The daily gazette., 1877-07-26
Philadelphia Troops fH Pitts
JatT'O, 70 I s" f.0 rH

The Pitts0urg correspondent OF the
New York Tribune Tuesday wrote az
follows: 81 was at first disposed, hear
ing the choruslof denuHciatio on of the
Phila.telphia troops, to think shat they,
were to Blame. It Seemed a. II they
ought not to have fred on The mob Satur-
day, and on Sunday, when the combat
reonened. that they should have fought
their way back to the passenger depot,
and defended it from the incen'liarles.
instead OF retreating to the country. But
fuller Information leads to different
Judgment. From the moment of the
arrival these troops were made to feel
that they were in the midst.of an inten-
sely hostile population. Every where they
were hooted'a at. They eame-a a. a matter
of duty to protect public and private pro-
porty, and they were treated Ike invad-
ing Vandals. The Pittsburg troops gave
them no assistance, butevidently sympa1
thized with the rioters. When they
moved forward to disperse the mob they
were first fired upon, and received, be-
sides, volley OF stones from the hillside.
They only fred in reply by orCers, and
soldiers have to obey orders without
Questioning their wisdom. The fact that
Innocent persons, ming ling with the mob
as spectators, were killed, does not affect
the case, for such is the result of all col
cutting the law; and yet on tins account
there arose frantic cry for vengeance
on these men. 1t seemed as if the whole
city was crazy for their blood. They
were even denounced in the Sunday
papers, pandering to the passions of the
mob as Philadelphia roughs, when, In
fact they are among the finest citizen
soldlery in the country, and have repeat
edly proven their discipline aud cour-
-, 81.
with cannon and SIN all arms, intent upon
massacring every man of them. Not d
finger ives raised in their behalf by the
local military nor police; no wonder that
they determined to 1eave the city to its
fate. have an account of their retreat
from an important eyewitness, by which
it appears that they moved out of the
city in good order, covering carefully
their Gatling guns, marching with slow
step, and by command Of their officers,
refraining from firing on the mob, which
was keeping up desultory fusilade upon
them, unhl they got out of the rsceutly-
settled districts, where there were wO-
men and children. Then they turned
and gave their pursuers a volley which
put them to flight. In this march they
lost seven men Killed There is no diff
Guilty in finding where the blame really
belongs. The conduct of the two Pitts
burg regiments was disgraceful. If they
had done one-haIf their duty the cars
would not have been fired nor the depots
destroyed. A resolute bearing on their
part would have arrested the whole
shameful catastrophe. But what did
they do? They actually disbanded skunk
off to their homes, took OFT their uni
forms, and left their brother National
Guardsmen from Philadelphia TO bs
butchered. The behavior of the police
was beneath contempt. | cannot learn
that they tried to suppress the mob. AS
to the citizens (and by that name do
not mean miscreants, men who actually
did the burning and plundeling), they
appear to have looked on tn fearful
havoc as spectacle, until the fire mena-
ced their own property. The most chari-
table view possible to take of their con-
duct is that they were stunned by amaze
ment into supineness and cOwardice.
Five hundred organized as special police
men yesterday morning would have
saved FIVE millions of property, and bet
ter STILL saved Pittsburg from indelible
disgrace.