Studies in American History 
177 
cited by the murder of one of the marshals, by a blow from a 
ruffian, as the procession was marching thru the streets. 
The convention adjourned on the following day so that the 
members might attend the funeral of the murdered man, and 
a committee was appointed to canvass all the delegates of the 
convention to get a fund to aid the widow and children of 
the slain marshal.®® 
Finally, they took to measuring the size of meetings by 
the acre. At Dayton surveyors computed the throng by 
counting the number of men who stood on a quarter of an 
acre, and then a mathematical survey of the whole ground 
covered gave them the sum total of the mass. When no 
hall or church could hold the meeting, it gathered in some 
grove or in the fields, like a mustering army. The most 
eloquent speakers on the Whig side were called into requisi- 
tion to address these assemblages, and traveled from point 
to point. Webster and Clay, Crittenden, Stanley, Tallmadge, 
Ogden, Hoffman, Preston, Southard, Leigh, Legare, Rives, 
Corwin, Governor Call, General Wilson, and a hundred of 
lesser note were on the stump. General Harrison himself 
made a speech at the Dayton convention. His clear, sonorous 
voice was echoed by the immense multitude, swaying to and 
fro, like the leaves of a forest in a strong wind. “Are you 
in favor of paper money?’' they demanded. “I am”, was 
the reply, and then the shouts of applause were deafening. 
Between the speeches there would be singing by trained 
vocalists, or a grand chorus by the entire assemblage. Covert 
and Dodge, the favorite singers at mass meetings, became 
known thruout the Union.®® 
Held by daylight, the meeting made a holiday for the whole 
surrounding region. Farmers flocked in by all the country 
roads, bringing their wives and children as they would have 
brought them to a Fourth-of-July celebration. Delegations 
came by rail and steamboat from the adjoining cities. The 
meetings took various forms in different regions. There were 
not only meetings, but conventions, clam-bakes, barbecues, 
excursions, and celebrations of historic anniversaries. Noth- 
ing attracts a crowd so rapidly as the knowledge that there 
is a crowd already; and when it was known that there was 
to be not only a crowd, but music, festivity, flags, decora- 
Ibid., 498. 
Ibid., 498. 
