Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-09

Notable Characterised ,America1 ReSolu- |
t~3ouaryxRcrAod.

Notable characters~of ,AmericaA Resolu-
aouarySRcraed.
, Some tnnes.n, 1793.pa certain,manh had
made himselfsaSbnoxious tyy: entering his
sthfat'the excise Office. His building
was .thereupon cut to pieces, which
process was called"'mending' it. The
-'menders''. were, by a further sketch
offancyscaAed thinkers" Each men,
bert was'a tinker, and then and there
thesopposition to the excise laws labeled
itself Tom the Tinker" On the for.
est trees commenced to appear threat-
.ening letters, signed Tom the Tinker"
"Iom the Enker's'' awful chirography
stared scores of offending distillers, ex-
cisemen ard Government infofmers
from the sides of barns and houses, or
dering them to enroll themselves under
his banne-, surrender the commissions
or publish a card admitting their SUBJ
mission to his authority in the Peters,
burg Gazette. The mob element had
surely assumed a party name which had
the ring If democracy to it; and it. is
actually fact that Tom the Tinker''
came to oe applied with due serious
NoSo >'N ASNpSSbs v o1y o1C IL was
known 10 be opposed to the laws-to
even sucl orderly gentlemen as Albert
Gallatin Edward Cook. III. II. Brack-
enridge and William Findley. (Tbe
two latter were members of the Assem-
bly, from Allegheney1 and Westmore-
land Counties L~iberty-poles also we're
raised in the disatfected region by this
mischiegous "Will-o'-the-Wisp," from
which Haunted such Inscriptions as
IAN equal tax and no excise" and
Omitted We stand, divided we fall"
But very soon the popular frenzy,
marshaled under the shadow of the inn
personal Tom" commenced to be d.
rected by individuals. During the win
ter of 1884 when the laws appeared
to be gaining ground, and many of the
distillers had signitied their intention
10 abide by them, an association was
formed in the vicinity of Inspector
Neville's home, which by the most vio-
lent was considered as friendly to
Tom the Tinken'' but, by the eau.
itious, it is said to have had for it's OBJ.
Ject the checking Of the popular fury
and the combining of it to petitions and
legitimate measures of opposition. It.
was called the Mingo Creek Society
and consisted of . battalion of the
Washington County militia, to be gov,
erned-by a president and council, the
latter to be chosen every six months by
the several Captains districts. No per-
son holding either State or a United
States Office could be elected president,
but the society had the power of "rec-
~ommending' capable persons to the
Legislative bodies. If its members had
any grievances which they wished re-
dressed they we're to apply to the soci-
'ety for relief, rather than to any court
of justice. This was certainly an or
,ganization which was alarmingly like
a military tribunal, and a strange in
stitution to be established in a free
country, whose very bulwark of safety
was supposed to be in her civil courts.
But its career was too short to be very
mischievous, though there is no doubt
that eventually this society became the
machine through which the desi g min
David Bradford hoped to organize al
Irresistible Instruction against the
United States Government.-MagazSnl
of american History.