^^ .*♦ ' '^'^^^^ ♦ ♦ A en 50 / t^.. u C^Q.dlA^ 7 CiTY's Danger and Defense. OR, ISSUES AND RESULTS OF THE STRIKES OF 1877, CONTAINING THE Origin and History of the Scranton City Guard. BY SAMUEL C. LOGAN, D. D. SCRANTON, PA. 1SS7. Copyright, 1887, By Samuel C. Logan, D.D. PRESS OF THE JAS. B. RODQERS PRINTINQ CO 52 & 54 NORTH SIXTH ST PHILADELPHIA. ACO 500 TO THE PATRIOTIC YOUNG MEN, WHO HAD WISDOM TO DISCERN THE CITY'S DANGER, AND THE PATIENT COURAGE TO PROVIDE FOR ITS DEFENSE, IS THIS WORK ^Ifffctionatclg Inscribed BY THE AUTHOR, WHO, THROUGH TEN YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE, HAS TRIED TO KEEP STEP waTH THEM. CONTENTS PAGE Prewminary Words i CHAPTER I. The Workmen and Their Employers Business disturbances of 1877 — The causes which produced and condi- tions which determined their character — The real issue— Order or anarchy. CHAPTER II. The Great Railway Strike of July i6, 1S77 24 Development, culmination and legitimate fruits of the railway ob- struction CHAPTER III. The Sirocco and the Simoon 43 The strike in the anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania— The city's exposure and danger—" They cry. Peace ! Peace ! when there is no peace" — They seek their rights by the way of wrong. CHAPTER IV. Divided Counsels 55 Justice fallen in the streets— Efforts to establish law by compromise, and order by treaty with law-brenkers — Preparations for defense and protection— Generation and concentration of forces open and secret — The wheels begin to revolve again, but not witliout friction — Law- abiding citizens propose in their own way to assist the law-breakers to keep the peace of the city. V VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAGE The Mob and its True Master 77 "There's a divinity which shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will." CHAPTER VI. The Gathering of the City's Defenders 104 The night watch— After the battle— The picket line — "Grand rounds'' — "Forlorn hope" — Morning relief. CHAPTER VII. The Return Tide 118 Dangers of the undertow — The invisible dangers worse than the visi- ble — The city's defenders must defend themselves. CHAPTER VIII. The Arrest and Triai, of the City's Defenders 132 The law-breakers become the vindicators of law — Justice run riot — Change of base, but no change of issues. CHAPTER IX. Organization and Muster of the Guard 155 The mob produces fruits by the legal tree — The dragon's teeth sown in the fields of legal prosecution sprout into a beautiful har\'est. CHAPTER X. Equipment, Drii.1, and Guard Duty 16S still facing the mob — Search for the sinews of war — The organization armed and on its feet— Company rolls. CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER XI. PACE "Who Comes There?" iS6 The guard mount — Dress and undress— Test of the use of the guard — The secoud night-watch — The city sleeps well behind its defense now. CHAPTER XII, Civil, History 197 struggles for a habitation — End of the strike — The city's endorsement of its executive and its defenders — Law an open bargain and must be fulfilled. CHAPTER XIII. The City Guard in the Wilderness 21S The problems of civil organization and financial administration — The rul)bish cleared away — Foundations laid which demand a superstruc- ture — The armory completed and dedicated — The Guard at home. CHAPTER XIV The Bondage of the Bonds 23S The call for "the Reser\'es " — The "grand rounds" and the "relief — The military fair and its results. CHAPTER XV. The Trials of Prosperity 25S Burdens of success — The property secured and its control determined — The chaplain — The veteran organization. CHAPTER XVI. The March of the "vScranton City Guard" 270 The companies and the "honorable mention "—The consolidation and association in and influence upon the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania—The Thirteenth Regiment— Rifle practice and camp drill for the National Guard of Pennsylvania. viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. PAGE The Thirteenth Regiment, n. G. p 299 The march— The camp— Evolutiou and revolutions— Tracks of the City Guard in the State. CHAPTER XVIII. C0NCLUS10N.S AND THE Conclusion 314 Truths— Transitions— Benedictions. Appendix A. Historic Rolls - 343 Appendix B. Veteran Organization 353 ILLUSTRATIONS. All the portraits in this book are placed there out of kindness to the Author, and in no case are to be considered as committing those thej' represent to an endorse- ment either of the record of facts or of the sentiments expressed in the work. For these the Author alone is responsible. He takes this opportunity of tendering his grateful thanks to that host of friends who have so generously helped, and patiently waited for, the completion of his work. P.\GE The Author Frontispiece. Capt. E. H. Ripple 62 Di.iGRAMS— Citizens Meeting the Mob 96, 97, 98 Isaac J. Post, Esq 124 Col. H. M. Boies 166 Mayor R. H. McKune 211 Ch.^rles F. Mattes 232 Armory of Scramton City Guard, 1S78 238 Pennsylvania's First Rifle Team 276 He.adquarters Thirteenth Regiment .".... 305 Field and Staff, Thirteenth Regiment, 1SS7 313 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. PRELIMINARY WORDS. The Danger of Society is the Lawless Spirit, and he is the Traitor WHO dishonors the Law. FOR the past three years the propriety of preserving, in some form, the history of " the Scranton City Guard," and of the crisis in the affairs of the city out of which this miHtary organization grew, has been more or less agitated. The rapid changes, both in the constitution of the Guard, and in the population and business interests of the city, have given emphasis to the suggestion, that if this important chapter in the life of the Lackawanna Valley is to be preserved delay must prove fatal. At the request of the officers of the 13th Regiment, Col. Boies, for some time meditated the design of undertaking this work, and gathered some valuable material for the purpose. But time passed; the delicacy of the work, in which a chief actor is set to record the history, and the pressure of business, prevented the prosecution of this design. About eighteen months ago there came to the Chajilain of the Guard, who had been identified with it from the bcfjinninfr, various and earnest requests, from enlisted members and vet- erans of the organization, and from citizens interested in it, that he would undertake the work of writing, at least the his- tory of the military organization. The " Board of Officers " 1 2 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. then took the matter up. They elected the chaplain " Histo- rian of the 13th Regiment," and laid upon him the duty of re- cording the history of the crisis out of which the organization sprung, and with wliich the City Guard had so much to do. The danger and deliverance of the city and of the immense industries centering in it, were deemed too important to be suffered to pass into oblivion without an effort to secure a rec- ord of the facts. With these requests came promises of all reasonable help and support in the undertaking. In obedience to these requests, and without any intermission of severe professional duties, this history has been written- Whetheo" it was worth the labor, and whether the record is worthy of the subject, are now left to the charitable judgment and taste of those who undertake to read its pages. Necessarily, both the character and interest of the work must be in a great measure local and temporary. Yet it is believed that the crisis which came to the whole valley and the immediate revelation, of both the weakness and strength of a free government, which was made by the labor strikes in the summer of 1877, and by the riots which followed them in so many cities of our country, ought to secure some interest to this record of facts beyond the limit of both the military or- ganization and the city. The danger, the defense and deliverance of the city of Scran- ton, and of the immense business interests of the anthracite coal-fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania, were but the type and illustration of that lawless spirit, which swept over so much of our country in 1877; as well as the revelation of those latent forces which are constantly fostered in our manufacturing dis- tricts, and which, in that year of sudden upheaval, placed so much of out* precious inheritance, for a time, in the hands of the mob. If this be true, there are^ patriotic people in other cities who might be interested in this record of that strange manifestation of free citizenship and sovereignty. PRELIMINARY WORDS. 3 Governments and free institutions, like men and forest-trees, usually begin to decay and to die at the top. The baldness of the head, and the withered top branches of the tree, as a rule, will show where the frost first strikes, and weakness begins. Cities are the head and centres, of both life* and power to the whole country, whatever may be the character of the civiliza- tion. In these are the latent forces, which circumstances, be- yond the control of laws and courts, may readily arouse to that fierce energy, which carries disease to society and death to the body politic. Municipal government, in our country, has been too gener- ally deemed of small importance by the most virtuous and in- telligent citizens. Possibly this arises from the persuasion, that whatever irregularities in city rule may become intolerable can be easily righted, by the higher intelligence and stronger arm of the commonwealth. Or, it may arise from the humiliation and irksomeness, of having anything to do with local politics, in which stupidity and shameless dishonesty so peacefully bunk together. But it is a fact generally recognized, that the best people and the citizens who hav^e most at stake, are contented to leave the municipal management to the wisdom of the igno- rant, and the patriotism of the vicious. It is only when some great upheaval, like that of 1877 comes, that the real dangers, in which we sleep so soundly reveal themselves, and we learn that tlie peace and safety of a continent are wrapped up in the cities, where mobs and riots arc nurtured, and set free to tread down all law and work ruin. "There is method in madness," it is said, and now and then that method is clearly traceable. I know not that any scientist has ever attempted to discover or reveal, the law or method of mobs. But they certainly have both a genesis and a gen- eration; an origin and a mode of life and action. Human pas- sion moves in lines and tracks, as certain and as easily traced, as do human thought and reason. The mob of one country or 4 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. one generation corresponds with remarkable accuracy with that of all countries and generations. The differences are rather of degree than of kind. The mob anywhere and at all times, is a brainless monster with a cowardly heart, which can only be begotten of a lawless spirit. It is a headless force whose vitality is to be found in its whole body. Its only remedy is quick and remorseless force, legally organized, and nnder the command of law. Hence our conviction, that the history of the danger and deliverance of the city we love has in it a record of facts, which may be of significant interest and use to other cities whose dangers have not yet become manifest, or whose methods of dealing with the monster have left doubts and questions un- solved. Nothing can be more clearly demonstrated than the fact that the legal organization of a military guard, made up of the best young men of the city, who have ever stood ready to resist unto death every attempt, however made to overpower law and order, has given peace and safety to this city and its vicinage. The history of strikes, which are to mobs what the ^gg is to the viper which the sun hatches from it; and of law- less violence in the coal-fields, in times past; and the remarkable peace and unbroken business prosperity, which, for ten years have kept step with the march of " The Scranton City Guard," leave no room to question the relations of the one to the other. In the production of this work, the author desires to say, that he has sought to gather about him the people, who twenty years from now may be disposed to inquire touching the work, the wisdom, and patriotism of their fathers, rather than present readers. Twenty years from now the necessarily sharp per- sonal mention, which characterizes the book, will be softened by the shadows which time casts over the procession of human life. He has tried to do justice to all the actors in the scenes of ten years ago; and certainly to deal charitably with all. With all the patience of which he is capable, and with exhaust- PRELIMINARY WORDS. 5 ing labor, without further expectation of reward than success- ful work brings with it, he has gathered up the facts, and woven them together with what skill he was master of While he has omitted much, doubtless, which both the members of the Guard and citizens who were actors of the time would find interesting, he has recorded nothing which he has not clear ground for believing to be true. With these preliminary words, this work of weary and per- plexing hours is committed to the charitable consideration of all who may feel interest enough to worry through its pages, with this comforting reflection, that however wearied the reader may be with the reading, he cannot be more so than is the author with the writing. A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER I. THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. Business Disturbances of 1877 — The Causes which Produced and Conditions which Determined their Character — The Real Issue — Order or Anarchy. THE summer of 1877 was a season of peculiar prostration, and derangement of industries, of all sorts, in the State of Pennsylvania. Indeed from the collapse and panic of 1873 there had been but a partial recovery. Almost a steady de- cline of the prosperity which had so rapidly developed the re- sources, and inaugurated the magnificent schemes of industry in the whole country, could be traced through these years. Long-continued prosperity had educated the population gen- erally to habits of extravagance in their domestic economy, and to a spirit of venturesome speculation. Associated capi- tal had worked wonders, and possibly had grown arrogant. Labor, both skilled and unskilled, had learned to place a value upon itself that past experience had never justified. But during the last four years business had suffered a heavy pressure and gradual decline. The case became more aggravated, and the peace of the country began to be disturbed by the agitation of the subtle questions between capital and labor, which have never been settled to the satisfaction of either the intelligent or the ignorant. If capital must associate in order to reach the best profits, or secure the highest results in the development of industries, it would seem logically to suggest that labor should also combine and fix its own price in the market. But this particu- THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 7 lar issue only gave birth to a multitude of questions, which were pondered under the shadows of adversity, and discussed about the doors of silent work-shops, until a feeling of discouragement and distrust assumed the place of courage and hope, in the life of the working people. The laws of moral right became confused with the demands of prudent wisdom and business economy, in the minds both of employers and workmen; until a latent, but ominous opposition became manifest between the office and the shop. The necessary contraction of business and a healthy competition, compelled the great railway corpo- rations all over the country to reduce both their force and the wages of their operatives, at a time when the want of faith, en- gendered by controversy, and the long-continued sufferings of workmen, combined to arouse the war spirit. Individual res- ponsibility was too readily shifted to the charge of society leagues, associations and combinations without conscience, for the protection of capital on the one hand, and of labor on the other. Within the commonwealth of Pennsylvania the suffering and derangement incident to this general depression of business enterprise, seemed to produce greater complications, and more dangerous dissatisfaction ; from the fact that the coal and iron interests, upon which almost all business enterprises in the in- terior of the State in a measure depend, had suffered most. In consequence of the enforced limited production, both of coal and iron, and the low prices, and narrow market, the con- dition of the miner and worker in iron, became hard indeed. This condition was doubly hard from the two evils of short time and low wages. With commendable fortitude and pa- tience, for three years, the miners and workers in the iron-mills, throughout the anthracite regions, had continued in the works, hoping for better times as each spring opened, only to find as the season passed their expectations disappointed ami their lot growing harder. Each succeeding winter found ihcm more 8 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Straitened, and employment more difficult to be obtained. The actual sufferings of many of the honest and worthy work- men were very great, and their manly endurance entitled them to the respect and sympathy of all good men. In the Lacka- wanna and Wyoming Valleys men were discovered who went to their daily work in the mines without breakfast; and, to avoid the confession of their poverty, they carried their empty dinner cans with them, contented with one meal when their day's work was done, if, thereby, their families could be kept from unendurable sufferings. The majority seemed to grasp the situation, and realize that the remedy was beyond the power of either corporations or capitalists, and they patiently did the best they could with what they had. In many cases they had unwisely run their credit with the smaller merchants and grocers, upon their long deferred hopes, until these traders were compelled to close their doors, and leave their own creditors crippled or ruined under the inexorable laws of trade ; thereby demonstrating, that faith and patience are necessary factors in the business affairs of civilized society. Another unfortunate result of this continued depression and derangement of industries was the wandering and migration of laborers and operatives. Either driven by necessity from their homes, or enticed by the imagined better prospects in other fields of enterprise, these workmen were found wandering all over the country. These migrations were joined too by that vagabond population, the worthless and dishonest, which under such a stress find it comparatively easy to insinuate themselves into an association with the decent, and unfortunate. Every community became more or less afflicted with worthless tramps, ready to lead in any movement for plunder, upon the plea of honest necessity, or that of righting the wrongs of " the working men." There are found in almost every community some evil disposed persons, who think of no remedy for trouble or disaster, except to exaggerate or magnify it, and THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 9 who appear to gather strength to bear affliction by seeking to make it a common inheritance. Such people grow reckless under trials, and dangerous under temptations, even though intending to walk in paths of virtue. These classes were all thrown together in the early summer of 1877, by the affinities of a common affliction ; and, as a con- sequence, the foolish and evil disposed early came to the front. These evilly disposed men took every occasion to denounce " the corporations," and employers, as the cause of hard times ; and their grasping tyranny, as the source of all the misery of the poor man. It was claimed, openly and constantly, that the employer, or superintendent, expended his efforts for the oppression of the workmen in order to enrich himself, or his friends, out of the profits of labor. So the doctrines of com- munism began to be discussed and announced, in the associa- tions of the men who were seeking to better their condition. The comfort and prosperity which industry and wise econo- my had brought to the more careful, became in the eyes of the unfortunate and vicious only visible signs of the sin of op- pressing the poor. The infamous tenets of communism began to be discussed in the shops, as well as in the sloughs, and their announcements were now and then heard as an ominous rumble along the public streets, portending the social earth- quake, by which the foundations should be removed, leaving no standing place for the righteous. This whole condition of danger and distress, was further aggravated by the existence, in almost every community, of a class of small, pot-house politicians, who perpetually seek to identify themselves with the working-men. " Workers in brass," they might be styled, if a wide distinction is kept in mind, between the kind of brass with which they fill the mar- ket, and the beautiful metal with which honest, and real workers adorn society. These parasites of the laborers, in a countr\', in the highest sense free to all workers, seem to find a precari- 10 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE, ous existence in all communities outside of the rural districts, and appear to be infested with the notion that they are needed for the wise conduct of public affairs. They are, they conclude, fitted by nature for the filling of any office that may happen to be vacant ; but are impressed with a special call for the mak- ing and administration of laws. They are able to trace all de- pressions in business, and all sufferings of both the unfortunate and the vicious, simply to the defects of the government, or to the dishonesty of officials. These seekers after office, and incidentally, a generous sup- port from the public treasury, ever awake to the possibilities of personal advantage, early saw, in the general discontent and real suffering of the laboring classes, their opportunity. They at once sought the place of leaders and counsellors. This dan- gerous class of public aspirants added fuel to the smouldering fires, which, through the dreary winter and early spring of 1877 were filling the air and blearing the vision of honest men throughout the coal region. Labor associations and brotherhoods of skilled workmen were sought for, by these restless patriots, that they might be converted into political machines, or forces for the securing of personal positions. Labor organizations and "trades unions," with legitimate aims, existed all over the land, and under or- dinary circumstances were doubtless of great benefit to their members in various ways. But their power was perverted and used by a great body of the ignorant and vicious to eliminate personal responsibility, and limit individual liberty. So these societies and brotherhoods easily passed out of the control of their best men. The next step, toward which the apprehended wrongs and real sufferings, of the workmen hastened these associations, made them mighty forces of oppression ; and hence of real apprehension of danger on the part of all good men. They as- sumed to control all workmen in their particular line of work ; THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 11 not simply by fixing the price of their wages, but by deciding when, and for whom, they should be permitted to work. With the promise to take care of faithful members, and support their dependent charges, from the common purse, these societies multiplied adherents until they were able to control the major- ity of the working-men of the community. Then by force of public opinion, or by the menace of violence, they placed the minority in the position in which compliance with their orders would seem to be a necessity. When the association ordered a strike in any particular department of labor, it required more than ordinary courage for any workman of that department to continue his work, whether he belonged to the association or not. He was compelled to live among the members of these leagues, and the power of public opinion is a force which few men are able successfully to defy. It was a humiliating fact demonstrated in the history of strikes in the Anthracite coal-fields, that through the influence and unlawful methods of these organizations, the great majority of workmen, who had no sympathy with the postulates of communism and whose judgment decided that it was wiser to work for reduced wages than to cease work, were, nevertheless, controlled by a miserable minority. Perhaps the most extensive, and at the same time the most intelligent, of these societies, at that time existing in the country, was that of the railway operatives, which was styled " the Broth- erhood of Locomotive Engineers ;" intimately associated with which was the Brotherhood of Firemen and Brakemen. Little can be said with regard to the real character and de- signs of these organizations. They were all secret organizations which gave every sign of wise and fair administration. They were understood to have for their specific object the protection of the interests of locomotive engineers, and other train opera- tors, under the law; rather than the control of railways, and railway corporations. Up to the general movement of 1877, 12 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. these associations not only held the confidence, but, in a marked degree, the very warm sympathy of citizens generally. They were considered, rather, as healthy and necessary institutions, under a system of railway competition and administration, in which the labor, the danger and real worth of train operators were liable to be forgotten, or hidden by the shadows of the great schemes of transportation. The public generally, openly sympathized with what was understood to be the spirit and intention of these brotherhoods so closely allied. Their moral force was felt in all the principal towns along railway lines. These brotherhoods, it was supposed, proposed and even at- tempted to include in their membership, or under their efficient influence, every man who could be trusted to run a locomotive, or conduct a train. Hence, the Locomotive Brotherhood held in some sort of relationship to itself, the Firemen's and Brake- men's organization; and all such other railway operatives as were deemed necessary to the safe running of trains. The grasp of its power, in 1877, reached, with more or less distinctness, from ocean to ocean, and from the lakes to the gulf. The competition in the great trunk lines, since the hard times had begun, had doubtless pressed the corporations beyond the possibilities of a healthy business; and in many cases drove them into measures of retrenchment and economy, more effec- tive than just; and the general tendency very naturally was understood to be towards the oppression of the operatives. In some cases the force was diminished, while the same amount of work was demanded ; in others the wages were reduced so low that professional engineers were humiliated and crowded out by half educated men, who could afford to work cheaper. The aim seemed almost universal, to require more work, fewer hands, and cheaper service. This systematic and general re- duction of expenses, both wise and necessary, under the cir- cumstances ; when continued through a series of years, revealed to the operatives, as they supposed, the determination to make THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 13 the railways successful at the expense of the engineers and trainmen. It was doubtless this persuasion, whether ground- less or just, which produced such activity and gave such effici- ency to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers from the beginning of the year 1877. In the opening of the summer there were ominous signs of energy in this association ; whose counsels were kept with wise secrecy, and whose interests seemed to have been placed in the hands of men who would appear to be well fitted to command whole armies. The railway corporations found signs multiplying through the months of May and June of dissatisfaction, and of the ex- istence of a widely organized force, with which they might at any time be brought into collision. Here and there were fre- quent small skirmishes, or acts of individual resistance, which gave prophecy of a coming battle. The general uneasiness along all the lines of travel became manifest, then grew painful, as it generally exaggerated the moving forces, as well as the ultimate intentions, of the employees. Signs of agreement and combination of the great trunk lines, for the control of competi- tion and the reduction of expenses, multiplied ; as the repre- sentatives of these trunk lines gathered, from time to time, in conferences ; and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers grew silent and mysterious. On the 29th of May, 1877, the Pennsylvania Railroad m answer, it was said, to the demands of other great trunk lines, took off its fast line from New York to Chicago, and at the same time published an order reducing the wages of all em- ployees of that road ten per cent. This reduction was required to take effect upon the first day of the following June, with only three days notice. Thus there would be saved a million and a half dollars to the railroad out of the wages of the men employed to run it. This action of the great corporation shocked the moral sense of the people, and was denounced as little removed from simple robbery. It awoke a deep, out- 14 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. spoken sympathy with the Brotherhood of Trainmen in all the cities along the lines, and especially among the justice-loving people of Pittsburgh. On the same day the managers of the great lines met by their representatives in Chicago. They " pooled their freights " at this meeting, and fixed the price of transportation on all the main lines, east and west. On the 30th of May, the day succeeding the announcement of the ten per cent, reduction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engmeers met in Jersey City, New Jersey. Their proceedings were not open to the public ; but it was evident that they were attempting to organize an opposition to this action of the roads, by which their interests were so vitally touched. The railway combination had consol- idated these interests, and removed the possibility of divided counsels. The grievance was made almost universal by the simultaneous reduction on so many railways, and it required no apparent efforts on the part of the Brotherhoods to extend their organizations, increase their membership, or consolidate their forces. Their delegated assemblies and executive com- mittees met without public notice, with closed doors, and went forward in their daily duties without report, or statements of grievance. They made no reply to the notice of the reductions ordered to take place so suddenly, but their activity and suc- cess in extending their union, and the preparation for some kind of action became manifest. P>om this 30th day of May rumors and reports of the secret meetings of the association of Railroad Directors and Opera- tors on one hand and of the Brotherhoods of the Railroad Operators on the other, spread over the whole country, aggra- vating the feelings of apprehension among all classes of people, without affording the means of a correct knowledge, of either their unity of action, or of their demands and intentions. Superintendents and boards of management seemed to set THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 15 their faces against these organizations, and put forth efforts to feel their strength; while from the very silence and order of their employees they augured submission, and persuaded them- selves there would be no strike, certainly after all the main roads had ordered the ten per cent, reduction of June ist. For forty-eight da)^s the sweep of business and commerce was uninterrupted. The heavy trains thundered across the con- tinent, north and south, east and west. The locomotive whistled with as much sonorous joy as though no heavy hearts were borne along the highways of business and pleas- ure. As in the days of Noah, the people, in the face of all portents and prophecies, pushed the pursuits of life, " married and were given in marriage," "bought and sold," billed their goods, and demanded fulfillment of contracts, until the very day that the heavens were opened, and the fountains of the deep were broken up ; so the corporations, and the people, augured peace. They all went their ways with apprehension quieted by the lull that precedes the storm, reassured by the patient fidelity of the trainmen, at so much of whose sacrifice the wheels of a mighty commerce were moving through the land. Preparations were made for moving the bountiful har- vest with which the land had been blessed, with confidence, on the part of the great railway corporations. The price of freights had been fi.xed and covenants sealed. The vast wheat fields were being gladdened with the song of the reapers throughout the whole country; and stockholders smiled at the prospect of realizing long delayed dividends. The va.st trains moved on without interruption as a life pulse of civilization, freighted with providential blessing for a whole land. The Brotherhoods of trainmen, burdened with the wrongs of honest and industrious men, continued to meet without publicity, and depart on their way of duty, with neither apparent excitement nor comi)laint, up to the i6th day of July, just forty-eight days after the great reduction had 16 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. overtaken them. Generally, throughout this period the pros- pect for peace and business prosperity, was reassuring and even exhilarating. The special exception to this hopeful outlook, and prospec- tive prosperity of business, existed throughout the anthracite coal-fields. Here the dissatisfaction rather increased than diminished throughout the month of June. Many causes for the increasing depression existed throughout this region. Most of the business interests of the northeastern portion of Penn- sylvania were involved in the mining of coal, and the manufac- turing of iron and steel. No great trunk lines passed through the region to enrich the roads, or quicken the towns in the coal-fields. The abundant harvests of the West could give little hope of special blessing to either miners or makers of steel. The monthly sales of coal, in New York and Philadel- phia, constantly declined, both as to amount and price, until the 27th day of June — only two days before the Pennsylvania Railroad ordered its great reduction — when these sales fell below ^2.50 a ton, thereby giving assurance to laborers, miners and operators alike, that profit in the business was impossible. It could only be a question with the coal companies as to how, and how few of their breakers could be run, so as to keep the laborers and miners from actual want. The mills piled up their steel rails in their yards, in order to keep the mills going, and prevent their skilled labor from being compelled to migrate ; or else measured their industry by the orders they received from roads which were practicing the most rigid economy. A settled gloom seemed to have fallen on the whole com- munity. Men who were in the habit of thinking ceased to talk ; workmen lost their cheerfulness, and wandered about, the greater part of the time, idle or worn-out in the vain search for openings of greater promise. Everything seemed ominous and uncertain. Yet adjustments were made with kindness, and THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 17 apparent cordiality, by superintendents and workmen. The workmen suffered grievously, but patiently in general, because they saw no remedy. In addition to this darkness of the business outlook, the great body of working people had been much affected by the experiences of the last seven years. The long strike of 1870 and 1 87 1 had left its scars and wounds, which had been bound up with respectable skill, but had never been entirely healed. There had been social disorders in different portions of the coal-fields and disturbances, which were used by designing men to weaken the social compact, and destroy faith between classes and races of the people. The league of communists and assassins known as the Molly Maguires, had struck down many a good man in the dark ; and by mysterious, and most wicked murders, in widely sepa- rated districts, had impressed the people with exaggerated convictions of the numbers and extent of this association, whose symbols were the coffin and the cross-bones. Since the days of the assassins of Mount Ephraim, who desolated the land of Israel, before the fall of Jerusalem, such a wicked, remorseless, and bloody league of murderers had hardly been known to exist in civilized society. By its peculiar wanton- ness and the cruelty of its modes of vengeance, it exposed offenders and innocent citizens alike. Victims, singled out and condemned to death in any community, were required to be slain by assassins who were entire strangers to them. The members appointed to the bloody work traveled thirty, forty, and fifty miles, and came by night, into the towns and neighbor- hoods they had never visited before, and with such descrip- tions and way-marks as could be furnished them, they waylaid their doomed victims, and left them in their blood. Without notice, or knowledge of the offense ; without either accuser or known accusation, faithful men, who had become obnoxious to these pretended laborers, were stricken down by the assassins 2 18 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. who had never seen them except through the sights of their guns. Thus it happened that men wholly innocent, and who were not known to have any enemies on earth, were sometimes shot or stabbed by mistake. So whole communities were smitten with that fear and want of faith in their neighbors, which murders society itself, and makes a hell upon earth. Doubtless the congress of thieves, which the great Centennial Exhibition of 1876 had gathered in the country, had left suffi- cient material for the organization of a Molly Maguire Society in almost any community of Pennsylvania. For it was simply an association of thieves and murderers. No man could guess out the extent of the organization whose tracks of blood were visible, with more or less distmctness, all over the coal-fields and through these peaceful valleys A heroic detective (James McParlan by name), under direc- tion of President Gowen, of the Reading Railroad, in 1876, de- voted himself to the work of ferreting out, and bringing to jus- tice, this league of assassins. Rejoined their society; went into their haunts, and gained their confidence. He was made secre- tary of one of their lodges. For a whole year he pretended to do their bidding, and pushed his work of inquiry with sleepless vigilance and sublime courage. By his energy about twenty of these assassins were tracked and brought to be weighed in the scales of justice. On the 21st day of June, 1877, eleven of these convicted murderers were hung. Six . of them at Pottsville four at Mauch Chunk, and one at Wilkesbarre. Others were still held in jail at Bloomsburg, with good prospect of convic- tion. Fifteen years had passed since the coal-fields had begun to be afflicted with the outrages of this secret organization, which had grown bold by its impunity. Outrages which swept the whole scale of crime, from robbery and arson to murder in daylight, became in some places of frequent occurrence. Some of these murders were committed in the presence of THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 19 orderly citizens, on the streets and highways in the hght of day. But if a man were arrested for such crimes, the devices of the order could always find evidence to prove an alibi ; or means to pack, or terrorize a jury, or to cut the sinews of the courts of justice. No man cared to risk the results of opposi- tion to such wickedness, for no man's life was thought to be worth insuring after he had once really offended the order or one of its members. Within fourteen years, twelve prominent citizens in their own communities, were assassinated while attempted murders, robberies, riots and the burning of property, which no attempt has been made to number, followed in their secret paths. Such were the acts which defined the spirit and revealed the power of this secret league. Yet in all that time the law was powerless ; by the prostitution of courts, or the dismay and want of faith, which prevailed among the people. Until the detective had ferreted out the diabolical league, not a single conviction of one of its members for murder had been obtained. When the first conviction was made it was mainly upon the testimony of witnesses who fourteen years before pos- sessed the knowledge, and yet had given testimony which suffered the murderers to escape. They now gave as the reason for the suppression of their knowledge, the fact that they were afraid for their lives. Throughout these years of secret outrage, and open violence, consternation, more or less, prevailed throughout the coal- fields, among miners and employers alike. Laborers became frightened and refused to work ; or were swept along by the demands of the strikers, and secret-order men they had neither the power, nor courage, to resist. Company officials and mine bosses were, in many places, afraid to leave their homes alone either by night or day. Many of them received notices either to leave the field or expect to be killed. Thus a reign of terror was inaugurated through some portions of the coal-fields where faithful men were exposed, and might expect to be murdered, 20 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE for no reason, except their fidelity to their trusts. Superinten- dents found it dangerous to dismiss a worthless laborer, lest, perchance, he belonged to the secret order ; and industrious miners and laborers, whose families were suffering, dared not work, unless a sufficient guard was provided. This truth was demonstrated, as well as that of the healthful- ness of pluck, and manly courage, in the City of Scranton in 1 8/ I at the close of the long strike. Here a number of miners and laborers came to Mr. W. W. Scranton, a young man then in the employ of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company (the son of Joseph H. Scranton, the worthy president of the com- pany), and proposed to work the mine at Briggs shaft, if he would furnish them a guard in passing to and from their work, and lead it himself. These miners had a profound confidence in the courage of the young man. This proposition he ac- cepted, and with a squad of soldiers, he led the workers to their task in the morning and returned them to their homes safely in the evening. On the second day, as they returned, a crowd of idle and vicious people had gathered, and with hootings and eager demonstrations, sought to excite a mob and bring their labor to an end. Whether an actual attack was made by the leaders of this crowd upon the guard, or whether they only gave such demonstrations as to disturb the poise of the guard, has never been settled. But one of the miners who had been struck, fired a shot without orders, by which two leaders of the mob were instantly killed, and thus the great strike of 187 1 ended. It is easy to see that the mutual distrust created and fostered by such a deluge of crime, through a period of years, between workmen and employers, could not be removed by the appa- rent peaceful adjustments of great railway corporations, or new promises of a revival of business. This reign of terror so long continued left its impressions of the insecurity, both of property and life, only to deepen the fissure between capital and labor. THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 21 It tended perpetually to interrupt and weaken that faith be- tween employers and workmen, without which charity and equitable dealing are impossible. The hanging of eleven assas- sins, on one day, did indeed cheer the people with the hope that the backbone of this mystery of wickedness had been broken ; but there were multitudes of people who were fully persuaded that the monster still had life. The punishment of these men did much towards the restora- tion of confidence in the courts and the power of law, but these courts were still at the mercy of the politicians, and of cowardly witnesses. The people knew, or thought they knew, of a hundred more who were yet at large, and only waiting the opportunity for vengeance and rapine. The confidence, so long interrupted, could only be restored by years of honest and ' open dealings in the business affairs of the community. The spirit of distrust had smitten all walks of life, but its tendency was to segregate the people into two great classes. The men of business and property, on the one hand ; and those who worked for wages, or hire, upon the other. Injustice was con- stantly to be apprehended on both sides, and wrong, doubtless, was suffered by both employers and workmen, which could only have been prevented by the restoration of confidence, which, under the circumstances and passions of the times, was impossible. Superintendents and company officials, with large interests and responsibilities, " spotted " now and then honest and true men, possibly because of their own exaggerated fears, and quietly dismissed them without sufficient or apparent reason, thinking them to be connected with this league of death. The workers in the shops looked with jealousy and unjust appre- hension upon every new or strange worker placed beside them, and made demands upon employers for their dismis.sal, which were preposterous and which were founded, probably, upon the same fears. 22 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Committees of complaincrs, burdened with grievances of workmen, wore smooth paths between the shop and the office ; and representative miners waited at the doors of superiors and headmen. Very naturally the office grew too busy to hear complaints, and doubtless kept many waiting with burdens that grew into wrongs by the delay, and so hastened a dreadful harvest. Employers and middle men, filled with the tenderest sym- pathy towards their workmen, became hardened by the burdens of their position, and lost both confidence and patient consider- ation. Workmen fused their misfortunes, their sorrows and wrongs, into a white heat of passion and hatred. There was good and evil, right and wrong, on both sides, all traceable to the fact that the times were out of joint. Society was so lame that it could not travel peacefully, even if the road had been smooth. If we consider carefully these forces so long at work among the people, and the conditions of business, the effects of specu- lation and the habits of life among all classes ; it is difficult to conclude that the restoration of peace and prosperous industry, was possible, without the collision and trial of strength between anarchy and law, which was so soon to star- tle the nation. The echoes of the wakes over the dead assassins taken oflf by legal execution, swept around the shops and mines in Penn- sylvania only to deepen the distrust, and to increase the fear of the people, while the workmen struggled on in dogged silence. The superintendents and capitalists began to augur peace, and gather strength to push their heavy tasks, from the quiet indifference gendered by despair in the souls of the laborers, and the people, beginning to breathe more freely, were gathering together in social confidence, and selecting places of their sojourn for a summer vacation, while yet the air was full of heaviness. The calm that precedes the storm fell THE WORKMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 23 on the coal regions, only to multiply suspicion, and deepen apprehension. On the 30th of June 1877, rumors of suspensions and strikes increasing and flowing into one huge suspicion of a "great strike,'^ which should compass the continent, again reach the coal-fields. " The Brotherhood " had yet given no palpable sign ; but the movement of a hundred thousand men in unison, could not be inaugurated without some disturbance of either air or earth. So the rumor arose and fell ; it gathered consis- tency as a cloud, then fell into fragments and disappeared as a mist, leaving thoughtful watchers in doubt whether it came from the great field of railway enterprise, or was gendered from their own fears or apprehensions. These rumors were discussed without a settled conviction until the i6th day of July 1877; when without a single warn- ing, the trains on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Martins- burgh, W. Va., were stopped with a shock which was felt from ocean to ocean, and the great battle between order and anarchy was opened, which swept like a tornado over the whole con- tinent. 24 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER II. THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE OF JULY i6, 1877. Development, Culmination and Legitimate Fruits of the Railway Obstruction. IT is not the intention, in the work which is here proposed, to record in any adequate sense the history of the great railway strike of 1877. Its vast proportions — its secret and wonderfully complete organization — its almost instantaneous and general action, and its manifest influence upon the vital interests of the whole country, present this strike as a subject entirely unique in the conduct of affairs. It could not be pro- perly styled a rebellion against government ; nor did it propose a revolution in the conduct and control of public affairs. Yet in its presence Government was not visible, and before its scathing breath society fell into a temporary chaos. The sali- ent facts which this strange power has left on record, present it as a subject worthy of the deepest consideration, not only by the historian and the chronicler of events, but by the states- man and patriot as well. The causes which produced it, and the condition of business and of civil society which rendered it possible, involve both the character and forces of our free government, and of our modern civilization. It would require a patient investigation and study of years, such as few men are able to give, in order to present, in any adequate sense, an intelligent history of this attempt which was made, almost with- out premonition, to control a whole continent by unlawful forces ; and redress the supposed or real wrongs of a class of workmen by the obstruction of universal business. THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 25 The results produced, of course, were far beyond the pos- sible intentions of those who inaugurated the strike; or the wildest expectations of those who accepted its responsibilities. It would be difficult to find a community or even a family in the nation, whose interests and pursuits and even character, remained untouched, when a whole people were required to stand still as spectators, and adjust themselves to new condi- tions, while great corporations and their employees should adjust their differences. It would hardly be possible, after ten years have passed, to write a satisfactory detail of the proceed- ings of such an attempted revolution of affairs, which was founded upon false principles and, consequently, doomed to failure by the eternal fitness of things. Yet the influence of this railway strike upon the whole country, and especially upon the centres of population and industry, makes some intelligent statement of its progress necessary in order to a proper understanding of the city's danger, and of the exigencies out of which sprang the organi- zation and efficiency of the city's defense. The peril which was so suddenly manifested in the young city of Scranton, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1877, and which seriously threatened its vital inter- ests as a community, was but the local manifestation of a general force generated over the whole country by a lawless spirit ; which intelligent, and not ordinarily vicious men had supposed could be harnessed like a beast of burden, and driven for beneficent ends. The history of this city's exposure and of its organized defense ; when its best young men rushed bravely and unflinchingly to the rescue, has its lessons, which lose none of their force from the fact that it was only one city out of many which passed through the terrible crisis. Nor is there any pretence that virtue and patriotism or efficient wis- dom, were to be found here alone, in the day of terror and trial. While it is the intention to record the facts of this cri- 26 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. sis as they existed in the anthracite coal fields, in the Wyom- ing and Lackawanna Valleys especially, and preserve the his- tory of the military organization known as the " Scranton City Guard," which for ten years has been the city's defense, the fact must be kept in view, that while " a part may be taken for the whole," it is not separated from the whole. One city's danger differs from that of another, chiefly, in this great free commonwealth, only in the accidents which mark individual existence, or municipal organization. The efficiency and wis- dom of the city's defense, in general, must be determined by the courage and patriotism of its citizens, and the honest vir- tue of its municipal authorities. To a fair understanding and appreciation of the record which is here proposed, it is neces- sary, therefore, to present a general view of the development and progress of the great strike, — which within three days, sought to gather the nation in its frantic grasp, and had the interests of the whole people at its mercy. While then it is not the intention to record the history of the great strike of 1877, yet its proportions, its wonderful and complete organization, and its manifest influence upon the whole country, make some intelligent statement of its pro- gress necessary, in order to a proper understanding of the exi- gencies out of which sprang " The Scranton City Guard," the history of which it is here intended to give. History presents few, if any, parallels to the rapidity, effi- ciency or great proportions with which a lawless force was organized in the midst of peaceful society, throughout the United States in June and July of 1877. Within less than a week from the first act of violence, the business of fifty millions of people was interrupted, their interests placed in jeopardy, and society itself was threatened with disorganization. In all the recorded convulsions of the body politic or of civil society, we find none in which both the weakness and strength of a free government were so suddenly, and distinctly, revealed. THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 27 One week's experience awoke the whole intelHgent people of the United States to new channels of thought touching the hidden elements of force lying dormant in a population that is made up of all races of men, affected by the traditions of all the lands from which they have come ; especially when en- dowed with the fullest liberty consistent with the existence of government. The gulf of anarchy, which was revealed through the fissures of society by the sudden glow of the fires of human passion, on the 17th of July, 1877, seemed to place the seal of truth upon the conclvisions of the statesmen of the ancient school. "A government of the people, for the people, and by the peo- ple," seemed to be a " Ship of State," with abundant sail, but with neither ballast nor anchor. But the potency with which the driving tempest was met, and the rapidity with which the frightful chaos was reduced again to order by the moral and military forces of an intelligent and patriotic people, have given to the world a new confidence in the real power of a govern- ment which rests, under God, upon the virtue and free action of its own citizens. Now, after ten years of peace and commercial prosperity, the appalling storm which passed over, seems but " as a dream when one awaketh ; " but its lessons were far too vital to be neglected or forgotten, by a wise people. The general facts were these : — Late at night on the 17th of July one of the vice-presidents of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway aroused the Governor of West Virginia with the telegraphic announcement, from the City of Baltimore, that the ^freight trains of his road had been stopped at Martinsburgh, by the firemen on duty, who had struck for higher wages. That those willing to take their places had been dragged from the engines, and tliat all trains, both cast and west, were held by a mob, while the authorities of the city and the law abiding citizens, were 28 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. powerless to suppress the riot. At midnight the Governor responded with an order to the two military companies under command of Colonel Falkner of his staff, to proceed at once to the aid of the civil authorities at Martinsburgh. About six o'clock on the morning of the same day Colonel Falkner appeared with a military company of seventy-five men ; and ordering the mob to disperse, he took possession of a train and began to move it towards its destination. This led to an immediate and furious attack by the mob, which was armed with all sorts of weapons, from a paving-stone to a mus- ket. One of the soldiers was wounded, when the colonel ordered the guard to fire upon the mob. One man fell and the result was the arousing of an ungoverned fury, which quickly led to repeated and desperate charges upon the small body of soldiers, and the disabling of the cars ; and which re- sulted in giving the whole city over into the power of the mob. In the hands of these strikers were seventy trains, having in them twelve hundred freight- cars. Two-thirds of these cars were bound east, and one-third west, loaded with all kinds of merchandise. There were over five hundred head of cattle on one of these trains. Indeed, all the property of the road found at that point, was in the hands of the firemen and their friends, when the morning dawned. Early in the morning, Governor Matthews, with a guard of sixty young men, has- tened to the scene of conflict. He arrived at eight o'clock on the morning of the 1 8th, to find Colonel Falkner's company disbanded, and the rioters in full and apparently permanent possession, of both the town and the road, having thrown up entrenchments on both sides of the station. Here the Gover- nor learned that the road had been closed up behind him also ; and that rioters at Wheeling, West Virginia, had taken forty stands of arms from the militia in that city ; also that at Cum- berland three hundred boatmen, employed on the Baltimore and Ohio Canal, had left their vessels and run to join the strikers on the railway. THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 29 Thus, in less than twelve hours from the stopping of the first train at Martinsburgh, the State of West Virginia, with its Governor, having a guard of sixty men housed in his head- quarters in a train that could not move, found itself helpless, with nothing more than the semblance of its authority. Its laws were trodden down by an army of railway operatives from the Potomac to the Ohio. These strikers destroyed the property of the Company, broke car couplings, and dis- abled engines, enough to prevent any running of trains, and then fortified themselves at many points. They then sent out their scouts and prepared for a siege. This was all accom- plished in one day. The Governor, from his military headquarters, with strikers before and behind him, on the forenoon of the i8th, appealed to President Hayes for United States troops to suppress a " domestic insurrection," which the State was in no condition promptly to control. The President responded with a procla- mation ordering the Martinsburgh rioters to disband within twenty-four hours, or before noon of the 19th, and with an order to General French, who had three hundred United States troops at his command at Fort McHenry, to proceed at once to Martinsburgh and all other points on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad where his command might be necessary, to suppress lawlessness and disorder. The close of the day found these troops in the cars, with their supplies and ammunition, ready to move in the early morning. Mean- while all the State militia that could be trusted, were ordered under arms and moved towards the line of this great artery of commercial life. The strikers increased their numbers hourly, all along the road from Wheeling and Parkersburg on the Ohio, to the Potomac, until their forces were estimated by the thousand. During the night of the iSth a condition of ominous ap- prehension was felt all along the railway system of the coun- 30 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. try. Bloody work was apprehended in the State of West Virginia on the morrow. Yet so utterly unprepared was the State Government for such an exigency, that the Governor gave, as a reason for calling at once upon the President of the United States for help, the facts that the Legislature of West Virginia, in the year 1875, had passed a law forbidding the organization of the militia ; and that there was but a single volunteer company of soldiers at his service that could be trusted. Up to the time when bloodshed began, the mass of citizens seemed to sympathize with the strikers, and multi- tudes from all the business walks hastened to join them. On the 19th of July the strike swept over the whole road, and completed its stoppage of all transportation from Baltimore to Chicago. At Newark and Columbus, Ohio, the trains were stopped, as in West Virginia; and, before noon, the officials of the road called upon the Governor of Ohio for troops to pro- tect their property and repress lawlessness. On the same day the freight trainmen of the Pennsylvania Railroad stopped their trains at Pittsburgh, and at the " Cattle Yards " at East Liberty ; and refused to allow them to be taken farther East or West. They were joined by the other trainmen as fast as their trains arrived at these points, until hundreds of cars filled the side-tracks ; and crowds of dis- charged workmen gathered about the station. The " Brother- hood of Locomotive Engineers " met in the evening of that day in Pittsburgh, and demanded the restoration of the ten per cent, reduction of June first; the retention of all strikers in service, and the abolition of all double trains ; and they refused to allow any trains to be moved until these demancds were met. At the stock yards there were one hundred and thirty car- loads of cattle ready for shipment, and before the day was over one hundred carloads more were to arrive from the west. So sudden had been this strike, and so little apprehension THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 31 had been excited, that the State of Pennsylvania, hke that of West Virginia, seemed to be entirely at the mercy of the strikers. The Governor of Pennsylvania, John F. Hartranft, whose military record is a part of the glory of the Commonwealth, had gone with a company of friends upon an excursion by special train, to the Pacific Coast. He was far out on the plains, when, on the afternoon of the 19th of July, the telegram calling for military aid, to suppress the mob at Pittsburgh, ar- rested his excursion. At 12 o'clock the same night, in answer to the call of the sheriff of Allegheny County, the i8th Regi- ment N. G. P. was ordered out at Pittsburgh by the Adjutant General Latta, in accordance with the instructions of the Governor, who had reversed his train at Salt Lake City, and was hastening home under great difficulties. By midnight of the 19th, the Pennsylvania Railway from Philadelphia to Chicago and St. Louis, was blockaded with dead engines, which were in the possession of determined men. Thousands of cars loaded with all manner of merchan- dise, perishable and imperishable, were stopped where the hour fixed for the strike overtook them. Throughout the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois the local civil authorities, finding themselves powerless to secure order, or maintain the majesty of the law, were busy gathering the undrilled militia to face this organized force of lawless endeavor and demand. Before noon, on the 20th of July, the strikers of the Penn- sylvania Railway were joined by the trainmen of both the Pan Handle and the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railways; thus blockading the whole outlet from Pittsburgh to the west. By one o'clock, on the morning of the 20th, the immense traffic and travel of this highway of the nation, whose highways are its defense, came suddenly to an end. For a time the highest interests of society seemed to be at the mercy of solf-ap- 32 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. pointed workmen, who proposed, not to destroy government, but to administer its functions and to subordinate law to their personal demands. At Pittsburgh, Altoona, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, the thousands of trainmen were joined by thou- sands more of that nondescript crowd of the lawless and worthless, who always seem ready to add their force to the resistance to law, without thought or care, either as to cause or consequences. Having nothing to lose, the scent of plunder and their communistic instincts, led them to hurry to the localities where property had been wrested from the hands of its owners. Vast multitudes gathered at the stations and filled the streets on all the highways, bidding defiance to all authority. At the same hour, one o'clock on the morning of the 20th, the trains of the Erie Railway were stopped, and the strike extended over the Atlantic and Great Western and the Ohio and Mississippi, thus closing the middle artery of life in the travel and traffic of the country. At four o'clock p.m. on the 19th, the superintendent of the Erie received notice of the exigency, and of demands from the Brotherhood at Hornells- ville, N. Y. ; and immediately set forward by special car to prevent the execution of the determination of the strikers. He was suffered to pass as far as Salamanca, where his loco- motive was quietly detached from his car and placed in the engine house to cool. The trains were stopped at Hornells- ville and Salamanca as fast as they arrived, and these places were filled with travelers who found no conveyance. On the same night attempts were made at Buffalo and other places, east and west of that point, to involve the New York Central and Lake Shore roads, and to compel the employees of this last great thoroughfare to join the strikers. Disturb- ances were manifested at Albany, at Troy and at Rochester, in New York, at Erie, in Pennsylvania, and at all important THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 83 points westward to Chicago. But by wise management and concessions which the exigencies seemed to demand, the authorities of this great highway kept their employees gene- rally in position. And while no freight was allowed to pass Buffalo, with diminished passenger trains and military protec- tion, the Central and Lake Shore Roads were kept generally open, and their property protected. Thus in three days from the first revolt on the Baltimore and OKioat'MartmsBurgh, three out of the four great routes of commerce across the continent were entirely blockaded, and in the hands of men who defied the civil authority ; while the fourth and only re- maining highway, was interrupted by mobs of workmen and their sympathizers, in all the chief cities through which it passed, and it was kept partially open chiefly by military effic- iency. In less than three days more, this viofent interruption to trade and travel had swept over the whole continent. And within three days after this strike, however orderly conducted, became successful, in every city from New York to San P>an- cisco, the lawless element came to the surface. Scarcely a single railway escaped the craze of the engineers, brakemen and stokers, who demanded the redressing of real or imagin- ary wrongs, and the mob spirit followed their movement as effect follows efficient cause. The Governors of the different States through which the strikes extended ordered all the militia composing the Na- tional Guard of their respective States under arms, and many of them appealed to the President of the United States for the help of national troops. The greater portion of the Army of the United States was at that juncture busy, under command of Major-General Howard, chasing and fighting the Indians of Joseph's and Looking-Glass' Bands, at that time in revolt in the far West. The balance was scattered in detachments, in barracks and forts, and was mostly in the South and on the Western coasts. 