A. Nearly to Twenty-eighth street, then they halted.
Q. And saw them open order, and one rank faced about, and they took
positions on two sides of the track, which left a place between?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then was there a company marched up between these two?
A. I am not positive, but I think this company was taken from the head,
or a portion of it--it was not a full company, it was what you might
term a squad--there was not, I suppose, over twenty-five.
Q. It was taken from the head of the column?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there a company marched up between those two ranks?
A. I think a battery. I think this company, as I said, was taken from
the head of the column, and marched up to support the battery, in order
to get through the crowd at Twenty-eighth street.
Q. Did this company turn around and face the crowd--how did they face?
This crowd, you said, they marched up and tried to press the crowd
back, and they wheeled out from the column and marched up against the
crowd, or did they go down between the two lines, and march up against
the crowd?
A. I stated that they appeared to be reserved for the purpose of
supporting that battery, as they were not brought from the rear in
front rank at all.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did you see the sheriff and his posse?
A. I did.
Q. Where were they?
A. They were at the head, coming up--the head of the column.
Q. All of them?
A. All of them. I recognized Sheriff Fife, Mr. Pitcairn, superintendent
of the Pennsylvania railroad, and General Pearson at the head. When
they came up, the sheriff attempted to say something to the crowd, and
there was such jeering and hallooing, it was impossible to be heard
from where I was standing.
Q. You are positive about hearing this command to fire--was not this
jeering----
A. That jeering and hooting was not at that particular time. There
appeared to be a little confusion when that portion of the company came
up, the jeering only began during the speaking of the sheriff. I don't
know whether he was reading the riot act or not. I don't know what he
was doing; of course I could not hear it.
* * * * *
E. F. A. Hastings, _sworn_:
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. What is your full name?
A. E. F. A., not quite the whole alphabet.
Q. Where do you reside, Mr. Hastings?
A. I live between Twenty-second and Twenty-third now.
Q. What is your occupation?
A. Machinist.
Q. Were you present during the disturbance last July?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. State what came under your observation?
A. I was there on Twenty-eighth street, on the side of the hill, when
the troops were coming up, and I waited there until they came pretty
well up the track, then I came down the hill, and I looked for my boy.
Q. What time was this?
A. On Saturday afternoon, when I seen the troops come up--and they came
in regular--I think it was four deep. They came up and stopped and
halted. They turned around in open order, formed in a hollow square,
and I turned around and came away with the young man, and I took him
off the track, and started him down towards Penn street. I turned
around and looked for my boy, and I could not see him. Walked in
towards the cars, and stood by the side of the sand-house--the cars
extended up a little ways beyond the sand-house--and I got right in to
the end of the car. Then came orders to charge bayonets. I turned to
get back, and the crowd was behind, and I could not get back. I got a
bayonet right in behind here. [Indicating.] Just at that time Pearson
stood in about that direction.
Q. Who do you mean by Pearson?
A. General Pearson, or Pierson, or whatever you call him. He was
looking in the direction towards the watch-box. There was some stones
being thrown over there--it would fly all to pieces, it appeared to be
like clay. There was only one stone I could distinguish, about that
large, [indicating,] the shape of an oyster shell. It came from there.
Then there was a couple of old shoes--I didn't see anybody struck with
them. Pearson turned around, when he was standing there he was looking
about this--he turned around towards the men, and his officer standing
here--I don't know whether they belonged to Pittsburgh, or where they
belonged, and I don't know whether they were officers. Monkey jackets
it was, I think. He says, "Order your men to fire." He repeated the
word fire louder than he did the others, and turned around, and walked
right down the track after that. I did not see them commence firing,
and I dropped right down. They fired on that corner, on the side of the
hill first--these men in front with the black plumes in their hat. I
don't know one from the other. They wheeled round, and fired down
Twenty-eighth street. They walked over the top of me. I laid there. I
don't know where Pearson or any of the rest went after that. I got up,
and helped this man in front of me, that was killed--I helped him back.
Q. What man do you mean?
A. Some say it was Dearmot, I don't know his name.
Q. Killed by the cars?
A. No; killed by the firing. A gun was right up against his breast when
he was shot.
Q. Where did this fire come from--those men standing by the cars?
A. The military all around that hollow-square, except the lower end. I
laid there; I was right underneath them; could see the whole thing that
was going on. Some of the men fired right up in the air. I don't know
whether they belonged to Philadelphia or not.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. From what part of the line of this hollow-square did the firing
commence?
A. I will show you in just about a minute.
[Witness illustrates on paper, the situation of the troops during the
firing.]
Q. Just say where the first fire commenced in that hollow square, so
that the reporter can take it down.
