The Stories Related by the Wounded Pinkerton Detectives

Student Handout 7-Pinkerton Stories from Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette

The Stories Related By the Wounded Pinkerton Detectives

They Did Not Know the Task That Was Ahead of Them—Hired to Do Guard Duty—Only Crackers to Eat for Two Days.

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The 7 o’clock train on the Pittsburgh, Virginia & Charleston road yesterday evening was an object of great curiosity as it came into the city bearing among others several wounded Pinkertons, who had surrendered an hour before under desperate conditions. The report that preceded the train’s arrival was to the effect that five of the seven dead Pinkerton men had been taken from the barge and placed on the train, and it was this that raised curiosity to the highest pitch. When the trains pulled into the Union station there was a great mass of people crowded about the building and approaches attracted by the two ambulances from the WestPennHospital. This was the first indication that the five men were not dead as reported.

As rapidly as possible they were removed from the train to the hospital and given attention. All were seriously wounded, but only one was in serious condition. That was a man named Connors of Montgomery street, New York, who was known as “Mike” in the party. He had been shot in the arm about 6:30 yesterday morning and had lain in the barge all day long, during the many attempts to destroy it, without attention. His comrades were too busy trying to defend themselves to do anything for him, and last night when he was taken to the hospital the wound in the arm and a badly-torn side were so bad that the surgeons said that from the manner in which his vitality was ebbing he could hardly last until morning. The wound is in the upper arm and ran in a stream for most of the day.

The Other Wounded Men.

The other Pinkertons of the party were Ed R. Spear, No. 182 Oak street, Chicago; Charles Snatherham, No. 918 West Madison street, Chicago; Ed McGovern, No. 144 Bridge street, Philadelphia; John R. Credvall of New York, who said that his address is anywhere in the United States. He and Ed McGovern are experienced men in the Pinkerton service, and Credvall is an attaché of the Pinkertons’ New York office. McGovern has been in their service for some years and has done service in all the big strikes in the eastern cities. Criknell [sic] was shot through the left hand, McGovern and Spear are shot in the leg, and Groff is badly wounded in the back, Snatherham was thrown over a lot of lumber on the barge and badly bruised about the back.

All of them are brawny looking fellows, but were of one opinion, namely, that they had enough of Pinkerton service. Curiously not one of the Pinkerton men except Cruvale [sic] knew the destination of the parties that left New York, Philadelphia and Chicago on Monday night and arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. Spear is a rather intelligent man, who nursed his lacerated leg with a smile and made humorous comments on the affair. In answers to questions he said:

“No, we did not know where we were going when we engaged. We were asked to do guard duty somewhere and the impression was given that the work was in Kansas City. We were not told that, but it was the general impression in the party. No: I can’t say what road we came in on or where we were transferred to the flatboat. I know it was late at night and that there was no sign of houses. I did not take any notice of what the barge was like at the time, but about dawn, as we approached the landing, I saw that it was a perfect trap and could not have been worse for the purpose. Each man was assigned to a certain duty as soon as we boarded the boat, and I was put in charge of the rifles. There were about 401, and probably 325 men.

Overawed by Numbers.

“It was about 6 o’clock, I should judge when the barge was run in to the landing and preparations were made for leaving the boat. As we came into view we saw that the banks were swarming with men, and before we got started they opened fire. We replied the same way, and a hot skirmish took place for several minutes. All we could do was to keep under cover, for we were greatly outnumbered and were prevented from landing by the force that held the approach to the mill grounds and each man acted for himself. It was simply a matter of choice in the manner of dying either by fire, by water or bullets, and one way was certain. We could make no defense, as we were simply targets, and thought that surrender was the best thing to do. All we had to eat was a few crackers and a little coffee, and were a little weak at the end of the second day. I had been living on tobacco since Tuesday morning.”

His Worst Experience.

McGovern said that the eastern contingent expected that the Carnegie works was the objective point, but that none of the party dreamed that the situation was bad. “Yes, I have had plenty of experience,” said he, “but this is the worst. I was in the New York Central strike and other big ones, but this one beats them all. It was an awful day. By God, but those men did shoot. I never saw and heard so many missiles in all my life. These men are terrible. I never saw anything like it and don’t want to see the like again.”

From the July 7, 1892 Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette