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
History
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. Men belonging to the transportation department.
Q. No outsiders--no mill men?
A. I believe not.
Q. Had you a constitution and by-laws?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you got them in your possession?
A. I have not.
Q. Who has?
A. That is more than I can say.
Q. You don't know.
A. No.
Q. Have you a copy of them?
A. I have not.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. Can you give us the names of any men that would be willing to appear
before our committee, and give information about the strike or their
grievances?
A. Yes; an engineer by the name of John Hassler, residing on Wood
street, the second or third door to the left of Bidwell. I think he
would be an important witness; also, an engineer by the name of William
Robb. He lives in the lower part of Allegheny somewhere, but I cannot
tell his residence exactly.
By Mr. Means:
Q. You say that the union does not exist now. Do you know of any other
organization that is organized to produce the same effect.
A. No; no more than what has always been in existence. The locomotive
engineers, of course, have their union.
* * * * *
G. Gilbert Follensbee, _sworn with the uplifted hand_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Where do you reside?
A. In Pittsburgh.
Q. Where is your place of business?
A. On Fifth avenue--No. 42.
Q. What is it?
A. I am in the clothing business.
Q. In company with some other gentlemen, did you call on the mayor
during the disturbance in July last; and, if so, give us the
circumstances?
A. On the evening of the 21st of July, (Saturday,) between seven and
eight o'clock, I heard that parties had got into some gun stores, and I
went to my friend Mr. Bown, and then found Mr. Edward Myers; and after
talking a while, we thought it would be prudent to see the mayor, and
tell him that we thought it would be prudent to get a posse, and come
down and protect Mr. Bown's gunshop. We saw the mayor, and said: "You
are probably aware that some gun stores have been broken into;" and we
implored him to send a posse to protect the gun stores.
Q. What reply did he make?
A. I do not remember his reply, but he seemed to be very indifferent,
and I implored him, for God's sake, to do something, and that we three
would volunteer, and that probably with fifty men or less we could
protect Mr. Bown's store.
Q. Did you offer to be sworn in?
A. I volunteered to be one of the posse.
Q. What reply did he make to that?
A. I do not remember.
Q. Did he say in response to your application--did he say whether he
had the policemen or not, or did he make any excuse that he could not
raise them?
A. No; I do not think he made any reply in regard to his police. I was
aware that his police were small and scattered around the city, and my
idea was to have him swear in some of us as special police.
Q. Did he refuse to swear you in as special police?
A. He did not take any action in the matter.
Q. Did he send anybody to the store?
A. Not that I am aware of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account