USA > Ohio > Memories of the crusade a thrilling account of the great uprising of the women of Ohio in 1873, against the liquor crime > Part 23
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At 5:30 a motion was put and carried by a large majority for adjournment. To the last hour Mr. W.'s effort was really grand in its eloquence and directness, his earnestness seeming to increase every moment.
It is to be remembered that this speech was addressed, not to a crowded house of enthusiastic listeners, but to less than a dozen sleepy, indiffer- ent councilmen. " Many a polished orator," says the reporter, "might have gained a lesson from this speaker, both in language and manner."
After speaking for seven hours and three-quarters the gentleman declared that he felt as bright as the morning star, and could go on till noon if necessary.
And so the " day of doom " for our ordinance was deferred.
J.C.KADER'S SALDE
15#
CALOONE
PRAYER SCENE IN BUCYRUS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Pittsburgh Crusaders Imprisoned-Riot Averted.
BOUT the 12th of May, I received letters from Cleveland and Cincinnati by same mail, asking me to come to them, the Secretary of the Cincinnati Union saying their work was languishing and they needed to take a new departure. The Secretary of the Cleveland Union wrote (I copy from the letter before me ), "We want you to speak for us at a mass- meeting Thursday evening, May 21st, on the relation of band work to the temperance move- ment, and to do all you can to get the ladies out onto the street to pray. We have done as well as could be expected for eight weeks, and we feel that we need a little help."
I was at the time engaged for a series of meet- ings in Pennsylvania, but wrote to each that I would be with them as soon as possible, giving Cleveland the first date, as I was nearer to that city than to Cincinnati. Upon my arrival I found they were not ready for me. The Secre- tary had been away, was weary, and sent her husband to tell me this. The good sisters did not seem to realize the value of my time, but
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my calls were so urgent I felt that I could not lose any time unnecessarily, so my hostess, dear Sister P-, sent a notice to the press for an evening meeting, and though the time was so short, there was a very fine audience. I an- nounced at the close that I would meet the Crusaders next morning. The hope had been expressed by the Secretary's husband that I might in a few days get the ladies so aroused that I would be able to lead five hundred onto the street again.
Nothing was said to me of the advice having been given to the ladies by some of the leading men to give up their street work, nor of their promise that if they would, they-the gentlemen -would take measures to enforce the laws and to prosecute any who should lay themselves liable. The women were left in uncertainty as to the best plan of prosecuting their work, but I knew nothing of all this till afterwards. There was quite a full meeting the next morning, and we had a precious season of prayer and counsel. A gentleman present-not a professor of religion -- said, "there had not been such an evident manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit since the first day of the Crusade." The sisters were wrought up to the highest degree of enthu- siasm, and ready to act upon any suggestion, and I knew if I got them out, that was the auspicious time. I closed my address by asking how many ladies would join me, -- I would be sorry to leave Cleveland without the privilege
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of praying on the street with them. Nearly every lady in the church arose to her feet.
Just then a lady made her way through the crowded room to the platform and said, "We don't think it advisable to move out onto the street." As the Secretary had written me to come to them for this purpose, I, of course, was not a little surprised, and in the only curt tone I ever used to anyone in my temperance work I asked who she was? "Mrs. Rev. -," was
the reply. I turned to the Secretary and told her this woman had said it was not thought expedient to form the procession. This seemed to disconcert her, and she deliberated a little while, the ladies still standing. Finally she re- marked that "all ladies who felt free to, would fall into line and follow Mother Stewart."
About two hundred ladies formed in line, but all felt that we had had a douche of cold water, but could not tell from whence. I learned after- wards that this lady, the President, and three or four others, remained to sit in judgment on Mother Stewart, who was still unconscious of the cause of the trouble. As we moved along, the Secretary informed me that the mayor had ordered that the Crusaders should not stop or pray on the street, but there was one saloon- keeper who permitted the ladies to go into his place, and there was a vacant lot where they had the privilege of praying. We visited those places and then marched to the public square, where, from the stand, I addressed the great
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crowd that had gathered. They were quiet and respectful.
