The Oskaloosa herald., 1913-11-13
A FEARFUL RIOT
SATURDAY NIGHT
MOB DEFlEs LAW
AND ORDER.
MUCH PROPERTY DESTROYED
Officers Unable To Cope With Stu.
alton While the Most Disgraceful
Scenes In the History of
Oskaioosa Are Enacted.

alton While the Most DisgracefuI
Scenes In the History of
Oskaioosa Are Enacted.
The street car strike situation in
Oskaloosa assumed a critical aspect
Saturday night when a mob of nearly
a thousand frenzied strike sympathiz-
ers stormed the cars, assaulted the
ground, set fire to the splendid new
car of modern type just received Sat
urday, and badly damaged two other
cars. For four hours after eleven
o'clock Saturday night the down town
district of Oskaloosa was the scene
of a riot the like of which has never
before occurred in the history of the
town and mob violence ruled SUI
preme. The small handful of Oska-
loosa police and firemen did all in
their power to quell the disturbance,
but seemed powerless before the on
PUSHES of hundreds of apparently
crazed men and boys. BY three
O'Clock Sunday morning the officers
obtained control of the situation and
order was restored, but not until the
fury of the crowd was spent and it's
numbers depleted. The operators
who have been running the cars since
the union men went on a strike two
weeks ago all left town by various
routes early Sunday morning and no
cars have been in operation on any
of the street car lines since Saturday
night.
The trouble started shortly after
ten o'clock Saturday evening when
a crowd OF perhaps twenty men and
boys gathered in the vicinity of the
street car waiting room on High ave-
nue. west and began jeering and hurl-
ing epithets at the operators of the
cars. The crowd increased in num-
bers and the boldness of the leaders
grew in proportion until one of the
more Jealous of the aggregation jerk
ed the rope attached to the trolley
pole on one of the cars and severed
connection with the power. The re-
mainder speedily joined in and the
crowd followed the car around the
loop jerking the trolley from off the
wire almost as fast as the operators
OF the car replaced it. Just as the
car turned south at the southwest
corner of the square, some. one con-
ceived the idea of cutting the rope
connected with the trolley, after jerk
ing it from the wire, and as promptly
proceeded to put his thought into &C.
ton. This left the motorman with
no control whatever over his car and
it could not be moved.
An immense crowd soon gathered
~ nj hn TO- % tln
car were besieged with threats and
jeers from hundreds of threats. 1t
was not many minutes until a brick
came hurting at the car from the
midst of the crowd That was the
signal for a general fusillade of
bricks, stones, sticks, and missiles of
all descriptions and the car was soon
the center of veritable lombard
ment. The dozen passengers on the
car included men, women and chill
dren, but all beat a hasty retreat
when the crowd grew violent and
none We're injured to any great ex-
tent. A second car came into view
and the motorman attempted to bump
into the first car and push it towards
the car barns, but knife quickly put
It out of commission by severing the
trolley rope. A third one came and
vas treated in like manner. All the
passengers escaped without injury.
Another car came from the south, but
the operators saw the crowd from
distance and retreated to the barns
in safety.
No Regard For Law.
In N ha
force, headed by Chief Stoler and
Sheriff Reed, arrived on the scene,
and attempted to dispense the crowd
but were helpless before the mob.
The operators of the cars stood their
ground as long as possible and then,
one at a time, they broke and ran
through shower of missiles and
shouting men. The police beat a
way through the crowd about the
door of the city hall near by and three
of the men found refuge there. The
other three escaped to various places
of safety about town with the crowd
in close pursuit. The six men were
all badly injured but none were seri-
ously hurt. Two of them suffered
gashes about the head that required
oCNClol olstIhCo " SiooCy OhC lCSClN-
ed blow on the arm that nearly re-
suited in a break and all were the
victims OF painful bruises and cuts
from thrown missiles. Engineer Van
Bremen, an operating engineer in the
employ of the Mckinley company,
was standing on the street watching
the furore when he was spotted by
the crowd and made the target for
their missiles. He walked calmly
through fusillade of bricks and
frenzied men to the door of the Lacey
Hotel and escaped with minor bruises
about the head and body. The mob
attempted to follow him into the ho-
tel but officers and private citizens
stationed themselves in the door and
kept the crowd back. One of the car
operators also crawled into the back
door of the Lacey after escaping the
crowd, and was taken care OF, given
medical attention, and his wounds
treated. Another of the escaped men
was dragged into the fire station by
Chief McCracken after the crowd had
caught him and beaten him so badly
hat he was scarcely able to stand. |