The Anaconda standard., 1899-05-16
into A PITCHED BATTLE.
Princeton Students and a Cow
boy Circus Mix Up.
RIOT NARROWLY AVERTED
The School Boys Essayed to Prevent a
Violation of a Traditional Custom
Regarding Show Parades
in the Streets

Princeton, N. j., May 15-Princeton
students and Pawnee Bill's Wild West
employees indulged in a pitched battle
to-day and continuous and serious riot
ing was prevented only by the presence
of men with cool heads and the action
of President Patton of Princeton uni
yersity later in the day by calling a
mass meeting of all the students.
For 50 years it has been a law of
Princeton that no circus parade must
pass through the streets. Every show
proprietor in making his dates has al
ways left Princeton from the list. for it
mad been a matter of common know1-
edge that the students would enforce
the unwritten law. The morning Paw
nee Bills Wild West combination vio-
lated the tradition and paraded. The
result was the fiercest battle Princeton
has seen IN many years. When posters
were hung up a few days ago announc-
ing the advent of Pawnee Bill, it was
at first considered joke. Finally,
when it became known that the man.
agSment of the show was really in ear
nest, the town authorities, fearing trou-
BILE, advised the circus men not to at
tempt parade. This advice was un-
needed
AS result of to-day's fight one man
is unconscious and may die, and a num-
ber of students and employees of the
show are nursing wounds received in
the fray. That the show would be up
set at night seemed a certainty until
late this afternoon. when President
Patton. called mass meeting of all the
undergraduates and the faculty, and
n lln inc iroIi foe I,
the snow will leave town unmolested
but will have lost money, for word has
been passed through the town that no
one is to enter the tent, and the towns
people, who are in sympathy with the
students, are unit in refusing to at
tend.
Things We're proceeding in the usual
course in the university when the pa
rade started. The procession reached
the college campus without trouble, but
passed down Nashua street at a bad
moment, for just as the bands music
was heard the students were in the act
of passing from the first morning lee
ture to the second. The toWnspeople
were out in force and waiting for the
parade, and the great majority of them
were massed near the campus. Word
was passed all along the line. and with
in a few minutes 600 or 700 students had
assembled on Nashua street. Cannon
crackers left over from previous occa-
sions, eggs purchased at nearby stores.
and vegetables bought or contiscated
from the stores We're assembled quick
ly. The men unable to obtain these
missiles armed themselves with clods
of turf hastily torn from the lawns.
The trouble started with the band wa
gon. Cannon crackers were thrown.
and these. exploding under the six
horses, made them frantic. The musi-
nj Of hD
serious runaway might have resulted
had not one of the leaders stumbled
and fell. dragging down the other
horses with him. The students mean
while kept up a merciless lombard
ment with eggs and vegetables.
On the reutrn the parade wheeled
into John lane and the students made
a grand rush to head off the process
sion. Again the employees of the circus
We're rotten -egged. The cowboys and
Indians finally charged the students
and used their whips freely. That was
the turning point of the affair. Stung
by the whips and bruised by the riders
running into them. the students became
ugly, and jn moment missiles that
were annoying, but not dangerous.
w4e replaced by stones. Revolvers
were drawn, but fortunately their own
ers were wise enough to fire over the
heads of the enemy. Some of the Mex
lean or South American cowboys un-
slung their bolas and used these with
great effect the leaden- covered ends
being exceedingly effective, and the
cowboys charged the crowd several
times and rode down those who could
not get out of the way In this man
ner Edward Dimon, colored man, was
knocked down and kicked in the head
by a pony, and his skull fractured A
student was injured by pony tramp
ling upon him. Another was injured by
bela, and another was struck by an