Iowa
Old Press
The Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
March 14, 1863
On March 11, 1863, a large delegation of Republicans from farther
west in the state assembled here at the office of W. B. Allison.
The Dubuque Herald took fright and declared:
"those midnight gatherings of a lawless confraternity have
no worthy object for a stimulus. They are held to plot against
the liberties of their political opponents and unless we awaken
in time to an appreciation of our danger we shall find ourselves
subjected to the merciless tyranny of an organized mob. The S.
B.'s of Fayette county claim as the object of their existence the
destruction of 'an organized conspiracy in Dubuque to
revolutionize the government.' These men have no knowledge of
such an organization, for there is none. They are making this the
pretext for their organization simply that they may be allowed to
proceed without interference. The society in this city meets
almost nightly. Whether it is yet in possession of arms we do not
know; we are informed, however, that it is. But preparations will
not injure anybody and may prove invaluable. We therefore advise
a public meeting of the Democracy called under the auspices of
the Democratic club to consider the steps proper to be taken for
the formation of an open day organization to defend ourselves
against midnight conspirators and would-be assassins."
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]