Q. Were your men sworn in as special policemen?
A. These also had written authority from the mayor.
Q. You said that the intention of your posse was to protect the property of private citizens. Did you intend to leave the property of corporations at the mercy of the mob?
A. No, sir; that is, we intended to protect common property which would damage the city if it were destroyed. We did not want to be sworn in. We would be sworn in, but we wished to be placed in such a position that we would not be forced to go over to breakers or outlying property in any direction to protect it, but property here in the city, for instance, the company's store we would protect. We did not wish to be mixed in any such way that we would have to take sides as between strikers and the man that wanted to work. It was not our business, we were not serving for pay, we were only serving for our own protection.
Q. I understood that was the case, but the language might be construed otherwise?
A. We could not draw the line between private property and corporation property.
By Senator Reyburn:
Q. You better explain more fully the object of the organization?
A. The object of the organization—we understood the cry had been raised all through in all directions among—I can't say whether there were miners or laborers, but among the worthless set of men who were in one thing or another, and hardly ever did a stroke of honest work, that they were going to gut Lackawanna avenue, that was the cry, and we organized to prevent any such thing as that taking place. We wished distinctly, and had it understood as distinctly, that the quarrels of men with their employers were nothing to us. We did not wish to side with the companies or men.
Q. The question of wages between the men and the company?