A. There had been some talk in regard to the train men's union, that it was for the purpose of getting up a strike. But many of our men, I understood, were withdrawing from it, and would not lend themselves to anything of the kind. For that reason I did not anticipate any trouble among our men.
Q. Do you know whether there was any aid asked of or any consultation held with the authorities before the strike came about?
A. I cannot answer that. I was not in the city that day.
Q. How did the business that the road was doing for three months prior to June 1st, when the reduction was made in wages, compare with the same three months of the year before?
A. My recollection is that our average may have been a little heavier, but I am not positive about that.
Q. In the three months preceding June, 1877.
A. Yes; our business is spasmodic. It is the oil business. A part of the year they are doing a good business, and then it drops off to nothing.
Q. How did the prices for the carrying of freight compare in 1877 with those in 1876?
A. I cannot answer that. I did not make the rates.
Q. Had there been any change in rates, so far as you know?
A. My impression is that the rates in 1877 were lower than in 1876. I want to say here, that our shifting engines handling freight on the street had been interfered with two or three times during Saturday morning by the crowd going down Twenty-eighth street, and sent back. I walked out the street, from Eleventh street to Forty-third--between eleven and twelve o'clock. I saw that there was a very considerable excitement among the people, and a good deal of feeling. From there I went up on to Twenty-eighth street, where the strikers were in possession of the track. I saw but very few people there that I knew. Some faces were familiar to me. I came back to the office, and got a report about the action of the men at the shop, and went out there at half-past two o'clock, and on my return I walked up to the Pennsylvania railroad shops, and found the troops were moving out. I went in through the yard, and followed in the rear of the column. After the troops reached the vicinity of Twenty-eighth street, I got up on a car right in the rear of them, and I watched their movements--the formation of the command. The crossings were cleared. I saw a few stones thrown among the crowd, and I saw a man with a cap on--saw him draw a pistol, and fire into the troops.