of their
own, real or imagined, had gathered together from the very force of
their vicious inclinations and the active hope of plunder.

The strikers held a meeting that evening, at which they demanded that
the ten per cent. should be restored, and the running of double headers
abolished. In the meantime, the railroad authorities, perceiving the
inefficiency of the local police powers, and alarmed at the
still-increasing mob and the vicious spirit which it displayed, invoked
the aid of the sheriff of the county. At midnight Sheriff Fife came to
Twenty-eighth Street with a hastily summoned _posse_, a part of which
deserted him before he reached the scene of action, and ordered the
rioters to disperse, which they, with hoots and jeers, defiantly refused
to do. The sheriff then sought aid from the military, and General A. L.
Pearson issued an order to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth regiments of
the National Guards of Pennsylvania, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, to
assemble at half past six the next morning, armed and equipped for
duty. Sheriff Fife also telegraphed to the State authorities at
Harrisburg, stating that he was unable to quell the riot, and asking
that General Pearson be instructed to do this with his force; and
Adjutant General Latta issued the orders accordingly. General Pearson
marched his forces to the Union Depot and placed them in position in the
yard and on the hillside above it. The mob was not, however, deterred by
this action, as the troops were supposed to be more or less in sympathy
with the strikers, and were expected to be disinclined to fire upon
their fellow citizens if they should be ordered to do so. The employment
of local troops at this moment constituted a grave mistake in the
management of the riot.

The governor had, however, been telegraphed to, and had ordered General
Brinton's division of troops to leave Philadelphia for Pittsburgh. This
became known to the mob, which was still increasing in numbers and
turbulence, and the calling of troops from the east drove them to fury.
The feeling had spread to the workingmen in the factories on the South
Side, where a public meeting was held, and demagogical speeches made,
upholding the action of the strikers; and five hundred men came thence
in a body and joined the crowd.

At this critical moment the mob received an endorsement that not only
greatly encouraged it, but incited it to extreme violence. A local
newspaper, on Friday, the 20th,