1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, we got an email from listener Kiki, a 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: high school history teacher, who alerted us to an error 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: in our Great Episootic of eighteen seventy two episode. Now 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: this is my words, not Kiki's. Kiki was very kind, 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: but the paragraph about how the Epizootic might have contributed 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: to the Panic of eighteen seventy three is kind of 7 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: an incomprehensible mess. The Panic of eighteen seventy three happened 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:32,919 Speaker 1: before historical things we talked about it possibly being connected 9 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: to like the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the failure 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. Somewhere along the way, 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: I had muddled up the Panic of eighteen seventy three 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: with the Panic of eighteen ninety three. There were bank 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: failures railroad bankruptcies in eighteen seventy three, just not the 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: ones I specifically wrote into the episode. So my apologies 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: were that very embarrassing error. This does give us an 16 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: opportunity to bring back an episode about something related to 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: the Panic of eighteen ninety three, and that is Coxy's Army, 18 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: which was in eighteen ninety four protest march by unemployed 19 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: workers on Washington d C. This originally came out on 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: August twelfth, twenty twenty, So enjoy Welcome to Stuff You 21 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 22 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. 23 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,479 Speaker 1: So in the midst of today's very bananas world, which 24 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: I think we have both talked about a lot, has 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: been informing our choices of topics lately, and which is 26 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: involving this constant news cycle of economic instability and protests 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: and those things being hashed and rehashed and discussed for 28 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: their various merits and lack thereof in some cases. I 29 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,559 Speaker 1: got to thinking about earlier protests and wanting to talk 30 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: more about those and specific the first protest march on Washington, DC, 31 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: and that is the story of Coxy's Army, and it 32 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: is one that's been requested a lot of times. It's 33 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: really easy when you look at the facts of it 34 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: to see why it is so compelling to people and 35 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: why people request it because in addition to parallels to 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: our current situation, there are also just a lot of 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: really fascinating details in the mix. So today's the day, 38 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: and we're covering Jacob Coxy and what came to be 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: known colloquially as Coxy's Army. Yes, I feel like this 40 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: one has been on both of our lists at points. Yeah, 41 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: because so many people have asked for it. So we've 42 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: talked on the show before about the Panic of eighteen 43 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: ninety three and the economic crash that came along with it. 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: Railroad overbuilding that was financed through just really unfound lending 45 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: practices had caused a lot of railroads to go under, 46 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: and then that coupled with a run on the gold supply, 47 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: the country was plunged into what amounted to a financial freefall. 48 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: Those are obviously broad strokes, but since we have covered 49 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: this many many times before, were just doing the light 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: touch version. But as a result of that panic, five 51 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: hundred banks closed across the country and fifteen thousand businesses 52 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: shut their doors for the last time, and seventy four railroads, 53 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: which had been a huge economic driver in a lot 54 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: of places, ceased operations. And this was of course all 55 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: happening before things like unemployment insurance. So workers that had 56 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 1: come into the labor market in a new industrial age 57 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: and were prepared to work in that industrial age suddenly 58 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: had no work, and they also had no safety net. 59 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: President Grover Cleveland continued his anti welfare stance that he 60 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: had held for a long time. We talked about this 61 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: earlier on in our episode about Grover Cleveland's secret surgery. 62 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: But in short, he thought that this rush to embrace 63 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: silver with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act had been a 64 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: woeful misstep economically. He thought there needed to be a 65 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: course correction, and he also felt really strongly that financial 66 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: assistance for the country's common man was just not the 67 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: business of the government. In eighteen eighty seven, during his 68 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: first term, he had vetoed a bailout for Texas farmers 69 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: who were trying to get through a drought, and he 70 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,559 Speaker 1: wrote this as part of the veto. I can find 71 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and 72 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: I do not believe that the power and duty of 73 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: the General Government ought to be extended to the relief 74 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: of individual suffering, which is in no manner properly related 75 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 1: to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to 76 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, 77 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: I think, be steadfastly resisted to the end that the 78 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support 79 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: the government, the government should not support the people. That's 80 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: a whole bag of weasels to unpack. Chicago during this 81 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: time reported an uptick in crime, not because people turn 82 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: to crime as a way to make an illicit living 83 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: in desperation, but because they wanted desperately to get arrested. 