Q. From whom?
A. To the best of my recollection the telegram was from Mr. Watt. I immediately went out and hunted some of the policemen who had been discharged—I hunted them up, and several of the officers went out and hunted them up. I notified a number myself to report at the office for duty at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's depot. How many reported I don't know. It not being my special duty, I paid no attention to it. But I know a number of them reported. Where they went to I don't know personally. About four o'clock that evening, the mayor asked me if there was any news from the Twelfth ward. I told him I could telegraph to the Twelfth ward and see. We did so, and the report came from the station that all was quiet.
Q. The Twelfth ward takes in this district at Twenty-eighth street?
A. Yes; the mayor then left the office to go to Castle Shannon where his family is, as I believed, for the night. About that time—about five o'clock, Mr. Watt came in and asked for from fifty to a hundred additional policemen. I told him I didn't know where we could get them—that all we had for effective duty was ninety men, and, in the absence of the mayor, I couldn't take away the policemen from all portions of the city, for the purpose of protecting the property of the railroad company. Mr. Watt said to me, what will I do. I said, I don't know—the only thing—if you have a fear of any danger to your property—you had better call upon the sheriff, and the sheriff can call a posse comitatus to protect the property if there is any danger. Mr. Watt said he would do so. That is the last I saw of him until some time after the riot. No—the next morning—the morning of the 20th—he came in, and made this information against Thomas McCall. The mayor, at the time, said to him, that our police force was very limited, and in making those arrests we would have to make quiet arrests. The warrants were placed in the hands of the officers, for the purpose of ascertaining where those parties lived, and to find out who they were, and all about them. For the most part, they were strangers, as far as we knew. Officer McGovern had the warrants. The next morning Mr. Houseman, of the firm of Hampton & Dalzell, came into the office, and asked me how many of the parties had been arrested. I told him I didn't know that any were arrested. That the mayor's instructions were to proceed quietly. He said, can you give me this information. I said, no, it is part of the record, and cannot go out of our hands. He then asked for the names of the parties against whom the information was brought, and he copied the names, and as he was going out he said, I am instructed by Mr. Hampton to tell you folks not to execute these warrants. I said, very well—this is a matter entirely in your own hands. I went out with him to the officer, and told the officer to produce his warrants. He produced them, and I told him, you are instructed by Mr. Hampton, through Mr. Houseman, not to execute them. He said, that was all right. That is all I know, unless some special question may arise.
Q. How many policemen had been discharged prior to Thursday?
A. One hundred and sixteen.
Q. How long had they been discharged before that?
A. They were discharged, I think, sometime about the latter part of June, or may be the 1st of July. I am not certain as to the date.
Q. Had you any knowledge of any anticipated outbreak or strike by the men before it was communicated to you by Mr. Watt?
A. Not the slightest. And at that time we had no idea there was going to be any such trouble at all, as we have had sometimes in this city.