The Morewood Mine Riot

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The most serious of the pre-shooting riots took place on March 30. The works itself was at this time surrounded by a large fence to keep all but working employees out, and was guarded by deputies under the direction of Sheriff Clawson, who had arrived early because of rumors of a raid on Morewood. Clawson had given his deputies orders not to fire and did withdraw the deputies at the approach of a large crowd of up to 1000 workers. The crowd, led by a band, performed many acts of destruction including tearing down the fence, burning tools, opening burning ovens, breaking store windows, and tearing up the larry tracks. The only violence done was the bloodying of Superintendent Morris Ramsay's nose. Three leaders, identified as John McCarty, John Hale, and Joseph Yenrack were arrested and taken to the Greensburg jail.

After this raid, Sheriff Clawson telegraphed the Governor for the use of the arms of the 10th regiment. The Governor refused and Clawson made his request again. The Governor again refused, and by Wednesday, the situation seemed to have quieted down. By Wednesday evening, the fence had been repaired, and twenty deputized members of the 10th regiment, under the command of Captain Loar, were guarding the property, armed with rifles and accompanied by forty non-militia deputies.

Late Thursday night the strikers were holding a meeting at the Standard works. When the meeting broke up at around 2 or 3 a.m. a large crowd of people accompanied by a band, began to march down the Stonerville(Alverton) road toward the Morewood works. Morris Pigman, manager of the Standard store, and John Hart mine-boss at Standard, testified that the men cut the wires at the Standard store so that no warning could be sent to Morewood.

When the men reached the company store at Morewood, where a number of the deputies on duty waited under the orders of Deputy McConnell, they stopped for a moment. Then they continued down the road toward the gates of the works where Captain Loar and his twelve men were stationed. Captain Loar and his men shot two rounds into the crowd, causing the immediate death of six men, and leaving an unidentified number wounded. Three other wounded men were found in the road, one of whom died shortly afterward, one who was injured in the leg, and one who was found underneath a dead man. Two more men died of wounds they received. The deceased were listed as:
Paul Dohannis/Donahas/Dohannas, Hungarian, of Standard, single; shot in the head, died in the company store
Valentine Zeidel/Zerdel, Hungarian, of Donnelly, single; shot through the neck
James/Josef Brochto/Bachio/Procte, Polish/Hungarian, single, of Tarrs; shot through the breast
Jacob Shucaskey, Polish/Hungarian, of Tarrs; shot through the head. wife/wife and five children in Poland/at Tarrs
John Fudora/Tudore, of Standard, single; shot above left eye
Antonio/Anda Rist/Rest, Polish, single, of Standard; shot through the head
Cresezo/Cresinger Rinevo/Buero, Italian, of Tarrs, single; shot through the breast

Two more died later of their wounds:
Joseph Klossman, of Donnelly, married
Paul Galinsky, of Spring Garden, married, 6 children

The first seven bodies were removed to the undertaker's stable where they were visited by thousands of mourners. These seven were taken by train, to be interred at the Scottdale cemetery in one large grave measuring sixteen by seven by five feet. Six of the caskets were carried by pall-bearers from the train depot to the Catholic cemetery, two miles away; the other was conveyed in a hearse. Although the roads were particularly muddy, there was an extremely large turnout, but none of the expected unrest manifested itself.

Part of the peace at the funeral may have been due to the presence of the National Guard. Sheriff Clawson repeated his appeal for troops to Governor Pattison, and this time the reply was affirmative. Colonel Hawkins of the 10th regiment was ordered to "Put regiment under arms at once, with ammunition, to the support of the Sheriff of Westmoreland county at Mount Pleasant. maintain the peace, protect all persons in their rights under the Constitution and laws of the State. Communicate with me." The 18th regiment was also put under arms and soon followed the 10th to Mount Pleasant, and General Wiley of the Third Brigade was ordered to assume command.

The 18th regiment soon left but some companies of the Tenth remained for some time helping to serve eviction notices.

The shooting resulted in several arrests. Warrants were sworn out against Captain Loar and his eleven deputies for feloniuos shooting, and against General Managers Morris Ramsay, of the Southwest company, and Thomas Lynch, of the H.C. Frick Coke Company, as accessories to the crime. All of the deputies gave themselves up and furnished the $300 bond, except Harry Gilbert, who could not be found. They were again arrested on the charge of murder and released on $3000 bond each. Almost thirty strikers were arrested for participating in the March 30th riot at Morewood and ten of those, including several band members were convicted. Captain Loar and the deputies were acquitted of the crime.

More detailed information can be found in the book, "The Shots Fired at Morewood" by Emöke Pulay.