84 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: Jail or prison, which offered shelter and regular meals, was 85 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: preferable to the streets in a Chicago winter. And other 86 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: cities also wrestled with similar problems and how to manage 87 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: a population that was losing its housing and ultimately completely 88 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: losing stability. Of course, everyone wanted things to improve, but 89 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: not many thought a way to get through this turbulent time. 90 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: And that is where we get to Jacob Coxy, who 91 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: came up with a novel plan. So at the center 92 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: of this story is this man, Jacob Seckler Coxy and 93 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: Coxy was the son of a sawmill engineer named Thomas Coxy. 94 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: Jacob was born in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania on April sixteenth, eighteen 95 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: fifty four, and the loghouse he was born in actually 96 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: now bears a historical marker When Jacob was six, the 97 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: family moved to Danville, Pennsylvania, where his father started working 98 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: in an iron mill. Jacob completed nine years of school 99 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: before going to work when he was sixteen, also at 100 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: a mill, serving as the water boy. He worked his 101 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: way up through various positions over the next eight years. 102 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,119 Speaker 1: When he was twenty, he married a young woman named 103 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: Caroline Amherman, and the two of them had four children together. 104 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: Coxey voted for the first time during this stage of 105 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: his life in the eighteen seventy six election, at the 106 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: age of twenty two. Over the years, he would switch 107 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: political parties multiple times, and he was a member of 108 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: the Greenback Party at one point he even organized its Danville, 109 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,600 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania chapter. He moved on to work with his uncle 110 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: in a scrap metal business in eighteen seventy eight, and 111 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: it was while on a business trip for this job 112 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty one that he first visited Maslin, Ohio. 113 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: He decided he would like to move there, and that 114 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: was really the end of his scrap metal career. He 115 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: sold his interest in the business and his next move 116 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: was to purchase a sandstone quarry in Maslin and convert 117 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: it into a crushing mill to process silica sand. He 118 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: also purchased a farm where he would even eventually start 119 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,600 Speaker 1: breeding horses in the eighteen eighties when he became interested 120 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: in racing, and between the quarry and his fancy stock 121 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: horse breeding, he was able to build a really nice 122 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: living for himself. Coxey was also really interested in politics 123 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: and the economy, and even before the Panic of eighteen 124 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: ninety three, he was aware of the problems that were 125 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: facing laborers in the US. This was things that he 126 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: gave a great deal of thought to you, and allegedly 127 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: a moment of inspiration led to the reform idea that 128 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: would make him famous. Yeah, just for clarity, like, even 129 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: before the Panic, there were economic downturn effects happening, and 130 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: there were labor shortages already. But the story of his 131 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: inspiration goes that as he was traveling home one day, 132 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: he noticed that the road that he was on was 133 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: in really sorry shape. According to a write up in 134 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: The Chautauquin in eighteen ninety four, this was the result 135 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: of an especially problematic mud hole in the road that 136 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: hampered his progress. And after he got out of the 137 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: mud hole and started thinking about how they really needed 138 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: to fix that roadway and they needed better roadways in general. 139 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: He put together the idea that the many people who 140 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: were out of work could be given jobs fixing the 141 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: roads throughout the state. He started putting these ideas to 142 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: paper in eighteen ninety one, and he wrote the Coxi 143 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: Plan for Business and Unemployment Relief, How the State of 144 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: Ohio and its subdivisions can help themselves. Coxy's idea evolved 145 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 1: into what he called his Good Roads Bill. It called 146 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: for fair wages and an eight hour work day to 147 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: achieve both prosperity for the common man and better public works. 148 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: And the Good Roads Bill was no small potatoes in 149 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: terms of its ambition and its scope. This was a 150 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 1: five hundred million dollar plan. Yeah, it transitioned from being 151 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: just about Ohio over the years to being a national 152 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 1: effort on his part. And that five million dollars that 153 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: he was talking about was to come from the Treasury 154 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: in the form of non interest bareing bonds. He also 155 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: later on developed a second bill that ran alongside this one, 156 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: and in that one, state or city improvement projects could 157 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: deposit non interest bearing twenty five year bonds with the 158 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: Treasury and then get back the cash value of the 159 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: bond in paper currency minus one percent, and his thinking 160 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: