CHAPTER XII.
General Movements in Pennsylvania.
Difficulty at Erie—Rioters near Bethlehem—Sunbury Strikers—A Rabble at Altoona—Meadville Militia—Mauch Chunk Characters—Lebanon Valley Villianies—Marietta Marauders—Wilkesbarre Disturbances—Shenandoah Colliers—Hazards at Harrisburg—Scranton Miners—Hazleton Isolated—The Johnstown Murders.
While the attention of the whole country was concentrated on the momentous events happening in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Reading, Fort Wayne, and St. Louis, there were events of scarcely less significance taking place in all the considerable towns and cities throughout the entire State of Pennsylvania. Laborers in mills and factories, founderies, and mines, all over the State, were in a state of feverish excitement. The great masses of men engaged in the anthracite coal regions of the Eastern Slope, the miners of the bituminous coal fields of the West were all profoundly agitated by the events taking place throughout the Union. The employes of railroads in various parts of the State were in the closest sympathy with the objects aimed at by the strikers on the Grand Trunk lines, and in a time of such overpowering anxieties and excitement, they could scarcely be expected to remain quiet. Accordingly we find that in many places the inhabitants were called upon to endure sleepless nights, on account of the general social disturbance, and their anxieties as to what would be the end of it all.
The Atlantic Express on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad arrived at the depot in Erie, Pennsylvania, from Chicago the morning of July 24th, and was abandoned by the men. All trains both east and west on the Buffalo division were run upon a siding and left there, much to the disgust of about three hundred through passengers. The train consisted of four heavily-laden fast mail cars, and four passenger coaches. The strikers were anxious to forward the train to Buffalo, and, for this purpose, fired up an engine and put on an engineer and fireman. Orders were received from the Superintendent of the road to hold the train at Erie till further notice. A meeting of the strikers was then held. A telegram was by them sent to President Hayes, informing him that the Railroad Company, and not the strikers, were responsible for the detention of the mails. Another effort was made to take out the train, but the attempt was frustrated by the Sheriff, who had been ordered by the Superintendent to prevent the strikers from taking out the train against the Company’s orders. The Mayor and other city officials, with special police, went to the scene. Addresses were made, and finally the strikers gave up the contest, took off their engineer and abandoned the train entirely. Among the passengers were about sixty women and children, who had suffered intensely from the inconvenience they had been put to. On the Erie Division of the Lake Shore Road passenger trains were run as usual. That evening the mail matter upon the cars, about fifteen tons in all, was unloaded from the cars and taken to the post office.
Superintendent Polhemus, with his party of repair men, and their escort of coal and iron police, arrived at Odenwelders, Pennsylvania, July 24th. They had gone to repair a turn-table at that point. They were met by a large and excited crowd, who drove off the repair men, Mr. Polhemus addressed the mob with a conciliatory speech, but they replied by informing him that he was at liberty to walk back to Mauch Chunk with his force. The men then ran his engine on the side track and drew the fire.
The Philadelphia and Erie trainmen struck at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night, July 24th. They compelled the shop hands and machinists to strike. The excitement was great, but no overt act was committed.
The strikers at Altoona during the 24th were very quiet, although they were successful in keeping a couple of local trains from starting out. In the evening at five o’clock a train of soldiers arrived en-route for Pittsburgh, when the strikers congregated on the railroad and attempted to keep it from starting, but the train got off, and while it was moving out the strikers threw stones and fired a number of shots at it. Several soldiers returned the fire, but no one was hurt.
At Meadville, Pennsylvania, July 26th, orders were issued by General Hodekoper for all companies of the Seventh militia to report at Franklin to avoid a conflict or the detention of trains, as was the case before. The Meadville companies marched out to the city limits, where wagons were in waiting to convey them overland to Franklin. They arrived safely. The Greenville, Sharon, Conneautville and Erie companies also went by wagons. The Cony company attempted to go by rail, but were delayed by the Oil Creek Railroad strikers, and therefore left the train and took wagons. The Oil Creek Greys marched also to camp. The division had one thousand men at Franklin, fully armed and equipped, and ready to move in case of an emergency.
The men on the Lehigh Valley and Lehigh and Susquehanna roads were all out, and all trains stopped running at Mauch Chunk on the 27th. The Lehigh Valley officials discharged all their men connected with the strike, and paid them off at once.
The miners at Summit Hill, struck July 27th. They demanded an advance of twenty per cent. They marched from one mine to another, with loaves of bread stuck on poles, and afterwards congregated in front of the Company’s office when they demanded their pay. The Sheriff and Chief of the Police Burgess issued proclamations enjoining order, and warning all persons of the consequences of acts of violence.
