Evening star., 1915-05-16

den. Middletown and New Britain. ATOMS
all the factorylined valleys. there
passed i word that gathered workers
from shops and idle men from streets
All one long day and all ore evening
they moved toward the two cities. They
seemed aimless enough. but there were
leaders who put themselves at lhelf
head secretly in the night.
Suddenly they were angry. deter
mined. united bodies of men. Suddenly
like suddenly awakened wind. they
stormed the great arms factories OF
the two towns
They came with guns and pistols
They came with crow bars aud picks
They came with stones and with moth
ing except their bare hands They
hauled their dead aside and withered
under the fire of the guards and burst
through and took the works.
In Hartford they seized a whole train
load of rapid -firers and machine guns
that had been loaded for the American
army In New Haven they took almost
four thousand sporting rifles
The riot fever spread to Bridgeport
The mob arose and seized the cartridge
factories
1t was mad thing, springing less
from purpose than from the insanity
that invasion had laid on mems minds.
II could have but one mad end. Yet
this army of madmen was moved and
nodded by touch of the American
ity on which the people might, indeed,
have depended with perfect assurance.
if only they had not depended on it
wholly.
America did. truly. have men who
would fight They were here, and they
were to fight such fight as would be
remembered many long day America
had the men to lead, too. Though they
knew that this was hopeless thing,
they took hold.
They took hold Of men armed with
magnificent rifles, but of score of
different patterns for different kinds of
sport, and demanding a score OF differ
ent shapes and calibers of cartridges.
They took hold Of infantry militia frag-
ments whose companies had had only
two or three assemblies a year for
target practice, with average attend
ances of only eleven or twelve men
They improvised scout detachments OF
volunteers with bicycles and motors.'2
Young doctors took hold with moth
ing but emergency kits, without am
balances. without litters. without even
helpers who would know how to find
wound or apply first aid bandage.
The army of madmen went forward
to the Connecticut river to hold the
western bank from Hartford to Middle
town.
They did not know how to dig
trenches. They dug bitches. They did
not know how to make defenses for
their machine guns. They piled trees
that would skewer them with splinters
that would fly into fragments and kill
like shrapnel.
They were all of 5000 men. They
were the kind of men whom America
has expected always in times OF peace
to call to its defense. They were cal
lous-ha nded workers in metal and WOOD
and leather: bleached workers from
wooden mills and cotton spindles
longshoremen from the harbor cities
of the sound: professional men resolute
with the fervor Of the time; roadmak-
ers and teamsters and shoemakers
hunters, yachtsmen and foot ball play
ers.
That day along the Connecticut river
they showed what Americas mer
could have done had they learned how
to do it in advance and had they beer
armed for the work.
They lay behind their pitiable de
fenses. with their motley weapons
commanded by men who did not know
war. They bore the shock of machine
gun assaults from advance patrols
They bore the shock of cavalry charges
from scouting detachments-
At Middletown they were attackea keas.t ~
under cover of gunnre and outhankee
them, and charged in mass. They SEN
the charge back. broken, with many
empty saddles
they lay under the fire of three.
inch gun at Cromwell for an hour. ant
endured, and died-but they deniet
the river crossing to battalion
For two long hours they held tht
river along their whole line. 1t seemed
to them that they were fighting Z
great battle Surely their dead testi'
fied to it. and the hot Are that bea'
on them testified to it, and across the
river, or floating down with the stream
were many enemy dead to testify to II
They cheered and shouted to eacf
other hoarsely that they were winning
They watched, with ever-growing saw
age lust, for more assailants.
In the headquarters of the advancing
army there was received this repor'
from the brigade commander: TWO OF
three thousand raw but determined
Americans disputing passage OF Con
necticut river with our advance guards
~. Table No. Q. report. Division OF Militis
Affairs. U. s. A.. 1914