The Brawling Reformers of Snohomish
A satirical account of a local political meeting that devolved from religious indignation into a drunken saloon brawl.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
I attended the meeting at Bascom's, our church not having been opened for religious meetings since Johnson went out in 1869. It was a lively meeting. When the Corners were interested by the impiety and irreligion of this pet of Republicanism, there was an indignation manifested that was truly encouraging. They were all convinced that if such a contemner of religion was permitted to go loose without rebuke, there was little hope of Republican institutions. After drinking around two or three times, we organized. I remarked that our liberties were in danger from the Republican party, and our religion from the shocking infidelity of one of its chief advocates, Robert Ingersoll. We resolved that the election of Tilden and Hendricks is a necessity. While we were taking a drink, Joe Bigler and Pollock came in—carpetbaggers I never saw without trouble. When we returned to order, a Louisville man assaulted Capt. McPelter for picking his handkercher, and the meeting ended in a scrimmage that wrecked Bascom's floor. I managed in the row to get the Louisville man's hat and coat for my share, and got out to put them away in a safe place. When I returned, the entire meeting was snoring soundly on the floor, for they had gotten at a barrel of Bascom's, and it had finished them.
“We may loose our liberties, but shall we lose our religion? Not by a d—d sight!”
This piece, written by the famous satirist David Ross Locke under the pseudonym 'Petroleum V. Nasby,' used the format of a local report to mock the intense partisanship and hypocrisy of 1876 election politics. It serves as a reminder that political tribalism, often fueled by moral grandstanding, has been a staple of the American civic fabric for over a century.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.