A. It was near the corner, on the side of the track next to the hill.
Q. Near the corner of the square of troops, next to the hill?
A. There was no square there. It was round.
Q. It came from the right, next towards the hill?
A. Next towards the hill.
Q. How many shots were fired at first?
A. They shot like a little fellow would throw a lot of shooting
crackers out.
Q. How long after you heard the command to fire did this shooting
commence?
A. It was right by those other fellows standing over on this
side--right by them. I guess there was four or five of them repeated
it. I took them to be officers.
Q. Dressed differently?
A. Yes, sir.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Were they in front of their men when they gave the order?
A. They were in this hollow square.
Q. Did they turn round to fire?
A. They were facing the crowd to fire. Pearson turned and gave these
men the command.
Q. It was General Pearson that gave the command?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You are positive it was General Pearson?
A. I am positive. I was standing close enough to hear him.
Q. Did he give the command to fire, or was he cautioning the men?
A. He gave the command to fire, and repeated the word fire louder than
he did all the others.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Were there any other officers in that hollow square, that you knew,
besides General Pearson?
A. None to my knowledge, that I knew. There were some men that I knew,
coming up ahead of them. Mr. Pitcairn and Mr. Watt came up ahead of
them. I know some of them, beside, but don't know their names.
Q. Do you know Colonel Brown or Moore?
A. I don't know him by name.
Q. Did General Pearson give this command to an officer standing close
by him?
A. Yes; called them officers.
Q. You saw him when he gave the command?
A. The men that had swords, I think.
Q. You saw General Pearson when he gave this order?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How close was he to the men he gave the order to?
A. He was standing looking towards the switch box, where these were
coming from. Right in front there were some men had a bayonet in
another, and he wanted to get it away. He wheeled round this way and
gave the orders for these men to fire, and then walked right down the
track, but wherever he went to I could not say.
Q. Was he standing close to where the men commenced firing when he gave
the order to those men? You say he wheeled around; those he gave the
command to must have been behind him?
A. Here is where he stood. [Illustrating.] He wheeled around to the
officers to the rear, and they passed the command to the officers in
front. They repeated the order to fire.
By Mr. Means:
Q. Did the officers who repeated that command repeat it in a distinct,
loud tone of voice?
A. Yes; they repeated it distinctly.
Q. How many of them?
A. There were some three or four, I could not say exactly. I am
positive there was three or four, if not more--positive of three.
Q. And then the firing was done--it was not a volley of musketry--it
was just done at random, was it?
A. The first squad that fired there, I don't believe there was more
than about half a second between them, and the squads, as soon as this
squad fired on this side first, then these other fellows here fired,
[indicating,] and the crowd broke away and run down. I laid there. They
wheeled right down over me, and fired down Twenty-eighth street.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did the crowd scatter when they fired?
A. The crowd scattered.
By Mr. Means:
Q. How many of the soldiers fired at that time--at the first command?
A. The first fire?
Q. When General Pearson gave the command to fire, then his officers
under him repeated the command. Now how many soldiers fired when these
officers repeated that command?
A. It looked about like a platoon--about twenty-five, I suppose, if not
more.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Were the crowd resisting these men? What were they doing when the
soldiers came up?
A. They were on Twenty-eighth street crossing--the railroad crosses
Twenty-eighth street--they were on there. They were talking and
hollering. Some man called Pearson--that was the man I took
away--called Pearson a son of a bitch, and these men took Pearson's
part. Says he: "Don't call Al a son of a bitch; he is a friend of
mine!" I thought there was going to be a fight between them, too, and a
man called me over and told me to get him away. I took him away with me
across the track towards the round-house, and he started on down. There
was nobody in front of me at all, and I had hardly got in there until
the crowd was right at my heels.
By Mr. Means:
Q. You say there was about twenty-five men fired? How many men fired
after that?
A. They appeared to be firing in squads all over the line.
Q. How long did this firing last?
A. I don't suppose it lasted more than about two and a half or three
minutes--could not have lasted any longer, I think.
Q. What were the officers doing?
A. Some of them went down the track flying--running over the other
side.
Q. They were hunting their quarters?
A. They were hunting their quarters.
By Mr. Dewees:
Q. Did you hear the order to load?
A. No, sir; they were all loaded before they got there. They could not
have loaded in that time. After the first volley was fired, then I seen
them loading--those men in front.
Q. Don't you know who gave the order to load?
A. I didn't hear anybody give the order to load.
Q. They loaded without orders?
A. I suppose so, after the first fire.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. Did you see them load afterwards?
A. Yes; breech loaders.
Q. Did you see the operation?
A. I saw them pull the cock back--that part that turns back--and put in
a cartridge. I was lying right underneath them when they were doing it.
The parties in front fired the last shot down Twenty-eighth street. I
don't know who they were. They were men with black plumes in their
hats.
Q. You say the parties next to Twenty-eighth street were the last to
fire?