In the afternoon I met and addressed the Band on the West Side, and led them out. We all felt it to be a blessed occasion. At night we had a public meeting, but before I reached the evening meeting I found there was a fearful thunder-cloud over my head, but still ignorant of source or cause. By this time I noticed that the Secretary's manner towards me had changed.
Rev. Mr. Nast, son of the venerable Dr. Nast, editor of the Methodist Apologist, pre- sided. Before opening the meeting, he asked me if I had seen the papers of that day. I said I had not. He seemed greatly disturbed, and said there were infamous attacks upon me in them. The German paper had a most indecent article in reference to me. He made a grand opening address, so kindly endorsing me, and made some scathing charges upon the press and the beer-drinking German population-he being a German himself. I followed him as well as I could, but you can imagine what my feel- ings must have been.
At the close of the meeting that big-hearted Brother Preston and his wife took me to their home in East Cleveland. He has since gone over to the other shore, and I believe he has received his reward, for he was to the wounded, fainting toiler, in very deed, a good Samaritan. He was so filled with indignation because of the systematic persecution that had been set upon
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me, that he could not find words to express it. The next day he took me out to dinner with those blessed, saintly Shakers, who, with their gentle, loving words of sympathy, soothed and encouraged me. Friend James promised Brother Preston that he would bring a company of his household in to the evening meeting. That afternoon I met the ladies again, and after the services I saw them form their procession. Mrs. S. K. Bolton, a lady who has since won a wide reputation in the field of literature, led the band, while I was so prostrated by the experiences I had been passing through, that I was obliged to take my bed to recuperate for the evening. But lo ! I had become a terror to the whole city ! The mayor had been notified, and had sent out a squad of policemen to see that I did not tip the city into the lake, or do some other dreadful thing. It seemed a Providence for me that I was not able to accompany the band. One of the mayor's valiant men hurried up to Mrs. Bolton and asked her if she was Mother Stewart ! Mrs. Bolton was young and handsome- Mother Sewart indeed ! He was very sorry to intrude upon her, but he had orders from the mayor to see that the women should not stop a moment on the street, and he would have to arrest them if they attempted to pray on the street. One of the city papers,
commenting on this outrage upon the Christian ladies, said : "That same day, three several times the writer had seen the sidewalks obstructed
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by crowds, once by a dog fight, yet no notice was taken of it by the police."
That night there was a crowded house. Friend James had his company of quiet, praying women filling two pews just in front, and near me. A note was sent up before I commenced my lecture, requesting me to speak on "Radicalism versus Conservatism in the Temperance and all other reform work," with the names of fifteen gentle- men attached, and a foot-note saying, "and a thousand more." I never spoke with greater ease in my life. The cheers were frequent and hearty throughout. Did the blessed, soothing influence and prayers of those pious Shakers help me? Yes. And my Father did sustain me in that trying ordeal. Here are letters at my hand saying words too kind and flattering to repeat in regard to the success and results of my last night in Cleveland.
This was my second great wound in my work. I may possibly have been too tedious in the narrative, but the persecution inaugurated at that time did not end there. I have not had the honor of suffering imprisonment for the sake of my cause, as my sisters did in different places, but I was in perils oft, among-politicians- wasn't it? though it took me a good while to understand it. It was a matter of no little speculation with me as to who it was and what the motive that stirred up that commotion and set the mayor and his police to hounding me. There were not half a dozen of the Crusaders
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who were not in warmest sympathy with me, and I have many times since had evidence of their abiding friendship. Mrs. P-, the lady who entertained me, told me, Friday morning, that a howling mob of ruffians passed through the street in the night and it was their presump- tion that they were seeking the house where I was stopping. I heard nothing of them, how- ever.
