Q. Did the soldiers act as if they were prisoners of war?
A. They walked very quietly surrounded by these men--went up Market
street.
Q. There didn't seem to be any coercion there?
A. No, sir.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. How long was the crowd gone before they returned with the soldiers?
A. It might have been a couple of hours--fully that, I guess. There was
a crowd continued there until they came back. I had to keep the gates
locked all the time--the crowd was still remaining there waiting for
them to come back.
* * * * *
Attorney General Lear, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. You may state what facts came under your own observation in relation
to the railroad riots of last July?
A. The first knowledge I had of them was on the morning of Friday,
which was the 20th, I guess. I received two dispatches, brought by the
same boy at the same time, one from Governor Latta and the other from
Adjutant General Latta in relation to these matters. The Governor told
me that he had been applied to by the sheriff of Allegheny county to
assist in suppressing the riot, but he thought he had no authority, and
had so answered the application. I telegraphed to him I thought he was
right, there was no vacancy in the office of Governor; and the Adjutant
General's dispatch was from West Philadelphia, that he was then on his
way in pursuance of the clause stating that he had general authority
from the Governor before he went away, &c.--I cannot tell the language
of the dispatch at all. I telegraphed to him that I thought he ought to
go--sent two dispatches, one to Philadelphia and Harrisburg. I believed
from his dispatch that he had gone to Harrisburg. Then I was at home in
Doylestown, at that time. On Monday or Sunday I got knowledge of the
thing being serious. I concluded I ought to be nearer to it so that if
there was anything for me to do I could do it; and I started to
Philadelphia, and I got there and found a messenger at the hotel
waiting to take me to West Philadelphia--with a carriage--to see
Colonel Scott, who had a dispatch from the Governor, asking him to send
me to meet him at the nearest point I could reach him in Pennsylvania.
Colonel Scott suggested that the best place would probably be at
Beaver, where Quay was. That was on Monday, the 23d, at twelve o'clock,
and at half past six, the first train that went, I started to go to
Beaver. I went through Harrisburg on the evening the sheriff has
testified to, the 23d, and on out to Pittsburgh. All that occurred
there was that I met the Governor. He came to Pittsburgh instead of
stopping at Beaver. I got a dispatch that he was going on through, and
I saw several committees of citizens at Pittsburgh during the day, and
asked for the Governor to remain. A committee of printers and newspaper
men, and a committee of bankers, who said they were in the hands then
of people that might go any time into their banks and compel them to
open their vaults, and a committee, of business men, men who had large
numbers of hands employed, wanted me to impress upon the Governor the
importance of recommending a compromise, which I didn't feel much
inclined to recommend. The Governor came there that evening at seven
o'clock, without having determined whether he would remain or not. I
went to the train to go with him east, but he concluded--there was a
committee of people there to wait upon him--and he did remain. That was
seven o'clock, Tuesday evening. He remained until three o'clock the
next morning. We didn't go to bed. We remained at the Monongahela house
and prepared, and Mr. Quay and the Governor supervised, the
proclamation that was issued from the room there, and met committees of
citizens, &c., and remained up until three o'clock or half past two,
and we started down to Allegheny depot. We had to go from there at that
time. We found several acres of people around there in the way. They
didn't disturb us. Stopped us going across the bridge to see what we
were and who we were, but went on notwithstanding. We came east, and at
Altoona, when we took breakfast, there were, I suppose, a thousand
people around there. A crowd of that sort of people that generally
constitute a riot and a mob.