At Lebanon, Pennsylvania, July 23d, a large crowd of people congregated at the depot in the evening to await the arrival of the passenger train from the East. The militia had all then left for Harrisburg. Several fights took place between militia and citizens. Freight trains arrived from Reading via Auburn and Prince Grove. The excitement was abating. No passenger or freight trains arrived then from the east or west on the Lebanon Valley Railroad. The trains on the Lebanon and Fremont Railroad were undisturbed.
At Marietta, Pennsylvania, July 23d, the firemen, brakemen, and other hands employed upon several branch lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad struck. The strikers intimidated all railroaders from running the freight trains. Three loaded cars were thrown from the track near Chiques, on the Columbia branch, and rolled into the Susquehanna river. A large body of tramps who had collected in the woods near Marietta took advantage of the unsettled times and proceeded to carry on organized outlawry. The malcontent railroad men formed in procession and marched from point to point, stationing patrols wherever there was a possibility of the non-union employes attempting to take a train out. The number of strikers increased by the accession of train hands from other divisions of the road. The strikers were well armed, and many of them amply provided to fight with the military. An attempt was made to destroy a signal tower just below Columbia during the morning, but the fire started by the rioters died out after the incendiaries had gone. Some of the leaders in the Baltimore and Pittsburgh riot arrived, and endeavored to prevail upon the other dissatisfied men, not connected with the railroad, to join in the strike. Much excitement prevailed, and the arrival of the troops was awaited with great anxiety.
A band of twenty strikers from Easton, reached Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 25th, and congregated at Bethlehem Junction. At ten o’clock when the passenger train on the Bath branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey was ready to start for Bath, they took possession of the train, uncoupled it from the engine, and warned the crew that if they undertook to run the train through, they would do so at their peril. A large number of citizens came to the rescue, and while Despatcher Steinman was holding consultation with the strikers, the train was recoupled and pulled out very rapidly. The strikers made an effort to uncouple the last car but failed. W. S. Polhemus, Assistant General Superintendent of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Divisions of the New Jersey Central road, arrived there in a special car with a squad of the Coal and Iron Police under Captain Williams. A crew was made up, and the through car from Philadelphia to Mauch Chunk was taken by them to its destination.
Events culminated at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in a general strike of the railroad men and miners on the 25th of July. All day long meetings were held by them in different portions of the city. At some of the most important, newspaper reporters were refused entrance. Every application for admission was thoroughly examined before the privilege was granted. From those who attended the meetings it was ascertained that the main business was the appointing of committees to wait on the officials who resided there, and through them to make their demands known. Several small companies of soldiers arrived at Wilkesbarre and were immediately marched to the encampment at Lee Park. There were then nearly a thousand soldiers in that city. At a late hour at night notices were posted up at the Lehigh Valley Depot, designating what trains would be stopped the next day. Up to noon everything went along the road, as usual, but this was to allow the morning trains to reach their destinations. During the afternoon one eastern bound freight train on the Valley road was stopped, and the engineer ordered to run his train on a side track and get off his engine. The order was obeyed. Nearly five hundred people were assembled at that place at the time.
The situation in the anthracite coal region near Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, had become very disquieting, and business of all kinds was at a standstill on July 27. Since the long strike of ’75, the miners of that region had been dissatisfied with their lot, and unfortunately their grounds of complaint had become more palpable with the lapse of time. Prior to 1875 the average wages of miners were very large, ranging between one hundred and one hundred and fifty dollars a month a piece, but since that time wages have been steadily decreasing until a good miner could scarcely earn in a month what he considered pay for a fair ten days work three years ago. Their dissatisfaction would be easily understood. At the market price of coal, labor was worth nothing, although the laborer is said to be worthy of his hire. No strike had occurred in Schuylkill County, though in several parts the miners were pretty evenly balancing upon the question of “strike or no strike.” The most intelligent among them were not in favor of going out, saying that half a loaf was better than no bread, while others more obtuse said: “We might as well die at once as starve by inches.” The majority of the workingmen of that region were hot-headed in the extreme, and as a rule, looked after they had leaped. On account of the numerous railway strikes there had been a great deal of excitement among the men, and in various parts of the county parades were inaugurated for the purpose of creating sentiment in favor of the strikers and those who contemplated joining. There were several demonstrations there, and to protect themselves against what might possibly occur through the efforts of demagogues, the citizens organized a home guard. In this they followed the example of the citizens of Shamokin, the coal centre of Northumberland County. This was the place where the mob endeavored to inaugurate a scene of riot and bloodshed, but were happily defeated in their object. In Luzerne County the miners were out in several districts, and this may be placed to the credit of the strikers on the Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central Railroads, though the miners of Luzerne earned much lower wages than their Schulykill County brethren. Fears were entertained at Shenandoah that the Luzerne men might visit Schulykill, and if that fear was verified, trouble would probably result, as the miners of Luzerne were perfectly aware that whatever misfortune happened Schulykill was money in their pockets.
