Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877: Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
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Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877: Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878
Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
A. I did; between ten and eleven o'clock. I drove to the mayor's
office, and stated the trouble to him, and called upon him in the name
of the company for protection. He replied that he had no force.
Q. Mayor McCarthy?
A. Yes; he said that the day-light force had been taken off, probably,
about the 1st of July, and that he had nothing but the night force. I
asked him to give me the front office force. He said he could not send
them away. I told him I must have protection of some kind. He said that
he might send out and gather up a force. He wanted to know how many men
I wanted. I told him if he would send up ten men in uniform, that with
our own force from the depot, if he could go up to the ground with me,
and I had a buggy to take him, I thought the trouble would be all over
before twelve o'clock. I thought the simple fact of his presence,
without the police, would disperse the crowd there at that time. He
refused to go, saying that he could not leave the office. I rather
urged the matter upon him. The mayor then said he had been sick, and
was not fit to go. He gathered a force of some ten men, I believe, and
sent officer Charles McGovern, one of the front office men, in charge
of them. They were to report at the Union depot, and be moved from
there by a passenger car to run especially to Twenty-eighth street.
Before the force was sent, the question was asked of me, who was to pay
for the men.
Q. By whom?
A. The question was suggested by Mr. O'Mora, and addressed to the
mayor. The mayor then addressed me, and desired to know whether I was
in a position to assume the expense. I told him certainly, that I must
have protection, and that if he could not give the force, and I must
pay for it, I was then ready, and would become responsible for the
payment of the men. I went to the outer depot, and got there a few
minutes before the squad of police arrived. I walked up to
Twenty-eighth street, in company with one of the dispatchers, I think
McCabe, and was then advised that we could not turn the switch, that
those parties held the switch, and would not allow the engine to back
down. The engineer was John Sweeny, and the conductor was S. K. Moore.
We wanted to take the engine down to couple on to a draft of cars to
take them out on the Wilkensburg siding. I directed Moore to turn the
switch. He refused, saying to me that he was afraid, that there were
men there to shoot him the moment he attempted to turn the switch. I
replied: "Very good, I will turn the switch," and I made a step forward
for the purpose of getting to the switch, when the crowd gathered
around me, and a brakeman by the name of D. D. Davis, who, I believe,
at the time was in the employ of the Pan Handle road, or else a
discharged employé from there--he was not in our employ--jumped in
front of me, and waving his hand, or his hat, called out: "Boys, we
will die right here." I placed my hand upon his coat, and called upon
officer McGovern to arrest him.
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