Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1877 — THE RIOTS IN PITTSBURGH. [ARTICLE]

THE RIOTS IN PITTSBURGH.

Alt Account of the Fighting Between the Soldiers snd the Striker*. Telegraphic dispatches of July 22 give the following account of the fighting between the military forces and the railroad strikers aid their sympathizers in Pitta: burgh: The Philadelphia troops were under command of Gen. Brinton, and were met by Sheriff Fife, who was killed in the engagement of the day. It was known that he had in his possession warrants for the arrest of a large number of the ringleaders, and from that moment he was a marked man. The Sheriff preceded the military with a posse, and at 3:4® o’clock the combined force moved from the Union Depot along the railroad track in the direction of what was than the scene of the disturbance. This was at the Twentyeighth street crossing, where the roundhouse is located. As the Sheriff's handful of men advanced to the crossing they found the tracks blockaded with strikers. The Sheriff found it impossible, with his small force, to make toe arrests of toe leaders. Here the fight began. The crowd was immense, choking the crossing and extending up toe hillsides. The strikers occupied toe contested ground. Beyond them wore thousands

of persons, many of whom had been gathered aa much out of curiosity aa out of sympathy for the belligerent brakenten. when the Philadelphia troops arrived, the home militia, the Fourteenth Pittsburgh, waa on the ground, and there was no disturbance. The mob seemed to be infuriated at the soldiers from the eastern part of the State. The Black Hussars of Philadelphia were commanded to clear the crossing. The crowd at once understood Ihe situation. As the troops advanced, dismounted and fixed bayonets, they were assailed from all sides with a perfect torrent of stones that were showered down from the hills upon them. Borne of the soldiers were injured, and the order was given to fire. Tne first volley was aimed above the heads of the mob, and doubtless the number of citizens wounded on the hillside is to be attributed to this cause. The mob continued their assaults on the soldiers, and a number of those who seemed to be ringleaders were seen to use pistols. But few of the troops were injured bv this discharge, the wounded having received their injuries from the rocks hurled by the strikers. An indescribable scene followed these demonstrations. The home militia, when ordered to fire, fell on their faces and did not fire a gun. The,fusillading from the troops brought the drowd to a standstill. They stood irresolute for a little. Then a dash was made, but the troops -held their own, although the result was uncertain for a few minutes. The panic spread, and this irresolution soon became general. When the smoke lifted, it was ascertained that fourteen persons had been killed and a large number wounded. Several members of the home militia were killed, and there was great excitement, and much indignation was expressed freely about what was termed “ this new outrage.” There was a lull after this encounter, the mob retiring rapidly from the crossing. The strikers then moved in the direction of the arsenal. Their expressed purpose was to secure arms and ammunition with which to retaliate on the troops. En route up town gunshops were ransacked and gutted, and stampede after stampede followed as the rioters retired. The troops, at six o’clock, were in control of the tracks, but nothing was done to start any of the trains. When the encounter between the militia and the mob was over the Nineteenth Regiment retired, and returned to the city. The crowds on the South Side began to reassemble again in the evening. At eight o’clock the concourse was not less than 10,000 strong. The rendezvous was the roundhouse. The mob had meantime been arming, and came back to the field of the first fight more determined than ever. They marched down Fifth avenue to the number of 3,000. Drums were beating and flags were flying. The soldiers were compelled to prepare to fight their way out through the frenzied mass of humanity clamoring for their blood. The structure was set on fire, but did not burn as rapidly as was desired, and tL'e mob, bent on revenge, rushed out on the road and sent burning trains toward the doomed building. From midnight until five o’clock this morning the main efforts of the crowd were directed to firing the building and cars, but about half an hour later the mob, which had been besieging the military, left for some unexplained reason. This afforded the troops, who were in actual danger of being roasted alive, an opportunity to emerge from the roundhouee, and they succeeded in reaching Liberty street in a very few moments. They quietly formed in line and marched up to Thirty-third street, and thence to Pennsylvania avenue and Butler street. Their objective point was the United States Arsenal on Butler street, where they expected to obtain shelter. While turning into Butler street, however, the leaders of the mob discovered them, and fully 1,000 men, armed and supplied with ammunition, followed in pursuit. Some of the troops fired at citizens, either accidentally or intentionally, as they moved along, and this added fury to the cry for revenge. When they reached the arsenal the commandant refused to admit them. He said he had but ten men, and would be powerless to hold the place if the mob should attack it. He corsented to take care of the wounded, and they were accordingly carried into the hospitals. The main body of the troops continued their march on Butler street, a fusilade being kept up on them by the mob as they moved forward. The shots fired killed one of the soldiers before they reached the arsenal, and nearly opposite the cemetery gate, fully a mile above the arsenal, two others were left lying on the sidewalk. They continued their flight and crossed over to the north side of the Allegheny River on the Sharpsburg bridge, the mob following them as rapidly as possibile. After reaching the north side the troops scattered, and in this way the mob was divided into very small bodies.

In the meantime the city was in a state of anarchy. Thousands who had not joined in the pursuit of the fleeing trioops gathered about the burning buildings and trains, and assisted in spreading the flames wherever they had not been applied. By seven o’clock the Are had extended from Mill vale Station to Twentieth street, and enveloped hundreds of cars, the extensive machine shops, two round houses, the depots, and offices of the Union Transfer Company, blacksmith shops, storehouses and numerous buildings making up the terminal facilities of the mammoth corporation. In the roundhouses were 125 first-class locomotives, which had been housed in consequence of the strike. These were totally destroyed, but even the immense loss which will be sustained in this item alone is but a trifle in the aggregate damage done. The scenes transpiring on Liberty street, along the line of which the tracks of the railroads run, simply beggar description. While hundreds were engaged in firing the cara and making certain of the destruction of the valuable buildings at the outer depot, thpusands of men, wometf and children engaged in pillaging the cars. Men armed with heavy sledges were cars', aHtiffieh Che conJflffiTwould be thrown out and carried off bv those bent on profiting by the reign of terror existing. The street was almost completely blockaded by persons laboring to carry on the plunder they had gathered together. In hundreds of instances wagons were pressed into service to enable the thieves to get away with their goods. Mayor McCarthy, early in the day, endeavored to stop the pillage, but the handful of men at his command were unable to control the crowd, who were desperate in their anxiety to secure goods. At one time the pill age'was checked, but the mob tired the cars and then proceeded with the work of destruction. It ih impossible to form any idea of the amount of goods stolen, but hundreds of thousands will not cover the loss. The investigation into the losses of sheep during the past year shows that a total of nearly 3,000,000 sheep and lambs were destroyed by dogs and wolves and various diseases, and the aggregate money value was nearly $8,000,000. The average percentage of loss was nearly eight. The rate is the highest respectively in North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, and ranges from 17 percent, in the former State to 3 7-10 in Nebraska. The rate is highest in the South and .lowest in States having dog laws. Eight huhdbkd asp ssvkntt-thhee children and adults died of diphtheria in San Francisco during the rear ending with May. This was about 15 per cent, of the deaths in the city.