Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1877-08-04
A SUMMARY OF NEWS.
Items OF Interest from Home and Abroad.

Of life and destruction Of property-was en-
acted In the city Of Pittsburgh, Pa. At this
place employees OF the Pennsylvania railroad
mainly fremen and brakesmen-had struck
against reduction Of wages and had refused
10 allow any freight trains to be moved. Ac-
cordingly the governor Of the State was APP
pealed to and several regiments of militia were
ordered from Philadelphia to the scene OF
violence. Accompanying the militia was the
Keystone battery with thirty-fiye men and two
Calling guns. Arrived in Pittsburgh a por-
ton Of the troops we're stationed at the Union
depot while the rest were ordered to the outer
depot, a mile distant. This latter body was
Kissed and jeered by the gathering crowds as
it passed along the streets. The sheriff, who
was with the troops, attempted to arrest one Of
the ringleaders of the mob, and this move was
the signal for an attack upon the military with
a shower of bricks, stones and pistol shots. In
a moment the soldiers replied with yolley, and
here and there form was seen to drop hfeless
to the ground, while the crowd fled in dismay.
The firing by the troops lasted about three
minutes, and when it had ceased a scene
of horror was presented that can only be COM
pared to the field after a battle. Among the
killed were several children and spectators who
had dotted the neighboring hillsides. Two
Pittsburgh regiments stacked their arms and re-
fused to do further duty against the rioters VOW
ing that they would not participate in an attack
upon the crowds. When the news of the action
of the Philadelphia militia was disseminated
throughout the city, terrible state of feeling
was engendered and the threats against the
soldiers became loud and bitter, Immense
throngs rushed to the round house, where the
troops were quartered, and the building was
besieged by furious mob of several thousand
persons. Repeated attacks were made upon
the round house during the evening, but were
successfully repulsed by the soldiers inside.
The mob captured field piece from local
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round house, but were fooled in their attempt
to get it into position. By midnight the rioters
had swelled to an enormous number and they
tried to get at the soldiers by setting fire to
freight cars and pushing them toward the
round house, intending to set the building on
fire and compel the military to leave their in
trenched position. At dawn when the crowd
had somewhat abated, the military evacuated
the round house, and marched out in a COM
pact body, preceded by the Calling guns. The
crowd pursued and attacked them and drove
them six miles out of the city limits, killing and
wounding a number, while the loss of the
rioters was also heavy. Meanwhile crowds
had broken into many of the gunsmith shops
and helped themselves to arms and ammu-
milton, and for a while mob law reigned
supreme. The sufferings of the Philadelphia
soldiers as they were driven out of the city,
was intense. They had been without water
and rations, and eight of them were killed on the
retreat. During this time the torch had been ap-
piled and an immense amount of railroad and
other property was destroyed. One hundred
and twenty-five locomotives and 8, 500 cars, con-
tanning q large amount of freight, were burned.
In the morning the freight cars between the
Union depot and the outer depot were broken
open and their contents carried away by the
mob. The police and civil authorities were
powerless to move finger in defense of the
property. Burning cars were sent down the
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the intention of destroying it, and the hotel at
one end soon caught fire. The large grain
elevator near by was also in flames, as were the
depot of Adams Express Company and other
buildings. At one time two hotels, an elevator,
hundreds of cars and many buildings we're
burning furiously, the territory on fire being
three miles in length. ALI this time the mob
were p,llaging the Union depot, carrying off
everything of value they could lay their hands
upon. Carts and express wagons containing
children and whatever property had been saved
from the flames were continually passing
through the streets to places of safety. 1t
will take some time to tell exactly how many
persons in all were killed-if the number
ever is definitely ascertained-but there is
little doubt that two hundred met their death
and large number were wounded. While the
fearful scenes described were going on in
Pittsburgh, railroad employees all over the
country were striking and taking action to pre-
vent the passage of trains. In Baltimore nine
cars loaded with oil were set on fire. About 200
of the rioters there were arrested, and United
States soldiers from Fortress Monroe and New
York, under command of General Hancock,
guarded the city. At Hornellsville N. Y,
several trains were halted by the strikers and
disabled, while small body of troops on board
one of them for its protection were surrounded
by a crowd Of five hundred persons and pre-
vented from interfering in the movements of
the strikers. The governor of New York issued
proclamation calling upon the citizens to pre-
serve the peace and declaring he would call out
the whole militia Of the State to keep order if
necessary. At Reading, Pa, a magnificent
bridge over the Schuylkill river, costing $780,
O0O was destroyed, the track was torn up and
large number of freight cars were burned,
the mob preventing the fremen from putting out
the flames At Vincennes, Ind, freight trains
were sstopped. At Philadelphia the employees
of the Pennsylvania road struck and crowd
refused to permit the moving of train above
| Callowhill street. At Cleveland Ohio, Buffalo,
N. Y, and other points railroad men struck
and refused to allow trains to be moved.
A quieter state of affairs existed in Pittsburgh
on the Monday succeeding the terrible collision
between military from Philadelphia and mob.
1t having been reported that three hundred
miners were approaching the city to aid the
strikers, meeting of the citizens was held
and an organization formed. Veterans and
volunteers to the number of three hundred
received arms at Municipal Hail. and second
company was soon after organized and armed
with revolvers and base ball bats. At ten
o'clock this force, under Gen. Negley, headed
by twenty-four police officers, marched to the
Monongahela wharf. Upon the arrival Of the
miners the mayor Of Pittsburgh addressed
them in fervent speech, telling them that the
riot had been subdued and that their presence
in the city would only tend to incite further
disorder. Leaders of the miners replied, say
ing that they only came to the city to help the
laboring men, whose wives and children they
understood were being shot down by the mill
tary, but that if the trouble had ceased they
would disband, which was accordingly done.
Nearly all business throughout the city was
suspended during the day. In other parts OF
the country the strike on the railroads was in
creasing, and freight trains were stopped, en-
gines were seized and railroad transportation
was everywhere at standstill. The strike en-
braced the western division of the Erie road
the Reading, the Lake Shore, Fort Wayne and
Chicago, Ohio and Mississippi, Cleveland
Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, Van.
dalia, Pennsylvania and many branch roads
In Reading, Pa, an assemblage of about five
hundred congregated at the Philadelphia anG
Reading depot and took possession. Severa
trains were stopped by the strikers, and the
chief Of police read the riot act to them. He
was greeted with yells of derision and no further
attention was paid to him. A body of the Goa
ana Iron police charged the crowd and drove
them back but overpowered by numbers, the,
were compelled to give way. At length thre'
companies of soldiers from neighboring town
arrived and proceeded to section of the rail
road known as the Cut. Here there was a TRAN
in possession of the strikers. The Cut is formed
by an excavation, on both sides of which ar,
streets which are crossed by an iron bridge
Both streets and bridge were covered by TIN
mob, who glared angrily at the soldiers unit
the latter were parallel with Washington street
train in the Gut was manned by strikers, anC
as the soldiers approached these men cheere'
and gave the latter to understand that they ap
preached at their peril. The Cut for distanc
of 100 yards from Penn street was blocked witt