Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-04-01
WITH BLUE RIBBONS.
TEMPERANCE WORK OF FRANCIS AND
 NED MURPHY.
The Incident That Changed the Elder Murrhy's Career Headquarters of tho EIuc Ribbon Movement A Series of Re marlkablc Meetings.
Especial Correspondence. ]


 newspaper arrountS i* seems apparent that 'Gcnrral" Ned Murphy is causing as great a sensation with his bluO ribbon temperance movement in Connecticut this winter nS his father, Francis Murphy, did in what Is known aS the southern tier of counties of Now York state iumu 20 years ago
 Thcrri is nu dnuht hut tho Murphy meet ingS uf tl!usu days NrCrt, :hn most ext raurti- nary gatherings ever held m this section before or since, tn. ugh. Us l was told at tho time, nutut all in adVanIN of his meet in2S held tho same vrnr r.; SOmo other places. Francis Murphy was . New Eng lander by adoption, if uu: @y birth, and at tho tinO ho Was converted tr prohibition was living sumrWhcrn ln Maine, if l rc- member aright The mnunrr uf his con version was dramatic enough. He drank too much one day. had difficulty with somu one and threw his uri"nrnt down stairs, either killing or seriously injuring him. For this Murphy, upon trial, was sent tn prison for n term. During his in generation ho decided to devote himself hCnccfUrth to urging men not to drink whisky. He believed he could find a now way of pCrsuadinS them if he studied the problem long enough, and ho devoted most of his waking hours to that end un- til his release Tho result was the dcvis- ing of the famous bluo ribbon and indi- vidual pledge campaign.
 All earlier temperance movements had had a pledge accompaniment, but tho plan was for tho signcrS to atiiX their names to a long list, which was then kept in the possession of tho lecturer or some temper ance society. Murphy's plan was for each signer to keep his own pledge, and he had fhnnSOnIs nf hnnr hR Of the pludgo printed. Then ho added tho notion of each signcr wearing bit of blue ribbon in his buttonhole flor identi- ficatiun," ho used to say, and backed up by tho rcformor's really eloquent pleas tho pledge and tho ribbon made wonderful progress wherever ho took them In no section was tho bluo ribbon movement a greater success than in the southern tier, This city was for long time the head quarters of tho campaign, and here ho mado a number of recruits who afterward became his liCut"nants One of the most promising of thCso was Billy Maxwell, whose namo will Do recognized by persons in many sections who took part in the bluc ribbon crusades of tho seventies.
 Aftor Murphy had covered tho imme- diatc vicinity of Elmira ho wont a little farther north, making his headquarters for weeks at Spencer, littlo place of a few hundred inhabitants, but so situated at a railroad junction as to bO easily reached from nearly every direction. Thcro, in q Methodist camp meeting grove, Murphy held blue ribbon camp meeting lasting two weeks, and although it was in the summer time, when tho farmers were at their busiest, they turned out in great numbers every day of the meetings. Pco, pie from towns tivo and ten miles away also nockcd to the gatherings daily, some coming by train from tho convCrging val lcys and somG in all sorts of vehicles UvCi the hills. At no day during tho entire fortnight was tho attendance much less than thousand, and on the two sundays tho throng was immense, being variouSly estimated at from 3, GOO to 10, 900. Prob ably tho latter figures wcro too largo, a: tho former werc undoubtedly too small Certainly no such crowds of people had ever before been seen in quiet Spencer and if they had gono there expecting tc buy food when mealtime arrived thcr( would have been famine, for tho regular hot9l resources of the place wero limited to one small tavern. However, thcro wa: no suffering, for nearly every one carried | lunch basket, and temporary eating houses were erected in tho grove for th' improvident
 The meetings had not been under way long before the demand for blue ribbor ! outran tho supply, and by tho close of thC | first week ninc- tcnths of the residents O Spercer-mcn, women, boys, girls an(
 babiCs-wcro wearing the little azurt
 knots. Not to wear tho identification | badge was to confess yourself opposed tC | the whole scheme, and that was to bc os
 tracked. From Spencer in each direction
 tho fervor spread. Tho young ladies o the little town and its vicinity were or | ganized into corps of assistants, who's duty it was to af1ix tho ribbons to tn, | newly signed, working in relays, ono SC l beginning where another sot, exhausted | with their laborS, left off do not dare t. say how many persons put on the blu
 ribbon during that meeting at Spencer | My memory is that the number was OK
 pressed in four figures. Certainly thcr ! were thousands. At Van Ettcnville,
 hamlet two or three miles away, tho tav | ern keeper himself became n blue ribbone
 and rolled his whisky and beer "in tn
 wood" out into tho road, where he knock ! ed in the heads of the kegs and barrels
 and tho malt and spirituouS liquors ran ou
 into dusty highways to be drunk up b.
 the hot summer sun Instead of by thirst,
 human beings.
 | "GonCral" Ned, who is now leading tn | Connecticut crusade, was with his fathC
 at Spencer, his business being to sell pho
 tographs of tho elder Murphy and to smil
 on tho newly converted bluo ribboncrs
 Ho was n lad of not far from 20 then, an, apparently right good fellow too.
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