Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-07-06
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Impressions OF visit to the Army Of tAs
Unemployed.

test day of the season. Tho fcrvent rays
of the sun beat upon the asphalt, and the
air quivered with heat till oil tho houses
on Pennsylvania avenue seemed shaking
with delirium tremens- Tho city was as
quiet as a Quaker village when q top bug
NV might have been seen slowly ascending
tho first hill ON the Blndensburg pike. 1t
contained no hero of g. =. X. James, as
the style might seem to indicate. In IL
were this subscriber and an artist, in the
utmost dishabille the law would allow, on
our way to take a look at Coxey's camp
before its promised speedy dissolution.
The road presents many fine views, and in
moderate weather the ride is n delightful
one. First, to the right, is Graceland ceme-
terry, and then, to the left. Mount Olivet,
the largest Catholic cemetery here. On
the wooded hill opposite to it the Coxcy-
ties will celebrate Independence day II the
officials do not forbid. A little farther on
and to the left Is tho beautiful farm and
country house which was long the home
of Clark Mills, the artist. Not far beyond
that, but a little of tho road, is the fc-
nous dueling ground where so many great
men have been shot at and not hurt and
where occurred the shocking Graves Cilley
tragedy. At that point the country slopes
rapidly to the north, and that part of the
eastern branch of the Potomac which may
DO called n creek comes in from tho west.
Just north of il lies the truly quaint old
southern hamlet of Bladcnsburg, and just
south of it-pardon the egotism-is where
my honored grandfather was to have "ft,
bled and died." but with the rest Of the
militia he made good time to the rear and
lived to tell me the story rs years later.
Just across the Bladensburg bridge and
to the left a dozen fearfully dilapidated
| tents held all that was left of Fryo's lin
dustrials," while south of the bridge a
broad gravel way leads up to "Stegmaiers"
| as it is called, a wayside hotel, with lager
| beer hall attachment and n fine array of
sheds and stables. From the back fence a
| fat gravelly tract stretches away to the
creek, which is well lined with timber, and
partly in the edge of the timber, but ex-
| tending we'll out into the field in rude
square, was the ridiculous looking camp
| which has received so much more attention
| than it deserves. After two hours inspec-
| ton and a very free talk with the men
/ feel bound to say that they were superior
/ to what had imagined. The first thing
/ to strike q stranger was the extremely
composite character of the lot. They Ger
| tainly did not number moro than 500, and
this number was slowly decreasing, but
| among them were some men of real ability
in various lines, n few remarkably well
read and very many whose appearance in
dictated nothing WORE than n sort of sheep
faced innocence. About one in ten, /
should say, was n regular tramp, perhaps
one in five n mere boy. All the rest OK
cept the few intelligent ones named we-o
men who seemed towcarry an appearance
of vague discontcnr aud hopclessness. The
general Impression nude. upon me was
that they were men who had never formed
any set purpose in life or fisfdsbcen bitterly
disappointed ut the start and. had never
tried again. &p%%
There were a few old bch tents, like
those used in the army at the beginning Of
the war, few of the dog tents which
came in later, many mere booths made of
ten cloth, bedclothes, wagon covers and
anything else that would patch together.
several ''shacks' of brush and boards like
those used by the Indians of the northwest
and half n dozen good limitations of the
Indian "tepce" or ''wickiup." In front
of most of them the men had arranged
nice little plots of sand and gravel, in
which they had worked names and mot
toes with white stone or shells. In the
kettles which were boiling for the noon
| meal were fcarfully scrawny looking lower
joints of beef and mutton, and there was
i one small pile of extremely ancient look
ing bread. If It was soup they were max.
ing in the large kettles, 1t was an alimcnt
to have delighted Squeers, though think
it would have caused a riot even in Dothe.
1
Mr.. Carl Browne, which was of n rank to
have regular tent flaps, and these being
raised allowed delightful current of air.
; He was reclining in a nice hammock. in,
yited us to seats ON his bunk and then
rose and talked with a clearncss and di
rectncss of manner which, with his polite
ness and easy use of good English, made
the interview worry pleasant. As we talked
very nice looking man of about s5 or &c
years came in and announced that he wa,
a mnchinist from New Jersey and wanted
to enlist in this "commonweal of Christ. y
Mr.. Browne put him rapidly through a
searching catechism: Was he n temperate
man, and did no understand the great
principles of this movement Would h6
observe strict discipline, and would he worh
for $3.50 n day at any employment thai
offcredg Had he studied the great princi
pies of brotherhood and the rights of man
and so forth and so forth. All this beinl
answered in the Affirmative. lie was enroll
cd, and then Mr.. Browne told us of hi
life, his struggles and sorrows, and bt
\ firm trust in the speedy arrival of univer
sal justice In this world and happy rein
carnatIon in the next. Il own," said he
''one of the prettiest places in southern
California, with lovely mountain lake
and groves ON 1t, and / came to tn,
Worlds fair at Chicago to help in tn,
California exhibit. 1t was there you saw
me dressed in buckskin, not for any paten
medicine advertisement, but for the bust
ness 1 was there to do. After that mad,
speeches Mt those lake front meetings til
Mayor Harrison stopped them, and then
went into this movement. was born OF
I farm near Springfield, Ills, ON the 4tl
L of July, 1s4s, and went to California II
? 1869, which has been my home ever since
For some time edited paper called Tit
Cactus at Los Angeles. / have been II
( Jail several times and got used TO il, 81
didn't mind being Jailed in Washington
1 till they vaccinated me. That was an out
rage. There's no sense in it. 1t docs NJ
), good TO put poison in your system. w,
are going to march TO Washington on tn,
4 ith with some big hickory and locus
canes well seasoned, and we shan't minG
S the police they only come at US Will
clubs IL they come with q gatling gun
we shall retire"
AT this point the advanced messenger o.
Blondell's contingent, 100 men from Lo
Angeles, Cal, arrived to announce tina
said contingent had passed through Wash
ington unmolcsted and would be on tn,
ground in an hour. Mr.. Browne imme
diately ordered the big welcome tent erect
\ ed in the middle of the field, and the CAM
: took on quite an cir of life. We inspecte(
tho panorama wagon, which Is Mr.
, Brownies lecture platform; tho little los
L cabin, which Is shown to visitors as a tri
!. umph Of architecture, and tho big tent
accepted a very remarkable pamphlet pub
lished by Mr.. Browne, donated IS cent.
each to the subsistence fund and drove
back to the city. J. B. PARKE.
Kansa. City Must Pay.
: ST. LOUIS, July 6.-The United State
, court Of appeals has decided adversely Z
~ II In. h.