WHEREAS, A difference of opinion having occurred between
the employers and employés of several corporations in this city,
whereby labor at the different collieries has been suspended, and
on account of this suspension, serious injury has been effected,
the most serious of which is the non-working of the mines;
_And whereas_, I have the assurance that the men at the collieries
are willing to render me their most hearty cooperation for the
protection of those who may desire to work the pumps, I hail this
as a good omen, and trust that no opposition may be made to the
starting of the pumps, and I hereby invoke the good offices of all
good citizens to aid the companies in protecting their property of
every kind from injury or destruction, and I do also hereby warn
all persons that the property not only of corporations, but of
individuals, must be protected, and that any act of violence or
lawlessness will be by me resisted with all the force I can
command, and to this end I call upon all citizens of the city to
aid me.
ROBERT H. MCKUNE, _Mayor_.
MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY OF SCRANTON, _July 29, 1877_.
Immediately upon the adjournment of the committee, I notified Mr.
Storrs--Henry R. Storrs--the superintendent of the collieries here, and
on Monday morning the men were put in at the pumps to work, and the
pumps in the most of the mines were set to work. In the meantime, on
Saturday, at the meeting of the councils, the following resolution was
passed:
"_Resolved by the common council_, (_the select council
concurring_,) That it is the sense of the councils that there is no
danger of riot or disturbance in the city, and that there is among
the workingmen no disposition to disturb the peace of the
community, and that there is at present no necessity for any
increase of the special police, and that any so-called policemen or
watchmen or the employés will not be paid out of the city funds.
"On motion, the clerk was instructed to notify the mayor of the
action of the councils on the above resolution.
"All of which is hereby respectfully submitted."
So, you see, I was running this thing somewhat single-handed. On
Monday, the pumps, as I said, were going, and on Monday morning, at
nine o'clock, I sent for the executive committee of the brakemen and
firemen of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, and,
in consultation with them, I there gave them to understand that the
citizens of the city were desirous of having their trains placed again
on the road, so that they could have their mails, the banks could have
their money, so that the men who had been at work could receive their
pay, and, after a long conversation, lasting three hours, I gave them
to understand that I should start a train next morning, at the regular
schedule time, nine-fifty, and that any attempt on their part to
obstruct it would be met with all the force I could command. The
gentlemen of the committee wanted to know when I wanted an answer in
regard to whether they would run, and I told them I would like an
answer that afternoon, at four o'clock. They immediately, upon leaving
my office, called for a meeting of the men who were here in the city,
and, at three-thirty, took a vote in regard to the question of
resumption, and, by a vote of eighty-two to seven, voted to resume
work, and at six o'clock that evening the train that had started from
Binghamton, upon a telegraph, passed through here. So on Tuesday
evening, the pumps at the mines were working, the road was open. There
was a general feeling of quietude among our citizens, and hopes that
the strike was passed. On Tuesday morning, the committee from the Round
woods, as we called them, met at my office for the purpose of holding
consultation with General Brisbin.
Q. You say that was on Tuesday?
A. Yes. The legal adviser of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company, in that interview, lasting some three hours, the
whole situation was very thoroughly gone over on the part of the men,
by almost each one of them taking some part in the debate, Mr. Brisbin,
taking the standing and circumstances of the company and the men, then
made the following proposition: That in case hereafter, any differences
of opinion arising between employer and employés, that upon the
appointment of the committee from the employés, and notifying Mr.
Brisbin of the same, that he would call the board of directors
together, forward to this committee transportation, and that they
should have the opportunity of telling their grievances, direct to the
board of directors. This was one point the men tried to gain, in their
long strike--the six month's strike--one they gained at this time. I
never saw men seemingly more highly pleased with the result, and not
only those, but Mr. Brisbin himself. During the afternoon and evening,
when the information got through the city--when the evening papers came
out, announcing the facts--the opinion in regard to the strike was,
that the strike was about over, and we had rumors in regard to a
meeting at the silk-works. We all presumed that the reports of this
city would be given to that meeting, and that the meeting would,
without question, resolve to go to work. The question of the advance of
wages, had been abandoned, almost in the first interview with Mr.
