River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-11-24
THE HOMESTEAD RIOT.


L tFfG FAD hlOI.
Progress of the Senate Inquiry Into Meth
DDS OF the Pinkertons.
/ CHICAGO. Nov. l9-Capt Patrick
Foley, of the Pinkerton detective
agency, was the first witness called
before the senate committee investi-
] eating the Homestead affair at
/ the Grand Pacific hotel Friday. Senator
Gallinger and Senator PETER were
the only members of the committee
present Capt. Foley was asked
whether the agency had a stock of
arms. He replied that they had 400
rifles and 1000 revolvers, but that the
men had strict orders not to use arms
except to defend themselves.
Senator PETER asked Foley to cite in
stances in which Pinkerton men had
been sworn in as deputy sheriffs. Foley
replied that he had been deputized on
many occasions. lie cited the time
of the Lake Shore strike and
the troubles at Rankin, Pa;
Punxstawney, Pa; Walston. Pa, and
Adrian. Pa. He cited also the case Of
the Rochester Pittsburgh Company
trouble, where he served three weeks
under orders of the superintendent of
the company.
| Foley then proceeded to speak of
the II. c. Friclz Coke Company trouble
of several months ago. He was asked
whether the men went to Pennsylvania
under arms. He replied that they did
not take arms, but that they were
armed at Pitts Jurgh witnoW inchesters
sent in advance from Chicago. He
said that Mr.. Pinkerton's orders were
that they should be armed with clubs
only, and Mr.. Foley confessed that
he disobeyed orders in causing the
men to take Winchesters. But he did
so to save life and to prevent disorder.
He said that miners and iron men
were only in terror of force and
that the law and officers of the
law were matters of Indifference to
them.
John w. Holloway, a Pinkerton man
had been through all the Homestead
trouble and gave important testimony.
He gave a minute account of the
fight on the barges, and declared that
the first shots were fired by
strikers, from sixty to 100 shots being
fred by them before the Pinlxer
ton men returned the fire. The Chi
cago men left at night, he said, and
were not uniformed and armed until
they boarded the barges, and, to his
knowledge, were not sworn in. This
was in direct contradiction to the testi-
mony given before.
Robert Bruce, No. 1928 La Sale street,
who has been a detective for thirty-two
tanned no personal feeling against any
agency, proceeded to pour hot shot into
the Pinkerton organization. He
had procured many affidavits from
men who were employed by the Pink
ertons at the time of the Homestead
trouble. These affidavits represented
that those who made them had been
given instructions ON the barge, that
they were imposed upon by the Pink
ertons, that they were told they were GO
ing to guard private property, and that
they had to sign contract declar-
ing they would not take any
action against their employers"
Regarding the character of the
men generally employed to 90
to Homestead, Mr.. Bruce said they
were 1.-THE scum of the earth" Accord
ing to his belief Pinkerton did not full
fill his declaration that he employed
only men OF good auhracter. The wit
ness knew of the employment of ex-
convicts.
"Are you acquainted with the char
acter of the men generally employed
by the detective agencies?"
Eyes, there is not one out of ten
whom you could not hire to commit
murder or any other crime"
"You cannot trust in the reports
they are supposed to send to their
Officer"
~ would not believe any detective
under oath without having his evidence
corroborated"
"Does that apply 70 yourself"
Yes, will apply it to myself"
The witness also stated that all the
men whose affidavits he took said en-
phatically they were never sworn in as
deputies. From what he had heard
Pinkerton could at any time arm from
400 to 500 men.
do you know of any case where de-
tective agencies have melted men to
strike or aided in prolonging striker
asked Senator PETER.
mot in recent years." answered Mr..
Bruce. Years ago where a company
wanted to advance the price of coal the
employers engineered strike with the
detective agencies"
''The object of that being-?"
"To raise the price of coal" Laugh
ter.
II. B. Cogswell. w. II. Cutting. ]. Fl.
McCune, James A. O'Connell, Ed
Meagher and s S. Baker. repre- senting
the Carpenters unions of Chicago, pre-
scented an address to the committee
asking the members to use their best
efforts to abolish the Pinkerton sys-
TEN as obnoxious to the people of
America"