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Show CACIIE AMERICAN PAGE SIX LOGAN. CACHE COUNTY. UTAH Plans for the 1939 American Legion Convention In Chicago's Famed Coliseum Bring to Light a New Chapter in Nation's Presidential History Tin year the American Legion cornea of age in more respects than one. Not only is It anthe organization's twenty-firs- t nual convention, but, according to National Commander Stephen F. Chadwick, the 1939 assembly of the veterans will have a more It tone than ever before. will be provided by "American first convention Democracy," keynote in Legion history. Moreover, convention program plans call for large-scalparticipation by the wives, sens and daughters of the Legionnaires who will accompany them to Chicago. The history of the American Legion goes back to the year 1919 and to Paris. France. That story is told by Col. Theodore Roosevelt, one of its founders, thus: No one man can claim to be the founder of the American I got the idea from a wounded sergeant in a hospital. He said we should form an organization of veterans of the war, adding, 'we have stuck together in the bud times; lets stick together in the good ones. "After that, I talked with numbers of people, many of whom had been thinking on these lines. The pioblem was to get the organization under way. The Armistice had been declared. I asked some regular army friends at G. 11. Q. if soldiers from each of the American divisions then in France could be ordered to Paris to discuss the idea. They told me they could not do that directly, but that they could order such a group of men to meet in Pans and discuss the morale of the American troops. We held the meeting on morale. Afterwards, at a dinner, we discussed plans for a veterans organization. All agreed on certain principles. The first Was that no difference should be made e Le-g.o- n. Interior of the Chicago Coliseum, where the American Legion 1939 national convention will open September 25. The view was taken during the Republican national convention of 1912 when a plan to stampede the delegates with the appearance of Theodore Roosevelt, who was later named as the National Progressive candidate, was abandoned. The plan to smuggle Teddy" to the speakers platform Is told here for the first time. Dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) work of preparing for the 1939 national convention American Legion, which meets for the first time Coliseum, scene of the nomination of three Presidents of the United States, has brought to light a new chapter in American presidential history. It is the story of a plan to smuggle Teddy Roosevelt into the regular Republican convention back in 1912, which, if it had succeeded, might well have changed the course of events in this country during the last 25 years. The story was told for the declared Phil Collins, to whom Mr. Hall was relating the incifirst time recently by Charles dent. I remember what hapof R. Hall, veteran manager pened at that convention a womthe Coliseum, while he and an delegate mentioned RoosePhilip W. Collins, executive velt's name and it started a demwhich lasted for two vice president of the Legion onstration hours before it could be convention corporation, were stopped. making arrangements for the There's not a doubt about it, big gathering of thousands of agreed Mr. Hall. 'Tve often Legionnaires from all parts wondered why the plan was nevof the country in that historic er carried through. All I know is George Porter and his convention hall on September that friends dropped the matter. I 25. The incident has addinever asked him why and he nevtional interest because of the er volunteered the information. fact that a prominent figure . . But I wish they had gone I was ready for my part at the 1939 session will be ahead. in it. Col. Theodore Teddys son, As the Coliseum manRoosevelt, who helped organ- ager fingered an in his tie, he continued: ize the Legion just 20 years scarf-piif they had gone ahead I Maybe his credentials ago. Bearing wouldnt have had this pin. You as a delegate he will walk, un- see, it was given to me by Tedhall the very hampered, into dy himself. But that was six which his father was kept weeks later when the Bull Moos- from entering by the use of barbed wire! But, let Charles R. Hall, who was one of the 1912 plotters, tell the story himself: TIIE . n of 1893 were under way, a movement was started to purchase Libby prison and move it to the city on the lake as a Civil war museum. Prominent in this movement was the Chicago historian and collector, C. F. Gunther. The work of moving the prison from Richmond to Chicago began in December, 1888. Each board, beam, timber, and block of stone was numbered and lettered and the task of transporting these and the 800,000 bricks in the main structure required the use of 132 cars by the Chesapeake fit Ohio railway. The prison was rebuilt on the site of the present Coliseum and as a war museum on September 21, 1889 (just 50 years and four days before the opening of this years Legion convention!) Appropriately enough, its first meeting was a G. A. R. reunion. Meanwhile a massive battlement, which was designed to provide a front for the museum, flashy was built along the Wabash avenue side of the transplanted prison from stone that was quarried within the Chicago city limits of that time. Thousands of visitors, before and during the 1893 Worlds fair, were attracted to the museum and its historical relics. However, this old prison museum was torn down in 1900 to make way for the present Coliseum but the vote-gettin- you? I ers met in the Coliseum and nominated Roosevelt and Sen. Hiram Johnson of California as their candidates on the Progressive party ticket. In addition to contributing this to item American political history, the veteran manager of the Coliseum is also an authority on another story which links this building with another historic structure. That was the famous Libby prison in Richmond, Va., of Civil war days which was moved to Chicago, piece by piece, 50 years ago, and rebuilt on the present site of the Coliseum. During the Civil war Libby was known as the Palace Prison