Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-13

| 1 precautions could only be taken by sending | force on the grounds to be ready 10 act il | occasion arose.
 D 1es any law abiding citizen believe that 1 the governor should wait and let the an 1 ticipated awlessuess happen while he is | hunting for sheriff or waiting until Il | may be too late to verify well founded re- | ports of threatened trouble? If governor l in his efforts to pre- eserve the peace, shonlc make a mistake, ought any law abiding citizen complain o! il? What motive coul l the governor possibly have for sending troops to Blocton to tharass and annoy it's citizens?' The troops could not harm any law-abiding citizen and did not. Even these resolutions thank the officers and men "for their soldierly and gentle. manly conduct toward all.'
 minister of the gospel cannot serve
 satan or stir up lawessness more effect
 ually, than by denouncing perfectly law
 ful act and precaution of the executive of a
 state in furtherance of it's peace as tan un :
 warranted usurpaton,' done ''for no
 other purpose than to harrass and annoy citizens.''
 still remain of the opinion that Blocton
 is in Alabama, and that Alabama's laws and her authority extend there. It is no
 more re fl ction upon the people of Bloc ton to send detachment there to antic-
 pate threatened trouble than it would be to order the sheriff and deputies there for that purpose. The Alabama state troops arec as much peace officers as sheriff's posse Blocton fight be the most peacea-
 ble place in the world, and yet might be
 selected as the theater of lawlessness by outsiders or persons from a distance.
 It was fact that the crowd which met the train that evening was very much larger than usual, and If the night before two men could be terrorized without the authorities knowing of it or hearing of it, it is not at all improbable that parties might gather and do like mischief again without being repressed.
 At such times as these good citizens should do all they can to uphold the hands of those in authority, and not causelessly and wantonly impute bad motives to them or misrepresent them.
 It is a well.known fact that the owners of mines for the past ninety days have made no effort to open them or to employ laborers or otherwise come in opposition to the sentiment of very large portion of the population about Blocton, who vehemently threaten violence to any who may work in the places they have vacated, and those best informed as to the situation express no doubt that violence is only smoldering, aud will result if such an attempt is made, un- less workmen are strongly protected by the power of the state.
 This condition of things and the tenn per displayed in these resolutions will cause reasonable men to doubt whether, after all there was strong law abiding spirit on the part of those who joined in the mass meeting, and whether or not this denuEcia- tion of the presence of men in their midst to preserve the peace is not, of itself, an- other form of lawlessness.
 The mass meeting was evidently imbued with the Illinois idea, that the authorities had no right to take the precautions to ex- ecute the laws until after the evil was done and then only by permission of the local authorities.
 No one can read these resolutions and fail to perceive that they are part and parcel of political programmes which think to contribute to partisan success by studied misrepresenting of the constituted author ities in all their efforts to preserve the peace.
 Here is Lieutenant Erwn's report. You will see from it how the situation appeared to him:
 BIRMINGHAM, July 10, 1894. ? To the Adjutant- General, Alabama State
 STR: On the 9th instant the governor informed me that officials of the train run ming between here and Blocton reported to him that the fireman and porter, both colored, had been forced to leave Biocton on the evening of the 8th, and threatened with violence if they continued at their work or returned, and that there was danger of other attempts to interfere with trains the next evening. He directed me to take Gatling gun and fifty infantry and proceed on the evening train to Bloc ton and take all necessary steps to preserve the peace and prevent any interference with the running of trains. The detach ment left Birmingham at 3:42 the same evening, having the coored porter on board, but the firemen had been so badly intimidated that he could not be induced to go.
 When within a quarter of mile from Blocton the conductor and l went to the front of the train, and on approaching the station the conductor told me that there was a considerably larger crowd there than was usual at that point. In my opinion there were probably 600 or zoo men collected in the vicinity of the depot, and other parties could be seen approaching the depot as the train came in sight. As it had become necessary to dismount the Gatling gun in order to load it on the train, and not wishing to have the train pull into the station with the Gatling gun dismounted and the train surrounded by the crowd, 1 had the train stopped, the infantry com pany disembarked, and forming columns of four, marched on the track ahead of the train into the station. At that point 1 halted the command and went amongst the crowd, stating that it was necessary to clear the crowd away from the depot; that they were on private property; that was acting under orders of the governor of the state ,and requested all to move to point beyond the tracks in and around the de- | pot. This request was but slowly obeyed, | and the crowd climbed into and upon some | cars that were standing upon another | track. I told them that this was not | be necessary to get out of those cars and | entirely beyond the tracks. There was so | much delay in obeying this order that, in | my opinion, it became necessary to call | upon a commanding officer, Captain Du- | mont, to aid me in driving the crowd | back. Captain Dumont very easily made | the crowd retire beyond the tracks and es- | abolished sentinels. The crowds were kept | off the railway property until our departure | from Bocton the next morning.
 While was directing the posting of sen tinels was addressed by several persons |