was that that paper currency, then paid as wages to 161 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: the workers, was going to reinvigorate the economy. He saw 162 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: this as a benefit on a couple of different levels. One, 163 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: it would improve US infrastructure and ways that were just 164 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,960 Speaker 1: desperately needed. Two, it would provide much needed relief to 165 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: laborers who had found themselves impoverished as the country went 166 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: through an economic depression. And his write up he noted, quote, 167 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: Congress takes two years to vote on anything. Twenty millions 168 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: of people are hungry and cannot wait two years to eat. 169 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: And he started pitching this plan in its earlier versions, 170 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: to his local politicians as well as basically anyone who 171 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: would stand still long enough. But he did did not 172 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: exactly get a warm reception. Initially. According to that same 173 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: rite up in the Chautauquin that I mentioned a moment 174 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: ago quote, his neighbors dubbed him crank, and his wife 175 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: secured a divorce, partly on the grounds of his craze. 176 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: A new wife was secured and the jeering neighbors ignored. 177 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: We should be very clear that this was not the 178 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: only reason he got a divorce. There was also a 179 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: gambling problem that was driving a wedge into his marriage 180 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: to Caroline. That gambling was part of Coxey's passionate interest 181 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: in horses. So sometimes people will use his interest in 182 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: his bills and his efforts at labor reform as the 183 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: reason his wife left him. But it's a little more 184 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: complicated than that. So Coxy wasn't entirely without interested listeners. 185 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: He presented his plan to the Saint Louis Populist Convention 186 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety two. It was adopted into the Ohio 187 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: Populist Party's platform that same year, but it really didn't 188 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: get much farther than that. It wasn't until eighteen ninety three, again, 189 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: while the nation was really hitting this panic, that Jacob 190 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: Coxy found like minded collaborators to really champion this plan 191 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: alongside him. That year, at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 192 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: he met a man named Carl Brown. Brown was on 193 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: assignment from San Francisco Business Weekly as an artist and 194 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 1: correspondent at the event. He was there to send back 195 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: reports with illustrations of what was happening. He was basically 196 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: like a contractor. He kind of was one of those 197 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: people that worked a lot of different jobs. He wasn't 198 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: a regular reporter for the San Francisco Business Weekly, and 199 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: Brown was also sent to the expo with a costume 200 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: suit intended to make him look like Buffalo Bill so 201 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: that he could be part of a living exhibit about 202 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: the wild West. So he was wearing a number of 203 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: different hats, both literally and figuratively. Here. Brown was a 204 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 1: big personality. He was a gifted speaker, he was a showman. 205 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:51,679 Speaker 1: He was a jack of all trades, and he's been 206 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: described as a labor agitator. His ideas of reform, which 207 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: centered around ensuring that any able bodied person who sought 208 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: work could find it, really aligned with Coxy's. His orations 209 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: on labor reform had so irritated the leadership of Chicago 210 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: that the mayor kicked him out of the city. He 211 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: was not a quiet, subdued man in the least. But 212 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:16,440 Speaker 1: Jacob Coxy saw Carl Brown's potential, and he saw that 213 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: he could be the megaphone for the Coxy plan. And 214 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 1: while they sort of are often described as an odd couple, 215 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: as partners, Brown and Coxy aligned on their shared vision 216 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: that something big and drastic had to be done to 217 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: get the country back on track. Carl came with some quirks, 218 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: though he believed and told anyone who would listen, that 219 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: Coxy was the reincarnation of Andrew Jackson. Brown had some 220 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: interesting views religiously speaking. He thought that he had absorbed 221 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 1: his wife's soul into his own as he sat at 222 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: her deathbed. He also thought that he and many others 223 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: that they eventually rallied to their cause, had absorbed the 224 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,719 Speaker 1: soul of Jesus Christ, and that that was what was 225 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: driving their efforts, and that Jacob Coxy had absorbed a 226 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: significant amount of that soul. He also didn't stop wearing 227 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: that Buffalo Bill costume when the expo ended, and said 228 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: he just made it part of his personal brand. He 229 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: is really a fascinating character. As for Jacob Coxy's views 230 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,719 Speaker 1: of all of this reincarnation talk, one reporter at the 231 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: time wrote, quote, Coxy's religious views did not prevent his 232 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: ready conversion to Brown's abortive theosophy. He does not claim 233 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: any supernatural wisdom as Brown does, but modestly poses as 234 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: the living representation of Christ because Brown says so. Though 235 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: he was an eccentric, Carl Brown was crucial to the 236 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: growth of Coxy's support base. He was really good at 237 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: communicating with people and gaining their