(This article first appeared in the February print edition of the Hendersonian.)
The western faction of the first protest march on Washington, D.C., visited this area in mid-June 1894 but Henderson’s chilly reception prompted it to quickly move on to Evansville.
The 1893 Depression was the country’s worst up to that point. Unemployment shot up to 18 percent and stayed high for five years. There was no safety net. Panhandlers were everywhere. The Gilded Age wasn’t so golden for the common man…