The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-10-09
A CARD TO THE PUBLIC.

To the Public:
There appeared in the columns of the
CleV Gland LCddcr of the 18th inst, Il
special dispatch from X kent, o., serious
ly rejecting upon our official CON urt Us
policemen of Kavcuna. The LC,,tIsy' dis
patch was followed by an extended arlI-
Gle appearing in the Bulletin published
at Kent.
The nature of the charges are, that the
Blaine and Logan marching clubs of
Kent and Atwater, while i'll our town to
attend the political meeting addressed
by Gen. Noyes, We're assaulted and inEulte
by so-c;llled "Rayellna IinodlumS, by
yelling all manner of foul epithets ut
them aud hy thowing stones into their
ranks; that officers Gibbons and Vance
were eye witnesses to the acts of the mob.
in fact, were right in their midst, but
made no effort tn restrain tlIsni, The
former, (meaulng tho led hOOdlumS)
stoned the cars, while the latter, ithe
pOlicememl stood ready to arrest the first
Kent man who demonstrated. The BUI-
lctiH article. further charges that officer
Vance disregar'lrd the actinus of the ont
side mob, and entered tho uar and with Il
tiouriShlng club threatened to arrest the
Cadets; that both Gibbons and Vance
stood in with the hoO'lluIns and inSulted
members of the Kent delegation when
asking for police protection. We have,
until now, permitted these charges to re-
main undenied, ais we were informed
that they would be promptly mvesti@a'-
ed by our village authorities, Since no
SUCH action seeHls prnhallle, at this time,
we deem il nIIr duty tQ give To the pub
lie all the faptS i'll connection with the
matter and leave our citiZens tu deter
mine for themselves whether ar not w0
discharged ;lll our duties Us peace officers
on the npcaSi0ii referred to. Early in
iiIe evening we were engaged i'll our du-
ties of lighting the street gas and about
the time of completing this, officer Glib
bOnS received Information that his SER
vices were needed ut the n. V, u. & q.
X. X. depot, to which he immediately re-
paired, where he learned that II boy hy
the name of Hamm had thrQwn {, siaIlp
at and struck II meMtef az the Atwater
marchlng rluh. This occurred before the
Rent delegatIon reached Ravenna. The
offender had escaped before the officer
reached the scene of the disturbance, aud
Knowing the party well, it was Thought
best to make no further effort to arrest
until a later time lle WAS subsequently,
arrested and paid the ieuGity ng the law,
Hifirer EilhOilS returned To Main street,
where the large crowd W assembling.
About this time the attention of Officer
Vance was attracted by number OF per
sol gathering at the Etna House corner
and observing persons looking III at the
Etna House saloon, lie entered, and found
a young man from Kent, bOistrroIIsIy en-
deav oring to create a disturbance there.
The officer collared the man and through
threats of imprisonment restored quiet.
Soon after this, IA bonfire WAS Si;irteG
near the Opera House, WnIph we thought
unsafe, aud after consulting with some
af the managers of the meetipg, we
caused it to be eXtinguished. From this
time until the breaking up of the meet
ing, we We're continuously upon the
streets as our duties required.
When tue marching clubs were form.
ing upon Main street preparatory to
maj ching 10 the n. Y, Z. 4 .. depot a
crowd of hQyS assembled III front of the
| residence of nr. Johnson and between
| the delegations from Atwater and Kent
and they were promptly dispersed hy
Officer Gibbons. As they marched down
| Sycamore street we stood ut the corner
| of Main and Sycamore streets until they
reached the intersection OF Cedar street.
Hearing some disturbance We rau in the
middle of the street until we met some
boys, some of them being i'll the street
and Others upon the side walk, and sew
| eral members Of the marching clubs
One member of the Kent club, at Can
| fields corner, accused Officer Vance with
| being one of the disturbing parties, say
! ing, there is one of the sOns of b--s. =
i Officer Vance said TO him that he was .
policeman and was there to prI'srrSt
peace and not To create diatti lance
/ There YVES no further disturbance here
| aud the clubs again formed into process
| sion and marched 10 the depot. While
marching to the depot from CanlielL':
| corner there wis no trouble or nOiSt
whatever. At the depot the marching
clubs cheerel several times, and Il crowd
! of boys standing near gave cheers for i'll
diyidual persons residing i'll Ravenna
: DemOcIa ats and Republicans, aud fOI
/ Cleveland. There WAS no serious diStur
banct 1T the depot, to our knowledge
until tie train bearing the Kent delrga
tion W. about to leave the station. II
was Ass, teal that Il stone wIS thrown in
to the rear ear at this time, but we coIIlt
obtain 10 Information aS to whom th,
offender WAS. We are informed that the
members uf the Kent delegation in thI
rear ear We're armed with stones, and !
stone was thrown from the ear, through
the window, which struck IL young mai
by the name of Butts. Officer NanC,
saw the person and entered the ear, aud
had considerable diiii .ultY in reaching
the guilty party, aud laying hands upon
him informed him that, il he committed
further violence he would he promptly
arrested. We had no further kncwledg,
of any acts ri violence committed there
and endeavOrcd, To the bySt our ability
to protect the members of the marchns
clubs in enjoying all their privileges ant
to prevent any and all acts of violence
and iInpropriety Oh the part of all per
sons. We certainly feel that we did oul
fun duty to perseFve peace and good or
der upon an OCCASION of So large crowt
of people visiting our town. We Subse
quentty learped that quarrel had takeI