3 34 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. The President called his Cabinet together, discussed the situation, and weighed the question of declaring military law in some of the States, where the more threatening aspects be- came apparent. The War Department of the National Gov- ernment became the scene of great energy and activity. The scattered regiments were gathered towards the East, as one State after another called for help. In the State of Pennsyl- vania there seemed, for various reasons, the greatest need for national troops. Hurrying across the Mississippi Valley, Governor Hartranft issued, by telegraph, his proclamation to the rioters in Penn- sylvania ; and at the same time his orders for the march of the National Guard. Just one day after the great strike had be- come general, the tread of soldiers was heard, on the march towards Cumberland, towards Pittsburgh, Hornellsville, Port Jervis and Buffalo. On the afternoon of July 20th, the Sixth Maryland Regi- ment began its march from Baltimore, for the relief of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway at Cumberland, and was at- tacked by the mob in the streets of that city. They fired upon this mob of from five to six thousand people, killing eight and wounding many more, and thus bloodshed began. On the night of the 20th, Philadelphia troops, about a thousand strong, passed over the Pennsylvania Railroad to Pittsburgh, where the demonstrations of the rioters appeared to be the most determined and dangerous. The condition of things there was aggravated by various unexpected causes, which were developed after the strike had begun. The laborers from the mills left their work, and joined the strikers in large numbers. The citizens generally sympathized with the rail- way operatives, in their contest with, and demands upon the' railway. One of the regiments of the National Guard, re- cruited in the city, when called to duty, refused to aid the civil authority in suppressing the mob. The sheriff and police THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 35 manifested and expressed their inability to control the mob, and their views of the unwisdom of attempting to disperse the crowd. At five o'clock on Saturday afternoon, July 2 1st, the Phil- adelphia troops arrived at Pittsburgh, only to find the whole city helpless and in the hands of the mob, while magistrates and police expressed fears of making any attempt to enforce the law. To this time good nature and quiet had prevailed among the strikers, as no serious attempt had been made to reduce them to order, or to disperse the gathered crowd. The troops, composed of parts of the First, Second and Third Regiments, having arrived under command of General Robert M. Brinton, a battalion of these soldiers, under Colonel Snow- den, of the Third Regiment, was moved forward to take pos- session of the road. But as they marched under orders to clear the railway tracks, they were furiously attacked by the mob, and opened fire in self-defense. The crowd dispersed only to return armed from arsenals and gun shops, which they had rifled, to attack the guard with an insane fur}'. Being so greatly outnumbered, and possibly with the hope of avoiding further bloodshed, the Colonel ordered the militia into the Round House for shelter and defense. Flere they maintained their position all night in defiance of the fiercest assaults the mob could make. It is estimated that more than fifty were killed or wounded by their shots. All that night the crowd exerted its blind force to capture, drive out, or destroy the brave Battalion which fought for life. A cannon was brought to be fired upon the Round House with the expectation that its walls would be broken, but in vain. The deadly aim of the soldiers picked off" the gunners, and created such a fear that the gun was abandoned. About one o'clock on Sabbath morning a train laden with petroleum was ignited, and pushed as near to the Round House as the track would permit, with the hope that the building would be 36 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. consumed, and the soldiers destroyed, or at least be compelled to flee from the stifling smoke. But the wind favored the troops, and the fire spread among the thousands of cars laden with merchandise. Now the work of fury began. The wind, sown in a thought- ies.s ill nature by a people who had counted it a virtue to grumble at a great corporation, had suddenly become the whirlwind, with its overwhelming force of indiscriminate de- struction. Men with sledge-hammers and axes broke down doors to cars and freight-houses, and men, women, and chil- dren began the work of pillage and theft. The torch was ap- plied tojthe_property of the road with desperate recklessness; while the fire companies of the city were compelled to stand by, to see it consumed, without an attempt to stay the flames, unless perchance these flames should touch private property. It is due to the railway men, whose grievance had insti- gated, and whose blind fury had carried forward this mob, to record the fact that very few, if any of them were seen en- gaged in th^ work of pillage. If any railway workers were partakers in this degrading crime, they were not strikers, but men who had been dismissed before the strike began. In the early morning of the 22d, cars laden with coke and saturated with coal oil, were pushed against the round house, and the soldiers were compelled to retreat. They did so at the cost of many a life. They were followed by the mob out of the city ; and as they were refused admittance into any refuge, they saved themselves at last by retreating, in good order entirely out of the city, where they bivouacked among the mountains until ordered to other parts of the State. The story (oft repeated) of the dispensing of the Philadelphia troops they indignantly deny. They retreated to the suburbs and there bivouacked. They were not even allowed a refuge in the United States barracks, because the commander of the barracks had no sufficient force to protect them, as the officer in command supposed. THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 37 All that Sabbath morning the work of pillage and fire con- tinued. The dead and wounded lay uncared for on the hill- sides, and in the streets. The streets of the city were filled with the vagrant crowds carrying home their plunder. Bar- rels of flour, and bales of goods, were trundled over the city by both men and women, and a very car nival of crime ^and vagrancy, struck the people with terror. At noon the citizens met and sent a delegation of Priests, Protestant pastors, and influential citizens, of best reputation in the city, to attempt to treat with the mob. But only to find that mobs make no treaties, and indeed are incapable of it. The riot and destruction continued until past the middle of the day without hindrance from any constituted civil authori- ties. Then the city aroused itself to the demands of the hour, and began to see the necessity, at any cost, for the reign of authority and law. A vigilant force, was organized by a few brave men, armed with ball bats, who took the field. As soon as this brave band of citizens appeared with its frown of honest determination, hundreds gathered to its help. With its simple uniform, a white ribbon tied upon the arm, tliis band speedily became a power before which the mob began to quail, and then to scatter. The more respectable soon came to the side of law and order. The base-ball bats, with which these brave men first ap- peared on the scene of death, pillage, and fire, were soon exchanged for trusty guns, and the triumph of law was speedily secured. A line of limitation was drawn about the conflagration, the fire companies were set to work, and the mob slowly dispersed without further violence. The closing hours of that dreadful Sabbath, in Pittsburgh, witnessed the subsid- ence of the tempest of wicked fury. No further attempt seems to have been made to rally the mob, or destroy property ; but through the wakeful hours of the succeeding night the citizens had time to meditate upon their fair city's danger, and dishonor. 38 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. The ashes of two thousand cars with their freight of rich merchandise, the ruined locomotives of all these trains, the miles of buildings and sheds, belonging to the railway, con- sumed, and the wreck and ruin which covered the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railway, from the Union Station to the Cattle Pens of East Liberty ; combined with the awful specta- cle of dead and mutilated men, women, and children, on the streets of one of the best cities of the land, remained to teach the people what it is to trifle with a lawless spirit ; or for any grievance to suffer the supremacy of the law, even for a day, to be set aside. More than seven millions of property be- longing to the railroad were destroyed in about twelve hours of riot, according to the estimate upon which payment was demanded from the city. The number of lives destroyed, or of people maimed, no man knows. Through the following night, and for days and nights after- wards, the citizens kept the city with sleepless vigilance, until a sufficient number of trusty soldiers could be marched to their relief, and the organized strikers could be induced, or compelled, to surrender their stolen arms. The civil processes of the government then brought the people back under the power of order and law. The day following this wretched disorder at Pittsburgh, attempts were made at Buffalo, N. Y., at Altoona, at Har- risburg, and at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, to inaugurate the same horror of irresponsible violence. But the troops gathered, and the brave fidelity of the local police, dispersed the mobs and placed their leaders in duress, with insignificant loss of life and property. This w^as specially true of the city of Philadelphia. Its faithful and efficient mayor, with his magnificently brave police, met the exigency with heroic ■vigor. Philadelphia had the best troops in the State; but her regiments had all been sent to other parts of the com- monwealth. But the police force, without hesitancy, pressed THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 39 upon the vast crowds, armed with clubs and revolvers, and arrested all dangerous or boisterous men without hesitancy. Thus the mob was kept under constant control until all dan- ger passed away. On the 23rd of July, Governor Hartranft appealed to President Hayes for the help of United States troops, to enable him to suppress violence throughout the various cities of the Commonwealth o{ Pennsylvania through which the railways pass, in which the civil authorities were not able to exercise sufficient control. The President promptly responded with a public proclamation, and hurried the scattered regi- ments, and fragments of regiments, that had been on post duty in all parts of the national domain, into the State at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. On the same day, a portion of the National Guard was marched to Reading to protect the city and the railway property. The soldiers were but poorly trained, and seem to have been worse handled. They were marched into a deep railroad cut, where they could do little to protect themselves. They were attacked by the mob on both sides in a furious onset, in which thirty lives were lost; and the whole city was smitten with terror. For a time this fair city was at the mercy of lawless men; and until reliable troops could be fur- nished, civil process was not attempted. The strike, however orderly, had no power to control the mob spirit. Indeed, the rise of the spirit of violence, as a direct result of the great strike, was manifest from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It swept over the whole lines of travel like a wave impelled by some unseen and undiscoverable force. This fury of passion, and spirit of murder, followed the success of the strikers, in almost every place, in about the same number of hours after the demands of the civil authority had been successfully resisted. Where no resistance, or military force, became apparentj.the signs of failure or of the weakening of the strike 40 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. seemed to be the signal to that multitude, who had neither grievance to redress nor anything to lose, to come to the front, and fan the flames of violence. While the incendiary fires were still burning in Pittsburgh, the same spirit which applied the torch and sacked the houses of traffic there, appeared in almost every city, and at every station, where the Brotherhood of Railway Employees had succeeded in inaugurating their strike. In Baltimore, Phila- delphia, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, In- dianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Buffalo the communistic element of the population came to the surface. In Harrisburg, a crowd of noisy rioters appeared in the streets, the great body of whom seemed to be entire strangers in the city, and made night hideous with their noisy threaten- ings of fire and plunder. But the sheriff of Dauphin County was a man of nerve and resources. He was an excellent soldier and a conscientious executive officer. He quietly enlisted and armed a thousand, or more, of the best citizens, and had them prepared to rally to his help at a given signal. At midnight the fire-signals were sounded, and five hundred of these citizens appeared armed on the streets under orders of Col. W. W. Jennings, the faithful sheriff, and they dispersed this mob without firing a shot. An immense crowd then gathered about the railway station, that seem.ed to have no special connection with the railway employees. About midnight an armed body of these men took possession of the Western Union Telegraph office, but were soon driven out by the sheriff, who appeared with a posse of a thousand citizens to reinstate the operators. This movement of the citizens seems to have made a profound im- pression upon the lawless elements, and secured safety to the city, and the railway property, until all danger was passed. The same night about six hundred of the armed strikers left the city to intercept a company of the Philadelphia militia, THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE. 41 on its way from Altoona, and they succeeded in capturing a portion of them ; but the balance marched around the city. Such was the condition of most of the towns and cities where for three days the strikers had held the roads with what they published as, and doubtless was intended to be, an orderly strike. It certainly demonstrated that such a thing as an orderly strike is impossible. This is but a contradiction of terms by which no wise man can be deceived. The brotherhood, which inaugurated the great strike, dis- claimed any intention to injure or destroy property. They proposed only to stop the movement of business in an illegal way, and in spite of legal authority, until their grievances were redressed. In the beginning they had, or seemed to have, the honest sympathy of the great mass of the people in almost all places. On one of the roads, at least, the trains were regularly run on schedule time by the strikers themselves, and were fully patronized, and everything was surrendered in good order when the strike ended. Doubtless they were as much surprised as were the public authorities when the spirit of lawlessness was fully aroused, and became manifest. The pro- portions and success of their strike had, in three days, pro- duced their legitimate fruits, in the insecurity of property and then of life, which at once threatened to reduce society to chaos. These legitimate fruits were quickly discerned by the better class of the strikers themselves. In many places the strikers tendered their services to the railway, or even to .the civil authorities, for the protection of property, and the con- trol of all outbreakings of violence. In others they placed guards of their own, and they expelled with promj^tness from their crowd those who were heard to advocate fire and pillage. Yet it was quickly demonstrated, in almost every centre of their activity, that these strikers, with the best intentions, but with their unlawful modes of action, had generated forces which they had no ability to check, direct, or control. A 42 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. child, or even a burrowing crawfish, may let the pent-up waters through the dyke ; but who shall stop the floods, or place limits to the destruction which must follow? By the 24th of July this organized force, which was set in array against law and order to correct the wrongs of a worthy class of citizens, and intelligent workmen, was followed by the communistic frenzy which its own acts drew forth from the depths of society. And in three days that frenzy had swept over almost every railway of the Commonwealth. Like some azotic gas, this lawless spirit settled down upon the towns, cities, and communities. It put out the fires of industry, and smote with a deadly paralysis the business and trade of the people. Shut within homes of strange fear and apprehension, the great body of the law-abiding citizens waited in apparent helplessness the issue of this business convulsion. Thought- ful people stood perplexed or aghast, before the proportions of the great strike, and the multitude pursued, with silent thoughtfulness, their daily tasks with such helps as they could secure, all the while wondering whereunto this matter would grow. Too often this multitude vainly concluded that the path of safety and right must lie somewhere between the great corporations and their employees, who stood in open revolt against liberty and law, as fully as against the oppressions of the hireling in the matter of his wages ; instead of upon that path of moral rectitude, and regulated liberty, which leads the weakest, as well as the strongest, into the refuge of justice and law ; the only impregnable citadel of society and government. THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 43 CHAPTER III. THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. The Strike in the Anthracite Coal-fields of Pennsylvania — The City's Exposure and Danger — "They cry Peace! Peace! when there is no Peace" — They Seek their Rights, by the way of Wrong. THE great strike seemed to loiter on its way to the anthra- cite coal-fields of Pennsylvania. The railways centering in the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys were among the last in the State to be interrupted. The causes for this delay may have been various. They are difficult to trace. It may have been because of the sad experiences of the miners' strikes of 1870 and 1 87 1, from which the business interests had very slowly and imperfectly recovered. It may have arisen from the visible relations and mutual dependence of all the great fields of labor and enterprise in this region. Or the postpone- ment of this crisis may have been caused by the very great mixture of races, and the prejudices of the population. Ex- perience had demonstrated the danger of arousing the pas- sions of that ignorant and wicked class, who were known to infest the coal-fields, who are without homes or social ties, and who always seem to be able to live without work ; while they complain perpetually of their inability to live with it. The hesitancy and delay in participating in the strike may have had its cause in the historic fact, that the three great roads which controlled the transportation through the valley had always shown a disposition to deal justly with their employees. 'I he managers, and superintendents of these railways were generally 44 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. men who had prepared themselves for their places of trust by a practical education, in which they had passed through all the lower positions. Hence they were both able and disposed to appreciate, both the duties and the trials of the employees in all departments. Engineers and brakemen knew they were appreciated, and had faith in the men over them generally. The conduct of these men, after the strike was consummated, demonstrated that it was the demand of the Brotherhood, rather than any special grievance or wrong which stopped them. It may have been any, or all of these facts and convictions that worked the delay, on the part of the orderly and industrious trainmen, on the roads centering in Scranton. It may have been the lack of any real grievance against the roads they served, which made them hesitate to join their brethren in the attempt to compel the corporations, all over the country, to re- move the grievances under which their employees suffered. But it was after the traffic on almost all the other highways of the State had been interrupted, and the citizens at home had enjoyed their laugh at the expense of their unlucky brethren, who had been set down in strange places where no thorough- fare could be found, that the rumors of the strike in their own midst began to grow definite and ominous. Strange faces began to appear about the shops and in the streets of Scranton. The mines with their breakers, and the mills with their busy hammers were in full operation. Yet the streets were filled with a people who seemed to wander about with aimless purpose. After the strike upon the Erie Railway to the north had closed that highway, the shipment of trains over the Delaware & Hudson and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railways increased ; and omens of prosperity were not lacking for four or five days after the tem- porary success of the strike had been secured all over the State. But at noon of July 24th, the employees of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, having no connection THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 45 with the railways, without premonition or complaint, left the rolling-mill with a cheer, as the gong sounded for the noon hour, and marched in a body to the other mills of the com- pany, where they were joined by the workmen. From thence they proceeded to the machine shops of the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western Railway. Here they gathered the work- men in an orderly way. Mr. W. W. Scranton, the manager of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, having learned of this movement, followed the workmen immediately and asked for an explanation of their conduct. They answered simply that they could not work for the wages they were receiving. There were about a thousand of the employees of the Lacka- wanna Iron & Coal Company who left the works. After they had been accosted by the manager, and kindly informed that the company fully sympathized with the workmen, and regret- ted the state of business, which compelled the reduction of wages, but that he could give them no encouragement to hope for an increase at present, they quietly dispersed in small bands, and spent the afternoon walking about the city in an orderly way. On the 23d the trainmen of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway, and of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Com- pany, presented to Superintendents Hallstead and Manville a series of resolutions, in which they demanded a restoration of the ten per cent, reduction to which they had been subjected with the employees of the other roads. The superintendents promised an answer as soon as the papers could be forwarded to the headquarters in New York and answer returned. The answer came on the afternoon of the 24th, and was a distinct refusal, which was announced to the Committee of the l^roth- erhood, then in secret session in Scranton. At six o'clock p. M., of the next day (July 24th), the fire- men of these roads struck, in an orderly way, which indicated a careful preparation. There was manifest no excitement nor 46 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. anger. The locomotives were all taken to the yards, their fires carefully drawn, and left in their proper places. Coal trains were left in good order on the tracks in the yard. One train which had left on its regular time, which was prior to the hour agreed upon for the strike, when six o'clock arrived, had its engine reversed and was quietly returned to the yard. In less than an hour the whole work was done, the strike was consummated without friction, and the trainmen retired to their homes with quiet dignity. The busiest place in the city was thus left, in a single afternoon, to a painful silence. At the same hour, and in the same orderly manner, the trainmen of the Delaware & Hudson Company left their work. Thus all the wheels of freight and coal trains ceased to roll, as soon as they could be placed on switches or in the yards in safety. It became immediately evident that the men on these roads had acted in concert, and were involved with the strange power of the secret Brotherhood, whose efficiency had mani- fested itself all over the country. This was asserted in the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, as on other roads, to be a strike of the firemen of freight trains alone. But it very soon involved all who were employed in the running of trains, whether passenger or freight. The excitement spread rapidly over the city, and painful apprehension took hold of the whole people. The papers on the day on which the strike was begun in Scranton were full of the details of the bloody scenes, enacted at Pittsburgh, Altoona, Reading and Harrisburg. The day before this all the troops, that belonged to the city and its vicinity, had left under orders of General Osborne, to be used at different points in the State, to preserve order, and could not be returned by rail, thus leaving the city without any mili- tary force. A great many families were troubled because their members were out of the city ; many of them only THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 47 gone for a day, under claims of business, but with little pros- pect now of being able to reach their homes. But what was far worse, the whole business community knew, that this strike of railway men necessarily involved a cessation of mining; if not an entire suspension of the mills, and manufactures of all sorts ; and most probably would deter- mine, or precipitate, a strike in all the industries of the valley. However orderly the trainmen might be, however quietly they might conduct themselves; or however narrow and specific the demands they might make ; every one acquainted with the relation of industries in the coal fields, and with the want of confidence then existing, knew that there was vastly more involved in the " orderly strike," as it was called, than could be hidden in any question of wages for firemen and engineers. If the coal trains shall cease to carry the coal to market, the mining of coal must cease; for a very limited amount can be held at the mouth of the mines at any time; and the vast capital involved demands ceaseless activity, if workmen are to receive their wages. Beyond this mystery of combination, which showed itself powerful enough to be able to move with a certain dignity and careful quietness of method, towards questionable if not unlawful ends, the people of Scranton saw a whole army of at least 30,000 miners, laborers, iron workers, and teamsters, whose industries must become immediately in- volved and whose work must stop. Apprehension like a dense cloud settled in an hour over the whole community, when the fact of the railway strike be- came known. This cloud was slightly lifted when late at night it was learned that the passenger trains due were allowed to go on to their destination, and that the strikers had abandoned no train by the way. Along the streets men began to speculate upon the prospec- 48 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. tive effects and uses of the strike. They said the suspension of the shipment of coal must, as a natural consequence, stop the work at the mines, and of course this will force the price of coal upward by the law of demand and supply ; then suffi- cient wages can be paid. So the people whose interests were so deeply and suddenly involved, without their knowledge, turned to the logic of strikes for comfort. Meanwhile the strikers and mill-hands, alike, gathered at their places of council. In the afternoon, about the time the answer to the firemen's demand arrived from New York, the miners of the D. L. and W. Railway gathered in Fellows Hall, in Hyde Park, to discuss the situation and prospects. They showed their real apprehensions by pledging themselves to stand for law and order zvhatever might be the issue. In the evening the strikers of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, who had left their work at noon, met in secret ses- sion at the Father Matthew Hall, in the city, and, although they admitted no outsiders, they were careful to have it under- stood that their speakers, who discussed their grievances, were all in favor of maintaining the peace and qniet of the city in every emergency. The railway men quietly retired to their homes leaving their cause in the hands of their council, or committee, of the Brotherhood, which held its session in Washington Hall. So the night of the 24th of July wore away in gloom and appre- hension. A large number of the families of property-holders, merchants, and professional men were separated. Members of these families were absent on business, or scattered about the sea shore and through the wilderness, for the enjoyment of vacation, and with the sudden stoppage of trains, they seemed so far away ; while the possibilities of lawlessness and wicked violence overshadowed the homes that were absolutely with- out defense. The Mayor, with his eleven policemen and a few constables, constituted the whole force appointed to watch THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 49 over the lives and property in the city of nearly 40,000 in- habitants. The municipal government of the city of Scranton was, per- haps, at this time, on a fair average with that of cities all over the country. It enjoyed about as much of the confidence of the mass of the people as institutions subject to mere party contest, and party administration, where the chief party issues are the spoils of office, are likely to possess. But the great mixture of the population in its variety of races forming the community, whose lines of separation had been made sharper by the dreadful experiences of the years when the villany of the Molly Maguire association had worked without rebuke; had fostered a want of confidence in all departments of muni- cipal administration, and had greatly weakened judicial au- thority. Offices were filled by men who, however virtuous or able, had been placed in nomination by party machinery, and elected by a compromise, or division of races, in which the question of availability was far more important than that of fitness or ability. The history of the city had demonstrated, in the strikes and disturbances of the past, that the safety of the people had been secured by the orderly spirit of the mass of citizens, rather than by the efficiency of public officers. But when this strike began, whatever might have been the confi- dence of the citizen in his municipal" officials, there was neither man nor woman of the city who did not know that these officials were powerless before such forces of passion as were daily gathered in the streets. At the dawn of the morning of the 25th of July the IMayor issued an address to the citizens, important for its timeliness and wisdom, which doubtless did much towards restoring confidence to the community, and securing careful action on the part of the strikers. His address reminded the whole people, in words at which they could take no offense, of the 4 50 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. ' dangers, and measureless disasters, to which the city was ex- posed, and called upon all citizens to conduct themselves with calm thoughtfulness ; and use their best endeavors for the maintenance of law and order. This caution was published none too soon ; for while the Mayor's address was being read by the citizens at their homes in the morning, crowds of ex- cited men gathered at different points in the city. It was learned that the strike, which had begun at noon the day be- fore, was extending with great rapidity and uniformity throughout both the city and the valley, and was gathering to its measures all kinds of artizans. A large and excited crowd gathered at the railway station, which^ fronted on Lackawanna Avenue, about eight o'clock in the morning. All seemed to be impressed with the conviction that something extraordinary was about to happen. It was rumored that the mail train from the north, which was due at 9.50 A. M., had a large number of passengers, and was plough- ing through great excitement and demonstrations of violence. At Great Bend a crowd had greeted the train with shouts, and an attempt had been made to detach the passenger cars, which the engineer frustrated by rapid movement. But no farther serious difficulty was met until the train had turned the curve just below the Gap, near the Diamond Mine above Scranton, when it was flagged by a committee of the strikers who announced their determination to take off the passenger cars, allowing only the mail car to proceed. As soon as the train stopped at Hyde Park station, a large crowd surrounded it and watched while the passenger cars, filled with travelers, were detached and left standing on the track, while the engine, with the express and mail cars, was suffered to come on to the Scranton station. As soon as this fragment of the train arrived, the platform of the station became crowded with a surging mass of excited men. A large number applied for tickets for New York, but THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 51 were quietly refused by the ticket agent, Mr. W. H. Fuller, who had learned the intention of the strikers to allow no passenger trains to go forward. Assistant Postmaster E. L. Buck, who had come to the station with a large mail, learned that the strikers did not propose to stop the mail car; and so applied to Superintendent Ilallstead for instructions. He was informed that if the pas- senger cars were not allowed to go, the mail car certainly should not. The strikers would have to meet the responsi- bility of interfering with the United States mail. This the strikers seemed very anxious to avoid. They en- tered at once upon a very earnest endeavor to persuade, and then to compel the superintendent to send forward the loco- motive with the mail car. They proposed not only to show the corporations what they were not allowed to do, but what they were required to do. They proposed even to run the mail themselves, and give " the honor of the Brotherhood " in pledge for its safety. They had no grievance against the United States Government, and might even consent to do this great government work themselves without pay. They tele- graphed the Governor of the State, and then the Postmaster- general, and asked that the mail car should be required to go forward. The Governor answered with a request to Mr. Hall- stead that he would permit the mail car to go forward. The Postmaster-General was silent. But the superintendent was inflexible. The contract of the road only required them to carry the mails with their passenger trains, and if tlie one could not go, he said, neither could the other. So Postmaster Buck telegraphed the fact and nature of the obstructions to his superiors, asked for instructions, then car- ried his letter sacks back to the office, where he lit his pipe and sat down upon them to wait for coming events. The city of Scranton was thus suddenly cut off from all communication with the outside world, except such as could be had b)- pri- vate conveyance. 62 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. This isolation, serious and unexampled as it was, was but the beginning of troubles in and about the city. The 25th of July was filled with strange paradoxes, in the life of the city. The mixture of intense excitement, with the marked calmness of the people ; the noiseless quiet of the great crowds, the emphatic protests of the multitudes engaged in trampling down law, tJiat they shoiild stand by law and order under all circumstances, fairly bewildered the people. All that they could do was simply to wait. At the same hour that the passenger trains were stopped, a committee of miners waited upon Mr. William R. Storrs, the Coal Superintendent of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway, and demanded 25 per cent, immediate advance of wages. They placed in his hands their resolutions, adopted the day before, requiring that all work should stop until their demand should be met. The superintendent replied that he had no power to grant their demand ; and that no answer could be obtained from the directors by the hour they had fixed upon to cease work. This committee retired, and, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, made their report to a mass-meeting of miners and laborers at the " Round Woods," in Hyde Park, only to find that even a sufficient delay to transmit their demands to the office in New York, and obtain an an- swer, could not be granted. The miners' strike followed immediately. So the mines were closed, and an army of idle men and boys from the whole valley was turned into the streets. The Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company strikers, who had sent a committee the evening before to General Manager Scranton with their demand, received from him a written answer, which was a model of kindness and courtesy. It assured them of the impossibility of the Company grant- ing an advance, until better times should come, when they would only be too happy to raise the wages of all deserving THE SIROCCO AND THE SIMOON. 53 workmen. This answer was discussed with closed doors, and on the morning of the 25th the conclusion was announced that all work should cease in the mills until their demands should be met. Just before noon the great engines of the blast-furnaces and rolling-mills stopped for the first time in their history. The puddling-furnaces were abandoned to be chilled, and the'^silencc of death passed over this great indus- try which, for upwards of forty years, had been as the centre of life to the city and the adjacent valley. About the same hour the workmen employed in the Dela- ware, Lackawanna and Western car shops made the same de- mand of Superintendent Robert McKenna ; and receiving a negative answer, promptly left in a body, and the busy shops were all closed. So it occurred before nightfall of July 25th, in less than thirty hours from the first movement of the strike, every great industry of the city and the valley, was stopped except one : that of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, with its gravity road. An awful silence crept along the streets and into the homes of the people. The tread of silent men, like the march of threatening ghosts, smote the ears of the troubled people along the streets, and benumbed their hearts with fear. The setting sun glanced down upon the whole valley, of such wonderful schemes of in- dustry, and revealed a quiet which was like nothing so much as death. Of the thousands of engines which had so long glorified the coal fields, hanging silver clouds over the valley and on the sides of the mountains, all were silent and still. There was no sound of either wheels or hammers in all the beautiful valley from the gateway of the Susquehanna through the Moosic mountain, to the canal basins and coal deposits on the Lackawaxen. Save for the lonely puff of the engines that pumped the water from some of the mines, which could not be stopped without absolute ruin, the signs of industry- liad all departed. The strike had in two days become universal- 54 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. An organized power of real Anarchy had usurped the place of law in the community, and, with sublime pretence of virtue, assured the helpless people that they were entirely safe. This was but the gentle, graceful movement of the viper to quiet the heart-beat of the little child. This was the purring lullaby of the lion that has his prey under his paw. With foot upon the neck of civil authority, this power waved away with scorn, the fears and sense of right, which suggested to the city's magistrate a call for military force to protect the city. With sublime assumption these strikers called the mayor from his executive chair to treat with committees of law- breakers, and demanded that he should recognize them as the only proper keepers of the public peace. Such were the scenes which closed that day ;" a day which was followed by a night whose silence was so intense and painful the people could not sleep. The strike was, indeed, a complete success. But the most anxious, painful watcher saw, among the stars that kept on their solemn pace through the silent hours, no sign which augured hope that a single griev- ance of a single honest workman, would be removed thereby. Nor did such a sign ever appear along such a line of tortuous vision. DIVIDED COUNSELS. CHAPTER IV. DIVIDED COUNSELS. Justice Fallen in the Streets — Efforts to Establish Law by Compromise, and Order by Treaty with Law-breakers — Preparations for Defense and Protection — Generation and Concentration of Forces, Open and Secret — The Wheels begin to Revolve again, not without Friction — Law-abiding Citizens propose in their Own Way to assist the Law-breakers to keep the Peace of the City. 1T7E have now reached a point in our narrative when history, ' » in order to be intelligent and truthful, must become more or less personal. When the civil authority is overcome and defied, the honest citizen becomes a law unto himself. When the light of legal authority is eclipsed or put out, the good and the true must kindle lights for themselv^es. Society re- duced to chaos, whether by the wicked or by the deceived, must crystallize about brave spirits who are endowed with wisdom to devise and courage to execute the plans by which order shall be restored and safety secured. The entirely un- precedented condition of affairs and the recognized helpless posture of the executors of law, on the night of July 25th, in the city, set every law-abiding citizen to the consideration of his personal and public duty ; and the immediately succeed- ing days developed a force of personal manhood, and a patri- otic devotion, which remain still as a rich legacy in the history of the city. The city's imminent and visible danger suggested to all good citizens the wisdom of a careful search for some reliable and sufficient defense. 56 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Circumstances have much to do in determining character generally. Exigency develops manhood with extraordinary rapidity. When danger threatens, the timid gather about the brave, and the weak lay hold of the strong. Thus virtuous society quickly reaches its poise, gathers up its strength to withstand the shock of anarchy, and sets itself to rescue the legitimate authority from weakness and dishonor. The city of Scranton on the 25th of July, 1877, when the strike had reached its largest proportions, and had caused every industry of the valley to cease except one, was perhaps more fully at the mercy of the elements that chose to be lawless than any city that had been visited by the great strike. The city was thought to contain about forty-eight thousand inhabitants, and was made up, socially and very much geo- graphically, of communities defined by race, tastes and habits of life. Very naturally the different races and nationalities, when they came in sufficient numbers, segregated-, and had formed communities in this city, as in most of the cities in the country. While this habit probably added to the enjoy- ment and increased the home feeling of the generation of emigrants, and did not prevent the people from being good citizens, it certainly retarded the unification of the population and gave rise to perplexing questions concerning municipal administration. These different communities dwelt generally in peace, by simply allowing each to follow its own modes of life, and by quietly submitting to the general results in the conduct of city affairs without complaint. Yet, abnormal as it would seem to be, this very segregation of the races had long proved a real force in securing the general good order of the city. It constantly kept alive that pride of blood which made each community the keeper of the reputation of its own people. But this situation, and these distinct populations, made the problem as to how this whole people might be fused into a unit in support of the authority of law, insoluble to any finite mind. DIVIDED COUNSELS. 57 The great shops and factories were almost entirely situated along the line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway, and to the south of it. Most of the business of the city was confined, at that time, to Lackawanna and Penn Avenues. The first of these avenues runs its whole length nearly parallel with the railway, and only half a square from it at any point. The miners, who are chiefly Welsh, had homes of their own, and lived chiefly on the west side of the river, in what was then known as Hyde Park. The Germans, who were generally artisans and skilled work- men, centered about Cedar street, on the south-west. The Irish laborers, in great numbers, lived on the hill to the south and on the flats along the river, or gathered in houses belonging to the company they served, about the breakers where they were employed. The purely American population, with those that readily assimilated with them, very generally occupied the central part of the city, spreading out to the northward as far as Providence. While the city was greatly scattered and oc- cupied a large territory, the great mass of its business and valuable property were strikingly concentrated. The almost countless " Patches," as they were called, on all sides in the outskirts, were be}'ond the reach of a police and afforded nests for hatching any kind of schemes of communism and vio- lence. An hour's work of such a mob as at that time could have been gathered in less than an hour, could have ruined all the best interests of the city. Such was the vision of Scranton that hovered about the pillows of the thinking people on the night of the 25th, when the strike had reached its cli- max, and had the city at its mercy. The Mayor, the Hon. Robert H. McKune, from the begin- ning of the strike, seemed to appreciate the real situation, and with a patience and wisdom entirely unexpected, and little ap- prehended at the time, addressed himself to the work of a 58 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. mediator between the strikers and their employers. He had been elected, chiefly, by the men who now assumed the control of the city ; and hence held a questionable position in the con- fidence of the great mass of the law-abiding citizens, which made his work only the more difficult. On the morning of the 26th the Mayor published his call upon all business men who were willing to combine for pro- tection and the maintenance of order, to present themselves at his office and enroll as " special police." At the same time he published the names of ten responsible citizens whom he had selected as advisers, and requested them to report at his office at nine o'clock in the morning, These gentlemen were W. W. Winton, Colonel F. L. Hitchcock, Austin M. Decker, Henry B. Rockwell, B. G. Morgan, Lewis Pughe, J. A. Price, M. W. Clark, C. Dupont Breck, and Edward Merrifield. This committee met at the time appointed, and discussed the situation. They soon found themselves divided on the question of organizing a force to meet any violent, or openly lawless, movement of the strikers. The majority favored a quiet and peaceable waiting, with confidence in the protestations of all the committees of the strikers, that they would maintain order themselves, and see that no violence should be attempted in the city. At least two members of the committee earnestly advised the enrolling of special police, and the gathering of arms for their use. So the Mayor, under a divided judgment of his advisers, opened his books for the enrollment of special police, in accordance with the published call of Governor Hartranft upon all communities where the strike prevailed. Meanwhile the strikers held almost continual sessions by their head men and committees. Each division or society of labor had its own headquarters, and carefully excluded all who did not belong to their particular association. The "Brother- hoods" of Railway-men, occupying Washington Hall on Lackawanna Avenue, but a square away from the station and DIVIDED COUNSELS. 59 railway offices, very soon manifested their conviction that a greater responsibility had been taken than they had intended. They had expected to fight their own battle. They seem neither to have expected nor desired to be joined by the miners, laborers, or workers in the mills. The mayor met their com- mittee and tried to arrange terms of agreement for them with the superintendents. To him they repeated their pledge to maintain law and order in the city. The strikers from the mills met in the " Father Matthew Hall," and passed reso- lutions denying the right of the Mayor to appoint " special police/' and requesting the City Council to interfere to prevent it, or at least to refuse to pay such police; and the Councils did pass their vote of censure upon his honor in obedience to this indignant demand. The miners took similar action at Fellows' Hall, and filled the air with the expression of their hot indignation at the mayor's call for aid to preserve the peace of the city. So the citizens and the strikers were alike divided. At the hour appointed for the enrollment of the Special Police, the mayor, on entering his office in perplexity over the various opinions on the subject, found two men waiting to write their names, and so he opened his book for enrollment. The first name written and accepted was that of H. H. Merrill, the teacher of a boys' school in the city, who ever after was found ready and unflinching in his public duty. The second was Henry M. Boies, who will appear again in this history as one to whom the Scranton City Guard, and the City itself, owes a heavy debt of gratitude. The third enrollment was that of Fzra H. Ripple; the fourth, that of Charles R. Smith ; the fifth, that of Harry V. Logan ; the sixth, that of Peter ¥. Gunster, and the seventh, F. L. Hitchcock. A very few more names were added, when it became evident that the great weight of opinion was against the measure, and it was prose- cuted no farther. There were two lines of conviction, which very soon became apparent; one of which was that of a large 60 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. class of good citizens, — that any preparation which might be undertaken could only excite and anger the strikers, and thus possibly precipitate a mob, which it would be impossible to gather force enough to control ; the other was that of many equally good citizens, who believed a force of resistance should be organized, but who lacked faith in the Mayor himself, and were unwilling to put themselves under his command ; while they were entirely ready to enlist for the defense of the city. The published accounts of the conduct of executive officers in other parts of the State had not tended to the establishment of faith in a mayor, who had not yet established himself in the confidence of the best citizens. At the door of the Mayor's office, about nine o'clock in the morning of the 26th, two young men casually met, and for some time discussed the situation. They agreed that the citizens ought to arm, and prepare for the protection of the city. They saw the city's danger, but discovered no defense. The one had just written his name on the mayor's book as a special policeman, and was a worthy veteran of the war; the other was a law student, who refused to enlist in that way, but expressed his readiness to join an independent company; and give his service to the raising of volunteers for such a company at once. These two young men were Charles R. Smith and Ar- thur C. Logan. They slowly walked up the street discussing the matter until they reached the conclusion to act without delay, and test the possibility of raising an independent com- pany for the city's defense. The state of the public mind and the peculiar danger, they knew, demanded very quiet and secret action, and they pledged themselves to each other to stand together. They entered the drug-store, which was then kept by one J. H. Phelps, at the corner of Wyoming Avenue and Spruce Street; and there wrote an enlistment paper, and set out immediately to secure signatures. That paper was as follows: to wit, — DIVIDED COUNSELS. 61 ''Whereas, by a call dated July 25, 1877, the Mayor of this city has called upon the business men for organization ; and whereas, the pre- sent state of affairs in the city and vicinity warrants a feeling of inse- curity on the part of the business portion of the community ; and, although a creditable determination is expressed by all parties to the present con- flict of interests, and while we have the fullest confidence in their good faith, still we feel that an organization, on our part, will present tangible support to their efforts in sustaining the legal authorities in preserving peace and good order, and will guarantee protection to property in the event of intrusion from such elements of discord as might present them- selves : " We, therefore, proffer our services as a company, to be known as the ' Scranton Citizens' Corps,' in furtherance of the objects above set forth . July 26th , /S//'. ' ' It might be a question, suggested by the peculiar structure of this paper, whether it proposed a company to aid the strikers, or the leral authorities, in the maintenance of order. But sub- sequent events left no doubt of the real intention. This paper was signed by one hundred and sixteen young men in the course of the day. The first name upon it is that of Ezra H. Ripple, and bears the evidence that it was not written by himself but by Mr. Smith, who doubtless had au- thority to do so. These young men secured the interest of a merchant, R. B. Merriam by name, in the movement, who went out with them to help to enlist their company. They were soon joined by H. V. Logan, John T. Howe and Samuel H. Stevens ; and these six completed the work, with great quiet- ness, before the day closed. After nightfall, they gathered the men they had enlisted in the rooms of the " Forest & Stream Sportsman's Club," on Lackawanna Avenue, over the Lacka- wanna Valley Bank, without the knowledge of the owners of the building. Mr. Smith happened to have a ke}', and took the responsibility of opening the doors, being a member of the club. As near as can be determined twenty-eight of the signers of this paper appeared at this meeting, which was or- ganized by the election of Frederick \V. Gunster, chairman, 62 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. and S. H. Stevens, secretary. The minutes of their meeting were preserved in memoranda that have never been fully writ- ten out ; but the discussions and items of business are suffici- ently indicated, and become quite clear in the light of well- known facts. The questions which divided and perplexed the citizens generally came up in the meeting. They were such questions as these: What relations should this company hold to the Mayor ? How can it be so organized as to be legal, and yet remain entirely in the command of its own officers when on duty? One party desired to have the whole mem- bership enrolled as special police, but found very little follow- ing, and it was decided to organize independently as the " Scranton Citizens' Corps." Ezra H. Ripple, who as yet knew nothing of the shape mat- ters had taken, being out of the city, was nominated as Captain, and received every vote, except one, which was cast for Colonel F. L. Hitchcock. The Colonel had made an excellent record in the war, both as a soldier and commanding officer, and was personally popular; and the only explanation of his small vote for this command is to be found in the fact that he was a member of the mayor's committee, and advocated direct relationship to that officer, on the part of the company. R. B. Merriam was elected first-lieutenant, and James E. Brown second-lieutenant ; the latter being elected over G. S. Throop, who received a respectable vote. These officers were authorized by vote to appoint all the non-commissioned offi- cers who might be needed. Committees were appointed on membership, and for securing a place for drill. The number of members was by vote limited to one hundred and one ; but this order was rescinded on the following day. It was ordered that the company should report for duty only upon the call of its own officers, and then it adjourned until the evening of the 27th. Thus " The Scranton Citizens' Corps " was organized with DIVIDED COUNSELS. 63 the utmost secrecy, to avoid excitement, and found itself with- out arms or ammunition, or even a place in the city where it would be prudent, or safe, to attempt to drill. But it was made up of cool heads and stout hearts, and had in it many who knew what war is ; men who proposed to stand by the interests of the city and maintain the law, whatever might be the consequences to themselves. During the same day there were other men, who knew no- thing of this movement to organize a military company, who were busy rendering services by which this inchoate company was speedily to become a force for the maintenance of the legal authority. Early on the morning of the 26th Captain Ripple went to Wilkes-Barre, on business, in company with Mr. James Ruth- ven, having authorized Charles R. Smith to sign his name on the mayor's call for special police. These gentlemen called upon General Osborne, then commanding the National Guard in this part of the State, and obtained from him authority, which was issued to Mr. Ruthven, to collect all arms he could find belonging to the State in the region, and hold them in Scranton. With this authority they started for home, only to find that the last train had been stopped. By the kindness of an engineer they were permitted to return late at night on a locomotive, sent out by a committee of strikers to bring engi- neers to their homes. It was not until the next morning that the captain learned of his election to command a military company, of whose existence he had no knowledge. Mr. Ruthven immediately set about the work of collecting arms, with profound secrecy and courage. He could only move on his work late at night, and take with him one or two helpers, at most, to avoid attracting attention. His work was made doubly hazardous from the fact that, as the head clerk of the coal department of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Road, he was well known to the strikers, whether railway men 64 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. or miners. Through Providence and Abington he drove his team, after midnight, gathering the guns left in the hands of a disbanded militia company, having with him a single assistant. Within three days he secured about three hundred and fifty guns — quite a respectable armament. The banks and railway officers were unwilling to have these guns placed in their safes, and the mayor applied to Mr. Scranton, who received them with- out hesitancy and made no secret of their being in his possession. While Ruthven was employed in this work, whose definite use he had not yet discerned, three brave young men of the Citizens' Company took it into their heads to secure ammuni- tion for the guns, they knew they must have, if they were to be of any use in protecting the city. So, on the night of the 26th of July, in a two-seated buggy, they drove to Kingston, aroused General Osborne from his bed about midnight, and secured an order for any fixed am- munition they might find in Pittston, which could be spared by the militia stationed there. On they drove, and after great risk, and difficulty, they secured three hundred rounds from the officer in command ; placed these under the seat of their buggy, and about daybreak of the 27th, put them in a place of safety, in Scranton. These three men were William J. Watts, William W. Paterson and William B. Henwood, three brave Williams, all of whom proved themselves efficient and faithful soldiers in the after events of the service. As soon as the blast-furnaces were stopped, at noon of the 20th, forces began to develop specific purposes about the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company's works and store. Mr. W. W. Scranton, the General Manager, was known to the whole city as a man of decided courage and of unflinch- ing purpose. Warned by the experiences of 1871, when he had demonstrated the wisdom of meeting lawless move- ments with boldness and force, he had secured fifty stands of breech-loading rifles, and had them stowed away for use. He DIVIDED COUNSELS. 65 learned that many of the men, who had hastily gone into the strike, were sick of the venture, and would at once return to work if they could be protected. He wrote them an eloquent letter, appealing to their manhood and patriotic principles. He assured them of the certain ultimate triumph of law and order, and promised them all the protection they needed. Near one o'clock, on the same day, Mr. Henry A. Kings- bury, superintendent of the Company store, discovered strange and suspicious men entering in and passing through the store. He sent them out and had them shadowed. They were strangers in the city, and he found they joined the crowd of strikers. About half an hour afterwards, a man who had a kindly heart towards Mr. Kingsbury, came to him out of breath, and revealed the plot of a multitude in the outskirts of the city to come by night and rifle the store. He said all kinds of vehicles had been secured to carry away the goods. This man's story was soon sufficiently corroborated from other sources to warrant the organization of an efficient guard. Mr. Kingsbury requested all clerks, who had suffi- cient courage, to remain for the night on the watch. Mr. Scranton brought out the guns of the Company, put them in the hands of the clerks, and prepared to give the robbers a warm reception. They sent out and secured the volunteer services of a number of the best young men of the city, to help them watch. On the first night they had sixteen gath- ered as a little band for the protection of the property ; while the ladies connected with the store, under the direction of Mrs. VV. W. Manness, Miss Mary Mattes and Mrs. Saxton, organized a commissary for them. As the clerks had to be on duty during the day, the young men from outside assumed the whole duty of the night-watch. On the 27th, Captain Ripple, with the committee on secur- ing a drill-room for the Citizen's Company, made application for every unoccupied hall in the central part of the city, and 66 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. failed entirely. The owners of these properties were afraid to have them used, even secretly, for such a purpose. The Company found no moral support from the business citizens generally. The great body of them were unwilling to have it known that such an organization existed. In the evening the Company met in the rooms of the Forest and Stream Club again, when seventy-six members seem to have been present. The committee on drill-room reported progress, and was continued. Volunteers to clean guns which had been gath- ered, and prepare ammunition, were called for, and Thomas H. Watts, George F. Barnard, M. J. Andrews, W. W. Pater- son, W. J. Watts, E. H. Ripple, J. E. Brown, H. V. and A. C Logan and H. A. Knapp volunteered for the first night's work. A number of the members of this company had been on watch the night before, with the sixteen in the Company's store. The following non-commissioned officers were appointed ; to wit : orderly sergeant, Daniel Bartholomew ; 2d sergeant, Andrew Biyson, Jr. ; 3d sergeant, W. W. Paterson ; 4th sergeant, Walter Chur'; 5th sergeant, Edward J. Smith; 6th sergeant, F. L. Hitchcock. A roll of classified members was prepared, with their place of business, where notification, on sudden call from the officers, could reach them ; and a signal was determined upon by which the company should be called together at any time of day or night. This signal was a specified number of taps on the bell in the tower of the First Presbyterian Church, which was the oldest and best-known bell in the city. At its signal every member bound himself to report at headquarters as quickly as he could reach it. Henry V. and Arthur C. Logan, the sons of the pastor, were appointed to give this signal, and were placed under strict orders to give it only when they should receive command from one of the three officers of the company. Meanwhile, in the different headquarters of the strikers, DIVIDED COUNSELS. 67 their leaders were busy. Their committees held continuous session. On the 26th a number of the leading men and rail- way directors met in the Wyoming House in consultation. Among these were Thomas Dickson, President of the Dela- ware & Hudson, C. F. Young, J. J. Albright, R. Manville, Edward W. Weston and others of that road; Mr. John Brisbin and Isaac J. Post, counsellors for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. R., with Messrs. Hallstead, Storrs, Fowler and others of that road. The railway strikers sent an engine down the road with a committee to consult with the leaders of their Brotherhood at some point between Scranton and New York ; and the Mayor worked all day of the 27th to secure a basis of compromise between the strikers and these railway officials, representing the greatest interests that were at stake. Rumors of the ending, or " weakening of the strike" on the Morris & Essex Road crept through the community; and the passing and repassing of committees between the headquarters of the Brotherhood and the railway officials in the city were watched with intense interest. But the day passed without definite signs, and night came, filled with reports of myste- rious gatherings in the " Patches " in the outskirts, and with exaggerated threats of pillage and violence. The young men watched in the " Company's Store," and whiled away the hours of the night fixing ammunition into cartridges or burnishing rusty guns. James Ruthven and his assistants came down through the Notch after midnight with a wagon-load of arms gathered up in the Abington District, which were in no condition for use ; and these young men organized a shop, and became skilled workers in metal in a few hours ; and the dawn brought the three venturesome Williams, with their three hundred rounds of fixed ammuni- tion. The passing out and in of this brave little guard, and the 68 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. glitter of the Remington breech-loaders, it was supposed, made a salutary impression upon the prowlers that crept up among the ore-piles across the street from the store, and led to a present abandonment of the scheme of plunder, of which warning had been given. The morning dawned upon the isolated city, only to bring new omens of evil and of good to perplex and burden the helpless community. On the 28th word came to Superintendent Storrs that the miners demanded that the pumps should be stopped at the mines. The engineers having charge had promptly left the pumps at the time the strike was ordered, and their places had been filled by bosses, clerks and surveyors, all volunteers, who were entirely unconnected with the miners' associations. These substitutes were informed by the miners, that they would have to run these engines at the risk of their lives, as it was determined by the strikers to leave the mines to be flooded. This would bring immeasurable ruin upon the whole in- dustry, and leave the miners themselves without hope of employment for at least a year to come. Mr. Storrs immedi- ately appealed to the mayor for protection, and he called his advisory committee together; but nothing definite was undertaken. The mayor's volunteer policemen were recog- nized, only to be denounced by the mass-meeting at the Round Woods, where, at least, five thousand strikers were gathered; and there was nowhere in the valley a reliable militia, sufficient to warrant an attempt to guard these pumps. But, through the Mayor and Superintendent Storrs, better counsels were secured from the committee of the miners. This committee, after consultation with the mayor, issued their orders to pre- vent this lawless disaster. The rumored weakening of the Railway Brotherhood, perhaps, helped them to this conclu- sion, and the pumping was allowed to go on in most of the mines. There were a few signs of violence in and about the city DIVIDED COUNSELS. 