The San Francisco call., 1899-02-05

his men was to keep them drunk, so for
nve days previous to the opening. whisky
Moved like water and the ringleaders
boosted up their cohorts with bad liquor.
On the day OF the rush, however. no
man was so drunk as to forget about the
flying wedge, which had been thoroughly
explained and illustrated. At the very
peep OF the dawn the great mass began to
push, though the sale was not until
O'CLOCK Lines were formed and the en-
tire gathering was soon engaged in a
vicious free fight. Men emerged with
ears bitten off, eyes blackened, noses
broken and teeth loosened. AS soon as
company got its man to the window he
was dragged away and either passed back
overhead or nearly trampled to death.
Many succeeded in reaching the spot but
1t was impossible to hold man there
long, Tor he was soon borne down by
force of numbers.
Brown and his henchmen, In the mean
time, held their position on the outskirts
IL was not until half an hour before the
time appointed to open the window that
he began to form his wedge. Probably
6OOO men were massed between him and
the goal at that moment, but this never
feazed the indomitable Yankee. With
thongs of rawhide he lashed himself to
Alec Love and Jim MaIoRey, and with his
feet barely touching the earth, gave the
signal to move.
At the first impact with the human wall
there was terrific howl of pain follow
ed by the most surprising imprecations,
and man staggered out of the crowd
with the blood squirting from his leg Ma
loney had run his knife into him several
inches. In a few minutes these cries
echoed on all sides and the attention of
the mob became divided, some turning to
face the wedge, which hung together
without a break and seemed to gain in
velocity as it neared the goal. Maloney
and Love, with heads down, darted into
every opening, and where there was none.
made 1t with the jab of a knife. Brown
was hustled along breathless and bleed
ing until within a dozen rods of the win
dow.
Here several hundred Cornishmen, great
hulking fellows, with plenty of strength
and grit, made a stand that bade fair to
spoil the rush. They smashed the apex
and were moving down the pugilists
when the rest of the wedge broke
through and cleared the way. Brown,
though badly bruised, continued to shout
out promises Of reward to his men If they
pushed him up on time. There were but
few minutes left then, and the office
was rocking to and fro with the tide of
humanity.
Pounded and beaten on every side the
great flying wedge made one last effort
and with zigzag movement aIsd mary
knife thrusts, finally broke through and
fairly hurled Brown against the office.
With good right-hand blow a pugiIist
smashed in the window and Brown
clutched the frail partition with a death
grip. At the some moment a gun was
fired, announcing o'clock, and the whole
mass, as one man, heaved up against the
little galvanized iron booth, crushing
Brown almost fat.
Surrounded by a remnant of his flying
wedge. however, he continued to hang to
the window, and was just getting at his
wad Of five-pound notes when the Govern
ment Commissioner threw open the door
and announced President Krugers order
suspending the opening. 1t nearly cost
him his life, for bullets rained in the
shanty from all sides and the mob push
ed harder than ever, and Brown was on
the point Of giving up his position when
one of those happy inspirations which oc-