extremely high and frequent. James Maurer, a socialist member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly from Reading, conducted a survey asking for information on State Police actions during the strike. Maurer's survey found that violence significantly increased after the arrival of the State Police, and that almost all acts of violence were committed by state troopers without provocation. Mauer was so outraged by the results of his survey that he introduced a bill to abolish the state police. Hundreds of citizens later testified before state and federal commissions that mounted State Police routinely charged onto town sidewalks or into crowds, trampling and severely injuring men, women and children (whether strikers or not). Severe beatings with fists and clubs were common, with troopers breaking into and ransacking homes without warrants, beating citizens and striking miners alike. Local police officials claimed State Police routinely beat people on the street for no reason, and resisted local police attempts to stop them. State Police troopers shot up towns "in true Western style", and fired indiscriminately into crowds or into tent cities (killing and wounding sleeping women and children). Sexual assault (including rape) was disturbingly common, and at least one hotel manager accused troopers of promoting prostitution. State Police were also involved in a number of serious violent incidents, several of which resulted in the deaths of unarmed strikers: In May 1910, State Police allegedly killed a man in cold blood. Several State Police officers and a coal company executive stopped and questioned four striking miners who did not speak English. An English-speaking miner who spoke their language came on the scene and told the four men to run off. They did so and escaped, but the State Police troopers chased the fifth man into a barn. The miner was shot and killed. The numerous witnesses testified that the miner was begging for his life when a State Trooper shot him. But the other troopers and a coal company executive stated that the miner was killed in self-defense, and the trooper was exonerated. In May 1911, State Police assaulted a group of striking miners on a public road. The miners, on their way to a meeting, walked past property owned by the Jamison Coal and Coke Company. The road narrowed where a creek ran past the property. The mounted State Police troopers blocked the mines' path at this point, then charged into the crowd. Two miners