The committee met, pursuant to notice, in Senate committee room, No. 6, all members present except Mr. Larrabee.
Governor John F. Hartranft, being duly sworn, testified as follows:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Governor, just state in your own way where you were in July last, when the railroad strikes first broke out, and when you received the first information, and what was done by yourself thereafter?
A. I contemplated making a trip to the west with my family, and, in thinking the matter over before I started, I had a conversation with the Adjutant General, in which I stated to him that I thought everything was as calm in the State it ever was since our administration, yet, if there was any trouble, he should exercise the authority vested in the commander-in-chief, in accordance with the same rules and principles that we had established when there was trouble prior to my leaving the State—that is, when there was trouble in a section of the State, we frequently had calls from the sheriffs of the county, and after we became satisfied that the sheriff had exhausted his authority, or was unwilling to exercise his full authority, we generally sent troops. With these general instructions, not anticipating for a moment that it meant anything, I left the State on Monday, the 16th of July. On Wednesday morning, I saw by the papers, at Chicago, where I was, that there was trouble on the Baltimore and Ohio road. On the next day, Thursday, receiving the papers on the train, I saw that the trouble was spreading. I telegraphed to the State for information as to whether this had spread upon the Baltimore and Ohio road into the State. The first dispatch that I received was received at Antelope, on the Union Pacific railroad, on Friday forenoon sometime. The dispatch was as follows:
"Mob stopped all freight trains at Pittsburgh. Sheriff called for troops. Ordered Pearson to take charge, and put one regiment on duty. Says he may need more."
Q. Who was that dispatch received from?
A. It was from General Latta.
Q. That was on Friday, the 20th of July?