The Cleveland Leader of the next day, in a very full account of Thursday's proceedings, says :
Word had been brought to the police headquarters that terrible things were to be done. It was there rumored that Mrs. Stewart was to lead a band of five hundred women upon the street; that they intended to hold services upon the pavement, and bid defiance to the police and to the law in general. That this rumor was groundless, is well known by any who are conversant with the tactics adopted by the ladies. But the police authorities were alarmed at any such demonstration, and determined to prevent it. A sergeant and six or eight men who had been present for drill, were ordered to the scene of action. The word that the police were coming soon gathered a large crowd to see the ladies arrested and enact Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in our midst. Every loafer and lounger along the street fell into line, bound to see the fun. The saloon-keepers along the route were radiant with happiness, and several of them fell into line. During the conversation between Mrs. Bolton and the sergeant, a man named A. Bradfield, who lived upon the West Side, a respect- able man and a local minister, expressed the opinion that the interference of the police was uncalled for. This led to a reply from an officer, who thereupon arrested Mr. Bradfield and marched him off to the station-house. He was charged upon the blotter with obstructing an officer in the discharge of his
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duty. Judge Abbey accepted bail and Mr. Brad- field was set free. *
* Consistency is a jewel that does not shine in certain quarters. A squad of eight police was sent to clear the pavement of some forty odd women who possibly might pray upon the sidewalk, while last evening some forty or fifty men stood for half an hour on the corner of Superior street and the public square, listening to the fiddling of a wandering tramp. A little while later, three crowds were gathered on the corner of Superior and Seneca streets; in the center of one another peddler was giving vent to music. In another a ventriloquist made himself heard, and the third was a quack of another stripe. It was expected that a squad of police would come in sight, but they did not, and ladies who passed those corners were obliged to step into the street on account of the blockade of the pavement.
I never have known the origin of this affair, but I have good reason to believe, and others have told me they knew it was because of my known Prohibition principles. Cleveland is built on beer !
THE NEW DEPARTURE COME.
The Christian women of Cincinnati com- menced their work by a called meeting on Feb- ruary 6th, held in the First Presbyterian church and presided over by Mrs. Rev. Chas. Ferguson. They at once entered upon systematic and ener- getic work, and were subjected to the usual treatment of ridicule, insult, abuse, stones and mud. (Our Prohibition brethren will take notice that we got the mud before they did.) But the brave Cincinnati Crusaders went on, neither failing nor faltering. Pledges were diligently circulated and a large list of signers obtained.
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Thus they aroused the public and increased their numbers and strength to take up the street work, still holding public meetings and reaching out to the suburbs and forming other Leagues, till the liquor-dealers began to see that the Crusaders meant business, and taking alarm they declared "Something must be done," for, like Demetrius of old, they saw their craft was in danger, and so, like their renowned predecessor, they turned to stir up the whole city against these women who, like Paul, were interfering with their un- godly gains.
Immediately upon my return from Cleveland I hastened to the assistance of my sisters in Cincinnati. The crisis had already come, the brave Mayor Johnson (I like to do my part towards handing these illustrious names down to posterity ) and his police, instigated by the liquor men, had
" Descended like a wolf on the fold,
With their cohorts all gleaming with purple and gold," or something else, and arrested forty-three ladies and marched them off to prison. It was coming to be the fashionable thing to make war on women! It showed off manly traits of bravery and gallantry to such good advantage ! Making war on men has its disadvantages, you know. The brave policeman may possibly meet his match in physical strength or prowess, and he may get the worst of it-get his head jammed or his regimentals damaged, or worse still, his head taken off at the next election ! No such danger
(24)
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in making war on women; and so Cincinnati added to her long list of grand and glorious achievements, that of arresting these Christian ladies, wives of ministers and other respectable citizens. Their offense was, that they prayed for sinners.
This execution of law, by the way, was expost- facto, the Crusaders not having any knowledge of the mayor's intended proclamation, and having marched out twenty minutes before it was published; I have not the list of these ladies, though many are personal friends.
Mrs. S. K. Leavitt, the leader, is the wife of a Baptist minister ; Mrs. Rev. McHugh has gone up to the courts above ; Mrs. Rev. W. I. Fee was especially obnoxious and dangerous-I think she must have weighed nearly a hundred pounds, maybe not more than ninety, avoirdu- pois-and though she is a woman of few words and low voice, she was so remarkably gifted in prayer that a reporter took one of her prayers as she uttered it on the street. Of course such a woman ought to go to jail-or State's prison. Then there were Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Huddleson, the Secretary, Mrs. Rev. Ferguson, Mrs. Fisher, Mrs. Whitridge, Mrs Dr. Dalton, Mrs. Bishop Clark, Mrs. Geo. Beccher and Mrs. McKinley.
