If the memory of Sam Snouffer is correct the local was organized among the employees of the Republican office and it was a local of newspaper printers only. Sam says that he was a job printer at the time and the boys on the cases who organized the local didn't at first allow job printers to hold membership in their organizations. He says that the local was organized for a fight and it had it at frequent intervals during the early part of its history. But it grew and flourished and today the Typographical Union Local in Cedar Rapids is recognized as a conservative, yet aggressive body of men, with the courage to ask for its rights and the level headedness to get those rights without trouble.
THE STORY OF A MOUNTAIN HOWITZER
During the war when the boys were about to return home they sought to carry back mementoes of the long struggle. Company E of the Twelfth Iowa as a trophy of the war picked up a mountain howitzer which had been captured by the rebels and re-captured by the United States troops. Some members of Company D of the Twelfth Iowa then, by some means known only to the soldier boys, unlawfully laid claim to the cannon and Homer Morehead, one of the old Cedar Rapids boys, was able to get the cannon as far as Davenport, the city council of Cedar Rapids providing means to get it to Cedar Rapids.
The cannon, a two hundred pounder, was used freely by every organization for a number of years whenever any celebration took place. During the Grant campaign, in October of that year, the republicans had a blow-out and the cannon was used; in this celebration the cannon was slightly damaged and was hauled down to John Mehan's for repairs. While there some person, or persons, saw fit to take it in the night time and nothing was heard of it for many years. A note was tacked up to the wall where the cannon had been left for repairs to the effect that it would be returned and shot off when a democratic president was inaugurated. The soldier boys and many of the prominent citizens of Cedar Rapids were very much stirred up over this affair and publicly accused a number of prominent Cedar Rapids democratic citizens of stealing the cannon, but no one, at least who was publicly accused, admitted having anything to do with it.
The incident was nearly forgotten when Cleveland was elected, the first democratic president since the Civil war. One morning as Harry Brown was walking down the street John Mehan called to him to come over and see what he had found. There, sure enough, was the same old mountain howitzer cleaned up and in first class repair, with a note tied to it that it was returned as agreed and would be ready for action in due time. This affair stirred up the republican camp once more and threats were made that this cannon would never be shot off to celebrate a democratic victory, and it never was.
It now remains as a relic in the old postoffice building, and many are the citizens of Linn county who have inspected this little cannon and have heard the story told by the old settlers.
Not until a short time ago was it definitely known who removed the cannon from the Mehan shop in 1868. A Center Point person had been accused of having something to do with it; how true this is no one knows. It is thought that two young men in the employ of N. B. Brown, a stanch democrat, took the cannon and placed it in the stable owned by O. P. Emery which stood on the ground where the Denecke building now stands. Mr. Emery no doubt knew of the whereabouts of the cannon, and when he removed up on Second avenue a heavy box was moved by workmen supposed to contain tools. When Mr. Emery removed to the home of his son-in-law, John B. Henderson, on First avenue, the same heavy box was once more moved. Mrs. John B. Henderson noticed that her father, after the election of Cleveland, spent several days in the barn working steadily polishing up some iron, but she never inquired what he was doing or what he wanted to accomplish. A short time before his death O. P. Emery admitted to his daughter that while he did not remove the cannon he knew of its whereabouts and had some of his intimate friends restore it to the Mehan shop after Cleveland's election as it had been agreed in the letter or note left the night of the capture of the cannon when no one was around to watch this much prized treasure.
A FORTUNATE TUMBLE
Linn county during the Civil war had its share of so-called "copperheads," as well as a goodly number of loyal sympathizers known as "fire eaters." During this period of our country's history many unfortunate affairs occurred of which all parties ever afterwards were ashamed. In a state where the majority was strong in favor of the war measure it behooved those who were against this measure not to say too much. Frequently innocent people had to suffer for the acts of some one who talked openly and above board, not only against the president but against those who were instrumental in sending troops to the front. Democrats in the north were classed by the republicans as follows: Those who went to the front as loyal democrats, and those who stayed at home as "copperheads," although they may have been otherwise law-abiding citizens.