69 during the day, but generally great qufet prevailed. Strange faces appeared in the streets, and men without business gath- ered in the outskirts. An attempt was made to set fire to the store of Alexander Connell, near the breaker at the Connell mines, in the evening ; and acts of violence at different points in the valley were reported. But the day closed with the same dull monotony of burden and anxiety. The week ended with no sign of relief, by the coming of troops to preserve or- der; nor were there any tangible evidences of the resumption of work by the trainmen and engineers. Ml*. Samuel H. Stevens succeeded in securing Kiefer's Hall, at the corner of Penn Avenue and Mulberry street, for one night, at a rental of five dollars, for the use of the Citizens' Company ; and on Saturday night the members of the Com- pany secretly gathered into it for a drill. This hail was in the third story of the building ; and having stationed a guard at the entrance, the lights were turned down to avoid exciting observation, and the young men assembled. Here this chaos of military effort was partially reduced to order. The young men took off their shoes to avoid noise, and were placed in the ranks in their stocking feet. Neither the Captain nor his Lieutenants were at all acquainted with the tactics then in use. They therefore went into the ranks with the men; and the Orderly-Sergeant, Daniel Bartholomew, who had served in the cavalry through the civil war, undertook the work. Assuming them all to be mounted, he soon taught them to march by fours to the right and left; and becoming inspired with the touch of their elbows, they soon gathered courage and felt strong. They marched and countermarched, and shook the building, until fears were excited lest it might fall, and difficulties seemed to accumulate. The hall was not far from the Pine Brook Breaker, where one of the most dangerous elements of the striking population was supposed to be found. A crowd gathered about the building as the 70 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. drill went on, and sought to uncover the secret work going on upstairs, but found no light. Late at night the young men quietly dispersed, maintaining an absolute silence as they passed among the crowd, a portion of them going to the Company's store to watch with Mr. Scranton's forces. From these Mr. Scranton learned of the existence of Captain Rip- ple's Company, and of its inability to secure a safe place for drill ; and he immediately sent Captain Ripple a cordial invita- tion to rendezvous his Company at the store, and use the up- per story of the building for that purpose. Sabbath eve- ning, July 29th, found this Company quietly gathered in these comfortable quarters. Here they drilled, made cartridges, re- paired guns, and reduced their watch to military order. The Christian people gathered to the worship of their sanc- tuaries, on this Sabbath morning, with heavy hearts and gloomy forebodings, which doubtless were aggravated by the fact that so many of the churches were deprived of the ser- vices of their pastors, who were away on their vacations, with- out the ability either to return, or communicate with their people. The whole city seemed to be put back to the life be- fore railways and factories had been built. The city papers established a pony-express to carry the news to neighboring towns ; and the streets of Scranton were surprised by the en- trance of the Wilkes-Barre stage coach ; but the records do not show whether it brought with it the ancient tin horn, or came without announcement. The price of merchandise began to advance, and the strikers had met on Friday morning, when they gave notice to all merchants, that if any of them dared to raise their prices on goods of any kind, their names should at once be published, and they be held up to everlasting infamy. This v/arning, as published on Saturday, July 28th, was as follows, to wit : " Resolved, That we, the working-men of Scranton, do most earnestly appeal to the magnanimity and manhood of our merchants in these most DIVIDED COUNSELS. 71 trying times ; and we hope that they will not still further add more misery to our cause by advancing the prices of the necessaries of life. " Be it further resolved, That if our merchants should persist in ad- vancing their prices, that we will hold a public meeting, and openly and publicly denounce their conduct, and shall expose them to the scorn and contempt of mankind throughout the world." Such a fusilade and pronunciamento in the face of the laws of trade and the first principles of Christian civilization and government, under ordinary circumstances, could only have suggested to the average citizen that plucky cow that under- took to square accounts with the blustering locomotive, and saved her reputation for courage at the expense of her judg- ment. But in the city of Scranton, cut off from all help, and without even sufficient public courage to ask for troops to pul down lawlessness, it suggested not even a hint of laughter. It simply uncovered the broad way that leads to anarchy. It showed to all thinking men the horrible volcano over whose thin crust all public interests of the city were suspended. On Monday morning, July 30th, the engineers and pump- men of Hyde Park published a denial of the truth of the charge, that intimidation had been used to stop the pumps at the mines, and expressed their belief that the corporations and companies whose property was at stake, were themselves striving to stir up riot and violence. What reasons led to such persuasion as this, these pretended preservers of the public peace have not left on record. The 30th of July was marked by a general quiet in the streets, and signs of peace seemed to be discovered with more or less distinctness by the great body of citizens. The strikers of all classes had behaved themselves with sobriety and quiet- ness. Save for the intemperate action of some of their meet- ings, and the incendiary torch, applied most probably by those who found no countenance from the workmen's associations ; the citizens would have felt themselves to be safe in their homes. 72 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. There was a sharp division of opinion among the people gen- erally as to the real dangers which beset the city. The mayor had remained on duty at his office day and night, from the day the strike began. He had succeeded, as he thought, in convincing the miners that he was their friend ; and secured from their committees ultimate propositions with which he could approach the companies on their behalf Rumors of weakening of the Brotherhood's strike on the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western, and the Delaware and Hudson roads, quietly gained definiteness and strength, throughout the whole Sabbath, while no sign of its truth could actually be discerned. The Pennsylvania Company, whose employes had refused to join the strike, kept their cars on the move up to Saturday night, when a little after midnight, the watchman at No. 5 Head House was seized by a band of disguised men, who burned the house in his presence. This compelled cessation of the whole work of this company, as the destruction of the engine at one of the planes of the gravity road stopped the transportation of coal along the whole route. This wicked destruction of the head house, with its stationary engine, convinced both citizens and railway men, that whatever honest protestations the strikers might make, the lawless element was abroad. The promise of the strikers to keep the peace and maintain the supremacy of law, however honest, could only mean that the stream should flow peacefully as long as no obstruction to its flow should be found. If perchance a rock should persist in remaining in the way, it must become responsible for the noise, the rampage and the destruction wrought by the obstructed waters. This was the interpretation which Mr. W. W. Scranton, with his watchers, and Captain Ripple, with his company of citizens, put upon these honest protestations of the strikers from the mills and mines. Captain Ripple felt a constant burden of anxiety, fearing a mob might be precipitated upon the city by his company mis. DIVIDED COUNSELS. 73 taking a peaceful movement of the laborers for a hostile in- tention. He worked night and day to impress discipline and self-control upon his men. He reported his company to the Mayor, and obtained his verbal recognition of them as special police, on the morning of the 30th, and kept one member on watch at the office, although the mayor thought there would be no need for him. Mr. Scranton with his trusted associates, went everywhere, with boldness on his part, and quiet wisdom on theirs, having an eye upon the multitude of strangers, and a few men who were known to them as dangerous characters. So the work of drilling and watching went on, while order generally reigned in the city. At eleven o'clock on Monday, the 30th, the committee of the Brotherhood met the Mayor at his request. After an earnest conference, they agreed to call a meeting of the railway strikers at once, and put up their notice about noon as follows, to wit : " A special meeting of the railroad men, at Washington Hall, this af- ternoon at one o'clock sharp. By order of Executive Committee." The firemen and brakesmen gathered at the hour appointed in large numbers, and the question was submitted to an order- ly vote, whether they should return to work at the old wages, upon assurance that none should be dismissed for his connec- tion with this strike. This question was decided affirmative- ly, with only nine negative votes, and the men immediately proceeded in a body to Superintendent Hallstcad's office and announced their conclusion. The Superintendent received them graciously, and gave them all the assurances they asked for. Fifteen minutes afterwards the smoke of the engines, awakened from their dead sleep of eight days, began to glori- fy the coal-yards; and ten minutes past four o'clock p. m. the first train started on its way for Northumberland. Telegram orders were sent to Binfrhamton to start the mail train 'or New 74 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. York ; and so the long silence of the railway was broken. The locomotives began to pull their great burdens up the heavy grades in the early evening, and puffed forth a music which echoed as a blessed lullaby in the homes of the people. The relief was as inexpressible as it was immediate. Citi- zens who had remained at home through the hot week watch- ing, devoted to their public duties, while their families were away at the seashore, gathered up their gripsacks ready to take the first train of the morning. The telegraph wires were kept busy all night with messages of assurance from wives to their husbands, who had been caught away from home, and had spent their wits and patience in their vain efforts to return. They were told that all was going right again ; that the fisher- man might go on with his fishing, and the bather with his bathing. Even the Mayor's advisory committee disbanded and went their ways — one to his work and another to the pleasures of his summer vacation. But that night a band of thieves made a raid upon the Stowers' Packing House, in the northern part of the city. These robbers carried away at least a ton of meat, and a large number of boxes of lemons. At the same hour a field of po- tatoes, belonging to the Iron and Coal Company, was invaded, and the potatoes were entirely removed. Thus it occurred to the law-loving citizens, as they awoke from their first peaceful sleep on the 31st of July, to read of such depredations, that although the railway troubles might be over, the strikes were not ended, and the safety of the city had not been entirely secured. Captain Ripple, not yet satisfied with the legal status of his company, if violence should be attempted, consulted Colonel Hitchcock as an attorney, as well as a military adviser, on the subject. They concluded that the mere verbal acceptance of the Citizens' Corps as special police might leave the boys in questionable positions towards the law, if the Mayor should DIVIDED COUNSELS. 75 himself become intimidated, or should meet with fatal violence. They therefore went to the Mayor, and secured his official sig- nature to a paper which authorized the Citizens' Company, indi- vidually, and as a body, to act in emergency as "Special Police " under his authority. Throughout the last day of July, his honor. Mayor Mc- Kune, remained on duty, and in consultation with a committee of miners, seeking for a basis of compromise upon which they might end their strike. He called to his assistance the Hon. John Brisbin of; New York, who that day manifested his great powers, and excellent wisdom. His fairness gave him great influence with the miners, and his persuasive powers were irresistible. Late in the afternoon he succeeded in reaching an agreement with them. This committee, he, with the Mayor, accompanied to the Superintendent's office, and in the course of an hour received assurances from the headquar- ters in New York that the proposed compromise would be ac- cepted. The committee of the miners cordially shook hands with the Superintendent, and assured the Mayor, that while they could not complete the arrangement without the consent of the miners, whom they represented, they should call a meet- ing, as soon as it could be done with safety, and demand ac- tion. They had no doubt of a favorable answer, as the way for the redressing of their grievances was provided in their basis. All that had been asked for had been granted, except the increase of wages, which all knew could not be granted. So they went their way apparently sincere and happy, and the Mayor congratulated himself and his friends on his vision of the early ending of the miners' strike. Meanwhile Mr. Scranton's manly letter to the workers of the mills, who had yielded only to the pressure, and ceased work, as they claimed, contrary to their judgment and wishes, had produced its fruits. The assurance of protection from him they could trust, and at noon on the 31st, they fired up 76 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. some of the furnaces and a number of the men began work. A few also returned to the railway shops, and the signs of a general resumption multiplied on all sides. During the afternoon and evening there was a strange and ominous van- ishing of the crowds and loiterers that for a week had filled the streets. The unknown population which for many days had walked about in an aimless way, and had looked through the stores and places of business, seemed to have retired, and indeed to have quite deserted the city. Save for the continuance of the Mayor at his office, with his few police- men on duty, and the young men on watch at the com- pany's store, the whole city seemed to have regained its con- fidence and retired to rest. The scattered citizens in the wilderness, and at the seashore, assured by the report of the signs of resumption, and of rapid- ly returning peace, gave themselves up to the full enjoyment of their midsummer vacation. The business men of New York, whose interests were at Scranton, assured by President Thomas Dickson and his associates that the strike had virtu- ally ended, felt no further concern. The night passed in the city with the profoundest quiet in the streets, and peace in the homes of the people ; all glorihed by the light of a full orbed moon. THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER 77 CHAPTER V. THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. " There's a. divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.'" AUGUST I, 1877. THE 1st day of August dawned full of hope and auguries of peace. It was indeed learned that the running of trains on the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Division had been interrupted ; but the blockade had been made by men thirty or forty miles away, who were supposed to find no sympathy from the workmen of the Lackawanna Valley. Besides, the trains to the north and south were running on schedule time; and except for a few stones cast at them outside of the cit\', there were no indications from the strikers of a discontent with the surrender of the railway operatives. The railway officials from abroad, and their counsellors in the city, well satisfied with the success of their mission, left in the early morning train. The Mayor and the Hon. John Brisbin openly spread the news of the end of the "miners' and laborers' strike," as already in sight; and the business houses all opened their doors, and the streets hung out their banners of life. Captain Ripple drew a long breath as he looked down the business avenues and caught glimpses of his brave young men of the Citizens' Company, rushing here and there to gather up the thread of business, which had been so suddenly dropped a week before in order to provide for the public safety. For 78 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. a whole week he had not darkened the door of his office, nor heard a word of its needs and responsibilities. Although that office was a mile and a half from the headquarters of his com- pany, which had not yet felt itself justified in disbanding, he concluded himself free to go to his neglected trust. Hence, leaving strict orders to the young men having charge of the signal-bell, he went to the Council mines, and in a few minutes became wholly absorbed in the work of his office. He knew his Lieutenants were at hand, and trusted his sharp ears to catch the call of the signal if trouble should arise. Mr. Scranton, with his associates, Charles F. Mattes, Wm. \V. Manness, Charles F. Manness, Carl W. McKinney and Theo- dore G. Wolf, having already persuaded a number of their workmen to return to the mills, were busy setting things in order, with the conviction, that by another day the whole body of their workmen would return. A number of those employed in the machine shops, the foundries, the saw-mill, and the blast- furnaces, had already reported for duty and begun their work. The citizens generally, feeling a relief from the strain of appre- hension, went to their places of business fused with new energy from the strange experiences of the week just passed. A cloudless sun poured down his effijlgence upon the new life of the city, and the omens of peace multiplied on all sides. The conviction seemed general that the dangers of the strike were all passed. Mr. Scranton, however, who had slept only by snatches since the strike began, relaxed none of his vigilance for all these promises of resumption. He had no faith in compromises with strikers ; and it was supposed that he would rather have preferred a trial of strength with the law-breakers, if troops, which could be relied upon, had been furnished by the State. He did not believe the end of the miners' strike could, or ought to be expected, without a show of power on the part of the Companies. Hence while the city became jubi- lant over the news spread by the Mayor, and railway officials, THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 79 who had closed their conference and gone ; he sat down and wrote a letter to President tlatfield, in New York, in which he expressed his convictions with sharpness and emphasis. Among other things, he wrote on the evening of July 31st as follows : " I trust when the troops come, — if they ever get here, — that we may have a conflict, in which the mob shall be completely worsted. In no other way will the thing end with any security for property here in the future. Our Iron Com- pany foremen have acted well throughout, and I am proud of them. // was a ticklish time, and it is not yet over in my opinion." So thought the General Manager of the L. I. & C. Company on the night when the great body of citizens had retired in peace, believing another day would end the troubles and set the suspended industries in motion. With his courage and convictions he proposed to keep his powder dry. The young men of the Citizens' Corps generally agreed with him, and made their detail for guard duty as full as on any night since the strike began ; and this detail proved just as watchful as though no rumors of the end of the strikes had come to them. About a mile to the south-east of the line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railway shops, and almost in a direct line with the extension of Madison Avenue, there rises a small conical hill, near to the margin of the Lackawanna river. The slope of the ground from this hill, both towards the city and the river, was gentle and regular. The whole hill, at that time, was surrounded by an open grassy level, of from ten to twenty acres. A hundred yards, or less, to the north of it stood the first silk factory erected in the city ; and a quarter of a mile to the west was the breaker of the Connell mines, with Its "Patch" of surrounding buildings, occupied chiefly by tiie miners and laborers connected with these mines. The whole space between this hill and the Iron Mills and machine shops built along the Roaring Brook, was open and visible from the 80 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. second floors of most of the houses on the south side of Lacka- wanna Avenue. Indeed there was scarcely a point along the railway from the Company's Store to the railway Station where an observer could not have a view of this open space, with its beautiful little hill. In the morning, about eight o'clock, on the first day of Au- gust men became visible, coming from the south, the east and the west, on converging lines, whose point of intersection was somewhere in this open space. They came singly, in pairs and in squads. They came in crowds of fifty, and a hundred, along all the paths across the woods and meadows. Be- fore nine o'clock the little hill was covered, and from the rail- way, appeared black with people. Merchants and professional men on the south side of the avenue early had their attention directed to this remarkable gathering. They watched, sur- mised and wondered. A crowd of interested spectators gath- ered upon the railway embankment; and silent observation with field glasses went on from the upper stories of most ot the houses, on the south side of Lackawanna Avenue. The multitude gathered was variously estimated at from three to eight thousand people; who seemed to be crowding together in consultation, until the whole hill appeared as if shingled over with a black mass of fused humanity. The watchers stated, that through their field glasses, the crowd seemed to be or- derly, and yet swayed by some intense excitement. Whether this crowd was organized by its leaders, and a chairman appointed, does not clearly appear, as all who were afterwards charged with presiding denied it. How the con- sultations or deliberations of the mass meeting began cannot be now determined, but they continued for about the space of two hours. What were the particular subjects of discussion can never now be positively known. A reporter of one of the papers of the city appeared among them, supposing it to be an orderly meeting, but as soon as he was known to be a THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 81 reporter, he was hustled and insulted, and escaped with a few bruises, glad to find a calmer atmosphere in which to recover his breath without any broken bones. The special grievance which called the meeting of these workmen and tramps, would seem to have been the waning strength of the strike. The open yielding of the engineers and stokers, and the evident signs of the resumption of work at the mills and shops, could not be misunderstood. Doubtless the rumors of the proposal of the miners' committee to resume work on the terms secured from the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Company, through Mr. Brisbin and the ]\Iayor, had much to do in inaugurating this council ; and the promis- cuous gathering of this nondescript mass meeting. It would seem to have been called by none of the respectable " commit- tees " of either the miners or workers in the mills. From all that can be learned of either the origin or intentions of the meeting, it is evident that very few, if any, of the respectable miners of Hyde Park had anything to do with cither its coun- sels or its ultimate intentions. The respectable committee with whom the mayor had treated, publicly disavowed any knowledge or complicity with it. They denied that it was even a meeting of miners. If the meeting which they had promised had been called by them, they said, it would have been called at " the Round Woods," where they, by the agreement of the miners, held all their meetings. It is, perhaps, due to the Miners' Association to record the fact, that from the very be- ginning they disowned all affiliation with the lawless element^ which their strike seemed to gather about them. The only fact which at all casts a shadow upon this organization is, that they appointed a committee to prosecute those who fired upon the mob some days afterwards. Yet this might have grmvn en- tirely out of the passions and suspicions gendered by the fury enkindled after the fatal collision of the mob with the city's defenders. 6 82 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. The grievance which seemed to have caused the greatest passion was the returning to work of the men who had never favored the strike, and who had yielded to it only because they deemed it necessary to their safety. This intimidation reached out to all kinds of labor, and laborers, connected with the great companies. Even the men engaged in the effort to save the hay cut on the fields of the Iron and Coal Company had been treated with violence and driven from their work three days before. The teamsters and farm laborers were ordered to cease all work until the strike should end. The return of the braver of these men to the mills, under assurance from Mr. Scranton of protection, seemed to exasperate the more ignorant and give the power of passion into the hands of the vicious. These workmen, v/ho had returned to their places, were called "black-legs" and "scallawags;" and were pelted, at long range, with the crooked rhetoric of the speakers who addressed the vast crowd near the silk-factory. For fully two hours the firing up of this great engine of lawless vio- lence in the crowd went on. For two whole hours, or more, the more sensible and conservative men, who found themselves in these counsels, withstood the dangerous proposals. Thus passion swayed the crowd back and forth, as the increasing wind passes over the wheat to bend and sway it before the breaking of the storm. At last some miscreant, with all the marks of the premedi- tative scoundrel, wise to discern his opportunity, arose and read a forged letter. To whom this letter might be addressed no one waited to inquire; it was said to be signed with the name of VV. W. Scranton. This letter, it is enough to say, was simply a piece of vulgar brutality, lacking every charac- teristic of the purported author, unless, perchance, its spirit of boldness and open defiance. It asserted, among other absurd- ities, that he intended to bring the wages of the workingmen down to thirty-five cents a day, and to make them work if it THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 83 put his body under a culm pile. It contained all the bluster of the stupid coward, which any workman of the valley might readily have known could not have come from such a man as Mr. Scranton was known to be. But passion had risen to the heat that blinds, and the bar- rier of the thinking men was at once overwhelmed. The storm which had been gathering for more than two hours burst at once, with a violence that threatened the sweeping of the whole city with destruction. A shout was raised: "Go for the shops " and " clean out the black-legs ;" and immedi- ately the crowd began to move. Some, indeed, began to separate and to scatter ; but the great mass moved in two dense streams, like the lava from a volcanic eruption. One stream swept on towards the blast-furnaces of the Lacka- wanna Iron and Coal Company, on Roaring Brook; and the other towards the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western shops, on Washington Avenue. It was at once revealed, through the telescopes of the watchers all along the avenue, that these crowds were armed with clubs, which were shaken in the fury of violence. It was afterwards learned that a store down the valley had been robbed by men on their way to this meeting, showing that, at least, some of them had come prepared for mischief. Meanwhile the Mayor, who early learned of the gathering crowd near the silk-mill, gave himself no anxiety, supposing it to be simply a meeting of the miners, which their accredited committee had promised to. call at the earliest safe oppor- tunity, to confirm the agreement they had made with the railway authorities. To all ex'cited fears and reported signs of violence expressed by the people, he made the confident answer: "There can be no cause for apprehension, gentle- men ; that meeting, I doubt not, is held by order of the miners' committee, and I have no doubt of its orderly intentions." About lo o'clock Arthur C Logan, a law student, having 84 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. gone in the neighborhood of this mass meeting, called by business, when near enough to see the excitement of the crowd, was afraid to go farther. Returning speedily, he reported to the mayor the danger which he supposed was then to be appre- hended. He was ordered by the mayor to take his place as a signal man appointed by his company, and wait near the bell for the orders of his officers to sound the alarm agreed upon, to call his company together. He immediately av/oke his brother, who, with himself, had been on watch all night, and proceeded to obey the Mayor's directions. But the report of the size, and strange movements of the crowd, a full mile away, rapidly spread along the business avenues and to the homes of the city. A feeling of dread and uneasiness, as well as of excited curiosity, gathered the people along the railway embankment, and led business men hurriedly to lock their safes, close their doors, and look about them for refuge from danger. Melvin I. Corbett, at that time a clerk in the D. L. & W. coal department, having been stationed by Mr. Storrs in the observatory of the station, with a field-glass, to watch for the movement of the miners, reported a gathering of men near the " round woods," which had suddenly broken up and gone over to the crowd near the silk-mill. Also that there were signs of immense excitement. He was sent at once to the mayor with a warning, from Mr. Storrs, of danger to be apprehended. He made his report and was directed by the mayor to go to the company's store; where, he said, he should order the citizens' police to assemble. Corbett, arming him- self with a rifle which belonged to the D. L. & W. Company, reported for duty as the mayor directed, and bravely fulfilled his duty in the firing squad before returning to his employer. The sudden breaking up of the mass meeting also startled Mr. Kingsbury, at the company's store, where its movements were plainly visible and had been carefully watched ; and about the time the young men had taken their position as directed THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 85 by the mayor, he sent a request to them, to sound the alarm and call the " Citizens' Corps " together. These young men having strict orders to strike the alarm only upon order of an officer of the corps, declined to accede to Mr. Kings- bury's request. One of them took his place, as ordered, to watch at the church gate, while the other ran down the avenue searching for an officer from whom an order mignt be had to strike the signal. He soon learned that Captain Ripple was at his office and could not be reached. He went to the office of Lieutenant Merriam, but could not find him ; then to that of Second Lieutenant Brown, and was equally unsuccessful. Running to the railway he saw the crowd coming with fury. He again ran along the avenue, notifying such members of the company as he could find, to report at the headquarters on double quick. At the same time, as it was afterwards learned, Lieutenant Merriam had passed in through the back way into the parsonage in search for these young men to give them the orders to strike the bell. He passed through every room in the house, knowing that the young men had been on watch the night before, and supposing he would find them in bed. He found no one in the house, which he seems to have continued searching until the mob had swept into the Avenue, and the force to meet it was al- ready on the march. The crowd of excited spectators in- creased on the streets, and on the railway, and teams with wagons and carriages blocked the intersection of the avenues. Colonel Hitchcock, with the eye of a veteran, had watched the coming crowd until satisfied of its violent intentions, then hurried to the Mayor, and obtaining his consent to call the special police together at the company's store to await orders; he immediately began giving the same notice to such mem- bers of the citizens' company as he could find, that young Logan had begun to circulate before him. Mr. Scraaton having received notice when at the First Na- 86 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. tional Bank, that the mob was moving towards the mills, and was already driving workmen from the shops, drove furiously to the store ; and, in the apparent absence of all the officers of the gathering citizens' corps, with the impulse and energy of a leader, where there is danger, he sent an order to the signal men on duty to sound the alarm, and called upon the young men who were on the second floor to fall into line with their guns. At that moment, the mob having driven the workmen from the foundry, was busy with the same bloody work at the grist-mill, and blast furnaces, only a few rods away. Shortly after Mr. Scranton's order to strike the signal came to hand, Lieutenant Brown was discovered by the elder of the signal men on the avenue near the business house of Doud Bros. Despairing of success in his search for the officer to obtain permission to strike the bell, the young man had started to join the little company already in the street in front of the company's store, leaving his brother to strike the bell if legiti- mate orders should come. Brown stopped him, and sent him back with the emphatic order to stand in front of the church- gate to await orders, and by no means to strike the bell until he should receive the signal from him. He immediately obeyed ; so these young men, in the midst of the excitement, took their positions to watch and wait, the one beside the bell rope, with drawn pistol covering the space where his brother waited, and the other at the church-gate in the midst of the angry crowd. The little band of young men momentarily increased ; each rushing to where he had left his gun, either on the sec- ond or third floor of the building. Mr. Scranton made a characteristic speech to those gathered on the second floor, seeking to infuse them with his own courage and determina- tion. He exhorted them to shoot low, and to shoot to kill if they shot at all. He told them where to aim and begged them to stand with him to the end, fearing nothing. The expecta- THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 87 tion then was that the mob would attack the store, as soon as they had cleared out the blast furnace, so near at hand. Mr. Scranton had not discerned the fact that there were two streams of this flux of lawless humanity. The onset upon his company's works was plainly discernible from the windows of the store, and he proposed to go out, without orders ; and meet the mob just where he saw it doing its bloody work, and not allow it to reach the store. He asked the young man to follow him at once to the attack. But Colonel Hitchcock having arrived with the order of the mayor to await his orders, took position against Scranton's proposition as doubly dangerous, because going without legal authority they would be on the same footing with the mob, and be liable to prosecution as rioters. , While this matter was be- ing discussed and the company hesitating, a member of the mayor's police arrived, and announced the request of his honor to have the company report, armed for duty as special police, at his office without delay, The young men then fell immediately into line with their guns. Meanwhile Daniel Bartholomew, the First Sergeant of the Citizens' Corps, had been on watch on top of the building for more than an hour. When he saw the lines of the dispersion of the great crowd, near the silk-mill, he at once apprehended the design of the mob ; and he came down and began to form the members of the Citizens' Corps in line on the third floor, with such others as came to that floor for their guns. His intention was simply to have the men ready for action as soon as a line officer should arrive to take the command. He was entirely ignorant of what Mr. Scranton was doing on the floor below. Upon the arrival of the policemen from the Mayor with the request to bring the men to his office, he marched his squad down stairs and surprised Scranton, who supposed himself alone with the men, who had placed them- selves under arms. He approached the sergeant, with whom 88 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. he had no personal acquaintance, and asked him who he might be, and what he proposed to do, Bartholomew an- swered that he was the highest officer of the Citizens' Corps that had yet appeared for duty ; and that he proposed to com- mand the company until his superior officer should arrive. While this parley was proceeding, Deputy Sheriff Bortree, a veteran of well known courage and experience, came to Mr. Scranton and said to him: "The danger to this company is going to be found at the two ends of the column on the march. Mr. Scranton, if you will take one end I will take the other, and we can hold the boys steady. You can take choice ot the ends." Scranton, without further words, took his place, alone, at the head of the column. Bortree selected Carl W. Mc- Kinney, whose courage wa^ well known in the city, and with him closed the line for the protection of the rear. Thus Sergeant Bartholomew, being the ranking officer of the Citizens' Corps, took command of this mixed company, so hastily called into line. There were in this column of twos, all told, just fifty young men. Twenty-four of them were enrolled members of "the Citizens' Corps;" recognized by the Mayor as special police, in the paper given to Captain Ripple. Twenty-five were employees of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, and one man had no connection with either organization. Four of those who belongedto, and drilled with, the " Citizens' Corps " were also in the service of the Iron and Coal Com- pany. They were all armed with breech-loading rifles, a part of which belonged to the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, and a part to the Delaware, Lackawanna and^ Western Rail- road Company. Bartholomew faced the column down Lacka- wanna Avenue, in the middle of the street, and gave the order — " March ! " There had been no time for adjusting posi- tions, or deciding questions of precedence, or authority. Just as the column began to move William W. Paterson, who had THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER, 89 been on watch all night, awoke from his doze and came run- ning, and having inspected the line its whole length, rushed to the front and took his position beside Scranton with the re- mark that the rear was all right, with Bortree and McKinney to take care of it. In double file, with regular step, these brave young men marched down through the middle of the street, towards the Mayor's office, followed by a portion of the mob that had come from the foundry and blast-furnaces. One of these lawless men, on mischief bent, more reckless than his fellows, carried a three-barreled pistol of antique pattern, which he fired three times at Bortree, who marched with his back to his comrades and his face to the foe. But the shots were all at too great a distance to do execution, and Colonel Hitchcock, acting as file closer, twice prevented Bortree from replying to the madman with his deadly rifle. Bortree had been through twenty battles, perhaps, and had never been known to waste much ammunition ; or lose his courage in front of the muzzle of guns, either great or small. This column was plainly in view, and ready to march, when Lieut. Brown ordered his signal man not to strike the alarm until he should give the sign. Thus the hastily gathered com- pany marched down the street, into which the mob had begun to pour from the shops below. Each man with his trusty rifle had as many rounds of fixed ammunition as he saw fit to pro- vide himself with, when he seized his gun. With some of them this amount would seem to have been measured by the num- ber and capacity of their pockets. It is evident that the majority of the young men expected no bloody encounter. They doubtless supposed the appear- ance of the squad, so well armed and under the Mayor's or- ders, would stop the movement of the mob, and disperse the lawless crowd, without further violence. One young man in the ranks marched with marked military step, a stub pipe in his mouth, and his small hat cocked upon the side of his head. 90 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. For at least half the way down he was absorbed with the con- viction that the force of soldierly bearing was all that could be required, while along side of him marched afriend with uncer- tain limbs, and bloodless face, weighed down with cartridges, and convictions of a coming war. These two may be taken as a type of all that were in the ranks. The whole formation had been so rapid that no attempt had been made to count off the company and prepare it for mili- tary movement, or manoeuvre. In double file these young men marched down the avenue with the sergeant, gun in hand, in command, and sixth sergeant F. L. Hitchcock, at his request, acting as file closer and general lieutenant, both of whom were worthy veterans of the war. The names of these young men — a fragment of the legally recognized " Citizens' Corps " — hastily gathered and united with Mr. Scranton's force of such employees of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company as were about the store at the time, who started to rescue the Mayor, and the City, from the hands of ,the thousands who were al- ready busy with their bloody work in the mills and shops, were as follows : Daniel Bartholomew, first sergeant in command, Frederick L. Hitchcock, sixth sergeant, acting file closer, William Walter Scranton, James A. Linen, William W. Paterson, William F. Kiesel, Samuel H. Stevens, George F. Barnard, Charles E. Chittenden, John C. Highriter, Edward C. Mattes, John O. Stanton, Wm. D. Manness, C. S. Burr, F. Franschild, William Ringler, John Heinecke, John B. Cust, Carl W. McKinney, Lewis C. Bortree, Wharton Dickinson, M. D. Smith, Denning R. Haight, John Hoffman, George S. Throop, J. C. Higbfield, William K. Logan, George H. Ives, George H. Maddocks, J. G. Leyshon, Charles H. Lindsay, Edward H. Lynde, H. C. Van Bergen, H. V. D. Roney, C. K. Swift, H. R. Madison, William Anderson, Edward J. Dimmick, Wm. H. Storrs, Edw. L. Fuller, Wm. McK. Miller, Curtis W. Doud, M. G. Moore, F. H. Wehrum, Rudolph Bensley, Melvin THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 91 I. Corbett, Enos T. Hall, Richard O. Manness, Arja Williams and William B. Henwood. These young men were at the time, and always have been, recognized as deserving of all honor, for the promptness and courage with which they started upon their patriotic and dan- gerous enterprise, as well as for the efficiency and bravery with which they carried it through. But after events demonstrated the fact, that if the alarm signal had been sounded, even at the time Mr. Scranton requested to have it done, the greater part of the " Citizens' Company " would have marched with them, and been the rightful sharers of their honors and work. Pos- sibly, too, the blood*shed might have been prevented by the appearance of a so much larger military force prepared to en- force law and order. Meanwhile his Honor, Mayor McKunc, after issuing his orders consecutively to young Logan and to Corbett, and after his hasty interview with Col. Hitchcock, in which he consented to have the special police called together to await orders at the Company store; although entirely persuaded there was no danger to be apprehended from any evil intention on the part of the mass of men, said to be approaching the city; started up the street with a single policeman to investigate for himself. He stopped at the office of the Hon. John Handlcy, at that time the Additional Law Judge of Luzerne County, and asked him to accompany him to meet the crowd already approaching the shops. He was surprised to hear the Judge decline, with the emphatic declaration of his belief that it would be at the risk of the Mayor's life if he should attempt such an exposure. After vainly trying to convince the Judge, that, as a representa- tive of the law, he ought to go with him, the Mayor left him in the grip of his fears, and his better judgment, and went into the street. From the door of the Judge's office he sent his policeman with orders to have the gathering company to re- port at his office, and so hastened on alone. He passed 92 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. through the crowd of silent watchers, going down Washing- ton Avenue towards the shops, where the excitement seemed to be greatest. Just below the railway he met Mr. Necdham, the one-armed time-keeper of the shops, pale and out of breath, who told him that Superintendent Robert McKenna wanted him immediately at his office, where there was trouble. The Mayor saw just before him the Rev. Father M. H. Dunn, a Roman Catholic priest, and thinking he might be helpful in quieting the excitement, took him by the arm and asked him to go with him. The priest promptly consented, and mani- fested great courage and manly fidelity in seeking to protect the Mayor, and stay the violence. TheyvWent together direct to McKenna's office. As they approached the windows of this office, they saw Mr. McKenna, white with excitement, holding his daughter, who was his telegrapher, in his arms, in a dead faint from fright. McKenna shouted to the Mayor to escape for his life. The Mayor immediately turned about and caught sight of the mob beating Mr. Harlon P. Little, superintendent of the lumber yard of the car shops; and chasing a workman out through the windows of the shops. He started towards them, lifting up his voice with the demand to keep the peace. He had not taken a dozen steps when he was overtaken by the furious crowd that seemed to come from every direction. The mob had finished its bloody work in the mills and shops, and was starting, as if by preconcerted determination, for Lacka- wanna Avenue, where the wealth of the city's merchandise was concentrated. The Mayor, trying to face the crowd, shouted to those in front to stand back. The priest earnestly joined him in his exhortations and remonstrance. He ordered those in front to hold up the clubs with which they were armed, and keep back the crowd from rushing upon his Honor the Mayor. For a moment the front rank obeyed him, and the rush seemed to be checked. But a large and determined man, who had already made himself conspicuous as a leader THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 93 of the mob, whose linen duster had attracted the attention of a large number of spectators, as well as victims of his brutality, pushed to the front and cried, " Who is this stopping the peo- ple?" Some answered, "It is the priest," "Father Dunn," and some, "It is the Mayor." He immediately shouted, "Kill him!" using a profane epithet which at once revealed his murderous passion and his breeding. The Mayor had already been struck on the head and shoulder, as he thought, either accidentally, or by some one who did not recognize him. But immediately after the crowd had been called upon to kill the Mayor, and the Mayor had turned to go towards the Avenue, this bloody leader, with conspicuous garment, rushed for- ward and struck his Honor, either with his fist or with a weapon in his left hand, a blow which fractured his jaw. Under this blow he staggered, when a second blow fell, which brought him down, pulling the priest with him. By the shouts of the priest, the crowd was checked long enough for the Mayor to regain his feet, when the priest was separated from him, taken up bodily by his friends, and carried up to Lackawanna Ave- nue. The Mayor, with blood flowing from his mouth and the wounds on his head, and in a dazed condition, was hustled forward by the rushing crowd, and reached the crossing of Lackawanna and Washington Avenues just as the head of the marching column of the armed citizens struck that crossing. Mr. Scranton, in the first rank, seeing the Mayor in his dazed condition, took him by the arm and moved him along with the march towards his office, whither the Company was going to report to his Honor for duty. When the Company, with their steady tramp, and their guns flashing in the noontide sunlight, approached the outskirts of the rushing crowd, for a moment the mass nearest to them halted, then divided, and allowed the column to march on. un- til the rear of the Company had passed about three mihtary paces beyond the Lackawanna Avenue crossing, on the west 94 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. side of Washington Avenue. Then the mob rapidly closed about them, with shouts of "Kill them!" "Take their guns!" "Shoot the rascals!" The column deflected somewhat to the left, and then halted without orders, from the pressure of the crowd, diagonally across the street-car track in the middle of the street. Lewis C. Bortree, marching in the rear rank, was a tall young man, of tried courage, who was known to many of this raging mass as an unflinching officer of the peace. Knowing his danger, he had marched with his shoulder touching his com- rade, and his face to the rear the last half of the way. At- tempts were made both to shoot him and to seize his gun. He gave a clear warning to the more venturesome men of the mob to stand back, and while yet .he was speaking he was struck with a club. At the same moment, the ruffian who had struck the Mayor rushed forward and attempted to snatch the gun from the hands of Edward J. Dimmick, who marched near the rear of the column. This seemed to be the signal to the whole mob, and pistols began to be fired. The air was suddenly filled with stones, clubs, and weapons of all sorts, which seemed to come from all sides at once. Mr. J. G. Leyshon was struck and knocked down ; Carl W. McKinney received a pistol ball in his leg, and Charles E. Chittenden one through the sleeve of his coat. But the young men stood like veterans under this fearful fusil- ade. The mob closed in upon the rear, and the two sides of the company with a rush. Almost opposite, as it halted, to the front of the column, and on the south side of the street was a vacant lot filled with stones, from which attack might readily be made from behind the buildings, and where such ammunition as a mob requires could be readily found. Stones began to come from this lot. Three men at the front of the column immediately gave themselves to a vigilant watch of THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 95 this open space, and of the building that stood next to it. Throughout the battle they stood unswervingly to this duty. They could have been seen raising their guns with deliberate aim, and as deliberately lowering them again. Neither of them fired a shot, because they would not shoot until they were cer- tain of their enemy; and the worthy citizens were abundant all about them. These men were Samuel H. Stevens, James A. Linen and Charles H. Lindsay, all veteran soldiers of the war. When the column halted, and the attack upon it began, Mr. Scranton, who had led the bleeding Mayor with him, lost sight of him ; and he seems to have left the ranks, and at length found himself upon the sidewalk opposite this open lot, slowly recovering his senses, which had been severely shaken by the blows he had suffered. Seeing the attack at the rear, and the stones flying from the open lot, and hearing the crack of the pistol shots, the Mayor threw up his hands, waved a bloody kerchief with which he had wiped his face, and shouted, " Fire, boys !" He then began to move up the side- walk, and into the street, in the very line where there was the most danger from the firing he had ordered. It was only by that invisible power whose wisdom and mercy shields the helpless, that he could escape death in a space across whose lines fifty bullets sped on their errands in less than three min- utes. Whether the soldiers, or their sergeant, heard the command of the Mayor is more than doubtful. The men at the rear of the column, finding no alternative left them, opened fire as by a single impulse just after Mr. Leyshon was struck with a stone. Immediately after the report of the first musket was heard the whole column fired, some with their guns lev- eled to the shoulder, their eyes on the sights, and some with the muzzles up in the air, by which they endangered their comrades more than their foes. Upon the first volley the man with the marked duster fell, with the top of his head blown off, and the mob began at once to disperse. About 96 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. three full and irregular volleys were fired, with deadly intent. Some of the men might have been seen on one knee, to secure more certain aim, some of them moving the muzzle of the gun about as a huntsman who shoots on the wing, and some step- ping out of the line to get a sight around the corner. One tall youth, whom no one ever thought of as a soldier, was observed to smile, most benignly, after deliberately firing each shot as if he had done satisfactory work, and had discerned it through the smoke of battle. The following diagrams will show the position of the column when halted by the crowd, and when the attack was made upon them. Then the position assumed when the firing began by the soldiers, and that in which they found themselves when ordered to cease firing. NO. I. Position of the troops when halted and the attack was made on the rear column. T M. & P. Bakery. WASHINGTON AVENUE. — f 4— H'S- Sch lager's. \\ ' t^ \\ > \\ r. \\ > > > > < d w Hunt's. -^ Wyoming House. THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 97 NO. 2. The general position assumed by the column without orders, as the result of those along the lines attempting to see what was being done at the rear of the column when the attack began : g o -. o- o WASHINGTOX AVENUE. \ Direction of Mob. >^ When the first man of the mob fell, the panic began to seize the crowd of thousands that had come bent upon mischief A stampede began at once, led by those who had come simpl}' to see, and very soon the fugitives went in every direction, with- out any stay upon the order of their going. Some crowded into hall-ways along the avenue, and up the stairs ; some hurried 7 98 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. away with the wounded, using every effort to hide their wounds. Pell-mell, helter-skelter, tumbling over each other and running on all fours, until they could find time to recover their feet, they ran crazed with fear. Some were seen at full speed more than two miles from the point of collision. In three minutes the whole street was cleared. NO. 3. General position of the column at the close of the battle. -©- © © /, ' I -©- © Represents position of bodies. One tall man, who had been surprised while firing his pistol, by having his hat shot from his head, lifted his feet conspicu- THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 99 ously behind him, and was seen rushing up the street with his pistol held at arms length in the air, too thoroughly fright- ened to recall his " present arms," even when it would have helped his flight. The running stream of humanity could be discerned down the valley, up the valley, across the river, and over the hills. On every street the people in their homes, en- tirely ignorant of the mob, or of the citizens' collision with it, were startled by this fugitive flow of blanched men, from whom they could learn nothing of the causes or the intention of the running. Just when the firing of the soldiers had begun, Lieut. Brown gave his signal to the young man at the church-gate to sound the alarm, and about the third round he rushed to the side of Sergeant Bartholomew^ and ordered the men to cease firing. The Mayor, who had wandered to his side, repeated the order, and just as the last shots lent their impetus to the flight of the last fugitives on the street, the church bell began to peal out its call for the City's Defenders ; which sounded like a last requiem indeed, as the brave young men found themselves standing alone in the streets, with the victims of this swift execution of law lying at their feet. Three men lay either dead, or evidently dying, and one supposed to be mortally wounded, while the blood-stains, traceable in three directions, gave signs of the greater number that were more or less wounded. The number of wounded has never been learned, as both friends and physicians carefully concealed the facts. To con- fess one's self as wounded might have given too much evi- dence of complicity with the mob. But this almost complete concealment confirmed the wonderful fact that no peaceful and worthy citizen had been injured, while there were hundreds of them in the streets, which were raked by the guns, and in the houses, whose fronts and windows were riddled and scarred by the bullets. 100 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. As soon as the firing ceased, with the aid of Col. Hitchcock, the sergeant untangled and formed the column on the side- walk. He found them all in place and ready forduty, except young Roney, who, after a careful inspection of the battle-field, taking note of the casualties, had marched alone with his be- nignant smile and his gun at a right-shoulder, back to the Wyoming House, from which he had come to join in the con- flict. Meanwhile the members of the Citizens' Corps, scattered all over the city, startled first by the sound of guns, or the flee- ing mob, began to move from their places of business. When the sound of the alarm-bell came, all halting to inquire what had occurred, ceased, and along the back streets and up the alleys, the young men ran to their headquarters. On Spruce Street, just as the fugitive crowd had cleared the way, and while pistol shots were yet adding to the panic, Charles R. Smith, one of the originators of the Citizens' Com- pany, might have been seen dodging his way behind fences and tree-boxes, with the instincts of a true soldier, and as a picket on duty. He was hailed by a short young man, who came trotting down Jefferson Avenue, who had been aroused from sleep, having been on watch all night, who inquired what might be the matter. When hastily informed that the war had actually begun, and that their brethren were " already in the field," this young man shouted, "come on;" and at a dead run he left the skirmisher to his advance by cover, while he took the middle of the street, and came into headquarters just as the bloody heroes, all bloodless and shaken, tottered in to gather breath and steady their nerves. This young man was Andrew Bryson, Jr., with a name honored in the American navy; and of a blood glorified in history for its courage, and patriotic virtue. He had a voice to command and a knowledge of military tactics, and had already proven of invaluable ser- vice as a drill master, and second sergeant, of the company. While the firing squad gathered breath and adjusted their THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 101 cartridges, Sergeant Bryson formed the gathering recruits in hne, and marched them across the head of the street with bayonets fixed, expecting an immediate return of the mob, which had so hastily vanished. By the time the veteran Smith had finished his reconnoisance and seized his gun, he found the hne formed, and Bryson counting the men off for duty. Meanwhile Captain Ripple, absorbed in his books, was en- tirely oblivious to the great mass meeting between himself and the city, and to all its consequent results. Suddenly he dis- covered the stream of fugitives coming directly towards him. He went out, at once, and learning from one of them as he ran, that the soldiers were shooting in the city, he seized a buggy and drove with fury through the crowd. He reached the headquarters to find Bryson's squad on efficient guard, and learning that the boys had been attacked before they fired, he rushed in and embraced them, with a glow of generous enthusiasm, which endeared him to them forever afterwards. By the time the Captain had appeared, the greater part of his company had reported for duty, and with them many more of the elder and younger men of the city. At the re- quest of the mayor, the captain, as soon as copies of a public notice could be printed by hand, ordered out a squad ; and taking the Mayor by the arm, accompanied him down Lacka- wanna Avenue ; while he warned all loiterers on the streets to disperse to their homes, and posted his order, that all business houses should be immediately closed. The Mayor, faint from the loss of blood, and sick from pain, when he reached Wyo- ming Avenue, had to be taken back and placed in the hands of a physician, while Edward C. Lynde and K. V. Kingsbury acted as his secretaries and aids. Captain Ripple finished his march, and returned leaving the street cleared. Bryson's column faced the open street, in which the dead men lay, along whose whole length a solemn 102 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. stillness had speedily fallen, which was only the more oppres- sive from the apprehension that the mob would soon rally, and that the bloody work had only begun. Not a living soul could be seen along the Avenue, as the noontide sun poured down its light and heat. At this time there lived in the city of Scranton a worthy colored man of marked piety and politeness, who ran an ex- press wagon to earn an honest living. He was universally known for his courtesy, and his honest purpose. Indeed he was recognized as one of the needs and factors of the city. Simple-hearted and at peace with all the world, he was the owner of a horse more solemn and conspicuous than himself. It was a horse built after the mediaeval- gothic style of archi- tecture, exceedingly long and loose. A horse which seemed to have been put together in sections, with an imperfect con- nection between them, each section requiring to be set in mo- tion before the one next to it could be fully apprised of the driver's intention to move. When in full motion, this horse would remind one of a dilapidated locomotive and its tender trying an upward grade, with a half head of steam. The case in which the spectator may perplex himself with the question as to whether the motive power is in the locomotive or in the tender. Just as Captain Ripple had completed his march, undertaken by the Mayor's order, closing the business houses and dismissing the loiterers from the street; Bry- son's division of the guard being still on duty across the head of the Avenue ; the slowly sawing head and pendent tongue of this remarkable horse became visible, coming up the street by sections, at its usual gait, as if no unwonted excite- ment had ever disturbed the highway. Beside, and following the tender, in which the driver sat, with his usual dignity and incapability of showing fear by change of color, marched with solemn determination an alderman of the Sixth Ward, burdened with the dignity of duty official. With him was a cluster of THE MOB AND ITS TRUE MASTER. 