Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877 Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878

This report captures a moment when Pennsylvania’s lawmakers paused to probe the violent railroad unrest of July 1877. A bipartisan committee of eight legislators—carefully chosen from counties untouched by the disturbances—was charged with uncovering why crowds clashed with troops and how the state’s railroads had contributed to the chaos. The document opens with the formal resolution that set the investigation’s scope, deadlines, and powers, giving listeners a clear sense of the era’s procedural rigor.

The committee’s work quickly moved beyond the Capitol, as members convened in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Scranton and Reading to record sworn testimony from workers, officials and civilians. Their early findings point to systematic wage cuts across the Pennsylvania Railroad system, a policy that sparked deep resentment among employees earning as little as one dollar a day. Listeners will hear the meticulous language of the investigation, the challenges of gathering evidence, and the initial portrait of a labor crisis that rattled a growing industrial state.