St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-15
A RIP-ROARING time,
Great Meeting Of Railroad
Brakemen in Armory
Hall.
Archbishop Ireland Pays an
Eloquent Tribute to Aid
Societies.
He Demands for the Working
Classes Their Rights and
Privileges.
Annual Address Of the Grand
Master to the Brother
hood.

With railroad men, thelr wives ana
friends. The walls and roof of the i'm
mense building were hung with gaily
colored flags and bunting, and at inter
walls round the sides of the auditorium
were hung the emblems of the different
posts. d. pending from the gas chan
deliers and from lines which crossed
and recrossed the hall were hundreds of
lamps in the familiar cOlOrs seen in use
on the road every day, and which
formed an appropriate illumination to
set off such gathering. On the plat
form erected for the speakers were rows
of banners bearing the insignia of diff
ferent posts, while the wall in the rear
was draped from side to side with the
national colors. Surmounting all, a
each side of the platform were two bril-
liantly shining headlights which shed
their cleaning rays into the
corners of the big room and
made still more noticeable the crowd of
anxious faces gazing intently at the
half dozen speakers on the dais before
them. Although there were crowds of
people OH the streets of the city yeSter-
day who, to the everyday citizen, were
strangers, yet even the widest calcu
lator failed to size up the number of the
visitors correctly. There were dele
gates from every Where-all cOmers of
of this great country were represented
by the wearers of the red badge. The
banners carried in the procession pro-
claimed the visitors from Kansas. Ar
kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and nearly
every other State in the North and
South; and certain it is that never was
the Old Armory halls capacity taxed to
so great an extent. A noticeable feat
ure OF the crowd was the large percent
age it contained of the fair SEX. As one
of the speakers remarked later. "thOSe
who could had brought their wives, and
those who had no wives TO bring had
brought their sweethearts. Wives or
sweetheaits, there never was there
a.lsandso8ier assembly of fair maids and
matrons gathered together in a good
cause. The interest taken in the
bTakemen'S convention. as was very
plainly shown last evening, is not con-
fined among local workmen to railroad
erS alone. Standing up, packed III at
every available point, were members of
the various local WOrkingmen'S Or
ganizatiOns. Conspicuous among these
the wearers of the Knights of Labor
badge, who took almost as much interest
in the proceedings as though each and
every one of them was brakeman him.
self. At the first note of the soul i'll
spiring strains of the Second Regiment
band there was cessation of the con-
versatiOnal buzz, which until its advent
had been the order, and when at the
conclusion of the martial air Chairman
Gen. q. S. Becker rintrOducedArchb
|. Ireland. the entire multitude stood up
with heads bowed and faces reyerent
while prayer was said.
THE SPEAKERS.
Those occupying seats on the plat
form we're: Grand Master S. C. WIikin-
son, of Peoria, ILL.,; First Vice Grand
Master Edens. of Bucyrus, o.; Grand
Sc eretary and Treasurer. l.. +. O'Shea,
of GalesGurg, H.; +. B. Sargent. grand
nj aster of the Firemen'S brotherhood. of
Columbus, o.; Father Jewett, of Bos
ton; l.. W. Rogers. editor of the Brake
mems Organ, of Galesburg, ILL.,; L. L.
Slattery, of Bhtte. Mont; i. S. Coffin,
ex-railroad commissioner of Iowa: Mrs.
DIR. ingalls,. of Chicago; Mrs. H. p.
Jones. of Washington, Ind; Archbishop
ireland, Acting Mayor Yoerg, Judge j.
j. Egan and Gen. Becker, Of st. Paul.
THE PRAYER.
The Right Rev. John Ireland. arch
bishop of st. Paul, opened the proceed
ings with prayer, as follows: "Oh,
God! our Creator and Sovereign Lord,
through whom we live and have our
being, and without whom we can do
nothing, we adore Thee. we honor Thee,
and we love Thee. We know that with
out Thee we cannot have peace in our
life eternal Oh, God, be with us in
our deliberations, that we may know
| how to deliberate Alright and may de-
eide rightly upon all questions. Oh,
Holy Ghostl be with us; kindle in US
the fire of Thy love; guide US in our
work so that we may do right and live
with Thee in heaven when our life'S
work is over"
THE CHAIRMAN.
l. Gen. Becker then said: ''ThiS is a
most anspIciouS closing to most aus
! piciouS day for the brakemen. PrOvi-
| dence has vouchSafed TO you clear sky
| and you have enjoyed the crisp autumn
| airof Minnesota and the glories of an
! October day. There was never better
/ day to parade, and | am sure worthier
! day was never surpassed by wOrthier
| parade. No man who saw your ranks
| could fail to have been struck with the
vigor. the sobriety and the manllneSs
| that filled your ranks. Your executive
| lldS dSSiS lO Iilc t1G pICoS-
/ ing duty of calling this meeting to Or
der. | regard it as a compliment and
! great privilege to be the means of being
| the electric wire, so TO speak. which
| will bring to you the wisdom. the elo-
| auenee, the humOr that will find its way
| to your ears. Our programme has been,
| to some extent, changed. Gov. Mer-
Ram unfortunately was compelled to be
| absent. Judge Williams, who was
| down for a speech, has to be absent.
| But may say. on behalf of the state
| officials, that Minnesota bids you well
come. We will do all we can to make
| your gathering a success. History tells
US that Lord Nelson, just before the
battle of Trafalgar, on which hung the
| fate of Europe, aye, OF the world.
| hOisted to the tOpmOst mast of his flag
ship the signal, "England expects every
man to do his duty" Not every ad-
miraI, not every commodore, not every
captain, not every officer, but every
! man. The Brotherhood of Railroad
BrakemenEeXpectS every man to do his
| duty. In your hands are many precious
| lives entrusted to your care. Should
any man fail to do his duty. disaster
must follow. Remember, then, that
your association expects you all
| to do everything you can to add to the
honor, to the dignity. to the manliness
| of your order. think there can be no
| doubt that every man of you may be ex-
| pected to do his duty. see that many
| of YOU have brought your wives here