Q. Demonstration at Altoona?
A. No. We had to crowd our way through to get our breakfast--the
Governor, Colonel Quay, and myself. Doctor Reed was along. We got in
and got our breakfast, but we had some difficulty to get there, because
there was a crowd there, but they didn't disturb us. The Governor, when
they came in, somebody said something to him, and he made some remarks
on the platform, and they gave the Governor three cheers--after
breakfast. Then we returned to Philadelphia, and made arrangements
which took the Governor back. We got to Philadelphia on Wednesday, and
on Thursday he returned west, and went to Pittsburgh, when he had got
his military properly organized--and Mr. Quay and myself remained
there, and some others of the Governor's staff, and communicated with
parties in connection with the business, and to see about organizing
some others--I was not concerned in that--organizing an additional
military organization for the purpose of going out to the scene of the
difficulty; but we remained there until Saturday morning. I received a
dispatch from the Governor asking me to go and join him at Pittsburgh.
I don't think he stated what he wanted me for. Yes, he did. He stated
he wanted to see about what to do with certain prisoners that had been
captured at Johnstown, by a regiment of regulars, under Colonel
Hamilton; and I went out that afternoon, and I reached Pittsburgh about
twelve o'clock at night. We went over--the first train, probably, that
went in over the route that had been torn up in different places--where
the old depot was, and had it torn out, that Colonel Hamilton's train,
or the train his soldiers were on, was thrown off the track by the
turning of the switch at Johnstown, about seven o'clock in the evening,
and that he was very much injured himself--I think he had a rib or two
broken--he could hardly sit down; but his men got out immediately and
formed, and they picked up everybody that came about there, from that
on until Monday--found some of them after daylight--were picked up and
put into a car and taken to Pittsburgh, and put in the arsenal, and
they had fifty-five of them there.
Q. As prisoners?
A. Prisoners, and the object of my being sent for was to see what to do
with them. On Sunday I went out there, and was met by Daniel J. Worrall
and the chief of police of Johnstown. He was brought along to see
whether he could identify any of the dangerous or turbulent class of
people of Johnstown, and I went into examination--all I could do was
with the aid of eight of these policemen and Mr. Worrall, and I
examined each one on oath--sixty of them, at least. The other fifteen
of them were retained, because they were a little more suspicious
characters, and it turned out, according to any kind of evidence that
we could get--and I guess it was the fact--that they had been idlers
that heard of this train being wrecked. Some of them were very innocent
people, who had come there to see if they could render assistance. Some
had come as idle spectators, and there was not the slightest evidence
from any source that any of them had been guilty of having turned the
switch, or were participants in the stoning of the train. The train had
been stoned just before they got there, but none of those people were
arrested until some little time afterwards, and as I concluded from the
evidence I heard there, it seems most probable that the operators of
the act wouldn't hardly be about looking on, just after a thing of that
kind occurred, and they got out of the way. And these people, while
they might have sympathized, there was nothing at all to show that they
had any guilty connection with the turning of the switch. On Monday, I
waited again to see about some others--we had got reports from
Johnstown, saying that they were satisfied--parties who told to me that
they were satisfied they were not concerned in it. Finally, from time
to time they were all released, having no evidence against them
whatever, and that was the principal part of my business there. It kept
me there several days--maybe a week--on the train. That is all I know
about that. Then there was a difficulty occurred at Scranton and I went
up there, and the Governor telegraphed to me while I was there, and I
went to see about what to do with some--there was an alderman up there
had issued a warrant, in pursuance of the report of the coroner's
inquest, I think, upon the bodies of some men who had been shot in the
riot, and they had pronounced all the military, I believe, participants
in what they called a murder, and I started in obedience to the
dispatch the same day. I arrived there, but they had done just what I
was going to recommend; they had delivered themselves up to the proper
authorities, _habeas corpus_ had been issued, and the judges of the
court--I think Judge Harding had them to apply. It turned out that they
were either indicted, or no bills found true against them, or something
of that kind. There was other difficulties of that kind occurred while
we were up there, and occasionally these same police alderman--Mahon, I
think his name was, in the Sixth ward of Scranton--would issue out a
warrant once in awhile against certain of the military, and they would
simply go and give bail, and that was the end of it. That was all the
connection I had with the riots--the actual knowledge I have about it.
