"With exception of Luzerne county, matters in eastern Pennsylvania have returned to normal condition. Philadelphia is orderly. In Reading all danger is over, and civil authorities are rapidly arresting rioters. About fifty are now in jail. The citizens support General Reeder's action, and believe the firing of his troops prevented great destruction of property. Two of leaders of rioters were killed. The P. & R.R. is running trains, and the bridge will be ready for trains in two weeks. At Harrisburg all signs of disorders have disappeared. Forty arrests have been made, and the authorities are rapidly ferreting others. There is no doubt of their conviction of majority of prisoners, both in Reading and Harrisburg. Captain Linden assures me there are no fears of an outbreak in Schuylkill, unless irruptions of striking miners from Luzerne force the men in Schuylkill to quit work. General Sigfried's advices from Pottsville are to same effect. In Luzerne affairs are threatening. The Lehigh Valley R.R. has not resumed, and trains are stopped on other roads by miners. Engineers driven from pumps, and mines are flooding. In Wilkes-Barre there is said to be a scarcity of provisions, owing to interrupted transportation, and fears are felt of disturbance on that account. A concentration of troops in Luzerne, to give control of property, open traffic, and protect workmen, would remove the last vestige of lawlessness in eastern Pennsylvania. There are two hundred regulars in Reading. Available troops can be taken from Harrisburg or Reading without danger. If to-night's advices indicate the necessity, I will go to Scranton and Wilkesbarre to-morrow, if I can get there."
Witness: There is another one here, 11.30, P.M., that I suppose was the same date.
The dispatch was read, as follows:
"In answer to my dispatch of yesterday, Sheriff Kirkendall, of Luzerne, telegraphs as follows: 'All travel and communication by railroad stopped. Rumors that Lehigh Valley road resumes to-day. There has been no riots so far, nor destruction of property, except incident to stopping mines. Work in all mines stopped; men on strike.' I report no immediate apprehension of danger. There are some five hundred troops—National Guard—encamped here—Wilkes-Barre…. telegraphs from Kingston, July 31, that Kingston, Plymouth, and Nanticoke have been entirely in the hands of mob since last night. If anything is being done to master it, I don't know it. Last night, 30th, they mobbed a passenger train at Plymouth. Have been ready all day to do so again, if one moved. This afternoon, 31st, at Nanticoke, the mob stopped all the pumps at the mines. The citizens are powerless to act; those in authority don't.
C. N. Farr, jr.,
Private Sec'y."
Q. Had you any communication with the sheriff of Luzerne county direct?
A. His dispatch is incorporated in these: "In answer to my dispatch of yesterday, Sheriff Kirkendall, of Luzerne, telegraphs as follows: 'All travel and communication by railroad stopped. Rumors that Lehigh Valley road resumes to-day. There has been no riot so far, nor destruction of property, except incident to stopping mines. Work in mines all stopped; men on strike.'" And there may have been other dispatches received from him which I have not got—which I did not print.
Q. Had you any dispatches from the sheriff of Luzerne county, in which he expressed himself as being able to control the situation of affairs without troops?
A. No; I think there were no such dispatches.
Q. Did he make any call for troops?