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A new article has been added at Newspaper Abstracts > United States > Missouri > Jefferson
http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=613
Direct link to article: http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/link.php?id=57967
Submitted by: Gigimo
Article Title: St. Louis Globe Democrat
Article Date: May 4 1886
Article Description: The Knights of Law Meet the Strikers at Hillsboro Court House.
Article Text:
The Knights of Labor and the Law and Order League measured strength with each other yesterday at Hillsboro, the county seat of Jefferson County, over the election of a judge for the Twenty-sixth Judicial District of Missouri. This district comprises the counties of Washington, Jefferson, Iron and Reynolds. The Republicans being hopelessly in the minority, left the field to the Democrats, and the latter had two candidates, John L. THOMAS, of Hillsboro,the present incumbent, and J. W. EMERSON, of Iron County. Nineteen delegates were to be elected to sit in the nominating convention at Ironton on June 15. Washington County had chosen five THOMAS delegates, and Iron County three EMERSON delegates. The fight of yesterday was over the eight delegates from Jefferson County, which is Judge THOMAS' home.
STRIKERS PLANS
The strikers who dismantled so many engines at the De Soto round-house and their fellow Knights and sympathizers from all the towns on the Iron Mountain Road, between the Barracks and Vineland, had set out to punish Judge THOMAS for a speech made at De Soto in which he denied the right of strikers to prevent honest workmen from earning bread and butter by filling places which had been voluntarily vacated by the followers of Marlin Irons. In plain English the strikers were to elect the Judge whose duty it would be to enforce the law in future strikes. They boasted on Saturday that every striker from De Soto and other points on the Iron Mountain track, and every discontented workman from Tanglefoot, a rum-hole near Crystal City, would be on hand to-day in sufficient numbers to make sure of Judge THOMAS' early retirement to private life. This boast was conveyed to the Law and Order League, and the league girded up its loins for war. As side issues, John H. MORSE, the semi-o!
ccasional would-be candidate for Congress from Big River Township, joined with EMERSON against Judge THOMAS, because of the support given by the latter to Martin L. CLARDY at the last election, and J. J. WILLIAMS and the Knights joined in "Blanche, Tray, Sweetheart and all."
Hillsboro has never seen such a day. The Knights rendezvoused at De Soto from Pilot Knob, the St. Joe lead mines, and Tanglefoot, and marched to the county seat 400 strong. Three hundred sympathizers came into the square in wagons, on horseback, and Master Workman MCLAUGHLIN, of the De Soto Assembly, sat in the slickest and shiniest buggy seen on the road.
THE LEAGUE TO THE FRONT
The Law and Order League and its friends--and their name was legion--came from every nook and corner of the county. Some of them had ridden twenty-five miles to do their part in suppressing organized lawlessness. The greater number, however, were marshaled at the stations on the Iron Mountain Road, and came in on two special trains. One hundred men got aboard at Kimmswick and 400 at Silica, and these, with numerous accessions, left the cars at Victoria, where half a hundred wagons were waiting to take them to Hillsboro. There were not enough wagons, and those who failed to find accommodation walked the four miles to the county seat. All the party wore badges with the following inscription:
JOHN L. THOMAS
for
CIRCUIT JUDGE
The main body of the Leaguers were escorted into town by the Crystal City Band. Two more special train-loads landed at Victoria at 1 o'clock, and when they reached the county seat there were 2,500 strangers in town, The Knights at once took the aggressive, singled out their industrious successors at the forge and bench and deprived many of their badges. Two saloons dealt out liquid enthusiasm and decent people feared trouble, judging more especially from the noisy conduct of EMERSON's followers.
At 2 o'clock Col. John O'FALLON, Chairman of the Judicial Committee, called the crowd into the Court House square. The square was several sizes too small, the Knights climbed quickest and lots of THOMAS men were on the outside.
THE MEETING
Mounting a dry goods box Col. O'FALLON managed to quell the tumult long enough to announce the object of the gathering, and say that if there were any aliens present he believed them too honorable to attempt to cast a ballot. Further, he did not believe there was a Republican present who would cast a ballot who did not intend to support the nominee at the polls.
The Emersonians nominated E. S. PILE for Chairman, also Thomas WALSH. Judge THOMAS' friends placed R. W. MCMULLAN, editor of the Jefferson Democrat, in nomination. The greatest confusion prevailed, shout after shout and a chorus of yells drowning every other sound. The Knights surged to and fro, waved their hats, shook sticks in the air, tossed up umbrellas and yelled again. They withdrew PILE's name, leaving the test of strength for the chairmanship between MCMULLAN and WALSH.
In the general uproar a motion to separate the friends of one candidate from those of the other prevailed. An attempt to do this was made,and it proved about as successful as an effort to separate a drove of stampeding Texas steers. Each party swept across the dividing line to drag some __________ back into the fold in defiance of all attempts to obtain order. Frank GREEN and Mayor GOFF, of De Soto, were appointed a committee to separate the forces, but were swallowed up in the excited crowd. Col. O'FALLON sent for a rope "to divide the line" as he said. A cobweb would have done as well.
"WAlSH men to the right, MCMULLAN's to the left," was called out again and again, all to no purpose, both by the Chairman and W. H. H. THOMAS. The latter's presence on the rostrum calling for a division of the forces incensed the Knights very much, and he had to come down to prevent a general free fight.
At this juncture it was plain to be seen that the THOMAS men outnumbered their foes by at least 200, but heir leaders were not confident, and, besides that, were fearful of a riot.
A MOTION TO HOLD PRIMARIES
Under these circumstances J. H. MORSE served a good purpose by commanding the attention of the Knight long enough to say that in view of the impossibility of arriving at any conclusion, he moved that the whole matter be referred back to the people to elect delegates at township primaries who would meet at Hillsboro and elect delegates to the Nominating Convention. He had been informed, he said, that both the candidates favored this plan.
Col. O'FALLON put the motion, and it was carried with an uproarious demonstration on the part of the Knights, who considered it a great victory for their side.
A RECOGNIZED DEFEAT
In a few minutes the Emersonians saw they had been trapped by the MORSE motion, and howled for a new deal. They dared the THOMAS men to measure strength with them. WALSH and J. J. WILLIAMS both made speeches about how the workingmen had been hoodwinked, and demanded that the meeting be re-called, so they could assert the rights that had been wrested from them. Speeches of the usual wild order were made by other EMERSON men, who were left to occupy the Court House yard all to themselves, while law and order champions went home well satisfied that victory will be theirs at the primaries. Before the Knights got away, four of them had a fight in VOLMER's saloon, where there was pretty hard knocking and some blood shed. Sheriff HUTCHINSON and his deputies quelled the row and arrested the ring-leaders, who were from Tanglefoot. The day for holding the primaries has not been determined upon.
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