The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-11-05
ENEMIES OF FREE SPEECH.
BOURKE COCHRAN HAD A VERY
ROUGH HOUSE AT NORFOLK. (
VIRGINIA.
PROVED EQUAL TO The OCCASION.
He Got His Irish Up and Told the Dis
turbers What He Thought of Them.
He Was Finally Allowed to Go
on With His Speaking.

Norfolk, Va, Oct 29.-Great prepa-
rations were made today for the speech
of Bourke Cochran. Armory Hall had
put on gala dress. A stand had been
erected on the west side of the hall,
draped with American flags, as was also
the western gallery front, the flags be-
ing borrowed from the navy yard for this
and other like occasions of this cam
paign.
BY . o'clock, the time set for speaking,
many being drawn by curiosity, and of
these many were sivertes, proclaimed
SO by the wearing of buttons and badges.
At , p. H., to the strains of Hail to
the Chief" from the National Post band,
stationed in the north gallery, Mr.. Cock
ran entered the hail. escorted by the gold
standard leaders in this city. He was
greeted with cheers, followed by cheers
for Bryan and Sewall and for Mckinley.
AS Mr.. Cochran moved to the front
of the stage he was greeted with min
gled cheers and Kisses. The latter dem
onstration Mr.. Cochran made use of and
remarked:
Il never object to pOpulistic arguments,
and these shouts are among the best of
them l have heard. Populists can not
wait for success before they begin their
esta blishment of disorder. / stand here
to oppose the wrong done our party by
bo IL, INA.
rupted by cheers for Bryan, and some
one cried: Put him out"
NO" said Mr.. Cochran, ''leave him
here as an object lesson" Later he
asked: what do the pOpulists propose
to do?" and waving his hands toward the
door, where the crowd, that now filed
the hall, was most dense, he remarked:
"The disOrderly attempts to suppress
free speech in this campaign, as shown
by these ruffians is indication"
(Hisses, groans and cheers greeted this
sentiment)
The hostile demonstration had become
so strong that he could not go on fur
ther.
Mr.. Cochran added fuel to the fire by
interspersing the statements he made.
which met with derision, by references
like these:
Bryan and the crowd of lunatics and
ru6ians who follow him." Every labor.
er will understand me, no pepulist cas;r
LET them alone; they are simply illus.
trating their PLATFORM which stands fol
anarchy and riot
Here the uproar became deafening, and
from all sides was heard: what of
slave holders?" How about that Madi.
son square speech?'
Mr.. Cochran said he had been misrep.
resented by the press as to his Madison
square speech, and that enly few lines
of what he said had been quoted.
Continuing, he said: During few
years past the south has been disgraced
by number of wretches who have pre-
tended to represent her. but Tillman no
more represents the south than do the
ruffians out there in the audience who
interrupted me-
Again the uproar stopped him and the
voice of w. r. Mayo, mayor of the city,
was heard commanding order. While
the latter was speaking Mr.. Cochran
waited
Mayor Mayo was eheered to the echo
for the defense of order, and made his
way to the platform, where he apollo
gized for the interruption.
Mr.. Cochran accepted his apologies,
but stated there was no need fer his ac-
ton, as the people recognized the source
from which the disturbance came.
The meeting then went on smoothly.
and with a grand oratorcal finish Mr..
Cochran ended his speech. Mr.. Cochran
left for New York tonight.