Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1897-12-24
REDLAM IN AUSTRIAN CHAMBER
Knives Were Drawn, Chairs and
Fists brought Into Requisition
and One of the Lawmakers Chol-
ed Into a State of Insensibility.


lower house of the reichsrath yesterday ex-
celled themselves in producing the most
disgraceful scene yet witnessed in that
branch of parliament. The turbulence re-
suited from motion that only one of a
number of similar petitions against the
ordinance making the Czech language CO.
ordinate with the German in Bohemia
should be read and printed. This order
of the government has been the basis
OF many uproarious scenes which have
been described in these dispatches for
number of weeks past, although the
question of renewing the compact be-
tween Austria and Hungary, provisional
ly at least, has been mixed up in all the
bitter feeling manifested by the German
and anti German elements.
The members of the left party protested
uproariously against the motion referred
to, stigmatizing it as Oppressive and lille
gall"
President Abrahamovich was greeted
with cries of "Polish scoudrel." "swind-
Ter" "blackguard" and "Badini eunuch.'
One deputy was stabbed in the hand,
another had his collar bone bronken, an
other received severe scalp wounds.
Count Badini, the premier, with
sneer on his face, watched the combat
throughout. Herr Wolff declared that he
would bring his revolver to the next sit
ting.
Finally the committees of the lower
house became so disorderly that the pres
ident of that body, Dr. Abrahamovich,
was once more compelled to suspend the
sitting, and he soon afterward left the
house
The departure of the president was the
signal for scene of the widest disorder.
DR.. Wolff, the German nationalist leader,
clambered up into the presidents tri-
bune, seized heavy bell and swung it
to and fro, materially increasing the dis
order prevailing The bell, however, was
almost Immediately wrenched from DIR.
VOLTS hand by Deputy Pollock.
Fighting and Swearing.
| While this incident was in progress
challenges to fight duels, and showers of
billingsgate and other insults were eX
changed on all sides, until the interior
inferno. A number of young Czechs and
Poles made a rush for the presidents
tribune and attempted to tear down DIR.
Wolff from the position he occupied, and
they in turn were attacked by number
of leftists, and disgraceful scrimmage
was the result. This was only the be-
ginning of the fighting. During the pre-
liminary scuffling some of the young
Czechs struck DIR. Wolff, and this caused
such an uproar that regular pitched
battle with fists followed, lasting for a
quarter of an hour.
Herr Scheenerer, the leader of section
of the German opposition, caught hold
of and brandished over his head one of
the ministers arm chairs, and was evil
IDENTIFY about to hurl it at the heads of
his immediate opponents, when he was
seized and disarmed by Herr Hagenhofer.
One Deputy Was strangIed.
BY this time the disorder was of such
general nature that even the public in
the galleries cried "Crime" upon the dep
rushed upon another member, Herr
Pferche, and was nearly strangling him
when Herr Pferche, on the impulse of the
moment, drew penknife from his pocket
and opend it, but he was disarmed by a
colleague before any further harm was
done Herr Pferche was by that time SO
exhausted by the choking he had receiv'
ed and so overcome with excitement
that he tainted, still further adding to the
sensation
Closed the Sitting.
At this moment President Abrahamo
vich returned to the house, but after re
peated and vain efforts to quell the dis
turbance prevailing, he closed the sitting
of the house. In so doing the president
said:
''In view of the acts of violence which
have occurred in the house today, con
slider it my duty to close this sitting
viii those members who are willing tt
give the names of the violent member:
please come to my officer"
Several members of the house accepted
the invitation of the president, and as {
} result it is believed that Herren Scheen
erer, Wolff and Pferche will be arrested