At this moment Thaddeus Stevens moved that the House proceed to the election of the Speaker. The clerk then called the roll of the Whig and Anti-Masonic members and declared Thomas S. Cunningham, of Beaver County, elected. He was conducted to the Speaker’s chair and took his seat.
The Democrats paid very little attention to the movements of the opposition and elected William Hopkins, of Washington County, Speaker. Two members escorted Mr. Hopkins to the platform, where Mr. Cunningham had already been seated.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives thus enjoyed a double-headed organization. The members of the House of each party were then sworn in by their respective officers—fifty-two members who had elected Mr. Cunningham and fifty-six members who elected Mr. Hopkins.
After some necessary routine the Governor and the Senate were informed the House was ready to proceed to business; then both bodies adjourned their respective organizations to meet next day at 10 o’clock.
The Cunningham party did not wait until its appointed time. In the afternoon they met again in the hall, and after being called to order by their Speaker, he called Mr. Spackman, of Philadelphia, to act as Speaker pro tem. Some Philadelphians who were in the lobby as spectators, feeling indignant at the proceedings of the Cunningham party, went up to the platform and carried Spackman[Spackman] off and sat him down in the aisle.
This interference from outsiders could not be resented by the rump House and it immediately adjourned amid great confusion. They afterwards met in Matthew Wilson’s Hall, until recently known as the Lochiel Hotel. During these exciting scenes large crowds gathered outside the Capitol and became boisterous. The aspect of affairs appeared alarming.
While the foregoing incidents were transpiring in the House, there were contests for seats in the Senate from several districts. Upon the floor were members of the House, among them Thaddeus Stevens and Secretary of the Commonwealth Burrowes, of Lancaster, who had gone there with minority returns. These two individuals, who controlled the Executive, were of the opinion that the first returns received were to have precedence.
A large crowd in the rear of the Senate Chamber was composed of excited and enraged citizens, especially toward those who were working to seat Hanna and Wagner, of Philadelphia, in place of those legally entitled to the seats. Threats of violence were heard.
The clerk had opened and read the returns, as far as Philadelphia. When those were reached, Charles Brown, who had been elected on the majority return, arose and presented to the Speaker what he said was a copy of the true return, alleging the other false. The Speaker attempted to stop him, but the crowd insisted that Brown be heard. Brown was allowed to proceed, and during his remarks the crowds in the lobby and gallery shouted, threatening violence to Penrose, Burrowes and Stevens.
The scene was now one of fearful confusion, disorder and terror, and at last Speaker Penrose, unable to stem the current any longer, abandoned his post, and with Stevens and Burrowes escaped through a window in the rear of the Senate Chamber. The Senate adjourned until next day.