trust. Carl's orations and 238 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: the desperation of the men that they were speaking to, 239 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: that was a powerful combination. Slowly they garnered a pretty 240 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: significant following, and at this point Coxy was more passionate 241 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: about his plan than ever. He was a wealthy man, 242 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: but his own businesses had struggled due to the pain. 243 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: He had to sell his horse farm and his crushing 244 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: mill was struggling. On December seventh, eighteen ninety three, Brown 245 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: and Coxy formed the JS Coxy Good Roads Association of 246 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: the US. Brown was the organization's secretary and Jacob Coxy was, 247 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: of course, it's president. And Coxy's eyes, one of the 248 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: villains that all this was the press. He felt that 249 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: all the reporting about a currency crisis had actually caused 250 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: some of the worst problems, as panicked readers that started 251 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: to hoard gold. His relationship with the press only became 252 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: more contentious as his activism became more high profile. That 253 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: something we'll get back to shortly. Yeah, it's interesting and 254 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: you'll you'll see it as we talk about it. But 255 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 1: even though Coxy has this sort of like dim view 256 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: of the press, and what they have done at various points. 257 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: It's really Carl Brown that kind of gets into it 258 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: with them. Just a few months after its founding, the 259 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: Good Roads Association was making very real progress. Senator William A. Peffer, 260 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: a populist from Kansas, was willing to introduce Coxy's to 261 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: bills in Congress. But this idea of getting the Federal 262 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 1: Reserve to print money to fix the economy didn't go 263 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: over all that well. But Coxy and Brown were just undeterred. 264 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: They attached a plan earlier in the year that was 265 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: intended to underscore their idea and make it clear to 266 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: elected officials just how much support Coxey's plan had among 267 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: the workingmen of the country, who were voters who were 268 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: unable to find jobs. Coxy and Brown, who was likely 269 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: the architect of this whole idea, organized a march on Washington. 270 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: This is an unemployment protest that would be too big 271 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: to be ignored. And before we dig into how that 272 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: all plays out, let's pause for a quick sponsor break. 273 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: So this march that we mentioned before the break was 274 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: conceived as what Coxy and Brown called a petition in boots. 275 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: They intended to gather supporters as they traveled with the 276 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: hopes of reaching Washington with a huge throng of men. 277 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: The men they had won over while still in Ohio 278 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: started their journey in Masalon on March twenty fifth, eighteen 279 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: ninety four, which was Easter Sunday. The residents were not 280 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: all that enthused about being a convergence point for this rally. 281 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: A lot of them believed that the participants in Coxy's 282 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: protest march were just itinerant troublemakers and they wanted them 283 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: to hurry up and get out of town quickly. This 284 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: perception would follow them throughout the whole trip. A lot 285 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: of write ups referred to Coxy's Men as just a 286 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 1: band of tramps. There were also always people who were 287 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: suspicious that they would bring lawlessness and violence as they 288 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: moved through the country. Yeah, they definitely got like a 289 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: duality reception in most places, where some people were really 290 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: genuinely enthusiastic about them and what they were trying to do, 291 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: and others were like, keep those troublemakers out of our town. 292 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: In the beginning, there were an estimated fifty to one 293 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: hundred participates in the march. That number varies depending on 294 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: your source and There were also forty three reporters that 295 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: marched with them, but they were of course not counted 296 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: among their numbers. These reporters were their unassignment because this 297 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: story was sensational, and in chasing that sensationalism, their coverage 298 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: was not always accurate. It also sometimes made fun of 299 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: the whole effort. But the important thing to Jacob Coxy 300 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: was that his march was getting national coverage. Yeah, as 301 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: I was looking for a picture to use on our 302 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,400 Speaker 1: social media and stuff with this, I found a lot 303 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: of editorial cartoons satirizing Coxy in his march. Mm hmm. 304 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,880 Speaker 1: The start of the march had been a show. Coxy's wife, 305 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: Henrietta Jones, Coxy, and their newborn son were at the 306 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: front of the parade. Coxy had named this baby Legal 307 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: Tender to show his commitment to legal tender currency as 308 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: a revitalizing force for the nation. Though there are some 309 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,400 Speaker 1: accounts that Henrietta and the baby marched with the group, 310 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: that's actually a little misleading. They were part of the 311 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: procession as it was headed out of town, but they 312 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,360 Speaker 1: didn't stay with the march. They arranged to meet back 313 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: up with Coxy at the destination of the nation's capital. 