The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-08-01

exclude foreigners. III COnNSAuOu a.
Cambridge City the Know Nothings
attempted to nominate Morton but as
he was not willing to connect himself
with their organization they secured
the nomination of D. P. Hollaway. |
The council of Wayne county fixed up
a ticket on Sept. 16, 1854, that was in
troduced and accepted with two excep- J
tions at the convention at Centerville
one week later The principles of the
order included the repeal of all nat
uralization laws, the election OF none
but native Americans in office, war TO
the hilt" on Romanism and the amplest
protection of Protestant interests.
The Know Nothings had to take the
utmost care to preserve the secrecy OF
their meetings, the signals for which
were given by scattering bits of paper
of different shapes and colors and IN
such a way as to designate the place
and the time. In Bloomington they
met in the midst of a field where
there was a tall growth of fennel. One
lodge in Charlottesville was in de-
serted house in the woods. A lodge
at Georgetown met at night in corn
field. But at last all its secrets be-
came exposed with its constitution
and ritual secured from a drunken
member and were published in the In
dianapolis Sentinel Sept. IS, 1854.
Disorders Follow
The result of this organization was
that foreign born citizens went armed.
In Franklin county, Germans attended
funeral armed with bowie knives and
prepared to go armed to the polls on
II nd ozcoI1lfS M
individuals were common. At IN cleo
ton Oct 10, 1854, the Know Nothings
of New Albany and Jeffersonvilie were
charged with importing DULLES from
Louisville to assault foreigners and
Catholics and prevent their voting,
and brass knuckles were used to help
carry the election.
If meeting were called to denounce
Know Nothingism, it was drowned out
by the shouts of the Know Nothings.
Julian says that in his own town (Cen
terville) they succeeded by brute force
in taking possession of every building
in which their opponents could meet
and silencing them by savage yells.
June, 1850 More than twenty per-
sons were killed in riots at Louisville
in August, 1855, for which the Know
Nothings received the blame.
Even at Washington, the national
capital, a mob forced it's way into a
shed near the Washington monument
and broke to pieces a beautiful block
of marble which came from the Tenn
pie of Concord at Rome and had been
! sent by the pope as his tribute to the
memory of Washington.
| Mob Violence
A street preacher, who styled him
self the Angel Gabriel, melted a crowd
| in Chelsea, Mass, to deeds of VIC
lence. They smashed the windows oil
Catholic church, tore a cross from
! the gable and shivered it to atoms
Catholic churches were also destroyed
in Philadelphia.
In 1855, national council met al
| Philadelphia to adopt a declaration OF
principles. They insisted that con
gress ought not to prohibit slavery in
any territory and had no power to exc.
cute any state from admission to the
! Union, because its constitution recog-
nized slavery. This declaration was
so Objectionable to the northern Know
Nothings that the Indiana council with
4 those of II other states seeded from
the national organization. They were
bitterly denounced by the southern
members who declared them "a rotter
limb hewn off from the American par
ty." Then the delegates from Is south
ern counties seeded from the Indiana
council and those who remained (the
anti-slavery wing of the organization
became more closely allied with the
4 Republicans, and modified their de
mands as native Americans, agreeins
!, to a naturalization period of five year:
instead of 81.
But by this time the secrets of thu
Know Nothings had been exposed
j. there was no longer any mystery ant
they ceased to excite terror. The,
J were now holding political convention!
and adopting platforms like any othe
party. Their every plan was laid bar,
4. to the public and from this time for
ward the order was better known a.
: the American party.
In 1856 it adopted platform tina
; A>lericans must rule America and tina
: native born citizens should be selected
! for all offices in preference to al
: others and nominated Fillmore for tn
: presidency but at the election he re
, ceived only the electoral vote of Mary
3 land and the party soon disappears
from history.
, In the words of the Encyclopedia
: Britannica Its only real contribution
Il