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
effectually, and disperse the mob. The General stated to me there the
force he had, some sixty men in that company and a battery called
Breck's Battery, the remainder of his force was at Torrens station. He
also stated he had a number of men then at Twenty-eighth street.
Q. What is the distance of Torrens station from Twenty-eight street?
A. Out to East Liberty is four miles, and Torrens station is probably a
quarter of a mile beyond that. From the length of time that had
elapsed, and a number of the men not having responded, I felt satisfied
it would be prudent to have more troops before striking, and I so
telegraphed to Philadelphia. General Pearson, at that point, said: I
believe I could take this battery up there and open the track at that
point, but it would be with very great sacrifice of life.
Q. To whom did you telegraph to Philadelphia?
A. To the president of the road--Colonel Scott. I said in that
dispatch, from the dilatory way in which the troops were coming, I
thought that the troops ought to come from some other quarter than from
Pittsburgh. General Pearson was evidently reluctant to sacrifice life,
even if he could open the road by doing so, and wished Mr. Thaw and
myself, as officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, to sign a
request asking him to delay his movement. I refused to do so, saying
that I would not control his discretion as a military man--that what
should be done, at that time, should be left to him to decide. I left
then and went out home that evening, and staid at home Friday night and
saw nothing more of the riot than a passenger would see in passing out
through the large crowd assembled at and about Twenty-eight street. I
cannot estimate the number there, but the road was blocked and the hill
was largely covered, when we went out on Friday evening. I returned to
the city on Saturday morning, but did not see what transpired along the
Pennsylvania railroad during that morning, as I was busy in my own
office at Tenth and Penn streets. There was a great deal of
communicating back and forth between the officials of the road, between
Philadelphia and here, and west of this point, in reference to the
strike. I was not present when the troops arrived from Philadelphia. I
was pursuing my business in my department that evening until I went
over to go out to my home, at Shady Side. The train I took was delayed,
the firing having already commenced at Twenty-eight street. Word had
come by telegraph, before that train started, that the firing had
occurred. I went out in that train, through a dense crowd, both of
civil and military men, at Twenty-eight street; and I was at my home
during that night. The firing began that night, probably about eight or
nine o'clock. I came into the city the next morning, and went to the
Union Depot Hotel with some ladies who had been left on the train that
could not get in the night before. It is not necessary for me to say
what occurred. I found a place of safety for them.
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