314 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: I'm still quite a trip with a five week old 315 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: baby though, Yeah, not an awesome thing to do with 316 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: the best modern conveniences in health standards, really unwise. In 317 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: the eighteen nineties, Brown had set up the structure of 318 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: this whole march. He's often really really cited as being 319 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: like the guy who is running the actual march, and 320 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: as we said, he was a showman. He dubbed the 321 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 1: march the common Wheel of Christ. He made banners and 322 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: fabric badges for the men to wear, all of which 323 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: read things like peace on Earth, goodwill toward men, but 324 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: death to interest on bonds. And these banners all had 325 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: a mix of religious symbolism and economic commentary in the 326 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,640 Speaker 1: art I've often I've seen them described in a number 327 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: of sources as being really confusing because he was trying 328 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: to get a lot of different ideas and ideologies represented 329 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: in them, like his religious views as well as his 330 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: political views as well as issues of the economy, and 331 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: kind of blending them together, leaving some onlookers to kind 332 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 1: of scratch their heads. Brown continued to wear that buffalo 333 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: bill costume, and Coxy wore a Union Army uniform. Brown 334 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: also may have cost Coxy a lot of money. It 335 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: was reported that the bill for printing up recruitment flyers 336 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: had come to a whopping two thousand dollars that's twenty 337 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:29,679 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety four dollars. On top of that, Coxy was 338 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: footing the bill for some of the camp supplies, although 339 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: they did take donations to cover most of their needs, 340 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: as particularly being food. Food turned out to be an 341 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: ongoing problem as the march played out, because in a 342 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: recession donations could be pretty sparse. The med really weren't 343 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: ever getting enough to eat. Yeah, there are lots of 344 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: descriptions of how like in some towns, you know, volunteers 345 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: and people that wanted to welcome them would come and 346 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: they would have brought food and prepared like these huge meals, 347 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: but like there was never enough to go around, and 348 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: so it was like, well, you might get soup one 349 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: day and only bred the next, or you might only 350 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: get two meals this day and one meal this day. 351 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: It just was not consistent. And when you think about 352 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,199 Speaker 1: how much they were walking in any given day, you 353 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 1: realize that this was a very very difficult undertaking because 354 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: of all the press coverage. Though more groups had started 355 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: marching from all over the country, some as far as California, 356 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: in the hopes of joining what had at this point 357 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 1: colloquially come to be known as Coxy's Army. Some of 358 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: this coverage had actually started way back in January when 359 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: Coxy and Brown announced that they were planning this, And 360 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,679 Speaker 1: to be very very clear, the reason people were so 361 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: willing to do this was because there was a lot 362 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: of desperation throughout the country at this time. This was 363 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: only the second year of what would be a four 364 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:52,239 Speaker 1: year recession, and families were going hungry and there was 365 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: no relief on the horizon. So for a lot of men, 366 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: this seemed like the only way that they were ever 367 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 1: going to make their voices truly heard by peace people 368 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: with power, and hopefully catalyzed an improvement in their family's 369 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: quality of life. Some of them traveled in wagons, some 370 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: on horses, some were simply on foot, but all of 371 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: them had the intent that they were going to meet 372 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: up with Coxy and converge on Washington. So while there 373 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: were occasional deserters who probably joined up for the promise 374 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: of free meals along the way, maybe even just the 375 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: security of traveling with a group, the spots that they 376 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: left filled in behind them. As the army kept moving 377 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: through more towns, increasingly it was made up entirely of 378 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 1: men who were just tired of waiting for better times, 379 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: and they wanted to take some kind of action. And 380 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,880 Speaker 1: as they traveled the press became more and more critical 381 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: of this whole operation. They started writing commentary about how 382 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: Brown's cowboy gear was an affectation, and then they started 383 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: talking about how dirty his suit and he was, and 384 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,199 Speaker 1: they started calling him old greasy, which he enjoyed about 385 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: as much as you might expect. The press characterization of 386 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: the rest of the marchers similarly degraded over time. While 387 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: some of the accounts in the early days described the 388 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: participants as enthusiastic and idealistic, that shifted soon they were 389 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: referring to the protesters as an unwashed army. For example, 390 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: there's one early article at the start of the march 391 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: in Maslin where the New York Times reported quote, most 392 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: of those now here are hard looking people, but up 393 