The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-08-04
THE JOYS OF
A RIOT
BY NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1915, BY the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
By NJ. QUAD

( a doorway by a shower when he said:
4 II am goin' home I'm about an hour.
: now, and I'll be one thankful man. |
said home. but II was misnomer.
What sort OF home has a patrolman
gotl Well, It's a place where you 20 10
when you can't go anywhere else, Your
wife and children are almost strangers
10 you"
IL thought II was pretty good job"
| replied There's n pretty good sal.
airy and your pension when you have
reached certain age"
Pretty good job" he exclaimed in
contempt, "Why, man, a longshore-
man or a ditch digger Is not as tired
when his hours OF labor have passed
and he is not so bunged up at the end
OF a year. It's walk, walk, walk until
there is no more feeling In your feet.
It's watch, watch, watch until your
eyes need spectacles. It's worry and
trouble every hour you're on duty"
But | have seen a patroman smile
and laugh" protested.
$50 have |. and | smile and laugh
myself. but the occasions have been
few and far between. | have come
into the station house when relieved
at my post so exhausted that man
could have pushed me over with his
fingers. have piled into bed and shut
my eyes and just got dream running
| through my head when the call came.
It was a call for us TO turn out and be
mighty prompt about IL. There was
riot going on half a mile away. The
walters in certain restaurant were on
strike and they were smashing things
up In a beautiful manner. A crowd OF
outsiders was collected and encourag-
ing them and taking part In the smash
ing. Then, my son, Is when you have
seen the patrolman smile and laugh.
His chance was coming 10 get even.
We smiled and laughed as we tumoled |
into the wagon and all WEAKNESS and |
all desire for sleep vanished away.
81 said our chance had come TO get |
even The strikers had made 1t hard |
for us, but we want show at some
thing or somebody 10 pay on old
scores. When you can't strike man
who has buffeted and Inundated you
you turn and kick HIS dog or somebody
elses dog to get even. The horses go
away at gallop.
1--WE Jump out and form In line, and
the crowd laughs and boots at US. We
get the word to advance in line, and we
select the biggest men and those who
are hooting the loudest. The rioters
give way for a moment and then hold
their ground. Every man of them Is
armed with brickbat. cobblestone or
stick, and they are just as anxious Tor
n fight ms we are We do not seek to
XIII, but they are ready TO take life
Crash! And we are into them We G
strike for their heads, their arms, their
hands. their knees and any other part =
which will take the fight out of them.
They grapple with us. They seize us
by the arms, the legs, and try to grasp Y
our nightsticks. Sometimes there Is :
only one opposing you, sometimes e
there are FIVE or six climbing over you t
like a pack of wolves. Even If you d
were coward you cannot get away. \
You have got to stand up and face 1t c
and take your medicine.
There Is Joy In 1t, my son. more
Joy than a soldier feels In battle. The
best man is going to win in that row
You are hit with brickbats a dozen
times minute, but you don't feel the
hurts until afterward You are knock I.
I'd down by some missile striking you
N the face, but you don't stop TO wipe
away the blood-you keep facing on.
From your prone position you strike u
nut with your club at the knees and ,;
;hins around you, and many man G.
will limp for the next month. m
up comes more wagons and more ia
men from other stations, and we begin al
o drive that crowd Some run away; lii
ONE seek refuge in doorways; some
mount to the roofs and from those n
antage points continue to hurl brick nc
,ats down upon us The row lasts W
Ialf an hour At the end of that time -
ONE rioter raises call, and the street ,,-
: cleared In minute-no, not cleared. 10
here are fifty men down and In need TO
a surgeons care. They are the an
of the battle. Every one has in
he'd his blood for what he deems is SO
be principle of the thing. If you REL
ould see those fifty laid out side by gu
de, with three or four surgeons rem 10
ering first aid, you would be shocked ol'
"And how about us? Some have TO "
e carried to the wagon and bundled IN
/ most any way, and those who have ab
scaped the lightest have a bad limp AN
/ least There Is hardly a uniform -
lat is not ripped and torn and latter -
l. The men have bruised faces,
aeding hands and bruised bodies.
very one of us needs the surgeons
ire as soon as we reach the station.
here is no boasting about what this
an or that man has done, but there is
Glory In the eyes Of every one. We
i've paid off old scores. We have got
zen for fifty humiliations We get
ave of absence for three days, and
en- we are to be back and as good as
w. / tell you, my son, curious as 1t
ay seem TO you and others, that the
eatest JOY in patrolman's life is to
one In a riot like that"
There was silence of two or three
nutes, and the shower passed away,