The Irish standard., 1915-02-06

and so both of them came back again
to protest still louder against the
beating-up-and also came Alexander
Berkman.
Berkman was an anarchist and a
propaganda and it was hard business
to see him gathering all those young
boys and girls in, who were discon.
tented, and putting into their already
wrought-up minds the seeds of the
propaganda of violence.
Now there came also to the public
square one Frank Urban. The crowd
that had started out to be 100 at the
first police clubbing had grown to
1000 at the second, and was $4,000
by the time the third raid had laid
low its sore headed victims.
Police clubbings went out of fashion
and as they disappeared Urban came
in. His business seemed to be to
erect stand close by the stands OF
the agitators, and harry them with
speeches in violent opposition. The
agitators heckled each other a great
deal.
Once one of them heckled Urban
and detectives grabbed him. Urban
blew a police whistle and reserves
charged the crowd. The heckler went
to jail-for long sentence. l heard
it was a year but was not present
on that day and did not follow the
case so closely as some other cases.
AS the heckler had just landed from
England he was not known very much
to the local disturbers.
But woman heckled Urban and
she got three months. She had often
heckled the agitators, since she was
a religious devotee who hadn't much
use for radicals as such. And they
had always got down off their soap
boxes and invited her to get up and
have her say.
"Provocateur" was word they be-
gan to hiss about the public squares
about Urban.
Catholic provocateur," was soon
the amended title. l had to look the
word up and found it grew into use
out Of the Russian system of sending
someone down among the discomfort
ed people to start trouble on which
the police would have an immediate
cause for action.
l don't know yet who Urban really
represented. The mob named The
Holy Name Society of the Catholic
Church as his sponsor. There was a
great shift in the police policy
towards the stormy meetings of agi-
tators: The police quit Interfering
but the mob had set notion that
Urban was a spy among them, that it
was fatal to retort to his filings with
question, that he could not be ar
rested, and that he was just one new
addition to the Catholic machine of
Catholic detective, Catholic police
captain, Catholic magistrate and Cath
Ollie General Sessions Judge, all work.
ing together to grind out bitterly long
punishments to any agitator caught in
that machine.
There came a day when Urban
spoke loudly when the mob was sore
and raw over long sentence handed
to one of its members the week before,
stood beside his stand as the mob
came at him in force. l was curious
to know what there was in this
charge that the Holy Name Society
was behind him and wanted to cues
ton some of his followers and him.
self, if possible.
Young boys, we'll washed up, in
clothes such as mob never were
guilty of wearing, held Urban's stand
in place. A circle of possibly twenty
OF them surrounded him. In charge
was kindly old gentleman, obvious.
ly an Irishman. thought he was a
priest, but he was not in clerical
robes.
Are you and these boys here
Catholics?" l asked him. The cues
ton was taken as an insult. There
was an uproar from all the boys and
the good man replied with indigna-
ton. "Why do you make that charger"
he asked.
l replied that wasn't making any
charge. That I was a reporter and
was merely repeating what had heard
many times in the mob.
But just then the surge against Ur-
ban became bitter. Hands raised
above the press held dollar bills in
them and the words shouted were
That's your price, you Judas, you
traitor!"
Dimes and pennies began to rain
down upon us. Take your pieces
of silver, Judas!" were the cries that
came with them. "You spy! You
Catholic spy!"
The charge, roared up from the
mob softened the aged man beside
whom stood as the pressure of the
surging crowds around us increased.
eyes. am Catholic" he said.
"But this work is organized outside of
the church. 1t is not part of the