The herald., 1897-08-14
THE WOODMEN
Engage in a Very Lively
Conflict
PRIMEVAL WEAPONS USED
AFTER THE FASHION SET BY
SAVAGES
Citizens of Iowa Towns Fight Over
the Location of Modern Wood
men Headquarters
Associated Press Special Wire.

sans of the respective towns, in which a
number of persons were seriously in
jured.
AT the recent convention of the order
held in Dubuque, Iowa, it was decided to
move the offices and books of Head
Clerk Halves to Rock Island. Citizens
of Fulton thereupon applied to the court
for an order restraining the removal.
The temporary injunction was granted
and the controversy went over until the
fall term of court. The slow process of
law was not satisfactory to the Rock
Islaners, however, and they determined
to take matters into their own hands.
Today party was made up in the city
by the Mississippi, and plans were made
for raid on the Fulton headquarters.
with the object of forcibly taking pos
session of the books, records, etc, of
the order, and removing the office of
Head Clerk Halves to Rock Island. A
train was chartered, consisting CT three
coaches, a baggage car and two box
cars, and the invaders were soon on their
way to Fulton.
The inhabitants Of the latter town
were forewarned, however, and made
ready to give their unlimited guests a
cordial reception. A fire alarm was
sounded and lines of hose were laid to
the points where it was thought the
Rock Islanders would be most likely to
stop.
The arrival of the special train was
the signal for hostilities, and the scrim-
mage which followed resulted in the fol-
lowing casualties:
Will Bennett, city marshal of Fulton
head cut, believed to be fatally injured.
w. H. Flanagan, head badly cut.
James Carrier, head cut.
Ed Barre, head and arms injured.
Chris Miller, Lyons, Iowa, head cut.
P. ]. Casey, Moline, ILL.,, head badly
injured.
jured in arms.
Albert Spencer, Rock Island, face cut.
Walter Fowler Fulton, head cut.
Charles Weinburger, Rock Island.
head cut
T. Burns, Rock Island, head cut.
r. Winter, Rock Island, cut over right
eye.
G. w. Sample, Rock Island, head and
face cut.
James Mulcahy, Rock Island, head
cut, condition serious.
Andrew Lunheim, Fulton, head in
jured, condition serious.
L. V. Eyckhart, Rock Island, head cut.
A score Of others were more or less
bruised and cut. The free fight lasted
for an hour or more. Rocks, clubs and
missiles of every dissertation were WELD
ed industriously by the opposing forces.
The Fultonites finally got the better of
the fight, and Deputy Sheriff Farley af-
fected the arrest of Head Attorney
Johnson Of the Modern Woodmen, one
of the Rock Island party, and a number
Of his companions. The railroad track
on each side of the cars that brought the
Rock Islanders was torn up by the Full
tonites, the latter evidently aiming to
cut off the retreat of their enemies.
The scene of the fighting bears every
evidence Of the liveliest warfare, and as
there was a number of firearms in both
parties, it is wonder the affair did not
result more seriously than it did. A
large force of officers has been sworn in,
and as the invaders, or most Of them,
are still in Fulton, there is great diff
Guilty in preventing a renewal of the
trouble.
The action of the Rock Island people
was prompted by decision of Judge
Cast, rendered at Cambridge today, dis
solving the injunction which had pre-
vented the removal of the headquarters
from Fulton.
The Rock Island delegation arrived at
$3.50 with SIS men and Immediately pro-
ceeded to the offices of the Woodmen
order. Though they met with desperate
resistance from the start the Rock Is
landers succeeded in getting the bulk of
the records out to the train.
The Fultonites, in the meantime, had
called out the fire department, sounded
a general alarm and with the augmented
crowd, succeeded in tearing up the track
in front of the locomotive. 1t was then
attempted to back the train, whereupon
the Fulton people tore up the track in
the rear. By this time the Fultonites
were reinforced by crowds from Clinton
and Lyons and having this advantage,
and with it the use of the arms of the
Lyons company of the Illinois state mi
litia, a guard was formed about the
train. In the meantime two additional
master in chancery injunctions We're
secured and the sheriff swore in 200
deputies to assist in enforcing them.
The Fulton people showed fight from
the moment the Rock Island crowd ar
rived. They began hostilities by tear
ing up the walks about the depot and
assaulting the invaders with the loose
planks.
AT the door of the head office the viii
lage marshal, William Bennett. stood
with a drawn revolver. A brick from
one of the invaders felled him to the
ground. The Rock Islanders then made
rush into the office and captured the
records. AT the depot, which is half a
block distant the fight was renewed,
and here it took the nature of a riot
during which $50 of the Rock Island peo-
pie were placed under arrest. 1t was at
this time a large number on both sides
were injured,
TROOPS REQUESTED
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,. Aug. 13.-Gov.
Tanner received a dispatch from Fulton
asking that troops be sent there imme-
diately to quell the riot among the MEM
bers of the Modern Woodmen Of Amer
lea. The governor decided not to order
a ssl ca A. h. S E, K K, 4. N. X. n S,1. x 35a