Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-20

| not related to 7. j. Connors, the deceased
was the next witness. He wore q long, flow
ing mustache that he stroked frequently
HIS testimony follows:
1 was on the barges, and we arrived a
Homestead about 8 O'Clock in the morning
We were fired on after we passed lock No. !
| The New York barge, as we called ii, wa
| next to the shore, and was Tapped by tn,
| Chicago barge, about Is to 10 feet. Captain
| Hinde ordered us to make a landing and nj
to shoot until we we're comnanded. sun
| pose about 800 people were on the banks
They were running down the river
couldn't see any arms. A young man stand
YOU u----; dare you to land. have
| 200 pounds of dynamite here, and if you try
to come on shore will touch it on and blow
you up." The attitude Of the crowd wa!
threatening. The people were excited and
didn't want us to land. Captain Rodgers
tried to put the gangplank out almost as
soon as we arrived there.
tried to land: The orders were NOT to shoot,
Captain Hinde, Kline and Hoffman were
hurt. After the first volley was fired from
the boat the crowd scattered. A second
volley was fired. Then the people had
gotten into the mill yard.
Q. How long was it before the next shoot
ing commenced. A. About $50 IN the morn
ing. 1eould see the crowd building breast
works in the meantime on the top of the
hill. The distance from the bow of the boat
to the breastworks / think was about 100
yards. could hear tho buckshot and rife
balls stirling the boats. The cannon Shots
big splinterA
Trying to Dynamite the Barges.
The witness then told of the attempts to
burn and dynamite the boats. The heaviest
shooting was done from II to 8 o'clock. The
cannon was loaded with scrap iron and was
fred continually. The greatest amount of
shooting came from behind the barricade.
The breastworks were about 20 rods long
and over three feet high. Witness was
standing within four feet of Connors when
he was shot. Connors was sitting on a pile
of mattresses with his elbow on his knee.
He ran short distance, exclaiming, 81 am
shot," when he fell. A mattress was put
on the dining table and he was laid
op it He had scarcely sat down
before he was shot. The front
door of the barge was open. When the wit
ness got to the West Penn Hospital in the
evening at II o'clock, Connors was dead
The body was taken to the Union depot and
about IL o'clock. Under cross-examlnation
he said:
belong to Chicago, to the Pinkerton
command. The barges were lighted when
we got to Bellevue, but the lights were
turned out later. They were not lighted
when we were steaming up the river. The
firing continued from shortly after the time
we reached Lock l to the landing. At Home
stead l went out on the stern to see
about landing the men; din't
wasn't supposed to know them. From
six to eight OF our men were on the bow.
The first firing came from the shore at the
end of the gang plank. A lot Of young fel-
lows were at the end of the plank and they
commenced to shoot. The plank was about
20 feet long and about six Pinkertons were
half way down the plank when they were
fired upon from the shore. There were a.
number Of snots in quick succession. Some
of our men fell. At least half minute after
the firing commenced on the shore we shot
from the barges. In our first volley there
were ten shots at least and more in the
second.
Q. How could you tell where the shots
were coming from? Weren't you and the
people on the bank close together? A. We
tell from the reports. The sound indica ted
the position. l don't think anybody snot
from the gangway. Our men fired from in
side the barge: The men hired were sup
posed to know how 10 handle q Winchester.
They were expected to be able to shoot in
case of necessity. Connors was sitting on
the Chicago boat on the outside when ho
was shot. He sat facing the Homestead
doctor told me it was bleeding badly.
The Little Bnps Captain Testifies.
Captain w. B. Rodgers, of the Little
Bill, was the next witness. He was asked
first to describe the barees 1.-THE two
barges," he said, "were 200 feet long and 35
foet wide. They drew that morning from
16 to 20 inches of water. The houses on the
barges we're from 10 to IL feet high and
built close to the side of the boats. 1
towed the two boats to Homestead. We
started with the Little Bill and Tide,
but the machinery of the Tide
broke at Lock No. l, and We LETT the boat
there and proceeded with the Little Bill.
The channel runs close to the shore near
the Pemickey bridge, and we kept in it.
The steamboat was towing between the two
barges
''I was present when the gang plank was
showed out. 1t is about IL feet long. We
laid the lines out before we pushed the
planks off The people tried to keep the
gangway of the shore. One young man
had an oar. He threw himself on the stage
and commenced to fire at the .Pinkertons
with a revolver. That was the first
of the shooting At the landing.
The crowd was very much enraged. Pre-
vious to the landing in the neighborhood of
the bridge the bullets whistled through the
pilot house. 1t seemed to me that the man
lying on the plank shot Captain Hinde.
On the heels of the shooting a great deal of
firing came from the waters edge and the
bank. The smoke from the firing was very
dense, and when it cleared away I saw the
people on the shore had retreAted up the
bank. 1 remained there about 2T hours.
We made the landing about o'clock.
Firing From the Pumphouse.
up to the time when left, after hostili-
ties had ceased for the first time there, was
an occasional shot from the pumphouse 1
saw them building a barricaGe above the
pumphouse. The wounded on the barges
were taken on the Little Bill to Port Perry
and brought to the Homeopathic Hospital
on the 3 o'clock train. think there were
five or six wounded men. Captain Hinde
was one of them. Mr.. Potter and Colonel
Gray were on the boat. Colonel Gray went
with me to Port Perry. When we tried to 60
back to the barges they opened fire
on us, and nobody could remain
in the pilot house. The firing came from
both sides Of the river, but most of it was
from the Homestead shore. We finally
drifted out of range. The watchman on the
boat was shot. We steered the boat from the
tiller In the engine room. It was impossi-
Bile for anyone to remain in the pilot house"
Captain Rodgers, under cross-e1amina-
tion. testified as follows: "The boats were
loaded and the cargo received by my brother
and some of the boys from the office. The
cargo was put on the boat in the Allegheny
river I was employed by Mr. Frick."
Mr.. Bremen wanted to know when he
was hired, but Mr.. Burleigh objected to the
question IS irrelevant
He Expected 1.50O Men.
The witness continued: 'T was employed