Q. Would the hurling of missiles into your men by the mob be a provocation sufficient to justify the commander giving an order to fire?
A. I believe it would, but the commander would consider the previous acts of the mob and all the conditions of it, the character of it, and the character of the people in it, &c. I believe whenever a mob in the presence of the military does damage to the military that the military are justified in doing damage to the mob, and doing it right quick.
Q. And use the necessary efforts to disperse the mob?
A. Yes; fire at them, and do it quickly, and do enough of it to prevent them ever coming back. I do not believe a man in command of troops has any right to act rashly, and would hesitate some before he would do a thing of that kind. My idea of the military has always been that they are subordinate until the sheriff is satisfied he can do nothing—that then they step in and act quickly. Probably there would be no demonstration against the military if the military officer would inform the mob that if they did not disperse within a certain time, he would fire upon them, and if necessary, load in the presence of the mob, and ninety-nine times out of one hundred, I believe, there would be no mob by the time they got loaded.
Q. Did the mob flee or disperse before your men every time you gave the order to load?
A. They scattered every time. I had no trouble at all with the mob—I did not consider that I had a mob in front of me. I simply had a large crowd, which I believe would have been a mob if they could have got the upper hand in any way.
Q. You ordered to charge bayonets once or twice?
A. Three times.
Q. In the charge bayonets, did the crowd stand until your men came close to them?
A. No, sir; they fled in a good natured way. Laughed—no trouble at all to get rid of them. My object only was to prevent them coming too close. If the men get close enough some men in the crowd might feel like taking a musket away, and that would bring about a disturbance. It is better to prevent anything of that kind than to allow it to come and then act afterwards.