1902 District Elections - J. J. Coyne v. Martin Judge - Melee Ensues

The Scranton Tribune, June 11, 1902

Collision Was a Violent One

No Fatalities Result but Many Injured

Class of Warring Factions in the Third Legislative District Convention

Necessitates the Summoning of the Police – Blood Flowed Freely and

One Arrest Results

The Democrats of the Third Legislative district held a convention yesterday afternoon at the St. Charles hotel. The complete list of the injured could not be ascertained as many were hurried away by their friends at the approach of the police. The most seriously injured were: William Burke, postmaster at Minooka: cut on temple and cheek lacerations; Michael Lydon of Minooka: face cut and knuckles skinned; James Nolan, Lackawanna: cut on chin.

The convention was called to elect two delegates to the state convention at Erie, June 25. The warring Minooka factions headed, respectively, by John J. Coyne and Martin Judge, each wanted to get control of the district, and when they failed to settle the matter according to the rules and regulations of the Democratic party of the Third Legislative district, the rules compiled and edited by the illustrious Marquis of Queensbury were substituted. There were insinuations after adjournment that even the substituted rules were violated.

Delegates Must Register – Under the district rules, all delegates must register the day prior to the convention, and contests must be filed before 10 o’clock a.m. of convention day.

A lot of the Judge delegates arrived at the convention yesterday afternoon bearing what seemed to be duly attested credentials, but when these were presented, Chairman W. W. Baylor found it necessary to ignore them as others had registered from their districts in due time and proper form, and 10 o’clock a.m. having come and gone, it was too late to enter contests.

The scene that followed the announcement of this ruling would not, if transferred to canvas, be hung among studies of still life.

The 12 x 14 hotel sample room, in which the convention was being conducted was crowded from the walls to the very edge of the round table in the center of the room at which Chairman Baylor and Secretary Edward Jordan had their seats. The chairman’s ruling brought every man in the room to his feet and drew them into a compact mass about the table.

Everybody started to talk at once. Most of them contented themselves with calling Mr. Baylor names and accusing him of trying “to run over the people like a bull.”

Martin Judge alleged that the John Coyne delegates’ credentials from Lackawanna were forged. Mr. Coyne, in measured, deliberate terms, called Mr. Judge a liar.

Wanted Roll Called – What else passed between the two was lost in the general tumult. Someone kept yelling, “Call the roll.” Some other one shouted vociferously, “Call the police!” A delegate declared that such and such things were so and so in the printed rules. A brother delegate from the opposing faction said, “Shut up, you ______ fool; you can’t read…”

Ex-representative Frank R. Coyne of Old Forge had presented one set of credentials for himself and three others, alleging the borough was entitled to this number. Chairman Baylor protested that such was not the case. Patrick Mulherin, of Taylor, who sided with the John Coyne faction thought to pour oil on the troubled waters by having the convention allow all four Old Forge delegates to vote. Although the John Coyne faction had the control of the convention cinched by a vote of two to one, he objected to granting special privileges…

They Protested – John J. Coyne of Minooka and Dr. C. E. Richards of Ransom were named for delegates by the John J. Coyne people. W. P. Litts of North Abington and Martin McDonough of Minooka were named by the Judge Delegates.

As the vote was being taken, and the names of the John Coyne delegates from Lackawanna were reached, the Judge men, who claimed they had been crowded out by the Coyne men, raised their voices again in angry protests. Finally, Hon. Frank R. Coyne headed for the door, calling out: “Come on. Let’s have a convention of regularly elected delegates.”

There was a very general movement for the door. John Coyne saw one of his men being carried along in the bolting crowd and elbowed in his portly person into the middle of the crush.

What occurred then will be told in detail, probably when the cases come to trial. After it was all over, there were nine men wiping blood from their faces, and only one of them was a member of the John Coyne faction. This Coyne man explained that he was struck while trying to save John Coyne from being assaulted.

O’Toole Assaulted – M. J. O’Toole [Toole] was crowded into a corner near the door by the scrambling crowd, and after the melee had subsided, emerged directly in the pathway of the leader of the Coyne faction and his not-unruffled temper. O’Toole has been wont to write things in the Scrantonian about Coyne, and memory of this likely came to Coyne at this moment. At all events, he began pummeling O’Toole, and was only restrained by the interference of half a dozen spectators.

Just then Patrolmen David Parry and Tom Evans arrived. Everybody wanted them to arrest everybody else, but the officers had not seen any of the alleged breaches of the peace and declined to make any arrests without warrants. O’Toole had a warrant issued for Coyne, charging him with aggravated assault and battery. He waived a hearing before Alderman Miller and entered bail in the sum of $500.

When the smoke of the battle had cleared away, the call of the roll was proceeded with… It was reported that Coyne and Richards had received 21 votes apiece as against three each for Litts and McDonough…

As Chairman Baylor was retiring from the hotel, he encountered Hon. John P. Quinnan on the porch, and the squabbling was renewed. “Bluffer,” “Crook,” “Damn big buttermilk duffer,” Traitor,” “Liar,” and a few other like appellations were addressed by one to the other.

The Judge people dispersed without holding a second convention.