Brisbin and Mr. Storrs. In the evening, I met a number of special
police posse at my head-quarters, stayed there probably half or three
quarters of an hour, talking matters over, and we supposed that the
emergency was over, and we relaxed, as it were, our vigilance, and most
of the men went home. I had not been in bed, at the time I reached
home, from the Tuesday night previous, at all. I stayed at home next
day and night. I went home that night, and went to bed. I reached my
office that morning, at about nine o'clock. I had relieved the officers
that had been on day and night.
Q. Do you speak of Tuesday or Wednesday?
A. Wednesday, the 1st day of August. In the meantime, I might say,
right here, that we had established a code of signals, to call any
posse together, if it should become necessary. I need not say what it
was--it was a code of signals to be given through one of the church
bells. A gentleman was at my office, who represented the posse to carry
the signal, or carry the orders for the signal to the men who were at
the bell, and they were not to ring the bell without orders so given by
the party. I remark this, for the purpose of showing in regard to what
occurred now, upon the morning of the 1st. I had been hearing some
cases, and was about through, when some parties came in, and said there
was a large crowd coming up from the silk-works.
Q. What time was that?
A. I should think about half-past ten.
Q. In the morning?
A. Yes, sir; half-past ten or a quarter to eleven. One gentlemen, young
Mr. Logan, came in with a request from Mr. Scranton that the signal
bell should be rung. About the same time, Colonel Hitchcock, over the
posse, came in and informed me that a crowd was down round in the
neighborhood of the machine-shops, that I showed you to-day, and he
immediately left the office. I gave, both to him and Mr. Logan, this
order, that they might go to head-quarters as quickly as they could,
and any of the boys of the posse that they might see, to notify to come
immediately there, and remain there till I should send orders, or the
signal bell should be rung. About the same time, Lieutenant Brown came
in, and I then put on my hat, and we walked up the street together. We
noticed, or, at least, came across a number of the boys, and we ordered
them immediately up to head-quarters; and when I came to the corner of
Lackawanna and Washington avenue, looking down the machine-shops of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, I saw the whole
space there covered with a large number of people.
Q. Give an estimate of the number, if you can, Mr. McKune?
A. Well, sir, from what I could see--what came under my observation, I
should say three or four thousand people, sir, upon the railroad,
through and in that part below the road. There were but very few
people, we passed but very few people, comparatively, upon the main
avenue, as we went up. I went down through the crowd, and as I struck
the outer edge of the crowd, I said to them something like this: "Boys
this won't answer. You are doing wrong. You must disperse and go home."
Most of them that I first saw--the great majority of them--were of
those that I knew. The way was immediately opened. Lieutenant Brown was
with me. We walked side by side. I went in that way down as far as the
office of the car shops--the Mackanny office, as I call it--having
learned that Mrs. Mackanny and her daughter was in there, and was very
much terrified, and wished to be got out. I found the door locked, and
in looking into the window, saw that young Miss Mackanny was in her
father's arms, fainting, and, of course, I concluded it was best that
she should remain there up there. Turned and came back, for the purpose
of going to the company's store--the head-quarters. Having passed from
the office probably thirty or thirty-five feet, a party of men came out
from the roadway that leads in through to the shops--the car shops of
the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. I should think
there was one hundred or one hundred and fifty of these men. They had
mostly in their hands, clubs of different kinds, handles of picks, and
sticks, and when the leader was within probably thirty feet of me, he
made an inquiry--there was something of a fuss or noise right round
where I was, and seemed to be the center of attraction--made an
inquiry, "What was it? Who was it?" With that, some person standing in
my vicinity says, "This is the mayor." Then, raising his club, hollered
out, in an extreme loud voice, "Kill the son of a bitch. He has got no
business here." With that, there were two pistol shots fired, one upon
my right hand, and one upon my left, by my side, as I judge from the
sound, and almost immediately with that, four or five men, one of them
a constable of the Nineteenth ward, and another by the name of Duffy,
and some three or four others, whom I did not know personally, rushed
immediately behind me, to form a sort of a barrier against this crowd,
that was seeming to make for me. With that, I was struck with a club--I
judge it to be a club--right behind my shoulders very severely, so much
so, that it started my left lung, which has been weak for some years,
bleeding. My mouth was almost immediately filled with blood, a stone
which was thrown hit me in my kidneys, and before I probably got ten
steps, this crowd made towards me, and I was hit some numbers of times,
but I kept square upon my feet. I dodged my head to avoid them as well
as I could. In the meantime, Lieutenant Brown was standing by me. The
very first signal, the very first exclamation of these men, I had
ordered that the posse be sent for and the bells would be rung, but Mr.
