the place. The two companies, in carrying out their orders, marched up against the crowd, with their pieces "arms port," and endeavored to press them back in this way, but no impression could be made on them. General Mathews, at this juncture, seeing, as he said, that the mob was firm and determined, and would not bear temporizing with, gave his men orders to load.

The two companies were then ordered to charge bayonets; many of their guns were seized and some of the bayonets nearly twisted off, but no impression was made on the crowd. While these movements were being made, the mob was becoming more and more noisy, defiant, and boisterous, and were throwing stones and other missiles at the troops, several of the latter having been hit, and one or two seriously injured. Several pistol shots were also fired by the crowd, and immediately after the pistol shots the troops commenced firing on the mob. The firing was scattering, commencing at a point near where the pistol firing took place, and running along the line in a desultory manner, until it became almost a volley for a moment. The officers ordered the firing to cease, and stopped it very soon. There is a conflict in the evidence as to whether or not an order was given the troops to fire, but the great weight of the testimony is that no such order was given. The most of those who testify that such an order was given, say it was given by General Pearson, but General Pearson was not present when the firing took place, but was at the superintendent's office. Every person, however, from General Pearson down, who have given an opinion on the subject, say that an order to fire was justified and should have been given, and the officers in command say that the order would have been given very soon. The firing had the effect to disperse the crowd at once, they scattering in all directions, and leaving the troops in full possession of the Twenty-eighth street crossing and the tracks in the vicinity. Several persons were killed and wounded, and as is usually the case, a number of innocent people suffered. The coroner held inquests on the bodies of twenty-two persons in all, the most of whom were killed by the soldiers at this time at Twenty-eighth street, but a few were killed the following night and Sunday morning at or near Twenty-sixth street. The number cannot be ascertained with any certainty, but several were seriously injured. It is believed, by those best situated to know the facts, that a number of the mob were secretly disposed of or taken care of by their friends, and whose names have never been given. If men had been ready and willing to man the trains, they could have been sent out after the dispersal of the crowd, but the occurrence at Twenty-eighth street seems to have thrown everybody into confusion, and, as usual, the engineers and train men were glad to find some excuse for not going. No attempt seems to have been made to move the trains, which were supposed to be ready at Twenty-sixth street, and the cars remained there until they and their contents were burned. The troops remained on the ground from the time of the firing about five, P M., until about dusk, when they were ordered, by General Pearson, to move into the lower round-house and machine-shop, near Twenty-sixth street, and remain for the night, as all attempts to move trains had been abandoned, and the troops needed rest and food.

The crowd had come together again gradually, in the vicinity of the Twenty-eighth street crossing, but whenever the troops made any move towards them, they would scatter, and when the troops marched into the lower round house and machine shop, the mob took possession of, and had full sway again at the crossing. General Pearson had ordered the Fourteenth and Nineteenth regiments to go down and take possession of the transfer depot as it was called, about two hundred yards below the lower round house, and these regiments marched down there about the time that General Brinton's command went into the round house and machine shop. Colonel Gray, at request of Colonel Howard, assumed command at the transfer depot, and held possession until about ten P.M., when General Brown came and told Colonel Gray that the place was untenable, and could not be held; that he had information which made it necessary for them to get out, and ordered the command to go to the Union depot. Colonel Gray had been disgusted at the order to leave the side hill above the Twenty-eighth street crossing, thinking it a great mistake, and was also disgusted at the order to move down to the Union depot. Colonel Gray, received orders from General Brown to disband his command, and at once called around him his officers, and protested against it. Said it was a disgrace to do so, with the mob in force in the vicinity, and a disgrace to desert the Philadelphia troops, but the order was obeyed, and the men dispersed to their homes, carrying their guns with them; about eleven P.M., General Brown testified, that leading citizens and military men advised him that it was best to disband these troops, that their being kept under arms aggravated and exasperated the mob, and that this advice coincided with his opinion, and therefore the order was given. About two hundred men were present at the time they were disbanded, nearly as many more having left from time to time, during the day and evening, and it is General Brown's opinion, that they were absent on account of their sympathy with the strikers, and not on account of fear. When these troops marched down to the transfer depot, the mob did not jeer or rail at them, as they did at all times at the Philadelphia troops, and it does not seem from the evidence, that anything had been done by them to aggravate or exasperate the mob in the least. General Pearson entered the round house with General Brinton's command, and left them about half past eight, to see about getting provisions for the men, who had received no regular meal since leaving Philadelphia. They had been furnished with coffee and sandwiches at Altoona, and the same at Pittsburgh.

On leaving, General Pearson gave General Brinton orders to hold the position until he returned, which he thought would be within an hour. On reaching Union depot General Pearson was informed that the mob was very much exasperated against him, as they held him responsible for the firing on them by the troops, and was advised by General Latta and others that his presence would still further aggravate the crowd, and that he had better retire to some place of safety until the excitement was over, which advice was followed, and he therefore did not return to General Brinton. The effort to provision General Brinton's troops was a failure, as the mob seized, used, and destroyed the food which was sent out for the purpose. The round house and machine shop overlooked Liberty street on one side, on the other side were the tracks, many of them filled with cars, and near the machine shop were piles of lumber and materials used in repairs. Pickets were put out on this side of the machine shop so as to prevent the mob from taking shelter behind the piles of lumber, and firing on the troops from these places. The mob had broken into two or three gun stores in the city between eight and nine o'clock that evening, and had, by this means, secured guns and ammunition, and soon after dark commenced firing on the round house and machine shops, firing in at the windows and at any soldiers they could get sight of, one of the mob firing an explosive bullet, which the troops could see explode every time it struck anything in their vicinity.

Two of the soldiers were wounded, one in the arm and one in the leg, during the night, which is all the casualties that occurred among them until after they left the round house and shop in the morning. About ten o'clock P.M., the mob began setting fire to the cars, and running them down the track nearest the round house, in order, if possible, to set it on fire, and thus drive out the troops. From some distance above