103 the friends of the dead men, whose bodies were still lying at the four corners of the street. With becoming gravity, the bodies of the unfortunate victims were lifted and tenderly placed in the wagon, and grateful thanks tendered the driver for his friendly offices at a time when friends were so needful. They then inquired the price of his hire. The man, who lived and died at peace with God, and with all races of men, lifted his hat, and with the statement that he should charge them nothing; for this service, he also assured them that he should "always be happy to serve them under circumstances like these." He gave notice to his faithful horse, and bore away to their wait- ing friends the remains of this terrible mob ; leaving the Citi- zens' Corps and the wounded Mayor in possession of the city, upon which had fallen a painful silence and apprehension. Law had won its first victory over the blind force of passion, and the wicked schemes of communism in the city. The flood had met the rock in the great highway of the city. The waters had raged and swept about it in fearful eddies of violence and wrath ; but the rock remained unmoved until the stream was utterly broken. The city whose danger had gathered as a tempest, which threatened to sweep away the best treasures of its people, had found its defense in the courage of its young men, who announced with the crack of their rifles that the law must be respected. A few minutes after the last shots were fired, Mr. George Sanderson, Jr., ran to the telegraph office and sent a request to Governor Hartranft to send troops at once, and having re- ceived answer that troops were on the way, and would reach the city before midnight, he shouldered his gun and reported at the Mayor's headquarters for duty. 104 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER VI. THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. The Night Watch— After tlie Battle — The Picket Line—" Grand Rounds'' — " For- lorn Hope '' — Morning Relief — Shock of the Rebound. AS soon as the mayor had sufficiently recovered, having been carried to the company's store, he issued his orders to all able-bodied citizens to gather upon a given signal to this point, which he had made his headquarters. Captain Ripple sent out squads of his company to enlist such men as might be willing to aid in guarding the city. By the middle of the afternoon the Citizens' Corps had pretty much all reported for duty, and, with the accession of volunteers, an efficient force was gathered. Bryson's guard was held fast to duty across the avenue, changing its members as necessity required, while he varied their monotonous watch with drill in the use of their arms. Every man who possessed a gun brought it with him, and those who had none were furnished with those gathered by Ruthven, which belonged to the State, until the supply was entirely exhausted. As the night came on the expectation was universal that the mob would return, and such citizens as could not leave their families were re- quested to place themselves on guard near their own premises. Strong guards were placed on all the streets and alleys lead- ing to the headquarters; and pickets were stationed at different points further out, to prevent surprise. Reliefs were organized for the night work, and intelligent watchmen were placed on the top of the store, and at other points of observation, as the force was not sufficient to attempt THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 105 a reconnoissance in the outskirts to learn what the law- less might be doing. At intervals reconnoitering squads were sent out into different parts of the city, while the men off duty spent the time in preparing cartridges and burnishing their guns. Thus the whole city was reduced to an extem- porized military camp, in which no traveler on the streets was suffered to pass without challenge. The City of Scranton had never seen such a night, as this which followed the dispersion of the mob. The citizens knew their force was entirely too limited to protect the great interests they had undertaken to defend. If the mob should organize and return, as every one supposed it would, their numbers must exceed, at least tenfold, all the forces that could be mustered against them. The families in their homes, almost without exception, were left without imme- diate defenders ; as husbands, brothers and sons were all sta- tioned on duty where the mayor and his counsellors deemed best. But the courage of the ladies throughout was manifestly heroic. As the shadows began to gather, an alarm was sent to headquarters that an attack had been made on the Scran- ton family residence, and two squads were sent on the dou- ble-quick to the rescue. When one of these squads ap- proached, they were surprised to find one of the young ladies of the house, who had been startled by the passing of a bullet through one of the window-panes, had rushed out, and around the house, revolver in hand, searching for the marauder that had shot it. Another lady might have been seen gun in hand standing watch in her own door, as a relief to her husband, who was permitted to take an hour's sleep after midnight; and another still, having her two sons in the ranks and her husband out of the city, whilcd away her lonely hours preparing lint and bandages, for any wounded heroes who might need them before the morning. This 106 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. much is recorded as a fair sample of the courage and devo- tion of the mothers, wives and sisters of the brave men who risked their hves for the reign of law and order. A solemn silence reigned over the whole city, which seemed to grow deeper as the hours passed, and to affect every living thing. The full moon and a clear sky made it remarkably light; but scarcely a sound disturbed the painful watching. Scarcely a dog ventured to bark, a chicken to crow, or even a horse to stamp in his stall. The watchman on the company's store, from time to time, reported the movement of signal lights and flashing of rock- ets on the hills, and among the "patches," on the outskirts of the city, and pickets reported the discovery of bodies of men gathering at different points down the valley. All night long squads of strikers were moving about, and gathering at dif- ferent points, a short distance from the city. Alarms which brought the whole force to its feet were frequent through the night ; but these alarms were, perhaps, as much due to the anxiety and inexperience of the men on duty as to any im- mediate danger. All night long these brave men stood to their watch, momentarily expecting bloody work ; but the morning dawned without any return of the mob, and brought with it renewed confidence, as well as refreshment, to the weary watchers. The mass of these young men had been on duty for eighteen hours, and some of them for more than thirty without relief. The anxieties of the night had been greatly increased by the failure of the promised troops to reach the city; and by the conviction that they had been stopped by a breaking of the track, or some disabling of the trains at least thirty miles away. The movement of the trains filled with troops had been traced by telegraph on the Bloomsburgh Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway alm.ost to Nan- ticoke, where the strikers had torn up the track. Here, at THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 107 about eleven o'clock, p. m, the telegraph wire was cut, and no man could conjecture what the result might be. The troops were known to be at least two days' march distant from the city, if their train should have to be abandoned. Towards midnight Alexander W. Dickson and Robert Reaves were sent up the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway to stop the night train, and take from it a lot of hand grenades, which had been ordered by telegraph from New York. They .succeeded, and by the possession of these, the watchers at the headquarters felt a new courage and strength; for with these every boy might be effectively armed. But about eight o'clock in the morning of the 2d, the bur- den of the watchers was suddenly lifted, as the first train, with the First Division of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, under command of Major General Robert M. Brinton, came quietly into the city, about 3000 strong, and having about a hundred of the road breakers and rioters as prisoners in charge. Never were soldiers more joyfully welcomed. The homes of the city were thrown open, and these men who had been on fatigue duty for more than two weeks, and had among them some of the best men from the city of Philadel- phia, were soon made to feel that they had at least found a place where their work would be appreciated. Within less than an hour these regiments were placed in, and around, tlie city where their force could be made most ef- fective. " The Citizens' Corps " was relieved from immediate duty, and the members were suffered to disperse to their homes, to report upon call. The spirit, and patriotic self-de- nial of these men upon guard may be indicated by a single instance. After the National Guard appeared, a German lawyer of no mean reputation, who had been held to duty in Bryson's Guard, stepped up to his officer about nine o'clock in the morning, and asked if he could now be safely permitted to go 108 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. to his home ; remarking that he supposed there was a new child in his house that morning, and he would like to know whether it was a boy or a girl. As soon as General Brinton had housed his prisoners safel}', he placed strong guards and pickets in the outskirts of the city ; and the Mayor before noon, had posted his peremptory order, that all saloons and bars where liquor was sold should be at once closed, and remain closed, until otherwise ordered. " The Citizens' Corps " was charged with the duty of seeing that this order was complied with. A little after noon Gov- ernor Hartranft, who had left Pittsburgh the evening before, arrived, accompanied by Major-General Kuidekoper, with his command of eight hundred men. The presence of the Gov- ernor, especially because of the great confidence of all classes in his wisdom, and executive ability, speedily brought a feel- ing of relief to the whole community. That class of the workmen on strike, who had become unexpectedly involved by the horrible work of the lawless, knew the Governor would do them no injustice; while the protectors and asserters of law were satisfied from his military record, that through his wis- dom and experience any intemperate military zeal awakened must be controlled. Hence the whole people felt an inex- pressible relief, and began to come from their homes and seek for some intelligent apprehension of the results of the sudden and bloody resistance to the mob, which had been made by the heroic band of young men on yesterday. The effects of the determined resistance to the mob were not measured by the immediate and visible results. These were salutary, indeed, if they were severe. A sight to make one shudder was revealed when the day dawned on the city. The people, relieved of immediate apprehension, walked about the streets in the neighborhood of the tragedy with awe. It was sad, indeed, to see the blood of men, who were yester- day so full of life and fury, drying on the stones of the streets, THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 109 and note the peaceful houses of merchandise of a Christian city covered with bullet marks, which indicated how much more fatal must have been the results, but for that invisible guiding hand that makes no mistakes. Why no more lives were sacrificed, in the crowd where there could have hardly been less than three thousand people crowded within half a block ; and where so many bullet marks were left on the stones of the street, and on the buildings at no greater height than a man's head, was an insoluble enigma. But it was clear that these young men had demonstrated, what had been demonstrated a thousand times before, that it is the highest wisdom and the truest humanity to meet mob violence, as quickly as it mani- fests itself, with a deadly force. This " Citizens' Corps " of volunteer police evidently saved the city by their prompt and determined action. But it was soon manifested that they had done vastly more. The crack of their rifles echoed and re-echoed up and down the valley; giving voice to the majesty of law from Carbondale, to Nanti- coke ; and a very few hours demonstrated the fact that the monster of communistic rage, of pillage and murder, that had swept through so many cities of the land, had been struck in its vital part on Lackawanna Avenue. These fifty guns had fought and won the battle of law and order for the northern coal-fields. By the shock of their tread, the vigor of their determination, and the dead earnestness of their aim, these young men inaugurated the flight of lawless endeavor, which swept over the whole valley, and speedily gave the power into the hands of the good and true. The effect of this bold and deadly resistance was felt immediately at Wilkes-Barre, and Kingston ; not only in giving new cour- age to law-loving people, but especially in dissolving at once the schemes of the wicked. On the 2d of August the tele- graph had carried the victory from ocean to ocean. The rev- elation of the city's danger and defense was carried on wings 110 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. of lightning, around the world, while the boys held their solemn vigil. The Scranton mode of dealing with the mob was heralded from city to city, and awoke, in many an exposed community, to the energies of true wisdom, the hesitating people. The persevering courage and official manliness of the wounded Mayor was used in all cities of the country to infuse executive officials with the spirit of American devotion to of- ficial duty, and arouse the people totheapprehensionof the sol- emn sanctities oflaw; without which there can be no true liberty. The editors of a neighboring city stirred up their executive with a striking contrast between the efficiency of the Scranton Mayor " with his broken jaw/' with that of their own Mayor, whom they said was " all jaw." Thus throughout this part of the country the effect became rapidly manifest and salutar}\ But in the city of Scranton, and in the coal-fields, the end of violence had not come. The people only felt the more in- tensely, as the smoke of the battle cleared away, that the dan- gers of the community were not all passed. The state of feel- ing between the dissatisfied workmen and their employers was only intensified by the lawless results of the strike, and by the bloodstains on the stones of the street. The present relief afforded by the presence of the Governor, and his guard of five thousand soldiers, only suggested, with great emphasis, to the timid and cowardly, the coming danger, when these troops should be withdrawn and the city remanded to its own care, and the administration of law. It was evident, indeed, to the wise and thoughtful citizens that time alone could close the fissures which had so suddenly been revealed, heal the wounds of conflict, and bring the mixed community back to a solid basis of peace and good-will. The Citizens' Corps had scarcely been relieved from its fatigue duty, by the arrival of the Philadelphia troops, before the sug- gestions of fear, on the one side, and consciousness of humili- ation and defeat on the other, began to disturb the people THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. Ill generally, separating them into classes. The public found it- self called upon to sit in judgment upon the acts of their brave defenders, both on the questions of right, and of prudent wis- dom. The young men had not had time to wash the grim stain of powder from their hands and faces before they found themselves arraigned in the public mind, for their rashness, or for the possible results of the forceful dispersion of the mob. They soon saw that they must defend themselves, as well as the city. In the gathering of the facts for the preparation of this his- tory, the author secured personal statements from all the main actors, and from many witnesses of the crowded events. By comparing these statements he has been able, he believes, to write a true record of the main facts as they occurred. These statements are all more or less comprehensive and minute. Generally they have proved to be entirely reliable. It is here proposed to introduce an extract from the statement of Captain Ripple as more clear and expressive of the state of feeling, and spirit which prevailed the day after the mob, than anything the author could present. Captain Ripple's statement respect- ing this return wave is as follows : " Of the events which followed close after the riot of August I, 1877 and the peculiar condition of the public mind at that time I will make a brief statement. "The boys of the firing squad and members of the Citizens' Corps, had hardly been relieved from immediate duty by the arrival of Gen. Brinton and his command, when we found that we had to answer at the bar of public opinion, for what we thoughthadbcenboth courageously and patriotically done. We had not returned to our homes after the weary night-watch, before wc found there was a current of public opinion setting hard against us. All over the streets the question was being discussed as to whether there had been a mob. Many fearful souls, who for the week preceding the riot scarcely dared 112 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. recognize one of the Citizens' Corps on the street, for fear he might be considered one of them, and thereby become a marked man ; and who, immediately after the suppression of the riot, under the impulse of their relieved feelings, were loudest in their praise of the firing party, now as suddenly changed front again, and charged the boys with hastily yield- ing to the impressions and cruel demands of Mr. Scranton^ which they assumed led to firing upon what they called helpless and harmless people. The whole matter began to assume very serious aspects in the company itself. The mem- bers of the corps who had not been notified until the mob had been dispersed, began to feel happy that they had escaped the responsibility of the shooting, and some of the members of the firing squad became so much troubled, that they tried to have it understood that they had not been present. Others quietly spread the intelligence that they had not fired their guns. "Those of us who felt the responsibility in the case became perplexed and amazed. We were told that it w^ould not be safe for us to walk the streets, for we were marked men, — and if we had friends, they were apparently few, and we did not know where to find them. I cannot express the comfort it gave us to find here and there a man with a real back-bone, who was not afraid to give us assurance of an intention to stand by us. I could mention a number who showed them- selves in this light. They were such men as Dr. N. Y. Leet, Charles W. Roesler, Charles F. Mattes, William W. Manness, Frederick W. Gunster, C. L. Mercereau, J. C. Piatt, George Sanderson, Sr., and Dr. Throop. We found especial comfort in the outspoken courage of W. W. Scranton. He was a man for the time certainly, and while he was the object of the bit- terest feeling and unfair criticism, he stood without flinching, and his bravery helped us all. The day after the mob, was about as trying a time for us as any we were called to meet. It was THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 113 harder .for us to defend ourselves than to defend the city. But the boys stuck together as well as they could, and did their duty, seeing that the saloons were closed, as the Mayor had ordered ; and when night came, the whole company gathered at headquarters and remained together, because it was clear there was danger to individuals, who might be waylaid on the streets, or get into trouble through the discussions of the crowds, or be arrested at their homes and taken to some out- lying ward, to be given a mock trial and subjected to every indignity, and possibly murdered in going or returning, by the infuriated rioters, or their sympathizers. "The evening train of that day brought back to the city two men who were destined to become leaders and counsellors for us in this condition of excitement and uncertainty, which had been so perplexing all day — two men who became openly identified with all the plans about to be carried through to se- cure the future safety of the city, as well as to save the brave men who had dispersed the mob. One of these was Mr. Henry M. Boies, the President of the ' Moosic Powder Company' and afterwards of the 'Dickson Manufacturing Company,' now the owner and operator of the great manufacturing interest of the * Boies Steel Car-wheel Factory ' in the city. The other was Rev. Dr. S. C. Logan, who had for nine years been the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Scranton. We learned that both of these men had, from the beginning of the strike, counselled the organization of a force to secure the city from lawlessness: either an enlarged and armed police, or a military company, to enforce respect for law. Mr. Boies had volunteered, on the first suggestion of the Mayor, as special policeman, and had also signed the roll of the Citizens' Corps. He had remained in the city for duty until assured that his services would not be needed, when he joined his family at the sea-shore. 1 le had hardly greeted his family before he was startled by the telegraphic announcement of the bloody riot, and he started for home on the first train. 8 114 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. " Dr. Logan was a parson with positive convictions. He oc- cupied towards us the position of minister of peace, but was well prepared by moral courage and mental grasp to be a min- ister of war as well. He believed in the reign of reason and law, and determined these should reign in the city, if it should be necessary to have some one stand over a man with a club while he reasoned with him. He was both long and level-headed, and became a tower of strength and comfort to us at this criti- cal time. He had charged his two sons, when he left for his vacation, that if the strike then sweeping over the country should reach the city, they should offer their services to the Mayor as special police, and stand openly on the side of law, allowing no such degradation of the United States flag as he had witnessed in 1871, when it was carried through the mills by the strikers, driving men from their work. He had learned that his sons had followed his advice, and he had tried for a week to return, but found no way of travel. He came in on the first train that would permit it after learning of the riot. This traih came in with the windows barricaded with cushions, and the few passengers protected by such articles of furniture as could be used to shield them from stones and bullets, of which the conductor had been warned by the attack on the down-train, the same night, just outside of the city. The Doctor was well-known to the boys, who thought a great deal of him. Three young men of the Citizens' Corps obtained leave to meet him, about midnight, at the station, and escorted him with their guns to his home, where his excellent wife had been remaining alone for forty-eight hours. " These two men brought us strength and help very quickly by their outspoken defence of the Company and of the firing squad. On Friday night they both came to the headquarters and were received with cheers, as the boys had learned to appreciate true friends. Dr. Logan, after his usual style, made us a speech, in which he offered to bury all of the boys THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 115 with benefit of clergy, if they should be hung for shooting the rioters. In fact, as he himself once described it, he * uncov- ered his inexhaustible gas-retort and let off sky-rockets for the illumination of the United States flag,' and closed with the promise to stand by the young men. I am glad to say that he afterwards fulfilled to the satisfaction of the City Guard the promises he made that night. It is enough for me to say that the boys took new courage, and concluded it might yet be counted an honor to have saved the city, and from that night we were satisfied we should not stand alone." Thus far Capt. Ripple. As Captain Ripple states it, the shooting at the mob was charged as hasty and uncalled for. The mob itself was said to have been an unarmed, and helpless body of people, who had set out to persuade, or possibly to compel by force of public opinion, their comrades to leave the shops, and refuse work until all could go back on equal terms. Threats of vengeance, with grave warnings of future trouble, began to creep about the streets. Passion began to rise among the people ; and as they discussed the facts, the after-thoughts of both the honest and the faint-hearted made the days sad and sombre. For awhile it seemed to be a very questionable honor to be known as one of the brave fifty. So much so that the recognized members dwindled down as low as thirty- eight in the general count. The best citizens soon saw that something must be done to rally the people to the right, or the fruits of the victory over the mob would all be lost. Hence, on the afternoon of the 2d of August, a meeting of citizens was gathered, on private notice, circulated mostly by Charles W. Roesler and Hugh M. Hannah, at the Anthracite Club Rooms. Over this meeting the Hon. George Sanderson presided and Hugh M. Hannah acted as secretary. This meeting fully and emphatically endorsed the actions of the Mayor, his Police and the Citizens' Corps. The committee on 116 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. resolutions, consisting of Isaac J. Post, Lewis Pughe, Charles Dupont Breck, Dr. B. H. Throop and Henry Belin, Jr. ; after calling attention to the proclamation of the Governor, issued more than a week before, inviting and authorizing all good citizens to organize for the maintenance of law and order, as our Citizens' Corps had done, reported a series of ringing reso- lutions, giving the highest commendation to the Mayor and the young men, pledging both hand and purse of the best citi- zens for their defense. The reporters of the respectable papers were quietly advised to change their tone, and they gave as- surances of being in hearty co-operation with the designs of the meeting. These resolutions were published, and before another day had passed the drift of public opinion, which was setting so disastrously against the firing squad, began to change. The miners' association, through their committee, publicly denied all complicity with either the mass-meeting of August 1st, or with the mob in which it terminated. Yet they on the 2d, appointed a committee to prosecute the men who fired upon it. The day closed with the rumor that an alderman of the Sixth'Ward, under the counsel of an Irish lawyer, who was known to be seeking for the nomination as a candidate for the office of Additional Law Judge of the County, had taken upon himself the duties of the Coroner, and proposed to hold an in- quest in this Ward of the city over the dead men who yet lay unburied. On the 3d of August the two men mentioned by Captain Ripple were joined by the Rev. A. A. Marple, the worthy Rec- tor of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, in the city, who had cut off his vacation also, and hastened home where his son had en- listed to maintain law and order. These pastors held a con- sultation and agreed that bold and emphatic vindication of the Mayor, and his special police in their resistance to the mob, was the duty of the hour, and at once set about it. In this work they soon found many earnest helpers, such as those THE GATHERING OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 117 mentioned by Captain Ripple in his statement. The young- men kept together at their headquarters, partly by the affinities their work had created, and partly by the fear of assassination, if they should remain at their homes. It was on the night of the 3d that these pastors visited the Mayor's and military headquarters, when Dr. Logan addressed them with words of cheer, in which he committed himself and all true men in the city to their support and protection, giving them hearty thanks for the work they had already done. In the positions taken the excellent Rector heartily joined, giving his audible endorse- ment. The young men who had stood as a wall before this flood of wicked passion to break its power, and for twenty hours had stood on guard to preserve the city against the expected re- turn of what everybody knew was an overwhelming force, began from that time to rise above the fears of their friends. That Friday night's gathering started the current of public feeling which had been breasted the day before by the citizens' meet- ing in the direction of justice and of true safety. 118 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER VII. THE RETURN TIDE. Dangers of the Undertow — The Invisible Dangers Worse than the Visible — The City's Defenders Must Defend Themselves. THERE were two forces, at this time active in the com- munity, which especially interfered with the healthy movement of public opinion. Both of these connected itself, more or less directly, with the ex parte coroner's investigation which was being conducted in the Sixth Ward, by men whose natural affinities and race prejudices were supposed to lead them into sympathy with the elements of which the mob had been composed. An investigation which was looked upon sim- ply as an attempt to wreak vengeance, under pretence of legal forms, for the blood that had been shed in the streets. The first of these forces was the uncomfortable position, and grievous complaints, of the honest and orderly miners, who felt that they had been compromised by the mob ; and who, because of their relation to the strike, supposed themselves to be under a cloud of suspicion in the eyes of all good citizens. These workmen really had the hearty sympathy of the great body of the citi- zens. It was well understood that a multitude, if not a ma- jority, of the best miners had been coerced and held to the strike by compulsion ; and neither the mayor nor the members of the special police had ever charged them with insincerity in their promise to aid in the putting down of all lawlessness in the city, while the strike should continue. There were few, if any, in the city who believed that they THE RETURN TIDE. 119 had really anything to do with, or any power to control, the mob, which was organized the ist of August. Even the company that met on the skirts of the Round Woods, and were seen to go over and join the crowd at the silk mill, were known not to belong to the best class. Their great mistake was the aid they lent to the lawless by their charges against the authorities that saved the city, and their assumption that there was no mob, even when they knew the Mayor had been attacked and terribly wounded. They asserted that it was only an unarmed crowd who desired, by force of numbers, to compel the unfaithful members of their associations to leave the shops and stand to duty with their brethren. It was as- serted that the clubs said to have been used were simply laths thoughtlessly taken from the lumber-yard through which the people passed on their way, and that any demonstrations of violence that might have been made were made by thought- less and irresponsible boys, who may have fired pistols in the air ; but, if so, it was only as a vent to their youthful enthu- siasm. One of the leaders of the mob, so unfortunate as to lose his life with the fire of the special police, it was asserted, was a man with a sick family, who was returning from a drug- store with medicine for his children, having no connection with the demonstration except as a casual looker-on, stopped by the crowd. Yet there were a hundred witnesses of his brutal attack upon the mayor, and half a dozen victims of his vio- lence before he reached the spot where he fell. These state- ments, circulated by respectable citizens, excited fears in the minds of conscientious people that possibly the firing squad had been hasty ; and apprehension on the part of the peaceful that a permanent opposition might be inaugurated between the citizens and the workmen. The other fact which gave cause for real apprehension was the avowals of special \cngcance upon Mr. W. \V. Scranton; upon whom, without evidence or even inquir}-, the rcsjjonsi- 120 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. bility of the resistance to the mob was placed by the mass of workmen. The feeling against Mr. Scranton among the workmen generally, with the exception of those under his im- mediate superintendency, was very intense. Since the strike of 1 87 1 his reputation among the strikers had been that of an oppressor. His fearlessness at the time of what they called the long strike, and his connection with its sudden termination, had inspired the mass of miners with a fear of him. His open defiance of their threats, and his resistance to all attempts to interfere with the workmen under his charge, had estab- lished the opinion that he was reckless and selfish, with small appreciation of human life. Mr. Scranton had always held such an agreement with his hands that there was no induce- ment for them to join in a strike, as he promised them what- ever might be gained by the strikers if they should remain at work. There was manife'st just that bitter hatred and fear of him which might be expected to hatch schemes of assassina- tion and arson, in order to put him out of the way. The hatred of, and opposition to, him were so intense that it was deemed hardly safe for the friends of order and law to defend him. His own manifest recklessness of danger, and his brusque way of dealing with men generally, kept alive the intensity of this passion. The loyal citizens appreciated his fidelity to order and his courage ; but a large number of them were persuaded that confidence between the workmen and corporations ; and consequently the peace and safety of the city could not be se- cured while he occupied the conspicuous position which his character and services had won for him. Through the influ- ence of politicians without conscience, and men without character, this feeling was fanned, fed, and intensified. Mr. Scranton and those associated with him in the public defense were denounced and threatened, and all manner of falsehoods touching their acts and intentions were circulated, until the great body of the best citizens felt there could be THE RETURN TIDE. 121 no peace in the city, especially after the militia should be withdrawn. This conviction culminated on Saturday, August 4th, four days after the riot, and at the hour when the bodies of the three victims were borne to their graves in a quiet funeral along the avenue, in which hundreds of the laborers partici- pated. Mr. Scranton's friends, all excellent and judicious citizens, advised him to leave the city, to save his life from the assas- sins, and expressed to him their conviction that he could never hope to live in peace and safety in the city again. About four o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Scranton, having respectfully listened to this expression of opinion, and being puzzled by it as to what might be his duty, called upon his pastor, stated the facts and asked for advice. He was at once assured that it would most certainly prove disastrous to the peace of the city for him to leave it upon the demand of a set of men who were bent upon unlawful work. He was told that the issue had bcc7i joined between the law-abiding and the lazvlcss fojxcs of society, and this was no time for any true man to think of retiring from the contest. He was assured that the feeling, so bitter against himself, would speedily be manifested towards his companions of the firing squad, if he should van- ish ; and it could not but be an endless disaster to the city to allow the lawless element to drive him from it. He was therefore counseled to stand as his conscience and brave spirit had taught him, and was assured that his pastor would stand with him, and if necessary watch over him day and night while the danger lasted. This weakening of the determination of the good people to stand upon the issue, which the mayor and the company of special police had made with the lawless spirit; manifested by the suggestion that the man who had made himself most obnoxious to the mob should abandon the field, determined 122 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. the pastor to make the question of openly sustaining the au- thorities a public issue of religious duty, in the approaching Sabbath worship. He gave notice accordingly; and when the hour of public worship arrived on Sabbath morning, he found a large gathering of the people, who seemed to be only wait- ing for some one to voice their deepest convictions of justice, of truth and duty. Taking for his theme the Scripture: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion;" he made the question of the hour, that of the war of order against lawlessness. He said that "the truth of the first statement of the text had been demonstrated in these streets, and all about this sanctuary, four days ago, when a handful of young men, armed for the protection of law, met the hosts of infuriated men, bent upon lawless enterprise, " when one was made to chase a thousand, and two to put ten thousand to flight." " But there were times when it was required of Christian men and women to demonstrate the truth of the second propo- sition, ' The righteous are as bold as a lion.' There are times when Christian and patriotic duty are one. Such a time had come to the people of this city. The spirit of lawlessness and anarchy, which has been sweeping over the whole land, has come here also. That spirit threatens the foundations of civil government, and seeks to give license to all evil passions. No man who fears God can hesitate to imperil his life in the effort to meet and turn back such a flood of iniquity. Citizenship and Christian duty bring here responsibilities, which no sacri- fice short of life itself can ever cancel. The spirit abroad is that of the Commune; generated in the shades of moral death, and manifested in a lawless violence which can only be sin. A mob, whatever its -moving cause, its aims or ends, is the enemy of God and man, to which no Christian can for a moment yield voluntary submission. Therefore he adjured his auditors to stand fast together and give no place to fear. Let there be THE RETURN TIDE. 123 no temptation to the mingling of questions of expediency with the questions of duty, where the issues are simply those of law, order, and life. To stand with the right is to stand with God, and the results of such standing are all with Him. " There may be," he said, " at the present time a struggle be- tween capital and labor of heavy import to both parties — a man- ly struggle, whose noise and absorbing interest may attract the attention of all right-minded men ; and demand that the Christian shall take sides openly with the right against the wrong, or give his strength to the weak as against the strong. But there is a deeper, a more vital issue involved here ; even one in which the question is simply that of the supremacy of law, and the triumph of regulated liberty over that of wicked license, which inaugurates the reign of sin and death. Shall we take counsel of our fears, in such an issue— especially after God has given us such a victory as that which has saved honor, as well as the city, at such small expense of life ? Shall our brave young men, who risked their lives to snatch the city and its executive from the hands of a mob, go skulking through these streets as if they were the breakers of the law, instead of its defenders? Shall our sons be set to defend themselves BECAUSE THEY HAVE DEFENDED THE CITY? Or shall tlicy be counselled to hide themselves for fear of offendmg or exciting those who trample upon law ? God forbid ! The bloody hand of fraternal strife will be lifted up for a generation in our coun- try if our people are recreant to patriotic duty now. We will prove ourselves unworthy, both of our fathers and of the precious heritage of regulated liberty which they have given us, if we hesitate for a moment when the issue is made as to whether the city is to be governed by the constituted authority, or by an independent association, however honest the men who constitute it. This is no time to listen to the suggestions of prudent fears, or expediency ; no time to discuss antl adjust siile issues — to redress grievances, or to remodel existing relations 124 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. between classes, when men are busy with the effort to uproot sacred personal liberty, and righteous law. The duty of the hour is to stand shoulder to shoulder as men, for the main- tenance and triumph of what we know to be right, let it hurt whom it will. Let us walk these streets as if we owned them ; and meant to own them, against every usurping sovereignty, from whatever quarter it may come; and let us give thanks to God that He has given us such noble sons, who did not turn back in the day of peril and terror." The effect of this pointed appeal began to be manifest imme- diately. The citizens began at once to gather about the Mayor and his guard, and to rebuke the spirit of lawlessness openly. It began to be recognized as an honor to belong to the Citi- zens' Company, and even to Mr. Scranton's coal and iron police ; which he took steps to have organized according to law shortly afterwards, and placed under the command of Captain Carl W. McKinney. Meanwhile the ex-parte coroner's inquest was being con- ducted in a quarter into which the defenders of the city deemed it dangerous to go without an escort. The leading lawyer then in the city was Isaac J. Post, Esq., of the firm of Hand & Post. He was a man whose Christian character, whose genial soul, sense of justice, and high scholarship, especially in the law, had won the respect of all classes, and endeared him to all the best citizens of Scranton. He, at the suggestion of responsible men, undertook the work of protecting the young men and the Mayor from the legal meshes which the Alderman and his counsellors were attempting to weave about them. The Hon. John Brisbin, of New York, volunteered to assist him ; and they visited the Alderman's court only to find a state of unreasona- ble passion. These lawyers deemed it wise to give promise that whenever this court should conclude whom they wanted of the defenders of the city, these men should be forthcoming, if proper notice were given. With this agreement they re- c^^<^^ ^THE RETURN TIDE. 125 tired, leaving detectives, procured by Mr. Brisbin, to report to them the progress and the conclusion of the investigation. On the 6th of August a council of citizens sent a committee, of which Pastor Logan was chairman, to these attorneys with the suggestion that proper legal steps should be taken to re- move the investigation from the hands of the Alderman, and place it in the hands of the Coroner of the County. It was supposed by them, from consultation with legal counsel, that the Alderman of the Sixth Ward had no legal right to make such an investigation, as the men were killed in the Eighth Ward, and the law required, in the absence of the Coroner, that the Alderman of that Ward should have had charge of the in- vestigation. The lawyers declined to do this, but promised to keep the Citizens' Committee posted, and act with them in all measures proposed to secure the safety of the young men. The angry, and dangerous, spirit of the strikers was mani- fested during the whole time this investigation was proceed- ing, and all signs of resumption of work disappeared. The city was in the hands of the militia, with General Huidekoper in command. He was both a judicious and efficient officer, and repressed all attempts to create disturbance with great promptness. Under his counsels the Citizens' Company were relieved from all duty, and the members of it went to their homes, and their business. It was thought that such abandonment of the organization, during the stay of the soldiers from abroad, might hasten the quieting of the evil passions, which their effective work had excited. For three days there was no assembly of the com- pany, and the young men attended to their business ;\ being careful to keep themselves in safe quarters during the night. More conspicuous ones, who were known to be specially obnoxious to the friends of the victims, were warned of the danger which might overtake them, and nothing was left undone by their friends which was deemed needful to save them from the hands of assassins. 12G A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Many of the miners and laborers had become greatly em- bittered, and put forth more strenuous efforts to continue the strike ; and the lawless element, that segregated naturally where there was idleness, drifted about the movements of the strikers, greatly to the annoyance of their best men, and fanned the fires of passion wherever they gave signs of dying out. One of the newspapers of the city, too, from day to day, added its force to the evil counsel of angry men ; and the whole brood of demagogues, who professed to serve the laboring men, in order to gain their votes at the approaching election, carried on their nefarious trade with great perseverance and energy ; and, alas ! with too much success. The foul spirit and prac- tices of the " Molly Maguire " moved in and about the city, dropping mysterious warnings, here and there, to intimidate honest men, and threats of vengeance upon all who had main- tained the dignity of the law. The strikers opened a sort of co-operative and benevolent store in Hyde Park, to sell cheap supplies to the needy work- men, who were not only refusing work, but forbidding all others to enter the mines. They sent out wagons among the farmers and solicited gifts of grain and vegetables. They accumulated quite a supply, and made the impression that the whole country was upon the side of the strikers. The pump- ing engines were visited by night at different points, and attempts were made to intimidate the engineers. Vagabonds grew bold in the darkness, and tried to strike the faithful militiamen of the National Guard with apprehensions of per- sonal danger. The progress of the Sixth Ward investigation was carefully watched, and every plan and fact reported by a process en- tirely unknown to the men who were engaged in it. Prepara- tions were made to checkmate their movements the moment they should become dangerous. Governor Hartranft issued his order to the Major-General in command, to protect the THE RETURN TIDE. 127 young men against all violence, and to place them in charge of the militia if need should arise. The alderman completed his investigations at noon, on Wednesday the 8th of August, just eight days after the mob had been dispersed, and a ver- dict with a charge of " murder in the first degree " was brought in against twenty-two respectable citizens ; not one of whom had been allowed either to be present or have a representative before the magistrate. Seven of these men had nothing to do with the firing upon the mob, and some of them were squares away when the firing took place. The recorded testi- mony upon which the indictment was made afforded prima facie evidence of the true spirit and character of the proceed- ings. Although promises were made by the men having the inquest in hand that nothing should be done before the next day, un- der pretence of the illness of the attorney, who was the Al- derman's counselor, and who drew up all the papers ; and not- withstanding the assurances given by Mr. Post, that any num- ber of the firing squad who might be called for should be pro- duced in open court as soon as they might be needed, writs were issued against these gentlemen immediately, and a squad of constables was sent out to seize them as the shadows of the night began to fall. One of these officers approached Lewis C. Bortree, who sat on the veranda of the Forest House ; but when yet twenty paces away he was discovered by Bortree, who immediately drew his pistol and ordered the officer to stop where he was. Bortree, who was himself a deputy sheriff, then assured the official that he was willing to be taken at any time before four o'clock in the afternoon, but after that hour, on any day, he would not be taken alive. The constable quietly retired with the writ unserved. Another constable with a posse, from the Sixth Wartl, ap- peared, just as the gas was being lighted, at the door of 128 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Charles E. Chittenden's drug-store. Leaving his associates on the sidewalk, the officer entered and served his writ on Mr. Chittenden, who at once understood the perils of his position. With his revolver in hand, he proposed terms to this limb of the law, which he was constrained quietly to accept. These terms were that they should go out together by the back door, and avoid the company of helpers stationed at the front ; that the officer should first accompany Mr. Chittenden to his lawyer, and allow the attorney to go with him before the magistrate. They passed out the back way and down the alley, with the question unsettled whether the officer had the prisoner, or the prisoner the officer in charge. Passing into Washington Avenue, the officer paused at the handsome resi- dence of Mr. Theodore F. Hunt, of the firm of Hunt Broth- ers, before whose business house the firing had taken place, and took him also in charge. Mr. Hunt was one of the most respectable and peaceably inclined citizens of the city, and had nothing more to do with either the mob or the police than to use all diligence to shield himself and his associates from the mortal danger, into which they found themselves suddenly cast, when his business corner became the meeting place of the forces. He was sitting in peace upon his own porch, feeling entirely secure in his conscious innocence, watching the people gath- ing to the evening worship in the church opposite, when the officer, with his prisoner approached and captured him also, with his writ from the aldermen's court, on the charge of pre- meditated murder. After a short parley, Mr. Hunt offered his parole of honor to remain on his own porch until the officer should return from accompanying his other captive to Mr. Post's residence, which was about three squares away. This parole was accepted through the exhortations of Mr. Chitten- den, and his revolver, by the officer, who asserted that he only desired to do his official duty. So the two men, the officer THE RETURN TIDE. 129 and his prisoner walked, with quiet dignity, up the avenue together. About the time of the parley, which was being held on Mr. Hunt's porch, a lad who had been on the watch for some hours for the appearance of the alderman's missives, found the man who had given him the charge to watch, and made the announcement that Mr. Chittenden had been taken. Within two minutes more this lad, with the help of Carl W. McKin- ney, had the ear of General Huidekoper, and, six minutes afterwards, the General sat quietly beside Mr. Hunt on his porch, with two companies of his command at a carry in the street, in front. Here they waited in silence the return of the officer with his prisoner, accompanied by his attorney. Just then, a well-meaning gentleman, burdened with more nerves than judgment, having heard the rumors of the move- ment of the avengers of blood, rushed to the church where a number of young men, known to be liable to arrest, were gathered, and disturbed the meeting with an announcement that, but for the coolness of the pastor, would have ended in a panic. The young men were calmly notified to report quietly at headquarters, and runners were sent forth at once, to find all the members of the Citizens' Corps, and bring them to places of safety, within military lines. Just as the pastor had succeeded in getting the last of his people quietly away from the church-gate, the officer and his escort approached Mr. Hunt's residence without any knowledge of what had been done. Seeing the two lines of soldiers motionless, and reach- ing from the gate to an indefinite distance down the street, Mr. Post suggested, in a gentle voice, to Chittenden, that this was his chance. With a charge to the lawyer not to allow the officer to shoot the prisoner in the back, Chittenden made a rush within the file of soldiers, with the officer close at his heels, and was caught just as he came face to face with the General. The military man seemed not at all flustered or cx- 9 130 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. cited by this sudden rush through his Hnes of two men with- out the countersign. He simply inquired with the energy and manner of a man who had faced the fire of Gettysburg, and left an arm as a token of his patriotism: "Who are you?" to the first comer. When informed, by the well-blown citizen, that his name was Chittenden, he coolly answered: "Why, you are the man we have been looking for — glad to see you." Then laying his hand on the prisoner's shoulder, he informed the constable that he might consider himself relieved from any further charge of these two men during the night — that the prisoners were now in safe hands, and should be produced to legitimate authorities in due time ; or at any time after day- light should come. The officer protested, and appealed with anxious gentleness to know where he should go, and what return he should make to the alderman of his writs. The General had no information to give him as to his legal respon- sibilities, or as to any specific direction he might take in his travel, "but he could assure him that his present locality was an exceedingly unhealthy one, for a man of his burdens and convictions." The General marched his men to the Mayor's headquarters, having the two prisoners in charge ; and immediately steps were taken to prevent, and circumvent, any further deeds of darkness which might be undertaken by the avengers of blood, under the forms and pretence of law. Within an hour all the members of the Citizens' Corps, with the citizens charged in the jury's finding, were collected at the Mayor's head quarters. A wave of excitement and indignation swept over the city as the knowledge of the attempted arrests became general. An hour later that indignation reached a white-heat, when scouts and detectives had succeeded in uncovering the diabolical plans of these men. The intentions of these pretended executors of law, it was supposed; was to bring a number of the citizens involved in the THE RETURN TIDE. 131 mastery of the mob, before the aldermen, and have them com- mitted to jail on the charge of murder, and then carry them in wagons to Wilkes-Barre, the same night, to place them in the jail. The whole way down the valley was known to be in a lawless condition — filled with tramps and worthless, bloody- minded, men, who called themselves workmen and strikers. The first part of the way lay directly through the region where the leaders who had lost their lives in the mob had lived, and where their friends were busy keeping alive the thoughts of vengeance. Two miles below the city a crowd of these people gathered that night, armed with various implements, and waited for the expected carriages with their loads of prisoners, according to the report of the scouts. But the prisoners did not come. The acting coroner and his advisers had to deal with men to whom their plans were transparent; and while they used all diligence to quiet the indignation, that was in danger of breaking out into bloody work against all strikers, and es- pecially against the demagogues who used them for their ne- farious ends, these men girded the city with a cordon of men whose muskets would have made quick work with any num- ber bent on an invasion of the city that night. 132 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER VIII. THE ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. The Law-breakers become the Vindicators of Law — Justice run Riot — Change of Base; but no Change of Issues. ALL night long the Citizens' Corps, with the men who had been wickedly charged, under pretence of justice, were kept in the company's store while their friends watched with them. During the night it was determined that if the alderman's writs were not served in the morning, and an open procedure under forms of law made manifest, the matter should be taken in hand, and the whole body of the defenders of the city, against the mob of August first, should be taken to Wilkes-Barre and placed under the authority of the court. In accordance with this determination, early on the morn- ing of the 9th of August the following corrrespondence took place, to wit: "SCRANTON, August 9th, 1877. "P. Mahon, Esq., Acting Coroner. "Dear Sir: I am requested by General Huidekoper to say that he is ready at the hour you shall name, this A.M., to deliver to you the parties for whom you have issued warrants on the finding of the jury. Please name the hour, place and persons, and they will promptly re- spond. "Respectfully yours, Robert H. McKune, Mayor.'* An hour afterwards the following reply came to hand: "SCRANTON, August 9th, 1877. "R. H. McKune, Mayor. "Sir; In reply to yours of this date, informing me that General ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 133 Huidekoper says "he is ready at the hour you [I] shall name this morning to deliver to you [me] the parties for whom you [I] have issued warrants on the finding of the jury," I would say that neither General Huidekoper nor any other man in this land has any right to prevent the arrest and commitment of any person found guilty of murder by a coroner's jury, and the constables that have the warrants of commit- ment for the persons so found guilty of murder will not proceed to act under such warrants until the said Huidekoper and the military under him cease to obstruct them in the performance of their duty. " Respectfully yours, P. Mahon, "Alderman and Acting Coroner." On the same morning there was pubHshcd, in the paper which had given itself to the support of this business, the ver- dict of the jury with a summary of the testimony upon which it was based. To the average mind it would be hard to de- cide which was the more remarkable, the testimony or the. verdict ; or which suggested the other. To an honest man seeking the truth, it would be impossible clearly to determine whether the testimony had been taken, and a verdict drawn from it, or the verdict had first been written and the testimony published to fit it. More than a dozen witnesses testified to their being present in view of the firing squad, and most of them among the mob ; but none of them saw any violence nor provocation on the part of the people. One club, of some sort, thrown by a boy was all that was visible to these wit- nesses. They knew nothing of the beating of the Mayor, al- though all of them saw him in company with the courageous priest. Of the men with guns, however, they had clear vision up to the first volley ; after which the witnesses all seemed to grow hazy and uncertain. They testify to seeing men in the ranks who were half a mile away, and knew nothing of the encounter until it was over. One witness even saw Captain Ripple the first day of his testifying, but ere the incjucst closed he came back and corrected his testimony with the statement that Ripple was not there ; but he does not tell us 134 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. how he learned he was not ; nor does he even seem to have been asked. Not a witness who knew anything of the doings of the mob seems to have been sworn ; but the verdict was quite decided and definite. It announced a three-fold indict- ment of murder, against twenty-one men, more or less defi- nitely named, and sundry others to the jurors unknown, to wit : — " So the said W. W. Scranton, W. Paterson, William Kiesel, L. C. Bortree, C. W. McKinney, Charles Chittenden, Wharton Dickinson, Ezra Ripple, George Throop, Daniel Bartholomew, one Highfield, A. E. Hunt, T. F. Hunt, John Stanton, F. L. Hitchcock, Lawyer Knapp, J. C. Highriter, J. A. Linnen, Doctor Smith, Jeff! Roesler, Charles Burr, one Brown, clerk or partner in Hunt Brothers & Co., and others to the jury unknown, then and there, feloniously, violently, willfully, deliberately, and of their malice aforethought, killed and murdered the said Patrick Langan, Charles Dunlavy, and Patrick Lane, against the peace and dignity of the Common- wealth." To this conclusion the Alderman and his jurors af- fixed their seals, to wit : — " Patrick Mahon, Acting Coroner, Martin J. Jordan, Foreman, James T. Duff'y, James Gregory, James Carroll, Nicholas Gantz and Thomas Coar." As soon as the Mayor had received the communication from the Alderman, declining to make any further movement toward arresting the accused until the military should leave him a clear field, it was determined to take steps at once to place the young men under the protection of a reliable court. All the force under the charge of Deputy-Sheriff" D. O. McCollum, accom- panied by a large body of the best citizens of the city, left about noon for Wilkesbarre by special train, escorted by two com- panies of militia to protect them from the dangers of the way. They arrived in safety, and upon complaint,''or formal informa- tion, made by Mr. John C. Phelps, one of their friends, they were brought before Alderman W. S. Parsons, who issued warrants for their arrest. They appeared, waived a hearing, ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 135 and were committed to the charge of the Sheriff, who allowed them the liberty of the city on parole until the next morning. In the meanwhile application was made to the Judge of the- Court for a writ of habeas corpus, returnable the next day. The afternoon of the same day Charles E. Rice, Esq., the Dis- trict Attorney and afterwards the President Judge of Luzerne County, received the following communication, to wit : "ScRANTON City, August 9th, 1877. " C. E. Rice, Esq., " District Attorney of Luzerne County, Pa. : " You are expected to see to it that the persons, now on the way to Wilkesbarre to surrender themselves up for the murder of Patrick Lane, Charles Dunlavy and Patrick Langan, be not allowed to escape justice. If they apply for a writ of habeas corpus, you will please send for the witnesses sworn before the Coroner's Jury. " (Signed) John E. Evans, " Chairman of Workingmen's Prosecuting Committee," To this Attorney Rice immediately replied by telegraph : "John E. Evans, "Chairman of Workingmen's Prosecuting Committee, Scranton, Pa. : "Send witnesses down to-morrow morning, at 9 o'clock. Get subpoenas at Alderman Mahon's. "Charles E. Rice, " District Attorney." Application was made, as has been stated, to one of the judges for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted, and made returnable on the next morning, at 9 o'clock, when a hearing should be given them. On that morning, August loth, the Scranfon Tinu's, which at that time claimed to represent the Democratic party, but which had set itself persistently to the work of catering to the evil feeling, and of keeping alive the worst passions of the strikers, came out with the following caution and advice to the Judges of the Court : 13G A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. "We understand the commitments made out by Alderman JVIahon have all been returned to him because of the difficulty with the military in executing the same; and that it is the intention to retain those com- mitments until such times as each one of the vigilantes charged with the murder of those men can be arrested and lodged injail, like other felons. God help the Judges in Luzerne County that undertake to treat this matter in any other manner than the law provides. We caution Judges Hard- ing, Dana and Handley to have a care how they move in this matter. We want them to understand, and the corporations too, that there is but one law in this country for the rich and the poor. ' Hell on earth' would be nothing compared to what will take place in this country if the Judges fail to do their whole duty in this matter." The judges did not appear to be greatly moved by this morning salutation from the demagogue, who wished to be known as the poor man's friend, at least until the approaching election for judge had passed ; but called the prisoners to the bar, with a quiet wonder that so large a number of such re- spectable looking murderers should be gathered into one court at the same time. The venerable ex-judge W. G. Ward, long the veteran of the Scranton Bar ; Isaac J. Post, who for years afterwards was recognized as the leading lawyer of the city ; and Edward B. Sturges, a promising young man, who was very popular with the young men, with the Hon. H. W. Palmer, afterwards Attorney-General of the State, and the Hon. Stanley Wood- ward, afterwards Additional Law -Judge of Luzerne County, both of Wilkesbarre; all appeared as counsel for the Scranton prisoners. The Court delayed action until almost noon, waiting to hear from the Workingmen's Prosecuting Committee, and for the appearance of the Alderman and his witnesses. But when it became evident that these special preservers of law, and vin- dicators of justice, did not propose to notice this Court, the case was called by Judge Harding, who, addressing the Dis- trict Attorney, said : " Mr. Rice, a writ is before me, in which ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 137 the parties named desire that the cause of their detention^ which they allege to be unjust, may be inquired into, and such order be made as will be in accordance with law and justice. Mr. Sheriff, arc the parties named in the writ before the Court ? " That officer answered, " They are present." Judge Ward and Mr. Palmer both asked to be heard for the defendants, but the judge replied : " We can hear no testi- mony for the defense, only for the prosecution." Mr. Rice then said, "Your Honor, I have no witnesses; I had notice of this writ yesterday, and was in communication with one John E. Evans, of Scranton, styling himself * Chair- man of the Workingmen's Prosecuting Committee.' I sent subpoenas and notified him of the hearing at this time, but I cannot learn that there are any witnesses present. I under- stand from the attorney of the defendants, that they are wil- ling to waive a hearing and enter any reasonable bail for their appearance at Court. I would suggest, therefore, that they be put under bail, which shall amount, upon the whole, to ;g 10,000." After a kw moments' conversation with the attorneys, the judge announced the decision of the Court, that the prisoners " should be severally held in the surn of $3000 for their ap- pearance at the next term of court, when bills of indictment will be laid before the grand jury." Judge Harding followed this order with a short address, as follows : " Wc have been absent during the late turmoil in this county, and know very little of the facts; but it may as well be understood now as at any other time, by all, that this is a country of law, and the majesty of the law will be maintained. And those misguided men who may mo- mentarily triumph over law, must be made to understand that if we have not the power at home to preserve the peace, the power of the common- wealth will be invoked to assist us. If that should be inadequate, the power of the nation will be brought to bear upon the violators of law 138 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. and order, and the punishment to follow will be certain and terrible to the offenders. " I have no further care or responsibility in this than in any other case that may come before me. I have simply discharged my dnty, and these men are here to be dealt with as the law directs. They have complied with the requirements of the law, and they must go hence in peace ; and all persons are cautioned against molesting them in the enjoyment of their individual liberty. The magistrate, who was the acting coroner, and the constables holding the warrants for their arrest, as I am in- formed, should be notified that these parties are now in the custody of the court, to be dealt with as the law directs, and I now repeat, Let us hear no more about this business until the court meets in regular term." The prisoners were then called upon, one by one, and entered bail. Each, as called, stood at the bar with an ap- proved bondsman by his side, and entered into bonds of ;^3000 for his appearance when the court should call for him, and as soon as this work was completed they were all dis- charged from custody. There were fifty-three young men placed in these bonds, all of them bearing good characters, and belonging to the best society and business associations of Scranton. The list of these men we preserve here, with the names of their bonds- men, as an interesting historical memento, and a valuable wit- ness of the wide interest felt in the issue which divided the city at the time. Five times the amount of the bail required by the court could have been secured without going outside of the court-room. The names of the accused and of their bondsmen were as follows: Prisoners. Bondsmen. W. W. Scranton. Walter Scranton. Wm. W. Paterson, A. B. Stevens. Wm. F. Kiesel, W. W. IManness. L. C. Bortree, Jos. Godfrey. C. W. McKinney, W. W. Manness. Chas. E. Chittenden, C. H. Welles. ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 139 Wharton Dickinson, Ezra H. Ripple, T. F. Hunt, John O. Stanton, F. L. Hitchcock, H, A. Knapp, J. C. Highriter, J. A. Linen, M. D. Smith, Jefiferson Roesler, C. S. Burr, J. E. Brown, Ed. C. Mattes, W. D. Manness, R. O. Manness, Arja Williams, George S. Throop, W. H. Storrs, W. McK. Miller, W. K. Logan, J. C. Highfield, George H. Ives, J. G. Lyshon, Geo. H. Maddocks, C. H. Lindsay, E. J. Dimmick, W. B. Henwood, Daniel Bartholomew, E. L. Fuller, Enos T. Hall, John B. Cust, Curtis W. Doud, H. R. Madison, C. H. Swift, Rudolph Bensley, H. Wehrum, Geo. F. Barnard, Samuel H. Stevens, Edward H. Lynde, Marshall J. Moore, Jr., Denning R. Haight, W. W. Manness. Wm. Connell. Geo. L. Dickson. W. W. Manness. James Blair. Geo. Sanderson. Chas. A. Stevens. James Blair. D. S. Roberts. E. B. Sherwood. E. C. Fuller. Geo. L. Dickson, J. C. Piatt. J. J. Albright. J. J. Albright. J. C. Piatt. Jas. Archbald. B. H. Throop. R. T. Black. Sidney Broadbent. W. W. Manness. Jas. Ruthven. E. C. Lynde. Geo. Fisher. H. B. Phelps. Wm. Connell. H. M. Boies. Geo. Fisher. John M. Snyder. J. Gardner Sanderson. J. C. Piatt. J. C. Piatt. R. T. Black, Geo. L. Breck, C. W. Roesler. E. C. Lynde. H. B. Phelps. L. S. Watres. W. R. Storrs. Jas. Blair. John Raymond. 