# Anti-Chinese Riots At Seattle

This has been transcribed from a bound photocopy in the collection of the University of Washington Libraries. According to a handwritten note in that photocopy from, George Kinnear originally wrote this piece for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which published it January 1, 1911. Apparently it was then privately published IA (no publisher's name given, but it has appeared several times in eBay auctions and used bookstore sites) with the publication date of "February 8th, 1911". The volume from which this is transcribed appears to be a photocopy of that private publication.
Page breaks have been preserved, line breaks (and hyphens that result from breaking a word across lines) have not.
Lengthy excerpts from this essay are also reproduced in the biographical sketch of Kinnear in Clarence B. Bagley, History of Seattle From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company (Chicago:1916), Volume 2.
ANTI-CHINESE RIOTS AT SEATTTE, WN., FEBRUARY 8th, 1886
BY
GEO. KINNEAR
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF RIOTS SEATTLE, WASHINGTON February 8th, 1911
​My reason for writing this article is to correct some erroneous statements which have been made by different persons, several having found their way into books considered reliable authority.
The agitation that culminated in the riots which commenced at Seattle February 7th, 1886, and lasting several days, began in the fall of 1885.
A general unrest existed all over the country, business was depressed, times were stringent, men were out of employment, the usual distress that goes with such periods prevailed, making it easy for designing men to organize discontented forces to attack some real or imaginary cause of their troubles, and in this section of the country where there were many Chinese employed, it was believed that if the Mongolians could be driven out of the country, more employment would be given to white labor.
The lawless element in the country had succeeded in organizing mobs and expelling the Chinese from a number of towns along the Coast and in several instances drove out some of the prominent citizens who had attempted to uphold the law. In the interior they were guilty of unsurpassed brutality. At the Rock Springs Coal Mines of Wyoming, after harassing the Chinese and driving them from one quarter to another, they shot them down in cold blood.
In the early fall of 1885, agitators began to hold meetings here. It was their intention to drive out the Chinese of Seattle about the time a similar occurrence had been planned to take place elsewhere. After the arrest of several men accused of killing a number of Chinese hop pickers while they were asleep in their tents in Wold's Hop Yard in Issaquah Valley, there was an assemblage in Seattle called an Anti-Chinese Congress which promulgated a manifesto that all Chinese inhabitants in the towns and localities represented should be compelled to depart, and committees were appointed to personally give warning to the Chinese inhabitants of Seattle, Tacoma and other places, to leave on or prior to the first day of November.
The committees in Seattle and Tacoma each consisted of 15 members. The Seattle committee included Mrs. Kenworthy, McMillin, G. Venable Smith, John Keane and a number of others, all of whom were indicted by the Grand Jury under a United States statute commonly referred to as the Civil Rights Bill.
​As Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. C. H. Hanford had charge of the prosecution. The trial of the case before Judge Green and a jury consumed two weeks and ended in a verdict of acquittal. There was rejoicing and some noisy demonstrations in the streets by the agitators over their victory secured by the verdict, and it was during those demonstrations that a shot was fired through one of the front windows of Mr. Hanford’s house.
It was immediately after the action of the so-called Anti-Chinese Congress that a meeting of citizens was held in C. H. Hanford’s office and it was there decided to hold a public meeting for the purpose of demonstrating that the citizens of Seattle would not tolerate riotous violations of the law. A meeting was held accordingly in Frye’s Opera House and I think the date was October 4th. It was addressed by Governor Squires, James McNaught and C. H. Hanford. In Mr. Hanford’s talk he outlined the plan of citizens to preserve peace and order in Seattle, and stated that if necessary the law-abiding citizens would form an organization to patrol the city day and night. This statement was applauded by part of the audience and there was no strong expression of disapproval, and the meeting would have ended happily for all concerned if nothing more had been said, but Mr. Hanford’s speech was followed by one from J. T. Ronald, who was then Prosecuting Attorney. He made a vigorous declaration of his purpose to secure conviction of the prisoners accused of murdering the Chinese in Issaquah Valley. Some one carried information of Ronald’s speech to J. C. Haines, who had been retained to defend the accused persons. He, a very ready and eloquent speaker, came striding into the meeting and upon the platform, showing great excitement, and made a furious harangue which was cheered by the audience, augmented by a large number of the Anti-Chinese sympathizers who had followed Haines into the meeting, and the affair ended with a noisy demonstration entirely sympathetic with the Anti-Chinese agitators.