What a pity Cincinnati could not have fore- seen the oncoming Crusaders in time to have a frowning and bristling bastile ready for such offenders against the peace and safety of that city of pure morals and just administration of
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law. I think it will be well enough for her, if she has been able to meet the expense of rebuild- ing her recently demolished court-house, to provide herself with a bastile. Who knows but any day again some Christian women may take it into their heads to pray that God may avert his reserved judgments that are hanging over the city. I would advise that she appropriate her saloon tax for that purpose.
I spent several days with the sisters, address- ing mass-meetings in the various churches at night, women's meetings mornings and after- noons; marched with them to the Fountain esplanade, and from a table addressed the crowds there; again to some church, where from the steps I spoke to the people who still followed us. The sisters told me that in these gatherings they found poor creatures who said they had never heard of Jesus, the Friend of sinners. Yes, it was the discreet thing for the mayor to imprison these women ; they were carrying to hungry, starving souls the bread of eternal life.
I remember that in one of my addresses I exhorted the sisters to cease praying for the saloon-keepers and pray for the business men of the city. Dr. F., referring to it afterwards, said: " Mother Stewart, you must have been inspired to utter that, for our great trouble here is the total indifference of the business men to the true interests of our city." I may say that the forty-three women being arraigned before Judge Marchant, pleaded "not guilty," and
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after some show of investigating the case, were discharged, as the defendants were innocent of any willful intent of breaking the law. But they were admonished that they "must not do it any more." Upon what is Cincinnati built?
On the evening of May 23d I was standing addressing a great mass meeting in New Castle, Pa., when a telegram dated Pittsburgh, May 23d, was handed me. It wasaddressed to me, saying : " Ladies arrested yesterday, but going out in full force this afternoon, ready to die for the Master if need be. Pray for them." Signed R. E. Graves. We at once sent back a telegram of sympathy and encouragement.
I recently wrote my friend, Mrs. Lord, now. of the South, but then Mrs. Hill, the very efficient Secretary of the Pittsburgh Union, for an account of that never-to-be-forgotten day and its scenes in Pittsburgh. I had it oft repeated, but desired to let one of the brave participants tell it in her own language. She writes :
Our praying bands had been on the streets for some weeks before we were arrested, though threats had been made from almost the first. The liquor trade was so affected by our street meetings that the liquor dealers became furious, and at last desperate. It would be impossible to tell the insults and out- rages we received from these people. At last a majority of the wholesale and retail dealers signed a petition asking the mayor ( Blackmore) to remove the praying women from the streets, -we " hindered and destroyed business, and we were common nuisances," etc. The liquor dealers' association also took action against us, so a formidable strength was brought to bear upon the mayor. We were notified if we continued our saloon visiting and praying we
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would be arrested. " It was an intrusion upon public rights ! It must be stopped ! We must pray in the churches or at home!" The liquor men con- cluded to arrest the ladies. "Then," they said, "the Crusade would subside." But the truth was, there were so many praying women the jail could not hold them, nor the work-house, so here was a dilemma. Meantime we continued our street work, and one morning while conducting a meeting on the side- walk in front of Liddle's wholesale house, on Liberty street (isn't that a misnomer ), two policemen arrested thirty-two of us !
The wildest scenes ensued, and in a short time the street was densely packed with an angry mob, and threats were heard on every hand against the liquor men and the officers. ( Here, it must be understood, that the masses were with and not against the Crusaders.) A riot seemed imminent. I climbed upon a barrel of whisky which stood upon the side- walk, and got the attention of the people. I appealed to them to let the law take its course, and not dis- grace our city by violent resistance. I talked quite a time to quiet the people, then the crowd gave way and we walked two and two behind the policemen towards the city lock-up, several squares distant. As we marched, we sang the old hymn-
" All hail the power of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem,"
and the thousands upon the street took up the refrain, " And crown Him Lord of all."
