Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1917-03-01
THE JOYS OF
A RIOT
By M. QUAD
Canxrient la1s h,. tho AIoGlnra
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.


II am goln' home in about an hour,
now, and I'll be one thankful man.
said home, but it was a misnomer.
What sort of home has patrolman
got? Well, it's place where you go to
when you can't go anywhere else. Your
: wife and children are almost strangers
to you.''
II thought it was a pretty good job,
/. replied. There's pretty good sal
airy and your pension when you have
reached certain age.'
Pretty good job" he exclaimed in
contempt. "Why, man, longshore-
I 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 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 i; patrolman smile
and laugh" protested.
$50 have I, and smile and laugh
myself. but the occasions have been
few and far between. I have come
into the station house when relieved
I at my post so exhausted that man
could have pushed me over with his
fingers. l have piled into bed and shut
my eyes and just got a dream running
through my head when the call came.
1t was call for us to turn out and be
mighty prompt about it, There was
riot going on half a mile away. The
walters in certain restaurant were on
strike and they We're smashing things
up In 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 nave
seen the patrolman smile and laugh.
His chance was coming to get even.
We smiled and laughed as we tumbled
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 it hard
for us. but we want Il show at some
thing or somebody to pay off old
scores When you can't strike man
who has buffeted and Inundated you
YOU turn and kick his dog or somebody
else's dog to get even. The horses go
away at gallop
1--WE Jump out and form in line. and
1 the crowd laughs and boots at us. We
get the word to advance in line. and we
select the biggest men and those VINO
are hooting the loudcst The rioters
give way for moment and then hold
their ground. Every man of them IS
armed with a briclbat. cob5lestone or
stick, and they are just as anxious for
IA fight as we are We do not seek TO
kill. but they are ready to take life.
"Crash! And we are into them. We
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
our nightsticks Sometimes there is
<only one opposing YOU. sometimes
there are five or six climbing over you
like pack of wolves Even If you
were coward you cannot get away.
<Yeu have got to stand up and face it
and lake your medicine.
'There is a joy in it, 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 dozen
times u minute. but you don't feel the
>hurts until afterward. You are knock
ed down by some missile striking you
in the face. but you don't stop to wipe
away the blood-you keep facing on.
From your prone position you strike
ont with your club at the knees and
shins around you. and many man
will limp for the next month.
Cup comes more wagons and more
men from other stations and we begin
70 drive that crowd. Some run away;
some seek refuge in doolways; some
mount to the roofs and from those
vantage points continue to hurl brick
bats down upon us. The row lasts
half an hour. At the end of that time
some rioter raises call. and the street
1 is cleared in minute-no. not cleared.
There are fifty men down and in need
Of surgeons care. They are the
wounded of the battle. Every one has
shed his blood for what he deems is
the principle of the thing. If you
could see those fifty laid out side by
side, with three or four surgeons rem
dering first aid. you would be shocked.
"And how about us? Some have to
= be carried to the wagon and bundled
in most any way. and those who have
escaped the lightest have a bad limp
at least There is hardly q uniform
that is not ripped and torn and latter
ed. The men have bruised faces.
bleeding hands and bruised bodies.
Every one of us needs the surgeons
care as socn as we reach the station.
There is no Boosting about what this
man or that man has done. but there is
victory in the eyes of every one. We
have paid off old scores We have got
even for fifty humiliations. We get
leave of absence for three days. and
thon yya ara to ha hack and ne good as