of the Confederacy where 40,000 Union soldiers, most of them offThe main icers, were confined. prison was originally a tobacco warehouse, made of bricks which were brought to this country from England. While plans for the Chicago World's fair CLUB ADVENTURERS HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE VOURSELF1 V Another Molly Pitcher Hello, everybody: g tale of a brave little mother who was deathly afraid of guns, but afraid of nothing at all when corporation hirelings tried to grab a piece of her home, is the Battle of Monmouth all over again. You remember, or do you, how in that important engagement at Freehold, N. J., away back on June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher took the place of her husband, John C. Hays, an artilleryman, after he was wounded, and served his gun, thus preventing its capture by the British. Thats a yarn that American gets a kick out of every time he every soul-stirrin- red-blood- reads it! It is mighty comforting, I want to tell you, to know there are Molly Pitchers in every generation, stepping forward fearlessly to take the places of their men when necessary. Just such a woman is todays distinguished adventurer. who did a good job all warm and proud of our womanhood. They call women the weaker sex. O yeah? Just put their backs to the wall. If you want the Meet Mrs. John Doolin, of Lemont, at writing her story, one that makes 111., you feel proof, read how Mrs. Doolin, whipped a rather highhanded corporation that aeemed to be trying to put over a fait one. Not long after a railroad came through the village of Lemont, where the Doolina had their home, there were a number of on a sharp curve cloae to the Doolin property. The company wanted to straighten the line by putting It across the Doolin yard. Surveyor staked out the new right of way; worker appeared and began digging. John Doolin ordered them off. Then be took the Brat train to Chicago and there consulted his good friend. Attorney Alexander Sullivan. lingle-hande- acct-den- ta Actions of Company Held Illegal by Attorney. Mr. Sullivan told him the company bad no right to put its line on Doolin property without permission. But, he continued (and here'a the catch), if the company succeeded in erecting the poles and stringing 20-to- n The Democratic party at Baltimore already had nominated Woodrow Wilson and Thomas R. Marshall when the regular Republican convention opened in the Coliseum on June 18. Although the logical thing for the Republicans to do was to renominate William Howard Taft, who was just completing his term as President, there was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the record which Taft had made in the White House. And there was repeated talk of Teddy Roosevelt still a So magic name for the sessions dragged along while the delegates debated in their minds whether or not to renominate Taft. While the convention marked time, I was approached by the late George W. Porter, a Chicago capitalist, who was a strong Roosevelt supporter. Roosevelt is in Chicago, he whispered to me. Could you get him into the convention unseen? My answer was: Of course! Ill put him on the front of the platform, right beside the chairman of the convention. Whatll you charge? Porter wanted to know. Hells Bells! I answered, Charles R. Hall, veteran manager of the Coliseum, looks over You dont think Id charge for the official badges of some of the national nominating conventions those convention giving delegates held in that building. He is wearing a scarfpin presented to him by of the thrill seeing Teddy, do Theodore Roosevelt after the National Progressive convention in 1912. But the very next day I found out that news of our plot had leaked out. The sergeant-at-arm- s of the convention ordered me to stretch rolls of barbed wire along the footlights in front of the speakers platform. I guess they thought we were going to have Teddy planted on the floor of the convention, start a demonstration and then rush him up the center aisle and on to the platform. They didnt know that their wire wouldnt barbed have stopped T. R. if we had gone through with our plan. I was going to admit him through a secret outer door, rush him into a tunnel entrance a few feet away and then through the tunnel and up a short flight of steps When he hit the top step, he would have been behind their barbed wire, directly facing every delegate in the building. If he had done that, it would have stampeded the delegates, Tlotyd stone wall which was its front still faces on Wabash avenue. Relics in the museum became scattered, some of them being given to the Chicago Historical society where they are still preserved. Bricks of the prison were distributed to G. A. R. posts throughout the country and some of them were sold for a dollar apiece," Mr. Hall recalls. But even in recent years, when we excavated to provide a pool for the diving horse of a circus or for other purposes, some of those old bricks from Libby prison came to light. The floors and other features of the Coliseum have been altered dozens of times to meet the needs of special events. But one distinctive feature remains unchanged. Our outside walls, with their turrets and observation posts, today are exactly as they were when they surrounded the transplanted historic Libby prison. COL. THEODORE Her finger was on the trigger and she was ail act to pull it. ROOSEVELT between those who had served overseas and those who had not as the desire to serve was what counted. The second, that the Legion was to be a democratic organization, in which there should be no question of rank, and privates would get a full chance to tell the generals what they thought of them. Third and last, the organization should concern itself with policies, not with partisan politics. Next an organization committee was appointed. Eric Fisher Wood was named secretary, Bennett Clark, today senator from Missouri, vice chairman, and I, chairman. We decided to hold two meetings, one in Paris and the other practically simultaneously in the United States. Bennett Clark, Eric Wood and a number of others took the responsibility for the Paris caucus. I had