A few days later a meeting of citizens was held in Frye’s Opera House which was addressed by Governor Ferry, after which those present enrolled themselves as volunteer aides to the Sheriff and they were appointed and sworn as Deputy Sheriffs and an organization was so far completed that the deputies were grouped in squads with a Captain to whom they were to report immediately in case of an alarm.
​The first day of November came, but the Chinese remained.
On the third of November, the Chinese in Tacoma were forcibly expelled. They were driven out of their habitations in a pitiless storm and remained unsheltered on the prairie south of Tacoma until in some manner they were provided with transportation by railroad to Portland. The day after their expulsion the buildings which they had occupied in Tacoma were burned. The fires were started by citizens of Tacoma and there was a large gathering of people watching while the flames were accomplishing destruction.
President Cleveland issued a proclamation commanding all people to observe the treaty rights of the Chinese inhabitants, and he also sent a part of the 14th U. S. Infantry under command of Col. de Russy to Seattle, where they remained for a time.
At a meeting held in the Bijou Theatre a few nights before the outbreak, one of the leaders disclosed their purpose and declared it to be not only to drive out the Chinese, but to burn the City, take what goods they wanted from the stores, break open the banks and take the money therein; that it all belonged to them and that they would drive out all the white Chinese who opposed them.
The following morning, ten or a dozen men met in some office on the west side of Front St. I led off by making the first talk, saying that we were going to have to face a vicious mob, that I was not going to be run out, that I was going to stay here and favored organizing a force of 25 men, arming them with breech-loading guns and going out and standing off the mob. All present agreed to this and adjourned with instructions to go out and gather in men for the force.
Subsequently we assembled about 80 men at the fire engine house, armed them with breech-loading guns and they organized by making me Captain. All the men loaded their guns at that time, with the understanding that they were to use them on the mob in self-defense and enforcement of the law. This force was called the “Home Guards.” It had been arranged to give signals when the mob had begun the attack.
On Sunday morning (Feb. 7th), about 11 o’clock, the old University and M. E. Church bells sounded the signals. At a meeting the previous evening a committee had been appointed to take charge of the removal of the Chinese. They proceeded to the Chinese quarters with wagons, ordered the Orientals to pack up, then, with the aid of the rioters, placed them and ​their baggage onto wagons and drove them to the dock at the foot of Main St., the intention being to load them onto the Str. “Queen,” which was expected from San Francisco any hour. Upon the arrival of Capt. Alexander with the “Queen” at Port Townsend, he first learned of the situation at Seattle, and when he arrived at the Ocean Dock he ran out the hot-water hose, declaring he would scald all persons attempting to force their way onto the ship. They willingly kept at a distance.
But the City was completely in the hands of the mob. The Acting Chief-of-Police Murphy and nearly all of the police force were aiding in the lawless acts.
Early in the day Gov. Watson C. Squire, being in the city, issued his proclamation ordering them to desist from violence, to disperse and return to their homes. Their only answer was yells and howls of defiance. He ordered out two military companies stationed in the City to report to the Sheriff of the County for the purpose of enforcing the laws.
A squad of 18 men from the Home Guards escorted an officer to the front of Dexter Horton’s Bank, where the Governor’s proclamation was read to the howling mob. They were furious at the presence of the armed men and would have attacked, had the Guards not promptly returned to their quarters at the Engine House. The removal of the Chinese from their homes continued till there were about 350 herded on Ocean Dock awaiting the transportation by rail or steamer to carry them away. A strong guard of rioters was placed over them.
Only those who could pay their fare were permitted to board the ship. The citizens subscribed a portion of the money to pay the fares of 100, being all that could be carried on the boat. In the meantime a writ of Habeas Corpus was issued by Judge Roger S. Greene, detaining the vessel and requiring Capt. Alexander to produce the Chinese then on his vessel at the Court Room next morning at 8 o’clock, that each Chinaman might be informed of his legal rights and say if he desired to go or remain; that if he wanted to remain he would be protected.
