The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-02-14
OUR LETTER FROM eRoADeR,M.

OUR LETTER FROM BROADBRiM
A Lively Week in Gotham- Dynamite Ex.
plosiom aud = Sociciist Riot-A Good
Word for the Police-Oficial Changes In
Pro.pect-Nr. Cleveland's Visit - Poll
tics and Religion.
NEW YonK, Feb. Z. 1885.
EDITOR CHIEF: 80 - s=..'i -
For person romanticaliy inclined, and
who Gun delight in genuine sensation
New York is the place to live in. just thinh
of the pleasure one experiences on going
ont in the morning, utter kissing your wife
and the babies, to be struck by a flying shot
from the bulldog Of an Avenger, or sen'
sky high by q dynamite bomb, hurled on
its mission of death by some enraged dry
goods clerk, who having got drunk WIS dis.
charged from his situation, and then
sought to revenge himself by blowing u1
his employers store. It is nice weeks
record for our orderly city, with five mil.
lions of dollars worth of police: Sunday,
February 1, "Terrible dynamite explosion
fright in tie heart of the city; Monday
February 2, "An attempted assassination
on one of the principal thoroughfares-in
the middle Of the day." At night fearful
riot, where several hundred Socialists, o1
the raw head and bloody bones Kind at.
tackled a body Of police, and am proud to
say that tho police covered themselves with
glory--and the floor Of Concordia Hal
with dislocated and battered Socialists.
The Socialists began tie war; they at
tackled the police with chairs, spittoons,
lager beer mugs and Whatever came handy.
There were only Captain Mccullough and
three policemen at the start. Herr Most
and Justus Schwab with several hundred at
their backs made it very lively and warm
for the finest, but as soon as the reserves
arrived the tide of battle turI1ed--clubs
we're trumps and they took every trick. /
have frequently had occasion to grumble at
the police, but the clubbing they gave the
Socialists Monday night who we're spelling
for fight, like charity, covers. a multitude
of fanlts.'' feel like exclaiming in the full
ness of my soul, "Well done, good and
faithful servants, club 'em again." We are
gradually awakening to the fact that things
are changing. In the olden time, Or the
good old time, if you please, the employer
said when his shop should be opened, and
- Il ~ Il.aA - ~,f
thing is done by the clerks-the owner of
the shop has nothing to say about it. In
those days if the clerk did not like his en-
ployer lie left him, and if the employer did
not like his clerk he discharged him-this
plan is somewhat altered now. 1t is true
that the clerk reserves to himself the right
of leaving whenever he pleases, but if the
employer discharges him, or does not shut
up his store when his clerk tes1s him, he 10
in danger Of being beaten to death or Ut
having his windows smashed and his house
blown up, and oil OF his property destroyed.
New York is one of the great cities of the
world. In the space Of a few miles there
are two millions of people. New York and
Brooklyn, though representing two munich
palities, are virtually one city, bound to-
gether as closely az tho parts of Paris di-
vided by the Seine, or the districts of Lon
don divided by the Thames. Our freedom
has been our constant boast, notwithstand-
ing the dreadful scenes Of riot through
which we have passed, we appeared to think
that our social condition was much better
and safer than the social condition of our
neiglbors. To-day we are brought face to
face with the hard fact that we are standing
on a volcano, which may burst at any mo-
ment, involving Us in such ruin and disas-
ter as we have never known before. The
triumph of anarchy and riot, however,
would only be of short duration. While
the criminal classes whose business and
pastimes are murder and theft shave a
mighty following, and are capable of much
mischief, we have here too the elements of
order represented by d we'll drilled body of
four thousand police, who have frequently
proved themselves equal to the most trying
emergency. They may occasionally take
surreptitious glass of whiskey when on
duty, make love to the pretty servant girls,
or be blind to the fact that there is such
thing as agambling house or a bagnio on
their beats, but when it comes to fighting
mob and uuelling riot, they are there
every time. In addition to this, we can
muster twenty regiments of weld rilled
and brave soldiers in an honr and while it
is possible that sooner or later the city may
suffe, from one of those sudden and vio-
lent eruptions to which ali great cities are
liable, we have no fear of the fnal result,
and when the crisis is past the retribution
will have been so terrible that you will have,
no more of socialistic murder or dynamite
assassination for many years. It is not
pleasant, nevertheless, to have our public
streets turned into a Wimbledon or Creed
moor, or to have our dry goods stores made
a theatre for dynamite experiments.
! Concordia Hall has been the headquar-
ters of Socialists and dynamiters for sew
eral years past. One Justus Schwab, a
noisy ruffian, who keeps gin mill, has
been prominent leader. 1t is about ten
years since he tackled the police last There
was riotous meeting in Tompkins Square
and the police had orders to disperse it.
Herr Schwab undertook to disperse the po-
lice. He armed himself with hatchet and
went in, and when he came out he looked
like possible subject for q Coroner's in
his friends could not recognize him for a
week, and while he frequently behind his