The agents of the
Department of Justice, however, were still suspicious. The
foreigners had plenty of money. Given as they were to hoarding
their savings in their homes, the local banks were unable to say
if they were drawing on their reserves or were being financed
from the outside.
Shortly before the mayoralty election trouble broke out in the
western end of the state, and in the north, in the steel towns.
There were ugly riotings, bombs were sent through the mails, the
old tactics of night shootings and destruction of property began.
In the threatening chaos Baxter and Friendship, and the city
nearby, stood out by contrast for their very orderliness. The
state constabulary remained in diminished numbers, a still
magnificent body of men but far too few for any real emergency,
and the Federal agents, suspicious but puzzled, were removed to
more turbulent fields.
The men constituting the Vigilance Committee began to feel a sense
of futility, almost of absurdity. They had armed and enrolled
themselves--against what? The growth of the organization slowed
down, but it already numbered thousands of members. Only its
leaders retained their faith in its ultimate necessity, and they
owed perhaps more than they realized to Willy Cameron's own
conviction.
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