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: to the present time they have shown no disposition to 394 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: be unruly. Coxie and his lieutenants are elated and declared 395 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: that they will have ten thousand men in line when 396 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: the word forward is given. But in a story from 397 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: mid April, a few weeks into the march, the Times 398 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: first outlined how the Fife core of Coxey's army traded 399 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: their instruments for beer and then got arrested. The rite 400 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: up of the incident describes Coxy handling the situation well, 401 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: explaining that there would be no tolerance for that kind 402 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: of behavior and that the point of their march was 403 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: much more important than getting drunk. But then it completely 404 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: discredits him at the saying that he was made happy 405 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: when he met a fortune teller on their journey who 406 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 1: told him that he would live to be one hundred. Yeah, 407 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,959 Speaker 1: when you read the flow of that particular brief article, 408 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: it's the weirdest thing because it really is like this 409 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: great portrait of like, Wow, he's really a good leader. 410 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: Like he explains to them like why they are doing 411 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: what they are doing and reminds them of the gravity 412 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: of this effort. And then they're like, oh, and then 413 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: he got all into a fortune teller for a little while. 414 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: It's like, oh, eventually Carl Brown got really tired of 415 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: all these jabs from reporters and he started calling them 416 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: argus eyed demons of Hell. This actually quite delighted the press. 417 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: They started a little club amongst themselves that they dubbed 418 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,720 Speaker 1: the Arguside Demons, and this club even had elected officers. 419 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: But really it was mostly just about like finding a 420 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: good watering hole and drinking wherever they stopped for the night. 421 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,439 Speaker 1: But even without the press commentary, the group was not 422 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:57,160 Speaker 1: helping its own reputation because of the hard scrabbled nature 423 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: of their day to day survival. When Coxy in his 424 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: arrived in a town, they could basically watch the faces 425 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,640 Speaker 1: of the people who greeted them fall as they saw 426 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: how ragged everyone looked. The movement sounded so robust on paper, 427 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: but in person it was often really disappointing, and men 428 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: who had planned to join Coxy sometimes opted out of 429 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: that plan once they saw how rough things had become. 430 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: When Coxy's army finally arrived in Washington, d C. On 431 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: May first, that was after thirty five days of walking, 432 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: it had quintupled in size, at least by some counts. 433 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: There are others that put it closer to being four 434 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,199 Speaker 1: hundred men versus five hundred others listed as thousands, But 435 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: this gets a little bit unclear because there were multiple 436 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: groups that were starting to come together, so the numbers 437 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: shift really quickly and like in big chunks, depending on 438 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: how any given reporter defined Coxy's group, whether it was 439 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: only counting those that traveled with him and Brown specifically, 440 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: or whether other groups that joined up towards the end 441 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: should be part of that count. But it quickly we 442 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: got to be really pointless to try to count the 443 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 1: newcomers anyway, as thousands of thousands of locals had also 444 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: shown up for the march, some to support it and 445 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 1: some just to watch the spectacle of it. But they 446 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,159 Speaker 1: were kind of all traveling in this huge throng together. 447 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,439 Speaker 1: Coxy really hoped that he and his marchers would be 448 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: able to enact rapid change. After all, he had the 449 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: bill written and ready to go for Congress, and it read, 450 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: in part quote, be it enacted by the Senate and 451 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: House of Representatives in Congress assembled, that the Secretary of 452 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: the Treasury of the United States is hereby authorized and 453 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 1: instructed to have engraved and printed immediately after the passage 454 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,679 Speaker 1: of this bill five hundred million dollars of Treasury notes, 455 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: a legal tender for all debts public and private. Said 456 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: notes to be in denominations of one dollar, two dollars, 457 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: five dollars, and ten dollars, and to be placed in 458 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: a fund to be known as the General County Road 459 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 1: Fund System of the United States, and to be expended 460 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: solely for said purpose. Amy Coxey, who was Jacob's seventeen 461 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,680 Speaker 1: year old daughter from a previous marriage, joined this procession 462 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: at some point before it arrived in Washington, and when 463 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,439 Speaker 1: they approached the Capitol Building, she was at the front 464 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,800 Speaker 1: of the parade, dressed as the Goddess of Peace, all 465 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: in white, and she rode a white Arabian horse that 466 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: was one from Coxy's farm. Like she was intended to 467 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: be a visual harbinger of change, but maybe had a 468 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: primary admirer in Carl Brown, who said of the young 469 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: woman quote, I thought that she was the most beautiful 470 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: site I had ever beheld. So they