Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-16

mi.darkness the vast mob of people seemed
doubly large Flashing in the lights were
the muskets of the armed workingmens or.
CARNATIONS, and uplifted in air thousand
clubs and other weapons Threatened, and
awaited only Kearney's command to fall to
the work ready hands had for them to do.
The armed men of the mob surrounded their
leader and cheered him until the very foun-
dations of the streets shook. Then the march
up Market street began-not march, but
vast wave of humanity packed from wall to
wall, that slowly pushed and rolled
UP THE BROAD AVENUE,
Roaring in its rage, and crying out for hemp,
death and destruction. 1t urged Kearney to
lead them on to the prison of De Young. 1t
besought him with prayers and threats to
give the word and it would make the streets
run red with blood. Every moment the
crowd augmented, until the vast tide rocked
like tempest-tossed sea in front OF the
workingmen's headquarters. From window
Kearney babe it dispense and leave all to him.
No! The 10000 infuriate2 men warned
him that the mob would not obey. 1t was a
critical moment. An instant longer OF hesi-
tation and the agitator would have been de,
posed, and a less scrupulous leader would
have led the rioters to their work. be COM
pretended thesituation, and gave the word
" ON TO THE SANDLOIS,
And with shout and roar that made the
very walls tremble the multitude moved and
struggled with itself, and then rolled up
Market street to the forum OF the agltator.
Here, after slight delay, he faced the crowd,
his own pale countenance fortunately shaded
by friendly night He waved his hand and the
tnmuIt ceased as if by magic, and then he
spoke. and told the mob that the eyes of the
world were upon it. In all like connections
the bad elements seized the opportunity to
steal and raysee, Could that bad element be
controlled? 1t might; but there was doubt:
If the one man could be hanged, well and
good. s'but when mob once starts In
no man can tell where it will stop.
His people had always stood by him:
Would they now, in this supreme hour /;
Now, boys, do it again, and up hands,
and as if by common EFFORT tnousanos
upon thousands OF brawny' hornyocoaseo
palms stretched upward, and San Francisco
was saved. A moment later and the crowd,
but now vengeful and bloodthirsty. was dis
nersinp and scattered, and Denis Kearney
had won a triumph for law and order tor
which all true men will accord him due ac-
acknowledgement. The next day he met the
same crowd on the sand lots, but it was In
the broad glare of the sun. The spirit OF
the mob had yielded to the will of its leader,
and with face no longer pale, he entered
again upon his harangues OF vltuperation
and abuse, his blasphemous and threatening
Trades. But he knew the men he had to
deal with. and checked the rising fury when
ever it threatened to burst It's pouhos ana
blossom into riot.
SUCH WAS KEARNEY
In the zenith of his power. The reporter
saw him no more in trying situations. lie
faded from public gaze, his army OF followers
melted into factions, wrangled, quarreled,
separated and became no more'a power In the
land. This organization of chaotic nature
and homogeneous elements, with Denis kear-
new at its head-this new party, with :" the
Chinese must go" as its watchword and
hatred of corporate power and concentrated
wealth as the fundamental articles IN Its
creed that for time menaced the very ex-
istence of society-Inade rapid strides to
mower and sank to the level of ward and pot.
house clubs. Its leader, who had wlthstood
the unremitting attacks of nearly the entire
press of the State and two powerful political
parties. sank as rapidly out of sight. At
tracted by his
PHENOMENAL SUCCESS,
A horde of unprincipled demagogues ana
nlace. seekers had Joined the Workingmen's
| marty. surrounded Kearney and took part In
his councils, thus sowing the seeds OF dislnte-
grafton and decay. The motto OF the party
that the Office must seek the man, was soon
reversed, and the organization which mad
almost gained control of San Francisco ana
babe fair to seize the government OF the
| State became an army of ofice-seekers.
| The presidential campaign arrived and In
comparative silence the noisy work OF the
mast three wears was undone. The leglons
! which had surrounded Kearney so faithfully
| during all his turbulent struggles, marched
hack in solid phalanx to the Democratic and
Republican parties, and the man who had SO
suddenly become famous, whose name was In
mems mouths from the Atlantic to the IA
| cifc who claimed the attention OF multitudes
in great cities, and whose beck and cry were an
swered by eager thousands, relapsed into tenn
porary obscurity with even more abruptness
| than he had risen into notoriety and power.
! But his public career, forming as 1t does a
broad page in the political history of Cali,
! fornia, is full of interest to the thoughtful,
| and the inner workings of the party he led
become of even greater interest Especially
| is this true at the present moment when the
! time is ripe for placing on record more OF the
| history of that phenomenal party he led, and
! its Legitimate offspring which he crushed at
! its christening when he dubbed 1t
| THE PARTY OF HONORABLE BILKs.
Concerning this party there is unwritten
history. and the preface here INDUCED in has
been given purposely to give force and
point to the new historical page following,
and which is given exactly as it fell from the
lips of Denis Rearney, the retired ag1tator,
but few days since. The RECORD u MON
representative left him in the full blaze OF
his power, the victor over the mob, the then
| friend and protector of the peace and prop
| erty of San Francisco and the lives of its
| citizens. The representative of the same
| journal. but a little over week ago, re-
| fscting on the past, recalling the terrible
| scenes of the night Of August 70, 1879,
wendell his way to thelowly dwelling of Kear-
ney. far back upon the boundary lines of the
metropolis The trip to his abode was quite a
| long one Taking the Valencia-street car the
reporter rode to the Market-street cut where
| he was transferred to the dummy and rapidly
conveyed through one of the oldest sections
! of the city. Past the crumbhng adobe houses
once inhabited by the Indians of the PENN
sula, the old Mission Church with its Gordon
| of graves, and the more modern Jewish Gem
etery, the reporter swiftly rode, and then, af-
ter walking some FIVE blocks up Seventeenth
street and ascending a steep hill and crossing
a rustic bridge, two isolated cottages were
reached, one of which was the home OF
the agitator The scene was lovely
one the north wind whistled shrilly over the
hill tops far beneath stretched the city,
silent in its distance, but throbbing with life.
| Still beyond lay the bay, its waters lighted
up with silver radiance beneath the caressing
rays of the rising moon. About q mile to
the west rose Lone Mountain with its cross
| saddened crest, the
soRBowFUL SENTINEL
! Which keeps eternal watch over the silent
| army of the dead. Accusing himself from
| the reflections inspired by the scene and the
purpose of the visit, the reporter rudely inter-
| rupted his own reveries and pulled Kearney q
! door-bell Scarce a second elapsed before a
/ few buoyant footballs were heard within, the
door opened aud Kearuey had grasped the
representative of the RECORD U MON by the
hand. He was perfectly well aware that the
| journal whose reporter stood before him and
stated his errand had been no friend of his,
| had opposed bis doctrines and methods, and
| had been his open and consistent enemy, and
that very knowledge commanded the respect
of the shrewd lrishman and made his well
come to the reporter as free as the acquies-
cence to his request.
THE OPENING.
"Come, take look at the place." said he,
as he descended the front steps with two OF
three quick bounds, and heckoned to the
visitor to do the same. This is a residence
fit for king. l can look down on every
body, and am above Spring Valley and its
water bugs. l am also independent of the
80 - -ol,, ~, apllau r,,ot,