Page:History of Washington The Rise and Progress of an American State, volume 4.djvu/449

 could never take them there alive, and a general protest was made against the attempt. The streets were still filed with the rioters. It was almost certain that one officer could not defend five prisoners, who were now marked as being under arrest, as the persons charged with shooting Stewart, and the others who had been wounded. Burke, Banks and Carr were particularly hated for the time being. Once in the street under arrest and without sufficient protection, they were likely to be torn limb from limb. But the constable was a broad-shouldered and very resolute man, and quite confident of his ability to escort them in safety. The prisoners, particularly Burke, were quite willing to go. “I have been preaching submission to the law,” said he. “The time has come to submit, and I shall do so.”

But before a start was made news came down from an upper room in the courthouse, where Governor Squire had been in consultation for some hours, with Judge Greene, W. H. White the United States Attorney, Colonel Granville O. Haller, and other prominent citizens, that martial law had been declared, and the functions of all civil officers throughout the city suspended. He had also been in telegraphic communication with the president, and General Gibbon, and had been encouraged to believe that his proclamation would be sustained by the national authorities, as it was. A staff was promptly organized, the necessary orders issued, and within an hour or two the city was completely under the control of the militia. On the evening of the 10th General Gibbon arrived with ten companies of United States troops, and they remained for several months, until the excitement had entirely passed.

While the excitement was at its height in Seattle, the Chinese were driven out of several towns in King, Pierce and