San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-10-09
THRONOUT A CHAIRMAN
FREE sILVBA AUDIENCE wBARIEs
OF A LENGTHY HARANGUB.
Presiding Officer Safely Deposited In a
Mud PUddleh nd Free Silver
Wind NM Stopped,

and RObey streets.
Then he was carried from the
meeting with his heels in the air
and deposited with more force
than grace in the midst of deep,
damp mudhOle in a neighbOring
vacant lot and left there.
The meeting was held in an old
circus tent which is used as one
night stands by the gOldbug eX-
terminatOrs. The road to the
site of the tent from the down
town headquarters is beset with
saloons. and as Mr.. Copeland
jOurneyed thence last evening he
is said to have collected a large
quantity of artificial enthusiasm.
When he mounted the platform
and tried to find words to express
his thoughts he found he had set
in motion a force which he was
unable TO control.
He seemed to forget that the
only thing required of him was to
introduce the several speakers
to the assembled multitude. The
orator of the evening, Walter
Thomas Mills, was waiting on
the platform for the process of in
PRODUCTION. But Copeland could
not control the flood of OratOry
which resulted from his effort.
He talked fifteen minutes and
showed no signs of reaching a
climax. Another quarter of an
hour passed; he was still talking.
The crowd grew restless and
cries of Mills. Mills" were
heard. Still Copeland talked
on.
The speakers platform Occu-
pied the ringmaster's position in
the ring. and the chairman acted
as if the audience were revOlv-
ing about him as the horses of
merry gO-rOund.
In this effort to keep in touch
with his hearers he whirled
around like a button on a cellar
door. His voice grew louder
and his syntax became a night
mare. He clutched a chair for
but kept on talking.
Put him out" cried a dozen
voices.
In the hope of lettering mat
ters and ending the scene Mr..
Mills stepped forward, made his
bow, and proceeded to speak
the formality of AN in
Copeland had reached the dig
nified stage. He did not propose
to be interrupted. He made a
rush at Mr.. Mills and a scramble
followed. A dozen men sprang
to the platform and seized the
now belligerent chairman.
All attempts to quiet Mr.. Cope
land were unavailing, and it was
necessary to carry him to the
outer air. But neither the chill
wind nor the mud bath could
cool or temper his seething re-
and at a late hour last
night, it is said, he was still talk
ing.
Christian O'Brien, chairman of
the Peoples party central com
mittee of Chicago, took charge
of the meeting after the eXpul-
sion of Copeland, and then the
program of the evening was car
ried out.
Copeland was imported from
Texas at the beginning of the
campaign and assigned by the sill
yer campaign managers to the
work of converting union labor.
His field of work was for some
time about the Washington
street labor headquarters. His
flow of words made him, it is
said, a valuable man for the free
silver campaign.
At one time during his lad
dress" at the meeting last night
he called for a vote of free silver
men. The vote was almost
"Where are the gold bugs?" he
shouted.
''They are all working" re-
piled an auditor.
The above is taken from a Chi
cago paper of Friday last. Cope
land was not "impOrted from
Texas for the campaign" but
has been in Chicago, off and on.
since the Worlds fair, at which
time he had booth on the "Mid-
way" and practiced as n theOlo-