The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-07-26
The TerrorS of the Pittsburg Riot.

III the terrible railroad mob at Pittsburg
| Il served in the war Of the rebellion" said he,
land have seen wild fighting, and heard ottentimes
the melancholy music of whstling bullets, but the
night OF terror such as last night never expert
enced and hope to God | never will again. 1t was
| this way. We came into Pittsburg. | must con
, fcss bent on having little fight if any going
on We had little to eat, some sandwiches and II
tin cup Of coffee, and at noon yesterday we had
some sort of nourishment dealt out to us at the
u MON depot When we arrived at Pittsburg we
were all i'll good spirits nevertheless, and respond
ed with alacrty to the command to move out to
Twenty eighth street. where the strikers had gath
| cred in force. When we arrived here. General
| Brtton. commanding formed us front and rear on
the outside of network Of track at this point and
stationed the Keystone battery, with its Calling
guns, in a little fiat plot on the hillside, elevation
perhaps ten feet above the level of the tracks At
this moment the crowd began to scatter, not in re
treat, but apparently to make room for the military
Kisses, WELLS AND ORGANS.
As rested On our arms the silence of the great
| crowd was broken and storm of Kisses. wells and
cheers greeted us. Then platoon of our regiment
was ordered to clear the crowd from the head of
| Twenty eighth street which was blockading the
tracks Of the railroad. The Sheriff and his depu-
ties mingled with the troops and endeavored to
ma Ike himself heard, urging the crowd to fall back
and retire to their homes. He could not make
| himself heard owing to the confusion and the
cries and yells of the people The platoon of
soldiers pushed into the crowd, surging them back
until the order ''hat" y was given. At this time
| the hillside literally covered with men. wo-
men and children, mostly spectators, ] Judged,
who were in IA manner penned up All this time
the cries and yells of the crowd grew louder and
erccr and the military made preparations to form
| a hollow square on Il platform OF tracks, as near
the Twenty eighth street crossing possible, with
| two Gatllng guns in the centre. The Pittsburg
troops and the Fourteenth regiment, | believe,
We're drawn up in line, but remained passive.
THE CHANGE OF THE GRAYs.
After some manTuvering, rendered difficult by
the jostng of the crowd, three sides of a square
were formed by our two regiments-First and
Second numbering from four to five hundred
men. One side of the square faced the hill, one
faced to the east and the troops on the other side
stood with their backs to Twenty eighth street and
also faced the hill The crowd was slow in clear
ing space for the east side of the square and the
soldiers began to force them back This occa-
stoned some scutiling, several of the men taking
hold of the muskets and saying. lyon would not
shoot working men, would you" while those on
the outskirts continued to hoot and veil About
| this moment the Grays ordered to charge ON
| fac crowd which was impeding them. This was
done amid the most intense confusion and excite
ment; but the troops pushed back the throng and
| retired
\ EANoNET CHARGE.
The First regiment. when the crowd began
again to press the men ordered to charge
which they did with fixed bayonets. and in this
charge of the strikers is reported to have been
wounded by a bayonet thrust The crowd now
| began pcltng us with stones and some of our
men were hurt more or less This was the match
| that fired the train. and goaded to frenzy. either
through fear of violence from the crowd or stung
to desperation by being hit with missiles, fired
and fire did. Some say there was no order civ
en- to fire but one of the guns in the hands of a
member OF Company A went off, and others. mis-
| taking this for an order To fire levelled their
pieces and discharged them. This may be, but !
heard distinctly the order to fire and did not dis
fl,lytp Iy IN Snci, .ra
| The firing was sudden and respected and seem
ed to come upon the vast crowd like stroke of
| lightning and it was scarcely realized until here
and there man was seen to fall. Along the brow
of the hill ran deep ditch, into which those who
had enough presence of mind cast themselves
After the first shot the troops fired in every direc-
| ton The first Noley swept over the hillside and
was delivered by those troops nearest the hill
The second side of the square was along the track
and the others far could be ascertained
wheeled and fired down Twenty eighth street
NIGHT IN TIE ROUND HOUSE.
