The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-14
AMERICAN RIGHTS MEETING IN TUMULT WHEN BRITON'S
 FOES CLASH WITH POLICE
Score Ejeced Voicing Their DisappOvaI of Speakers
 Remarks-Carnege Hall Closely Guarded Following Hint
 That Building Might D ynamited-Session Is In Up g Until DsturberS Are Thrown Out

New York March 14-It was not always easy to catch the drift of the speeches made at the American Rights Committees mass meeting in Car negte Hall last night because the po- lice were so necessarily busy throwing indignant Germans and Ir1shmen out of the hall.
 Twenty-four persons were p1ucked thus sumrnarily from various sections of the audience-lifted from their seats by the coat collar and propelled more or less forcib1y toward the exits Now and then when the rage over came discretion the thud-thud of fists landing upon ample faces punctuated the chorus of combat, the angry shouts of the dispossessed and the shrill plaints of frightened women.
 Trouble had been anticipated be- cause of a general notion that in tensely pro-German or ant1-Brltlsh persons would never sit silent while the leaders Of their American rights committee were developing their downright theory that the United States is in duty bound to sever rela- tions with Germany and go to war on the side of-the entente allies There had been a hint even that a bomb was to be exploded within Car negie Hall
 Inspector Daly Prepared.
 A certain amount of preparedness was taken therefore by Inspector John Daily Fifty policemen in uniform weres tationed in and around Carnegie Hall and 20 men in plain clothes were distributed among the audience. They were stationed in and around Carnegie ute the meeting began. Cooper Union, that forum of unrestrained speech and speaker batting, never saw wilder meeting than was held last night in Carnegie Hall, home of classic music and high brow oratory.
 The police and others. observed at the outset that the top galleries were being mined for explosions. While the floor Of the Auditorium and the horseshoe of boxes were filling with men and women in evening dress the galleries were packing with large, amply girthed persons who wore their hair pompadour or whose mustache ends pointed straight north or whose gutterals or brogue left no doubt whatever as to where their sympath1eS lay. The atmosphere of the whole place was tense. Nerves tightened like fiddle strings in the brief wait for the chairman of the meeting, George Haven Putnam, to appear Sudden noises made nervous persons jump and glance about apprehen- sive1y.
 Even before MT. Putnam came up- on the stage tthere was 8 rumpus back. among the crowd gathered upon that elevation. First there was a stir, then a gust of words, then a defiant shout, seTo hell with England!' and the next instan. four big special of- ficers were running two young Ger mans out of the back door and into Fifty-sixth street. Things qu1ted nomentarily. MT. Putnam began his address undisturbed at first. He talked about the general frightfulness
 SFr,% ina about Belgium, Serbia, the Lusitania, Zeppelins, submarines and the min ing of open seas. Then he said with a youthful ring in his voice:
 s1f I were younger man would be on the staff of the British army to- day"
 ssBr4tish'' Fires the Spark.
 The word British was the detona- tor. The stormy cheering that fol- lowed MT. Putnam's declaration was succeeded by an ugly chorus of groans, misses, hoots. The galleries were in uproar. Voices clashed as their owners shrieked insults upon England and EngIand's allies. One could see the police mobilizing, com ing down in the aisles. sprinting up stairWayss spreading themselves through the turbulent sections of the house. For a moment or two the uniforms daunted the disturbers, but only for moment or two. MT Put- nam began again.
 e.The British Empire Is the most benifcent empire the world ever saw. India, Egypt, all of the colonies, are loyal because they have enjoyed peace with justice at the hands of Great Brftafn!''
 And again the lid blew off "How Boers ?'' ''When did we get justice from the British % "shut upI'' Put him outU' "where are the policei' ssFor the love of Hike, get a cop, somebody" Don't shove that lady you fooll' ''I'II smash your face for you, that's what I'll dor'
 It went on that way for three or four nninutes-sheer pandemonium One could see MT. Haven's lips nov ing but no ear could catch what he was saying. Presently in Iull. he appealed to a possible sense of fair ness in the minds of yelling British haters and German admirers. S
 This is our meeting, he protested tYou gentlemen can have a meeting of your own, later, if you desire.''
 Such appeals were wasted on the gallery shouters. It was as certain as anything could be that they had gone to Carnegie Hall to roar down any sort of pro-Ally utterances; that they had gone looking for trouble. They were not long finding it. MT. Haven finished at a sort of vocal gal Top, getting in a sentence here and a. word there, and then the police grabbed for particular individuals they had singled out.
 Instantly the threatened ones waved the little American flags with which they had provided themselves, waved them confidently, as much as to say:
 CT am under the Stars and Stripes. Touch me if you dare!'
 The Flag No Protection
 We'll, that was one time when the Stars and Stripes weren't much pro- lection. As the trouble makers were snatched from their seats their little American flags were taken away from thern- The policemen either put the flags in their own pockets or handed