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 cannot say that at all.
Q. Were you near the round-house during the night?
A. Yes; with the mayor of the city. I went to Twenty-seventh street,
and passed the round-house, and tried to get in a place where it was
reported a lady was shot--opposite the round-house. That was after the
firing had taken place--about eleven o'clock.
Q. Did you succeed in getting in?
A. No; it was in a small saloon, and I had notified them in the early
part of the evening to close, and for that reason they would not let us
in.
Q. Were you there on Sunday morning?
A. Yes; until after the troops left.
Q. Did you see them march out?
A. Yes.
Q. Where did they come out?
A. On Twenty-sixth street--out of the gate.
Q. Did they march in good order?
A. Yes.
Q. Were they fired upon?
A. Not in our neighborhood.
Q. By the crowd?
A. No.
Q. How large a crowd was there or around there when they marched out?
A. I saw one citizen.
Q. Did you know him?
A. Yes.
Q. Who was he?
A. Captain ---- McMunn. There had been quite a crowd before they filed
on to Penn street, but they all broke.
Q. They broke when they saw the troops?
A. Yes; the cry was raised when they came out that they were going down
to the Union depot, and the mob undertook to get down and cut them off.
Q. The mob broke and ran towards the river?
A. Any place where they could run away.
Q. You mean to say that the mob ran from the military, when they came
out?
A. They did.
Q. How long was it before the mob re-assembled?
A. I did not see them re-assemble.
Q. Were you there during the day?
A. Shortly after that I had to come to the central station and take
charge of the prisoners we had arrested.
Q. How many prisoners did you have arrested up there?
A. I cannot say the number.
Q. Can you give us an estimate?
A. About seventy-five, I suppose.
Q. What were they arrested for?
A. For having goods in their possession--cloth, and everything they
could get hold of.
Q. Did you take them before the mayor?
A. Before Acting-Mayor Butler.
Q. What did he do with them?
A. Some of them were dismissed, and some were sent to jail, and some
were fined.
Q. Some were dismissed?
A. Yes.
Q. Why?
A. That I cannot tell you.
Q. Was there no evidence against them?
A. Evidence of having goods in their possession, certainly. We arrested
some of them with guns.
Q. Muskets?
A. Yes, and shot guns.
Q. Were any of those dismissed?
A. That I cannot say.
Q. About how many of those were dismissed?
A. That I cannot tell you.
Q. What time did you return to the scene of the riot?
A. After getting through with the prisoners, I was then ordered by the
mayor to report to the chief engineer of the fire department for duty.
Q. What did you do?
A. I did all I could. Being an engineer by trade, I took spells at
running an engine and worked with them after the neighborhood of seven
o'clock that evening.
Q. Were you interfered with by the mob?
A. I was not.
Q. Whereabouts did you work?
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