Brown dare not move. But the men passed the cry on, and it was taken up
by others standing back. I probably went twenty steps before Father
Dunn, the Catholic priest of the parish here, came down, and as soon as
he saw me came right up to me and first took hold of my arm. He was a
smaller armed man than I am; I then changed and took hold of his.
Immediately upon his coming, this party that was behind trying to
protect me was increased considerably, numbering twenty or twenty-five.
Some of these men, who had had sticks in their hands, came up at this
time.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. For your protection?
A. Yes; the men I speak of, the constable of the Nineteenth ward, and
William Duffy and others immediately upon the pistols being shot off,
came right for my protection--the citizens here. I might say right
here, that all that party who had swept through the shops and came
under my observation, not one of them I recognized as a man whom I had
ever seen before. The leader, whom I took very close observation of,
was a man whom I had never cast my eyes upon before to my recollection.
When we got to within twenty-five or thirty feet of the causeway under
the railroad, the crowd behind broke through the party that was trying
to protect me, and carried off Father Dunn. I slipped from him to the
left of him, so that they rushed by me, and I escaped from them and
went through under the railway bridge--under the railway near
there--the causeway under the railway, and there met four of my
policemen. In the meantime, the crowd commenced to surge past, filling
the whole street almost, with the cry, "Now for the Lackawanna Iron and
Coal Company's store." "Now for Lackawanna avenue. Let's clean out the
town." The distance from where I met these policemen to Lackawanna
avenue, is just a hundred feet, the depth of those lots. Just one
hundred feet. When I reached Lackawanna avenue coming up Washington, in
looking up the street, I saw my posse coming down. They were nearly
opposite the Opera House, a distance of one hundred to one hundred and
twenty feet from me. I stopped a moment, and the crowd seemed to give
way, and waved my hands three times for them to come on. My idea was,
if they could come down to my office, there we would make a stand, if
they attempted to go to pillaging. I turned to go down towards my
office. Lieutenant Brown was still with me. When opposite the store of
Mr. Hunt, in whose employ he was, about twenty-five or thirty feet from
the corner, he turned and went into the store. Just after he had left
me, the crowd then commenced to surge down and fill up the street. I
was struck with an instrument, whether it was a hammer or some heavy
instrument I don't know--here, just back of the ear, and I have no
memory from that moment of receiving the stroke--but I came down here
as was testified to, at the trial, and went into the bank--the
Merchants' and Mechanics', nearly opposite, at the distance from where
I was struck, of about one hundred and twenty-five feet. I have no
memory from that time till I found myself back again up the street,
probably fifty feet, and just stepping off the sidewalk, and as I
stepped off the sidewalk into the roadway, I partly fell upon my hands,
and as I was raising up, I heard a shot or two, and a man cried out,
"Now go for them, damn them, they are firing blank cartridges; now take
their guns away from them; now kill them," and upon looking round, I
saw two men standing together. I gave the word of command to fire, and
almost immediately upon the word, a discharge was made, and upon the
word fire, one man fell right in his tracks, right where he stood.
