The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1924-07-31

and after inspiring. himself with
| liquid inspiration after the manner
a street corner and harangued the
crowd with great vehemence. When
tn crowd moved on he would pick up
his. box and move to the next corner
| 1 had only begun my address when
he appeared at the entrance, of the
tent carrying his box forced his. way
make room, he mounted his box and
we soon had two meetings going at
| the same time.
colloquy proceeded I saw Crossfield
worming his way through the jam
Of people to where the pseudo orator
was holding forth in opposition o ha TO me.
| Crossield was rather an understood
man with permaturely gray hair that
he wore very long ana h1s r,ani ielsu fey
of muscles and catlike agility when
aroused. He had been famous
quarterback and G Champion ca hgnte
where he graduated-a trained athlete
who always kept himself in condition,
and who feared nothing on the topslde
Get GET off that box. you big stiff, and
shut uni" roared Crossfield as he
approached, "Yo have no business In
herew ,;++,a
shrimp, or 1 will spit on you and
drown YOU the speaker shouted
back" This is a free country, and
will talk when and don Th faik here and
now" replied Crossfield,, and driving
the box from under the the, clustering Jus rnn{
bully with a vicious kick ne sent
MI! The fellow was instantly on his
| feet, aiming at the smaller man, a
vicious kick that would Ia have ger semG be-
m iahsa h as we'll IL iun nsa at ray Of sun
light. Easily ducking the wild swing
Crossfeld seized the man by the
throat, whirle st, him n INFANCY mas dbacK
head. rurtling him through the side
Of the tent and, landing hlm prone
side the tent Crossfield went with
him OF course, landing on top of him.
And such was the momentus OF cross
l Out skidded across MS body ten feet
farther on, blowing up the soli DIS ne
vent. o
field regained his feet instantly. lie
was est de his opponent, with 1ne
hand g1s sping his throat: the other
he pumping blows into his unprotect,
ed d race n,s W,nh r tne on steam engine.
For brief space of time it looked as
though a free for all" would take
crazed Crossfield from the body of his
adversary, who was satisfied at least
for a time.
The "conquering Hero re-entered
men and angels when he appeared be-
fore the gaze of that audience. They
knew something was happening put
all this had occurred SO rapidly thas
coat was nearly torn from his back
and hung in shreds.. His long gray
hair stood out from his head in every
"a fretful porcupine;" his eyes CLEANED
with the light Of battle. In his swift,
involuntary, agricultural performance
one side Of his long nose, the, Skin, ly-
ing in a flap on his cheek, his face
and shirt front were smeared With
blood-a CHASTITY appartion of lighting
Believe me. pandemonium broke
loose when that startling figure came
upon gross eH CROSS CROSS HE'S THE Bossm
roared the excited crowd over and
over again.
The "Crossfield Contingent" which
Indifferent during the melee. suddenly,
as one man, sprang to their feet and,
waving hats and blankets in the ari,
emitted the shrillest, widest, wierdest,
wickedest, most blood curdling war
whoop that ever fell upon the earns
of humans. For fully three minutes
it rose and fell in crescendo waves;
then suddenly stopped, and the braves
sat down and again resumed their air
of supreme indifference to all things
terrestrial.
lifted over the heads of the audience
and placed upon the platform where
again like prima donna answering
Mrs. Crossfield, who was seated in
the audience, finally succeeded in
having some friends get hold of her
husband. She took him home for
repairs and the meeting proceeded.
1t can be easily understood why I
did not make an extended address, but
wound up the meeting as soon as I
could do SO. gracefully,
Everything promised about this
meeting was carried out with the ex-
ception of the fireworks, and every
body had forgotten them. l found out
stock, but as they were out of sea-
son they failed to arrive in time. They
were utilized at a Fourth of July cele-
bration held later.
meeting was that it's entire cost was
$25.75. Out of this sum SIS was taken
to pay for the use of the tent and $40
went to the Graceville drum corps.
The Is cents has never been accounted
for to this day. Sometimes fear it
was used as corruption fund.
Republicans carried the county by
an overwhelming majority. Not so;
they won out by only So votes, but
they did increase their Republican
vote from AGO to 1894 to 963 in 1896,
while the opposition increased theirs
only from 633 to Oil, and in year
when Free Silver gained and the Re-
publicans lost in almost every part of
the country.
Members of all political parties
took their politics very seriously in
this campaign and personal encoun-
tiers were the rule rather than the
exception. This is rather to be COM
mended than deplored. for, when men
are interested enough in a cause to
fight they are interested enough to
put it's management into proper
hands and see that it is properly
handled.
The campaign never grew dull or
er ina # was .si lust one p thing sfter
another and anything was liable to
occur. -