A NIGHT OF TERROR AT PITTSBURGH.
The Culmination—A Sea of Fire—Death-Dealing Volleys—The Spirit of
Desolation Lighting the Torch of Destruction—A Horrible Spectacle—A
Reign of Terror—The Commune Gains a Brief but Fearful Ascendancy—The
City Sacked by a Howling Mob—An end of all Lawful Authority—The
Ghouls of Pillage Abroad in the Glare of the Devouring
Fires—Millions of Property Resolved into Smoke and Ashes.
The condition of affairs at Pittsburgh had become alarming in the
extreme. The concentration of military forces instead of having a
tendency to cool down the ardor of the strikers, and overawe the vicious
elements of society, seemed to have a contrary effect. The malcontents
had increased in numbers with astonishing rapidity. The bands of
strikers which numbered no more than a few hundreds at most, the morning
of the preceding day, had been re-enforced by a mob of idlers and tramps
numbering many thousands. The law-abiding citizens were in a state of
alarm and trepidation. To employ the language of Statius: “They stood in
silent astonishment and waited for the fall of the yet doubtful
thunderbolt.”[1] But the surging masses of the strikers and the mob were
neither silent nor astonished. They were intoxicated by an excitement
which prevented reflection. They neither knew when nor cared how the
impending bolt would fall. They were ready to rejoice at the havoc it
would make. Vast multitudes of men of the lowest character, actuated by
the most brutal passions, were assembled for the sole purpose of
inaugurating a reign of terror among the people, and to light the torch
of destruction in the city.
Footnote 1:
Modified in translation. In the original, _Mirantur taciti et dubio
pro fulmine pendent_.
[Illustration: THE GREAT STRIKE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNION DEPOT AND HOTEL
AT PITTSBURGH—DRAWN BY FRED R. SCHELL]
Clamoring for a redress of grievances which they were unable to
formulate, or distinctly specify, the mighty throngs of uneasy spirits
who had been called into action in consequence of the railroad strikes,
were preparing to commit the most heinous crimes against the peace and
order of society. These men had no grievances to be redressed. They were
the vagrants of our modern social organization. They prated of the
downfall of liberty, when in truth they did not have a comprehension of
the meaning of the word. Liberty is a proud spirit; it regards
government as the true instrument of human happiness, and resists it
when it becomes manifestly prejudicial to happiness. But liberty only
flashes out against the government which murders innocent men, and
dishonors women. Liberty is force of character, roused by the sense of
wrong. But it is consistent with a sense of duty and a willingness to
bear just restraint, and uncombined with these it achieves nothing
lasting. Then it becomes the ally of turbulence, the enemy of
discipline. The elements which had combined against law and order in
Pittsburgh were not in rebellion against a government, but against the
whole social organization. They had known no oppression; on the contrary
they enjoyed a liberty which amounted to license—a license that enabled
them to secure a living without labor.
It must be borne in mind that the characters here alluded to, were not
the strikers but the vicious idlers, who had taken advantage of the
strikes to commit lawless deeds. The lawlessness among the strikers was
manifested in another way. They seized the property of their employers,
they violated the fundamental law of the right to private property; they
said in effect, “we are not receiving sufficient pay to sustain life, we
will therefore quit our employment, and will not permit our employers to
secure the services of other men to take our places.” This was violation
of law, and should be unqualifiedly condemned. But it was not a warfare
of destruction. The railroad strikers, as a mass, never had any purpose
of destroying anything. They could have destroyed untold millions of
dollars worth of property, all along the lines of the railroads which
they had seized, and possession of which they retained for many days.
