April 25 – On this day in Montana history in 1894 a group of
financially stricken and disgruntled Montanans that came to be known as Coxey’s
Army commandeered a train in Butte and headed for Washington, D.C. to take
their complaints directly to Congress and the president. Northern Pacific
Superintendent J.D. Finn said: “Where is the governor? Where is the United
States Marshall? Where is the Montana militia? How in the hell do you expect
one Irishman to stand off the whole of Coxey’s Army?” The train made it as far
as Forsyth where federal troops from Fort Keogh two days later re-took the
train. Rumors of heavily armed and “dangerous men” had the whole nation on
edge. But when searched, only three guns were found; one broken, one a .22, and
the other an 1860s rifle with no ammunition. On the other hand 43 copies of the
Bible were also confiscated.
No comments:
Post a Comment