FISTIC POLITICS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3441, 10 March 1932, Page 7

FISTIC POLITICS

OLD CANADIAN DAYS. A RED FLAG BATTLE. SCENE OF BROKEN HEADS. Vancouver, February 17. The first red flag, signal of rebeL lion, flown in Canada, originated in Percy Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, on sth June, 1838, and the consequences echoed to the foot of the Throne.

On that day the village portion of the militia assembled for annual training, making their headquarters, appropriately enough, in a tavern. Earlier in the day a band of men from the adjoining township of Cramahe paraded through the village, carrying a red flag, bearing the legend, “Lord Durham and Reform.” One of them climbed to the top of the tavern and nailed the flag to the pole.

Old political enmities flamed anew. Citizens gathered. Some boldly joined the Red parade. Others murmured angrily. The militia were restless for under their tunics they nursed political preferences. Someone suggested to Colonel Campbell, the commanding officer, that he use force to remove the flag. He refused. As a British officer he would not show disrespect to a British nobleman. And yet the Durham flag annoyed him. Nature came to his aid with a shower of rain. He marched his men off to a barn.

A young lad emerged from behind the tavern, flaunting a piece of white cotton attached to a pole. On the cotton he had painted an eagle and the word “Liberty.” An old sergeant, veteran of Waterloo, seized it. He was knocked down, beaten and trampled, and the men from Cramaho cheered, jeered and defied any Tory to touch their flag. A shot was fired. The situation became tense. After the parade, the Colonel addressed his men earnestly. “This is no time for political squabbling,” he said. “I know you only as soldiers; as such you can assemble only under the national flag. That red flag was brought here to excite angry feelings. I hope you will disappolint the mis-chief-makers by dispersing quietly to your homes.” Most of the men obeyed. Twelve of them remained —ultra-loyalists who resolved that the insult should not go unavenged. Among them were two brawny Scots, brothers named Cameron —typical men from Glengarry. Unarmed, except for an axe, with which to fell the flagpole, they returned to battle with the hosts of Cramahe.

It was an epic fight! Twelve men against eighty. The eighty men were armed with sticks and stones. They even raided a blacksmith s shop and got themselves whiffletrees and iron t}cvrs« Led by the Cameron men, the loyalists charged bare-handed. At every blow a reformer went down; every time one fell his weapon was taken and thrown over the fence. The older Cameron alone put seven men hors de combat. Seventeen reformers were left lying on the field. Down came the Red Flag.

But the odds were too great. The elder Cameron was knocked unconscious. Fearing he was dead, his brother bore him away. When almost every loyalist head had been broken, the little band retired, overwhelmed and satisfied. Then the men from Cramahe hoisted the Red Flag again, “chaired” one of their number, named Curtis, and staged a march of victory. When the sun went down the Red Flag was still flying.

Time wrought changes. Law was vindicated by fining the boy who assaulted the sergeant. Canada became a unitey country. The Red Flag never waved again till the Soviet revived it as an emblem of revolution.