Early in the afternoon of the 7th, the Home Guards were ordered placed where they could best guard the City. The entire force was posted at the corner of Washington St. and Second Ave. and details sent out from there to guard a portion of the City. That night a portion of the Guards and the Seattle Rifles took up their quarters at the Court House, Company D ​remaining at their armory. The authorities were active during the entire night in doing everything they could to enforce the laws. Gov. Squire telegraphed the Secretary of War, also Gen. Gibbon, commanding the Department of the Columbia, the situation. About midnight an attempt was made to move the Chinese to a train and send a part of them out of the City that way, but the Seattle Rifles and Company D were sent to guard the train and succeeded in getting it out ahead of time.
While most of the mob that had not yet retired was down at the train, a squad of the Home Guards was detailed to take possession of the North and South wings of the Ocean Dock upon which were quartered the Chinese, watched over by McMillin, Kidd and others, all of whom were prevented by the Home Guards from leaving the dock.
By daylight the Seattle Rifles and University Cadets with a squad from the Home Guards were lined up across the two wing approaches to the main dock. In the early morning the mob was gathering again and soon the adjoining wharves and streets were blocked with angry men who saw they were defeated in keeping charge of the Chinese. As their numbers increased they became bolder and declared their purpose to kill or drive out the Guards.
Early that morning after warrant was issued by Geo. G. Lyon, Justice of the Peace, the leading agitators were arrested and locked in jail, where they were confined at the time the Home Guards escorted the Chinese from the dock to the Court House pursuant to the writ of Habeas Corpus issued by Judge Greene. Of course there would have been a skirmish somewhere between the dock and the Court House if the Anti-Chinese forces had not been deprived of their leaders.
At the conclusion of court proceedings, the Home Guards escorted all of the Chinese back to the dock so that those who were to leave on the “Queen” might do so and the others went to the dock to reclaim their personal effects which they carried from their houses or which were carted there by the mob. At this time the leaders who had been arrested had been released from jail on bail, at least some of them had, and they acted as a committee to disburse money which had been raised to pay the passage of those Chinese who wanted to go to San Francisco on the “Queen.” The committee, or some members of it, were permitted to go upon the dock, but the mass of Anti-Chinese forces were held in check by the Home Guards, Seattle ​Rifles and University Cadets, who maintained a line across the docks extending from Main Street to Washington Street.
The numbers of the disorderly element were increasing and there was every indication of trouble ahead. President Powell of the University had been mingling among the crowd and informed us that they were planning to take our guns away from us. The Guards had been expecting this and were prepared all the time for trouble.
After the “Queen” left, the remaining Chinese were ordered moved back to their quarters where they had been living and the Chinese were formed in column with baskets and bundles of all sizes which made them a clumsy lot to handle. In front was placed the Home Guards,—the Seattle Rifles and the University Cadets coming some 250 yards in the rear. The march began up Main Street. The Home Guards were well closed up as they had been cautioned to march that way.
Crowds of men were on the street, but they gave way. But on our left, on the North side of the street, they now lined up in better order, and as the head of the column reached Commercial St. and alongside the New England Hotel, at a signal the rioters sprang at the Guards and seized a number of their guns, which began to go off. The rioters instantly let go the guns and crowded back. They were surprised that the guns were loaded. One man was killed and four wounded. This seemed to have the desired effect on them. Immediately the Guards were formed across Commercial St. looking North. The Seattle Rifles and University Cadets formed on Main St. facing the docks, where there was a large crowd, a few men were faced to the South and East, thus forming a square at Commercial and Main Sts. The dense mobs were in the streets to the North and West. To the North as far as Yesler Way the street was packed full of raving, howling, angry men, threatening revenge on those who were interfering with their lawlessness. I selected Mr. C. H. Hanford and Mr. F. H. Whitworth and directed them to press the crowd back so as to keep an open space between our line and the front of the mob. Many of the mob were seen with arms. At the time of shooting, several shots were fired by the mob, one ball passing through the Sheriff’s coat, but none of our men were hurt. Back a distance a number of the leaders mounted boxes and by their fierce harangues tried to stir the mob to seek revenge. There was no order given to fire. The men understood their business and knew when to shoot.