Why could they not have burned every car on the line of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad? Why could not the strikers of East St. Louis, during
the five days they held possession, and even guarded property worth
millions of dollars, have destroyed it? There was nothing to prevent
them only their own determination not to destroy. On the contrary, the
whole history of the movement shows conclusively that the railroad men
on a strike had no disposition to destroy. They were not incendiaries,
not thieves, not murderers. They were guardians of the property of their
employers. If they had been actuated by a purpose to lay waste and burn,
there was no adequate force to prevent their executing that purpose. As
a mass, the railroad employes are far more honest than the majority of
railroad managers. They indeed violated law, and in a manner that
subjected them to punishment. But they were less guilty than the
speculators and autocrats, who have plundered the general public to the
extent of millions of dollars. There were bad men among the strikers—men
who would not hesitate at almost any crime. There are had men in all
classes of society. Dangerously bad men are found among those who are
leaders in the commercial and financial world. But because some railroad
laborers are bad men, shall we therefore stigmatize all railroad
laborers as bad? That would be injustice. There were some railroad men,
no doubt, among the mob who resisted the military and applied the torch
to millions of dollars worth of property. Indeed, we have positive
evidence that a few railroad men were active in promoting the riot. But
they were no more representative of the whole body of railroad men than
was William M. Tweed of the whole body of office-holders in the country.
This statement appears necessary because of the efforts which have been
made to fix upon the railroad men the direct responsibility for the
deeds of violence committed by the Pittsburgh mob of roughs. There were
deeds of cruelty perpetrated by soldiers of the Federal and Confederate
armies during the late war. But it would be manifestly unjust to charge
that all soldiers of the Federal and Confederate armies were inhuman and
cruel, and still more repugnant to our sense of fairness, to hold the
whole people of the North and the South responsible for the deeds of
_some_ of the soldiers who were engaged in the war between the two
sections. The violence of the mob, the destruction of property, and the
general subversion of the social order in Pittsburgh, were not
necessarily even consequences of the strike, but were incidents in a
general disturbance. Those railroad men who promoted the violence,
doubtless acted upon their own responsibility, and that ought to
exonerate those who not only did not actively participate in the
extraordinary scenes of that night of terror in Pittsburgh, but who, on
the contrary, expressed their disapproval. It is but justice to say this
in relation to the crime committed at Pittsburgh, there is no evidence
that the railroad strikers, as a mass, were the instigators, or even the
abettors of the deeds of that dreadful occasion.
The storm which had been gathering for two days was ready to burst upon
the city in all its fury by the morning of the 21st of July. At an early
hour of that day, it was apparent that a collision could not be avoided,
and might happen at any time. During the morning the infantry forces of
Alleghany county, which had been called out for duty before, was
re-enforced by two batteries and two troops of cavalry which had been
called out. To these forces were added the First Division of the
National Guards of Pennsylvania, which had been called out at
Philadelphia the preceding night. This force under command of
Major-General Brinton, consisting of infantry, artillery and cavalry,
began to arrive on the scene in the morning, and before evening the
whole number had come up and had been assigned to posts of duty. These
preparations on the part of the Government of the State did not seem to
deter the strikers and the mob, on the contrary, these expressed the
greatest contempt for the military array, and freely mingled with the
soldiers, and boasted of their ability to speedily dispose of the whole
body of militia which had been concentrated to put them down.
Early in the morning a line of pickets was drawn from Twenty-eighth
street to the Union Depot, and civilians of all classes were prohibited
from approaching the tracks of the railroad. Meanwhile the civil
authorities were taking measures to proceed legally against the
ringleaders of the riotous crowds. Judge Ewing of the Court of Common
Pleas issued warrants for the arrest of a number of the most prominent
of the men among the disturbers. The Sheriff undertook to organize a
_posse comitatus_ of one hundred men to serve the warrants. In this he
was unsuccessful. About fifteen persons, mostly the regular deputies in
the Sheriff’s office, responded to the call. Two hundred and fifty
militia-men were ordered to support the civil officers in the discharge
of their duty.
About three o’clock in the afternoon the Sheriff heading his _posse_,
and followed by the military command, started out to execute the writs
which he held. They were never served on the persons, for whom they were
issued, by Sheriff Fife. The web of fate was already being wound around
him. He returned no more from that mission on which he had gone in the
performance of his official duty.
There are a great many statements in regard to the commencement of the
rioting. It is not easy to arrive at the truth in this particular case.