Q. One of the rioters?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. It was your posse that fired?
A. The posse fired. You will hear of the action of the posse from the
gentlemen who were with the posse. I cannot give that. And then while
standing--the two men seemed to be standing together--as the one fell,
the other, who was standing with him, thew a stick, or stone, or
something from his hand and started running, and ran probably ten or
fifteen steps. He was covered very thoroughly by two guns, but the
parties who were covering him with their guns could not apparently hit
him without hitting somebody else. As soon as he uncovered himself the
guns were immediately discharged, and he fell dead. Almost in a breath
after this, the whole crowd turned in all directions, and inside of
five minutes our avenues were almost clear of people. I came down--I do
not know whether I mentioned that before I left--while Father Dunn and
me were together, that one of those men in front of me previous to
coming under the bridge came in front of me, and with a blow from a
front as he passed by me, gave me a blow which broke my jaw and
fractured the whole roof of my mouth.
Q. The upper jaw?
A. Yes, sir; I have no use, even now, of my front teeth. The jaw is not
together at all. I am unable to use them at all for anything, only soft
food. I called upon the citizens to rally, or at least took a
gentleman's arm and he made the announcement for me, I was unable to
say much, my mouth being so full of blood--calling upon them to come to
the rendezvous at the company's store, as my head-quarters; the posse
and myself then went there. I immediately telegraphed the Governor
stating the case, and issued a proclamation calling upon the citizens
to rally and take all precautionary measures possible for the
suppression of any further outbreak. In the course of half an hour, the
whole of the arms we had were placed in the hands of good responsible
persons; our posse was drawn across the head of the street, and orders
were sent--I sent my police out with orders that all persons should
disperse--all crowds, and so on. In the course of probably half an hour
from that, the report came that they were firing in the residence of
the Messrs. Scranton, which was immediately above our head-quarters
there. I went with the posse there, and placed some men on picket, and
so on, taking precautionary measures. By two o'clock the crowds began
to gather through the streets again. I sent my police officers out
again to try to disperse the crowds. In the meantime, the dead bodies
had been taken from off the streets, and taken home. Our acting chief
came back and reported to me that he was unable to disperse the crowds.
I immediately had Captain Repple to detail twenty-five men, and in
company with him marched down the street, and as I met the crowds I
merely said this: Gentlemen you must disperse, and go immediately home.
I gave no other orders, and the result was that by the time I struck
the corner here below, the crowd in this part had all dispersed, or
dispersed immediately upon my giving orders. I sent the police on
further, as I was quite weak at this time, bleeding very thoroughly
from all of my wounds. I was unable to walk further, and went back
again to head-quarters, and my policemen went on below, and were unable
to disperse the crowd. The posse were kept on duty. I remained at
head-quarters until next morning at half-past five o'clock, when
General Brinton and his command arrived here. I then went home and had
my wounds dressed. That is the history of the matter as I have it.
Q. These twenty-five men that you sent down in the afternoon at two
o'clock--who were they?
A. They were the gentlemen I had sworn in as special police.
Q. Citizens of the city?
A. Yes; I could give you the names of them if I thought it was
necessary, sir. Colonel Hitchcock, and Mr. Brown, and others of our
best citizens.
Q. What did you learn about the assembling of this crowd, if anything,
as to where they got together?
A. What I subsequently learned?
Q. What have you learned since?
A. The meeting was called at the silk-works--what we call the
silk-works--it is in the Twentieth ward, near the outskirts of our
city--the portion adjoining Taylorville--in a southerly direction. The
resolutions which I got from the arrest of the gentleman who was
president at the meeting--the chairman of the meeting--he was arrested
and brought before me--and Mr. Thomas, who will be subpoenaed before
you, can give you the exact wording of that resolution and can give you
more intelligently the proceedings of that meeting than any other
gentlemen that will be called upon. If you please, bear that in mind.
Q. What time was that meeting at the silk-works held?
A. I learned they commenced coming from Dunmore and the outer vicinity
as early as three o'clock in the morning.
Q. Of What day?
A. Of the 1st day of August.
Q. Had been called by previous announcement?
A. They called all their meetings in their own manner of calling--by
runners. I might say right here, at this point, they had a complete
code of signals on the night of the 1st of August. While we placed our
sentinels on the top of the buildings we occupied, we could discern
lights from one side of the valley to the other--from point to point--a
line of different colors and different shades. They had a thorough code
of signals so all the way through. You are aware, undoubtedly, that so
far as the engineers or the firemen--the strikers--were concerned, they
used their own alphabet in telegraphing over the wires. They used their
alphabet.