​We remained in this position about half an hour, until Capt. Haines, with Company D, appeared, coming down the street from the North, the mob cheering with great delight and opening the way to give them free passage. Shortly afterwards the mob called on John Keane for a speech. He mounted a box in front of the New England Hotel and made a speech in the following words: “All of ye’s go to your homes. There has been trouble enough this day.” Then the Home Guards, Rifles and Cadets conducted the Chinese to their quarters and then marched to the Court House, which from that time on, with Company D, was their Headquarters.
Immediately Guards were put out in different parts of the city.
The mob had full confidence when they started out in their lawless movement that they would succeed. When some of their men had been shot down as they said in cold blood, they then became desperate and maddened and were ready to attempt anything. After the shooting they lacked leadership and organization, but other leaders sprang up. Immediately they attempted to arrest five of the Guards. They attempted to serve a warrant, but Judge Greene would not allow it served, claiming that the men were officers of his Court.
Along in the afternoon of that day, Governor Watson C. Squire issued a proclamation reciting that on the 7th inst. he issued his proclamation ordering all persons who were not disposed to aid the authorities in enforcing the laws to disperse and return to their homes, which order was wholly disregarded. He therefore declared the City under martial law. In pursuance thereof a Provo Martial, Major Alden, was appointed and all necessary forms compiled with to carry out martial law. The saloons were ordered closed, all business houses were closed between 7 P. M. and 6 A. M. All persons found on the streets after 7 P. M. and before 5 A. M. without written consent of the Provo Marshal would be arrested. Volunteers were called for, large numbers of citizens responded, were organized and furnished with guns and ammunition. They were sworn in and did good service. Soldiers were posted throughout the city, one on each corner, and allowed no person to pass without a written pass from the Provo Marshal. By this means, with the aid of the numerous Volunteers who had promptly come to our assistance, the Guards and Militia were able to keep complete control of the city.
​In the meantime the rioters were planning for desperate acts. The President of the United States having been notified of the situation ordered General Gibbon, who was stationed at Vancouver, to move his troops to our aid. On the morning of Feb. 10th Col. deRussy came with the 14th Infantry. General Gibbon immediately issued his order to all disorderly persons to disperse, which had its effect. Their coming was a great relief to the Guards and militia, who had been on constant duty three days and nights without sleep or rest.
As soon as relieved by the Regular Troops, the local force assembled at the Court House, their Headquarters. It was apparent to us now that our difficulties were about at an end. Speeches were called for from the following named officers and men: Capt. George Kinnear of the Home Guards, Rev. L. A. Banks, Judge R. S. Greene, Judge Thomas Burke, Capt. J. C. Haines of Company D, Capt. Joseph Greene, Lieut. L. R. Dawson and Sergt. James Hamilton Lewis of Company B, Sheriff John H. McGraw, Lieut. Hatfield of the Home Guards, Capt. Chas. A. Kinnear of the University Cadets, Mayor H. L. Yesler, Alfred Holman and Gov. Squire, who responded, congratulating all on our success in maintaining the law against the greatest effort made anywhere on the Coast.
During all this time the Fire Department performed valuable service under command of Chief Gardner Kellogg. He kept his force continually on duty, guarding the engine house equipment and patroling the part of the city in most danger, ready at any moment to put out a fire if one should be started.
A few days later steps were taken to increase the local force to better protect the city when the regular troops should leave. Recruiting began and in a few days the Company of Home Guards, Seattle Rifles and Company D were filled to 100 men each. Then another Company was raised of 100 men and E. M. Carr made Captain. The entire force was armed, mainly with army rifles. These men came from every walk and business in life,—lawyers, bankers, doctors, business men and mechanics, old and young. We secured the site of the old skating rink on Second Ave., where we drilled this force day and night until they were all quite skillful and efficient in their movements.
