The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-06-27
WENT OFF WRONG WAY.
Meeting Of Italians TO Lament the French

Meeting of Italians to Lament the French
Presidents Death.
SAN Francisco, June 27.-An italian
| mass meeting, which ended in a bloody
riot, was held in Garibaldi hall last
night for the purpose of expressing re-
! gret at the assassination of President
Carnot. Garioaldi is in the heart of the
Italian quarter. L was packed long be-
fore the time set for the meeting.
The crowd was unruly and there was
considerable shouting, whistling and
hustiing. With the advent of the speak
erS of the evening the trouble began.
Joseph ColegarIs, the chairman is one of
the leading men of the Italian colony
and is looked upon as a broad, fair and
liberal minded man.
He took his place on the narrow plat
form at the rear of the hall, but for
some reason could not make himself
heard on account of the hubbub and the
shouts came up from athe mob in
the streets below. Two policemen in
uniform, who were in the body of the
hall moved up in front of the platform.
their action and the cries OF shame
and silence from the few sober men in
the hall had the effect of bringing about
comparative silence. The chairman
said that the meeting had been called
for the purpose of giving the Italian
residents of San Francisco an opportuni-
ty of expressing their sympathy for the
French people in their grief because of
the loss of their president
Then bedlam broke lose. The crowd
that for few moments had been quiet
was transformed in a moment into mob
of bowling, screaming, hooting maniacs.
Those behind pressed forward and the
crush near the platform was something
frightful.
r Shouts and screams of 'sDown with the
French" and Italy forever" came from
half thousand thrOats at once.
and the nnrOar that
the answering yells that came up from
the street below could be heard. 1t was
as if pandemonium had broken loose
and the men had for the time been
transformed into yelling, gesticulating
demons.
So great was the noise and so tremen-
dous the press that the speaker was
forced off the platform. This was the
signal for those in the rear, and had not
the two policemen interposed at this
critical moment tragedy might have
been the result As 1t was the two pO-
licemen, partly by their authority and
partly by their weight of body, prevent
ed the mob from crushing the speaker.
Never for moment did the shouts and
curses cease. The critical moment ar
rived when Chairman Caligaris attempt
ed to leave the hall. With policeman
in front and one behind him way was
forced through the excited mass of men,
AS far as the doors. The two policemen
drew their clubs and defended the stairs
until Caligaris had reached the lower
landing, when they were themselves
forced down by the press from within
the hall
When Caligaris reached the street he
was still far from safety. The mob re-
inforced by hundreds of men who lined
the street swelled the chorus to wild
yell and without knowing whom they
were pursuing, Joined in the chase after
CaliQariS.
1t was wild stampede. Caligaris was
half dead from fright as the throng
pressed upon him in fury. The
police made continuous fight They
piled their clubs, cracking many head
and kept AN open circle about Caligaris
along Broadway to New Montgomery
street and until he had reached the shell
ter of the Commercial hotel. Even here
the man was not secure from the mob,
for 100 of the rabbie pressed their way
in and had to be expelled by the police.
Dir. Caligaris and his friends were un-
able to account for the extraordinary ac-
ton of the mob Their idea, however,
seemed to be that the trouble was due
to division of the Italian colony. The
men composing one faction are laborers;
in the other faction are merchants and
capitalists. The first faction is opposed
to the second on general principles,
being indeed, permeated to some extent
by the teachings of the Malta, or at least
so il was openly charged
Charles Borreo. an Italian resident,
spoke for the riotous element as follows
"The people who assem- bled last night at
the meeting felt that the protest and con-
demnation of President Carnot's assassi-
nation were odt of place. The French
made no protests or apologies when
CrisPi was assailed by a Frenchman, and
they have made no apologies for their
treatment of the Italians at Lyons"