Q. Had there been any assembly prior to their reaching the silk-works?
A. No, sir; this was the meeting.
Q. What time did they leave the silk-works and come to the city?
A. That the other gentlemen, (Mr. Manes,) can give you about the hour
when they struck his works. I judge, I left my office somewhere about
eleven o'clock.
Q. Were there any railroad men among this crowd that assembled on the
1st day of August?
A. There were some railroad men that I saw at the shops around when I
struck the crowd?
Q. What class of men did they seem to be principally?
A. Well, they were mechanics and miners and laborers.
Q. Were there any men from the shops within the city?
A. Yes; there were mechanics and laboring men from the shops. Among the
men who were more upon the outskirts, were quite a number of the men
who were employés of the shops--men whom I recognized--quite a number
of them. As soon as I made the remark that they had better disperse,
they commenced, upon the outer portion of the crowd, quite a number, to
go through from under the archway, apparently going up the street.
Q. Did you have any difficulty in getting extra police to serve?
A. Yes; the paid specials I wanted to put on for the protection of the
company's property, whom I placed for the purpose of relieving the city
from any legal liability, after having received these notices, of which
I have given you a copy. It was with difficulty I could find men who
would accept the position. Quite a number who came and were sworn in on
the morning before stopped at noon, and served half a day; but in
regard to those that were specials--were paid--those were probably
gathered through and by Colonel Hitchcock--a large number of
those--quite a large number came to me; that is, volunteered first, and
enrolled themselves.
Q. Offered themselves?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And were sworn in?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there any difficulty in getting men to serve in that way?
A. No, sir; not in the least. Had all that I deemed was necessary, and
more, too.
Q. Had no difficulty in that respect?
A. No, sir.
Q. In getting the paid police that you spoke of first, what was the
reason--what objections did they have in serving that way?
A. That was on account of the resolutions that had been passed in
some of the meetings of workingmen, in which this vote of censure
against me for placing these special policemen on had been passed.
These resolutions had been passed without the men having any
knowledge--report had it that I was putting five hundred or a thousand
special policemen on the city, and putting them on pay. I didn't deem
it to be my duty, nor the interest of the city, to let everybody
know what I was doing, and this report got it, and this series of
resolutions was afterwards passed by the council--first started under
a misapprehension.
Q. Then I understand you to say, that it was not on account of any
unwillingness of the citizens of Scranton to serve and aid in keeping
the peace and good order of the city?
A. There are the facts, just as they are. It was with difficulty that I
could get them.
Q. What powers are given you as mayor by the city charter or
organization?
A. We are acting under the law of 1874, the Wallace act, where the
mayor has the same power as the sheriff to call a posse comitatus, and
so on. I might state right here, in regard to the passage of that very
act, that I was before the committee, Mr. Merryfield and myself, asking
that very power of the sheriff to be given to a city. Or town, as an
instance, where we were so far from the county seat, in the case of
outbreak, under the old charter the mayor would be helpless.
Q. Did you make any regular call upon the citizens to serve as a posse?
A. I made this call, in which I called those enrolled--my posse. When I
went up the street, I might state right here, that Mr. Thomas, a
gentleman who will be here, who was one of the committee from the
workingmen, came and guaranteed me any aid I might need.
Q. How many did that posse number?
A. One hundred and twenty, sir, enrolled.
Q. Were ready to come at the signal?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You speak of legal liability. Is there any law by which your city is
made liable for damages done within your limits?
A. Nothing more, I suppose, than any neglect upon the part of the
officers of the city to protect property. It is nothing further, sir.
Q. Any act of Assembly?
A. No, sir. I am not a lawyer, but I presume, if the officers of the
city should fail to render abundant protection to property, when
notified of its danger, that then the city would be held responsible,
in case the property was destroyed.
Q. In the interview that you had with the executive committee of the
railroad employés, did you learn what their grievances were, and their
reasons for striking?