Just imagine thousands and thousands singing that glorious anthem, and we marching to prison. I could not do justice to those hours behind the bars. We were not in the jail, but the lock-up, -a place of temporary confinement where vagrants are kept until they have a hearing and are sent to the work- house or set free, as the case may be. Oh ! the poor, wretched beings we saw in there,-all graduates from the SALOONS- some who should have been in a hospital. My God! Never shall I forget that day ! The Christian women and the poor wrecks, some of them far gone, but rum the cause of it all! There
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we were, all huddled together in that filthy pen. We sang and prayed and advised them, and I hope some good was done.
In the meantime, the noise outside grew louder and louder, till it seemed like the roar of a mighty tempest. We hushed our songs and prayers and listened with trembling to the angry multitude out- side. Sometimes we would hear the words " Pull them down !" "Clean them out !"-meaning the liquor houses-"Burn them down!" etc Then there came a lull in the angry tempest, and while we stood inside trembling and quaking, uncertain what was going to occur next, all at once a great cheer burst forth, and the words, "Clear the way for the ladies!" rang out.
Then was sung outside-
" Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee."
Mrs. Robison had got together a large band of sisters, made her way through the densely crowded streets to the prison, and there that woman marched and countermarched her band before the prison, talked and advised as only she can do, soothed and quieted that great mass of maddened people, and no doubt saved bloodshed. The song still went up outside, and we inside still taking up the refrain. She held the people in check till a deputation came from the mayor and threw open the prison door and begged us to go forth free, so as to save the city from riot and anarchy.
The liquor men who had caused our arrest were greatly frightened ; they had not counted on such an outburst of indignation on the part of the people. When we passed out of that prison, for squares and squares it was one mass of human beings.
The ladies were cited to appear before the mayor to answer to the charge of obstructing the streets and interfering with legitimate (?) busi- ness. Says an eye-witness, "The mayor, when the ladies filed into the court-room and took their places in the criminal's dock before him, was
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as pale as a sheeted ghost. As he knew not what to do, and was too thoroughly frightened to do anything if he did, he referred them to the upper court. When they made their appear- ance before the Judge, he told them they had committed no offense and were as guiltless as he was, and discharged them. As they left the court-room, they struck up the long-metre dox- ology, which was caught up all along the line by thousands of voices, reaching to the headquarters half a mile distant. I never witnessed such a scene in my life." The first time, I presume, in history that the length of that old doxology could be measured by the half mile.
Thus were the Pittsburgh Crusaders impris- oned, released, and escorted in triumph back to headquarters by thousands of brave-hearted men, who with difficulty-and only upon the earnest appeal of those devoted women-were restrained from wreaking revenge upon the instigators of that dastardly outrage. Among those impris- oned women was a venerable, white-haired lady, Mrs. Black, widow of one of Pittsburgh's most beloved ministers. By her side walked her brave, devoted son, to keep oversight of his idolized mother, and he too was imprisoned-for his filial devotion. I am sorry I have not the names of all that immortal thirty-two at hand- they should be "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever," that the fact might be given to the generations to come that the noblest women of the land and age were incar-
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cerated in vile prison-pens with loathsome criminals, not for any crime committed, only seeking to rescue men from eternal ruin through the accursed drink. God grant that this thrilling recital may live and be read from one genera- tion to another, even after this fair Republic shall have become a thing of the past, as I greatly fear me now that it will through the destructive influence of this same liquor curse, so that our children's children may know the reason why. Among the consecrated women who did such noble work for humanity in one of the hardest fields, was Mrs. S. B. Robinson, a lady of piety, refinement and high social position and influence, and possessed of the most remark- able talent of any lady I have found in the work, for managing, controlling and pouring sweet and savory oil on all troubled waters; Mrs. Collins, the first President, wife of Rev. Collins of the U. P. church ; Mrs. Hill, now Mrs. Lord, of Savan- nah, who has proved her ability as secretary, organizer and lecturer-the latter in Great Britain as well as this country ; Mrs. Matchett, Mrs. Swift, and Mrs. Watson, who as Committee of the National W. C. T. U., has done such grand work in her efforts to secure a day for temp- erance in the week of prayer; Mrs. Morris, Miss Pearl Star, one of my little "Needle and Thread" girls of war times, and who developed such talents for work as lecturer and writer as have made for her a wide-spread reputation ; Mrs. Gormly, dear Mother Van Horn and a host of others.
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