The Regular troops remained in the City about a month. We soon saw after the troops left we had made no mistake in perfecting our military force and making it stronger. During all the time the troops were here the mob kept its mutterings ​and threats of vengeance back until that force should be withdrawn. Immediately after the troops left, the mob began to organize an armed force to take possession of the City and shoot down any armed opposition. They drilled their men in several secret places in the city and county and so alarming was the situation, the constant drilling of our force of 400 men lasted several months, and so intense did the feeling become that our men declared that if they had to meet an armed mob they would shoot down every one they could find. This intense feeling and purpose becoming known, their leaders succeeded in persuading their followers to abandon armed resistance and prepare for the fall election, at which they believed they could elect their men to every County office, which they did, with the exception of one County Commissioner.
If their plan succeeded, they were to arrest a number of our leading men, convict and hang them. They were bent on revenge. They were warned by the Guards against any attempt on the lives of these loyal citizens. Gradually the smothered feeling of opposition to good government subsided and security was restored, business resumed its usual course and the City seemed on a more substantial basis than ever before. The fact that the City had a spirit of loyalty and patriotism that could and would enforce good government gave an assurance of safety to those who saw fit to make their homes among us and invest their money and engage in business. It gave the City of Seattle credit with the financial centers of the East, which was in great contrast with cities that yielded to mob violence. Soon after the shooting occurred the infuriated rioters, to vent their vengeance on the guards, swore out warrants for the arrest of Judge Thos. Burke, Rev. L. A. Banks, E. M. Carr, Frank Hanford and David Webster and they were taken before Police Justice Hill, who required them to give bonds in the sum of $5000 each, which was an outrage. They were officers of the law, performing their duty as Deputy Sheriffs. They had been picked out for the fearless and conspicuous part they had taken.
Judge Burke had made several speeches during the agitation that preceded the outbreak in which he denounced in the severest terms all unlawful utterances and acts. Rev. Banks had done the same from his pulpit. At the time the bells rang, Banks was preaching his Sunday morning sermon. Hearing the signal he stopped short and said: “I know where my duty lies,” then pronounced the benediction, procured his rifle from ​a rear room and joined the Home Guards at the fire engine house. The above named, Messrs. Burke, Banks, Carr, Hanford and Webster, were accused of having fired into the mob.
In a book called the “History of Washington,” giving an account of the day of the shooting, I find “As the column moved up Main St. and approached 1st Avenue, the Home Guards were forced to halt because of the mob in their front. The Guards were formed across the street.
“At the order given, their guns were loaded with ball cartridges but no demonstration was made about using them.
“Some of the noisier members now urged the others to make a rush on the Guards and disarm them. It was not until the Guards had held their position some seconds—perhaps minutes—that a few of the bolder members of the mob gained courage to make something like a rush. Even then it was not a united effort, made all along the line, but furtive attacks made in only one or two places.
“One of the first of these was directed at E. M. Carr, afterwards Brigadier General of Militia, but then only a private in the Home Guards. It was a most unfortunate selection for those who made it, for Carr was strongly built and as courageous as strong. He disposed of one or two of the first who approached him with his fist, but when others joined in the attack he clubbed his rifle and laid the nearest rioter at full length along the street. This discouraged others in the neighborhood and for a time Carr was left alone.”
The fact is, the Guards to the number of about 80 men, with loaded guns, moved from the dock to Commercial Street (First Ave.) in close column, the men all in their places. A simultaneous attack was made to take from us our guns from the front to the middle of the column. Our march was not checked till attacked.
Carr was not alone. He was with the column and was not left alone till the column was.
The Guards had loaded their guns before they left their quarters.
Also in the work entitled “Memoirs of Orange Jacobs” he says: “His Excellency Governor Watson C. Squire being in town ordered out the Militia, which, under the command of the bold and fearless Col. J. C. Haines, who was ably assisted by General E. M. Carr and others, did effective work.” This statement conveys the idea that Col. Haines deserves the principal credit for putting down the riots, when in fact he did ​not appear on the scene until three-quarters of an hour after the shooting. As stated before, he appeared with his Company D, marching down through the mob, the rioters opening a way, cheering with great delight. Several days later, in a speech (above referred to) at the Court House, Col. Haines declared that he was proud that his company did not have their guns loaded, and that they were cheered by the rioters. These remarks called forth hisses and remarks of severe rebuke from the men who had thus far borne the brunt in trying to enforce the laws. All the companies were under the direction of the Sheriff. The above quotations are the kind of reckless statements some books supposed to be reliable give to their readers.