had made it. 471 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: Coxy and Brown had led their band to Washington. They 472 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: were right there, ready to demand a jobs build that 473 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: they believed would help get the lives of so many 474 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: Americans back on track. But the end of Coxy's march 475 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,680 Speaker 1: for reforms that would reinvigorate the working class and the 476 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: economy was a bit of a letdown. And we're going 477 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,439 Speaker 1: to talk about their arrival at the Capitol building and 478 00:26:54,480 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: what happened there after. We first take a quick sponsor break. So, 479 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: when he and all of his followers had arrived in Washington, 480 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 1: d c. Jacob Coxy had applied for and received a 481 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: parade permit. He had also applied for a permit to 482 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: speak on the steps of the Capitol. That permit was denied. 483 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: And really, if Jacob Coxy had been paying attention and 484 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: actually accepting certain truths, he probably would have seen that coming. 485 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: As early as March twenty fourth, the day before the 486 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: march started, reports out of Washington had made clear that 487 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 1: this commonwheel or army was not going to be welcomed 488 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: by lawmakers. A report from Washington that ran in the 489 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: New York Times from March twenty fourth, thread quote, nothing 490 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: but ridicule is heard in regard to the Coxy movement 491 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: among well informed persons. Here there is not the remotest 492 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: prospect of any Congressional action to grant a permit for 493 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: any mob to assemble on the Capitol grounds and violate 494 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: of a specific Act of Congress. So as they got 495 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: up to the Capitol and Coxy and Brown moved through 496 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: the crowd of onlookers and police in DC. As the 497 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: parade got to their destination, the scene quickly turned frantic. 498 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,880 Speaker 1: They had been headed for the steps that was off limits, 499 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: and the police were watching Brown, who, of course in 500 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: this nutty garbus and was very large man, stood out 501 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: in any crowd, so he was pursued by police. He 502 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,360 Speaker 1: was tackled and beaten. A chant of Coxy Coxy started 503 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,959 Speaker 1: among the thousands of spectators and supporters. The police, realizing 504 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: they had no control over the situation, panicked, and they 505 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: also turned on bystanders. They swung their clubs without regard 506 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: for who they were striking. After about fifteen minutes of mayhem, 507 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: it was over and no speeches had been given. The 508 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: headlines the next day read Coxy driven from the Capitol, 509 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: not allowed to deliver his harangue. That same story often 510 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: ran with another subheader that indicated that Coxy had not 511 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: even been arrested, but he and several of his associates 512 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: were in fact arrested, and they did face charges. Jacob Coxy, 513 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: Carl Brown, and Christopher Columbus Jones were all found guilty 514 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: of carrying illegal banners onto Capitol grounds. They were sentenced 515 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: to twenty days in jail a week after the rally. 516 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: They also had to pay a fine of five dollars 517 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: each for trespassing on the grass. Yeah, that was one 518 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: of those things. It was off limits. While the three 519 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: movement leaders Christopher Columbus Jones had come in later and 520 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: kind of served in a capacity of wrangling some of 521 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 1: the people on the march while they were serving out 522 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,040 Speaker 1: their jail term. The men who had followed them to 523 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,920 Speaker 1: Washington did not all disperse. They still wanted to advocate 524 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,000 Speaker 1: for Coxy's plans, so they had made a camp at Bladensburg, Maryland, 525 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: and they waited the three weeks out. But most of 526 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: them at that point had moved on. And while there 527 00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: really were some efforts to keep the protest in the 528 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: movement going, including a second smaller protest in which Carl 529 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: Brown allegedly appeared in drag as the Goddess of Liberty, 530 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: this whole thing was really over though. By mid July 531 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 1: even the most ardent supporters and stragglers had moved on. 532 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: After the march, Jacob Coxley had stayed heavily involved in politics. 533 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: He also expanded his business and bought a second quarry 534 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen in Dundee, Ohio. He ran for public 535 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: office eleven times for various positions. He was elected mayor 536 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: of Masllon, Ohio in nineteen thirty one. This was his 537 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: only election win, and his time in office went pretty poorly. 538 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: He also spearheaded a second march on Washington in nineteen fourteen, 539 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: once again championing the cause of laborers, and he made 540 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: it to the Capitol and he addressed a small group 541 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: of protesters from the steps. He wasn't arrested that time, 542 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: but he also didn't have much press coverage and not 543 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: many people really seemed to care about what he was doing. 