Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877 / Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878

Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878.
HARRISBURG: LANE S. HART, STATE PRINTER. 1878.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE RAILROAD RIOTS IN JULY, 1877.
Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878.
Mr. Reyburn, from the committee appointed to investigate the causes of the riots in July last, made a report; which was read as follows, viz:
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :
The committee appointed on the 3d day of February last, by virtue of a concurrent resolution of your honorable bodies, which resolution reads as follows, viz:
Resolved , That a committee consisting of five members of the House of Representatives and three Senators, none of whom shall be from any of the counties in which said riots occurred, be appointed, whose duty it shall be to examine into all the circumstances attending the late disturbance of the peace in certain parts of the Commonwealth, known as the railroad riots, and endeavor, if possible, to ascertain the causes, and by what authority the troops of the State were called out, for what purpose, and the service and conduct of the same; and said committee shall have power, in pursuing their investigations, to send for persons and papers, examine witnesses under oath or affirmation, administer oaths, and employ a competent phonographer to take all the proceedings of the committee, and the testimony; the committee shall report in full, in writing, to the Senate and House of Representatives within twenty days, &c.,
Beg leave to submit the following report, viz:
On the 4th day of February, 1878, the committee met at Harrisburg, and organized by the election of William M. Lindsey as chairman, Samuel B. Collins as clerk and stenographer, and J. J. Cromer as sergeant-at-arms. At said meeting it was also decided to commence taking testimony, first at Pittsburgh, that being the point where the first, and by far the most serious, riots occurred.