People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1894 — RIOT IN KANSAS CITY. [ARTICLE]

RIOT IN KANSAS CITY.

Exciting Experience of an Ex-Prlfest with ' p Mob. Kansas City. Mo., Jan. 18.—J. V. McNamara, who styles himself “late priest of Rome,” delivered a bitter lecture against the Catholic church at Turner hall Sunday night before a small audience. During its progress some one threw a stone, whereuopn McNamara drew a revolver, but tirere was no further trouble. Tuesday night he lectured again at the same place. The hall was packed with 1,200 men, but it was a perfectly quiet and orderly audience McNamara came on the stage. H? carried a loaded rifle in his hands and a revolver peeped from his coat pocket. Advancing to the footlights ne declared that he had taken his life in his hands, but he was willing to sacrifice it for the A. P. A. He “feared no Catholic murderers aud hoodlums” he said. “There is murder in the air,” was his dramatic exclamation, as he called upon men with Protestant hearts and nerves of steel to arise. Twelve re* sponded. He directed them to go to the gallery, station themselves at regular intervals, and act promptly when the occasion demanded. The only real outbreak dttrinir the lecture was when a drunken man called McNamara a liar and when a stone came crashing through the window from a mob which was rapidly collecting outside. The lecture lasted until 11 o’clock.

At least 2,000 people had collected on Twelfth and Oak streets during the progress of the lecture. Twenty policemen were about the streets in the immediate vicinity of the scene. The mob was orderly, and there was no violent demonstration of any kind. On Twelfth street the cable cars were constantly passing so that the crowd was kept on the sidewalks, but on Oak street it blocked the thoroughfare. For forty-five minutes the suspense continued. Then the police, deceived by the passive action of the people, sent for a carriage. As it rattled up to the Twelfth street entrance a policeman ran upstairs, gave a knock agreed upon and McNamara and his wife appeared. The former carried a rifle, the woman had a big revolver before her breast. They hustled into the carriage, which started east on Twelfth street.

As the carriage started one door flew open and a man jumped into the street and smashed the glass with his cane. In a moment both the occupants fired point blank into the crowd, one with a rifle, the other with a revolver. Instantly there was a wild yell and a shower of stones and canes and brickbats fell upon the carriage. Half a block farther east McNamara and his wife again shot. A dozen pistol shots this time answered. A few scattering ones had been heard before, but this time there was a volley. The driver was hit by a bullet and slightly wounded in the side. A stone also hit him and he dropped the reins, the horses running wildly. It was this probably that saved the life of McNamara and liis wife. The team dashed north on Holmes street and soon distanced the mob, McNamara and his wife crouching in the bottom of the carrage, which was almost a total wreck. The driver soon picked himself up from the footboard, got his horses under control and drove the couple to the Midland hotel. A portion of the mob learned that McNamara had been stopping with a relative at Tenth and Holmes and going there they smashed the windows at long range, a man with a rifle holding them from entering and razing the house. A large number of people were injured in the riot, but they were spirited away by friends and no names can be learned. Neither is it definitely known if any of the bullets fired from the carriage took effect. McNamara and wife refused to see any one, but claim they not injured. The driver says they were hit by stones, but he thinks not by bullets. Local A. P. A. men disclaim any connection with the affair.