Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-07-26
ief the situation may thus be briefly

- tne eisuassoe may teuS De DrieDy
ID eke afternoon the PhiladeIphia
tro0m arrived 1t the Union Dabot.
tired and hungry, and with only light
lunch weGe sent out to meet the ssfik-
ers. BY tie time they reached the
outer depot, thousands bad gathered,
and those In not very agreeable
'numor. They were ordered to dis
perse, and the troops were forced to-
push the people aside to get space to
form their line. Amid these move.
ments one or two stones were thrown,
and an order to fire followed. 1t is in
dispute who gave the order to fire.
At all events the troops did fire, and q
number were killed-three of them be-
ing children. This Thoroughly aroused
the passions of the mob, and the sol
dierS were closed in upon and finally
driven to the round house. 1t was q
mistake to send these few soldiers
there. Either enough should have
been sent to enforce order, or none
should have gene. Once the soldiers
were driven to cover, the next scheme
was to burn them out and slaughter
them. To this aid, train after train of
cars was fired, and sent down the grade
directly against the Round House,
and artillery fire opened on it toward
morning. The soldiers held their
quarters till morning; aud then made
their way to Sharpsburg, six being
killed by citizens and soldiers, by the
way. The affair at the first was a
blunder, and that which followed a
crime. Most of the home militia dis
banded during the night and went
home.
Once incendiarism was started, aud a
new spirit took possession of the move
ment. In place OF passive resistance,
associated with general good order, a
deinonical spirit of destruction prevail.
ed. There is much dispute as to who
The regular strikers deny that they
controlled or famed the work of de-
struction; while on the other hand, the
fact that there was so much skill and
Fmethod in handling the cars, leads tc
! the presumption that some, skilled in
handling trains, aided and abstted the
work. Be this rs it may, the work o1
destruction went steadily on during
tine night, the trains being ritied anG
then burned. The round house, with
4 its locomotives, was burned in the
!, morning, and all through Sunday the
fendish work progressed, the Unior
Depot and Grain Elevator, Adams Ex
press building and Pan Handle depo
) being among the last burned.
In the course of the morning it wa
felt that this spirit of incendiariSu
must bs controlled. The militar,
were disbanded or gone, and at 1913
P. NJ. a citizens meeting was held ant
a committee appointed to consult witt
, the strikers. They proceeded to d,
SO, but were promptly driven off. The.
saw, however, that those they deal
, with were not the original strikers
and these being found, agreed to NEE
the citizens' committee at P. NJ, ant
arrange to end the incendiaris M. The,
were as coed as their word, and tn
/, mayor was authorized to call out fiv
I hundred extra policemen at the ex
pense of the citizens. His Homo
strongly demurred to this, intimatin
that the men could not be bad, but
! was soon evident that they could, an
in aD hour a squad of them were read
for duty. The rioters, however, b.
: this time seemed to be exhausted wit
!. their work, and so there was lull j
the storm.
We arc confident, at this writing
that the evil spirit is Overthrown. Yes
terday was q black day for Pittsburgh
! and one that will forever remain dis
I grace to her. 1t did the cause of tn
] strike irreparable harm, from which
!, will not recover. There is no Ian
! guage that can describe the utterl
devilish character of the crimes of yes
!, terday. The authorities should no
fail to ferret out these criminals, tina
!. they may be punished. Some idea c
the extent of their vandalism may
E seen when we state that carefull
7 u,nde, low estimate of values destroy
!. ed, not including freight in transit
! puts the amount at Sc, 800, 600. Thi
Z amount will doubtless be demanded q
s the county of Allegheny, and we vii
now be called upon to pay for the en-
joyment Of day of riot and incendia
rism. These are the reflections tina
!, come of this event. 1t began in a stu
: pendeus blunder and ended in outra
!. geous crime. 4