Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-05-16


FIGHT. IN WHICH ONE MAN WAS
KILLED AND SEVERAL OTHERS
SEVERELY INJURED THE
PLUCKY SNOWMAN IGNORED A
SILLY AND UNwRITTEN LAW
OF THE COLLEGE TOWN THAT
NO CIRCUS SHOULD PARADE.
Princeton. N. j.. May 15.-Princeton
students and Pawnee Bills wild
West" employees INDUCED in a pitched
battle to-day and continuous and seri-
Gus rioting was prevented only by the
presence of men with cool heads and
the action of President Patton, OF
Princeton University, later in the day
calling mass meeting of all of the stu
dents.
For fifty years it has been an unwrit-
ten law Of Princeton that no circus
parade must pass through the streets.
Every show proprietor in making his
dates has always left Princeton from
the list, for it had been a matter of
common knowledge that the students
would enforce the unwritten law This
morning Pawnee Bills Wild West COM
ed. The result was the fiercest battle
Princeton has seen in many years.
When posters were hung up a few
days ago announcing the advent of
Pawnee Bill. it was at first considered
joke Finally when it became known
that the management of the show was
really in earnest the town authorities,
fearing trouble, advised the circus men
- Ia to- 1t-ia
was unheeded. AS a resdlt of to-day's
fight one man is unconscious and may
die and a number of students and en-
ployes of the show are nursing wounds
received in the fray. That the show
would be upset at night seemed GER
tainty until late this afternoon. when
President Patton called a meeting of
all the undergraduates and the faculty,
and the result of the meeting indicates
that the show will leave town unmo-
Tested, but it will have lost money, for
word has been passed through the town
that no one is to enter the tent, and
the townspeople, who are in sympathy
with the students, are unit in refusing
TO attend.
Things were proceeding in the usual
course in the university when the pa
rade started. The procession reached
the college campus without trouble,
but down Nassau street at a bad mo-
ment, for just as the bands of music
were heard the students were in the
act of passing from the first morning
lectures to the second. The town.
people were out in force and waiting
for the parade, and the great majority
of them were massed near the campus.
Word passed all along the line, and
within few minutes six or seven hun
dred students had assembled on Nassau
street. Cannon crackers left over
from previous celebrations, eggs pur-
chased at nearby stores and yege-
tables bought or confiscated from the
stores were assembled quickly. The
men unable to obtain those missiles
armed themselves with clods of turf
hastily torn from the lawns. The
trouble started with the band wagon.
Cannon crackers were thrown, and
these exploding under the six horses,
made them frantic. The musicians
were on top of the wagons. A serious
runaway might have resulted had not
one of the leaders stumbled and fell,
dragging down the other horses with
him. The students meanwhile kept up
a merciless bombardment with eggs
and vegetables.
On the return the parade wheeled
into John Lane, and the students made
a grand rush to head off the procession.
Again the employees of the circus were
rotten egged. The cowboys and In
dians 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 be-
came ugly, and in moments the mis-
siles that were annoying but not dan
gerous were replaced by stones and
the fight became serious. Revolvers
were drawn, but fortunately the own
erS were wise enough to fire over the
heads of the enemy. Some of the Mex
lean or South African cowboys unslung
their bolas and used these with great
effect. the leather covered ends being
exceedingly effective. The cowboys
charged the crowd several times. and
rode down those who could not get out
of the way.
In this manner Edward Dillon. a col
ored man, was knocked down and was
kicked in the head by pony and his
skull fractured. A student was in
jured by a pony trampling upon him.
Another was wounded by bola. and
another was struck by an Indian with
one of the snake whips Many stu
dents were less severely hurt. The
cowboys and Indians were also badly
bruised and hurt
A mass meeting of students was
called this afternoon. attended by the
whole undergraduate body. at which
President Patton spoke in condemna-
ton OF the attack on the parade and
positively forbade any students to go to
the show grounds tonight At the
same time the college authorities ar
ranged to have the proctor and large
force of assistants on duty there.