140 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. F. Franschild, W. W. Manness. John Hoffman, J. C. Piatt. Wm. M. Ringler, Geo. Sanderson, Jr. John M. Rose, J. J. Albright. John Hennecke, Horace B. Phelps, This list did not include all the men who were in the firing squad, on the ist of August, and it did include many who could only have been charged as participants after the fact. If all who joined the Citizens' Corps a few minutes after the mob was fired upon, had been included in the accusation, neither the court-house nor jail could have accommodated the pris- oners. There were more than five hundred men who were really involved in the decisions of the court. For there were from five hundred to a thousand, who immediately became participants in the resistance to the mob, as soon as the alarm was sounded. As soon as the prisoners were released they retired in a body to their homes, only to find that the excitement of the city had in no measure abated. The uncovering of the nefa- rious plot to carry the young men, by night, through a re- gion where there must have been brutal slaughter, under cov- er of legal forms, had excited the whole people. The great body of the citizens were convinced that the organization of a permanent and sufficient force for the city's protection might be an absolute necessity. Instead of tracing the immediately succeeding events in their chronological order, it is deemed best to complete the record of this attempt, under pretence of legal forms, and by the cry of justice against the violators of law, to take ven- geance upon the men who dispersed the mob upon the ist of August and saved the city. The emphatic words of Judge Harding, when he dismissed the prisoners under bonds, were rendered the more pointed and forcible by the presence of not only the State militia, but by that of the Third Regiment of ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 141 United States Infantry, with a battery, which were sent to Scranton at the request of Governor Hartranft. The dema- gogues, and ward officials, made no further attempts to lay hands upon the young men who had placed themselves as culprits under the order of the highest court of the County. When the court met in November, just about three months after the abortive attempt of the " Acting Coroner " to lay hands upon these young men, their case was laid before the grand jury, and an indictment, in form, for manslaughter was returned. This indictment included all who had been placed under bonds. On the 26th Judge Harding called the case, and the whole afternoon was used in the work of securing a jury. The wife of one of the slain men appeared as the prosecutor. The attorney who had in August been a moving and controll- ing force in seeking to avenge the blood of the workmen, had accomplished a triumph more in accordance with his tastes, and, as was supposed, his real designs. He had been elected additional law-judge, and so retired from this case. Cornelius Smith, Esq., a very worthy and respectable member of the bar, within a few days of the time set for the trial was em- ployed to assist the prosecution. He opened the case with a calm and clear issue. He presented the rights of the workmen to meet and retire from their meeting without molestation ; and gave his exposition of the law in terms which the judge him- self endorsed. He simply denied that there was a mob in Scranton at the time the men were shot, and hence the shoot- ing could not be justified. Mr. Smith's presentation of the case was clear, manly and worthy of his reputation as a crim- inal lawyer. Twenty-two witnesses had been subpoenaed and were called, but only si.x of them responded, and the Court issued attachments for all the delinquents. This act of the Court speedily brought four more witnesses to the stand, and ultimately some si.x or eight besides. The testimony given was very much a repetition of that which had been given be- 142 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. fore the Alderman. It presented distinctly a quiet and harm- less crowd of men, women, and children, at the corner of Washington and Lackawanna Avenues, on the ist day of- August, 1877, into which the citizens' police fired; with no other provocation than that of a single club, with which some boy would seem to have struck Lewis C. Bortree, From the Alderman's testimony, as one of the witnesses, it would ap- pear that the Commonwealth came very near losing entirely the benefits of his official vigilance, as well as his coroner's inquest ; as he testified that he stood within three feet of the man who fell at the first fire, but saw no demonstrations sug- gestive of a mob. Scranton, Bortree and McKinney seemed to be the only members of the firing squad which these wit- nesses recognized with absolute certainty. There were, in- deed, but two of the witnesses examined who saw anything in the crowd that indicated violence. One man saw the wounded and bleeding mayor before the squad fired upon the crowd, and another saw what he calls "a. few boys driving the men from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western shops." So the prosecution closed their testimony, leaving the young men clearly guilty of wanton murder if honest men could have believed the witness had told the truth. Judge Ward, whose office fronted upon the position taken by the Citizens' Corps when ttie attack was made, upon the 1st of August, then opened the case for the defense. He gave a full and clear statement of the gathering, and the move- ment of the mob, also of the collision with the police which took place in front of his own office. He detailed graphically the horrors of the day, and the brave coolness and desperate venture of the Mayor and his citizens' police ; and closed with the statement that the firing began only when the citizens had no other resort to save the city, and that it ceased as soon as the mob had been dispersed. Twenty-four witnesses were then produced for the defense. ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 143 These included men from all classes and callings in the city, from the Mayor and high professional and business men, to laborers and cartmen. From these witnesses the whole his- tory of the mob and of the unexpected resistance to its de- monstrations were presented to the Court with clearness and detail. These witnesses were examined by the Hon. Henry W. Palmer and cross-examined by Mr. Smith. Every essen- tial fact touching the gathering, the action and final dispersion of the mob, which has been recorded in this history, was directly established by eye-witnesses. About noon of the second day the testimony closed, and Mr. Stanley Woodward summed up for the defense. Mr. Woodward's address was remarkable for its clear inter- pretation of the law, its logical arrangement and its eloquence in the presentation of facts and conclusions. After compli- menting the jury for their patience and attention to the evi- dence, and calling attention to the great interest, and greater responsibility, of this case, arising from the character and respectability of the defendants, as well as from the points at issue, he proceeded as follows, in the presence of a large body of intelligent citizens both of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and was listened to with breathless attention. We preserve the notes of Mr. Woodward's address both because of its fair- ness and excellence, and because it formed a summary of the history of this trial, in which the peace and authority of law in the region were so strikingly involved. "This case is a remarkable one," he said, " by reason of the number of the defendants in one indictment, and by their respectability and hijrh personal character. The fact of their high social and personal standing in the community only made the case for the Commonwealth still stronger. When any persons are brought before the criminal bar we expect to see upon them the brand of crime and the signs of a hard- ened and dissolute life. When, therefore, men eminent for their re- spectability, and bearing about with them the reputation of honorable lives, whose past career has been that of good citizenship, the prcsump- 144 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. tion is that the motives and principles actuating them in the past are the same which obtain with them to-day, even though charged with the committal of a heinous crime. No jury can shut its eyes and ears to the healthful influence born of good character and reputable life. If these things have no value, if they are to have no weight among men, justice is a farce, and society has no sure foundation. "These men are charged with the crime ranking next to murder — that of manslaughter, and this, the law tells us, is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice express or implied. The first and natural query is, Was the killing of these men unlawful ? This leads to the laying down of the three following propositions : First. Was there a riot in the City of Scranton on the first day of August, 1877? Second. If there was a riot, what rights had all well-disposed citizens to protect their lives and property ? Third. Did these defendants ex- ceed these rights ? "Within these three propositions rests this entire case. If they did not exceed their rights, then there was no manslaughter committed within the meaning of the law. "What is a riot? This must be determined in order that we may prove whether the defendants charged with this high crime were en- gaged in the exercise' of their lawful duty. The laws and penalties in this State affecting this crime are severe and stringent. They are based upon the common law of England, brought over by our forefathers be- fore the State had an existence and while we were yet young as a colony. The earliest authority defines a riot to be the gathering of three or more persons armed with clubs, stones or other weapons, who, to the terror of the people, commit injury upon person or property. " Another authority declares a riot to be any tumultuous assemblage of three or more persons with evil intent and design, and with arms to terrorize the people, destroy their goods and harm their persons. In the eye of the law all who are present, whether active or passive in the proceedings, are rioters. "Every man who fails to subdue, or who fails to make the attempt to subdue the riot is a rioter and must take the consequences of his ac- tion. Neither does it need previous concert of action to establish the fact of a riot. The law has been laid down, and is clear upon all these points. "In 1844 occurred the great riot in the City of Philadelphia, and Judge King, in his charge to the Grand Jury, rendered an opinion which has been accepted throughout the land since that day as a recog- nized definition of riot and rioters. In substance this definition is that ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 145 every man who does not array himself on the side of law is a rioter. When riot is running through a city, there can be no neutrals; every man must be on one side or the other. He must be for peace or discord. He must be willing to shed his blood for law and order, or be the abettor of lawlessness and destruction. In brief, it is even riotous to be found on neither side. "Now, was there a riot at the time indicated? It must be plain to you from the evidence, that this was no peaceful meeting of men for peaceful ends in Scranton on the ist of August. If it were so, there was and could be no riot. On the contrary, it was an unlawful assem- blage, destructive in its tendency, deadly in its purposes. It was a riotous meeting, and every man was a rioter who refused to help to quell it. It may be right at one time to hold a meeting when, under other circumstances, it would be highly improper and unlawful to do so. The circumstances surrounding this case demonstrate the unlawful nature of the meeting of these men on the ist of August. The riot was rampant all over the land and in their midst. In Pittsburgh, Philadel- phia and other cities, and here in Luzerne County, it needed only a spark to ignite the flame. Revolution was in the air; disorder choked the atmosphere; a tidal wave of lawlessness was sweeping over the whole land. Laboring men everywhere had taken the law in their own hands. The railroads were in the possession of the employees, and their trains were stopped. The mail service was dead ; communi- cation was cut off; business was suspended; and all this because bold, bad men had control of affairs, and murder, bloodshed and rapine were the instruments used to enforce their assumed rights. We wer^ not used to this usurpation of the law. It was not pleasant. It reversed all our ideas of right, justice, peace and good order. "The miners resolved to stop work, which they had a perfect right to do. But when they formed a combination to prevent others from work- ing and the mines from operating, they committed a crime. Mayor Mc- Kune, in the discharge of his daily duty, works. The brave priest who saved his life labors, as he ministers to his people in all the relations of life. The physician, as he responds to the call for his healing art, nobly works. The farmer, as he tills the soil, and plants, and waters, struggling for his bread, is a worker. The lawyer, who gives his time and thought, and passes sleepless nights, in saving for his client his rights to the bene- fits of his enterprise, earnestly labors. The miner, as he delves for the pro- duct which warms and comforts us, is a 7uorker. AH these, and many others, work, are laborers, and have their rights. And the good of so- ciety demands that they should all work in harmony for the public good, 10 146 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. " The division of labor is the philosophy of life. Any combination of men to prevent any man from earning an honest livelihood commits a crime against labor, as well as against society and law. We are taught that a man shall live by the sweat of his brow, and it is right. It is in conformity with the law of God and man. '• Any class of men, who prevent, or attempt to prevent, men representing the same class of labor from working, are guilty OF RIOT. Now what was the purpose of this meeting at the silk factory in Scranton on the ist of August, 1877 ? As far as the evidence goes, it is conclusively shown that it was to ' clean out the blacklegs,' to ' kill Bill Scranton,' and 'gut the town.' " By ' cleaning out the blacklegs ' was meant the stopping of those fnen who were willing to work. A meeting held to ' clean out blacklegs' IS a riot, and this meeting at the silk factory was of that nature. They made good their purpose in their deeds. If they were right, then the con- verse of the proposition is true, that any number of operators could law- fully combine, and with arms and violence compel the miners to work at any stated price per day. If they should attempt to do so, they would be rioters and conspirators. " These men, this mob, commenced their work by the declaration, * Come, boys, let's gut the town ; the day is ours.' Frenzied, armed with clubs, stones and pistols, they reached the main street, prepared to exe- cute the plan determined upon at the meeting. " Preceding this, however, and in anticipation of what should come, the Governor had issued his proclamation calling upon all good citizens to aid in quelling any riot or disturbance which might occur, and, if neces- sary, to arm themselves for that purpose. " Mayor McKune had supplemented this proclamation of the Governor with a like call, and under this authority certain citizens of Scranton had signed a paper binding themselves to obey any call made upon them by the Mayor. They did not do this for the purpose of pillage, arson and destruction. It was done in the interests of law and order, and the pro- tection of life and property. If they did it for the purpose of killing Dun- lavy and Langan, they should be convicted. The posse was formed and called to quell riot and disturbance. If ever there was an occasion for them, as men and worthy citizens, to perform their duty, this was one. They came out, were attacked with pistols, stones and clubs ; they fired, and three men died. " Now had these citizens any right to protect life and property ? No citizen need wait for the Sheriff to act before he can make the attempt to subdue and quell a riot, and protect life and property, even to the death, if it be necessary. ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 147 " In this case the posse marched under the authority of the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, and of the Mayor of the city of Scranton to the defense of law, liberty and property.- "And here let me say thai fww/iere in the history of any State or city can be found a nobler, braver record than that fnade by Mayor McKune and this handful of men under his comtnand. Their action was as UNSELFISH AS IT WAS HONORABLE. No man could have shown greater pluck and personal courage than Mayor McKune when he quietly ap- proached that mob, hoping to prevail upon them to return to their duly as good citizens. Yet they gave him no hearing. He was beaten down by those who call themselves laboring men. Had they not been met and checked in their mad career, the city of Scranton would have been in embers. There would have been sacked houses and terrorized people everywhere. The excitement of such an occasion prevents many things from being brought to light; but this one fact we have proved, that the three men who died were shot in the front. It proves their activity and their connection in and with the rest ; and being with and of it, they took their chances, and met their death. " We therefore hold that there was a riot, and that these men here charged were in the full heroic performance of their duties as citizens •when this unfortunate result occurred. But the blood of these victims must be upon their own heads." At the close of Mr. Woodward's address the Court adjourned until the next day, Nov^ember 27th. At a few minutes after nine o'clock on the 27th, Mr. Smith addressed the jury for the prosecution. He spoke for nearly two hours, but did not attempt to assail the position taken by Woodward for the defense. He simply attempted to assail the supposed motives and the conduct of the prisoners, as the testimony for the prosecution seemed to present them. At the conclusion of his address Judge Harding gave charge to the jury as follows : " Gentlemen : The defendants here are charged with voluntary man- slaughter. It is alleged that they slew, on the first of August last, one Patrick Langan, Counsel for the defendant and counsel for the com- monwealth have each in turn made almost exhaustive reference to a case tried before Judge King, in Philadelphia, some years ago, many 148 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. of the features of which were closely analogous to those appearing in the present case. " You have been told that the law laid down in that case must govern this. To a certain extent this is true. Judge King's statement of the law is the correct one. You have farther been told that the jury are judges of both the law and the facts. That is also true; but so far as the present case is concerned it will be expected that the jury will take the law from this court — not from other courts. The jury will remember, too, that this is not the Daley case they are now trying, but the Scranton case — that the former occurred in Philadelphia upwards of thirty years ago, while the latter occurred in the city of Scranton only five months ago — that Matthew Hammits, of Philadelphia, was not the person slain, but Patrick Langan, of the county of Luzerne, — that John Daley is not the person indicted, but Wm. W. Scranton, Lewis Bortree and others — that it is the law applicable to the facts and circumstances connected with this case which must govern in the disposition of it. " And, gentlemen, I will say, at the outset, that if the facts and cir- cumstances have been truthfully detailed by the commonwealth, then the defendants named in this indictment, excepting Ezra H. Ripple, George S. Throop, A. E. and T. F. Haut, J. C. Highriter and Jefferson Roesler, against whom no testimony has been given, may be convicted of voluntary manslaughter. " People may assemble together to the number of three, or of thou- sands, and peacefully discuss the difficulties surrounding them — they may march with music and banners through the streets of our towns and cities, and no person has a right to interfere with or molest, so long as they do not disturb the public peace nor violate individual rights. More than that, though their march be tumultuous, their conduct riotous within the meaning of the penal law, thus rendering them liable to arrest, prose- cution, conviction and punishment ; still, they are not to be attacked and slain by armed men with impunity. If they are offenders, no matter who they may be, nor what their importance, nor what their standing — social or otherwise — they become liable to arrest, trial and conviction, either of murder of the first degree, or of murder of the second degree, or of volun- tary manslaughter, as the circumstances may warrant. To be more ex- plicit : If that mass of people, designated by most of the witnesses as the mob, came up Washington Avenue, on the morning referred to, in the manner described by the several witnesses examined on the part of the commonwealth, and as they turned into Lackawanna Avenue, they were fired upon by the defendants, then, even though the slain man and his associates were engaged in what might be termed a riot, there was no ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 149 justification for that firing — no justification for that killing ; because, according to this testimony, the riot — if riot it was — was of the mildest conceivable type ; it could not therefore, have required murderous force to suppress it. But, gentlemen, we have had two sworn descrip- tions of the manner of conduct of that multitude, or mob, as it has been called on that day. Which of the descriptions is the correct one? This is the great fact to be determined, and the determination of it is solely for you. It would be idle to deny that there is a wide, even irreconcilable conflict between the testimony on the part of the commonwealth, and that on the part of the defense. It is your province, no matter what may be the views of the court, or the views of the counsel in the case, to be- lieve of the witnesses whom you will, and to disbelieve whom you will. You should, however, examine with care all the testimony presented on the one side and the other ; you should weigh it in a just balance ; you should find according to your convictions of the truth. What is the answer of the defendants ? It is that on the ist of August last a large body of men came together within the Hmits of the city of Scranton, ostensibly for the purpose of discussing the difficulties, real or imaginary, which surrounded them, but really for the purpose of organ- izing in force, with a view to stop every industry connected with mining or manufacturing in or about that city ; that being thus convened, they resolved to go in a body and drive from employment every person en- gaged about the machine shops and other places of labor belonging to the two great companies of that vicinity ; that this resolution passed in the midst of uproar and confusion, they proceeded at once to carry out ; that violence, bloodshed and terror marked their path ; that, meeting with no adequate resistance, they rushed on beyond the shops towards the chief avenue of the city, proclaiming, as they went, the further pur- pose of robbery and murder; that they struck down the Mayor, who, in obedience to the mandates of official duiy, had bravely interposed him- self in their path ; they overthrew the civil law outright ; that, thereupon the defendants committed the act here charged against them as a high crime. At this point, gentlemen, more particularly for your own instruction, but incidentally for the hundreds of laboring men within reach of my voice, I will state the law governing their rights. Laboring men, no matter in what capacity, have the right to demand what to them seems a fair compensation for their work, and if that compensation is not ac- corded they have the right to strike ; in other words, to quit work. Again, any laborer who is willing to work for a compensation satisfac- tory to himself, even though it be less that than demanded by his asso- 150 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. ciates of the same class, has the right to work ; and as the law will com- pel no man or body of men to work for a price not agreed upon by him- self, so the law will not permit any man or body of men to enforce the idleness of others who are willing to work for a price that suits them. Such is the rule wherever civilization extends ; such will be the rule as long as civilization lasts. It is not strange, however, that laboring men should mistake their rights in this particular; it is not strange that cunning, wicked, dangerous demagogues should lead them astray ; it has been so in the times past, it is so in times present — demagogues swarm amongst them like bees — and so it will continue, most likely, down to the end of time. The history of strikes is but a harrowing story of the suffering of the laboring classes. Betrayed through evil advisers into violations of the law, they have languished and died in prisons, and their burial places have been in prison-yards ; their children, orphaned, have grown up to early vagabondism and crime. And yet the teachings of experience seem to go unheeded. The demagogue is as powerful to-day as ever. But the wheel of civilization and good government moves on, nevertheless ; it will move on thus till the latest day. The striker, grown into a rioter, may achieve a tempo- rary triumph, but its duration can scarcely be of a day. Law and order are characteristics of our institutions, and no power on earth can sup- plant them. True enough any law may be changed, but never by vio- lence. The redress for bad laws is the ballot-box. The redress for un- satisfactory officials is likewise the ballot-box. We have recently had an example of the latter in our midst. I may say, however, that no matter who are our officials, the law as it stands will be enforced. It may be changed as I have indicated, but by the bludgeon never. The statute law of our State in regard to riot is as follows : ^'Section ig. If any person shall be concerned in any riot, rout, unlaw- ful assembly or an affray, and shall thereof be convicted, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and undergo an imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both, or either, at the discretion of the Court. And in case any one is convicted of aggravated riot, the Court may sentence the offender to imprisonment by separate and solitary confinement at labor, not ex- ceeding three years. '■'' Section 20. If any persons riotously and tumultuously assemble to- gether to the disturbance of the public peace, and shall unlawfully and with force demolish, pull down or destroy, or begin to demolish, pull down or destroy any public building, private house, church, meeting- ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 151 house, stable, barn, mill, granary, malt-house, or out-house, or any building or erection used in carrying on any trade, or manufacture, or any branch thereof, or any machinery, whether fixed or movable, pre- pared for or employed in any manufacture or any branch thereof, or any steam engine, or other engine, for sinking, working or draining any mine, or any building or erection used in the conducting the busi- ness of any mine, or any bridge, wagon-way, road or track for convey- ing minerals from any mine, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be imprisoned by sep- arate or solitary confinement at labor, or by simple imprisonment, not exceeding seven years.'' You will observe, gentlemen, that the statute contemplates, first, a riot in the nature of an unlawful assembly, or an affray merely; second, a riot which has the features of aggravation about it, and, third, a riot which is attended with the destruction of buildings or machinery. Now, taking the testimony as presented on the part of the Commonwealth, and the assembly of the first of August last, in the City of Scranton, amounted neither to a riot involving the destruction of buildings or machinery, nor to a riot of an aggravated character; at most, it was but an unlawful assembly. Hence, as I have said already, if this testimony be believed, the defendants, who made an attack upon it from which the death of Patrick Langan resulted, may be convicted in manner and form as they stand charged in this indictment. The words "riot" and "unlawful assembly," as used in the statute, have a distinct legal signification, thus: Any tumultuous disturbance, having no avowed or ostensible, legal or constitutional object, assem- bling together of their own authority, and deporting themselves in such a manner as to produce danger to the public peace and tranquillity, and which excites terror, alarm and consternation in the neighborhood, is an "unlawful assembly." To illustrate: If the meeting down at the silk works, where the resolution was passed that all should go in a body and stop the operatives in the machine shops, was truthfully described by the witnesses for the defense, then that meeting was not only an ''unlawful assembly," but it was the beginning of an aggravated riot. Every person present was in the eye of the law a principal. In this crime all are regarded as principals until the contrary is shown. Fur- ther, if, in carrying out the resolution passed at the silk works, the mob, as it has been called, proceeded to the shops of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, entered them, struck down those who were cm- ployed there, drove them away, surely a riot of a very dangerous and wicked character was in full progress. The law governing the duties 152 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEP^ENSE. of magistrates and of citizens, when an unlawful assembly threatens the public peace, has been well stated by an eminent jurist whose name has been repeatedly mentioned by counsel in the argument of this case. Judge King, of Philadelphia, now deceased. buch an assembly may be dispersed by a magistrate whenever he finds an order of things existing which calls for interference in the interest of the public peace. He is not required to delay action until the unlawful assembly ripens into an actual riot. He has the right to arrest the of- fenders, or to authorize others to do so, by a verbal command, without any other warrant whatsoever. He may invoke the aid of every citizen present, and they are bound to respond to his requisition. Indeed, if he fails to do his utmost for the suppression of such an assembly, he may himself be indicted and convicted of a criminal misdemeanor. I repeat, an unlawful assembly ripening into a riot should be crushed out at once by all lawful means; because, if suffered to continue, destruction, ruin, death, are almost certain features of its pathway. It is like the snow- ball that we rolled to a declivity in our boyhood, small at first, but rolling on unrestrained, it soon acquired huge proportions and bore down every- thing before it. "Again, gentlemen, when an actual riot is at hand, when its more dan- gerous form has been put on, and life and property are threatened, more decisive measures may be adopted. Citizens may of their own authority lawfully endeavor to suppress it. They may arm themselves, and what- ever they honestly and reasonably do in their efforts to suppress it will be supported and justified by the law. A riotous mob is the most dan- gerous thing on the face of the earth Of all animals under the sun, men running mad are the worst in their fury. " Now, gentlemen, what was the real condition of affairs at Scranton on the first of August last? You must find an answer to this from the testimony alone — from no other source. The showing on the part of the Commonwealth was full, clear, and to the point. If you are satisfied of its correctness beyond reasonable doubt, then I have already instructed you as to your duty in the premises. If, on the other hand, the testimony adduced for the defense leads you to view the occurrences of that morn- ing in a different light, — or, in other words, if that testimony raises in your minds a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused, that is to say, a doubt springing from a fair and full consideration of the testimony on both sides, — then all of the defendants named in the indictment are en- titled to an acquittal I refer in brief to the testimony of the defense. All of the witnesses on that side give us substantially the same history. On the morning of the first of August last, hundreds of men who were on ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE CITY'S DEFENDERS. 153 a strike, as it is called, assembled at the silk works, in the city of Scran- ton. They passed a resolution to go in force and stop all work at the machine shops near at hand. They rushed to one of these shops and drove away all who were employed there, inflicting serious personal vio- lence upon some, and threatening and terrifying others. They went to another shop and enacted like outrages there. Their number, now greatly increased by women and boys, was such that universal terror and alarm seemed abroad in that city. They constituted a howling, yellin/, apparently irresistible and wicked mob. Having accomplished the pur- pose of their resolution passed at the silk works, they approached the main avenue of the city. Above the common roar always incident to such a mob were heard the words, 'Let us go for Bill Scranton !' 'We will have his blood!' 'Let us go for Lackawanna Avenue ! ' 'To the Company's stores — we'll gut 'em ! ' At this juncture the Mayor, a bold, brave man, appeared. He did nothing more than his duty, but he well did all of that. Few gentlemen would have had the nerve to do what he did. Unaided, unarmed, alone, he met that wild, maddened, surging mass. He commanded, besought them to disperse. They attacked him, beat him, bruised him, imperilled his life. Fortunately, though felled to the ground once or twice, he was able to rise each time, other- wise the life would have been trampled out of him. Supported by twT) of his aids who had hastened to his rescue, and by a friend in the person of a priest, a noble and fearless man, the Mayor reached Lackawanna Avenue, where, bleeding and wounded though he was, he was again set upon by one of the rioters, a stalwart man, who dealt him a blow that broke his jaw. Here he was met by thirty or forty special policemen or posse, as they have been called, whom with commendable prudence he had selected and sworn to aid him in the preservation of the public peace but a few days before, and whose presence at that particular juncture was the result of an order that he dispatched to them hardly an hour previ- ously. The/U{i;a&J THE CITY GUARD IN THE WILDERNESS. 233 practical wisdom, and had the confidence and best wishes of more of the workmen in the valley, perhaps, than any other man ; and he did great service in all the labor disturbances which visited the valley. But in the time of the great strike he was residing in New York. His visit to Scranton, with other railway-men, doubtless did much good in the way of softening down the points of collision, and when he returned, it was with the persuasion that the strike was virtually ended. He was always a man of peace, and had great influence with honest strikers. Hence he was always a little doubtful of the wisdom and necessity of dispersing with deadly means the mob which he did not see. Nevertheless ' he sustained, with characteristic generosity, all the measures undertaken to establish a City Guard of the best character. The city never had a more able or greater-souled citizen than Mr. Dickson, nor the young men of the Guard a better friend. With him were associated intimately Mr. Joseph J. Albright, Edward W. Weston, A. H. Vandling and J. M. Chittenden, officials of the same company, all of whom heartily and perse- veringly watched over the city's interests, and gave freely their money to help to bear the grievous burdens of the time. The movers in this public measure, of establishing an armory and of placing the City Guard upon an assured footing, must also hold in honor and cherish in kind remembrance a large number of the best citizens of that time. They were men to be relied upon to sustain the right under all circumstances. They were such citizens as Frederick FuHcr. who knew no fear in the path of duty, Wm. Connell, Wm. T. Smitli. Geo. L. Dickson, Robert T. Black, Dr. B. H. Throop, Sidney Broad- bent, George Sanderson, Edward Mcrrificld, Alfred Hand, C. W. Roesler, James Archbald, Joseph A. Scranton, John Jer- myn, E, C. Fuller, Wm. F. Mattes, C. D. Breck, H. S. Pierce, Geo. A. Jessup, Thomas Moore, and a host of others ; men who bear through life the patent of a true nobility, the 234 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. marks of virtuous American citizenship. They were all suc- cessful working men, and their sympathies were always with honest working men. But when the question of law and order, which was directly involved in the strike of 1877, became the issue, they boldly risked all their interests in the city, which were apparently at the mercy of the strikers. They marched with the boys to the front and stood by them until their standing was secured. These constituted the reserve force, without whose generous and patriotic support, the venture of the young men must have ended in failure. These friends of the City Guard deserve perpetual gratitude of the city, as well as of the Guard, for their devotion to the best interests of this organization, which in its earlier life stood as the most efficient barrier to that dangerous spirit which was generated by the great strike of 1877 and kept alive for some years after the strike ended. The work on the armory, under the supervision of architect Amsden, went steadily forward, while the board of managers perplexed themselves over rapidly accumulating bills, and the Chaplain attempted to gather funds out of the wrecks of the terrible strike, notwithstanding the dullness of business and the financial strain upon all classes. The elements conspired to retard the completion of the building, consequently the contractor was two full months behind his agreement. His work was, however, generously accepted, and the 31st of January was set apart for the grand opening and dedication of the completed Armory. Efficient committees were appointed under the general su- pervision of Quartermaster Ruthven. The building was mag- nificently decorated, and invitations sent to all the friends of the Guard in the city, to the Governor, and other public func- tionaries, in the State, and a large number of distinguished men of the Commonwealth. When the evening arrived, the Guard, in uniform, every officer and private present, were pre- THE CITY GUARD IN THE WILDERNESS. 235 pared to welcome their friends. The night proved to be very stormy, but the enthusiasm could neither be drowned nor frozen. By nine o'clock, p.m., the new building, grandly illum.inated, was filled with as brilliant a company of guests as the city had ever been able to gather together. Major Boies presided, and at half-past nine o'clock, in com- pany with his staff, he mounted the platform, accompanied by the invited speakers for the occasion. After reading telegrams of regrets from the Governor and other distinguished gentle- men who had not been able to come, the Major introduced the speakers of the evening, who were received with enthusiastic greetings. The first address was made by A. H. Winton, of the Scran- ton bar; in which he paid a high tribute to the citizen soldiery, and especially to that portion which had sprung from the stand that was taken by the brave fifty, who, on the first of August, had placed themselves between the city and the mob that sought its ruin. He praised the perseverance and public spirit which brought about as its consummation this beautiful Ar- mory for the first time opened. The Hon. Stanley Woodward, of Wilkes-Barre, was next introduced as the invited orator of the occasion. Judge Woodward's address was both appropriate and graceful ; chiefly demonstrating that the destruction of the war spirit is to be secured by the completeness of the preparations for war. He stated that the peace, safety and good order of any com- munity very much depended, in times of passion and excite- ment, upon its ability to destroy; that when catapults and bat- tering rams, or flint-lock fire-arms were the weapons of socie- ty, war was chronic. Modern warfare is acute, and every new invention in death-dealing fire-arms is a new argument for peace and good will. To have good arms, and know when and how to use them, to preserve organization and be able to 236 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. understand orders and obey them — in short, to be a force in the community, every military body must have a local habit- ation like this Armory, which we dedicate to-night. This building is not only harmonious and graceful in its architecture, but is in perfect accord also with all the interests which hang upon the prevalence of peace, and the supremacy of order. It will ever stand as a menace only to that which is bad. The soldiers who are to occupy this armory are citizen-sol- diers, and it is true that in all great emergencies the citizens look to themselves. Judge Woodward's address was received with enthusiastic demonstrations throughout, both as forceful and appropriate. He was followed by his honor, Mayor McKune, who briefly expressed his confidence in the Guard, and his gratification that they had secured so comfortable a home. After a few complimentary remarks by General Osborne, the Chaplain of the Guard was introduced as a representative of the battalion, and gave a short address, after which the Major declared the armory sufficiently dedicated as a con- venience for war, and led the public into the happy social en- joyments of the evening. At a late hour the brilliant company, having been refreshed, and heartily sympathizing in the success with which the ef- forts of the Guard had been crowned, departed to their homes, and a new and permanent mark of the city's progress appeared on the first morning of February, 1878. The completed Armory had, besides the drill room, on the first floor, a convenient company room for each of the four companies which were assigned by lot; and on the second floor three rooms, which were appointed — one for headquarters, one for the Quartermaster, and one for Adjutant of the Guard. The battalion received new life, and the work of real mili- tary discipline began to take shape from the first day this THE CITY GUARD L\ THE WILDERNESS. 237 armory was occupied. And while time and service have dem- onstrated that it might be improved greatly to the convenience and satisfaction of the Guard, it has become historic, and has associated with it the manly determinations, experiences and enjoyments in patriotic duty of a whole generation of the best young men of the city. Crowned with its silent sentinel ever on duty, and glorified by the flag of a free country, it has stood all these years as a beacon to the true and faithful citizens, and an emphatic ad- monition to all the lawless. 238 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER XIV. THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. The call for " the Reserves '' — The " Grand Rounds " and the " Relief" — The Mil- itary Fair and its Results. THE 1st day of February, 1878, dawned to shed a glow of sunlight after the persistent storm and rage of the ele- ments, under whose exhibitions the Armory had been dedi- cated the night before. Snow and sleet had covered the rag- ged deformities and fag ends of architecture, left by the build- ers, all about the walls of the new home of the Guard; and the flood of light made these very deformities cheering. The beauties of the landscape gave no prophecies of the fu- ture sacrifice and patriotic effort yet needed in order to the highest success of the Guard. By high devotion and perse- vering sacrifice, the building had been completed in a sub- stantial manner. The Companies, which for almost five months had been wandering about the streets, seeking shelter for the uniforms they had honored, and the guns with which they had been entrusted, took possession of their new rooms, with an exhilaration and satisfaction which could hardly permit a wise consideration of either present responsibilities or fu- ture possibilities. So many burdens had been removed by this one triumph, that neither officers nor men could bring themselves to consider the real and increasing burdens which the very success had entailed. As the debris of the building and the deformities of the high way leading to it, were transformed by the enchantments of > 3 O < o ■n CO O n > z H O z O -< O c > 3] 00 *4 00 THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 239 the frost and sunlight, which, for a time, led us all to forget that here were deformities which must be removed at the ex- pense of unselfish sacrifices and exhaustive labor; so the beauty and comfort of the drill-rooms had, for a time, hid the consideration of bonds and mortgages entirely from view. It is indeed an ungrateful service to be required to stand in the midst of the " sufficiency of the day " to gaze into an empty treasury, in order to be suitably impressed with the coming evils of a to-morrow. The triumphs, whose substantial realities had been set forth in convenient architecture, and made palpable by brick, mortar and stone, were no proper preparation for the study of the laws of a hard economy, or of the strict demands of associated honor and honesty. For a few months the life of the battalion flowed on, filled with energy and good humor. The chaos of financial admin- istration flowed on with it ; aggravated by the complexity and cross lines of civil and military administration which were found running between the Headquarters and the Company rooms. While the whole condition was more perplexed by the indefinite and necessary relations between the military Headquarters and the legally responsible "Board of The Scranton City Guard Association." The Bonds of the Association were out for eight thousand five hundred dollars, and all its property was covered by the mortgage which included, as well, in its relentless grasp, the moral character of the military battalion. AH aid that could be hoped for from the State was already in honor pledged to the redemption of these bonds, which hung over the march of the Guard, while the accumulating expenses of the battalion could not be postponed. The scheme devised for the conduct of business and financial administration, looked beautiful in its harmony. Indeed it was unobjectionable in theory; but in its practical administration there were revealed some of the same difficulties which Gov, Shelby found in command of 240 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. his Kentucky gentlemen, in the war of 1812, when he dis- covered, it was said, that he had in his command a thousand more officers than men, all told. A certain amount of friction, in such a case, would seem to be mevitable. The civil administration had its treasury and its treasurer. The "Board of Officers "made connection therewith by the ap- pointment of the same man to fill the same office for the Mili- tary Board. "The Board of Officers" also had its permanent committees; one on "Armory," one on " Music," one on the " State of the Guard," and one on " Finance." Each of these committees assumed to be master of expenditures in its own department, subject to the endorsement of the Board itself; which usually sat rather as a court of inquiry, and of audit, on the subject of accounts, than as a Board of Control; while the Quartermaster, who naturally supposed himself to be clothed with some authority in the matter of expenditures for the care of property, for which he had receipted to the State, and was in bonds, ran his official business along, and across, the lines of the work of all these committees. Bills were contracted by whoever might be appointed for the special business which required expenditure. These bills were sent to the treasurer, or presented directly to the Board at its monthly meeting, for authorization and payment. The Board could do nothing but endorse bills for debts already incurred; and thus endorsed they were sent to the treasurer of the "Guard Association" for payment. Yet all the while the standing rule required that the " Finance Committee" should have the control of all the expenditures, as well as secure the funds to meet the necessities of the Guard. Thus the civil and military admin- istration struggled together, in a persevering harmony, through a howling wilderness of necessary expenses, and military dig- nity. There were two things which could almost be counted upon, whichever Board or Committee might be called upon to act; to wit.: any Jiumber of waiting creditors, and an overdrawn THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. , 241 treasjirv. The debts were never incurred by those who were expected to see them paid; nor was it generally deemed neces- sary to have a limit defined to expenditure, in any wise speci- ally determined by the amount that might be in the treasury of the Association. For three years, and more, these organizations, the " Board of Officers of the City Guard" and the "Board of Directors of the City Guard Association," attempted this co-operative financial policy; the one struggling to run military finances on a civil basis, and the other, with equal fidelity, endeavor- ing to run the civil matters in military grooves; while, at the same time, the Board of Officers had its " Committee on Finance," through whose hands all bills had to be passed before the treasurer was permitted to pay them. To this financial committee, then, with the Chaplain as standing chair- man, was assigned the general, and particular, task of mingling this oil and water together. This the Committee usually ac- complished by a persevering effort at agitation. It is easy to determine about how long these elements could remain mingled after each shaking of the vessel which contained them. The burden of running successfully the finances of the Guard was greatly increased by the lack of experience, and by the fact that so much was needed which could not be foreseen. The Companies, as soon as they entered their rooms at the Armory found, that in addition to their monthly assessments for fuel, light, and contingencies of the battalion, they had to fur- nish, and fit up, these rooms for their own use. A large out- lay, in order to make the room suitable for their abiding, had immediately to be made. Then Music had to be provided, to keep up the best spirit of the organization, and to assist the Companies in the entertainments, which came to be a necessity; in order to keep their treasuries from becoming bankrupt. This implied the organization of a " Military Band," which also k; 242 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. carried with it the expenses of a salaried leader, and an indefi- nite outlay for musical instruments. As soon, too, as "The Rifle Range" was opened, the ex- penses of it fell upon the Companies ; because the State appro- priations could not be hoped for, as sufficiently generous to allow the practice necessary to make qualified marksmen, to say nothing of the capture of prizes. The expenses of the rifle range, with those of the music, were burdens enough for the young men, who were giving their time to the service. But these matters were considered as mere extras, or luxuries, for which all were willing to pay a reasonable price. Then when the Regiment was organized, and it was determined to place it in camp for a week of instruction, new interests appeared which doubled immediately the financial burdens. Each Com- pany must have its Commissary, its Kitchen and Dining Tent, with its full set of dishes, and cooking utensils. Tents for the men could be borrowed from the State; but those for the officers of field, staff and line, with those necessary for Hos- pital and Commissary's Stores had to be provided at the ex- pense of the Regiment. Thus the outlay for the week's liv- ing, which was a little less than fifty cents each day, on the first encampment was more than doubled, by the provisions necessary to be made in order to render the camp life endur- able. Yet all these burdens were bravely and generously borne, by both officers and men, through the first and second year. But it was more than discouraging, in the midst of such effort and outlay, to be perpetually compelled to face the ;$8,5oo Bonds, whose interest constantly grew, even while the men slept, as fast as when they were awake and at work. The whole appropriation of the State to meet armory expenses had stood pledged to meet the demands of these bonds, and the interest upon them, whatever that appropriation might be. For two years after the Strike, the prostration of business THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 243 had prevented any hope of being able to obtain sufficient help in the community to remove the debt. The business men of the city had always treated the Guard generously ; and small amounts, to meet contingencies, could be raised at any time. But for two years these burdens had to be borne by the very men who were the least able to bear them ; and there was along with it all a growing sense of. injustice involved. The members of the Guard willingly gave their time, and services, for the public good, but they felt that it was unjust to require them to tax themselves, to meet the inevitable expenses of their own voluntary sacrifices and services. But, over and above all the burdens of the service, the bondage of these Armory Bonds, pressed with a constancy which the officers, and the responsible business men of the "City Guard Association," could never shake off. Not a torn uniform could be replaced, or a new drum-head be purchased for the Band, without the shadows of these maturing Bonds and their constantly growing interest intruding upon some one's vision. Every crack of the wild rifle, on the range, suggested the question to the Finance Committee whether the Bonds would permit such waste of ammunition — a waste undoubtedly neces- sary in order to the successful education of marksmen. Neces- sary improvements in the armory itself, too, were absolutely impossible. Thus it became perfectly evident to the " Guard Association," to the " Board of Officers " and to its " Finance Committee," watching over the interests of both, that, by such bondage, the military organization must soon be reduced to a chronic condition of beggary, and so lose all real foot-hold on the path to military glory. These burdens accumulated and finally culminated, when a special burden fell upon the " Music Committee." This com- mittee, set to have charge of the organized " Battalion Band," and its expenditures, found an increasing expense for which they had no means provided. Appropriations and solicitations 244 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. had all been exhausted, and the committee determined that something should be done to provide a Fund, by which this Band could be uniformed, and sustained, without calling for new monthly taxes from the Regiment. It was determined, after long consideration, to make a united effort to strike for liberty. The Music Committee proposed to the Board of Officers that a Military Fair should be organ- ized, and an attempt made by one united effort to pay the debts, and place the Band fairly and substantially on its feet. After a full discussion the Officers of the Guard determined to call out all the reserves, male and female, and see if the Bonds could not be captured and the organization set free, and thus the Band be so established that its music should float around the march of the Guard, without the suggestions of taxation and oppression. Major Boies, and some of his associates from the Regiment visited the Grand Military Fair, which had been conducted by the 7th Regiment, of New York, by which they had built their magnificent armory; and these officers came home fused with the idea that this was the way to liberty in Scranton. "A Military Fair," to which the whole world should have a cor- dial invitation — in which the rich and poor might meet toge- ther on a common platform — a Fair toward which everybody should be encouraged to contribute, and towards the success of which every good citizen should become enlisted — a Fair, in- deed, with no capital to start with, except an unquestionable patriotism of large proportions, and a facility of speech for its crystallization and outflow. '" A Military Fair," it should be, in which the Scranton City Guard, wrapped in the mantle of its own merited excellence, should place itself in a position of re- ceptivity, after it had removed the obstructions from the high- way, and laid excellent walks across the swamps, leading to the Armory — a fair, in which contributors and purchasers, sowers of seed, and reapers of harvests, men of business seek- THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 245 ing outlets on the line of advertisements, and men of ambition, waiting for tangible evidences of virtuous honor at other peo- ples' expense, should be all mingled together ; and mingled so thoroughly as to lose all historic identity. In a word, it must be a Patriotic Fair, which, by the enthusiasm enkindled in the Guard itself, a flame should arise with sufficient power to determine and concentrate the currents of patriotic devotion from every quarter; and so raise the wind, by which the grievous Bonds might be blown away, and the military Band be furnished for its work. About the ist of January, 1880, this thought began to take form in the Guard, and among their friends. It at once be- came the subject of general interest and discussion. In a short time the attempt became a foregone conclusion in the whole Guard. In the Headquarters and Company Rooms, the subject was fully discussed, and from these the boys took the matter to their friends, and it became the theme of con- versation, and planning in all the respectable homes of the city. The ladies of the city generally, and speedily, became in- terested, and gave every encouragement to the project. With their usual practical force, they pushed it forward; so that, in less than three weeks after the proposition was suggested, the battalion was actually organized, and the Guard's Reserves were brought into the military field, and the Military Fair be- came a fixed fact, whatever might be its results. The Board of Officers, acting in agreement with the Asso- ciation Directors, appointed a general executive or Supervisory Committee ; consisting of twenty-five members of the Guard, chosen without regard to military rank, in general, yet includ- ing all the main officers of the Guard. Major I*'.. H. Ripple was appointed Chairman, and Ouartcrmastcr James Ruthven Secretary of this Committee. This General Committee fully represented both the Headquarters and the four Compa- nies of the Guard. With it was also associated an advisory 246 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. committee, constituted of one private from each company, with Surgeon Bunnell, from Headquarters, as the chairman. This advisory committee was intended to represent, in all exigen- cies which might arise, the wishes and judgment of the Board of Officers, upon the one side, and those of the four Companies on the other. This general supervisory committee proceeded at one to crystalize the thoughts, and unify the plans, of the Guard for action. They elected the Hon. Robert H. McKune, " General Man- ager" of the Fair, and James Ruthven General Treasurer. They also appointed seven Special Committees, to have charge of as many divisions of service, under direction of Headquarters. These committees were as follows: i. On "Booths," which should determine and appoint the spaces in the armory to each Company and to Headquarters; 2. A committee on "Adver- tising and Printing," to whom that whole subject was referred; 3. A committee on "Decorations," whose business it was to have charge of the glorification of the Armory, in preparation for the grand fair; 4. a "Ladies' Headquarters Committee," which consisted of twelve ladies, who were the wives of the officers. Field and Staff, commissioned and non-commissioned, who were to have charge and disposition of all goods at the Headquarters Booth. The position of these ladies on the com- mittee was in the order of the rank of their husbands, Mrs, Col. Boies being at the head; 5. a "Committee upon Exhibi- tion," having charge of Syrian, Chinese, and local curiosities^ and works of art; making a "Loan Department," with a special sale of Japanese goods. At the head of this commit- tee was placed Mrs. Isaac L. Post, through whose efforts es- pecially the department was established. With her were as- sociated nine other ladies of Scranton, who devoted their serv- ices to the effort to make this exhibition worthy of the success which it attained; 6. was a " Refreshment Committee," with Mrs. J. Curtis Piatt at its head. This committee of fifty-six THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 247 ladies, all resident in the city, and all of them more or less directly connected with the Guard; thirty-two of them were matrons, and twenty-four were maidens. This committee took upon itself the whole work of furnishing daily refreshments for all that should come, at a reasonable price. Their minis- tration and success were above the highest praise. 7. It was determined to issue a daily paper as long as the fair should be open, both as an advertising sheet and as a campaign paper, to awaken, and direct, the patriotic interest to the special ends towards which all energies should be directed. Messrs. L. M. Horton and W. A. May were appointed to take charge of this paper, which was named the Cartridge Box ; and a committee of one member from each company, was appointed to act as reporters thereto. These were all the Committees which were appointed by the general Executive Body. Appeal was then made to the Com- panies to take up the work in their company associations ; and in order to secure a healthful and honorable competition, a money prize of $50 was offered to the Company which should turn into the treasury of the Guard Association, the largest amount of net proceeds when the Fair should be over. The four companies immediately took up the work with great en- thusiasm. Each of thcni appointed an " Executive Committee," an " Honorary Committee," and a " Ladies' Executive Com- mittee," and decorated all the members of each of these com- mittees with the colors of the company they served. These Committees were constituted as follows. The first was composed of enlisted members of the company — soldiers of the rank file and line ; the second of men who had been elected and recognized as " honorary members " of the same ; and the third as " Honorary Lady members " of these companies. Thus the work was organized, and the arrangements com- pleted for directing the whole Guard and concentrating all 248 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. the Reserves, in the struggle to break the bondage of the "Armory Bonds " and set the Battalion free. But it was necessary to secure supplies for a military fair, as well as to dispose of them. Hence this whole force was first started upon the special work of gathering supplies, and of enlisting workers throughout the valley. The highest wis- dom of this movement was manifested in the early enlistment of the ladies in the enterprise. The history of this country de- monstrates that the mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts are the real keepers of the true patriotism of a free people. Virtuous manhood is never more clearly manifested in sacri- fices for the public good than when it yields to the motherly and wifely persuasions, which spring from the unselfish nature of woman. The power of any community in public enterprise will ahvays be brought out when the women take hold of it with their patient determination and persevering hopefulness. The wisdom of the City Guard reached its highest develop- ment when it concluded to put the whole matter of this military fair into the hands of the women ; and required all members, and committees to follow their lead, and obey their orders ; all of which were given, of course, from behind the throne. As soon as the forces had been thus organized for work, the whole body was directed toward the enlistment of more work- ers, and to the solicitation of contributions. The success attained in both these departments was marvelous. In less than a week after the beginning of the effort, the success of the Armory Fair became visible to the most short-sighted and skeptical. Two hundred and thirty-four of the best ladies of Scranton suffered themselves to be enrolled as " Patronesses of the Fair," and pledged their services towards its success. Within a few days these Patronesses in the city, who might have been supposed to have been moved by local considera- THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 249 tions, or to be pulled to the front by the cords that bound them to the boys in uniform, whom they had themselves trained for the country, were joined by almost as many more ladies, whose personal and local attachments gave no such leading. There were fifty-two of these ladies resident in Car- bondale, thirty-seven inWilkesbarre, thirty-eight in Honesdale, thirteen in Kingston, sixteen in Pittston, twelve in Dunmore, and fourteen in Montrose, with smaller numbers in all the small villages and in the country towns of the vicinage. In all, four hundred and fifty-six of the excellent and influential women, in and out of the city, suffered their names to be published as Patronesses of the military fair. The battalion never knew a prouder, or happier day than when the boys discovered that there was such a host of accomplished, patriotic and sincere friends in this Grand Reserve ! Thus, with the organization completed, and this magnificent Reserve secured, was the work of planning completed, and that of solicitation and action began. Appeals now swept out along the lines of trade and busi- ness. They went all wrapped up in the bands of manly friend- ship, and womanly affection. They were sent along the broad highways of generosity and benevolence, which are the real glory of American trade and American society. They were hoisted upon the pure breezes of patriotism and allowed to fall anywhere and everywhere, upon the conviction that they would not fall amiss among the people who count no price too great for the security of American institutions of law and order. They were sent, tied with the cords of private friendship, and blood relationship, to rich and poor alike. These appeals were almost entirely personal, and private. It was the multi- tude, the perseverance, and patriotic earnestness, which spread them so wide and made them so potent. They were suc- cessful beyond the highest anticipations. Contributions to the Fair poured in by every mail, and by all freight 250 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. and express lines. Business firms and corporations, mer- chants and grocers, machinists, manufacturers and me- chanics of all kinds, responded to the appeals of the Guard, and of their Patronesses, with a promptness and generosity entirely unexpected. Men and women all over the city seemed to spend their time divided between the work of inventing and preparing their individual contributions, and of writing letters to friends, and in combining forces of friendship, and of personal influence, to be brought to bear where help might be hoped for. A grand Prize was purchased by the Headquarters, and by each of the Companies, and these were set up for competition, in order to give spice and life to the general enterprise. A few goods, secured at margins which gave assurance of profit, were also purchased and placed on sale ; but, aside from these, the Fair was furnished by the generous contributions of all classes of men, women and children. The way to the Armory was crowded with the material expressions of the patriotism and friendly interest of the people in and out of the city. Weeks before the time appointed for the opening of the Fair it became evident that the Armory must be enlarged to at least double its capacity in order to conduct the enterprise to a successful termination. Besides the contributions of money, an immense amount and variety of merchandise flowed in like the mountain streams in a spring freshet. The General Committee at once determined to enlarge the space, rather than in any wise check the generosity of the peo- ple. To supply the needed room, t,wo wooden Annexes were built; one on the north side of the Armory, which was seventy feet long and sixteen feet wide, with an entrance from the northeast door of the "Drill Room." This Annex was ap- pointed for a refreshment room or dining hall, and was placed under the control of that indefatigable friend of the Guard, THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 251 Mrs. J. Curtis Piatt, and her magnificent company of fifty-six ladies, who proposed to run a first-class Hotel while the Fair should continue. At the rear of this dining-room, and attached to it, were built a commodious kitchen and pantry. Within these extemporized quarters, in which the most difficult and perplexing work of the enterprise was to be done, was placed a detail of conveniences and decorations, in which the people of the city at once recognized the masterly genius of Mrs. Piatt; the pioneer manager of church festivals and public en- tertainments, throughout the history of the city. The second Annex was built in front of the Armory, and was 98 feet long and 20 feet wide. Through this Annex was made the entrance to the Armory, and it was divided so as to con- tain, in addition to the corrals for the live stock contributed, a cloak and parcel room ; a gipsy tent; and grocery store; also a Guard Room, and a smoking room for the convenience of gentlemen, and others who sometimes intrude among gen- tlemen. There was an eight feet Hall running the whole length of this Annex, terminating at the entrance to the main Hall. The whole was decorated like Fairy-land, and filled with an endless variety of the stores of a first-class supply establish- ment. A third Annex was built by Company D, on the south side of the Armory, with its door opening from this Grand Hall. This building was made to accommodate the overflow of the enterprise of this enterprising company. This room was 28 X 40 feet, and in it was placed a miniature Coal-Break- er, to show to strangers the modes of the special enterprise upon which the industries of the city were mainly established. Connected with it also was an excellent shooting gallery, for the development of the military genius of the boys. This Annex was by Company D, placed in charge of Sergeant Samuel H. Stevens, who conducted it with a suavit)- of manner and a skill of ingenuity which greatly advanced the treasury of his company. 