All members of the Home Guards, Seattle Rifles and University Cadets acquitted themselves manfully and courageously. Sheriff John H. McGraw was present during the whole affair and no officer ever performed his duties more faithfully and efficiently.
Soon after the riots started there was a change made in the Governorship of the Territory, Eugene Semple succeeding Governor Squire. When Governor Semple arrived at Seattle, a committee, of which I was one, called on the Governor and had a talk with him about the situation, when we were informed that “as soon as he had ‘decided’ on his ‘policy’ he would inform us what it was”—just as though there could be more than one policy used in dealing with outlaws. The situation in Seattle was notorious. Everybody knew what the trouble was and when the only thing to be done was to promptly enforce the laws, he had to wait and decide on a policy.
When General Gibbon came with his troops, he at once issued the following order:
“The President of the United States has issued a proclamation commanding all disturbers of the peace in the City of Seattle to disperse by 6 o’clock on the 10th inst. All evil-disposed persons are therefore warned to obey the legal command of the President at the peril of their lives.
“All true and loyal Americans will array themselves on thethe side of law and order; all others are warned that they will incur the penalty of law breakers.
“JOHN GIBBON, Brigadier General, U. S. Army.”
The deplorable situation and the cause of all our trouble was—two few men were willing to throw themselves into the breech to defend the right at any cost, and too many were ​afraid to do anything to check the tide of lawlessness. Professional men were afraid they would lose some of their clients. Merchants were fearful they would be boycotted. The merchants in the building in which Judge Burke had his office said he must vacate and leave the premises for fear the building would be fired or blown up. But the Judge stayed. He was one of the men who put down the mob.
The lawlessness here disclosed a situation not very creditable to certain men in official position,—one the Head of the Territory hesitated, about his policy; another, holding a command in the military, was proud his men carried empty guns and were cheered by the mob; another in a court of justice arrested men and put them under heavy bonds,—men who by their courage and devotion to duty saved the City from the lawless. Each one of these men who were arrested and put under bonds was at such a time worth a thousand such officials.
After tranquility had been restored, it was recognized that many of the Cadets attending the Territorial University were students whose homes and interests were in other parts of the State than at Seattle, but that when the supremacy of the law was threatened, they volunteered their services and helped the citizen soldiery of Seattle put down the mob.
Accordingly, and acting on the initiative of Col. G. O. Haller, a suitable flag, bearing on one side the inscription, “Tribute for Merit, Feb. 8th, 1886,” and on the reverse side, “Presented to the University Cadets of Seattle, Washington Territory,” was presented to the Cadets at Frye’s Opera House by General John Gibbon, U. S. A., and as that gentleman commanded the United States force sent here by the President and under martial law was in command of Seattle, had also been one of the big Generals of the Civil War and signed as a witness the surrender of General Lee at Appomatox, and as his speech presenting the flag contains some declarations of sound sense on loyalty on the handling of law breakers, I herewith quote from it the following extracts:
“Young Gentlemen of the University Cadets: I address you as Gentlemen, for, although the uniform you wear is not as significant of gentleness as of force, the ideal soldier is always a gentleman, even when exercising the brutal forces of war.
“It is a necessity in every society, in order to protect itself against dishonesty, turbulence or vice, to organize force for use when needed * * * but it sometimes happens that or​dinary means fail to give that protection absolutely necessary to the welfare of every well-organized community. Then it is that the brutal force of armed men is called in; and the dread arbitrament of the sword, the musket and the cannon is used to determine which shall rule, the law or chaos. * * *
“More than a century ago, we Americans crowned as King The Law made by ourselves. None but ourselves, through our duly chosen representatives, can make this, Our King, The Law * * * and he who raises his hand against Our King aims his blow not against a single life, which could be readily replaced, but against the life of the Nation. Without the Law, Liberty, Safety, All is lost. It is, or should be, our guiding star by night and day, the rudder without which our Ship of State would inevitably be wrecked in the storms through which every vessel has to struggle. To nothing else do we owe the same allegiance as to our Sovereign King, The Law. If the life of the State is threatened or turbulent violence raises its hand against the supremacy of the Law, we are justified, nay, more than that, it is our bounden duty to sacrifice human life, if necessary, in the defense of our Lord and King—The Law.