Something about these prisoners. We found some little difficulty in
keeping them up there from getting into the hands--it was evident, as
the people of Scranton said, that if the warrants of this alderman were
executed, and the soldiers were taken over into that Sixth ward, that
is made up--if any of you know the situation of Scranton, there is a
ward that is made up of miner's houses across the stream--the
Lackawanna, I think likely--and they threatened if any soldier was
taken over there before this alderman he would never get back alive,
and they were devising ways and means to prevent any difficulty of that
kind. I remained there a few days, and came back to Philadelphia, and
at St. George's hotel I got an honorable discharge from military
service. That is all the duties I had, except attachments, &c., which
were not connected with the riot.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. I wish to ask you a question: You were consulted by Governor before
he left the State, as regards his absence for any length of time,
whether it was policy for him to be absent and the policy pursued in
his absence?
A. He spoke to me about it. There seemed to be, as I said to him, and
as appeared to him, as good a prospect of peace in this State as ever
there was, and he asked me what I thought about the propriety of his
leaving upon a trip of that kind, and I told him I could not see any
difficulty about it. That no doubt the State would go on harmoniously
and all right, that it would not be a vacating of the office of the
Governor. He didn't tell me anything about that I give more attention
than I otherwise would during his absence, rendering any aid I could to
the other authorities, to see to things. General Latta telegraphed to
me that morning I speak of, the 20th, that he had a general authority
to act in the Governor's absence, when the military were required, and
simply telegraphed that there was trouble on the Pennsylvania railroad.
He had acted, however, before that, because he had called out the
troops. I recollect pretty nearly the second dispatch sent to me to
Harrisburg. They were both sent within half an hour of each other. That
if the civil authorities were insufficient to suppress disturbance, to
maintain the peace and call out the troops, and to communicate to the
Governor if he could, and if not, to suppress the riot promptly, and we
would look for the authority afterwards. That is about what he had told
him, and he acted upon the general authorities which the Governor had
given him.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. In your conversation with the Governor, was there anything about the
probability of a strike on the Pennsylvania railroad?
A. No, sir; there was no apprehension of anything of that kind at the
time at all, although it seemed to come pretty suddenly after that.
There was nothing at all to indicate it--the Governor said nothing at
all about that--he simply talked to me about his going out of the State
to remain a length of time he would be gone. I forget now what it was,
whether it would give any authority to have his office considered
vacant or any ability or disability to act. I told him I thought not,
that for the purpose of managing the State government, I thought it
would be perfectly proper for him to go, that he was entitled to have
that sort of recreation. Of course, none of us apprehended anything,
except what might arise at any time, and he had taken the precaution,
it seems, although I do not know that, to say to General Latta, that he
should act for the purpose of sustaining the civil authority as they
had done heretofore, or something of that kind, as I learned
afterwards, but the Governor did not tell me that, so far as I remember
now. I believe that was what the Governor did say.
* * * * *
Sheriff Jennings, recalled:
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. As you are a military man, I want to ask you a military question. Do
you know anything about the movements of the military about Harrisburg
and vicinity and county?
A. When I came here, I believe General Sigfried was in command, and all
that I saw of the military I thought they would be first rate, and I
felt confident they would be useful to me in case I should fail with
the posse. He kept them in camp; there was no straggling, no
drunkenness or anything of that kind, and the men acted and conducted
themselves like soldiers.
Q. Good discipline?
A. Good discipline. I would say that the troops were under good
command.
* * * * *
David Mumma, _affirmed_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Do you reside in the city of Harrisburg?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is your profession?
A. I am a practicing attorney.
Q. State, Mr. Mumma, what knowledge you had of the conduct of the
militia during the riots of last July?
A. We had no militia--no organized militia in the city until during the
riots, until after the dispersal of the rioters by the sheriff's posse.
