Some of the spectators rushed out for the police, and a few of the members went in pursuit of the President, insisting that he should return and quell the disturbance.
After much trouble he succeeded in restoring order, just as the police appeared on the scene.
Dr. Wolff defied everybody and everything, and announced his intention of coming to the next session with revolvers in his pockets.
A Cabinet council was called in the evening, and the idea of dissolving the Parliament was openly discussed.
Even this did not frighten the crazy ruffians who form the Austrian Parliament.
At the next session, doors had been erected and passages blocked, so that the President could not be attacked on the tribune, and an attempt made to get on with business.
The Government had been busy in the interval, and had prepared a motion that all persons guilty of disorderly conduct in the Reichsrath should be suspended for a certain number of days, and deprived of their pay for that time.
The President read the motion, amid the howls of Wolff and his party. It is said that the whole affair must have been arranged beforehand, for not a word of the motion could be heard in the house. But all the same, as the President ceased to speak, the supporters of the Government rose as one man, and accepted the resolution.
You hardly need to be told what followed.
The ridiculous Dr. Wolff had been standing in front of the tribune with a cab-whistle at his lips, on which he blew incessantly during the reading of the resolution. When it was read and passed despite him, his rage knew no bounds; he started to clamber over the obstructions, and made for the President, followed by several other equally infuriated members.