The Washington herald., 1915-10-17
The Battle of Brick Church

/
Mr.. Dunworthy is not here tonight"
You lie," shouted another. We know
he's here: he's at meeting"
He is not" replied the janitor.
A piece of sod. torn up from the grass
! plot N front of the church. knocked off
the janitors hat This ansered old Tom.
, and he shook his fist at the crowd Of
foreigners. Soon there was a general
| fight in which Old Tom was the target
for every foreigners fist and foot.
OF course. 1t is not to be expected that
all this could have happened without at
tracing the attention OF the boys in the
armory. Several of the officers had run
10 the top of the stairs as soon as they
heard the approach Of the men, and when
they reported to the major the latter at
once ordered Fix hayonets'" and drew
his men up in column Of twos facing the
staircase. He had barely completed this
| formation when the adjutant shouted
| from the doorway:
Come on. fellows. They're killing old
Tom
Jack Downing shouted: Steady, Com
pany A. forward. double time. march
Capt Taylor leaped in the van of his
men, reaching the top of the staircase
Just IN time to see half dozen stones
and bricks fly through the church doors
He could hear Jack Downing below
shouting orders to the other two COM
panies. Taylor called to his men to form
fours. and marched them straight down
/ the steps toward the mob. The other
cadets followed close behind up the mar
row staircase. and the major sent one
company to the left of Taylor's rear, and
one to the right. so as to attack the
rioters In three parallel columns
The appearance Of uniforms and bayo-
nets from the church was big surprise
to the mob. They were SO startled that
they fell back to the middle of the street
leaving poor old Tom almost senseIess
on the sidewalk. Two noncom n,issioned
officers Of 9 Company helped him to his
feet and led him back to the yes,rv
room.
IN the meantime there were lively
times in the street. The foreisners part
" recovered from their surprise. threw
sticks and stones at the cadets, Jack
Downing got his forces out into the
street. where there was room to man
euVer, and formed sort Of wedge of
havonets with which he charged straight
into the center Of the crowd The mob
fel! back like sheep, and as soon as he
had II divided the Young stratesisr
wheeled one company against one sec
ton. and another company against the
other section. and kept Company A in
front of the church as a sort of reserve
The rioters We're apparently so sur
Pr!sed at the advance OF the cadets that
they did not notice these were merely
boys and only half their number. But
they did notice that they carried shin
ing bayonets pointing straight out in
front Of them: and when they saw a pha-
lanx of these coming down the street
they turned about and ran.
The young major drew his three COM
panies up into battalion formation on the
sidewalk then. and one of the church
trustees. who had seen the whole affair
from the church. stood on the steps OF
the church and made what the adjuta mt
afterward characterized as a regular
spread eagle, star-spangled banner.
Fourth-of-July speech He ended by in
viting the battalion to a nearby restau-
rant. where he ordered served for them
just exactly the kind of an evening feast