Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-07-13
THE VERSHIRE WAR.
Tho Rioters Overawed by the
Troops.
Unresisted Arrest Of the Ringlead-
ers, and End Of the Riot.


ers, and End Of the Riot.
A Peaceful Termination Of tho Dimcul-
ties.
Up through the steep and crooked main
street of the village OF Vershire marched tho
militia al 9 o'clock on Saturday morning
amid profound and deathlike silence which
was only broken by the tramp, tramp. tramp
Of the soldiers. to which was coon added the
weeping AMI wailing of women who, aroused
by the measured tread of the soldiers rushed
10 door and window. The soldiers knew not
how soon they might meet the strikers drawn
up in line Of battle or how suddenly they
might be attacked from an ambush but as
tho event proved. the rioters, wearied by a
vigil which had lasted nearly all night, for
the most part slept peacefully in their beds,
and the appearance of the troops was as
thunder from clear sky And when they
saw the numbers of the soldery-150 men,
fully armed-they surrendered at discretion.
BY the time the end of the street had been
reached all the riugleaders of the rioters,
twelve in number, had been arrested by the
three deputy sheriffs and placed under guard
OF the military. The first arrest was that of
man of gigantic stature and hcrculcan frame
who was walking placidly down the street, a
short clay pipe in his mouth and a sun um-
brella under one arm. AS tho deputies re-
licvcd him of his umbrella and slipped the
handouts over his wrists, he, with a cheerful
smile, pleasantly but somewhat I'm grammati-
cally remarked, 81 boant done nothin, but if
you want me, it's all right" The man spoke
the truth, for it subsequently, appeared that
he was not one OF the rioters aud he was ac-
eordngly released. But other and more sue
cessful arrests were made, as the column
passed. slowly up the street, several strikers
being taken from their beds and in a very
few minutes all the ringleaders were neatly
handcuffcd. In no case was there even the
fantest indication of anything like resistance
nor was there disturbance of any kind. The
arrested men talked pleasantly with their
captors and the people calmly looked on with
al air Of great indifference. And yet these
were the same persons who only the night be-
fore held armed possession of the village, ut
tered the most lncendiary threats, and who
would have soon committed, there is no
doubt, acts of violence resulting
in vast destruction Of property and
possibly loss OF human life. The
only thing that prevented such an issue was
the completely overwhelming military force
brought against the rioters AS it was, the
instruction was happily queled with no loss
of life and no destruction Of property
Having thus given the issue OF the affair
we may now retrace our steps aud tell the
story in its chronological order. And first
The Rally orthc Troops.
Shortly before noon on Friday sheriff
Luke Parish of Orange county called on lii:
Excellency Governor Barstow with state
ment subscribed and sworn to by him. Thi.
statement, as we have heretofore said, SCI
forth that the rioters had created an insur
rection beyond the power Of the civil author
tiles to control; that,they threatened to destro,
not only tho village of Vershlre (Ely) but TIT
adjoining village of West Fairlee that they
had been in full possession of both place
since Monday that they were nearly al
armed and had $50 kegs Of powder belonging
to the company that they threatened t
destroy both villages, the bridges, etc. tina
there was no doubt that they would carry on
their threats unless something was prompt,
done; that the civil authorities were who'll,
unable to cope with the rioters; aud that II;
arrests had been made or attempted, as sucl
course would be sure to precipitatea blood
conflict. Besides this statement by tn
| statampptc lnt
tiers and kilograms from prominen
citizens OF Orange county setting fort
the circumstances of the case substantially
as given above and urging the extremity O
the emergency. Governor Blrstow there
upon consulted eminent counsel-llon. Ed
ward j.. Phelps and Hon. Torrey L. Wales
"a to his legal duty; and they agreed tia
not only was it his legal duty to respond ia
vorably to the call made upon him for troop
but that hc would be greatly dcrclict did h
not SO respond. Governor BArstow there
upon summoned his staff Adjutant- Geners
Peck, Colonel Greenleaf and Quartermaste
Smith it was decided to call out the CON
panies at once, and at 2 o'clock in the after
noon the first telegram was sent. Governo
I'arstow decided to summon such force a
would completely ovcrawe ,ho rioters an
thus do away with the necessity OF actus
violence. OF course no one could have tn
least idea of how many men any given CON
pany could turn out on notice 81 short E; sn'
| it was therefore decided to summon five CON
panies and thus ensure force large enoug
| for the purpose The companies il was decid
ed to summon were those of Rutland ST. A
bans, Mortified, Montpelier and Bradford =
the burlington company being pass
ed over on sccount OF the oil
sence of Capt. DeCeIlei snd tn
officers were notified by telegraph. The re
suit was of such character as to reflect tn
greatest credit on officers and men. AT ltut
land, Capt. Kiusman OF the Kingsley Guard
had lust sixty.fve minutes notice and ye
whci, the train rolled out Of the station
had on board thirty-eight of his mea. Tn
other companies had similar experienc
and rallied as handsomely. As finally mad
up tue force numbered about 100 men, a
follows,
Co. A, Kingsley 0Iards. Of Rutland. 3
men; Capt. q. &. klnsman. First Lieut.
b. w. Marshall, Second Lieut.. +, A
Morse.
Co. b, Barlow Grays, of St. Adams, 8
men, Capt, Ii. Z. Perkins, Lieut.. L. W
Bordo. ~
Co. y, of korthhold, 40 men; Capt. f
IL. Howes, FIRST Lieut.. j.. A, ltowee, Sec
Ouu Lieut.. ". y. l)atcp. -,
Co. Ii, OF Montpelier. 40 men Lieut. ~
w. Kemp in command, Second Lieut. Fred
l. Pitkin.
With Col. w. L. Greenleaf, who com
msnded the forces, were Surgeon U. w
Peck, Adjutant n. D. Green, Commissar
L. L. Grcenlesf and QuartGFmaster Williar
Smith. Governor Barstow accompanied n
expedition and Adjutant General TheodGr
s. Peck, Quartermaster General IL. x. lac
and Col U. A. Woodbury., Col. W. Ii. Gi
more and Col +. f. Fletcher, OF the Gov
ernor's staff Major j. G. Stearns OF Brad
ford also accompanied the party, and rer
dered excellent service in many ways. Las
of all were two War Correspondents.
| The Ride ON the Cars:
AT Gas Friday evening the train bearin
The Rutland company rolled int o Burlington