Before dark when the dead and wounded had
been carried OIL and the crowd got over the fright
and commenced to gather again i'll great numbers,
ordered into the round house. as afford
ing lis Il shelter for the night and better protection
from the stray shots heard every now and then
| With the approach of nightfall we got hungry and
tired but were consoed i'll measure by the an
| nounccment that supper had been ordered and
would arrive III a brief time. At dusk. peeping
the wagons carrying our rations captured by the
crowd; dishes and their contents hurled into the
street, while the crowd cheered like demons As
| the crowd i'll the streets Augmented with the
approach of night. all thoughts of sleep gwen
over and guards stationed at the windows of the
| round house and also placed at each of the gates
leading into the yards. They were ont of the
reach of the crowd and had instructions to fire
upon persons who attempted to enter.
TUE SCENE At MIDNIGHT.
At midnight the crowd outside as we could OBJ
serve from the windows. had grown to many
thousands, and shots Tired at from out of
| the yards of the company i'll close proximity to
the round honse We replied to them, with what
effect we were unable to ascertain. When the
fire was started in the box cars we became ser-
| ously alarmed. Some few men have heard made
their way out of their quarters in citizens clothes
and escaped from their pcrilous position. We
could see long lines of cars. one after the other
| burning, but dared not expose ourselves to the
| guns of the mob.
CAPTURE OF AGUN.
The fire slowly but surely 'crept down on us
and about this time the crowd captured one of
| the guns belonging to i1utchinsons battery, of
Iltsburg. and attempted to get it into position to
fire upon us 1t was heavily loaded, we knew
and if 1t was fired in close proximity to it must
| have done heavy damage. However we prevent
ed them from putting it in position, as we coy
cred them well. and We're in quarters where
we could pick off the men without much injury
to ourselves. The number of times the freight
cars ran between us and the gun shielded the
strikers from our shots but they finally gave the
matter up and hauled the gun away. All this
| time the situation was becoming more and more
| serious. The fire creeping down upon us
with the certainty Of driving us out sooner or
| later. The crowd. too, was growing more dense
and bold, and threats of violence should we come
out were distinctly heard. Away up the track
| i'll the yard where the cars were burning we
could see men pillaging while their old rusty
ann lnI hrrh |,
/ flashed III the glare of destruction
THE CARS ON FIRE
Suddenly down the grade came one car after an
| other. some laden with oil which was on fire and
| burning ercely. These cars were sent down in
order that they might ignite the wooden work of
the round house and the company lumber yard.
| They We're heavily adened with conbuStible ma
terial, and when the box cars took fire they burst
and scattered the contents in every direction, deal
| ing out disaster with lavish hand. The machine
shop. between Twenty fifth and Twenty sixth
streets then caught fire and soon our building was
surrounded with wall fire. The heat was so in
tense that we obliged to retire from the win
| dows and gathered in tho centre of the building.
Many of Us would have run ont, but the danger
outside from the violence of the crowd was as
much feared as the fire element which was fast
approaching us At dawn of day consultation of
officers was held, which was prolonged for
| time 1t was then decided we must 90 ont and
face the angry devils who made the streets in the
neghborhood black with their presence.
LEAVING THE ROUND HOUSE
1t was better to run the risk of being shot down
than burned to death, and so we filed in a com
pact body, and, preceded by the Calling guns,
with Major General Briton, Brgadier General
Matthews and Land at the head. 1t was lively
times, | tell you reaching the United States
ARSENAL where we thought we would he protected.
The scntres here refused to allow us to enter and
the command held conference with our officers
A number of us sealed the walls and took refuge
from the mob behind the shrubbery and piles of
shells and cannon. We remained here until the
rest of the party formed in line and marched up
| the street | thought we should be all cut to
pieces. and having relish for this sort of death
embraced the readiest means to escape from it.
| never saw such wicked, desperate mob in all
my life. How any of us escaped with our lives is
mystery. Last night had given up all hopes of
seeing home again. If the crowd could have got
| arms am sure not one of us would have come
out Of the round house alive.
! A practical OF tOm0l oUiSt who has haan