The Great Railroad Strike began with "a stupendous blunder," the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette reported on July 23, 1877. It ended "in outrageous crime."

The country had been in recession since the Panic of 1873, brought on in part by overbuilding of railroads. As many companies went bankrupt, they dragged down the banks that had invested heavily in them.

As part of its cost-cutting effort, the Pennsylvania Railroad announced a 10 percent wage reduction in June 1877. That was followed in July with a plan to reduce employment by doubling from 18 to 36 the number of cars on some of its Pittsburgh freight trains.

On July 19, Pennsylvania engineers, conductors and brakemen walked away from the proposed "doubleheader" trains. When the railroad found other workers willing to man them, strikers stopped them from operating the equipment.

Pennsylvania Gov. John Hartranft called out Western Pennsylvania National Guard troops, but officials realized local citizen soldiers would not be reliable.

Philadelphia militia units were ordered to Pittsburgh. Even 131 years ago -- before the birth of professional football and hockey leagues -- there was bad blood between the state's two largest cities.

When approximately 600 soldiers from Philadelphia arrived around 1 p.m. on June 21, they faced a crowd already in the thousands and growing each hour.

"The delay in the arrival of troops caused the hope to be entertained among the strikers that the attempt to clear the track was not to be made that afternoon," the Gazette reported June 23.

It wasn't until about 5 p.m. that about half the soldiers in the Philadelphia units moved out, walking down the tracks from 28th Street toward Downtown, with strikers blocking their way.

"[S]omeone in the rear [of the crowd] commenced throwing stones," according to the Gazette. "Some accounts also state that a shot was fired from the mob into the troops ... statements also conflict as to whether any order was given to fire or not."

The soldiers shot both into the crowd and at the spectators on the hill above the tracks.

"The hillside was black with people, and the bullets took fearful effect among them," the paper said. "Mrs. E. Keener, who was standing on the hillside with a baby in her arms, was struck by a bullet, which killed her child and inflicted a severe wound upon her ... A laborer on his way home from work was, while walking up the hill with his tin bucket in his hand, shot in the back of the head."

About 20 people were killed.

"While the crowd was momentarily panic-struck and scattered by this calamity, its real effect was to inflame the passions of the strikers and their friends to the highest pitch of frenzy."

At around 7 p.m., the soldiers gave up their efforts to get Downtown and withdrew into a Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse near 26th Street and Liberty.

By that time strikers had broken into several of the city's armories and stolen weapons. The besieged soldiers were under rifle and musket fire from early evening into the middle of the night. Then the mob got more serious, unsuccessfully sending several burning railroad cars down toward the round house.

Just before daylight, the rioters ignited an oil car and were able to get it close enough to the roundhouse to start it on fire.

The soldiers withdrew, retreating east on what was then Penn Street to Butler Street, headed for the Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville.

Both sides exchanged fire as the crowd pursued the troops. "On this march five soldiers were killed and one of the Gatling guns was twice fired into the pursuing rioters," the Gazette reported. "General [Robert M.] Brinton told our reporters that he could have killed hundreds of men, but his heart grew sick at contemplation of the slaughter he could cause, and he refrained."

The troops faced more problems when they arrived at the federal arsenal. "On arriving there, [Gen. Brinton] knocked at the gate but was refused admittance."

The soldiers retreated further east. "Upon reaching the bridge that crosses the Allegheny river at Sharpsburg, the mob stopped pursuing, and the troops were molested no further."

With the Philadelphia soldiers gone and the local militia having stacked its arms, rioters took control of the city.

Part II on Aug. 10: What the Gazette called "The Reign of Anarchy in the Smoky City."