The strikers at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, stopped all trains on the evening of July 25th. A mob numbering four thousand filled the depot and streets adjacent, but there were few railroaders in the crowd. There was a disposition manifested to allow all passenger trains to pass, and a number passed both east and west. The freight trains had all been stopped, and none were running. The Reading employes struck that morning and ran the freight engine into the roundhouse. The city was filled with rough looking men drawn there by the strike, most of them being tramps, and trouble was feared by their depredations. Eight hundred troops, comprising General Schofield’s division were encamped in the vicinity of the arsenal guarding Government stores. They came that morning and consisted of nine companies from Schulykill County, two from Lebanon, and one from Harrisburg. A number of Philadelphia soldiers started from Altoona for home on the evening of the 23rd. Some of them left the train at Bell’s Mills, and some among them the First City Troop, came as far as Rockville, where they disembarked because they learned they were to do guard duty at the arsenal. It was a fact that the First City Troop left Rockville and walked home by a roundabout way to avoid the city. A number of soldiers who came from Altoona, were disarmed by a mob without offering any resistance. The Pennsylvania railroad officials at Harrisburg were powerless to prevent the strikers from stopping trains. Their hands were tied, and there was no military or civil authority to help them. A crowd which crossed the river in search of Philadelphia militia-men reported coming towards Harrisburg, returned to that city about seven o’clock in the evening with twenty-three men of the First and Second Regiments as their prisoners. The captives were well fed and treated courteously by the strikers. Captain Snowden and thirty-two men of the City Troop of Philadelphia, were found a mile outside of the city and conducted to the State Arsenal, where they were quartered. At ten o’clock on the evening of the 23rd, the mob forced an entrance into Altemeir’s gun store on Second street, Harrisburg, and seized a quantity of firearms. Mayor Patterson addressed the crowd and induced them to return a part of their plunder. Intense excitement prevailed.
The entire Lackawanna region was idle by the 30th of July. A short time before, this region sent nearly 150,000 tons of coal to market. It now ceased to send any.
The miners of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company quit work, and those of the Pennsylvania Coal Company were in enforced idleness on account of the destruction of a head-house and bridge on their gravity railroad. The head-house, which was situated in the woods east of Scranton, was burned down by a mob which surprised the watchman and tied him with ropes to a neighboring tree. They saturated the wood-work and set it off with a match. It made a fierce blaze which was plainly visible at Scranton. The destruction of the head-house caused a complete stoppage from Hawley to Pittston. It was not the work of the Company’s employes, but of outside persons who took that mode of forcing the strike upon them. The Pennsylvania Coal Company had recently been working on full time at their mines, and the best of feeling existed between themselves and their workmen. The latter were indignant at the dastardly act. The prospects are that the burned property will not be replaced until the dispute between labor and capital is settled.
A bridge on the Company’s road was burned at Spring Brook. It was promptly replaced, and within three days it was again destroyed.
At Mill Creek, on the Delaware and Hudson Road, a band of six hundred miners surprised a loaded coal train on Saturday, and forced the men to abandon it. There was not a mine worked in the valley on the 30th of July, and all railroad communications with outside towns were thoroughly blockaded.
Mr. John Brisbin, of New York, went to Scranton to consult with the local officers of the corporation, but no effort had been made to recover control of the railroads or mines. Governor Hartranft had transferred to Mayor McKinne the services of the State militia, but the Mayor declined, as he did not want to shoulder the responsibility of calling out the military. The city became very much excited over a rumor that the regular troops were going there to protect the men at the mine pumps in order to prevent the mines from flooding. A strong company of old soldiers was organized for the protection of life and property, and every man slept with a musket at his bedside ready to rush out at the sound of the gong.
The strike on the main line of the Lehigh Valley road, July 26th, resulted in a stoppage of nearly all trains on the Hazelton branch. An engine and mail car went to Tomhickon and conveyed the mail and a few passengers from Sunbury. A committee of strikers went down from Wilkesbarre and induced the employes of the Hazelton division to strike. The committee proceeded to Weatherly. The coal trains on the Beaver Meadow and Mahanoy divisions were running, but on account of the strike on the main lines, coal trains could not get beyond Packerton.
When the detachments of the First, Third and Fifth United States Regular Artillery, commanded by Colonel Hamilton, which left Philadelphia the 26th, reached Johnstown, on the Pennsylvania road, the train was stormed and fired into by a mob at that place, and several of the soldiers wounded. The regulars disembarked, and a fight ensued in which a number of persons were killed. Troops were massed at that point. The new Twentieth Regiment, composed of veterans, left Philadelphia fully armed and equipped for the scene of the fight.