Q. Then the first telegram, I understood you to say, received from General Latta was in the forenoon of Friday, the 20th?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you know on that day that General Latta had already ordered out the militia?
A. Not except through him.
Q. Does that telegram state that?
A. Yes. He says, "Ordered Pearson to take charge, and put one regiment on duty."
Q. Do you know what time General Latta gave that order to General Pearson to take charge?
A. No; I do not.
Q. I would like you now to state when the news first reached you of any disturbance at Scranton, and through what channel, and your action in relation to the outbreak at Scranton.
A. I do not know that I knew anything definitely about the trouble there until the 25th. As I was passing through Harrisburg to Philadelphia, on the 25th, I received a dispatch from the Brotherhood of Firemen and Brakemen, and there was also one, I think, from the officers of the road, which I do not see here just now. The question that arose there was that the railroad company were unable to run their trains, because the firemen and brakemen had struck, and mob would not let them, and then the Brotherhood of Firemen and Brakeman agreed that they might run the mails through, and the company did not want to do that unless they could take a passenger train. I telegraphed back to the superintendent of the railroad, "Would advise you to let mails run through." My object in that was not to precipitate any further disturbance until I had everything in hand. There was, I think, no running of trains for a week or ten days after that. They were making an effort to run trains about the 31st of July, but on the 1st of August there was a disturbance in Scranton, and the mayor called upon me for troops. The miners came out on a strike about the 25th. In consequence of this general confusion in Luzerne county, no trains moved. I had anticipated a movement to Luzerne county for the purpose of starting trains, and had made my arrangements, but this riot at Scranton precipitated the movement, and I got there on August 2d. The riot occurred on the 1st, and I got the first news about two o'clock, and my advance troops got to Scranton early next morning.