouldn't let us move, so we went towards the river and tried to go down to get up further, but they were waiting there. They had some old muskets and carbines and other things, and if we just moved the horses they would come. We changed to different places from one block to another, but they wouldn't let us lay a line, and wouldn't let us throw any water except private property was in danger. We didn't throw any water until after the troops went out of the round-house in the morning.

Q. Were you present when they went out of the round-house?

A. Yes.

Q. Were you at the round-house after they left?

A. Yes.

Q. Was it on fire?

A. Yes. They had to come out. The fire got under them.

Q. Under what part of the round-house?

A. I don't know what part of it, but they set it on fire from Liberty street. They had a hose there, and were throwing water all night. They ran the cars down and tried to set it on fire, but it was all right until the fire got under them.

Q. You say the troops had hose, and kept the fire out until it got under them and drove them out?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you know of any oil that was run under them?

A. I don't know that. All I know is, that some liquor was there burning.

Q. How soon did you get to the round-house, after the troops left?

A. As soon as we could.

Q. How extensive was the fire then in the round-house?

A. It was big, and there were lumber yards across the street all afire.

Q. Was the carpenter shop on fire?

A. I don't know whether the carpenter shop was or not.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Were any buildings attached to the round-house on fire, or buildings near it?

A. Yes.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. How large was the crowd when the troops came out?

A. I don't know how large.

Q. What did the crowd do when the troops marched out?

A. They were taking a walk--nobody interfered with the troops. Everybody tried to get out of their road.

Q. And get away?

A. Yes.

Q. In what direction did the crowd go?

A. I don't know.

Q. The crowd didn't attempt to attack the troops?

A. No.

Q. During the day--Sunday and Sunday night--were you interfered with by the crowd in throwing water?

A. Yes--frequently.

Q. To what extent?

A. Different parties kept coming constantly, so that we couldn't do anything. They said: "Don't you throw any water on the railroad property, or we will blow the heads off of you." It was not just one man, but they kept reminding you of it all the time.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. They allowed you to play on private property?

A. Yes; I turned a stream on the cars at Union depot, when I suppose twenty revolvers were shot at me.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Did you call on the police force for protection?

A. I would have had to call a good while before I would have got any. I didn't see many of them.

Q. Did they offer any protection to you?

A. Not to me, they didn't.

Q. Did Officer Daniel Motts speak to you at any time, offering to protect you?

A. He spoke to me several times during the night, but never offered me any protection. There was no occasion to offer me any, as both the chiefs were there.

Q. And he didn't offer you any protection?

A. No.

By Senator Yutzy:

Q. Did he give you any protection?

A. Not that I know of.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Did he tell you, if you would commence playing on a certain point, that the police would protect you?

A. He didn't.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Did any police officer?

A. No.

By Mr. Means:

Q. In your examination, you have stated that you went to the round-house as soon as you could, after the troops left?

A. Yes; and went into service.

Q. How long was it after the troops left until you got playing upon the fire at the round-house?

A. I cannot tell you exactly, but it was very quick?

Q. Half an hour?

A. No; it was not ten minutes until we were throwing water.

Q. Then the fire had made considerable progress in the round-house?

A. Yes; and across the street in the lumber yards.

Q. Do you know, of your own personal knowledge, that the fire department did call upon the mayor for protection?

A. I cannot say. I saw the mayor there in a buggy.

Q. He didn't offer you any protection?

A. Not that I know of.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Do you think, with the fire department, you could have cut the fire and stopped it during Sunday, if you had had protection?

A. I don't know whether we could have stopped it, it was on fire in too many different places; but I think we could have picked out twenty-five men and saved Union depot from burning.

Q. Do you mean you could have prevented the mob from firing it?

A. Yes.

Q. With twenty-five policemen?

A. With twenty-five good men of any kind.

By Senator Reyburn:

Q. Do you mean that it could have been stopped at that time and place?

A. Yes.

Q. And that you could have prevented the spreading of the fire?

A. Yes; if I had had that number of determined men.

Q. Did you see those parties who set Union depot on fire?

A. No.

Q. Was there no effort made when they set the sheds on fire to tear the sheds down and stop the fire?

A. Not that I saw--not by the police, that I saw. We did all we could. We kept following up the fire.

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Was there no effort made during the day, Sunday, to stop the progress of those men in setting fire to the cars and the depot?

A. That I cannot say.

Q. You were not present when the mayor made a speech to the crowd?

A. No.

* * * * *

John M. Miller, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:

By Mr. Lindsey:

Q. Where do you reside?

A. On Second avenue.

Q. What was your connection with the fire department in July last?

A. I was an engineer.

Q. What time did you go to the scene of the fire?

A. About twenty minutes after eleven o'clock.

Q. Saturday night?

A. Yes.

Q. Were you interfered with by the crowd?

A. We were fired at and told to go slow, you sons of bitches, all the way, but nobody struck us. I don't know whether they fired at us or not, but our foreman, I believe, was struck in the back.

Q. Did they strike any of your horses?

A. That I cannot tell. I was behind the engine.

Q. Where did you commence work?