been ordered home, and agreed to arrange the caucus at home. The Paris meeting went off in splendid shape. Everyone was interested and enthusiastic. All units were represented, and privates as well as generals were delegates. Incidentally, there was no trouble in getting delegates to go. Paris was a lodestone. This group adopted the name, American Legion. The name had been used by my father before the war, when he formed a group of Americans who had experience which qualified them to serve in the army in case of need. Meanwhile, I returned to this country, and with some other veterans, arranged for a caucus. We rented an office in New York city and got in touch with men in every state, asking them to organize the soldiers and sailors in their community, elect delegates and come to St. Louis on May 8, 1919. The first order of business was the election of a permanent chairman. We selected Col. Henry D. Lindsley of Texas, a Southern Democrat, thereby giving the lie to those who said it was to be a Republican organization. Next, we confirmed the actions taken by the Paris caucus, such as the selection of the name, American Legion, and adopted a declaration of faith and a temporary constitution. We provided an organization to carry on until the fall, when the first real convention was called in Minneapolis. There representatives of both Paris and St. Louis meetings would be, and the American Legion could take final form. At Minneapolis on November 10 our convention assembled. We elected as commander Franklin K. DOlier, of New Jersey, adopt- ed a permanent constitution, and i the Legion came into being " ' l the power wire, the only thing Doolin could do would be to go to court John Doolin didn't have any money to pay for long years of litigation so he beat it for home, resolved to keep the company off his premises. There, sticking up in the lawn, was a nice new pole that had been put up while he was in the city. John sawed the pole half way through. Then he borrowed a rifle and ammunition from a neighbor. A few days later, on a bright June morning in 1903, a policeman appeared with a warrant charging John Doolin with destroying public property. John marched away with the law, leaving three children crying, a wife on the verge of it. No sooner was John Doolin out of sight than a crew of workmen swarmed on the place and began digging so furiously you would think they were being paid a dollar a shovelfull. Was little Mrs. Doolin going to let them get away with it? Up to the attic she hurried. There, forgetting she shivered at the very sight of a firearm, she took from th wall a shotgun that had hung undisturbed for many years. With her children clinging to her and crying again, she opened the window shutters, and rested the ancient fowling piece on the sill. Then, in a cold fury, she called down to the working men: Throw down your tools or Ill shoot!" They stopped working and began to kid her. Foreman Orders Men to Take Gun From Iler. Come Then one bully, who appeared to be the foreman, ordered: Mrs. Doolin leaned on, guys, lets go up and take it away from her. a little farther out of the window and lifted the rusty shotgun. The first man who takes a step toward my house gets shot," she Now all of you drop your tools or Ill start shooting. called. And boys and girls, Mrs. Doolin meant exactly what she said. She was a determined mother, protecting her home and babies in the absence of her husband. Of course, she thought the gun wasnt loaded, but her finger was on the trigger and she was all set to pull it if any one of those men made a move in the direction of the house. But their tools went down. The workmen sensed this was real drama, not a comedy, and they became sober. One spoke up to say the company had sent them there to rush up a couple of poles. Plucky Mrs. Doolin then explained to them that they were on her property, that the company had not asked permission to use it nor offered to pay for it Well, sir, when those men got the low down on the proposiYou win, lady, youre tion they took off their hats and cheered. a game guy, they told her. We arent doing any more digging nntil yon get a square deal. With that they picked up their tools and went to town. Mrs. Doolin had won her battle, but would the men be back tomorrow? Would the company have her arrested for threatening its workmen? And what had become of her husband? Officials Refuse to Prosecute Doolin. Pondering these questions, Mrs. Doolin went to the door and ' was overjoyed to see her husband coming np the walk. He hadnt been in jail at all. The policeman had taken him before a justice of the peace, but no one in the courtroom was willing to prosecute him. He thought he understood why he had been taken away on a charge no one wonld press when Mrs. Doolin told him the men had been back. But when she told him how she had pointed the shotgun at them and really intended to pull the trigger, he felt a little faint. For that eld gun was loaded! Well, there was one thing about the corporation. It always knew when it was licked. The very next morning the worries of the Doolin family were over. Right after breakfast two suave lawyers called to say how sorry they were it had happened. There had been a mistake. The company was willing to pay a good price for the land. And they paid, right on the line, thanks to the little woman who didnt know when she was licked. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) Horse Sense Ulysses, famed Grecian warrior In the battle with the Trojans, at first didnt want to go to war, according to legend. Pretending madness, he put on a fisherman's hat, yoked horses and started to plow up the ground. His trick was uncovi ered when he turned the horses aside as he saw his infant son lying on the ground in front of the plow. Honoring Veterans The custom of firing three volleys over the grave of a deceased veteran is derived from the old Roman custom of casting earth over the coffin, calling the dead by name three times and then saying Vale" three times. The word vale is the Latin word for farewell. The firing of three volleys is equivalent to saying farewell to the deceased. |
