People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1894 — TO BE HELD IN CHECK. [ARTICLE]

TO BE HELD IN CHECK.

A Watchful Eye Being Kept on the Movement! of Coxey’s Army, Massillon, 0.. March 21.—1 n the center of the dark public square, beside the flaring light of a gasoline torchlight, Lieut. Carl Browne stood up and introduced the "great unknown’’ to the crowd below him. The members of the commonweal sent up a shout of joy and the stranger bowed and began his address. He spoke in a clear, loud voice with a Blight German accent, and the words recalled the days of excitement before the Haymarket riot when Chicago was pulsing with the bitter invective of anarchist orators. He spoke in the course of his speech of having been in Chicago and work -for humanity. “The people must rise up and crush with one terrible blow the outrages from which they have suffered tor so many years. The rich must be brought low and the poor receive their Just rights. What a great privilege it is to be here in the incipiency of the movement of this grand undertaking. It is like a little stream. Soon it will swell into a river and will roll into Washington with all the might and power of the Amazon. As Christ appeared in the world and gathered his disciples together, so do Brother Coxey, the embodiment of Christ, and Brother Browne, one of His disciples, and others, ready to complete the twelve, and they together will assemble the great army of converts that next Sunday will start the mighty march that will shake the very centers of these United States.”

All Stark county is awakening to a genuine dread of the approaching reign of Coxeyism. Towns lying along the proposed line of march of the commonweal are actively engaged in organizing deputy sheriff reception committees for the nondescript peace army and its motley company of leaders. At Canton, the county seat of Stark county, where the army will stop during the first night after leaving this city, the feeling of apprehension is running especially high. Sheriff Hiram Doll has already made arrangements to call out companies "F,” "L” and “1” of the Eighth Ohio national guard. He held a secret conference with Capts. W. H. Frease, 11. 8. Smart and C. R. Millfer, of Canton, and agreed that each of the 150 members of the three companies should be formally sworn as a deputy sheriff. The plan of proceedings is simple but the sheriff thinks it will prove effective. Next Sunday night, after the army begins its march, the militiamen, armed with carbines and provided with ten rounds of ammunition, will march in platoon organization from Canton along the state road until they meet Coxey and the commonweal. They will then deploy and attend the peace army into the city, where pickets will be stationed at hailing distances along the streets to prevent any depredations. No effort will be made to prevent Coxey’s march or hinder him from holding a mass-meeting on the public square and addressing the crowd on the subject of "Road-Building and Non-Interest-Bearing Bonds.” The sheriff simply wishes to assure himself that the county’s peace will not be violated. Capt. Frease came to Massillon this morning and spent the day in investigating the situation, with a view to making a report to the governor. It is not regarded as probable that the companies of the national guard in Akron and Alliance will be ordered out. In addition to the precautions taken by the sheriff of Stark county, Mayor Cassidy, of Canton, is preparing greatly to enlarge the police force of the city. The chief of police in Pittsburgh has appointed a number of officers to join the army in Massillon and watch its movements and get acquainted with the officers and followers. They will travel incognito. The sheriff of Beaver county. Pa., is taking legal advice and will be ready for action. The sheriff of Fayette county, Pa., says that he will ask for funds to pay a force of special officers who will escort the army through his territory. If that force is not sufficient he will call on the governor for aid. In the meantime the tramps of the country are slowly but surely drifting toward Massillon. It is now such pleasant weather that they can sleep out of doors or in straw stacks, keeping out of the notice of the authorities. The Pittsburgh train reaching Massillon Sunday evening was stopped four times between stations to let off tramps. Numerous petty cases of thieving have occurred in the city. Gen. Coxey’s wife is much opposed to her husband’s erfterprise and she has done her best to dissuade him from making any further attempts to carry forward his commonweal scheme. But the general will not be dissuaded.