Eggs, Brawl End Meeting of Radical North Dakota Nonpartisan League
A meeting by the radical Nonpartisan League in Toronto, South Dakota, on this day ended with egg-throwing at a speaker, a brawl and arrests as pro-war conservatives sought to disrupt the meeting of the anti-war group.
The Nonpartisan League was created in North Dakota, largely by small farmers, who felt they were being exploited by large, out-of-state corporations. The NPL advocated a state-owned bank, grain elevators, warehouses, and factories. The U.S. was involved in World War I at the time, and all across the country there were attacks on alleged radical political groups.
At the meeting, during a speech by Alice Lorraine Daly of Madison, South Dakota the lights were turned out and she was pelted by eggs. A fight broke out, which was ended by the police.
The next speaker, an NPL candidate for U.S. Senator, declared that he was for free speech or a free fight. Another brawl erupted. Several more fights broke out after the meeting was ended.
Read: Paul L. Murphy, World War I and the Origins of Civil Liberties in the United States (1979)
Learn more about the Nonpartisan League: Michael Lansing, Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics (2015)
And still more about the Nonpartisan League