Where all was confusion, it was impossible to preserve a correct record
of events in the order of occurrence. The account here given is believed
to be in strict accordance with the facts, so far as they can be
ascertained at this time. The conflict had been expected to take place
all the morning. At half-past three o’clock in the afternoon Sheriff
Fife, accompanied by a _posse_ of fifteen men, and supported by General
Brinton in command of a considerable body of the Philadelphia militia,
started for the general rendezvous of the strikers and the mob at the
Twenty-eighth street crossing. The plan of procedure agreed upon between
the civil and military authorities, was for Sheriff Fife to proceed to
the rendezvous, attempt the arrest of the persons named in his warrants,
and if, as was anticipated, resistance was offered, to call upon the
militia for assistance. The brigade of General Brinton marched out along
the tracks, the Sheriff with his men preceding them. The Sheriff
arriving at the depot, proceeded to order the crowd to disperse. The mob
met this command with a storm of yells, shouts, threats and jeers. He
then announced his purpose to arrest the persons whom he named.
Meanwhile the military under General Brinton proceeded to clear the
tracks. At that point a large number of strikers and an immense crowd of
spectators had assembled. Much confusion ensued. The crowd of strikers
and the malcontents taunted the militia, and denounced them as “a pack
of sneaks and cowards.” However, they kept at a respectful distance from
the points of the bayonets which the soldiers presented. By this time it
was apparent that the immense throng of rioters could not be dispersed
by reading the riot act, or at the behest of the Sheriff. General
Brinton, Mr. Pitcairn and Sheriff Fife at this stage held a short
consultation. The riot act had been read and disregarded, and it was now
determined to proceed to more decisive measures. The Sheriff had
warrants for the arrest of fifteen persons among the strikers. General
Brinton and Mr. Pitcairn, assistant Superintendent of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, advised the Sheriff to proceed to make the arrest. At this
time the excitement was fearful. The strikers were furious. The vast mob
of the evil disposed elements of society were dangerously determined,
nor were the immense assemblage of substantial citizen-spectators wholly
indifferent as to the result. Their sympathies were with the strikers.
The Sheriff went forward to execute his mission. One man, whose name was
particularly singled out, was arrested. At that moment another man who
was wanted rushed forward, waved his hat aloft, and shouted “At them
boys! at them! give them hell!” As to what followed immediately upon
this movement accounts differ. But it appears before any actual
resistance by act was made, General Brinton ordered his men to fire.
This has been denied; but the weight of evidence favors the correctness
of the statement first made. Another writer who claims to have been
present asserts that the mob made a determined assault upon the
soldiers, by hurling a shower of missiles at them under the leadership
of George Martin, the man for whose arrest the Sheriff had a warrant. At
any rate a terrible fire was opened by the militia on the vast crowd of
strikers, the mob acting in concert with them, and the citizens who had
collected on the hill overlooking the track. The fire of the soldiers
was very destructive, sixteen persons were instantly killed. The
intelligence of this collision spread with amazing rapidity throughout
the city. The whole population was instantly emptied into the streets.
It appears that there was no sufficient cause for the fusilades of the
soldiers in this instance. If we take this account given of it by one
who evidently wrote with a strong bias in favor of the military, still
there does not appear to have been sufficient provocation to justify the
destructive fire into a crowd of people in which were many women and
children. The writer alluded to, says:
“When the line reached the depot they immediately cleared the crossing
amid the jeers and hootings of the strikers, who widely scattered
through the great crowd, there being not less than five thousand people
present. Consultation was then held by the officers in command with
Superintendent Pitcairn and the Sheriff, after which the latter
proceeded to read the riot act. Having warrants for the arrest of
fifteen of the ringleaders, he proceeded to make an arrest. The
particular man for whom the warrant was issued approached, waved his
hat, and calling to the crowd and strikers said, ‘Give them hell.’
