w aimed at a
man's head; I was clubbed on the back for not moving fast enough. At
every turn, at every angle of the Square, the police were as brutal as
any Cossack that ever wielded a knout.

Late on that afternoon the police opened the Square--that is, the
people were permitted to cross it in all directions. My study was at
No. 75 Fifth Avenue, and I was moving in that direction past the
fountain when the explosion took place. I was hurled off my feet; that
is, the shock to my nervous system was so great that I collapsed. My
first flash of thought was of the battle-field!

Fifteen feet in front of me two men staggered. It seemed to me that
one of them had been ripped in twain. He fell and the other fell on
top of him. Instantly the policemen around me seemed crazed: as I
staggered to my feet one of them struck me a terrific blow with his
club. The blow landed between my shoulders, but glanced upward,
striking me on the back of the head. I tumbled over, dazed, but the
thought that his next blow would murder me seemed to give me
superhuman strength and I ran. As I turned he attacked another man and
I thought I was free. I was mistaken, however, for he gave chase and
if I had not escaped into the crowd I would have fared badly at his
hands.

My nerves were so badly shattered that on the way to my room I fell
several times. The following Sunday night the Civic Federation packed
our meeting with their speakers.

Mr. Gompers's representative in New York was the first man put up. He
was furnished with quotations from alleged Socialist writers on the
question of religion. Then a woman from Boston who had once been a
Socialist, sent a note to me--I was presiding--asking for extended
time. I was the only Socialist in the place who knew what was going
on.

The newspapers had all been "tipped off," as the _Herald_ reporter
told me later. The discussion waxed so warm that fifty people were on
their feet at once, shouting for recognition.

Humour in such a situation is a tremendous relief. I managed to inject
some into the discussion and it was like grease to a cartwheel. In a
humorous way I turned the light on the Civic Federation and the
audience laughed. Next day every newspaper in New York had an account
of the meeting. From that time until the end of the first year of the
meeting the papers reported not only what happened but much that never
happened. Most of them were humorous in their treatment. The Marceline
of the