A. On account of wages--desired more wages.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. Were they the first that struck?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had there been any reduction of wages on the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western, or any of the roads leading to your town?
A. Well, sir, I cannot tell you that, sir. The superintendent will be
here.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. What grievance did the railroad men complain of when they did
strike?
A. Only in regard to reduction of wages.
Q. Had no other complaint?
A. I understand that the miners themselves and the laborers in the mine
didn't strike. They were forced out of the mines on account of no work
the very moment that the railroad ceased operating. That morning, or
the next day, at least, mining had to cease, because there was no place
to put the coal that they mined; but, upon their coming out, they then
assembled together, and asked for an advance of wages.
Q. Had there been any reduction of wages among the miners prior to that
strike?
A. The wages had been under a reduction for some length of time.
Q. For several years past?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know when the last reduction was made?
A. No, sir; I don't know the date.
Q. Did you have any interview with the miners?
A. This committee of eighteen represented miners, engineers, and
laborers--represented all connected with the mines and all of its
parts.
Q. What did they complain of?
A. The engineers of the pumps had some complaint to Mr. Brisbin in
regard to not fulfilling the agreement made at the long strike.
Q. The long strike was in what year?
A. In 1872, I think.
Q. I would like to know whether they were railroad engineers or
engineers at the pumps?
A. Pumps and collieries.
Q. Any railroad men in this delegation?
A. Not in this delegation of eighteen.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. I understood you to say they were miners, engineers, and brakemen?
A. No, sir: the committee on Monday was firemen and brakemen, not
engineers. The engineers were not in the strike.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. The committee of eighteen was composed of who?
A. Composed of miners, laborers, engineers, and pumpmen at the mines.
By Mr. Yutzy:
Q. Not railroaders?
A. No, sir.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Did they state in what respect the agreement had not been carried
out by the companies after 1872?
A. They did, sir; in the interview with Brisbin they did very clearly.
It was in regard to the _pro rata_ reduction. I didn't take interest
enough in it to explain it to you thoroughly, sir. It was a matter
between them more. While it was at my office, and the parties were got
together at my suggestions, I was there during the whole time, but the
matter was more immediately for them to discuss, as I didn't consider
it my place to take any part in the discussion, and did not.
Q. What did you ascertain subsequent to the conflict of the 1st of
August? What did you find out about the cause that induced that
assemblage at the silk-works?
A. They were called together, as I understood, to hear the report of
this committee of eighteen.
Q. In the interview with you, did the committee of eighteen state what
their purposes or objects were for the future?
A. On this Sunday interview?
Q. Yes?
A. Nothing more than they believed that the companies had been cutting
down their wages too much, that they had been extravagant in the
management of corporations, that it had come a time for retrenchment,
and the retrenchment was all coming over on them as laborers, that they
believed they could, by a proper way of disposing of their coal and so
on--they had some grievances in regard to that--that better wages could
be paid.
Q. Did they intimate about what they intended to do?
A. Nothing more than they wouldn't work until there should be an
advance in wages.
Q. Did they give any intimation of any intention to make an attack upon
the city and disturb the peace in any way?
A. Directly the opposite, sir; gave me every assurance to aid and
support. This question in regard to the large number of strangers that
were here, was brought up and discussed, and they felt an anxiety in
regard to that very point, that an overt act might bring them into
disgrace.
Q. The miners?
A. This committee of eighteen.
Q. What was the object of this delegation calling on the mayor and
making this statement? Did they make any demand of you?
A. I sent for them when the companies asked of me. This is a notice I
didn't read, and this will more clearly show why I sent for the
delegation:
SCRANTON, _July 27_.
R. H. McKune:
The men employed by this company to fire and operate the engines at
our mines for pumping the water therefrom, have by threats and
intimidation been driven from their works, and notice given, that
any person or persons who should attempt to perform such service
would do so at the peril of the lives. This action involves the
flooding of the mines, which would cause immeasurable loss and
damage to the company. I therefor call upon you for such protection
as employés are entitled to under the laws of this Commonwealth.