252 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Thus the preparations for the Mihtary Fair were completed, and the 8th day of April was appointed for the opening. When the day arrived, the whole city would seem to have become interested. The City Guard was called out, and marched as a guard of honor to the distinguished strangers and civil offi- cers, who were invited to participate in the opening ceremo- nies. All the members of the Battalion were required to re- main in uniform during the continuance of the Fair. The Hon. G. A. Grow, once Speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives, in the unavoidable absence of Governor Hoyt, and General Hartranft, was invited to make the opening address. With him were associated, in the procession and on the plat- form, the Hon. President Judge John Handley; Additional Law Judge, Alfred Hand; Mayor T. V. Powderly; County Commissioners, Barrett, Tierney and Gaige, with Col. Boies and the Field, Staff and Line officers of the Regiment. Gen- eral Manager McKune introduced Mr. Grow, who, after a short and interesting popular address, declared the Military Fair " opened." The announcement was received with a hearty cheer by the Guard and their friends, who had crowded the Ar- mory; and immediately the work of selling began. The deco- rations of the whole building were faultless, and were simply the expression of the taste of the hundreds of ladies of the city, who had been enlisted by the different companies, and had entered into a generous competition to make the fair a "thing of beauty" as well as a success. It would be vain to attempt, either to record the beauty and excellence of the display, or give an estimate of the real value and variety of the goods which had been gathered. " The Cartridge Box','' in its opening salute, declared that there was here " merchandise from all climes," offered to an apprecia- tive public ; that " in the bazaars, graced by the beauty and chivalry of the city as their merchants," the Arctic circle should hobnob with the Tropic of Capricorn, and the gentle THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 253 Cod from New Foundland's mist bank, 'in mid-sea sunken,' will be found perfumed by spices of Ceylon and Far Cathay ; that "Sheffield razors would be found in bivouac with Yankee sticking plasters; where Sapolio and Soap should 'bury the hatchet' and lather each other." Groceries and dry goods ; furniture and bric-a-brac in endless variety ; household sup- plies and outfits for offices, and for the men that filled them, were all offered for a reasonable price by the graceful attend- ants, with an irresistible persuasion. Artists and artisans had presented pictures, and specimens of their skill; books and book-cases, jewelry and jewels of first water, filled the shelves and graced the counters. Indeed the patrons of the Fair of every taste and necessity could be accommodated. The patriot could purchase, at reasonable price, in the bazaars, anything, from an Aldcrncy calf and a setter dog to an eye-glass and a set of teeth, from a first-class dentist. Each company had its Booth and its " Prize Booth," and each day had its special prize, for which an appeal was made to the citizens. From this arrangement the different days of the great fair took their names. Hence there was the " Military Day," when the military companies of neighboring cities came by special invitation, and were entertained at the expense of the Guard; and the day closed with a competition by votes for an officers' outfit. There was "Fireman's Day," and a day for "Railroad Men," a day for "Teachers and Children," and then the "Head- quarters Grand Prize Day," all of which were closed by the special awards which had been appointed. Generous good humor took possession of all who came within the doors. Competition, marked by the most pleas- ant consideration, stamped every transaction. For ten days the whole community seemed to have taken a holiday from the cares of home and business, and to have devoted their energies to the work and enjoyments of the 254 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Fair. The Battalion Band, under leadership of Professor H. E, Cogswell, gave daily concerts, and furnished excellent music for the march of the reserves. The happiest social life marked the whole body of the people who gathered in the evenings, or pressed into the refreshment rooms, where twenty-five ladies were always to be found waiting to serve. "The Ladies' Executive Committee" worked with indefat- igable energy and perseverance, and the grand results told with what wisdom and skill. The Company competition was marked with zeal, kindness, and wise consideration, and the whole enterprise was carried through without a ripple of dis- satisfaction, or a complaint of unfairness. It would, indeed, be a pleasant task for the historian to record the work of these " Ladies' Committees ; " and to make special mention of those members of them who placed the Guard under the heaviest obligations. But it would be un- just, as well as ungallant, to select a few out of the hundreds of the matrons and maidens who devoted their services, day and night, to the work. The record of each, and all, has been made upon the heart, as well as in the memory, of the gal- lant men who constituted the City Guard; and all the compa- nies have placed in their archives "honorable mention" of their services, which no price can reward and no expression of thanks can suitably acknowledge. Of all the noble Women who came with their immeasurable sun-light to the armory and the Guard in the time of their darkness, and never gave it up until a harvest was gathered threefold greater than was asked for, we can only say : " It WAS JUST LIKE YOU." Ladies! Chairwomen, Secretaries, Treas- urers, members of Committees, general and special, and of Companies A, B, C and D, "Patronesses" and waiters at the booths, at the prize-tables, at the ticket-office and refreshment tables, all we can say is : " It was just like you." You proved yourselves the worthy daughters of American mothers; THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 255 and the "Scranton City Guard" could not, ought not to live without you. Your unselfish public spirit and devotion proves, beyond a peradventure, that this city has an interest and treasure worth the sacrifice" of its best men to conserve and protect. On the 17th day of April, 1880, the Fair closed, and the Guard was left to the grateful task of clearing away the rub- bish and counting the proceeds. The Companies and Com- mittees made their reports to the General Committee, and Quartermaster Ruthven, who was a genius in his line, sat down to the work of his figures. In a very few days he pre- sented a balance sheet, which gave to the Guard the patent of its liberty from the " Armory Bonds," and placed in the trea- sury of the association an ample fund for future necessities. The summary of the results of the Fair, as he reported them was this : Total Receipts of the Armory Fair $31,134 29 Total Expenses as per Vouchers 5,083 46 Balance net proceeds paid into the Treasury of the Scranton City Guard Association $26,050 73 The net proceeds paid in by the companies under offer of reward were as follows : Company A 4>529 59 Company B 4,45^ 75 Company C 5,-04 73 Company D 5,553 04 Net proceeds returned by the Headquarters was $6,304.72. To Company D was paid the $50.00 cash premium ; the fairly won prize that was offered to the company that should turn in the greatest amount of net proceeds to the Association Treasurer. The Cartridge Box was indeed ably conducted and acconip- 256 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. lished efficiently the end of its appointment. Rut the people were all too busy to read during the days of its issue, and too short-sighted to realize its future excellence as a historic me- mento; and hence it proved the only department that did not directly bring a revenue to the Guard. Its cost exceeded its paying subscription, but not its service to the Fair. Such were the announcements which Ruthven's figures made. In them, at once, was found the light and the joy of a cloudless day. It required a month to settle all the accounts under the direction of the general executive committee; and on the 17th of May, 1880, the balance amounting to ;^26,050.83, was paid into the treasury of the Association, and on that day the treasure.- re- ported the outstanding bonds as ;$4,500. These bonds were ordered to be immediately redeemed, and the trustees having charge of the mortgage were requested to cancel the same that the City Guard Association might be free. This was done a few days afterwards, and the responsible men who had been carrying the burdens enjoyed an inexpres- sible relief The way was at last cleared, and the halo of im- mense possibilities gathered over the march of the Guard. The benefits of the Fair could by no means be measured by the funds gathered, or the reHef from the " bondage of the Bonds." The happy association of the people, and the good feeling generated thereby throughout the whole city, and val- ley, proved an immense benefit to the whole community. It not only gave a new impetus to the Guard itself, but gave it a place, and an interest, in the hearts of the people which no other means could have secured. The Military Fair not only brought the friends of law and order to the front, and enabled the boys to come face to face with their own supporters ; but it multiplied true friends, and wove bands of interest about a multitude of faithful hearts that before had felt no interest in the National Guard. By it, too, the city and valley were shaken together in a week of social life, on the basis of a virtuous benevolence and patriotic virtue. THE BONDAGE OF THE BONDS. 257 The benefits of such an experience upon the social and busi- ness Hfe of the city can neither be fully traced nor adequately measured. The good feeling overflowed all city limits and filled the neighboring cities and villages of the coal-fields. And before its sweep the petty jealousies and narrow selfish- ness, ever liable to exist between business and social rivals, was swept away. The people of Wilkes-Barre, of Carbondale and Binghamton met in the Scranton Fair and became gener- ous rivals in the higher virtues of sacrifice for others. The people of Scranton learned to know and appreciate their neigh- bors as never before; and their social and business horizon was enlarged and cleared of many a cloud, by the Militaiy Fair which set the City Guard on its feet. Thus the sacrifices for war brought to the city the fruits of peace. 17 258 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER XV. THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. Burdens of Success — The Property secured and its control Determined — The Chaplain — The Veteran Organization. AS soon as the Armory bonds had been cancelled and the rubbish left by the Fair had been cleared away, new questions and complications began to arise among the mem- bers and officers of the Guard. These questions sprang legitimately from the grand success for which all had labored. Prosperity as well as adversity brings its trials and responsi- bilities, and they may be even more perplexing. After two years of struggle and sacrifice, always marching through the tortuous defiles of poverty, the Guard had suddenly reached a plain of wealth that opened a limitless horizon to the eye that had not become adjusted to it. Officers and men alike began to consider their deprivations in the past service in presence of an overflowing treasury ; and the necessities of Companies and Committees, and especially of the officers, who had been given the task of training the Guard for service, without any of the conveniences by which the work could be made easy, seemed to multiply as they were considered. The uniforms, after two years wear, seemed hardly respectable enough for the conspicuous positions which had been won for the Guard by sacrifice and service. Indeed, a vast number of very proper suggestions were brought to light by the sur- plus in the treasury. The consequence was that for some THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 259 months the demand for repairs, conveniences, and improve- ments, poured in upon the Board in a constant stream. It became evident to careful men, that unless the funds could be permanently invested in some way they must soon be ex- hausted, if not wasted. Various schemes were suggested from different quarters as to the disposition that should be made of the balance. One of these was that it should be divided into five equal parts and distributed to the Headquarters and to the four Companies; thus putting upon each of these the responsibility of its own expenses and maintenance for an in- definite period. The Colonel, feeling the inconvenience and the inadequacy of the drill-room for the movements of the battalion, proposed to purchase an adjoining lot and spend the balance in hand for the enlargement, and furnishing of the Armory. The Directors of the Guard Association, after lis- tening to, and carefully considering all the different sugges- tions brought to them, determined to call a meeting of the Stockholders on the 24th of June, 1880, and submit the whole case for instruction. From the beginning of the enterprise there had been a dif- ference of views as to the ultimate ownership and control of the Armory in the Association. One party expressed the conviction that it should be held simply for the use of the military Guard, and under the control of the officers, who might, at any time, be in command of the four companies ; and hence that it should be deeded to certain reliable citizens in trust, for the use of the military command entitled " The Scranton City Guard." Another class as earnestly contended that such a disposi- tion of the property would be unjust to the young men by whose energy and sacrifice the property had been secured, and the Armory freed from debt. They had given their time, pledged all pay received from the State for their services, and then cheerfully submitted to all the assessments necessary 260 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. to run the battalion for three years, in order to build this Armory. They had done this upon the assurance that they should own the whole, as soon as it could be redeemed from its bondage of debt. Hence the Association had been organ- ized as a Stock company; whose capital stock should consist of three hundred and sixty shares, at sixty dollars a share, which could only be increased or diminished by consent of stockholders holding at least three-fourths of the stock. This stock had been issued only in certificates of one-fifth of a share to each member of the Guard, at the end of each year's service. The only exception to this rule was the issue of such one-fifth of a share to all who had served nine months on the 14th of August, 1878 ; these nine months in the begin- ning being considered equivalent to a year of ordinary service. Thus it was intended that each special certificate should repre- sent one year's faithful service, in the National Guard. Five years' service it had been intended should entitle the soldier to one full share, which carried with it five votes in all acts of the Guard Association. This would necessarily place the stock, and hence the control of the Association, with all its property ultimately, in the hands of the men who were veterans ; no longer in the active service. This plan implied the organization of a " Veteran Associa- tion." This had been so clearly the intention that it had been agreed and placed in the Articles of Association ; that any Company, or member of the Guard, that refused to allow the proportion of the State annual appropriation to be used by the association to pay for this property, should be permit- ted to have no share in the stock. This plan early manifested a weakness, in the fact that many who served the first and second year left the Guard and the city, taking their claims with them. The stock was liable to become so greatly scat- tered, that it would soon become impossible to have a fair representation of stock at any business meeting of the Asso- ciation. THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 261 Along with the many issues which arose upon the redemp- tion of the Bonds, and the covering of the surplus left into the treasury, this question of the ultimate ownership and control of the property again arose. The directors of the Association were divided in their views, as were the officers and men of the Guard. Therefore the Board issued the call for a meeting of the stockholders on the 24th of June ; one week after the proceeds of the INIilitary Fair were paid into the treasury. The object of this meeting was stated in the call, and was expressed in the two questions : " First. What arrangements shall be made for the permanent control of the property of the association?" "Second. What disposition shall be made of the balance of the Armory Fair fund remaining, after the payment of the indebtedness of the association?" The Board of Managers at that time consisted of the fol- lowing members: Edward B. Sturges, Company D, President; Louis A. Watres, Company C. Treasurer; George B. Foster, Company A. Secretary; William Kellow, Company B., and S. C. Logan, Chaplain. In order to secure definite thought, discussion and action, this Board prepared and submitted two plans, in answer to each of these questions. First. As to PERMANENT CONTROL ; they Suggested that the plan of issuing the stock in one-fifth shares be continued until the expiration of five years from the date of the organization of the City Guard, at the end of which time the ownership of the property would be established in the holders of the stock certificates ; subject only to the restriction that the property must always be used to maintain the military organization. This plan contemplated, as essential to its ultimate advantage, the for- mation of a "Veteran Association" which should in due time take the place of the "Scranton City Guard Association, " and so lead to its dissolution. This plan originated with and was advocated by the Chaplain. The second plan suggested was to repay to the four Com- 262 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. panics the eight hundred dollars paid by each of them toward the erection of the Armory; to call in and cancel all the Stock, and convey the property to permanent Trustees, who should always hold it as an Armory for the City Guard. This plan, as a matter of course, would require the immediate dis- solution of the "Guard Association," and the surrender of its charter. This plan, in its general features, was advocated by the Colonel, and by various officers of the battalion, who were recognized as excellent business men. The Board also presented two plans for the disposition of the surplus funds, after the debts should be paid. This sur- plus amounted to about seventeen thousand dollars. The plans proposed were as follows : First: appropriate five hundred dollars to the "Rifle Asso- ciation " to meet the expenses of the rifle range. Second: Pay the debts of the "Battalion Band;" then supposed to be about eleven hundred dollars ; and purchase for the members of the Band new uniforms, taking from them leases, both for the instruments and clothing, and demanding a percentage of their cash earnings, with which to create a permanent Band Fund. Third: To expend so much as might be necessary for im- provements on the Armory ; not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars ; and defining specifically what these improvements should be. Fourth : Invest the balance, after these outlays, in some safe interest-bearing securities, as a fund to furnish the Companies with a fixed annual income. This was the first plan. The second plan was : First: To devote seven thousand dollars, or so much as might be needed, for the improvements in the Armory in spe- cific particulars, according to careful estimates. Second : To purchase an additional lot on each side of the armory, at a cost not exceeding five thousand dollars. THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 263 Third: An appropriation to the Rifle Range and Band ; to be paid as in the first plan, and the balance to be expended in furniture, additions to uniforms, and necessary expenses of the Guard, These were the two general plans for investing the surplus. At this called meeting of the stockholders all these plans were taken up and discussed with kindness and earnestness, after which, by a very large majority, it was determined as follows, to wit: First: To continue the issue of the Stock, under the rule already adopted ; and so to continue the Association with a view to the organization of a Veteran Association. Second : To appropriate four hundred dollars to each of the Companies, and to the Headquarters, to meet special ex- penses. Third: To appropriate five hundred dollars to the Rifle As- sociation ; and to pay the debts of the band and drum corps ; and to uniform the members in accordance with the plans submitted. Fourth: In regard to Armory improvements, and the invest- ment of remaining funds; the Board of Directors was author- ized to act according to its best judgment. Thus the way of the Directors of the Association was marked out upon the responsibility of the stockholders, and the general financial policy of the Guard was determined. The Board proceeded at once to carry out the specific ac- tion taken. They paid over to the Rifle Association five hun- dred dollars, which was chiefly applied to meet expenses already incurred. They also placed to the credit of each Company, and to the Headquarters four hundred each, mak- ing, in all, two thousand dollars. This was indeed a relief, evidently just and opportune, to every department of the Guard, which gave new courage to both officers and men. The order, however, to pay the debts of the band, without first 264 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. determining definitely what the indebtedness really was, caused much perplexity, both to the Finance Committee and to the Board itself. After careful investigation, these debts were found to be almost one-half greater than had been sup- posed by the excellent committee having the subject of music in charge. It was, however, determined to fulfill every obli- gation which honor demanded, at any cost. The treas- urer was therefore ordered to honor the bills as fast as they should be presented, properly endorsed. This was done until two thousand and eighty-seven dollars and twelve cents were expended on behalf of the sweet strains, to which the battalion had kept step for a year and a half The arrange- ments upon which this excellent Band, under Prof. Cogswell, were now placed was supposed to be such, that the Guard would be relieved from any further expense. It was also sup- posed, by sanguine individuals, that in due time the per cent, of its earnings, which were to be returned to the Guard, might repay a part of the cost of its outfit. This, however, was found to be a mistake. After two years of faithful effort the Board of Officers sold to the leader the whole outfit for the sum of five hundred dollars ; and then had the historic Battal- ion band mustered out of service. The excellence of this band, and its faithful services, were above criticism ; and its re- lations to the Guard were always pleasant. But the difficulty of keeping it up by musicians who served without pay ; and the fact that the Regiment was not allowed to have it at the annual encampment, where only one band to a brigade was permitted, made it a luxury too expensive for the finances of the City Guard. Hence it melted away like its own sweet strains, leaving the most pleasant recollections of its music in- woven with the history of the early struggles of the battalion. The effects of a full treasury, after such struggles along the narrow ways of economy, upon the Guard, could not be neutralized at once by any plans or resolutions. They soon THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 265 began to be felt all along the line. The demands for im- provement in the building, and for the multiplication of ex- penditures on conveniences for the soldiers ; for new uniforms, and for music and musical instruments, continued to pour in like a flood. The instructions of the stockholders to the managers, which were promptly carried out, only seemed to open wider the gates of expenditure and demand. The doors of discretion, opened by the stockholders, were crowded with men who saw great results from small outlays of money, and small bills multiplied. The Finance Committee stood bewil- dered, and grumbled out all necessary protests. The Board of Officers spent whole evenings sitting in judgment upon an apparently endless procession of bills and accounts. Fears were soon created, that between plumbers, musicians, clothiers and furniture dealers, the association was in danger of a sec- ond bankruptcy. It was evident that the Guard would soon find itself without an income to meet the unavoidable and pro- per expenses. The Directors of the association, in the midst of this anx- iety, reached a conclusion ; and determined immediately to act. The Armory had indeed been foimd to be not sufficiently large for the convenient uses of the Guard, and it was sup- posed the time might soon come when a whole regiment could be enlisted in the city. If so, an Armory double the size of the present would be a necessity, and could be easily built. Real estate was on the rise, and was selling rapidly in the city. It was evident that soon the lots adjoining the armory would pass out of the market. It was therefore de- termined to purchase two lots, adjoining the Armory lots on the south ; as the extension of the Armory to double its pre- sent si/.c could then be made at the smallest cost. But it was found that two lots on the same side of the Armory could not be secured. Hence it was determined to purchase one on each side, and place upon these tenements for rent, until such time 266 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. as the building of a new Armory might be demanded. It was beheved that the rental of these tenements, with the amounts appropriated by the State, would meet completely the neces- sary expenses for maintaining the military organization. On the 23rd of February, 188 1, these lots were purchased at a cost of five thousand dollars, which was one-fourth of advance upon the price of two years previous on these same lots. Immediately following this purchase the association ordered the building of a double house upon the front of each of these lots, and one upon the rear of one of them, after plans secured from Architect Amsden. These houses were built during the summer of 1881 under the superintendence of Captain Henry A. Coursen. These houses cost, when built about the close of the year, twenty-six hundred and thirty-eight dollars and eighty cents. Thus the investment was made by the directors of the City Guard Association of seventy-six hundred and thirty-eight dollars and eighty cents. The houses were occupied under leases at a paying rent as soon as built, and thus far have not failed to bring a fair rev- enue for the support of the City Guard. The haste with which the Armory was built and the want of capital had given rise to many defects in the structure, which cost the association dearly when the time for remedying them came. A small cellar had been excavated, and the tim- bers and floor were laid close to the ground, where there was great moisture held in the clay, and as a consequence these timbers soon gave evidence of decay. The floor was hastily and roughly laid, under the conviction that the tramp of the battalion would soon smooth it sufficiently; but, after two years of use, it began to show weakness under the tread ot the drilling companies. It was evident that something must be done for the repair and preservation of the armory itself. In the fall of 1882 an offer was made to the Directors for the lease of the drill-room, to be used as a skating-rink by a THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 267 company at this time seeking to fuse the society of the city with this ephemeral craze. As such use might be made of the Armory without interfering with the drill of the Guard, it was leased, under proper restrictions ; and from the income from this rental an excellent hard-wood floor was placed on top of the one which was already in use, at a cost of five hun- dred dollars. But when the spring opened in 1883, it was discovered that the repair of the timbers under this double floor could no longer be postponed with safety. In the month of May a nine-foot cellar was excavated under the whole building; strong pillars were built to support new timbers, which were substituted throughout, and the floor lifted up and levelled. All this was done at a cost of ^2,676.87. This work of excavation and repair was done under the superin- tendence of Herman Osthaus, a member of Company A, who at that time was the secretary and treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Guard Association. Thus, in six years after the muster and equipment of the City Guard, the organization possessed a property, free of incumbrance, which, jvithout including the various minor im- provements and repairs, had cost twenty-two thousand, eight hundred and fifteen dollars and sixty-seven cents. The lots upon which the buildings stand are now valued above this cost ; and they are so situated in the city that it is hardly probable their price will ever fall below their present value in the market. The prospect is that they will be worth perhaps double that amount within the next ten years. The success of the movement to place the Guard upon an assured and permanent footing was due, first of all, to the patriotic and self-sacrificing devotion of the young men — the officers and soldiers of the battalion itself They gave their services and their money, with an equal cheerfulness, and with a spirit of sacrifice which continued without abatement or weakening. For full five years they had borne the burden 268 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. with a unity of purpose which assured success. The roll of the Guard was a roll of honor. Throughout the time of the service necessary to complete this work, by which the City Guard was established, its character and its historic position in the young city were determined. With these excellent young men, in the uniform and service of the State, must ever be associated all the best people of the city, of every calling and social position, who gave their time and money without stint to sustain the four military companies, and who, almost without exception, sustained the officers in their efforts to develop the efficiency, and establish the character, of the Guard and lead it to the front in the service of the State. It may not be deemed unjust or inappropriate by the reader, who, twenty years from now, may be interested in the local his- tory of the times considered, to close this chapter upon the origin and history of the Armory — that landmark in the city's defense — with the record of the military order which was published by the Commander of the Guard, granting a six months' leave of absence to the Chaplain, who, on account of impaired health, was about leaving for six months' travel in the far East. This order was as follows : Headquarters 13TH Regiment, 30 Brigade, N. G. P., ScRANTON, Pa., December 23, 1878. General Order No. 10. I. The Companies of the Scranton City Guard and all the officers and men of the 13th Regiment in this City, will assemble in uniform, without Arms, at the Armory, at 2.45, p.m., on Sunday, December 29th, for divine worship, which will be held at 3 o'clock. The Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Logan, will preach a sermon to the command in anticipation of his immediate departure for Europe. II. Major Ripple is charged with the care of the music for this service. III. Chaplain S. C. Logan, D.D., has leave of absence for six months from January 15th, 1879, for the purpose of visiting foreign lands, for the benefit of his health. The Commanding Officer avails himself of this opportunity to recog- nize, publicly, his sense of the faithful and zealous labors of Dr. Logan ' THE TRIALS OF PROSPERITY. 269 for this command, not only in spiritual, but in temporal matters. To him, very greatly, we are indebted for our Armory and all its contents ; and his wise counsels have contributed largely to the success and reputation of the Guard. While we remember his past services with gratitude, we shall hope for his return to us, strengthened and renewed in mind and body. By order of Colonel H. M. Boies, Commanding. R. Macmillan, ist Lieut, and Adjutant. 270 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER XVI. THE MARCH OF THE "SCRANTON CITY GUARD." The Companies and the " Honorable Mention "' — Association in and Influence upon the National Guard of Pennsylvania — The Thirteenth Regiment — Rifle Practice and Camp Drill — " Honor to whom honor.'' AS soon as the Armory was ready for use, the City Guard took possession of it ; and both officers and 'men felt that the battalion was fairly on its feet. The companies vied with each other in furnishing their company rooms with mil- itary taste, and in providing them with every convenience for their work. The headquarters were tastefully and conve- niently fitted up, and became inviting to the oflScers upon whom fell the task of training the citizen soldiery. The mil- itary enthusiasm, which the novelty of the service and the emphatic call to patriotic duty, in the presence of visible dan- gers, had enkindled had to be kept alive. To do this it must be harnessed and educated to the higher aims of a military training. It was the determination of the commanding officer, emphatically and clearly announced, that the strictest disci- pline and drill should be maintained from the beginning ; and in this determination he was faithfully sustained by a majority of the officers, and the great body of the men. Each com- pany had its appointment for drill one evening in the week, when the drill-room and armory were placed under the com- mand of the officer having charge of the drill. All visitors, whether members of the Guard or not, were required to ob- THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 271 serve military order, and etiquette, when about the Armory. The companies met at the close of their drills in their com- pany rooms, and transacted their company business ; devising ways by which their organization might accomplish its work and meet its responsibilities in the Guard. One night of each week, all commissioned officers were required to meet at Headquarters ; when the Major put them through "the school of the soldier; " and speedily the results of the training became manifest both in officers and men. The work was done with cheerfulness as well as success. But very soon the burdens of the organization began to be felt. The perpetual routine of company and battalion move- ments must necessarily become irksome to the young men, who were perpetually driven by their business callings. The sacrifice of time and labor demanded of officers to carry on tht business of the organization, and the efforts to keep alive the military spirit of the Guard became very heavy. Tact and care were used by the commanding officer in varying the drills, in encouraging entertainments of different kinds, throughout the winter, and in calling out the whole battalion for exercise, in marches and parades ; both for the gratification of the command and for the keeping alive of the public interest in the City Guard. As long as the excitement consequent upon the strike, and the derangement of business continued, a constant guard was on duty in the Armory, to protect the property and secure peace in the community. The Guard, in a few months' drill, reached a high degree of promptness and efficiency. The great body, both of officers and men, understood the duties of the soldier and performed them with military spirit. The April inspection gave the battalion a first-class position among the troops of the National Guard of the State. The confidence of the commaiulcr mi the readiness of the whole command for any emergency which might arise, taken 272 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. with the repeated assertions of the harmlessness of such sol- diers as these, on the part of politicians, who professed to be the special friends, and protectors, of the workingmen; and the expressions of those who seemed to delight in disturbing the peace of the community, led him to test the promptness of both officers and men by a method entirely original. It sub- jected him'^to a great deal of criticism at the time, both from friends and foes. But the healthfulness of his experiment became very manifest, in that it settled forever the question, in the minds of that class of the population who had not yet learned that the day of lawlessness and riot had entirely passed in Scranton, as to what might be expected to follow any attempt to control the industries of the city, or valley, with disorderly strikes, or unlawful intimidations of worthy workmen. Just at six o'clock on the evening of May 20th, 1878, Major Boies issued an order and placed it in the hands of Adjutant Hitchcock, commanding the whole Guard to report for duty fully equipped at the Armory precisely at nine o'clock. Not a single officer, or man, had received any inti- mation of what was intended, or of what emergency demanded the assembling of the Guard. At the hour appointed every man of the four companies who could be notified and all officers, field and staff, as well as line, were found in place awaiting orders. A night of excitement in the city followed. There were rumors of all sorts of lawlessness throughout the community; and that whole class of people, who had for months been complaining about the existence of detectives who were supposed to be shadowing the men bent on deeds of dark- ness, became most pamfully disturbed. Indeed, they be- came almost frantic in their fears for the strain upon the great industries, and manufacturing interests, of the community by such an unexplained show of military power. But this class in the community were quite subject to such excitement when THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 273 the Guard came to the front during these days. Their pro- phecies however had ceased to do anything more than agitate a large number of sleeves in which the people had formed a habit of laughing! But the demonstration of the readiness of the young men who had sworn to protect the city and commonwealth, under the law, gave to all good people, as well as to the Major com- manding, a confidence in the Guard which has never since been shaken. After ten years have passed, with all the changes of officers and men, there are few who doubt the ability of the commandant to have the whole City Guard ready for duty, in less than half the time, whatever might be the exigency. The Major tendered his congratulations to the bat- talion for its prompt response, and explained the nature of his experiment greatly to the enjoyment of the Guard, which by this means had established a thorough confidence in itself No regrets were expressed that the exigency had not called for real soldierly work ; although a number of the men grieved, more or less, for the warm suppers they had left untasted after a hard day's work. About the time of the " Spring Inspection " it occurred to the Major that means outside of the weekly drills, which could not be kept up with the same spirit in the summer months, must be invented to keep the best men in the Guard , and hold the standard of membership at the grade of character at which the companies had started. He was also satisfied that the more familiar the soldier could become with the use of his gun, the more efficient soldier he must be. He therefore brought before the Board of Officers a proposition to establish a Rifle Range ; and offer, for skill in marksmanship, prizes pro- vided by the battalion and its friends , the whole to be placed under the direction of a Rifle Association This proposal was at once acceded to. An association styled "The Nay Aug Rifle Association" was formed, with Hugh M. Hannah as IS 274 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. president. Badges were provided by subscription, which were formed of two silver rifles crossed on a cloth ground, which were offered to each member of the Guard who should qualify, as a rifleman, according to the rules of the American Rifle Association, as published in "Wingate's Practice." Lieutenant George Sanderson, to whom had been given the command of the squad in charge of the Gatling gun that had been placed by the State authorities in the city, was appointed "Inspector of Rifle Practice," and the Companies purchased the ammunition which they proposed to use. Application was made to the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, which generously permitted the establishment of a range on their property, in the northeast part of the city ; and four metal tar- gets were presented to the Guard by Messrs. W. W. Scranton and W. F. Hallstead. Special prizes were proposed by Major Boies, by Lieutenant Sanderson, by Henry Belin, Jr., and by others ; to be shot for by teams from each of the four com- panies. Five crack-shot badges were provided, to be given to the men making the highest score in each company, and in the field and staff. In this way a new and permanent interest in the use of the rifle was awakened, and the healthful spirit of competition between companies was fostered. A prize was also offered for success in competition drills between the companies. All these prizes, except the marksman's badges, were to be contested for during three years in succession and given upon being three times won. This movement to secure rifle practice as a part of the training of the National Guardsman awoke a new enthusiasm in the whole battalion. The excellent range, secured so con- veniently to the city and fitted up by the battalion, echoed all summer with the crack of the rifles; which ere long were to extend the excellent reputation of the City Guard all over the country. When the season closed and the Inspector pre- sented his report, it was found that fifty-one members of the THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 275 battalion had qualified as marksmen and had earned their badges of distinction. There would have been many more qualified marksmen this year but for the strictness of the in- terpretations which were placed upon the " rules of practice." A public meeting of the battalion and of citizens was called after the Fall Inspection, and, by the request of the Major, Governor Hartranft presented the prizes and the marksmen badges to the winners with interesting military ceremonies and high congratulations. These were the first "marksmen's badges " ever presented to her soldiers by the State of Penn- sylvania. They were presented by the Governor in the order of rank, and hence it followed that Major Boies wore the first badge presented to distinguish the marksmen of the Pennsyl- vania riflemen. The first prize for the highest score was awarded to Cor- poral George B. Hand, of Company D, and the second to Captain E. H. Ripple, of the same company. The trophy offered to the company qualifying the largest number of marksm.en was awarded to Company D, and presented by Adjutant-General Latta. The Sanderson prize was won by Company A, and was presented to them by the Chaplain. These were the first prizes in the State of Pennsylvania, and the whole cost of them was furnished by the Guard and their friends. Both the Governor and Adjutant-General of the State ex- pressed their high appreciation of the movement to make rifle practice a part of the State's training for its National Guard. The interest thus awakened in rifle practice became very soon general, and the benefit to the Guard was marked and permanent. From that time the question of marksmanship entered into the schemes of the companies for keeping up their membership; and rifle practice through the summer months took the place of tirills and parades. The success of this work quickly brought its fruits in many ways. 276 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. In the opening of the summer of 1879; after the City Guard had been united with a number of outside companies, to form the Thirteenth Regiment, by action of the State authority; the commander apphed to the Governor for the privilege of sending a team to represent the State mihtia at the Creed- moor matches, where the State had never been represented. The Guard agreed to pay all the expenses of its own team, and hence the permission was granted. In the September matches of 1879 this team, composed entirely of members of the Thirteenth Regiment, and all, except one, from the four companies of the Scranton City Guard, appeared at Creed- moor, and made a respectable record for the State. They captured the third prize in the inter-state contest ; New York and New Jersey, with their veteran teams, only surpassing them. For years after this, the honor of representing the National Guard of the State, at these national contests with the rifle, was awarded to the team, ten-twelfths of whom were mem- bers of the City Guard. Nor did the regiment ever fail to send forward its regimental team for all regimental contests that might take place at Creedmoor. Many prizes were taken by the Guard at these matches, and in the fall of 1882 the team of the Thirteenth Regiment had the marked distinction of taking every first prize that was offered. That year they carried away the "Army and Navy Journal Cup," the "Hil- ton Trophy" and the "Soldier of Marathon," with a number of personal and company prizes. For nine years these compa- nies have held their advanced position in this special qualifi- cation of the soldier. The Silver Palma, presented by Colonel Boies, to be contested for annually by all the Regiments of the State during a number of years ; and to be carried by the Regiment whose team should make the highest score at the annual encampment, has been perched upon the top of the flagstaff of the colors of the Thirteenth through all the years, CO > m H si 03 m O 33 C _ > -I I THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 277 until now it owns it. Company A, of the City Guard, has the high distinction which no company of either the National Guard or any company of the regular army has yet reached — that of for seven years, in succession, presenting a full com- pany for inspection, every member of which was a qualified marksman, according to the strictest construction of the Na- tional Rifle Association rules. It would seem to be entirely just and according to the fitness of things that in 1887 the Hon. Louis A. Watres, under whose command this company reached its highest distinction, should be made State Inspector of Rifle Practice, with the rank of Colonel. A large number of the members of the Guard wear one more bar upon their marksman's badges than the members of any other regiment in the State. Thus, throughout its history, the City Guard has held its place at the head of the National Guard of the Commonwealth in the number and excellence of its riflemen. Its first in- spector of rifle practice, Lieutenant George Sanderson, in the third year of his service, was promoted to the position of Lieutenant-colonel on the Governor's staff, and made Inspec- tor of Rifle Practice for the State. His successor in the 13th Regiment, George L. Breck, of Company D, after four years' service in the 13th Regiment, with the rank of Captain, as inspector of rifle practice, was placed, with the rank of Major, in the position temporarily of Inspector for the State, during the absence from the country of the occupant, Major Shakes- peare, of Philadelphia. In this position, and under his efficient administration, this arm of the service has made a marked advance. The real value of such a training to a citizen sol- diery has now ceased to be a question. P\amiliarity with the power and purpose of the arms must give both courage and coolness, as well as efficiency to the guardsmen; so that, when the exigency arises, the State will not be dependent upon men as liable to misuse as properly to use the force it has placed 278. A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. in their hands, as a terror only to evil doers, and never as a menace to the liberty and security of a free people. But the officers and men of the City Guard did not give their whole attention to the attainment of their worthy dis- tinction in the rifle practice. From the day the Armory was ready for use no weather or burden of business was suffered to interfere with the weekly company drills. As frequently as was deemed best, two of the companies were trained in battalion movements, in the armory, and as often as once a month the whole Guard was exercised in out-door move- ments. On the 4th of July, 1878, by special invitation, the battalion attended the Centennial of the Wyoming Massacre, and acted as a Guard of Honor to His Excellency R. B. Hayes, the Presi- dent of the United States. In this march it won the highest commendations from a multitude of the most intelligent citi- zens, and high public functionaries. The appreciation of their services on this march was expressed by the presentation to them of a stand of colors by the citizens of Wyoming. On the 14th of August, 1878, the Guard celebrated the an- niversary of its muster into service, by an excursion over the Gravity Road to Honesdale, and the enjoyment of the hospi- tality of that city. Here was initiated the idea of taking the men into camp for the purpose of instruction and practice in the duties of the national Guardsman. Captain Bryson asked and obtained permission to place Company A in a camp under military order for a week. This company went into camp on the Dyberry, near Honesdale, on the evening of August 14th, and broke camp on the 19th. During this encamp- ment Captain Bryson put his company through a rigid disci- pline, in drill and in the whole routine of camp duty, which was greatly enjoyed by both officers and men. In his report Captain Bryson states that through the whole time " there was not a single act of insubordination or breach of discipline." THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 279 The captain closes his report with the expression of his con- viction that " a single week of camp life, under strict military discipline, will do more to promote efficiency in the National Guard than months of armory drills." The results of this ex- perience were very manifest in the company itself. Company A at once came to the front as a drilled company, and through- out the history of the Guard it has maintained its reputation as that of one of the best drilled companies in the nation. But of the advancement and distinction of the companies mention will be made hereafter. The experiences of the summer of 1877 had turned the atten- tion of the great body of good citizens, in the Commonwealth, to the character of its National Guard. The exigencies created by the great strike, and by the lawless spirit following in its wake, which swept over all the cities revealed most painfully the dependence of the State authorities upon a soldiery, for which the State had made the smallest sacrifices, and upon which the smallest attention had been bestowed. The orfrani- o zation of the National Guard was bunglesome and inefficient. By its very organization it would seem never to have been in- tended for service. There were many efficient regiments, formed of good material ; and a few excellent independent or- ganizations, which had been kept alive by the force of their own history, and at their own expense; which were entirely worthy of all confidence; such as the ist Regiment of Philadelphia, the State Fencibles, the City Troop and some other organizations. But, in general, the National Guard of Pennsylvania, at that date, would remind the serious patriot of the description which an irate quartermaster gave of Governor Shelby's army, in 1812. This man had been made an extemijore " master of transpor- tation," and had been called before a court-martial upon com- plaint of a captain, for refusing to alUnv wearied men to ride on his transportation wagons, when he had been ordered to do so by the said captain. When asked for his defease, this Master of 280 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Transportation plead that he had not yet learned how to ad- just himself, or his authority, to an army which was " composed of ten thousand men and eleven thousand officers." When required by the General to explain himself more definitely, he said he would illustrate the case, as he understood it, by the department with which he was most familiar. " Here am I," said he, " Captain, Quartermaster, and, by special order. Gen- eral of Transportation. Captain Smith is also Captain of com- pany I, also Quartermaster and General of Transportation. Both lieutenants of his company hold likewise all these offices. His four sergeants and eight corporals equally hold these offices when the Captain sends them with orders to me. So it runs throughout the army, or at least through all of it that has come in the way of transportation." Shelby solemnly dismissed him to his wagons. There had been no legislation changing the organization of the militia of the State of Pennsylvania, on a peace basis, since the Act of 1858. Hence at the time when the condition of affairs demanded that the whole Guard should take the field, in 1877, the organization was about as cumbersome and difficult to make efficient as Shelby's army was said to be by his extempore master of transportation. There were twenty- one Divisions in the State, each commanded by a Major- General, who was also surrounded by a numerous and hand- some Staff. These twenty-one Divisions were subdivided into seventy Brigades, which was a Brigade to each county, while the City of Philadelphia was allowed three. Each of these seventy Brigades was commanded by a Brigadier-General, who was also allowed a numerous and handsome Staff. The army of the National Guard of the Commonwealth was thus in the hands of twenty-one Major-Generals and seventy Brigadiers, when perhaps no Major-General had more than one trained and reliable Regiment in his division, which the Governor could rely upon to disperse a mob or quell a tumult. Under THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 281 this system the military spirit had been fairly put to sleep. The better class of citizens ; except in the case of historic regiments, already referred to, and independent battalions ; had no thought of going into the ranks, or of attempting to make the military service of the State honorable. The riots of 1877 called the attention of the whole people to this condition of the National Guard; and in 187S a new Act was passed which reduced the Divisions to one for the whole State, and the Brigades to five at the most; and leaving it with the General in command to form the Guard in any number of Brigades, under five, at his discretion. Major-general Har- tranft, who had just completed his term of service as Governor of Pennsylvania, was appointed to this command, and he organized the National Guard into three brigades. Thus twenty Major-generals and sixty-nine Brigadiers were mus- tered out of service ; and with these vanished a host of use- less and dangerous regiments and companies from the Guard of the State. Thus it was that the army of ten thousand men and eleven thousand officers gave place to a National Guard, which, with sufficient care, could be selected of the best material the State affords ; and not sufficiently officered to perplex and break it down. There were, perhaps, few military organizations in the State that were more potent in awakening this long dormant mili- tary spirit, and in bringing the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania out of the entanglements of this immense organization, than was the " Scranton City Guard." By the character of the young men who composed the companies, by the earnest efficiency of the officers, and by the worthy pride and interest taken by the citizens in the battalion, the military zeal of the City of Scranton spread through all the towns in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The commanding officer was approached by conmiittces. 282 A CITY S DANGER AND DEFENSE. and appealed to by letters, from inchoate companies for coun- sel. Propositions for the consolidation with the City Guard of new companies, made of the best material, in neighboring towns, poured in upon him. Under the consolidation ordered by the Act of 1878, it was soon supposed, by the Major and some of his advisors, that the Scranton City Guard could hardly hope to retain its existence as a separate battalion of four com- panies. Hence it was suggested that it would be the part of wisdom to anticipate the action of higher authorities and secure such outside companies as would most readily affiliate with the Guard, and thus create a Regiment capable of a first- class reputation. To this end the young men of Honesdale, of Carbondale and of the Providence and Hyde Park wards of Scranton were encouraged to enlist and organize companies; with the expectation of being united with the Scranton City Guard. Thus the military enthusiasm created by the success , of the Guard, — which was the first organization in the State that owned its own rifle range, and among the first to own its own Armory, spread and was directed into the best channels. By the visit of the Guard to Honesdale, and the encamp- ment of Company A in that place, a military spirit was aroused^ which within a few months resulted in the enrollment and or- ganization of one of the best companies in the State; with Cap- tain George F. Bentley in command, and Lieutenants D. R. At- kinson and Horace G. Young in the rear. "The Honesdale Guards " were mustered into service, formed of the same class of worthy citizens that had formed the Scranton City Guard. Next to these came a company organized in Carbondale, under Captain John O. Miles; but this company failed to receive the enthusiastic support from the city which was necessary to its highest success. The officers were worthy men, but they la- bored under great discouragements ; yet the company reached a respectable position. About the same time the work of en- listment began in Providence, as the first ward of the city of Scranton, was at that time called. THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." ' 283 A company styled the " Providence Rifles " was organized by the efforts of Captain E. W. Pearce, which had in it some excellent material. But this company, for a time, suf- fered from the fact that so many of the best young men of that part of the city had already enlisted in the companies of the Scranton City Guard. There was also enlisted, about the same time, a company at Pleasant Valley, about seven miles from the city, under command of Captain F. J. Boone, which had in it fifty-five men ; but it never drilled sufficiently to take a re- spectable military position along with the other companies. These companies, with Company G, a fragment of the old Na- tional Guard at Susquehanna Depot, under command of Cap- tain James Smith, and the Gatling Gun Squad, under com- mand of Lt. George Sanderson, were, on the loth of October, 1878, united with the four companies of " the Scranton City Guard" to constitute the 13th Regiment, which was placed in the Third Brigade of the National Guards of Pennsylvania. This was a regiment of eight companies ; five of which were composed of the best material, both officers and men, that could be found in any regiment of the citizen soldiery in the whole commonwealth. After the inspection of the Regiment, on the loth of October, at Scranton, by Majors M. L. Moor- head and E. J. Phillips, members of General J. K. Seigfreid's Staff; an election of officers was ordered at eight o'clock in the evening, at the Armory. The election was conducted by Major Moorhead, and resulted in the choice of Major H. M. Boies for Colonel; Adjutant F. L. Hitchcock, Lieutenant- Colonel ; and Captain E. H. Ripple, of Company D, for Major. The results of this election were accepted witli general satis- faction, all of the field officers being taken from the Scranton City Guard. There was much dissatisfaction in the four companies, both among officers and men, created by this consolidation and for- mation of the Regiment. In the judgment of a large body of 284 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. the best men, both in the battalion and among the citizens of the city, it was apprehended that the Regiment, thus composed could not be lifted to the grade and reputation of the Scranton City Guard. It was believed that the life of the Regiment must be sustained at the expense of the Guard; and, instead of an unexceptionable and efficient Battalion, many believed the city would'be burdened with a very common Regiment, whose com- panies could never affiliate sufficiently; or meet in service fre- quently enough to constitute a well-trained and efficient body of troops. It was especially feared that the first-class young men composing the Scranton City Guard would lose their interest, and leave the service as soon as they could present reasons for being honorably discharged. It was also especially feared that the interest taken by the citizens in the Guard, which had done so much for its life and advancement, would speedily die out; as the battalion of which they were so proud, would, very natur- ally, be lost in the regiment of which they could only consti- tute one-half, at the best. Many of the best friends of the City Guard who had not objected, at all, to the ultimate formation of a full Regiment, believed the time had not come ; and that the city was not yet large enough to sustain eight companies, com- posed of such material as had given the four companies their excellent reputation in so short a time. But they believed the time could not be long delayed, if the Guard could be con- tinued in the popular esteem, when, as an institution of the city, as well as a part of the National Guard, four more first- class companies could be mustered in, and so form a Regiment Vv'hich should take its place along with the historic military organizations of the country. But this was a case in which discussion seemed to be use- less. The opportunity for demonstrating which of the various views might secure the best results to the State, and to the battalion itself, which in so brief an existence had become the pride of the city, was quickly removed by the consolidation THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 286 order issued by the State authorities, to take effect on the loth of October, 1878. The Major of the Guard being^ the chief, if not the only earnest advocate of this destiny of the Battalion of four com- panies, obtained, in the minds of its opponents, the entire credit of the movement, at the expense of his growing pop- ularity, for a time. The question as to whether the Guard was to exist in order to the development of military prom.o- tions, and reputation of the officers, was freely discussed among the young men. There were many who could not rid themselves of the idea that such radical changes, in the relations of the military companies of a volunteer militia, ought not to be consummated without some expression from the companies themselves ; especially as these companies had been organized by men who had a choice as to the company they proposed to keep, and under special arrangements secured from the Governor at the time. The whole Battalion had been formed, as all the records show, with the special purpose of protecting the city to which it belonged. The paper published by the young men, before they enlisted, had defined their position distinctly, and their relation to the State had, as they understood, been a matter of compromise. Whether the authorities had the power so to compromise, was a question which they had not themselves especially' considered. The great body of men in the ranks, and, perhaps, a ma- jority of the officers, greatly preferred a separate and inde- pendent Battalion, like the State Fencibles of Philadelphia, with no higher officer than a Major. The Major without doubt was earnest and sincere in his conviction that the grad- uation of the Guard into the Regiment would greatly redound to the benefit of the State service and add to the efficiency of the National Guard of the Conuiionwcalth. I le thought it would decidedly strengthen the patriotic virtue of a larger 286 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. body of good citizens; and bind together the law and order communities of the whole region, over which the membership of the regiment should extend. The Scranton City Guard had been potently used to arouse the military and patriotic spirit in the whole valley and in all the neighboring towns. He therefore felt that this consolidation would be but the gathering of the legitimate harvest of the careful sowing, in which all had been willing partakers; and the experiences of the dangers of 1877 had certainly demonstrated the wisdom, as well as the necessity, of having a reliable National Guard for the whole State of Pennsylvania. But whatever might be the differences of opinion or judg- ment, the members of the Guard patriotically adjusted them- selves to the order of the higher authority without demon- stration of any sort, save a small amount of grumbling. It is doubtful if any after-experience, or actual advancement of the Regiment, ever changed the judgment of the parties that were interested in this measure on either side. The high character of the Guard was manifested in the determination to carry with them to the front rank, in military devotion, all the out- side companies that could be induced to go with them; while they affiliated naturally, and socially, with none of these com- panies so fully as with the most excellent one at Honesdale. The roster of the Thirteenth Regiment at its organization on the lOth of October, 1878, was as follows: Henry M. Boies, Colonel. F. L. Hitchcock, Lieut.-Col. Ezra H. Ripple, Major. 1st Lieutenant Robt. Macmillan, Adjutant. Major N. Y. Leet, Surgeon. S. C. Logan, D.D., Chaplain. Captain H. A. Kingsbury, Commissary. Lieutenant James Ruthven, Quartermaster. Lieutenant H. N. Dunnell, ist Asst. Surgeon. Lieutenant, W. H. Cummings, 2d Asst. Surgeon. Captain George L. Breck, Inspector of Rifle Practice. THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 287 NON-COMMISSIONED StAFF. Sergeant Major. Quartermaster Sergeant. Ed. F. Chamberlin. Melvin I. Corbett. Commissary Sergeant, Principal Musicians. L. M. Horton. Chas. R. Smith and \V. J. McDonnell. Color Sergeant. James Moir. Catling Gun Squad. Captain. George Sanderson. Austin B. Blair, Sergeant. "THE SCRANTON CITY GUARD." Company A. Captain. Henry A. Knapp. 1st Lieut., Edward J. Smith. 2d Lieut., John C. Highritev. Company B. Captain. Daniel Bartholomew. ist Lieut., Wm. Kellow. 2d Lieut., Chas. R. Fuller. Company C. Captaiti. Henry A. Coursen. ist Lieut., Louis A. Watres. 2d Lieut. T. Frank Penman. Company D. Captain. James A. Linen. 1st Lieut., Samuel Hines. 2d Lieut., Edward S. Jackson. " HONESDALE GUARDS." Company E. Captain. George F. Bentlcy. 1st Lieut., D. R. Atkinson. 2d Lieut., Horace G. Young. "VAN BERGEN GUARDS," (Cakbondale). Company F. Captain. John O. Miles. 1st Lieut., Thomas M Lindsay 2d Lieut.. \Vm. M. Thomson. 288 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. "TELFORD ZOUAVES" (Susquehanna). Company G. Captain. James Smith. 1st Lieut., S. L. French. 2d Lieut., Hon. Geo. A. Post. " PROVIDENCE RIFLES." Company H. Captaiji. E. W. Pearce. 1st Lieut., Frank Courtright. 