Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-08-14

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for his pockets. where he evidently
had an unlimited supply Of rocks,
which he began to throw 1T the lead.
ers Of the opposite side. He sud.
denly dropped. about . dozen brich
bats and clubs landing on his head
at the same time. He was carried
away and placed under the care of 9
physician. 1t is feared he cannot
live.
All this and more transpired in
20 minutes. Practically all the
books in the Office were loaded on
the cars in that time.
A wild Sosas.
It Was . wild scene. The town
was Infatuated. Men, women and
children were mad. They raced
through the streets swearing VEN
geance on all who sympathized with
the Woodmen in their desire to leave
the Whi,eside county village. As
soon as the special stopped at the
foot of the street leading to the
head office building. and as the mob
started its deadly work, women and
children screamed and hastened
from the scene of conflict. Men fell
one after the other in the street and
on the walk from blows. Human
fought human like demons. The fol-
lowing is list of the injured:
From Rock Island: Walter Fowl.
er, head and arm bruised; Pat Cary,
cut in side Of head and shoulder
bruised; Alva Spencer, face cut; Ted
Mesley, side bruised; James Mulca-
hey, cut over right eye; Aid. B. Win
ter, cut over left eye; Englebert
Schmitt, head badly cut; G. W. Sam.
pie, cut and bruised; B. Ellis. hurt
in groin; L. v. Eckhart, Jr., shot in
leg with bird shot; Andrew Lerch,
right cheek and eye cut.
From South Rock Island: Andrew
Mannheim. head cut; serious.
From Davenport: Connie O'Brien,
face and shoulder lacerated.
From Fulton: Marshal William
Bennett, head cut, may die; Jacob
Sterenberg, head cut; w. H. Flani-
gan. head cut; Ed Bare, head cut; X.
L. Plant, cut in head and arm.
From Lyons: Chris Miller, cut in
head.
As soon as the Fulton people real
lied that the records were slipping
away from them they saw but one
way to prevent their removal to
Rock Island, and that was by block
ing the train. This they did, hav-
ing section of track torn up south
of town about 6:lO. Then an engine
was taken from the roundhouse BY q
party whose name could not be
learned, and run off the track at the
place where it had been torn up.
While one gang was working at the
south side, another fastened north in
wagons with picks and crowbsrs and
removed couple of rails. 1t had
been planned to run the special
bearing the records to Savanna, and
work their way out from there. but
the tearing up Of the track at the
north cut off the only remaining
avenue of exit. By this time
the Rock Island party was
ready to leave-about 6:2O-the
tracks were torn up at both sides.
At Cos the Dubuque passenger train
pulled in from the north. followed
by freight. which just passed be-
fore the wreckers began to operate
at the north end of town. The Rock
Island people were then ordered to
remain in the coaches and protect
the books. This they did, laying
down in the seats and pulling down
the windows and curtains to escape
the missiles, which continued TO fl
thick and fast. The train was pulled
north a few blocks. The Fulton mob
followed. The whistles were sounded
for reinforcements. They came
from all the surrounding towns in
wagons. buggies. hayracks, bicycles.
horseback and afoot. Every farmer
who had q musket took it along.
Men heavily armed stood guard at
the Clinton bridge to see that No
one from Rock Island crossed into
Iowa.
At z O'Clock c. L. Root. captain of
Company L, L N. e.. of Lyons. gave
permission to the Fulton people to
use the rifles of his company. A
hack was secured and in q very few
moments about SO carrying rifles
aud bayonets formed q Head line at
either side of the train. sheriff C.
c. Fuller and Deputy Sh riff 10 Far
ley and Lieut.. Frank Holleran. of
the Lyons militia, led the mob.
Sheriff Fuller swore in 200 deputies,
each one Of whom was provided with
q star. a revolver and q pocket Of
cartridges. Then the saloons were or
dered closed by order of Mayor John
Schwab. who told the armed guards
to shoot down any man who at
tempted to leave the train with a
book. Several of the Rock Island
boys. each carrying q book, made
out for the woods towards home,
after the train had been backed
down from the depot, but they were
ordered back at the muzzle of guns.
Wholessls Warrant.
At 8 O'Clock the Fulton leaders
had blank warrant issued by JUS
tice Jackson for the arrest of 200
Rock Islanders. who were charged
nit ~ ~