The Indianapolis journal., 1885-07-03

the crowd went before them at double QUICK
time. The streets had hardly been cleared than
Madison streetcar, containing uniformed city
policemen and deputy marshals appeared at the
barn door 1t was followed by two other ears,
also containing officers, and all three were driven
toward Madison street like mad. Following
after them was patrol wagon, but this fact did
not deter the strikers from giving pursuit at
once. At every step they found themselves con-
fronted by the perfectly trained policemen who
| prevented them from even OBTAINING the cars
for more than minute or two, and seeing that
1t would be useless to make anything but a con-
centrated attack on the cars, the strikers and
their sympathizers jumped into buses, hacks
express wagons and conveyances of every de-
scription, and gave chase to their intended prey.
Those who could not get ride ran as hard as
they could.
Such scene of excitement as was presented
on Madison street at noon yesterday is rarely
ever seen, even in a big city. The thoroughfare
seemed to be dense mass of jostling, hurrying
humanity, and such noise as they made Yell
ing and hurting maedictions at the heads of the
the attack on the cars, this stream of humanity
poured eastward swelling and growing larger at
every block Men could be seen hurrying from
every direction, burying themselves in the
crowds, and they hurried out of houses and
lots, and from behind fences. Rigs of every
kind dashed down the street in the wake
or the cars without regard to risk or the perils
whlch thousands OF persons were being placed
d
order to keep the cars in sight. and the man with
the slow horse had to drop behind invariably or
suffer an accident But the police had evidently
kept clear.track for the cars, and they readily
outdlstanced the pursuing vehicles AT Haisted
street, however, dense crowd filled the street,
completely blockading travel. "Get off here.
boys" was the usual salute, as wagon after
wagon drove up in their midst. They tumbled
out unceremoniously and joined the crowd which
soon began to hoot and YELL making a perfect
| pandemonium. Crowds Of policemen also ar
rived, and they succeeded by vigorous clubbing
| in reopening travel, crowding the mob back into
| the bitches and ON the sidewalk.
| This sort of treatment reused the general ire.
| Rioting commenced at once. One Dig fellow
| with rope wound around his arm made his ap-
| pearance at the telegraph pole at. the northwest
| corner of the street He made one end of his
rope fast to this pole and then announced his in
tention of running the line across the street to
the pole opposite, and thus form barrier to the
progress of the cars About the same time a
man appeared in the middle of the crowd
| with a pick and he set to work at
once to tear up the rails, and thousands of eager
hands were stretched forward to assist him.
Tear it up" was the stern cry which rang out
on every hand. Men pressed forward to see the
work of destruction carried on and policemen
pressed forward to stop it, They might just as
well have tried to stop hurricane with kite
They were pushed rudely aside and kept out of
the way while the wreckers were inserting the
point of the pick under the rail. One of them
had just accomplished this when voice loud
enough to be heard above the yelling and noise
of the mob cried out, Hold, men! you are vio-
lating the law" The next instant Mayor Harr-
son strode into the crowd and up to the man
who was using the pick He placed the fellow
| under arrest and took possession of the pick
which he gave to clothing merchant to keep in
trust The crowd was at first inclined to resist
even the mayor, and when he had seized hold of
the pick handle they continued to shout, 'Tear
| it up, boys"
This is an orderly city" exclaimed Mayor
Harrison to the crowd, as he strode away with
the pick on his shoulder 1.-The law must be
obeyed. and there must be no destruction of
property"
A few minutes afterward the "Best" was
| standing on the edge Of the crowd viewing the
| preparations which the crowd were making to
receive the expected cars. Strngers were laid
| across the tracks, rocks placed in the
switches. and every possible effort was made to
| damage the track so badly that the cars could not
| run. When the streetcars finally hove in sight
| on the viaduct there general rush toward
| Desplaines street The men made as much
noise as they possibly could, and they gave ev-
| cry indication that they intended to demolish the
| cars. Squads of officers jumped into two patrol
wagons, and the wagons took their place in front
of the cars. Captain BOnfield stood on the steps,
and as he approached the mob he coolly drew his
revolver, held it in plain sight, and his action
was followed by every man in the wagon.
"Gentlemen if there is any rioting here this
afternoon" he exclaimed, somebody will regret
| it."
| But despite this warning what followed was
such a scene of rioting as has not been witnessed
| in Chicago for many year The crowd opened
fire On the cars and officers with all kinds of mis-
| siles, and the men on the were compelled to
| take refuge inside. Then the rioters threw their
| missiles through the open windows and several
of the men in the first and second cars were hit
and badly hurt One of them as a last resort
drew his revolver and fired it into the floor of
| of the car, and then he and his companions
| pointed their weapons at the crowd as if they
| intended to shoot. The threatening gesture
never wavered the mob, but they continued to
| press around the cars more densely than ever,
! all the time showerng sticks and stones on the
ribly hurt by being struck in the head by big
stone. This scene of riot was kept up for miles
on Madison street, but the rioters never made a
really determined attack upon the cars, as they
seemed to be afraid of the revolvers held by the
| policemen.