2d Lieut., R. E. Westlake. These constituted the Companies in the organization of the Regiment. Upon the first inspection the Company enhsted at Pleasant Valley by Captain F. J. Boone was enrolled with the Regiment. But it failed entirely, and was mustered out within a few weeks afterwards. The " Providence Rifles " took its 'place, as Company H., a very short time after the organiza- tion ; and hence is here recorded as in the organization. For ten years this Company, with that of the Honesdale Guards, has maintained a first-class position, and marched steadily on with the four Companies of the "Scranton City Guard." The worthy reputation and true excellence of this Company has been won chiefly under its efficient officers, Captain John B. Fish and Lieutenants Wm. B. Rockwell and Charles S. Weston. These six Companies composing the Scranton City Guard ; the Honesdale Guards ; and the Providence Rifles, have chiefly made the reputation of high excellence, which has marked the 13th Regiment in the National Guards of Pennsylvania. For five years the "Van Bergen Guards," of Carbondale, struggled against great difficulties. The worthy captain, Thos. M. Lindsay, who was a veteran of the war; without sufficient encouragement from the city where the company belonged, or efficient support of company officers, worked hard to make a THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 289 first-class company ; and in some respects succeeded. In some points his company was superior. As skirmishers, and in the skirmish drill, for two successive years Company F was recognized as the leading company. But it was ultimately mustered out because of a failure to enlist men to fill the places, made vacant by resignations, by dismissions, and by comple- tion of the terms of service. Itsplace in the Regiment was taken, in 1884, by a company enlisted at Stroudsburg, which to the present time has its history to make. The Telford Zouaves was an old Company of the National Guard, which had seen some service in the disturbances of 1877, and had efficient officers; but being so far separated from the other companies, it could not be identified with the Regiment in any proper sense. Nor could its officers bring it up to the standard which the life of the new National Guard demanded. At the end of the first year it was mustered out ; and a company enlisted and organized, under encouragement from the officers of the Regiment, at Factoryville, was mus- tered in as Company G. This company has had to contend with great difficulties from the beginning. It has been han- dicapped by its isolation. Being composed of young farmers and members widely scattered, it has been very difficult to have a sufficient number of drills to keep it fully on the march. But the perseverance of most of the officers and men has been worthy of all praise. The final success of this Company has been chiefly due to one man who has been in it from its or- ganization, and who for the last two years has commanded it as Captain. Captain Ed. C. Smith enlisted as a private with the determination to be "the best soldier of the Company." And as he advanced to one office after another, he carried with him the same determination. His influence has been marked in all this service ; and since he has had charge of the Company, its improvement has been manifest to the whole Regiment. 19 290 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. In August of 1885, eight years after the organization of the Thirteenth Regiment, a Company composed entirely of respectable Irishmen, in the First Ward of the City of Scran- ton, and styling itself "The Parnell Guards," was, under the arrangements of Governor Pattison and his Adjutant, General Guthrie, attached to the Regiment as Company I. It has shown itself to be composed of worthy men, and has intelligent and efficient officers. Its affiliation with the other companies of the Regiment was necessarily imperfect, because of the marked race affiliation, and the possible political shadows under which this Company was thought to have been organized. The question of its success as a military company in the National Guard and of the real strength it may add to the Thirteenth Regiment are yet problems unsolved. But the strict discipline which has been maintained by its officers — first by Captain Wm. Burke and then by its able Captain, Joseph H. Duggan — for the last two years ; united with the manly and soldierly bearing of the men, have greatly removed the burden of prejudice which met them when the company was attached to the Thirteenth Regiment. The general judg- ment now is that Company I will add real strength to the or- ganization. These are all of the Companies which have thus far been connected with the Thirteenth Regiment. The only Companies which have remained in constant service from the organization of the Regiment; and which are therefore entitled to the full honor of making and sustaining its high reputa- tion throughout the National Guard, are the four Companies of the Scranton City Guard and Company E, the Honesdale Guards. These organizations, while they have constantly changed both officers and men, have kept up their high character and patriotic enthusiasm. They have furnished the Teams for the rifle contests, State and National. By their excellent drill and discipline; by their marching and manual of arms ; as well THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 291 as by the high character of officers and men, these companies reached a high position among the best military organiza- tions of the country; and have done much to make the service itself worthy and respectable. Next to these five companies has ever marched Company H, the "Providence Rifles." With many difficulties to contend with in the beginning and for the first two years, — while Captain Pearce was its leader, who found discouragements abundant ; yet under the com- mand of Captain John B. Fish, who commanded a Pennsyl- vania Battery during the whole Rebellion, aided by his worthy lieutenants, William B. Rockwell and Charles S. Weston, this Company took a new departure. It soon proved itself worthy of the high place it has ever since held in the Regiment. It has built its own armory and done its portion of duty both in field and camp. The highest compliment that can be paid this Company is to record the fact, that in the estimation of those who have most intimately associated with its men and officers, it is worthy to constitute a part of the " Scranton City Guard." It would be impossible to do full justice to the four com- panies which constitute the Scranton City Guard, without re- cording minutely the history of each company throughout the ten years of faithful service which they have already rendered. This, of course, would require a prolixity of detail with which it is neither wise nor profitable to burden this histor}'. The military critic would doubtless find in the organic life and ser- vice of each of these companies much both to make and to mar. Possibly such critic could select, with little difficulty, the Company which manifests the highest excellence and is worthy of the highest reputation, all things considered. But the citizens of Scranton, while they have always formed them- selves into four divisions, with more or less distinctness, as they have looked upon the march of the Regiment, have nevertheless looked upon the whole as the march of their own noble boys, who constitute the City Guard. 292 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Each company has its own worthy record, and in the eyes of its friends; its marks of striking superiority. The officers have changed constantly in all the companies. Company C, alone, was commanded by the same captain during the full term of five years ; and in this company he was the only officer who remained in his place throughout that term. Captain Henry A. Coursen, a veteran of the war, is the only officer of the line who served the full term of his commission without change of position, in the first five years of the service of the Guard. At the close of his five years' service he graduated, very naturally, into the Field, becoming the worthy Major of the Regiment. Company C took the trophy which was offered for the best drilled company; to be determined by competitive drills in three consecutive years. Companies A and D entered the lists with it, and did excellent work. Company A lost the tro- phy only by perhaps "a point," or "a point and a half," in the three years' contest, according to the decision of the Judges. It has always been supposed since, that an equal number of equally as intelligent and impartial judges would as readily have given the winning point to the defeated company. So the matter has ever stood. The question still remains unde- cided in the mind of the spectators and citizens generally, as to whether A or C is the best drilled company in the Guard. Company A has made the widest reputation by entering into the contests with the renowned companies of the nation. They won the second prize in one of the most remarkable of these contests, in the city of Baltimore. Company C has done the same sort of work to a more limited extent, and has won a more excellent local reputation perhaps, undera strict construction of the tactics. In the bayo- net drill and exercise it has certainly surpassed. Both of these companies have — the one under the command of Cap- tain Louis A. Watres, and the other under that of Captain THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 293 James Moir — received the highest compliments from some of the best and highest mih'tary authorities of the State. Company C — This company was commanded efficiently for five years by Captain Coursen, aided by very efficient lieuten- ants,' L. A. Watres, T. F. Penman and E. J. Dimmick. When Captain Coursen was promoted, Lieut. Penman was commis- sioned Captain. He proved himself an efficient and successful officer in all the positions he has held in the National Guard. He commanded the company but one year when he was pro- moted to a position on the Brigade Staff, with the rank of Ma- jor. Captain Penman was succeeded by James Moir, who had come up from the ranks, through most of the non-commis- sioned offices, to the highest position the company had to give. There has been no more efficient or successful officer in the Guard than Captain Moir. Equally ready as file-closer, color- guard, sergeant, lieutenant or captain, he has always carried about with him such a genial spirit, and manly devotion to duty, that it is not surprising that he now commands one of the best drilled companies in the nation. Without friction, or complaint, he has developed the highest results ; and has shown himself capable of commanding a Regiment with about the same efficiency that he had led his Company. The genial Scot is a combination of wisdom and wit, which has proved of great value to the City Guard. Company A received its first impress from Captain Andrew Bryson, who commanded it during the first year. He was the best qualified captain in the whole Guard, in his time of ser- vice, both by natural endowments for the service and by the experience of a military education. In the judgment of many, Captain Bryson has never been surpassed in the Guard as a drill officer; and his discii)linc gave stamp to the Company as a leading feature of the Regiment. He was succeedetl by Capt. Henry A. Knapp, wlio was imbued with the same spirit, and quickly gained a power of command equal to that of his pre- 294 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. decessor. He carried the company forward with a striking success, and was very popular ; but being without taste for the position of Captain, and oppressed with the details of the ser- vice in that position, he resigned his commission and went into the ranks; where he continued as a faithful private until 1885, when he was promoted to the rank of Major, and made Judge Advocate on the Brigade Staff. Louis A. Watres, First Lieu- tenant of Company C, was elected to fill Captain Knapp's place; and under his efficient command the Company has reached the position, when, in the judgment of those best ac- quainted with military affairs, it is said to be second to no company of the National Guard, in any of the States. Captain Watres very quickly developed the highest quali- fications of a company commander, and bound his company to himself in the strongest bands. This Company also stands fully abreast with Company D in the number of its triumphs and trophies, won on the rifle range. It has furnished its full proportion of men for the Rifle Teams for the "International Contests." It stands alone in the whole country in the fact, that, with a full Company, every member of it has been a qualified marksman at seven annual inspections. In Janu- ary, 1887, Capt. Watres resigned, and was made State " Inspec- tor of rifle practice," with rank as Colonel ; and Lieut. Charles C. Mattes was elected Captain, Both the character and ser- vices of Captain Mattes give assurance that Company A. will still hold its place of honor and efficiency. Company D, formed originally of the best material the city could afford, to give force and stability, as well as high charac- ter, to the Guard ; moved steadily forward from the time of its organization. It furnished a large number of men to fill the offices of the Field and Staff; both for the Regiment and the Brigade. It never reached a very high degree of perfec- tion in "Company movement," or of proficiency in the manual of arms. Indeed it never deemed it of importance to try. It THE MARCH OF THE -'SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 295 never fell below the position of respectability in any of the du- ties of the service. In the use of the rifle this Company has, from the first year, contested with Company A the honor of standing at the head of all the companies of the State. No year has passed without its carrying off some trophy from the rifle range, although in all the years Company A has given it but a small margin for any of its victories. In the number and character of the prizes won, and the grade of marksman- ship displayed, these two companies may be recorded as fairly equal. Company D was efificicntly commanded by Captain Ripple until he was elected Major of the Regiment, when he was suc- ceeded by Lieutenant James A. Linen. Captain Linen proved an equally efiflcient commander, but after a year's service the burdens of his business and the details of his work as Captain of the Company grew too burdensome to be endured. Like Captain Knapp, he resigned the captaincy and went into the ranks, where he served out his full term of enlistment. Cap- tain Linen was succeeded by Lieutenant Samuel Hincs, who commanded the company with the same steadiness and effi- ciency. His reputation as a genial and efficient officer was soon established in the whole Brigade. As a worthy gentle- man and faithful soldier, no officer of the line ever stood higher in the community or in the Regiment than Captain Hines. He served out his term of enlistment, and was succeeded in the command of the company by Lieutenant George B. Thompson ; of whom it is enough to say that, from the first year he has lield position on all the " rifle teams," Regimental and State, in the International Matches; and that in September of 1886 he made, in an individual match at Creedmoor, the only com- plete score on record-; score of 50 out of a possible 50. The Company under command of Captain Thompson has kept the reputation gained under his predecessors, and moved on stead- ily enjoying the confidence of the whole Brigade. In January, 296 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. 1 887, Captain Thompson resigned, after fully nine years' ser- vice in the Guard, and Wm. A. May, a former lieutenant of Corhpany D, was chosen Captam. From his well-known ability and enterprise the friends of Company D augur a de- cided advance in both the work and reputation of the Com- pany under his command. Company B was originally constituted of as excellent ma- terial as any company of the Guard, and it developed many characteristics and excellencies of a first-class military organ- ization in the service. It furnished its proportion of marks- men for the Regimental and State Teams for the international matches ; and, through a course of years, presented the fullest company for encampment, and inspection. Yet it is apparent that the Company has hardly fulfilled, to the entire satisfaction of its friends, the excellent promise of its early efforts. It has always maintained a respectable military standing ; but the conviction of the officers of the Regiment, as well as of a large number of its own best members, has been uniform, that its material made it capable of a much more advanced position than it has yet occupied in the National Guard. Its failure to stand abreast of the best companies of the State, and Nation, has generally been thought to be traceable to a neglect of that strictness and minuteness of discipline which too many have deemed both unnecessary and irksome. The very things which had so much to do in developing the other com- panies were neglected, or suffered to be passed over as mere forms, which have little to do with the efficient duties of the soldier. But perhaps the position and militar)^ reputation of Company B are due to the superiority of the companies with which it has been associated ; and to the very marked advance- ment they have made, rather than to any specific defects in it- self An eclipse may be as effective as lack of light in the body itself. The first commander of this company was Captain Merriam, THE MARCH OF THE " SCRANTON CITY GUARD." 297 under whom it was organized. He had served as an efficient staff officer during the great rebellion; but being without ex- perience as an Infantry Captain, he did not remain long enough with the Guard to catch the spirit of discipline and devotion, necessary to impress and give high character to his command. He was succeeded by Lieut. Daniel Bartholomew, who had served as a cavalryman through the four years rebellion. Captain Bartholomew was a good soldier, and a faithful offi- cer, but he found it a weary work to infuse his command with the high purpose that controlled himself. After four years of service, and of respectable command, he resigned his commis- sion, respected by all his associates, as a worthy gentleman. He was succeeded by Lieut. Wm. Kcllow, who was also a veteran of the war. Captain Kellow served five years, the full term of his commission, and succeeded in keeping the company at about the same respectable grade of discipline and drill in which it was left by his predecessor. Both Cap- tains Kellow and Bartholomew were, during the whole time of their command, burdened with business trusts, which neces- sarily limited the time and perplexed the services they were able to give to the Guard. This Company has been favored by having, in long terms of service, Lieuts. H. R. Madison, who was in the "firing squad" of August I, 1877, Wm. S. Millar and T. J. Williams, all of whom have been devoted to the best interest of the Company ; and have proved themselves efficient and devoted officers in the service of the State. The Company, at the present writ- ing, is in a transition, which gives promise of a new advance, and the prophecy that there will be an early march to the front, on the part of Company B, is becoming distinct all along the line. While each of these four Companies has its own charac- teristics and is worthy history; it is when they have marched together and formed the Battalion that their highest excellence 298 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. has appeared. These generous competitions between them have only Hfted them all into more conspicuous efficiency; and it is when the men touch elbow on the march, and the cadence of their step awakes the attention of the city, that the full estimate of their character and service is appreciated. Then it is, that the city, whatever the suspicion of danger may be in the air, knows, and is satisfied with its defense ; for these are The City's Defenders. THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 299 CHAPTER XVII. . THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. '' School of the soldier '" — The March — The Camp — Evolution and Revolutions — Inspections and Expectations — Tracks of the City Guaid in the State. THE Thirteenth Regiment N. G. P. was organized on the loth of October, 1878, as has been recorded ; and Major Henry M. Boies, by unanimous choice, was commissioned its Colonel in Command. Upon taking conmiand, the Colonel announced his determination, with emphatic earnestness, to enforce the strictest discipline. He made this enforcement the condition of his continuance in the position ; which he said he had accepted only from a sense of patriotic duty. With this announcement he connected the promise, that, with the continued and hearty co-operation of the officers and men, he would lead the Thirteenth Regiment to the very front of the National Guard ; and make it, if not the best, at least to stand among the best of the Regiments of the citizen soldiery in the Nation. In accordance with this laudable aim, he immediately set to work all the forces within his command. While he worked directly to secure the unification, and efficient training, of the Thirteenth Regiment; he looked o\'er the whole field of the National Guard, and discovered many hindrances to the train- ing of a militia worthy of the State and Nation. In order to the proper drilling and unification of his own Regiment he printed a Manual, which he entitled "A Course of Twelve Lessons for the Instruction of the Officers of the Thirteenth 300 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Regiment." He appointed one evening of every month for a " school of the soldier." At this school he required the presence of all the officers of both the staff and line. This Manual was intensely practical ; and proved of great value to all the officers who were desirous of making themselves worthy of the positions they held. These schools of the soldier were conducted with a variety of exercises, with a wise reference, both to perpetuating interest in the subject, and to bringing out all the latent power of the officers. Presiding himself, the Colonel appointed, from time to time, subjects to be discussed by the different officers of the Field, Staff and Line. Thus; to the Lieutenant-Colonel was assigned the subject of "' street fighting; " " the column of at- tack upon barricades and buildings ;" " the best modes of pro- tection and defense," etc. ; to the Surgeons, "the care of the sick and wounded on the march ; " " the hygiene of the camp ; " etc. ; to the Major ; " the arrest and disposition of prisoners ; " and the presentation of the "best papers on quelling riots;" etc. To the Adjutant was given the entire range of clerical and sedentary duties in the Regiment ; to the Chaplain, " the moral relations and responsibilities of officers towards the men;" to the Inspector of rifle practice, the whole field of his duties, while to the " Line Officers," in turn, he assigned, by section, the whole Manual and Tactics as subjects of exposition. The success of this experiment was quickly demonstrated in the efficiency of the men in command ; and in the general interest created in the regiment. " The National Giiardsjuan'' published in the interest of the National Guard, in Philadel- phia, gave an exposition of Colonel Boies's method, and com- mended it to all the Regimental Commanders of the State. Rapid progress was made in the morale^ and movement, of the Guard. A studied variety of drills and exercises, on the part of company commanders increased both, the interest and effi- ciency of all the companies, more or less, but especially in those THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 301 of the Scranton and Honesdale Guards. By the energy, and generous sacrifice, of Major Ripple and a Committee associated with him, the Battalion Band, and an efficient drum-corps were organized ; to enliven the march and the drill ; as well as to grace the public receptions which were at this time necessary to keep active the interest of the citizens in the Guard. The whole work was thus systematized and prosecuted with such persevering energy that, in three months after the organization of the Regiment; when an inspection of the Brigade was held at Scranton, conducted by the Adjutant-General, in the pre- sence of General Hartranft and his staff, the Companies all received the highest commendation. The uniform selected by the Guard ; and which was fur- nished them hy the kindness of their friends, was that of the National Army. Their appearance at this inspection, in this uniform, so impressed the General in command that he ex- pressed the determination to place the whole National Guard in the State in the same uniform. Within two years this was accomplished. Previous to this time each Company had se- lected its own uniform, and the inspection of Regiments was, in general, a presentation of all the colors of the rainbow, strangely blended, and all the feathers of the barn-yard, strik- ingly displayed. During the summer of 1879 the drill and discipline were continued, with special attention to the Rifle Practice. All shooting had to be done in uniform and under orders. A variety of trophies had been provided, both by the citizens and by the Guard itself, and the " outside companies " were en- couraged to build armories and set up rifle ranges for them- selves. The State authorities were induced to provide Marks- men's Badges to be presented to '* qualified marksmen," and to be worn in the service by all who should qualify accord- ing to the rules of the National Rifle Association. These badges consisted of a circular medal, or bronze disk, attached 302 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. to a bar, by which it was fastened to the coat. On this medal was the monogram " N. G. P." upon one side ; and upon the other the coat of arms of the State. For each successive year a bar was attached to the medal, upon which was placed the word- " Marksman ; " with the year of the qualification. Thus the movement to connect the rifle practice with the training of the soldier, which was inaugurated by the Scran- ton City Guard at its own expense, was, within two years, accepted by the State, and was soon made universal in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. The results of the encampment of Company A in August of 1878 demonstrated the use of such encampments ; and the wide separation of the companies which composed the Thir- teenth Regiment demonstrated their necessity. If any real unity or efficiency was to be secured in the organization, the Regiment must be placed in a camp for drill and instruction, at least once a year, during a week or ten days. These com- panies had never been together, except at an inspection, and therefore had enjoyed no opportunity of drilling together. The State had made no appropriations to meet the expenses of an encampment; and no provision had been made, in all the years since the war, for the instruction of a citizen soldiery by placing Regiments in encampments. The Colonel therefore determined, in the summer of 1879, to place the Thirteenth Regiment under canvas at its own expense. In order to do this it was necessary to select a time when the business of the men would be least interfered with ; and a place for the encampment which would be suf- ficiently attractive to induce both officers and men to go into it without pay. The time selected was August 21st — a date as near as convenient to the anniversary of the organization of the City Guard; and the place for the encampment was the sea-shore at Long Branch, New Jersey. After selecting this point, the THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 303 Colonel secured the free transportation of the Regiment through the kindness of the authorities of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western ; the New Jersey Central ; the Del- aware and Hudson; and the Erie Railways. Presidents Sloan, Dickson, Jewett, and Receiver Lathrop, always treated the Thirteenth Regiment with great consideration and generosity. At five o'clock, p.m., August 21st, after a de- lightful excursion under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock, the Regiment went into camp at Long Branch ; their tents having been pitched by an advanced guard, under the inspection of the Colonel himself Each man had pro- vided himself, under orders, with one day's cooked rations, and the Commissary, Captain Kingsbury, provided all other rations from the market in New York. These supplies were regularly issued each day, from the first day in camp, and each company cooked its own rations. A regular routine of camp duty was instituted the day the encampment began ; and was carried out throughout the seven days with military precision. Every department was reduced to order, and military discipline was strictly adminis- tered. The drills were conducted as the regular business of the encampment, notwithstanding the bad weather, which prevailed about half the time. Both officers and men greatly enjoyed, and quickly learned, their unaccustomed duties, al- though the camp contained no suggestion of a holiday. The improvement in all the Companies became manifest in two days' exercise. The attendance at the camp was a little over seventy-five per cent, of the whole membership of the Regi- ment; and the results of the encampment were reported by the Colonel to the State authorities as entirely beyond his highest anticipations. The total cost of the support of the seven days' encampment, that is, of the rations for the men, was $932.85 ; or at the rate of thirty-six and a quarter cents per day for each man. By this cxj^crimcnt the Colonel de- 304 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. monstrated the possibility of sustaining the National Guard in a "Camp of Instruction" without oppression to taxpayers; who hitherto had concluded that the maintenance of the militia^ on a peace basis, meant the training of a National Guard without farther expense than the traveling expenses of Guard Officers. The report of the Colonel of this encampment was made the basis of an earnest appeal to the State to establish an Annual Encampment for the whole division of the National Guard; either as a whole, or by Brigades, or by Regiments. The advantages of encampment were so clearly demonstrated that the State authorities took the matter up the succeeding winter ; and encampments were ordered, and provided for, the next year. They have now become a part of the annual duty of the Guard of the whole State. The experience and drill of the week's encampment, once a year, have not only given an excellent training to all the Regiments, but have afforded a healthful and grateful recreation both to officers and men. The order, quiet, and military exercises, of Camp Hoyt, at Long Branch, made a decidedly favorable impression upon the multitude of visitors at that great watering-place. The press, both religious and secular, heralded the excellence of the Thirteenth Regiment, of the National Guards of Pennsyl- vania, all over the country. The observance of the Sabbath in camp was especially rec- ognized, to the high credit both of the commander and of the men. The order of the Colonel, which was strictly carried out, is here recorded as worthy of preservation and of imita- tion by commanders of troops in camp anywhere, under a Christian Government in time of peace. It was as follows : "Headquarters Thirteenth Regiment, Camp Hoyt, " Long Branch, New Jersey, Aug. 21st, 1879. " General Order No. 18. " Until otherwise ordered by superior authority, the Sabbath day will be observed by this Regiment, or any part of it, in camp for the purpose THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. V. 305 of drill and instruction, as a Christian Sabbath of rest, quiet and re- ligious service. Undress guard mounting will replace the dress guard mount ; and undress parade the dress parade. The usual Sunday In- spection will be made immediately after recall from morning drill, on Monday. All drill calls will be intermitted. Church Call will sound at 10.30 A.M., when the band, if present with its instruments, artd the companies without arms, will fall in, answer roll-call, and be conducted by their officers to the place selected for divine service. " This departure from the usual Sunday routine in the army is made possible, and proper, by the nature of our service as citizen soldiers. We are National Guardsmen for the protection and defense of American institutions ; of which there is none more vitally connected with our his- tory from the landing of the Pilgrims to the present time, or more essen- tial to our national welfare, or dearer to the heart of the patriot, than the American Christian Sabbath. Let it therefore be observed by the Regiment in such a manner as shall best preserve its sacred integrity, in accordance with the command of God, by the cessation of all works except of necessity and mercy. " By order of Henry M. Boies, "Colonel. "R. Macmillan, "Adjutant." This order was strictly carried out. All drills and the usual Sunday inspection were omitted. At 10.30 the whole Regiment attended divine service conducted by the Chaplain; and in the evening a voluntary religious service was con- ducted, greatly to the enjoyment of the officers and men ; and in the afternoon a Sabbath class was conducted in the tent of the Chaplain. The whole camp was, throughout the Sabbath, as quiet as the best Christian village in the country; and as a consequence the whole moral rone of the Regiment was de- cidedly elevated. No intoxicating drinks were allowed in the camp, and so- briety and true manhood marked the conduct of officers and men, almo.st without exception. It is due to this Regiment to record the fact that, whenever it has been permitted to camp by itself, this order for Sabbath observance has been strictly enforced; and that by common consent, even without militaiy 20 306 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. orders, the visible use of intoxicants has ever been forbidden. The Chaplain has been actively and kindly sustained in his office through ten years of service, and has enjoyed the re- spect and the kind offices of both officers and men through the whole time. There is no regiment in the service that has maintained a higher or more consistent moral standing ; and in this fact the Commonwealth has the assurance of its re- liability and true value as a part of its National Guard. The entirely inadequate provisions made by the State to furnish itself with a Guard of real value, as a military organiza- tion, were found to be the greatest hindrance to the rapid and hicrh training of the men. The officers of the Thirteenth Regiment very early discovered that they had a mission out- side of their own command, if they would make that command successful. It would seem, that if the Legislature considered it worth while to maintain an organized militia, it ought to make such provision for the comfort, and training, of the offi- cers and men ; and provide such pay for their services, as might induce good and worthy men to march in the ranks, as well as to wear the clothes of official position. Having demonstrated by a week's encampment how cheaply the work could be done, the Colonel of the Thirteenth in his report urged upon the higher military authorities the plan of making annual encam.pments, for instruction. In order to awaken a general interest among the people, and so lead the Legislature to make the necessary appropriations, and enact necessary laws, he entered into correspondence with the best men in the country, both in the State and out of it. The laws were so inadequate, and the interest in the whole subject was so slight, that the arms and equipments provided for the citizen soldiery were in many cases unfit for use. For the Spring Inspection, which was ordered in April, 1879, no appropria- tion was made to meet the necessary expenses. The orders were issued for the inspection of the Thirteenth Regiment at THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 307 Scranton. In order to an obedience to this order, the Colonel was compelled to bring the outside companies to report in the city. He did so ; and the Regiment was inspected by the officers sent by the Adjutant-General. As transportation cer- tificates had not been sent to these outside Companies from Harrisburgh, from whence the order was issued for the inspec- tion, the Colonel supposed they had been simply delayed ; and to avoid a delay of the inspection, he gave his personal guar- antee to the railway companies for the transportation, and sent on the 'papers, in regular order, after the inspection was over. He explained to the inspecting officers, on the ground, all the difficulties of the case, and told them how he had met them in order to obey the inspection order. He was surprised in the following November to have these papers returned to him as disallowed, and accompanied with the broad inference that he had transcended his authority, and hence would have to pay the transportation in question himself; because, the appro- priation of the State was not sufficient to transport the four companies ordered to the inspection ; of which fact, it was said, " the Colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment must be well aware." The Colonel, surprised, grieved, and indignant, still held to what would seem his logical conclusion ; that if the State had authorized the inspection, and thus had made proper the Brigadier's command, which had ordered it, it must thereby have equally authorized the expenses necessarj'' to the fulfill- ment of the order. He promptly tendered his resignation. The justice and manliness of his course was at once appre- ciated both by the Regiment and by their friends in the city. But it was manifest to all interested in the City Guard, that Colonel Boies' resignation at such a juncture, with the Regi- ment just formed and not yet unified ; and the heavy debt upon the armory unprovided for, must be disastrous. Until the organization could be fully established, it was the judgment of all that the commanding officer, who had spent his money 308 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. SO freely, and given his services so efficiently, could not be spared. The officers of the regiment presented to him at once, upon his announcement of the fact and cause of his resignation, an earnest request, unanimously signed, to recall this resignation. The case v/as so clear that they felt that the Colonel could afford to pass over the indignity with a mere publication of the state of facts. The Chaplain proceeded to call a meeting of the leading citizens and chief business men, then in the city, to consider the exigency. This meeting in- vestigated the whole case and appointed a committee, consist- ing of Messrs. H. S. Pierce, William R. Storrs and S. C. Lo- gan, to address a letter to Colonel Boies, expressing their views of the result of such resignation, and urging him to recall it. The letter, in part, was as follows : " Colonel H. M. Boies, "Dear Sir: The undersigned citizens of Scranton having learned that you had felt constrained to resign your command of the Thirteenth Regiment, N. G. P., held a meeting some time since, specially to con- sider the effect of such resignation upon the interests of the City Guard. " We are of one mind, that your refusal to longer continue in this po- sition will be disastrous to this organization, and will speedily result in its losing its high character ; thus alienating the confidence of our best people from it. " We have examined into the facts of the case and are fully persuaded that, upon a guarantee that the bills of the Spring Inspection shall be paid, without in any way touching your honor, or reflecting upon the justice of your course in tendering your resignation, you can honorably withdraw it. " Such a guarantee we are able to give you, and we, therefore, as your friends and fellow-citizens, highly appreciating your services and the delicacy of your position, do most earnestly request you to withdraw your resignation at once." This letter was signed by ninety of the prominent citizens of the city, whose names we have recorded, as a memorial of these times in the history of the city itself, and as a just recog- THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 309 nition of the men who made the greatest of the sacrifices for the benefit, and establishment, of the Scranton City Guard. They are as follows : H. S. Pierce, ") W. R. Storrs, [• Citizens^ Committee. S, C. Logan, j U. G. Schoonmaker, Isaac L. Post, W. H. Perkins, Thomas Moore, J. L. Fordham, Joseph Godfrey, S. Grant, R. A. Squire, E. N. VVillard, R. J. Matthews, W. W. Manness, Fred. W. Gunster, G. W. Fritz, J. A. Price, N. H. Shafer, C. F. Mattes, E. P. Kingsbury, A. G. Gilmore, J. A. Scranton, R. T. Black, James Blair, William Frink, H. V. D. Smith, Thomas Livey, L. S. Fuller, M. E. Stowers, G. L. Dickson, D. N. Green, Herbert Russell, Garrett Bogart, E. B. Sturges, Horace B. Phelps, John Jcrmyn, Edward C. Lynde, W. F. Hallstead, Charles A. Stevens, John U. Reed, George H. Catlin, F. S. Pauli, C. A. Conklin, Thomas M. Cann, John D. Fuller, H. A. Kingsbury, A. B. Stevens, George Sanderson, G. W. Bushnell, George A. Jessup, George Fisher, J. M. Chittenden, A. H. Coursen, Charles P. Matthews, John C. Phelps, J. F. Snyder, I. J. Post, H. A. Vail, Cory don H. Welles, E. C. Fuller, J. R. Davis, R. W. Archbald, A. H. \''andling, W. B. Culver, A. M. Decker, L. Lindley, W. H. Storrs, Joseph J. Albright, W. H. Richmond, W. W. Scranton, H. C. Cornell. 310 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. J. C. Piatt, W. T. Smith, N. A. Hurlbert, H. M. Hannah, Austin Moore, James Woolsey, E. Merrifield, Ed. L. Buck, E. W. Weston, C. E. Judson. R. W. Ohnstead, Samuel P. Reed, Dwight Baker, James Merrill, Sidney Broadbent, William Connell, H. Battin, James W. Fowler, N. Y. Leet, M.D. These were the signatures of the leading citizens of that day in the city, who had charge of its business, and in great mea- sure gave character to its enterprise, as well as moral type to its history and public institutions. Almost without ex- ception they stand as the illustrious names in the life of the city. The adjustment secured by these citizens through their com- mittee removed the delicate difficulties, and enabled the Colo- nel to yield to the judgment of the officers of the Guard, and of the citizens so emphatically expressed. He at once withdrew his resignation, and entered only the more earnestly upon the work, from the earnest endorsement which he had received. He continued his efforts to create a wise, and more general, in- terest in the National Guard. In his reply to the appeal of the officers of the Regiment and to the citizens of Scranton to re- call his resignation, he said, in reference to the general question of having a citizen soldiery: "The more attention I give to this subject the more impressed I am with the grave import- ance, not only to this community, but to every community in the whole country, and to republican institutions, of an effi- cient citizen soldiery. This must be composed of honorable and patriotic young men ; willing to devote much time to learn- ing and discharging their duties. To keep such men in^the ser- vice they must be encouraged by the appreciation of their fellow- citizens. They must be able to take pride in their uniform, and enabled to enjoy the honor of wearing it. Until our leg- THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 311 islators are educated to a statesmanlike sense of what is re- quired for the proper support of the National Guard, it will largely devolve upon those citizens who do appreciate the ser- vice to sustain it." In this desire to make the excellence of the 13th Regiment a power, for the lifting up of the whole Guard of the State, both officers and men cordially agreed with him ; and he never lacked an earnest support from them all, in the schemes which he afterwards devised and attempted to that end. On the 6th of December, 1879, a statement was published in the newspapers, showing the beggarly provision hitherto made by the State of Pennsylvania to meet the necessary ex- penses of its Guard; which, to each of the regimental organi- zations, amounted to five hundred dollars to a Company for uniforms ; two hundred for armory rent; and from fifty to one hundred dollars for Headquarters expenses. To all this was added one day's pay, at $1.50 to each man who passed in- spection This showing was placed in contrast with the pro- vision made by the State of New York. By this publication an excellent impression was made upon the public generally ; and the attention of many people was turned to the necessities of the Guard. In May of 1880 Colonel Boies also published an able article in " Harper's Magazine," entitled, "Our Na- tional Guard," in which he elaborated in outline a plan by which each congressional district in the United States might have a first class Regiment ; and the wholebe jointly sustained by the General and State Governments. Upon this scheme he corresponded with many of the best military men in the coim- try, and among them with General William T. Sherman, who expressed sincere interest in the proposition. In the same summer an invitation was sent from the officers of the 13th. to all the officers of the Guard in the State of Pennsylvania to meet in convention at Philatlelphia, on a des- ignated day ; to consider the necessities of the National Guard 312 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. and to devise means for its efficiency. A large number of these officers responded favorably, and met at the time ap- pointed. They organized by placing Gen. James A. Beaver in the chair, who called upon Colonel Boies to explain the ob- jects of the Convention. He did so in an able and interesting address, in which he called attention to the legislation which he deemed to be necessary in order to the placing of the Na- tional Guard on an efficient footing. He also spoke of the de- sirability of attempting to secure Congressional aid, and of connecting the National Guard of the different States with the General Government ; at least in so far as to have appointed retired officers of the United States Army, to inspect and drill all its regiments in the annual encampments. The Colonel was listened to with great interest, and cheered with warm en- thusiasm. This military Convention determined to invite, and send delegates to, a convention of representative officers from the Guard of all the States, to meet in New York City in the following January. It also appointed a committee to examine the military code of Pennsylvania, and to secure, if practicable, such amendments to it as the present conditions of the service would seem to demand. This committee was charged to press upon the Legislature the wisdom and justice of such appro- priations as are necessary to secure permanent organization, and efficiency of the National Guard. In this whole movement the officers of the 13th Regiment were the movers; and the Colonel was appointed one of the delegates to the National Convention, which was called to meet in New York City. Thus, from the very organization of the 13th Regiment, the effort was made to extend its influence and identify it with all mtelligent movements to secure the increased value and per- manence of the National Guard. At the same time unremit- ting efforts were continued to make it worthy to be such a leader. The drill and march, the rifle practice and the annual en- campment, with all the sacrifices of time and money, this Reg- alitor i/a\ ii/jtu ^ THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT N. G. P. 313 imcnt has cheerfully borne. Officers and men have faithfully fulfilled their terms of service ; only to give place to their suc- cessors, who were imbued with the same patriotic spirit and ready for the same sacrifices for the public good. The Regi- ment still marches on, holding the honors of the past, and yearly gaining new laurels in the fields of military, and patri- otic, duty. In October, 1883, Colonel Boies completed his term of ser- vice, and declined a re-election ; upon his announced conviction that the good of the service at large requires that the stream of promotion shall be kept constantly flowing in the National Guard; and that no commanding officer, however efficient or popular, should allow hirnself to check it. Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock was unanimously chosen to succeed to the command. Major E. H. Ripple was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy ; and Captain H. A. Coarsen was commissioned Major. Colonel Hitchcock has proved a worthy successor in the command. Always a gentleman, and with a record for mili- tary service, both in the Great Rebellion and in the National Guard, as an able officer as well as a Christian patriot, he has marched the Regiment steadily forward. Constantly sustained by able officers, of the Field, Staff, and Line ; and by the old members of the City Guard who continued through a second term of enlistment, the reputation and efficiency of the organ- ization continue to make the Scranton City Guard the pride of the city, and the 13th Regiment an honor to the National Guard. It has had the honor of acting as an escort to one President of the United States, and of marching in the grand procession at the inauguration of two others. It has participated in the inauguration of two Governors of the State; and two of its Companies have been specially complimented, by another, as havmg given the most perfect exhibition of what may be done, by drill, in the use of arms. 314 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. CHAPTER XVIII. Folly and Philosophy of Strikes — Conclusions and the Conclusion — Truths — Transi- tions — Benedictions. BUT little remains to be recorded in order to complete the task which the author, with great hesitancy, undertook. A History of the " Scranton City Guard " necessarily carries with it an interesting and important chapter in the history of the City itself. It is also vitally connected with a striking epoch in the history of Labor and Enterprise, in the United States. It was the suddenly revealed, and imminent, peril to which the city was exposed by the angry Strike of all the work- ing people of the Mining District, in which the city is situated ; which called the Guard into existence. And it has been the known existence of the forces of evil, which the great strike of 1877 revealed, in every manufacturing city in the land, which has kept it on its steady and vigorous march. From a condition of profound peace, and active industry ; in which all kinds of business enterprises were struggling to rise above the limitations, which commercial depression had placed in the way of trade ; the whole community was aroused to the con- sciousness of absolute, and immediate peril. In three days after the first acts of the rebellion against law and order, which were undertaken by the Trainmen of the great railways, the hideous mob spirit was manifested in all the prominent cen- tres of industry. Cities, large and small, all over the land, were called upon to consider and provide measures of safety and defense. In- telligent society was startled from the profoundest sense of CONCLUSIONS AND THE CONCLUSION. 315 peace and safety, to recognize the fact that the elements of direst evil to the community were in latent existence, wherever great industries gathered large bodies of workingmen ; and placed them under the pay and control of great Corporations. At Martinsburgh, at Parkersburgh and Wheeling, in West Virginia, almost simultaneously, the business enterprises, and the homes of the people, were placed in jeopardy by the law- less spirit, which was generated, possibly without intention, by the organized " Strike " of the railway operatives. In one night, the whole Baltimore and Ohio Railway, with its centers of business, fell into the possession of the strikers. In one day after the blockade of this railway, every city, and centre of as- sociated industry, in the country had felt the shock ; and manifested symptoms of the dangerous fever. Restless multi- tudes gathered at almost every Station, of importance, on the great Railways ; and a feeling of undefined danger smote the hearts of the people. At Baltimore ; the lawless element appeared, armed as a mob, to meet the first movement of the constituted authorities to maintain the dignity of law. In Pittsburgh, Altoona, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Readmg and Erie, in the State of Pennsylvania, the tempest arose almost simultaneously; before which the Public Officials stood aghast ; and Society itself swayed and staggered as one half awaked from a horrid dream. At Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleve- land, in Ohio ; and at Buffalo, Albany, Hornellsville and Elmira, in New York ; the peril, td^all that the peaceable citizen holds dear, appeared in a single day. The offices of Governors, and the White House at Washington, were disturbed by telegrams calling for troops, to prevent, circumvent and destroy rebellion; by the time the people began to read the ncwsj^apcr reports of the Railway Strike. In all the centres of industry and popu- lation, from sea to sea, there was a movement of the forces of anarchy, more or less distinctly defined. Wherever there hap- pened to be a trained military force, and executive officials 316 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. who were qualified for their positions ; as in the States of New York and Massachusetts, this tempest of passion passed away quickly, without injury; or if the mob gathered it was dis- persed before it could be concentrated, and become dangerous. But wherever the people stood neutral, or waited in indiffer- ence to see how the issue between Corporations and Opera- tives might terminate, the peril, like Jonah's Gourd, " grew in a night," and it cast a wonderful shadow. It was a matter of universal amazement that such a popula- tion existed in the countr}'-, as at once blockaded the streets, and gathered in council, in the manufacturing and mining dis- tricts in the wake of the railway strike. The intelligent and virtuous workmen, who had yielded to passion, in their efforts to redress their own grievances, speedily found themselves in the hands of the ignorant and the vicious ; and thus unwit- tingly led by a dangerous philosophy, they found themselves plunged into a chaotic force, with which they had no sym- pathy ; and from which they could only be delivered by the prompt, and complete, defeat, or ignoble failure, of the lawless enterprise they had undertaken. It was demonstrated ; particularly throughout the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that the City's peril is to be discovered in the lawless spirit, which may at any time be aroused ; and that its only safe defense is to be found in the strong arm of legal force, immediately and remorselessly applied. If " history is philosophy teaching by example," then the history of the Scranton City Guard is something more than the mere record of the military enthusiasm of a battalion of intelligent and virtuous young men — a city's pride and plaything. This Guard has from the beginning been an organization of real force, under the segis of law ; which has demonstrated itself to be that "ounce of prevention," which is " worth more than a pound of cure." By its march, and its manliness, it has redeemed the fair young city from the un- CONCLUSIONS AND THE CONCLUSION. 317 worthy reputation, with which its promiscuous population, and its supposed lawless spirit, had burdened its character, and hindered its growth, through a series of years. For a whole decade, the vacillation of labor interests, and the restlessness of the laborers had been manifest throughout the Wyoming and the Lackawanna Valleys. All enterprises of important business had been conducted with difficulty, with more or less fluctuation, and apprehension. A feverish unrest seemed to manifest itself, in a multitude of places, about the coal breakers, and machine-shops of every character. This was doubtless induced by a variety of causes, which are easily traceable to both the Corporations and the workmen which were employed by them. The inexperience of "the Compa- nies;" the great variety of enterprises undertaken, with their various branches of necessary work, which their successful prosecution involved ; and the immense difficulties which had to be overcome in the developments of the "Anthracite Coal Field ; " would account for a vast deal of the uncertainty of movement, and the instability in the standard of wages which were paid to the men. The very large outlay of capital, which was necessary, before any return could be expected ; with the amount of fruitless experiment, involved, in the un- derground search for paying minerals ; and the fluctuations of an uncertain market, made the burdens of the Coal Operators a thousand fold heavier than those of the honest and indus- trious workmen employed ; cither in the Mines, in the Mills, or upon the Railways. Steady work at invariable prices was sim- ply impossible, in schemes of industry which were so vast, and whose returns were subject to such incalculable contingencies. No Board, or Company, could fi.x a satisfactory standard of wages that would be safe, except from month to month. The suspension of work, the limitation of time, at different breakers, and the cutting down of wages in the whole field upon short notice, were necessities ; as fully beyond the con- 318 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. trol, or certain knowledge of the Operators and Superintend- ents, as was that of the Workmen who were the special suf- ferers by it. Confidence between all parties, with the comity of kind and honest dealing, was the only mitigation ; and time the only cure for this condition of things in this vast field of industry. But there were causes for the restlessness of Labor ; and for the gravest complaints of the laborers which were as clearly traceable to themselves. There was a constant change of a large body of these workingmen in the coal fields. There was a multitude of those " rolling stones which gather no moss," in these valleys, and on these mountain sides. There were also many enterprising men whose ambitions led them in search of new fields wherever better prospects invited ; and there were just as many shiftless creatures, whose want of economy and prudence, or possibly misfortunes, kept them in the market-place waiting for some one to hire them. All these constituted conjointly a force which militated against such a settlement, and home interest in the great field, as would naturally tend to identify the workmen with their employers in these vast enterprises, which involved alike the interests of capital and labor. Then the immense immigration, invited by spurts of success, for years, flooded the market with labor. The great mass of this immigration was often made up of peo- ple of all races who came entirely ignorant of the spirit and genius of the country. They had been trained under a sys- tem of limitations, if not oppressions of the workmen ; and they came to the country impressed with the conviction, that the normal relation of capital and labor is that of opposition and war. To all these, Freedom and Citizenship, meant opposition to Corporations ; or equal profit in the products of capital, skill and labor. Workers, whether in the mines, the mills or on the railways ; until they had become acquainted with the true spirit of the country, or until they possessed homes of TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 319 their own, and had become thus identified with the interests of the " Coal Fields," were necessarily an element of disturbance, of more or less force. This state of things was aggravated and made dangerous, under the efforts and leadership of dema- gogues and rascals, who called themselves workmen, and who assumed to have a special charge of the workingmcn's inter- ests. Under the efforts and tuition of these parasites of socie- ty, schemes of combination on principles of selfishness, in op- position to corporations, and associations of capital became familiar. " The labor combination " and the " workmen's strike" came to be both marks of independent manliness in the free- men, and the efficient remedy for low wages and unsteady employment. The wrongs of individuals ; or the scaling down of the wages in certain departments, were considered cause sufficient for an interruption of work in every department. The consequence of all these causes was simply an aggrava- tion and an increase of burdens upon all enterprise; if not the limitation and failure of business, in which the workmen were necessarily the first and the greatest sufferers. Under the manipulation of demagogues, and homeless laborers, who had no interest, either in the city or its enterprises, Strikes became almost chronic. Again and again, for three months, and then for six months, and even for a whole year, the machinL-ry of these valleys was stopped or worked only in sections ; antl that, too, under the philosophy of strikes; while idleness bred bru- tality and intemperance among workmen, under which a multitude of laborers went down. Under such a state of society and enterprise it was not strange that the reputation of the City of Scranton, and of the great body of its working people in the whole region of which it was the centre should suffer. The impression went abroad throughout the country, and very naturally, that these mag- nificent valleys afforded no security to capital, ami a very un- certain protection to life. The strike of the miners afforded 320 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. great head-lines for the newspapers, and, possibly, danger in many directions appeared to the vision of peaceful citizens in other places. It was useless to publish in the great centres of money and population that Scranton was a city of law and or- der; that its citizens were a law-abiding people, dwelling in absolute safety. It was useless to assert that we were such a stable and peaceful city, that the city fathers deemed eleven policemen an ample force to protect the homes of fifty thou- sand people ; and that nobody cared whether the Mayor were an honest, intelligent citizen, or a drunkard, and a vender of whisky. It was useless to publish that our jails were empty ; and that fewer arrests were made, of law-breakers, within the precincts of the city than in any other city of its size in the State. As long as the laborers' Strike v/as the recognized in- stitution of the coal-fields, whose demands and results must be considered by all capital-seeking investments, and by all man- ufacturers seeking a field for their enterprise ; both the reputa- tion of the city, and the life of all classes of its citizens, must actually suffer. Every invitation to capitalists to locate, and every showing of the unlimited possibilities for all the great enterprises of our civilization, which were here being wasted, were received with smiles of incredulity or set aside with the wondering inquiry how any man, who possessed anything, could risk his life, or attempt to sleep in peace, in a community where ignorance ruled by force; and where the conduct of great enterprises must be determined by Committees and mass meetings of miners, or workmen, under the aegis of labor associations and under the shadows of the "strike." Every enterprise and interest of the city had been handi- capped by this evil reputation, arising from the chronic at- tempt of designing men and selfish demagogues to perpetuate an opposition between labor and capital, or to control enter- prise by the ignorance and prejudices of the working people. TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 321 The Strike of 1877 was but the last of a series of these dis- turbances of evil omen and influence. It was vastly the more threatening from its connection with the spirit of anarchy; which at that time had swept so suddenly over the whole country. 