Iowa
Old Press
Jackson Sentinel
Maquoketa, Jackson co. Iowa
March 30, 1871
BRUTAL OUTRAGE - W.F.MCCARRON ASSAILIED BY A MOB AND
TERRIBLY BEATEN -INDIGNATION MEETING
For a week or more past the various saloon keepers of this city,
through the instrumentality mainly of Mr. W. F. McCarron, State
Temperance Lecturer, and Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of
Temperance, have been subjected to a series of prosecutions for
violations of the prohibitory law. This has been the means of
concentrating upon the head of Mr. McCarron the united wrath of
that portion of community who believe that the right to retail
tanglefoot and kindred drinks, regardless of statutory
enactments, is one of those “inalienable rights” for
which our forefathers so freely shed their blood in the days of
’76. Threats of personal violence had been freely made on
the streets for several days, not only against Mr. McCarron, but
other citizens who had been in any way instrumental in the
prosecutions. Still, no one believed that these men, who had
already placed themselves in the grasp of the law, could
willfully and premeditatedly, by an act of such pendous folly,
still further put themselves beyond the pale of public sympathy,
and in the clutches of an outraged and doubly insulted law. That
they were simply mistaken is evidenced in the disgraceful
proceeding of last Monday, which has stirred the indignation of
this community to its profoundest depths, and which can but end
in the still further disgrace, humiliation and severe punishment
of the perpetrators. On that day, about the hour of noon, Mr.
McCarron had gone to the Post Office for his mail, and after
receiving it quietly stepped to one side to peruse the letter. No
other person was present at the time with the exception of Mr. F.
Thompson, Deputy P.M. On a moment after, two men entered and
inquired about their mail. While Mr. Thompson was thus engaged,
two or three others entered, closed the front door, and walking
rapidly up to Mr. McCarron, without a word of warning struck him.
Hearing the noise, Mr. Thompson promptly started to his
assistance, but as he attempted to emerge from behind the
counter, was met with the stern command from the two men who had
first entered, “Stand back!” He succeeded, however, in
reaching the door, and , and shouting loudly for help, soon
brought assistance, upon approach of which the scoundrels who had
been kicking, pounding and stamping Mr. McCarron hastily fled.
The news of the outrage spread rapidly, and in a few moments a
large crowd of excited and exasperated citizens had assembled,
who needed but little more incentive to organize into a mob that
would have carried destruction to every saloon in the town.
Fortunately, however, for the good name of our city, better
counsels prevailed, and the indignation of the community found
proper vent in the public meeting which came off in the evening.
[Transcribed by K.W., March 2011]