544 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: Though Coxy had been ridiculed for his ideas by a 545 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: lot of people, a lot of those same concepts were 546 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, including the 547 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: make work projects of the nineteen thirties. On the fiftieth 548 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: anniversary of the original march on the Capitol, Jacob Coxy 549 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: was invited and finally able to give the speech on 550 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: the Capital steps that he had planned for eighteen ninety four. 551 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: Tracy and I are going to take turns reading it 552 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: because it's quite long, and this is an abridged version, 553 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: but it begins. The Constitution of the United States guarantees 554 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: to all citizens the right to peaceably assemble and petition 555 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: for redress of grievances, and furthermore declares that the right 556 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: of free speech shall not be abridged. We stand here 557 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: today to test these guarantees of our Constitution. Here, rather 558 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: than at any other spot on the continent, it is 559 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: fitting that we should come to mourn over our dead liberties, 560 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: and by our protest aroused the imperiled nation to such 561 00:31:55,440 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: action as shall rescue the Constitution and resurrect our liberty. 562 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: Upon these steps where we stand has been spread a 563 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: carpet for the royal feet of a foreign princess. Up 564 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: these steps, the lobbyists of trusts and corporations have passed 565 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: unchallenged on their way to committee rooms, access to which we, 566 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: the representatives of the toiling wealth producers, have been denied. 567 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: We stand here today on behalf of millions of toilers 568 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: whose petitions have been buried in committee rooms, and whose 569 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: opportunities for honest, remunerative, productive labor have been taken from 570 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: them by unjust legislation which protects idlers, speculators, and gamblers. 571 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 1: We come to remind the Congress here assembled of the 572 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: declaration of a United States senator quote that for a 573 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: quarter of a century, the rich have been growing richer, 574 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: the poor poorer, and that by the close of the 575 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: present century, the middle class will have disappeared, as the 576 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: struggle for existence becomes fierce and relentless. We are here 577 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: to petition for legislation which will furnish employment for every 578 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,520 Speaker 1: man able and willing to work. We are engaged in 579 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: a bitter and cruel war with the enemies of all mankind, 580 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 1: a war with hunger, wretchedness, and despair, and we ask 581 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: Congress to heed our petitions an issue for the nation's good, 582 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 1: a sufficient volume of the same kind of money which 583 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: carried the country through one awful war and saved the 584 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: life of the nation. We have come here, through toil 585 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: and weary marches, through storms and tempests, over mountains, and 586 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: amid the trials of poverty and distress, to lay our 587 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: grievances at the doors of our national legislature, and ask them, 588 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: in the name of Him whose banners we bear, in 589 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: the name of him who plead for the poor and 590 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: the oppressed, that they should heed the voice of despair 591 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: and distress that is now coming up from every section 592 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: of our country, that they should consider the conditions of 593 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: the starving unemployed of our land and enact such laws 594 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: as will give them employment, bring happier conditions to the people, 595 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: and the smile of contentment to our citizens. In his 596 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 1: later years, Coxy continued to pursue new business endeavors as 597 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: well as politics. He sold a mild laxative called coxy Lax, 598 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: which he swore was the source of his longevity. He 599 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 1: also sold copper and zinc discs to wear inside of 600 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: shoes were supposed to help with aches and pains, and 601 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: he gave instructions out to people who wanted to make 602 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: their own. Incidentally, Carl Brown and Mame Coxy did become 603 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: a couple. They were married in eighteen ninety five. That 604 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:31,319 Speaker 1: was much to Jacob Coxy's chagrin. The couple had a 605 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 1: son together, but that marriage did not last. Jacob's second wife, Henrietta, 606 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: died on January thirteenth, nineteen fifty one, after their child, 607 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: Legal Tender, who only lived to be seven. The couple 608 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 1: had three other children. They were Jacob Junior, David, and Ruth. 609 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: After Henrietta's death, Jacob Coxy's own health went downhill pretty quickly. 610 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,879 Speaker 1: He had a stroke on May eighteenth, nineteen fifty one, 611 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: and he had lived only four months longer than his 612 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: wife did. It's some one of those eccentric and marvelous 613 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 1: characters in history that we don't really get all that 614 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,920 Speaker 1: much information out about normally, but I both love his 615 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: idealism and shake my head and go, oh, ma'am, thanks 616 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on this Saturday. Since this 617 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 1: episode is out of the archive, if you heard an 618 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: email address or a Facebook RL or something similar over 619 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: the course of the show, that could be obsolete now. 620 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: Our current email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 621 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: You can find us all over social media at missed 622 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: in History, and you can subscribe to our show on 623 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,799 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else 624 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 625 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. 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