'It was not the local, but the general issue of an- archy or law, which had arisen so unexpectedly, and before which the whole nation seemed to tremble. To rescue the city from this imminent peril, and to perform the manly part of patriotic citizens of a great country, as well as to preserve all that was held dear, this city's defenders were called forth. It was in faithfulness to the great American idea of law and order, as the necessary conservator of a free Government, that the arm of defense was raised and the rescue of the city accomplished. The march of the young men, which has been deemed worth recording, was in perfect unison with that tread of freemen that echoes all along the lines of history, in the United States; which has left its uniform testimony, sealed with blood, that the safety of" Free Institutions," is to be found in the virtuous patriotism of the people, and in the supremacy of law. When the rescue of the city was accomplished, the reasons for the existence of the military organization became only the more explicit and weighty. It was deemed both foolish and wrong to cast away the lessons which the revelations of the strike and its mobs had clearly taught the city. The dangers revealed were none the less certain, from their being overcome at present; or from the fact of their lying latent so long. To redeem the City and its surrounding interests from the in- cubus of this evil reputation and character, which had been so long endured, became the conscious duty of all classes of its citizens. Workmen, Superintendents and Capitalists alike felt the demand, and they wisely united in a determination to gather about this noble band of young men ; who had taken the oath of the law, under all circumstances to maintain the 21 322 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. law. They determined to make the City Guard a leader in securing that order of things, under which stability, prosperity and peace, should return, and the wealth and comfort of a great city be developed. That longed-for peace did return with all its riches of blessing. Wise men may indeed differ as to what measure of this re- storation of prosperity, and confidence, is due to the march of the Guard. They may differ as to how far the redemption of the fair name of the city, already accomplished, is, in any sense, traceable to one cause or to another ; but no business man who has lived through the experiences of the last fifteen years in this valley will fail to discern a close, if not a causal connec- tion, between the knowledge that there was in the city of Scran- ton a band of men who ever stood ready to use guns, under orders, against all lawless endeavor, and the blessed peace which has since reigned in all parts of the valley. The effects of the sunlight will be manifested in a thousand places ; in glens and deep gorges, where his descending rays are ever invisible. So the influence and power of a clearly-defined idea sweep around in lines we cannot trace, and reach out, in invisible forces, in the places in which there is no visible manifestation. The effect of the maintenance and training of such an organiza- tion, for the defense of the city, upon the citizens themselves, of all classes, can only be discerned through a course of years. But the contrast between these great interests of industry as they are conducted to-day, and have been for a decade, with what they were throughout the preceding ten years, gives us assurance that there has been somehow and somewhere a mighty power of order at work. The last ten years — the ten years of the march of the City Guard — have been marked by rapid and radical changes in the city of Scranton, and in the valley of great industries of which it is the centre. The population has more than doubled in that period; and the industries, especially in the way of manu- TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 323 factures, have increased more than fourfold. The improve- ment, in all matters which determine the public character of a community, has generally kept pace with the growth of the business and population. Notwithstanding the rapidity of the increase of population, and the tentative character of many of the business enterprises, the Christian, the moral, and educa- tional institutions of a great city have been liberally provided for. The public works undertaken have generally been sub- stantial, rather than elegant. Honest enterprise has given character to the City, and made it the beautiful home for a multitude of honest and worthy people. The evil reputation has been swept away, and the true character of the city and of its possibilities have only been known since the great upheaval; and since the City Guard appeared as its protest against all disorderly movements. The development of these possibilities in these ten years has been, indeed, marvellous. It is a fact which ought now to be known in all places of the land, that there is no community or city of organized enter- prise and great manufactures, in whose history less, just, reason can be found, for the existence of a war between Capital and Labor than in this young city among the mountains. While labor disturbances have been chronic, in its history ; there has been as little of just and reasonable cause for them as can be found in any community in the country. The foun- dations of this youngest of the cities of the Commonwealth were laid by Christian men, of the largest views, and of dis- tinctly honest purposes. Every provision, that could be made by workingmcn for the comfort and improvement of working- men, was made without stint or grudging. It is, and always has been, conspicuously a city of working people. Its citizens have generally shown themselves to be patriotic and law-abid- ing ; its property owners and the managers of its great busi- ness schemes have, from the beginning, encouraged and helped the industrious laborers to secure homes for themselves. They 324 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. have kept open the highway of promotion, from the bottom to the top, along the hnes of industry, virtue and skill, through all the years ; and along this highway miners and mule-drivers, puddlers and stokers, have passed, unhindered, save by their own weakness or vices, to the positions of honest respectabili- ty, wealth and power. The City, so far in its history, has never yet had what is gen- erally known as a retired business man. Its men of fortune have ever been its active workers ; its builders of public enter- prise have always been its industrious and hard-working men who have carried forward their own work with both brain and muscle. There are few cities in the world to-day where there has been less cause for those divisions and jealousies among the population, which are generated and fostered by the vague issues of what are called "labor questions." Any division among the citizens involving issues between capital and labor, here, could only be divisions of workingmen. The attempt to array laborers against capitalists is simply an effort, in this val- ley, to arraign workmen against workmen and always has been. The specific capital in the whole valley, has, for many years, been recognized as the magnificent fields of the Anthracite Coal. In order to make this capital of any practical use, there is a necessary outlay, which is impossible to mere individual enter- prise or sacrifice. Association of capital is indeed an abso- lute necessity in this region. The demands of the case have given birth to Corporations ; and success has enlarged these corporations, until they are great and powerful ; but there has always been an open field, full room for enterprise, and fair reward for honest industry ; free to all the world. If these corporations, at any time, have been unjust or oppressive to their laborers, it has been no fault of the industrious and honest citizens of this City of honest and generous people. The policy of Strikes is a policy of unwisdom and injustice, of the most inexcusable type. This is manifested in the fact TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 325 that it is an attempt to make the guiltless suffer with, if not for, the guilty. It is a selfish, remorseless assertion of rights and wrongs, which, if persevered in, is sure to make a busi- ness wreck in the business community itself And all this upon the plea of wrongs done, or said to have been done, by a Corporation, which exists entirely out of the reach of either the strikers or their real victims. It is really an attack upon fellow-workers, in the great shop of industries, under pretense of striking men, who, by their successful industry, have grad- uated from this same shop ; and simply claim the right to use their capital, which was the fruit of their own labor, under their own control. The enlightened public conscience, has no justification, or apology, for that conduct, or administration of business, which uses capital for the oppression of" the hireling in his wages ;" or for any attempt to reduce the laboring man to a condition of bondage by the bands of his own necessities. " The golden rule" is the true Christian law of business. " Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," contains in it treasures of the highest practical wisdom, as well as the an- nouncement of the divine law of charity. It will be found to be the only cure, at last, for all the ills under which the work- ingmcn suffer, and society frets throughout this world, and day of work. It will ever be found to be one of the most blessed functions of enlightened free government to perfect its laws ; so that the weak shall be delivered out of the hands of the strong. So that the worker shall be protected against the rapacity and power of capital in the hands of associated men, who may be tempted to use their less fortunate fellows, as if they were mere machines ; or who by the rapacity enkind- led by success itself may be tempted, as the wicked Jews of old, to " sell the poor for a pair of shoes.^' It will also be recognized as the work of highest wisdom in the State, and of real blessing, both to rich and poor, to remove all reasonable 326 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. cause of complaint, all visible source of oppression, whose tendency is always to bring about a collision between the workman and his employer. But justice must as certainly be violated by an attempt, under law, to oppress the rich, as to allow the rich to become the master of the poor. The right of any man to cease working, or to determine for whom, and for what wages, he shall work, no man of intelli- gence ever questioned. The right of any number of men to associate and fix a value upon their labor, and to refuse to work until they can secure the price which is established is equally unquestioned. But the right of one man, or of any number of men, to attempt to prevent from working those who set a lower price upon their services ; or skill, or whose con- dition demands that they shall work even for inadequate wages, is a direct infringement of the first principles of per- sonal liberty. This is a plan of Co-operation and labor Asso- ciation which -enlightened law defines as a wicked " conspir- acy," which true manhood must forever resist. It is an oppreesion which is blind and destructive of all the rights of the individual man — a mere monarchy of the mob. The whole matter of " Combination," for the purpose of limiting business, and of controlling industry, to the end of aggrandizing particular parties, is essentially, at war with the best interests of mankind ; whether it be undertaken in the interest of Capital or of Labor. It can only end in injustice, op- pression and abuse. The vital idea upon which the progress of commerce and true civilization must ever depend is that of JUST AND HEALTHY COMPETITION. Every man, waiting for work, must expect to be hired at his own true value ; and not at the valuation of a class or an Association with which he may be connected. Unless he shall first sell himself to his Asso- tion, this is impossible. Every corporation and association, for the purpose of manufacturing, or for the conducting of trade, or for the prosecution of any industry, must expect only TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 327 the rewards of the true values, which they may be able to present in the open markets of the world. " Co-operation," for the control of values upon the mere selfish basis, is a legal iniquity. It is an attempted obstruction of the march of that civilization whose life, power and blessing, to the world, are to be found only in the true appreciation of the individual man. Business is never to be conceived of as a scheme of benevo- lence, or a direct system of philanthropy. Fair competition and an open market are the demands of a free humanity ; and every scheme of co-operation or association which brings the workingman to the doors of the shop, seeking for a place, upon any other ground than, that of his own personal worth to his employer, must be false in principle, and therefore degrading to manhood. Competition, and not selfish combination, is THE essential FOUNDATION UPON WHICH THE WHOLE STRUC- TURE OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY MUST STAND, IN A FREE COUNTRY, AND UNDER TRUE CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. The demand that men should be employed because they are members of a league or association; or that they shall work, or cease working at the order of such an association ; is simply an attempt to place free men, and free labor, under a bondage, degrading and unendurable to true manhood. It is the inauguration of a system which will necessarily belittle humanity itself, and place barriers to the advancement and elevation of society. It is a scheme which is contrary to the whole spirit of our modern institutions. Its essential princi- ple is, t/iat couuminism which leads to anarcJiy, under which society or associated industry are alike impossible. In opi)o- sition to this whole scheme of evil, whether undertaken by a league of capitalists, and business companies in order to con- trol production, and restrict the supply and demand of the market; or by the workmen, to their own aggrandizement, to secure that which they have not honestly earned, every virtuous, patriotic and worthy citizen should give his protest. 328 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. For upon its timely failure the peace and prosperity of the community must depend. The imminent danger of the city, in this land of free labor, on the basis of a just competition, is to be discerned in the legitimate issues of this combination of forces, which swamp individual manhood in the chaos of the crowd ; and which eliminate conscience from the corporations and associations of capital. The substitution of unlawful force for reason ; the triumph of might over right, is death to society itself; and everything which tends to this, carries its warning to the intelligent citizen upon its very face. Without the dignity and force of just law, no city, or community, can prosper or men hope to dwell together in peace. It was upon the solid basis of these eternal principles of right that the city's defenders sprung, moved by the instincts of a free manhood and intelligent patriotism, on the day when the tempest of blind passion swept into its streets. It has been upon this broad and solid highway of free, personal, man- hood ; laid down by the fathers of the great Republic, and cemented by their blood, for the security of a mighty nation ; and for the blessing of all coming races, and ages, that these Defenders of the City have ever marched. Not mere soldiers, these; marching and counter-marching for a day, to afford a respectable back-ground for the display of "the pomp and cir- cumstance of war; " but men, clothed with the uniform of a true manhood, and charged with a mission with whose eternal issues, war is only a contingency ; and individual life, itself, a mere circumstance. The work of maintaining the Guard with the high character and reputation which it had attained in the first five years ot its service was both laborious and constant. Both officers and leading men in the ranks felt this burden, but they took it up intelligently and carried it with commendable persever- ance. To be able to fully appreciate this work it must be remembered that every officer in command, and every private TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 329 in the ranks, had his own enterprise, his business, or his personal trust in active Hfe, depending directly upon his industry and fidelity. It must be remembered that every man's duty as a Guardsman was taken simply as an addi- tional burden in the plans of life ; and that he not only served without recompense, but generally at the expense of his own resources. Remembering these facts it will not seem strange that many should- grow weary of the service and find it the perplexity of their life. The high impulse with which the organization was effected was necessarily short-lived. The substratum of genuine pa- triotic principle and of intelligent conviction were absolutely necessary to keep alive the military enthusiasm necessary to success. The visible danger of the city ; which was generated in the manifest disposition of a certain class of people to resist the law, and attempt to control the business interests of the valley by terrorizing workmen, passed away as soon as the City Guard revealed its power and readiness to resist all law- lessness with deadly force. It was, then, but natural that, as soon as the imminent danger had passed from sight, and the workmen had returned in a body to their work, many excel- lent men who had promptly taken up arms, yet were entirely destitute of military taste, should be disposed to lay them down just as promptly. Especially was this to be expected of those who were burdened with the early struggles of business, or of professional life. But the first symptoms of flagging interest were met and overcome by the manly struggles which necessarily followed fi-om the burdens assumed, b\' the whole battalion, in the work of building the armory, and in the effort to place the Guard upon a permanent footing. The energetic )'oung men, how- ever oppressed or puzzled with their own burdens, could not find it in their hearts to forsake their companions while the honor of the Guard was pledged for the accomplishment of these high purposes. 330 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. Then followed the impulse and grand reinforcement which military taste and military success always bring to the help of such an enterprise. It is a wonderful help to the young man, " rejoicing in his strength," to know that there are admir- ing eyes fixed upon him; that there are loving hearts swelling with the deep appreciation which is created by the skill and manliness with which he performs a duty, which would other- wise be irksome, if not intolerable. The glow of enthusi- asm is enkindled and intensified by the uniform, by the cadence of the step, by the touch of the elbow, and by the music of patriotic ardor ! There is a wonderful fascination and increase of strength and of manly endurance created by the " pomp and circumstance of war," especially when it is only the pre- paration for war, as its best preventive. The sincere and universal appreciation of the City Guard as the city's Defense; on the part of the best citizens of the valley, helped to main- tain the Guard more than can readily be measured. The best young men held fast to the work with worthy self-denial and perseverance. In many cases, doubtless, this was done from the conviction of their own loneliness in society, if they should drop out in the march. These things, taken with the wise energy of the Colonel in varying the exercises and drills, in introducing and keeping up the contests on the rifle range, and affording the greatest possible break in the flow of daily duty, — especially in the an- nual Encampments, — made the service popular ; and so kept in the Guard all good and true men, who could possibly endure the sacrifice, throughout the full term of their enlistment. When Colonel Boies closed his term of service it was dis- cerned by all that the march of the battalion had been upward from the beginning. There had been no backward step. The Thirteenth Regiment had made a reputation which it would require constant diligence to maintain ; nor had the City Guard existed long enough to maintain itself by the force of its own history. TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 331 Many changes necessarily occurred in the personnel of the Regiment, and more especially in that of the City Guard, upon the retirement of Colonel Boies. The military family, which, for five years had lived, and marched, and struggled together was broken up. And it would hardly be possible to form another military family with the same elements in general, which should leave no regrets and no scars from the heal- ing of the wounds made by the departure of those, who, for so many years, had worked, and bunked, and laughed together. But the crisis was not necessarily made by the departure of the Colonel and his staff alone ; nor indeed chiefly. The full term of enlistment of a large number of the members of the four companies expired at the same time, and on the same day. The young men who had marched together for five years, the great mass of whom were as capable of fulfilling the duties o^ command as their officers, had served out their time in the ranks ; many of them persistently refusing promotion. And they were all ready to step out of the ranks satisfied with the honors of a faithful service. Their going out, too, would take with them the great personal interest of a.multitude of the best citizens of the city in the perso)inel o^ thd Guard. Great anxiety was manifested by all who had the interest of the service at heart, lest the interest and enthusiasm should be suffered to flag and fall ; both among the members of the City Guard and among the mass of citizens who had so nobly sus- tained and cherished the organization. To forestall and pre- vent such a disaster, which all saw might reasonably be ex- pected, and to tide over the dangers which the depression con- sequent upon the retirement of so many excellent officers and men had caused, an appeal was inadc to these veterans to re- enlist under conditions which were tacitly agreed u[)on. These terms in general were that they should be honorably discharged when, in the judgment of their officer, the service couUi permit 332 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. it, without detriment, or their necessities should require it, upon their own application. By this measure, so generously accepted by the veterans, all perceptible shock was avoided. The changes of command, both in the Companies and in the Regiment, caused no fall in the high purpose of the organization. Thus were relieved the reasonable fears that the retirement of so many of the best drilled and influential young men, along with that of the Colo- nel ; who had so ably commanded, and generously treated, his associates in civil life ; would result in the visible weakening of the City Guard, and leave that organization to drop out of that public interest, which was absolutely necessary to its contin- ued efficiency. The social and business standing of Col. Boies gave him ad- vantages for his Command, which enabled him to do a work for the whole Regiment, which few men, who were willing to take his place, could do. With the co-operation of his estima- ble wife, he was in the habit of giving an annual " Military Dinner" to the officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, of the Field and Staff, in the City Guard. By this generous hospitality he attempted so to bring them into social contact as to cultivate and develop the gentlemanly instincts, necessary to efficient and pleasant co-operation in such an associated duty. These unselfish favors were highly appreciated by the offi- cers, and added greatly to their cheerfulness and manly devo- tion in the service. By this social feast the strongest bands were woven for the Colonel's military family ; and the higher motives of patriotic devotion were cherished. During the term of his services he was also able, by his business relations, to secure favors from the public for the Regiment which greatly relieved the burdens of the Guard, and enabled it to hold its position in the public esteem ; while his aggressive and out- spoken policy, and his care of the best interests of the men in the ranks endeared him to the whole command. He retired, TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 333 bearing with him the deepest regrets, as well as the best wishes, of his associates. It was fully understood by all, both officers and men, that no man could be found in the city who might be able, exactly, to fill the niche which he left vacant. But from the beginning, the Guard had marched with Col. .Hitchcock, and was perfectly acquainted with both his mili- tary and personal worth. Both officers and men believed in him; and all fell into line under the new order, with undimin- ished confidence. Without question, the real and permanent excellence of the Regiment has suffered no real diminution under his command. It may have lost something of its high position in the interest and affections of the people of the city. But the population of the city has as greatly changed as has the membership of the Guard ; and certainly the reputation of the Regiment in the National Guard, and among all military men of the State, has steadily advanced, under his efficient command. The Roster of the Regiment, under the new administration, was as follows : F. L. Hitchcock, Col.; E. H. Ripple, Lieutenant Col. ; Henry A. Cour- sen. Major ; Lieutenant Charles C. Mattes, Adjutant, who, after four years' service, resigned, and was succeeded by Edward J. Dimmick, and he by Everett Warren. S. C. Logan, D.D. Chaplain ; Lieutenant John P, Albro, Quartermaster; Major H. V. Logan, .M.D., Surgeon ; First Lieutenant A. James Connell, M.D., Assistant Surgeon ; First Lieuten- ant Clement L. Frey, M.D., Assistant Surgeon ; Lieutenant Wm. B. Henwood, Inspector of Rifle Practice; he was succeeded in May, 1887, by Lieut. Herman Osthaus. Non- Commissioned .S'At/T^— Everett Warren, Sergeant Major; Andrew P. Bedford, Quartermaster-Sergeant ; William J. Morton, Commissary Sergeant ; Edward Evans, Hospital Steward. The Adjutancy of the Regiment has been held successively, and ably filled, first by Robert Macmillan, who resigned to re- turn to the ranks of Company A, and who through all the years has held a high position on the '* regimental rifle team.' He 334 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. was succeeded by Ed. F. Chamberlin, who, after two years' ser- vice, resigned because of the burden of business, and completed his service in Company A, as a private. He was succeeded by Frank H. demons, of Company C, who held the position about a year, and resigned on account of the demands of business. He was succeeded by Charles C. Mattes, of Com- pany C, who filled the position with great efficiency and ac- ceptance for four years, when he retired to the position of First Lieutenant of Company A. Mr. Mattes gave place to Edward J. Dimmick, who had served as second lieutenant of Company C. Lieutenant Dimmick served two years with efficiency as Adjutant, and also resigned because of the pressure of busi- ness. He was succeeded by Everett Warren, private, of Com- pany A, and the sergeant-major of the Regiment during the year previous to his promotion. The burdens of this office of Adjutant are the greatest that are imposed upon any member of the regiment ; requiring so much time, and clerical service, that it can only be an impo- sition upon any business man in the National Guard. It is certainly unjust to the officer, and an imposition upon the whole organization, whose comfort and efficiency so much depends upon the Adjutant, to expect or require him to serve without sufficient pay to enable proper men to undertake the duties of the office. This position ought to be filled by a salaried officer in every Regiment of the National Guard. The Thirteenth Regiment has certainly had a succession of the best adjutants that could be found in the State. Each one of them has acquitted himself with the highest honor. All of them had been members of the Scranton City Guard. The same is true with regard to all the members in the Field and Staff, with the single exception of Surgeon Cum- mings, of the Honesdale Guards, who succeeded Surgeon Bunnell as the surgeon of the regiment. All the officers of the Field and Staff, both commissioned and non-commis- TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 335 sioned, in the Thirteenth Regiment, have been taken from the companies of the Scranton City Guard; and most of them have been members of the organization from the time the four companies were mustered into service. The Medical Staff has, from the organization of the City Guard, held a high position, both by professional, character and the laborious efficiency with which these officers have guarded the health, and the morals, of the regiment. Nathan Y. Leet, the first Surgeon of the Guard, was a United States army surgeon of wide reputation. He wore the Major's shoulder-straps with distinguished honor throughout the four years of the great rebellion. Some of the most scientific sur- gical operations that were performed in the field stand re- corded to his honor in the medical arcliives of the Government. While in full sympathy with the organization, the doctor could never quite gain his own consent to exchange his honorable, and well-worn, shoulder-straps for those of a single-barred Lieutenant, or to march in the Government service even with the straps of a major, under a commander who, whatever might be his military genius, had his military reputation yet to make. He generously gave his influence and his medical services whenever needed, and allowed his name to stand for more than a year at the head of the medical staff of the Guard ; while his Assistant, Dr. Henry N. Bunnell, who enlisted as a private in Company D, did the work, and marched with the medical chest. Dr. Dunnell made an excellent reputation while Assistant Surgeon, by the invention and supply of a medical chest, wliich, by its great convenience and variety, of medical stores contained in portable shape, surpassed, as is generally believed, any provision in the National Guard for camp and field medical service. Upon the organization of the 13th Regiment, Dr. Leet de- clined further appointment, and Dr. Dunnell was placed at the 336 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. head of the Medical Staff with the rank of Major. He filled the position with ability and acceptance for two years, when he resigned because of ill health, and the pressure of profes- sional business. Dr. W. H. Cummings, was appointed Assist- ant Surgeon, upon the promotion of surgeon Bunnell with the rank of First Lieutenant, and upon the resignation of his principal, was made Surgeon with the rank of Major. Sur- geon Cummings in addition to his medical skill and patriotic devotion to the physical well being of the members of the Guard, was one of the best riflemen in the Regiment. He wore the crack shot badge of the Field and Staff each year of his service. His first Assistant was Henry V. Logan, M.D., and the second Assistant was Alex. James Connell, M.D. Both these young men were medical students at the time of the riots of 1877, and were identified with the earliest efforts to organize the " citizens' corps." They both entered the ser- vice as privates at the organization of Company A, and served with honor until their promotion to the staff. At the com- pletion of the term of service of Col. Boies, Major Cummings retired with the other members of the staff. Upon the pro- motion of Col. Hitchcock, Dr. H. V. Logan was commis- sioned Major, and placed at the head of the medical staff, and Dr. A. J. Connell with the rank of First Lieutenant was ap- pointed First Assistant. Dr. Logan had made a reputation for efficiency and devotion to duty in the service, whatever position he occupied, and earned his promotion by his fidelity m camp and field. He inaugurated a system of watchfulness and inspection in camp, which was of great service in securing healthfulness to the command. Whenever the Regiment was ordered out for drill, or was on the march, the Surgeon with his equipment, his medical stores and his Hospital Steward was found ready for professional duty. Whenever a soldier showed symptoms of weakness he was ordered out of the ranks for treatment. Or if any, overcome by the heat, fell by TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 337 the way, the Surgeon or one of the Assistants was always at hand to afford immediate medical treatment. The prompt- ness and constancy with which Dr. Logan, and his indefatiga- ble assistants, fulfilled their duty, gave the medical staff of the 13th Regiment a reputation throughout the Brigade and Division. It was no unusual thing in camp for a call to come from both Brigade and Division Headquarters for the Sur- geons of the Thirteenth, when exigencies called for immediate medical skill ; and this was due to the fact that cither the Major or one of his assistants was always visible when the Regiment was in the field. Dr. A. J. Connell proved himself a most excellent Surgeon, and fulfilled his term of service to universal acceptance. For six years he marched with the City Guard and fulfilled the duties of his position, in the ranks and on the staff, to the satisfaction of all his comrades, while burdened with the perplexities of professional preparations, and fulfilling the duties of increasing professional practice. Both Surgeons Logan and Connell deserved and secured the deep and universal gratitude of both officers and men for their long-continued and able services to the Scranton City Guard, and to the 13th Regiment. They both tendered their resignations in October of 1886, on account of the demands of professional service incident to the successful practice of medicine. But the reluctance of officers and men to lose their services and their companionship, prevented the accept- ance of the resignation of Dr. Logan, and postponed that of Dr. Connell for six months, when he was relieved. Dr. Frcy in his two years' service has shown himself entirely worthy to take the place of either of his ranking officers in his department ; and upon the acceptance of Dr. Connell's resignation, he was promoted to his position, and H. D. Gardner, M.D. was ap- pointed 2d Assistant Surgeon, with rank of First Lieutenant. Without doubt Dr. Gardner will prove a worthy acquisition, both to the Medical Staff and the Regiment. 338 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. With regard to the men, who have constituted the rank and file in the ten years march of the City Guard, it must be re- corded, that as a body, they have stood as an exception even in the National Guards of Pennsylvania. In many cases the pri- vate's uniform clothed as accomplished a gentleman, and as able and worthy a man as any who were called to command. There were men worthy of the rank and command of the Colo- nel, who served six and eight years, refusing anything higher than the chevrons of a sergeant, or corporal. Many who had been promoted to honorable commands, resigned their commis- sions, and went back into the ranks to bear the burdens of the common Guardsman. And in many cases the officers of the Company were hardly a fair average of either the charac- ter, ability, or social standing, of the men in the ranks which they commanded. The author has seen a whole company stand immovable, without the apparent change of a muscle, when a wrong order was given by the of^cer in command, on parade. Thus they stood in silence until the officer had time to discover and correct his mistake, and this was evidently without the possibility of preconcert. Men were called from the ranks to positions upon the field and staff of the Regiment ; of the Brigade ; and of the Governor of the State. And of the original organization and of the men who first constituted the Four Companies of the City Guard it may be truthfully said, that the majority were as worthy of pro- motion, and would doubtless have proved as efficient to com- mand as those who accepted the promotions and successfully fulfilled the duties of their positions. With few exceptions, the members of the Guard were with- out taste or ambition for military honors, or preferment. They entered the ranks for service, and upon the conviction that their service was needed to insure the administration of law without menace, and to protect the property of the citizens from unlawful combinations of passion and force. TRUTHS AND TRANSITIONS. 339 The bondage and duties of the soldier, always irksome to a free and unmilitary people, they undertook, with courage ; and by upright and manly adaptation and obedience to discipline, they made the Guard a happy association to which they be- came greatly attached. The change of the personnel of the Guard has been so grad- ual, and the work of preparing recruits for the places made va- cant so diligently prosecuted, that the life of the battalion flows on peacefully, and the identity of the Guard, in its high posi- tion, has been preserved. The 13th Regiment still holds its high position in the Na- tional Guard ; and still sends its rifle teams to the front in the annual contest. It adorns its headquarters with the beautiful silver pitcher which was offered by the State, and presented by the Governor to the best Regimental Rifle Team. And al- though its veterans are scattered, and absorbed in the business enterprises which lead away from all thoughts of guns and military duties ; and although many of the fathers who sacri- ficed for its organization and kept step with its march, have " fallen on sleep," the City Guard still has the confidence and is the pride of the City that gave it birth. Thus throughout a ten years' service, with the fewest exceptions, the officers and men who rushed to the rescue in the day of the city's danger; and enlisted under the sanctions of a sacred oath to give the city of Scranton a Guard worthy of its own interests and character ; and worthy of the Country to which it belongs, have fulfilled their patriotic duty. Those who have completed, honorably, their term of ser- vice, are still interested to cheer on those who follow in their footsteps. Each worthy veteran is an efficient recruiting offi- cer for the company in which he served ; and in the high places of the field, on l^rigade. Division and Governor's Staff, the Regiment still has its representatives from the City Guard to 340 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. call attention to the march, and provide for the needs of the honored 13th Regiment. If any of its members have proved unfaithful, or have been dishonorably discharged, they are so few, and have shown themselves so insignificant in the community, that it is hardly known outside of the Guard itself that they have been so dis- honored. The Annual Encampment for military instruction and exer- cise ; which was the practical suggestion of the Scranton City Guard, and by the demonstration of its use and practicability, at its own expense, became its legacy to the Commonwealth ; v/as, in all the years, the time of genuine refreshment to all the young soldiers who were so constantly harnessed to the busi- ness of life. Life for a week in Camp became, both by antici- pation and recollection, a way-mark in the march of existence. A buoyant life it was, glorified with manly exercises in manly arts; spiced with the sparkle and novelty of a social mingling, entirely free from the artificial trammels of society. It became, to all who fulfilled honestly their duty, a blessed oasis in the pilgrimage of life. Fare and fun, shadow, sunshine and show- ers; "Advance Guard," Commissary Stores and Quartermas- terly perplexities ; " guard mount " and careful guard running for the conscientious purpose of instructing and exercising sen- tinels ; the genius of good fellowship and grotesqueness ; these all combine and sweep across the vision of the veteran, as he hears the music and listens to the tread of the 13th Regiment in its annual march to the Field. There is the Dress Parade, and the parade without any amount of dress to speak of There is the practical joke, which sends the guffaw of laughter all over the camp ; because men have become boys again, and are in the humor to be pleased. Then, there is the solemn gathering of straws in the early morning, by the gang of Special Police, extemporized from the band of unfortunates, who last night succeeded CONCLUSION AND BENEDICTION. 341 gloriously in passing the pickets one way, but ingloriously fell into a failure on the return ! Then, there were the hundred songs of the evening, when music, like a flooding fountain, burst up in every company street, and sent its streams rippling along under every tent-fly, when fragments of melody, sacred and secular, mingled promiscuously with the social rest of the evening hour. There, too, was the sharp ring of the Colonel's 6rder for his horse, which, like an electrical battery, put life in the regimental legs, bipedal and quadrupedal, and served to mark time for Adjutants and Drum-Majors. Then, there was the great-hearted Major, with his tireless energy, and his chro- nic wrath against shirks, and colored waiters; and who only grew the more genial and kind-hearted by the eruption of his small volcano. There was the search for borrowed lanterns, and the unexpected and amazing discovery so frequent that the Chaplain's tent had been fortuitously pitched in the midst of the ruins of some unfortunate dealer in bottles and corks. There was the sham battle and the thorough drill, with their real work and refreshing excitement ; and the hum and drone of the voices of the night when the day's duties were done. These, and a thousand other recollections sweep about among the Brothers of the Guard, with blessed cups of refreshment for the weary soul in the dust of life, and their strong ties with which to bind comrades together. To deliberately write up the camp-life of the 13th Regiment could only be a blundering attempt to commit murder in cold blood. It was a life to be felt and enjoyed; not to be detailed, and marshaled in the shackles of speech. There is a joy, as well as a grief, with which the "stranger intermeddleth not." This was the joy of the camp-life of the Scranton City Guards. Strangers meddle with it ? They had better not. But the "tattoo " sounds among the hills, and seems to be re-echoed from the cliff of clouds which close the doors of departed day. It sweeps through the camp with its solemn 342 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. warning of the duties that remain for the closing hour. The " guards " are set and the " watch-word "given. The mono- tonous music of " roll-call " with its variations, high and low, bass and tenor, has disturbed the stillness only to announce with the good-night salute "all present or accounted for." " Taps " come speedily to " put out all lights ; " save those which have been enkindled in the hearts of men and brothers ; who have marched together to the nmsic of a Free Country's Glory and Honor. These burn on, in the blessed glow of Christian love, through the silent hours of meditation and rest. In the deep darkness of that mysterious night, through which each of us in his turn shall pass, alone, these lights no "taps'' shall extinguish. Brothers of the march, of the watch, and of the camp ! THE Chaplain has tried to record some of your worthy DEEDS, and now HE LEAVES YOU HIS HEARTY B^n^dictlom APPENDIX A. 343 APPENDIX (A). HISTORIC ROLL OF COMPANY A, SCRANTON CITY GUARD. Roll of Officers and Enlisted Men of Company A, ijth Regi- ment, N. G. P., from Aug. 14, iSyy, to June i, iS8j. ( The list of officers shows the highest rank attained while in the company during the above period.) CAPTAINS. Bryson, Andrew, Jr., com. capt. Aug. 14, 1877 ; res. Sept. 17, 1878. Knapp, Henry A., com. 1st lieiit. Aug. 14, 1877 ; com. capt. Oct. 7, 1878 ; res. June 21, 1880 ; re-enl. same date in Co A ; com. maj. and judge adv. 3d Brigade, N. G. P., July 25, 1885. Watres, Louis A., com. 2d lieut Co. C, S. C. G., Aug. 14, 1877 ; let lieut. Feb. 8, 1878 ; capt. Co. A, l:itli Regt., July 15, 1880 ; col. and gen ins. rifle practice Jan., 1887, on Governor Beaver's staff. Mattes, Cliarles C, enl. in Co. C, S. C. G , April 20, 1878; corp. April n, 1879 ; sorgt. July 1, 18.S0 : gergt.niaj. llUh Regt. Jan. 20, 1881 ; adjt. Oct. 10, 1881 ; ro-app. adjt.Oct. 20, 1883 ; let lieut. Co. A, 13tli Regt., July, 1885 ; capt. Feb. 14, 1887. FTKST LIEUTENANTS. Smith, Edward J , com. 2d lieut. Aug. 14, 1877 ; 1st lieut. Oct. 7, 1878; res. Oct., 1S83. Barnard, George F., enl. Aug. 14, 1877 ; corp. Aug. 14, 1877: sergt. March 2, 1878; let Borgt. Jan. 13, 1879 ; 2d lieut. Aug. ,30, 1880 ; 1st lieut. Oct. 29, 1883 ; res. June, 1885. Cbasp, E Trophy, 1882 final. (G) Junior Marksmen's 1st Prize, 1884. (3) Citizens' Trojdiy, 1883-1884. (7) Junior Marksmen's 2d Prize, 188"', 1886. (4) Company A Trophy, 1883 final. (8) Jermyu Trojihy, 188G. For seven successive years, beginning in 1880, this company has qualified its entire mem- bership, a record nnparalkled in the history of marksmanship. During the season of 1886, out of nine regimental sharpshooters, A Company possessed four. The company has also been active in competitive drills, winning 2d prize (8500) at Balti- more in 1882, against fiva comi]etitors, and receiving many marks of distinction at Washing- ton, 1). ('., in 1884, on which occasion, however, all money prizes were withdrawn before competition took place. HISTORIC ROLL OF COMPANY B, SCRANTON CITY GUARD. Roll of Officers and Enlisted Men of Company B, rjt/i Regi- ment, N. G. P., from Aug. 14, i8yy, to June i, 1SS7. ( The list of officers shows the hit^hcst rank iiUaiucd mhiic in the company during the above period.) CAPTAINS. Merriam, R. B., com. Aug. 14, 1877 ; res. Jan. 16, 1878. Bartliolomew. Daniel, com. Ist liout. Aug. 14, 1877; com. cajit. Feb. 13, 1878 ; res. Nov. 1, 1881. KcUow, William, com. 2d liout. Aug. 14, 1877; com. 1st liuut. Feb. l.t, 1H78 ; com. capt. Nov. 30, 1881 ; re-com. capt. Nov. 3(1, 1886. FIRST LIEUTENANT. Madison, II. U., enl. in Co. B, S. C. G., Aug. 14. 1877 ; app. .3d sorgt. Aug. i:>, 1877 ; 2d et-rgt. March 6, 1H78 ; Ist sergt. Nov. 18, 1878 ; com. 2il lieut. Oct. 29, 1879 ; com. Ut lieut. Nov- 30, 1881 ; re-com. 1st lieut. Nov. 30, 1«86. ♦ App. sergl.-niHJ. 346 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. SECOND LIEUTENANTS. Fuller, Charles B., enl. in Co. B Aug. 14, 1877 ; Ist sergt. Aug., 1877 ; com. 2d lieut. Teh. V.i, 1878 ; res. Oct. 29, 1879. Millar, W. S., enl. in Co. B, S. C. G., Aug. 14, 1877 ; app. corp. Aug. 17, 1877 ; sergt. May 3, 1870 ; com. 2d liout. Nov. 30, 1881 ; res. July 20, 1885. Williams, Tliomas J., enl. Aug. 17, 1881 ; app. sergt. March 23, 1883 ; 1st sergt. May 14, 1884 com. 2d lieut. July 20, 1885. Fuller, Chas. B. Watts, W. J. Hine, Miles D. Logan, Wm. K. Bailey, John. Kemmerer, L. D. Newman, D. J. Spragle, Lorenzo. Storm, Hayden B. FIRST SERGEANTS. Chittenden, Charles E. Clarke, Wm. E. SERGEANTS. Hine, Wm. E. Carey, James B. Goodwin, Walter H. Godshall, J. D. Miller, John. Peppard, Wm. H. Crosdale, Harry B. Camphell, George A. Shawe, Herbert B. Chamberlin, Edward F.- Jones, Wm. W. Cutler, Wra. H. Woolsey, Judson B. Dieter, Bobert. Elsiuger, Daniel. Evans, J. W. Fuller, Harry G. Brightnian, Wm. A. W. Morris, George A. Pierce, Wm. H. Fuller, James A. Fowler, Wm. M. Fassold, Wm. G. Leamy, Daniel A. McWilliams, Alexander. McDonnell, Wm. C. Wolfe, Frank. Gager, George W. Vail, James W. Ferber, Jacob. Slautz, Charles. Sweezj', M. J. Derby, Andrew J. Sharpe, Wm. L. Watts, Thomas H. Whitbeck, John E. Young, Wm. H. Soelner, Edward. Lewert, Jacob C. Poland, George. Williams, Walter. Smale, Peter. Miley, Frank. Dimler, Frederick. Carey, C. W. Dean, J. C. Shillston, Frank. Tiffiiny, P. G. * Pro. to t Pro to CORPORALS. Brown, George B. Charles, Robert. Bortree, L. C. Howe, John T. Bacon, H. G. Graff, Martin. OUdorf, Joseph. Smith, Peter P. Tompkins, James. PRIVATES). Vail, Amos. Carey, Charles W. Deats, John A. Cogswell, Herman E. Bonn, Henry. Dermuth, Jacob. Dippre, John. Grambs, Frederick. Foote, Adelbert L. Nichols, L. W. Cooper, Charles L. Kelder, Wm. B. Metzgar, Peter. Sherwood, William. Van Sickles, Louis. Wilson, S. J. Watson, John D. Hayes, John J. Brock, Henry. Kesty, Charles C. Ottinger, Frank. Dunning, .\bram B. Jr. Angle, John D. Bird, Adam, adjutancy 13th Regt., rank of q.ia.-sergt. on Col. Boies' staff. Kester, George B. McClintock, T. J. Powell, Arja V. Harvey, George S. Shaffer, James. Horton, L. Jl.f McFarland, Frank. Bushnell, W. C. Olldorf, Joseph. Cannon, C. W. Adler, Henry. Moir, John W. Baird, John F. Dowdell, Geo. W. Flanders, James. Smale, Peter P. Fiedler, F. W. Hayes, James. Phillips, John. Day, Delbert. Klotz, John R. Weeks, Frank E. Fuller, Phineas H. Thirwell, George E. Penworth, Julius. Teeter, Charles L. Kennady, James D. Block, William. Bennett, George F. Lewis, Harvey S. Steinback, Marvin. Bourger, Joseph. 1st lieut. APPENDIX A. 347 Griffin, George. Wilson, Harry. Fisher, B. W. Eiacli, James P. Jacobs, C. S. Evans, G. A. Frier, A. Carr, A. L. Lord, A. D. Webley, Wm. Ferber, Henry F. Rice, S. H. Roberts, W. K. Silknian, Joseph R. Sweet, Jolin B. Stone,' J. D. Swift, C. W. Taylor, John. Kellernian, Freil. Cowan, Edward. Becker, John. Payne, Irving L. Ballard, J. W. Slills, James. Finch, 0. S. Young, Conrad. Miller, Henry. Mulley, Wni. A. Dowd, Frank E. Luce, J. S. Aufrecht, G. Coleman, J J. Umphred, J. W. Campbell, George. Reynolds, Phineas. Mulley, Josei'h H. Courtriglit, Frank. PRIVATES — ( Continued) . Rogus, Joseph W. Starkweather, George. Tewksberry, E. M. Fisher, Bert. Fordliam, Arthur F. Forkel, Wni. F. Burdick, Wni. E. Foyue, Charles. Pennwarden, Frank. Witthauser, George. Jlalons, Frank. Lockard, Edward. Madden, John. Kramer, Augu-stus. Farrell, Harris J. Mackey, Charles D. Ballard, John W. Krumbhar, Christian. Tarvis, Jullian. Follett, Lewis R. Kiefer, Henry. Smith, George \V. Hopewell, Harry W. Fowler, Charles S. Rhoads, Charles. Stewart, John K. Hazen, Joseph. Chambers, Elmer E. AVebl>, Phili]) B. Wirth. Frederick. • Nicholson, C. A. Fetzgar, Philip. Cowles, Wm. L. Siebert, Fred. C. Rot-rick, Peter. Brown. R. H. Rupio, John S. Meinzer, John. Rafter, Wm. E. Heinzler, Joseph. Werner, Frederick. Pichel, Bruno. Vliet, John L. McArthm-, Henry. Siegel, John BI. Terwilliger, I. Frank. Blackmar, Daniel H. White, George W. Fredenburg, Frank. Nash, Herbert E. Davis, Edward S. Penman, George. Cornish, William N. Palmer, W. W. Bonnitt, W. E. Kellow, John B. Bierman, .Anthony. Hadley, Willian). Cyphers, .\bram F. Lutz, Jacob. Gilbert, H. James. Cutler, U. G. Weingartner, Moses. Hopkins, Henry. Thomas, Robert W. Meany, William. Thatcher, Owen. Stetter, Charles. Wolf, Richard. Reynolds, Grove W. Doyle, Henry. Thomas, Charles F. McDermott, Henry F. Malott, George. HISTORIC ROLL OF COMPANY C, SCRANTON CITY GUARD. Ro// of Officers and Enlisted Men of Company C, /j//i Regi- vient, N. G. P., from Ang. i^, iSjJ, to June /, 1SS7. ( The list of officers shozus the hii^hest rank attained while in the company during the aliove period. ) CAPTAINS. Coursen. Henry A., com. Aug. H, 1877 ; elected maj. of the l-llh Regt. Oct. lo. 1883. Penman, T. F., com. Nov. .), 1883 ; private Co. C Aug. 11, 1877 ; Corp. Aug. II, 1877 ; Mrgt. July 1, 1878; 2d lieut. Ajirll 21, 1871); Ist li.uf. Aug. .3, 1880; app. and com. ordnance ollicor and ins. of rillo prac. of ;id Itrigadc, with rank of inaj., .\prll 4, 1881. Moir, JanicH, private Aug. 21, 1877 ; corp. Jan., 1878 ; color sorgt. March, 187'.) ; l«t sergt. July, 1881 ; 2d lieut. May 8, 1883 ; let lieul. Nov. C, 1883 ; Com. cii|.t. »1ay Kl, 18SJ. 348 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. FIKST LIEUTENANTS. Brown, James E., com. Ist lieut. Aug. 14, 1877 ; res. Feb. 8, 1878. Watres, Louis A., com. 2d lieut. Aug. U, 1S77 ; 1st lieut. Feb. 8, 1878 ; elected capt. of Co. A July 15, 18S0. Henwood, William B., private Marcb 10, 1879 ; Corp. Aug. 10, 1881 ; sergt. April 3, 1883 ; Ist sergt. May, 1883 ; Ist lieut. May 13, 1884. SECOND LIEUTENANTS. Judson, Charles E., elected Feb. 8, 1878 ; res. April 24, 1879. Dimniick, E. J., private Aug. 14, 1877 ; corp. Aug. 16, 1877 ; sergt. Aug. 31, 1877 ; 2d lieut. July, 1880 ; res. early in 1883. Gunster, Charles W., private Aug. 21, 1877 ; corp. Sept., 1877 ; sergt. July, 1880 ; 1st sergt. May, 1883 ; 2d lieut. Nov. 6, 1883. Manness, W. D. Bunnell, H. N. Seward, Christian. Kerr, S. G.* Clemons, F. H. Mattes, E. C. Battin, H. S. Connell,C. R. Daniels, T. P. Ayala, Stephen. Eeisig, Joseph. Fuller, G. W. S. Rockwell, W. B. Holliday, John. Ben.sley, Rudolph. Calver, W. L. Connell, F. H. Cust, John B. Gleason, L. J. Harper, G. R. Kierstead, A. B. Manness, R. 0. Rice, F. W. Kozelle, M. B. Snow, A. Simrell, V. A. Sweet, H. B. Schoonover, S. S. Schlager, J. W. Vanness, Wm. Wolf, George E. Walter, A. B. Miller, A. J. Farnham, C. E. Vanuess, Leopold. Bergerhoff, Henry. Bradley, J. H. FIRST SERGEANTS. Culver, J. H. Chase, Herbert B. SERGEANTS. Nolan, Jauies. Schoonover, D. W. Wagstaff, Edward. Ferber, C. C. Morton, Wni. E.* CORPOEALS. Dickson, W. M. Dunn, Alex. Merrill, II. H. Maddocks, Geo. H * Milligan, Peter. Gunster, H. G. Roebling, Frank. PRIVATES. Roth, Amil. Bartlett, C. B. Bollard, C. 0. Bloir, Jas. S. Phillips, R. A. Phillips, Herman. Blattes, C. C. Cannon, C. W. Van Vallen, C. Owens, G. AV. Haag, Otto. Knapp, J. C. Kingsbury, E. F. HilCchas. H. Halstead, S. Potter, Leroy. Partou, Preston. Welch, W. J. Ansley, Lincoln. Belden, E. H. Cables, Howard. Haines, D. S. Reading, Isaac. * App. com. -sergt. Gunster, George N. Barker, Frank S. Baub, W. A. Seism, D. W. Godfrey, F. S. Healy, Eugene. Hall, Fred. C. Ferber, H. W. Flynn, Joseph. Hultham, Thos. Lynde, E. H. Walden, J. S. Seward, Wm. L. Vosburg, John. Hess, Jno. E. Smith, H. M. Bradbury, N. P. Blatter, Edward. Edwards, Geo. M. Longcore, Geo. Mayhew, F. W. McNicbols, W. M. Mun-ay, G. F. Smith, E. G. Moir, Wallace. Barthel, Chas. F. Devine, David. Hull, Howard. Taylor, Herbert L. Sheppard, F. H. Searles, C. J. Wasman, H. F. Atkinson, Alfred. Culver, A. B. Carmichael, Jas. Sando, Wm. F. De Ayala, Wm. APPENDIX A. 349 Gaul, C. H. Gau!, W. A. Arinstronp, Uriah. Hoffiiiiui, E. P. Gould, A. B. MathewB, C. W. Adams, Seth W. Weitzel, P. E. Kice, Clias. Tetter, Levi. Davidson, M. W. Hill, Emory. Singer, Chas. Paff, Jacol). Williams, D. Wolfe, W. H. Wheeler, Wm. Bradbury, Wesley. Depue, Jes.'^o A. Merrill, J. A. Smith, A. W. Samter, Beiij.! Valentine, A. J. Archbald, Jas. Hewitt, A. C. Sunday, Edward. Stewart, W. C. Dewitt, Jas. R. PRIVATES — (Contimied). Staples, James. Tiffany, G. A. Junele, Frank. Boice, C. II. Haag, Eobt. Storms, E. A. Woolsey, H. J. Flory, Clarence M. Dowling, Jas. Gable, G. L. Mitchell, J. L. Patersou, W. W. Wrigley, J. W. Phase, Geo. Ellis, F. W. Hughes, E. C. Monies, Geo. B. Powell, Carodic. Pilger, Frank. Snyder, S. H. Stull, Jas. Shafer, .lohn E. Andrews, D. B. Armbrust, Louis C. Bonn, A. L. Bansen, H. M. Davis, Arthur. Gessler, H. J. Boworth, F. E. Cole, J. P. n. Griffin, Wm. A. Ellers, J. A. Gable, George L. Hoffard, S. M. Kidney, F. M. Davis, L. Dolmelsch, Otto. Gow, Joseph W. Labar, Charles M. McCabe, Bernard. McDonald, Chas. Jloore, H. P. Teller, Chas. K. Buyer, Chas. Carr, W. H. Woodling, Jerome. AVliitman, F. J. Babtist, Wesley. Beesecker, Daniel. Coweles, W. C. Connell, Fred. Fruehan, Jacob. White, Jno. Kendall, Wm. Hedrick, Fred. Bedford, A. P. The company has been engaged in competitive drills, winning the " Bclin Trophy," of- fered to the best-drilled company in the l.'ith Begt., the competition retjuiring three annual drills to determine its winner. The only comiictitors in the last drill were CVimjianies A and C. They also took the first prize on July i, 1885, in a competition open to companies of the 9th and i;5th Regis. HISTORIC ROLL OF COMPANY D, SCRAXTOX CITY GUARD. Ro// of Officers and Enlisted Men of Conipaiiy D, i^th Regi- ment, N. G. P., from Aug. 77, iSj"], to June i, iSSj. ( The list of officers shows the highest rank attained while in the company during the above period.) CAPTAIKS. Uipplo, Ezra H , com. capt. Ang. 14, 1877; mnj. 13th Hegt. Oct. 17, 1878; lieiit.-col. Oct. 10, 1K83. Linen, James A., com. 1st lieut. Aug. 14, 1877 ; capt. Nov. 15, 1878 ; roe., and re-enl. as pri- vate May 1, 1880, and served to July r,, lh8,l. HinoH, Samuel, 1st sergt. Aug. 14, 1877 ; Vid lieut. Aug. 25, 1877 ; Ist lleut. Nor. 15, 1878 ; capt. July 0, 1880. Thompson, Geo. B., enl. Aug. 20, 1877 ; rorp. Aug. 29, 1877 ; sergt. May 10, 1879; lot lleut. July f,, 188(1 ; capt. April 4, 1884 ; res. Oct. 10, 18Hfi. May, Wm. A., enl. Feb. 10, 1878; Corp. May 10, 1870; ■orgt. Jan. 8, 1881 ; Ist •orgt. BUrcb 30, ISat ; Ist lieut. April 4, 1884; res. Nov. 10, 1885 ; capt. Nov. 20, 1880. 350 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. FIRST LIEUTENANT. Wilcox, Wm. A., enl. March 5, 1880 ; corp. May 3, 1882 ; sergt. March 30, 1883 ; 2d lieut June 30, 1884 ; 1st lieut. Jan. 22, 18SC. SECOND LIEUTENANTS. Hitchcock, F. L., Aug. 14, 1877 ; adjt. S. C. G. Aug. 25, 1877 ; lieut.-col. Oct. 17, 1878 ; col. Oct. 10, 1883. Jackson, Edward S., enl. Aug. 14, 1877; sergt. Aug. 10, 1877; let sergt. Sept. 27, 1878; 2d lieut. Nov. 15, 1878 ; res. Jan. 12, 1883. Uand, George B., enl. Aug. 14, 1877 ; corp. Sept. 27, 1878 ; sergt. Aug. 5, 1881 ; 2d lieut. Jan. 19, 1883 ; res. April 19, 1884. « Fellows, Eugene D., enl. May 15, 1880 ; corp. Aug. 11, 1881 ; sergt. March .30, 1883 ; Ist sergt. Jan. 9, 1885 ; 2d lieut. Jan. 22, 1886. Harding, James L. Beliu, Henry, Jr.* Detweiler, Frank P. Dickson, Alex. W. Fowler, Edward C. Hackett, \Vm. T. FIRST SERGEANTS. Lawson, David T. Stevens, Samuel H. SERGEANTS. Lindsay, Charles H. Lord, Edwin W. Ives, George H. Moore, Sidney H. McAskie, John G. Baker, Arthur L. Barnard, Montrose. Mattes, Louis T. Pratt, Claude B., Jr. Van Bergen, Henry C. AVhite, James L. Bentley, George F. Bradbury, Charles E. Bryant, Jacob. Conrad, Charles C. Deacon, James H. Dimler, Henry, Jr. Ives, Edwin W. Acker, Wm. L. Archbald, Robert W. Atkinson, W. H. Bailey, John. Becker, Fred., Jr. Blair, Austin B. Blair, J. Selden. Boies, Henry M.f Boweu, Joseph. Breck, George L.J Buck, Edward L. Buck, H. D. Burke, James E. Burke, W. J. Burr, Chas. S. Butler, Henry C. Capwell, John N. Carlton, George W. Carroll, Thomas H. Coleman, Wm. A. Connell, Alfred E. Connell, James L. CORPORALS. Krigb:uim, Harry L. Lewis, John H. McDivitt, Samuel P. McWilliams, James. Porter, Henry T. Price, Samuel B. Keynolds, George F. PRIVATES. Connell, John J. Connelly, Wm. Conrad, Wm. Coray, George E. Cornwall, Marcus D. Cramer, Fremont E. Davenport, Henry B. Deacon, Henry H. Dennis, Augustus 0. Dennis, Junius B. Doersam, Geo. Dougherty, Geo. Downing, Wm. F. Drinker, Alfi-ed C. Drinker, Herbert C. Dunning, Harry G. Edgar, AVm. B. Edwards, Charles A. Edwards, James H. Eisele, J. Geo. Ensminger, Harry. Fairbrother, Thos. Sando, Michael F. Seeley, Leverett I. Shirer, Daniel J. Shirer, Edwin JS'. Stokes, Fremont. Stratton, Randolph. Wilcox, Asa H. Fellows, George H. Fowler, Charles S. Fowler, Wm. M. Grambs, Geo. (musician). Grant, Hezekiah K. Graves, George F. Hagan, Harry (musician). Haight, Denning K. Haldeman, Wm. B. (mus.). Hall, George (musician). Hamilton, Fred. B. Hand, Charles W. Handley, Martin. Harvey, Wm., Jr. Harris, Charles M. Harris, George H. Haslam, Arthur B. Hays, John J. (musician). Hays, Michael (musician). Henwood, E. P. Ives, Henry Bl. Ives, Wm. W.§ * Pro. to maj. and ordnance ofiBcer brigade staff April 19, 1879. Pro. to maj. S. C. G. Aug. 14, 1877. X Capt. and paymaster S. C. G. July 10, 1879. i Pro. to hosp. steward Aug. 27, 1877. APPENDIX A. 351 Jifkins, Edward J. Johnson, Slorris W. Kaufliold, U. A. Kays, Martin R. Keenan, Jobu (musician). Kehren, Wm. Keller, Clarence. Kiernan, J. J. Kingsbury, Henry A.* Kingsbury, Harry W. Kingsbury, N. J. W.t Kirkpatrick, Jacob. Kisler, J. H. Krugerman, Gustav. Lackey, S. A. Leonard, JMichael (mus'n). Longshore, John K. (mus.). Lush, James. McAliiine. Samuel (nius'u). McDonnell, Wni. J. (chief musician). McNulty, Owen. McVittie, Blortimer. Mack, Kobert. Mahoney, .John C. (mus'n). Mauska, Charles. Meredith, Samuel R. Mershoni, John W. (mus.). Slillett, Cieorge K. Morgan, Charles A. PRIVATES — (Continued). Morri-s, George A.J Neave, Wm. J. O'Koill, Harry. Owens, George W. Parrott, Joseph. Patterson, Herbert S. I'ciirson, Hiram. Perecli, W. A Plumley, W. E. Poore, John B. Raymond, Thomas. Rayner, Wm. M. Reddington, Joseph P. Reynolds, E. P. Reynolds, Ira (musician), lieynolds, S. .M. Rose, John 31. Ruthven, James.g Ruthven, James W. Sanderson, George. j| Sayre, Hiram. Schlager, Charles J. Scragg, John F. Seaver, Jay W. Shaw, Albert C. Shirer, Daniel J. Simons, Artemas W. Simpson, Wm. T. Slocum, Frank W. (mus'n). Smith, CTiarles R. Smith, Fred. C. Smith, Fred. W. Smith, Henry W.^ Smith, Steven R. Smith, Wilbur F. Stanton, IJyrou T. Steele, Louis R. Stevens, Charles W. Stokes, Alfred S. Streeter, Howard M. Sturges, Edward B. Swartz, Samuel T. Tewksbury, Nelson. Thomas, James R. Thomas, Wm. (musician). Tisdell, Frank. Uhner, George II. Walter, Edward. Walter, George. Walter, H. J. Walter, Louis. Wei.-ienllue, Richard R. Welles, Charles H. Williams, Fred. Williams, Robert J. Wilson, Joseph S. Wolfe, Burr T. (musician). Wolfe, Howard. Wooii, Fred. E. PRIZES WON BY COMPANY D. (1) Nay Aug Rifle Association Trophy, consisting of silver ice pitcher, salver and goblets ; won in 1879. (2) Boies Trophy, shield and armor, to company qualifying greatest number of men ; won in . 1878, 1879 and 1880. (3) Silver cup, given by Nay Aug Ritio Association ; won by team of four men in 1879. (4) Two steel engravings, given by Col. II. M. Boies ; won in 1880. (5) Citizens' Trophy, a pair of bronze statuettes, given by citizens of Scrantmi ; won in 1881, 1882 and 1885. (6) Boies Skirmishers' Match Prize, silver pitcher, given by Col. H. M. Boies to team of five men ; won in 1881. (7) Cohincl's Match Prize, steel engraving, given by Col. F. L. Hitchcock ; second prize in 1884 and first prize in 1885. Year. 1878.. 1879.. 1880.. 1881.. 1882.. 1883.. QUALIFIED MARKSMEN COMPANY D. Quuliflcd. Year. Qualified. IS 1884. 47 1885. 63 188(3. 40 Total :1C2 * Capt. and com. Aug. 23, 1877. t Trans, tn Co A June 12, 1878. X Trans, to Co. B. § Pro. Aug., 1877, q.m., with rank of lut lieut. II Pro. capt. anil paymaster Aug. 25, 1877 ; lleut.-col. anil div. liiHp. July 15, Is7u ; col. ond gen. iusp. rille practice, on slalT of commander-in-chief, Fob. '-'3, 18K1. ^ Tnins. to Co. C. 352 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. REPRESENTATIVES OF COMPANY D AT CREEDMOOB. Capt. George B. Thompson, 1879, '80, '81, '82, Private C. H. WelleB, 1879, '80, '81, '82, '83, '83. '84, '85, '86. '84, '8.5, '86. Lieut. George B. Hand, 1879, '80, '81, '82. Private H. M. Ives, 1882, '83. Sergt. C. B. Pratt, 1882, '84, '85, '8G. Private C. R. Smith, 1881. Corp. George H. Ives, 1879, '80, '81. Private A. L. Baker, 1882, '83, '84, '85, '80. Corp. E. W. Ives, 1881, '82, '83. REPRESENTATIVES OF COMPANY D IN THE INTER-STATE MATCHES. Match of 1879, 4 men. Match of 1883, 4 men. 1880,4 " " 1884,4 " winners. " 1881, 6 " " 1885, 4 « winners. " 1882, 6 " winners. " 1886, 4 " REPRESENTATIVES IN ARMY AND NAVY JOURNAL CUP MATCHES. Match of 1879, 4 men. Match of 1882, 5 men, winners. " 1880, 4 " " 1883, 5 " " 1881. 6 " APPENDIX B. 353 APPENDIX (B). THE VETERAN ASSOCIATION OF THE S. C. G. (Organized Feb. 11, 1884.) CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. NAME AND SIEMBERSIIIP. Section!. This Association shall bo called ''The Ilonorablo Association of Veterans of the Scranton City Guard." Tlie organization shall date from August 1+, 18S2, and all who were veterans of the S. C. G. at that date shall be enrolled as charter members. All oth- ers shall bo subject to election. Section 2. The prime object of this Association shall be the maintenance of public order in accordance with the authority of law ; the perpetuation and discipline of the active mil- itary organization known as the Sci'anton City Guard, organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, August 14, 1S77 ; the preservation of the history and associations of active service ; and the mutual, intellectual and social benefit of the members. Section 3. The Association shall be composed entirely of veterans, except in the case of the Chaplain ; and no one shall be eligible to an election as a member who has not served the full term of five years, either in one of the four companies of the S. C. G. or as an offlcer of the Field or Stuff of the llegiment with which the (!uard is associated in the State service, while a resident of Scranton ; or who, having bcf^un his ssrvice in the S. C. G., has, by reason of promotion or transfer, completed the five years' term of active service in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. Section 4. Every candidate shall bo presented to the Board of Censors, who ehnll inquire into his record, examine his papers, and with their judgment of the same ; as good, paseuible or bad ; shall present his name at the ne.xt sub.seiiuunt meeting for election, provided the name of the candidate shall stand upon the public bulletin at the Armory for at leiuliiie of the Yeturau Association, in accord- ance with its adopted Constitution." ARTICLE II. ORGANIZATION. Section 1. The Association shall bo orpmized, as far as iHimiblp, ns a military command ; mnd shall possess only such civil ollicem as may Ixt found neci«Biry for the protection of ita property and transaction of its civil aflairH. Section 2. The ofllccrs of the Veteran Cor|>« Nhall bo a Colonel, Lleiitonant-Colooel, Mnjor, Adjutant, Quartermaster, Chaplain, CoinniiiMiry, Surgeon, AHlntniit Surgeon, an Ar- morer, four Captains, four Lieutenants, a Koe|M.>r of Arcbivoa, and flvv Ccnaora, whoihall be chosen and rauk as follows : 354 A CITY'S DANGER AND DEFENSE. 1. The Colonel shall be elected by a vote of the Association annually, and shall be eligible for not more than four years in succession, lie shall be ex-officlo the President of the Association. 2. The Lieutenant-Colonel shall be elected for a term of three years, and shall be eligible to re-election twice in succession. He is ex-officio First Vice-President of the Associ- ation. 3. The Major shall be eligible to election twice in succession. He is ex-ofBcio Second A'ice-President. 4. The Adjutant shall be elected for one year, upon the nomination of the Colonel, and shall be eligible for not more than four successive terms. He shall be ex-officio Sec- retary of the Association, and his rank shall be First Lieutenant. 5. The Quartermaster, with rank of First Lieutenant, shall be chosen for a term of two years, and shall be eligible for re-election for three terms in succession. He shall be cx-offlcio Treasurer of the Association. 6. Tlie Armorer, with rank of Second Lieutenant, shall be elected for three years, and shall be eligible to hold the office for two terms in succession. 7. The Chaplain, with rank as Captain, shall be elected for a term of not more than four years. He shall always be a minister in regular standing in some evangelical church, and may be eligible without having served in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. 8. The Surgeon, with rank of Major, and Assistant Surgeon, with rank of First Lieuten- ant, shall be elected for a term of four years. The Assistant Surgeon shall be recog- nized as the candidate for promotion. 9. The Commissary, with rank as Captain, shall be elected for a term of three years, and shall be eligible for re-election at the pleasure of the Association. 10. The Keeper of Archives, with rank as Captain, who shall hold no other office, shall be elected for a term of not less than five years. 11. The four Captains rank as First, Second, Third and Fourth, and shall be elected as follows : The First Captain for one year, the Second for two years, the Third for three years and the Fourth for four years. The Second, Third and Fourth Captains shall be advanced annually by regular promotion, and after the first election the annual election of Captains shall be of the Fourth Captain for four years. 12. The four Lieutenants shall be subject to the same rules as those which govern the choice and promotion of the four Captains. 13. The five Censors shall constitute the Board of Censors, who shall be the trustees of the Association. This Board shall be constituted of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Censors, with the Jlajor, who shall be ex-officio Chairman of the same. At the first election these Censors shall be chosen, the First for one year, the Second for two, the Third for three and the Fourth for four years. And those shall have annual promotions by the same rules which control Captains and Lieutenants. At all subse- quent elections the Fourth Censor shall alone be chosen for the term of four years. To this Board shall be committed the charge of the general interests of the civil af- fairs of the Association, and of the moral standing of the membere. They shall be required to report annually upon the whole condition of the Guard, both veteran and active. They shall report the condition of all property belonging to the Association, with an annual schedule of the same. They shall have no power to criticize or inter- fere with any military officer in his command or while in the performance of his duty. This Board shall order and constitute all courts-martial under the following limitations, to wit ; 1st, When required to do so by the officer commanding. 2d, When requested to do so by any two officers of the Association. 3d, When requested to do so by five members in writing, with a statement of the cause. All courts-mar- tial to be constituted by the Board of Censors shall be composed of three members, of equal or superior rank to the accused, with power to fine, censure or expel, and are to be conducted according to the practice of the United States Army. ARTICLE III. AUMS AND UNIFORM. Section 1. The Association may adopt a uniform, but shall not compel its use, further than to forbid any member not in uniform from appearing on drill or parade without the consent of the commanding officer. Section 2. All arms worn by officers of the Association when on duty or parade, and all insig- nia of office, shall be the property of the Association, to be returned to the Armorer in good condition when their terms of office expire. APPENDIX B. 355 ARTICLE IV. MEETINGS, DUILLS AND PARADES, ETC. Section 1. A regular meeting of the Association may be held once each quarter, and under call of the officer commanding. Section 2. There may be at least four drills each year, one each quarter, at such times as the officer commanding shall appoint. Section 3. The Veteran Association kIuiU publiclj' parade at least once each year, on or about the 14tli day of August, when it shall be ordered out by the Colonel. All other parades and encampments are to be determined by a vote of the Association. And in all public parades each veteran shall be entitled to wear the insignia of the highest rank attained by him, either in veteran or active service. Section 4. In all business meetings the order of businessshall be according to a schedule which shall be adopted as a by-law, and according to such by-laws as may, from time to time, be adopted. Section 5. Thirteen members shall constitute a quorum to transact all business except the election of officers and membei-s of the Association, the ordering of parades and encanij)- ments and the amendment of the Constitution. For these items of business one-third of the enrolled members sliall\)e necessary to constitute a quorum. Section ('>. Amendments may be made to this Constitution only by a two-thirds vote, the Asso- ciation having been notified of the amendment upon the public bulletin at least one month previous to action. Under this Constitution the Veteran Association was organized on the 11th of Febniarj", 188t, with a charter membership of seventy -six men and the following olTicers : Colonel, H. JI. Boies; Lieutenant-Colonel, J. A. Linen ; Major, A. W. Dickson ; Adjutant, Lieut. E. F. Chamberlin; Chaplain, llcv. S. C. Logan, D.D. ; Quartermaster, Lieut. JI. I. Corbett ; Sur- geon, n. V. Logan, M.D. ; Commissary, A. P. Bedford ; Keeper of Archives, C. U. Smith ; Firet Captain, Samuel llines ; Second Captain, E. J. Smith ; Third Captain, \V. J, Watts ; Fourth Captain, E. J. Dimmick ; First Lieutenant,',W. C. Bushnell ; Second Lieutenant, E. S. Jackson ; Third Lieutenant, Wra. Cunnell ; Fourth Lieutenant, A. C. Logan ; First Censor, J. IL Torrey ; Sscond Censor, E. IL Ripple ; Third Censor, U. A. Knapp ; Fourth Censor, A. J. Norrman. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. '^^^^' ::lC1J|Q97 RETO ^'^^ 101919706 ^^U DEC 1 1 1997 i^B 'K