Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1901 — AVENGING A PRESIDENT. [ARTICLE]

AVENGING A PRESIDENT.

Vlllflera of Stricken Executive Have Suffered Severely, “The American people have a forcible way of expressing disapproval of any uncomplimentary reference to a stricken President,” said a man who makes a point of remembering things, to a New York Times reporter the other day. “Just as much now as twenty years ago. Whenever a man has spoken ill of Mr. McKinley a crowd has fallen on him and beJLten him. “I have a dozen or more clippings taken from papers printed in 1881, setting forth how individuals were severely punished for speaking evil of President Garfield. “In only one instance was a fine imposed upon the avenger. An old soldier in a small Ohio town knocked a fellow down and, as he expressed it himself, walked on his face. The justice of the peace, in defiance of public opinion, fined the assailant $lO. The Cincinnati Commercial opened a subscription asking 1,000 persons to contribute one cent each toward the payment of the fine; as the old soldier was impecunious. Incredible as it may seem, penny contributions, together with a few of larger proportions sent direct to the old man, placed him in comparatively easy circumstances. “A quarter of a million persons contributed one cent each, and almost every village in the United States was represented. As the newspaper contribution was restricted to a penny, those who wished to give more sent their money through the mails to the veteran. One Philadelphia woman sent him $100; a Democratic club in Milwaukee contributed the entire contents of its treasury. He had broken his cane over the slanderer’s head when he felled him, and he received enough walking sticks of all sorts, sizes and prices to stall a store.”