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
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. In your duties as a roundsman, had you noticed any unusual influx of
strangers into the town?
A. I had--a great many. We had a large crowd of them, I believe from
Cumberland--in the neighborhood of twenty-five or thirty--that is, one
batch, and I took notice of others.
Q. Sufficient to attract the attention of the police authorities?
A. It would have attracted my attention, and I have been following up
that business for my living for eight or nine years.
By Mr. Larrabee:
Q. When did these men come into the city first?
A. The first I noticed of them was on Saturday night, when I got into
the Twelfth ward. To show you that there were a great many people that
didn't belong in the city, I arrested some nine or ten up there that
night, and among that nine or ten, eight of them belonged to Allegheny,
and their faces were all strange to me.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. This party from Cumberland--when did they come?
A. I can't remember.
Q. After or before the fire?
A. I can't be positive which.
By Mr. Dewees:
Q. You said there was no cellar under this round-house?
A. There was no cellar, but I found a turn-table in the middle of it.
Q. How deep is a round-house generally dug out--from the top of the
rails down?
A. It is on a level, but it has got to be so deep for the turn-table.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. The carpenter shop was connected with it?
A. Yes.
Q. And the superintendent's office and car shops?
A. Yes.
Q. Didn't they all have cellars under them?
A. The office might have had a cellar--I know the office had.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. When you went out there on Thursday afternoon, what class of men
were there?
A. Principally railroaders.
Q. How many were there?
A. One hundred and fifty, or more than that. I knew a great many of
them.
Q. Could the trains have been run out that afternoon, if the engineers
and firemen had gone?
A. Yes; they could have taken this train out I was on--I don't know how
far, though. They had four policemen on each engine to protect the
engineers and firemen, and from what I understood, there were men to be
put along on the train to protect the brakemen.
Q. You were out again on Friday?
A. No; not until Saturday. I remained there until Sunday morning, about
eight o'clock.
Q. How large a posse could you have raised in the city to go out there
and restore order, if the mayor had made a call, or a demand for a
posse?
A. It would have depended on how much time you would have given me.
Q. In a day?
A. I might have got in the neighborhood of one hundred men. There were
but one hundred and twenty men, and some of them were there.
Q. But from any class of men in the city--if he had just called for a
posse from any source--for extra men?
A. He could not have got many at that time. Wherever I went, to judge
from the talk, the people were all in sympathy with the mob.
By Mr. Engelbert:
Q. Do you mean the tax-payers?
A. I suppose so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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