The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-20
CONSTABLES DRIVEN
 FROM TOWN MEETING
CLASH AT NEW SHORE
 HAM, BLOCK ISLAND.

Effort to Hold Meeting to Pass Vote
 Bonding Town for S172O0a Broken lip
 BeIIigerent Faction--Officers Kicked
 and CIubbed Out of the Building
 After Which the Interior is Wrecked.
 Block Island, R. l., June 19.-The in tense rivalry between two factions of
 New Shoreham voters, the one led by
 State Senator Christopher E. Champ lin, the other by Samuel M. Rose, reached climax to-day, when a dozen special constables, said to have been hired in Providence by the Champlin element to keep order at the town meeting called to authorize town
 bond issue, were attacked by two hun dred of the Rose supporters and conn pletely routed, after which the flushed victors returned to the town hall,
 wrecked its interior and prevented the holding of the meeting.
 This was the fourth attempt of the so-called Charnplin faction to bring be- fore the voters proposition to bond the town for $l72,500 to discharge the existing debt-a measure which had been introduced by Senator Champlin lat the last session of the general as Isembly and which became law. Three meetings have been called, on 1.-the same question in the last two months, but before any conclusion Icould be reached conditions developed (which nearly resulted in pitched bat ties between the two factions. To-day Ithe feeling between the warning ele- |ments was at fever heat, and especially so among the Rose party. ..
 The meeting had been called for ? o'clock at the town hall. An hour Iearlier some two hundred of the Rose supporters gathered near the building, armed with slungshots, blackjacks, lstones and other implements of primi- itive warfare. They had been waiting lin battle array about half an hour, Iwhen the twelve special constables from Providence in uniform, put in an Iappearance, marching in military fash lion to the town hall, with Lieutenant James F. Scott in command. Lieu- tenant Scott had the key to the build- ling, but just as the constables were about to enter the Rose followers ad- Ivanced to the attack, shouting and yelling defiance and derision and hurl- ling their missiles at the constables. l At the first onslaught the officers pushed their way into the building, but lthe Rose forces soon gained an en- trance and literally kicked and clubbed
 the constables out again, who retreated with bruised bodies, torn uniforms and smashed helmets.
 l The Rose element then turned their attention to the wrecking Of the in terior of the hall, and twenty minutes later, when they had finished the de- lstruetive work, not a window pane was left intact, while the furniture and fit tings were thoroughly demolished. While all the constables bore marks lof the affray, the only one seriously in- ljured was Ernest Olney, of Providence, who sustained several bad gashes on the head. Lieutenant Scott was kick ed several times in the abdomen.
 About 2:30 o'clock the town modera- tor and a few more peaceably-inclined lclLlzSllS diflNeu at Ine ldli, Wllu 6Ael- Tiff James Anthony, of Newport county, and thirteen deputies acting as an es- cort. The futility of attempting to hold the meeting was at once apparent and the moderator adjourned the meeting sine die. E
 | It was said tonight that the Champ In leaders would make still another effort to obtain vote on the bond is- sue.