Immediately a shower of boulders was hurled into the troops, and one
revolver-shot fired into the ranks. General Brinton then ordered his men
to fire, and the word went along the line from platoon to platoon until
the left of the line was reached, and then the firing was repeated
several times. The crowd fled in dismay, and hid wherever it was
possible. Immediately after the firing, crowds of excited people sprang
up, as if by magic, from all directions, and the imprecations against
the Philadelphia troops, who were blamed by the strikers and the mob as
being responsible for the trouble, were very threatening. It was a
noteworthy fact that hundreds of people in no way connected with the
railroad, expressed their determination to join with the strikers in
driving them from the city. These remarks were interspersed with loud
and bitter threats that the Company’s shops, depots and buildings should
at night be laid in ashes.”
Who “the excited people” were who “sprang up as if by magic, from all
directions,” this writer does not inform us. It could not have been the
terror stricken crowd which had “fled in dismay and hid wherever it was
possible,” but a moment before. Nor is it plain why “hundreds of people
in no way connected with the railroad, expressed their determination to
join with the strikers” in driving the Philadelphia troops from the
city.
The firing was repeated. Platoon after platoon poured showers of bullets
into the terror stricken company assembled on the bank overlooking the
railroad tracks. By this time the excitement had become dreadful, and
extended all over the city. There was a general condemnation of the
action of the militia among the citizens. The general impression was
that they had acted precipitately, and had needlessly sacrificed the
lives of a number of innocent persons. The billows of passion were
rolling with fearful sweep over the city. The night was closing in. The
scenes presented on the streets were intensely exciting. The experience
of the fusilades had produced only a still more dangerous condition of
feeling. The whole population seemed to have joined the rioters. Within
less than half an hour after the firing, the crowd about the
Twenty-eighth street crossing had swelled to fearful proportions. The
position of the Philadelphia troops was critical. The expressions of
bitterness against them was not confined to the strikers alone. The
soldiers were too few to protect the city. At eight o’clock the
multitude at Twenty-eighth street numbered not less than twenty
thousand. The threats were ominous. No pen can describe the scenes
witnessed that evening on the streets of Pittsburgh. The demoniac yells,
the loud profanity, the terrible threats, were united to swell the awful
volume of angry noises. It seemed as if the infernal regions had been
emptied of its myriads of fiends, who were released for the purpose of
enacting on earth the orgies of hell. There was little or no drunkenness
from the use of liquors, but there was an inebriation of terrible
passion in its manifestations. Men, women, old and young, high and low,
both sexes, all conditions, all orders, all classes in life, came forth
and joined the angry, surging tide of humanity that incessantly ebbed
and flowed through the streets of the fated city. Pittsburgh had entered
upon its night of woe. The Commune had risen in its dangerous might, and
threatened a deluge of blood. In the very center from which a large part
of the world’s supply of oil is drawn, the _petroleuses_ were apparently
ready to fill their cans and go forth as messengers of destruction.
Concerning the conflict at Twenty-eighth street which had taken place
between five and six o’clock, and which was one of the factors in, if
not the immediate cause of the terrible excitement which seized upon all
classes of the people, it is but proper to present the statements of
both sides in regard to the commencement. Lieutenant James P. Elliot,
Acting Adjutant General on the staff of General Matthews, commanding the
First Brigade of the First Division, who was a participant and eye
witness of what occurred, gives the following account of the first
encounter between the soldiery and the mob:
“The division under command of General Brinton, landed in Pittsburgh at
1:45 P. M. on Saturday, six hundred strong, the men each furnished with
thirty rounds of ammunition, accompanied by two Gatling guns obtained in
Harrisburg, in charge of the Keystone Battery. When the troops issued
from the cars in the Union Depot, they were met by a large number of
people, who appeared to be in perfect good humor, and even greeted them
with cheers. That the bloodshed that afterwards followed would take
place was, therefore, the last thing that entered the minds of the
soldiers. After luncheon of sandwiches and coffee had been served, the
troops remained in the depot until about half-past three o’clock, when
the First Brigade composed of the First Regiment, Companies B and C of
the Third, the Washington Greys and Weccacoe Legion, marched down the
track as far as Twenty-eighth street, accompanied by Vice President
Cassatt, Mr. Pitcairn, Superintendent of the Western Division of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, Sheriff Fife and forty-five deputies, armed with
writs for the arrest of prominent strikers. At Twenty-eighth street the
head of the column composed of the Weccacoe Legion and the Washington
Greys, found themselves confronted by a mob about two thousand strong,
while on the hill some four hundred feet high that faced the right of
the column, there were ranged an immense multitude at least ten thousand
strong. On the brow of the hill were stationed detachments of the
Fourteenth and Eighteenth Pennsylvania Regiments (Pittsburgh troops),
and immediately above the railroad two pieces of Hutchinson’s Pittsburgh
Battery. Sheriff Fife after in vain endeavoring to serve his writs, read
the riot act, at which the mob jeered and laughed, whereupon the Sheriff
and his deputies and Mr. Cassatt and Mr. Pitcairn retired in profound
disgust.