A few men, two or three in number, sometimes came here in a train,
evidently in order to meet their companies, and came for that purpose
without organization, not more than five at one time, and the men who
seemed to get up all the difficulties about the cars, immediately
disarmed them and took their arms from them, and then there was no
further violence exhibited to them. There were five, I think, is the
highest number I saw. They had no means of resistance, as there was no
organization, that was, of the military we had in the city before that.
Q. Those were men that had gathered in obedience to the call of their
officers?
A. Gathered to meet their companies, came from the upper end of the
county, some few from Lebanon county. They came in the trains, and they
were only in squads of two or three, sometimes one alone.
Q. Were they overpowered by the mob?
A. They did not resist any, so far as I saw. Their arms were demanded,
and they gave them up.
Q. How many did you see surrender their arms?
A. There may have been twenty or twenty-five, altogether.
Q. At different times?
A. At different times.
Q. Several in small squads?
A. Yes; no more than five. I did not see more than five at one time.
They came from the upper end of this county. They were coming here to
report.
Q. Did they surrender, because they were in sympathy, or would it have
been folly for them to have resisted?
A. It would have been folly to resist, if there was any determination
on the part of the men who were in the crowd to enforce the demand. I
may say here, that at this time there was not much exhibition of
violence. The trains were running, that is the commencement of it. They
stopped none but freight trains and local passenger trains; the other
trains, more especially the mail trains, were permitted to run through,
and there was no violence by anybody. Everybody seemed to stand and
look on, and when a train arrived, the engine and tender would
immediately be boarded by about four fifths boys, and some two or three
men, and the coupling would be drawn, and they would take the engine to
the round-house. Shifter was allowed to run, and they would move the
cars away. I may say, just here, that on inquiry, many men who were
connected with the railroad shops here, men that I knew, that always
said they had orders that there was a general strike pending, and they
were to stop any local or freight trains, and that other trains with
the mails, were to go on, and that they had no disposition to give any
trouble, and frequently I was appealed to, that we should use our
influence to keep the military away; that if the troops were brought on
there would be violence.
Q. What class of men undertook to influence you in that direction?
A. They were men who were employés of the railroad.
Q. Railroad?
A. Railroad and other places. Our other shops were not in the matter
that I know of.
Q. What class of men demanded the guns from the gathering soldiers?
A. I know but one, and he was really the principal man who took charge
of the guns. He is now in the penitentiary--was convicted at our
court--a man by the name of Riggle, a loafer, who does not do anything
and never did a day's work when he had it. I did not see any of our men
connected with the railroad demand to take any guns from the soldiers
at all.
Q. It was done by the lawless class?
A. Lawless class of men, mostly strangers. I did not know them, though
I know a great many of our citizens, and there was a great many
strangers here that we did not know at all. In the meantime, General
Sigfried had got here, and some head was put to the military part of
it, and I remember of speaking to several officers not to have the men
brought in the town, for fear they might be overpowered. They were all
taken to the arsenal. Everybody was anxious to have the arsenal taken
care of. We were constantly assured by the better class of men that the
arsenal would not be interfered with unless an attempt was made to put
the military in. Hence, every citizen who had any influence tried to
prevail on the military officers to get the men into the arsenal
without bringing them into the city, and it was so arranged. Men coming
in the Lebanon Valley train got off outside of the city and marched
across. They came from above, got off at Rockville, and marched across,
until they had sufficient men in the arsenal to defend it, and that, I
have no doubt, was a very judicious method at that time, until there
was a force here to stand up against the mob, if there was any trouble.
Q. Did you have any conversation with these soldiers, after they had
surrendered their arms?
A. I believe I did speak to one or two of the men. There was some men,
I just said before you came, Mr. Engelbert, that they came from your
town to meet their companies, and they found themselves immediately
surrounded by a mob, and they had no remedy, they had to give up their
arms.
Q. What reasons did they give for surrendering?
A. They said they did not see how they could make any defense or hold
their arms, because they were alone, and had not found their officers,
and did not know what to do.
Q. Did you find any officers?
A. Military officers?