The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1903-05-13
A STREET MELEE.
1t Happened Sunday Fists Freely
Used-The Sunday Excursion.

1t Happened Sunday = Fists Freely
Used-The Sunday Excursion.
Corvallis has had a lot to talk
about since last Sunday, The
spectacle of a street melee in which
fists were freely used by anywhere
from twenty to fifty men and in
which perhaps score Of men were
knocked down is a fruitful theme
of discussion. To heighten the
interest. one man lost part of his
ear, and he claims that some Cor
va11isite bit it off. He is a Port
lander.
Tie Sunday excursion brought
the row. Fifty or hundred ofthe
excursionists were maudlin drunk.
They looked for more bug.juice
thronging about the closed saloons
in the vain effort to find it and as
saulting first the front and the back
doors, all of which were closed
Some Of the saloon owners fully ex-
pected to see their closed doors
crushed in at any moment when
the demand for liquor was at its
height.
Enraged at conditions they found,
the drunken contingent focked on
the street and stood ready for row.
They took advantage of Chief Al
exander's order to the Salvationists
to leave the street, and interfersd to
prevent. He called on friends for
assistance, and within a few min
utes, fists were in use on all sides.
Johns n Porter was among those
who went to the rescue of the chief.
He clinched with one of the men
who confronted the chef in a threat
ening attitude. Subsequently, the
Portlander turned up with a portion
of his ear gone, and his friends
claimed that Mr.. Porter bit it off.
Many other people say that the
thing was done by drunken Port
lander.
Meantime many other Corvallis
ties were engaged in the fray. Rob
ert Campbell, who lives near the
sawnill, though man of more pre-
haps than sixty, became as young
as any of them, aud in the course
of a very few minutes his good right
arm had laid out six or eight of
the toughs. His strenuous defence
of his town has since come in for
many a generous compliment.
Many other local townspeople had
to fight. One OF two of them got
knocked down. but in the main it
was the badly behaved visitors that
got cracked heads It was several
minutes before the fighting finally
ceased. Afterwards theJ crowd
stood su11en1y about, and when Mr..
Porier left KHne's store and attem-
pied to make his way home, the
crowd closed around him threating-
1y. He was accompanied by Roy
Raber, and both were armed. As
the crowd closed Mr.. Porter drew
his revolver and forced the toughs
to keep a respectful distance.
+ The attitude of the Corvallis
people in the matter was unavoid-
able. Those brought into the row
are among the towns most res
pectable and quiet citizens. The
mistake in the whole matter is that
provision was not made by the ap-
pointment Of score of officers for
the occasion. to the end !. that the.
usual dignity and peace Of the town
might not have been violated by a
crowd of ruHians.
Save the drunken contingent,
the ), excursionists were all fine
people. More than a thousand, of,
them visited the college, 4 passing
through all the buildings and de-
partments. Manp others remained
in the coaches, while still others
the respectable portion.
walked about III various parts of
towd. The excursion came in
two sections and comprised Isl
coaches, all packed. It arrived 4
shortly after one and left at four.
At Albany, large number of
the drunks were arrested.
After 20 years in the business,
Thomas Whitehorn has sold his
saloon to William Broders. Posses
sion Is to be given June Ist.
Fred Overlander resigned as
nightwatch Monday night. The
filling of the vacancy
was delegated to the chief of police.
Last fall Hans j. Simonson built
q new house on his farm in Ever
green Neighborhood, and he is now
in constructing large new
oarn, and otherwise improving his
place. s4
A 81 bsoriber takes The Times
mildly to task for overlooking the
fact that George w. Parker has a
new boy at his house. It happened
a weak ego and George and the boy