The troops were then deployed for the purpose of sweeping the mob from
the tracks, the Greys and Weccacoe Legion facing the two thousand or
more strikers that occupied the tracks. At the back of the command was a
train of coal cars, behind which there were about two hundred of the
strikers. In order to force the principal mob back, the soldiers of the
Greys and the Legion crossed their muskets, their intention being to
avoid doing the strikers injury. The crowd laughed and jeered and
finally attempted to wrest the muskets from the soldiers, who then came
to a charge bayonet, and in the melee that necessarily followed, one of
the strikers was wounded by a bayonet thrust. The cry arose from the
mob: ‘Stick to it; give it to them; don’t fall back!’ and the men behind
the coal cars began discharging pistols at the soldiers from under and
between the cars, while the crowd in front began heaving rocks, with
which a number of the soldiers were hit, and Sergeant Bernard of the
Weccacoe Legion seriously wounded. The firing by the troops then began.
There was no order given for it. It began with the discharge of a single
musket, and was immediately followed by an almost simultaneous discharge
from front and rear, right and left of the brigade. The firing lasted
about ten minutes, men continually dropping in the fast-retreating mob.
It was at this time that the Pittsburgh troops threw down their arms and
fraternized with the strikers, Hutchinson’s Battery and a cavalry
company alone excepted. Within five minutes after the firing ceased the
mob was back again, but refrained for a while from further assaults upon
the Philadelphians, and therefore there was no firing upon them. ‘It was
the most persistent mob,’ said Lieutenant Elliot, ‘I ever saw.’ The
brigade remained on the field of battle until six o’clock, when they
were ordered by General Pearson back to the roundhouse, adjoining which
is a building in which was stationed the second brigade.
The occurrence of an event such as that described above, could not fail
to arouse the people. The killing of several members of the Pittsburgh
militia by the Philadelphia troops, had the effect of intensifying the
feelings of animosity against them. The crowds gathering in that part of
the city were every moment becoming more demonstrative. The threats
against the troops were calculated to cause even veterans to feel uneasy
as to the result. The mob now outnumbered the soldiers at least seven to
one. The militia remained on the field of conflict for a time. Then
General Pearson fearing they would be surrounded and massacred by a
merciless mob, ordered a retreat to the roundhouse of the Pennsylvania
Company, and there prepared to resist the terrible mob of infuriated
workingmen and vagrants.
The dangerous propensities of the mob continued to develop. Before nine
o’clock had arrived, the law-abiding citizens of Pittsburgh were fully
sensible of the impending peril. The strikers were resolute and
determined. But the chief danger was in the presence of an immense
number of vagrants and tramps, idle miners, and roughs of every
character. Strange to say, there was a large element in the population
of Pittsburgh, who had the reputation of being respectable
people—tradesmen, householders, well-to-do mechanics and such, who were
witnesses of the progress of the turbulent mob, who not only did not
protest against their proceedings, but openly mingled with them, and
encouraged them to commit further deeds of violence.
