A. If he had continued his firing from the time the firing began at Twenty-eighth street, most undoubtedly he could. But after that, when General Brinton got into the round-house, where there are open windows--the house is perfectly round--at that time he was at the mercy of every building. Q. But I am speaking of the time before he went into the round-house, and after the crowd had dispersed--at that time had he continued firing, could he have maintained his position and kept the crowd away? A. Yes; fifty men armed as those men were armed--because I noticed that every time a gun struck, it tore a hole like that. [Illustrating.] Following that mob would have dispersed them. By Mr. Yutzy: Q. Would not that have caused great loss of life? A. Undoubtedly--if they had fired low. Q. What is your avocation now? A. I am a lawyer by profession. Q. You practice at the bar here in this city? A. Yes. Q. From your experience in the army, and from what you saw of the conduct of the troops at Twenty-eighth street, would you say that their conduct was good as military men? A. No, sir; not a bit of it. Every man that fired first should have been taken out and shot. In other words, I mean that there was not a particle of discipline. I say that for this reason: There was no order given to fire by any officer. I believe that to be the fact, because I was on the hill side not more than sixty or eighty feet away from where the firing began, and I had been there some two hours before the firing did begin. I was standing there wondering how the men were going to clear the tracks, and when the fight began I was listening very closely in order to hear what command would be given by the officer in command. Then this fuss began with three or four pistol shots, and then the bricks and stones were thrown, and then more pistol shots, and then it was every man for himself. So far as those soldiers were concerned, I have said since, and believe it to be a fact, that it was one mob armed against another mob not armed. Q. Was not the conduct of those soldiers as good as could be expected from militia men? A. I do not know that. I have seen militia men during the war that would walk up to the scratch, and stay there. The great trouble with militia men is that they fire too high. By Senator Yutzy: Q. Do you think there was any real necessity for calling on the militia for assistance here? A. I would not like to give any opinion about that. I know that the sheriff started out a lot of his deputies to get a lot of lawyers out here, and the lawyers went out--of the back windows, and every other way they could get out. I never believed that the sheriff exhausted all his power. By Senator Reyburn: Q. You believe, then, it was necessary to call out the military--that the difficulty had got beyond the control of the civil authorities?