“It is with peculiar satisfaction that I respond to the request to present to you young soldiers this emblem of our great, free country, and I am especially gratified to make the presentation in the presence of this community, for I do not fail to recall the fact that only a little more than a year ago your young hands eagerly seized your rifles, and your young feet carried you to a distant part of the city to do—what? Was it at the demand of some arbitrary despot, to enforce his will perhaps in opposition to the welfare of his people? Was it to enforce upon unwilling people some hateful law enacted without their consent? Was it to aid power in forcing to the earth weakness? Was it anything calculated to work injustice towards the lowly and weak? No! It was none of these things which guided your hurrying feet toward those rifle shots which reveberated through the heretofore peaceful streets of your city.
“The patriotic fires which burned in your young hearts and guided your quickened steps were inspired by the fact that the life of our Sovereign King, The Law, was in peril, that help was far distant and your presence an urgent necessity.
“The flag which I now with pride and satisfaction entrust to your keeping bears upon its folds the date of this patriotic effort on your part. It is committed to you with the firm faith that as an emblem of our country, you will take pride in it, ​as a symbol of law and order you will defend it, if need be, with your lives, and that in the future you will impress it upon your children and your children’s children, that it represents the only King who shall ever rule over us, ‘The Law.’
“In performing, then, any military duty which may be required of you, remember that Americans who violate their own laws, or permit others to violate them, aim a more fatal blow at human liberty than does the assassin of the greatest crowned head on earth.”
The following were members of the Home Guard on duty at the time of the shooting:
* Kinnear, George, Capt.
* Hatfield, J. A., Lieut.
* Latimer, Wm. G., Lieut.
* Carr, E. M., Sergt.
* Abrams, Robt.
* Albertson, R. B.
* Burke, Thos.
* Banks, Rev. L. A.
* Bagley, Dr. H. B.
* Bell, F. A.
* Bigelow, David
* Bates, Rev. H. L.
* Baxter, Sutcliffe
* Boardman, W. G.
* Bryan, Al
* Bracket, ——
* Colman, Geo.
* Colman, Lawrence J.
* Caldwell, Dr. R. G.
* Colkatt, W. J.
* Cornwall, ——
* Cox, R. S.
* Carey, James A.
* Craig, Charles
* Davis, Rev. Clark
* Davies, Griffith
* Downing, E. B.
* Denny, D. Thos.
* Gleason, Wm. H.
* Gilman, L. C.
* Gilman, D. H.
* Haller, G. Morris
* Hanford, C. H.
* Hanford, Frank
* Hanford, A. E.
* Hoyt, H. M.
* Hopkins, R. M.
* Hasbrouck, W. A.
* Hunter, J. W.
* Horton, Dexter
* Jacobs, Orange
* Hopkins, R.
* Ingraham, E. S.
* Jackling, W. B.
* Jones, T. E.
* Kellogg, David
* Kaufman, Wm. M.
* Kennard, T. C.
* Kahaley, John L.
* Keane, Frank
* Lombard, R. R.
* Lowman, J. D. ​
* Lynch, Bart
* Leary, John
* Meany, E. S.
* McNaught, J. F.
* Maddocks, M. R.
* Osgood, F. H.
* Osborne, Eben S.
* Preston, Geo. Hyde
* Preston, Harold
* Preston, Wm. T.
* Partridge, Reuben
* Pumphrey, Wm. H.
* Pumphrey, T. Ross
* Peters, W. A.
* Rasin, U. M.
* Sparling, Fred
* Sparling, Geo.
* Sharp, Wm. T.
* Smith, Horace
* Scott, Col. S. W.
* Short, S. P.
* Seymore, W. B.
* Thornell, W. R.
* Turner, E. A.
* Webster, David
* Whitworth, F. H.
* Wayland, W. L.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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