About 9:15 o’clock, a large band of the rioters, started on a mission of
plunder. There were in the city a number of gun stores, and a number of
hardware dealers who kept guns and ammunition as a part of their stock
in trade. The location of these places of business, were well known to
the leaders of the predatory mob. They proceeded first to a large gun
and ammunition store, forced open the doors, and took from the premises
some four hundred guns of all classes, many of them being Winchester and
Henry rifles, such as obtained ready sale in the region adjacent to the
Upper Missouri river. A large amount of fixed ammunition was also taken.
Some five hundred repeating pistols with cartridges, were also taken
away by the rioters. The crowd then went successively to every gun and
hardware store in the city. More than two thousand guns of improved
pattern were taken, while the number of pistols, swords and knives, thus
taken could not be estimated. More than a hundred thousand dollars worth
of arms and ammunition, had thus come into the hands of the mob.
Meanwhile the troops had sought shelter and protection in the
roundhouse, where they were advised of the preparations of the mob to
take the offensive, and awaited the expected assault with many
misgivings as to their ability to resist the overwhelming force of the
rioters.
By eleven o’clock, the work of plundering the gun stores had been
completed, and a mob numbering not less than four thousand men, and
organized into something like military order, formed in line and marched
in two columns, one proceeding up Pennsylvania avenue, and the other
taking Liberty street to Twenty-eighth street. Here at least thirty
thousand people had assembled.
The scene presented at this time was truly awe-inspiring. The vast,
surging masses of people, including men, women and children, the fearful
tumult of a great multitude excited by angry passions, the shouts,
taunts, jeers, execrations, and passionate appeals to an already enraged
populace, the shrill screams of women, the cries of children, and the
curses of men, altogether, were calculated to produce a sensation of
alarm and terror, even in the breasts of the bravest.
On arriving at the scene of the late fusilades, at Twenty-eighth street,
the armed mob at once proceeded to attack the troops quartered in the
roundhouse. Volley after volley was poured into the windows, but
elicited no response from the soldiers within. The mob threatened to
massacre the whole division of the troops which had taken refuge there.
The numbers and determination of the armed mob indicated that this
expressed purpose was not merely an idle threat.
It was an hour fraught with momentous events. A city containing a
population of more one hundred and twenty thousand souls was without
law, in the complete possession of a vast mob, armed, vindictive, cruel,
destructive. Immense amounts of valuable property, arrested in transit,
filled long lines of freight cars on the railway tracks. Splendid stores
and luxuriously appointed mansions, were all placed at the mercy of a
mob which had set all law at defiance, a furious throng that
acknowledged responsibility to no authority. Municipal government was at
an end, police authority despised, even the Government of a great State
was set at naught. Three thousand armed militia, infantry, artillery,
and cavalry, the police force of some hundreds, the constabulary, all
were powerless in presence of the armed and enraged multitude of many
thousands. General Pearson and General Brinton, would most certainly
have been murdered if they could have been found. Murders of straggling
soldiers were being committed by the mob, whenever an opportunity
occurred. Sheriff Fife went out to the outer depot to endeavor to stay
the tide of lawlessness in that direction. But he was fated to return no
more alive. His dead body was brought in at a late hour from the place
where he had been shot.
The situation of the besieged militia was dangerous in the extreme. The
now thoroughly infuriated mob was making loud threats of an intention to
massacre the whole body of men. A committee of citizens proceeded to the
roundhouse where they were shut up, and begged them to depart from a
city they could not protect, while their presence only served to further
exasperate an angry populace.
Threats of burning and destroying had been freely indulged in by the bad
elements which composed the greater part of the howling mob that now
frantically assailed the military. These threats were the earnest of a
purpose. Midnight came. But there was no peace in the troubled city.
Then one o’clock, and then the fire-bells rang. The alarm came from
Twenty-eighth street. Everybody knew the dreadful significance of that.
Pittsburgh soon presented a scene terribly grand.
[Illustration: RIOTERS DISTRIBUTING STOLEN WHISKEY.]