15 February PAE 84 - St. Louis Lantern - Removal of child over welfare concerns ignites violence in St. Louis!

St. Louis Lantern, February 15

Word of a child being forcibly removed from her home by authorities has started a firestorm centering around the child and her parents, Lady Alex Connolly and Lord Jack Connolly.

Lady Alex Connolly was arrested for Sedition last week and her husband is being held under house arrest on suspicion of being complicit in Lady Connolly's seditious activities. This brought strong words from many in the Natural Law party, Liberals and others. But the real fireworks began when the Connolly's daughter, Lucy, was removed from the home "for her safety".

After days of fiery rhetoric on both sides of the issue, an unexpected voice quelled the argument. Mackal Jabobsen, the St. Louis Patriarch of the Order of Life presented a legal writ that placed Lucy Connolly into the hands of Order of Life.

According to legal insiders, "There were very powerful members of the nobility in St. Louis who exerted pressure to ensure that the writ was not only quickly attained, but was iron clad in its language."

The Order of Life has been a vocal opponent of the heavy-handed actions of the government toward the Nightmen. The tremendous resources the Order has expended in the battle against HRF and in aiding far flung communities to recover from its effects has made news all across British America.

In a statement published in Lantern newspapers in Philadelphia, Indianapolis and St. Louis, the St. Louis Patriarch said: "A member of the Order of Life will remain at Lucy Connolly's side while she is in the hands of a friend of the Connolly family to ensure the child's well-being. The child's seizure was not only illegal, but immoral. Lucy Connolly is not a political pawn to be wielded and we have interceded in the interests of the child and no other. The Connolly's trial and status is of no concern to the Order of Life. That certain politicians in St. Louis would put a toddler at risk to force their agenda on their parents is reprehensible. I want to be extremely clear. We will never allow such things to happen unchallenged. Duke Calder would be ashamed of what is currently being allowed to happen by this government."

The slain Duke of Texas and New Mexico was not only a powerful patron of the Order of Life, but its most vocal proponent, helping to bring the Order from relative obscurity to its current eminence as one of the most powerful non-government organizations in British America. The Patriarch's invoking of the beloved Duke's name set off not only vitriolic words but violence. Some sixty people were hospitalized as a result of various incidents.

In the worst violence, over two hundred university students clashed in front of the Calder memorial at King's College where he had been not only a Professor Emeritus, but a lecturer and a physician. Nightman supporters chanted slogans of "For Texas! For Freedom!", using the Calder rallying cry that started a tempest of violence in Austin, Houston and Port Victoria after his assassination two years ago. City of Light movement and Conservative opponents shouted "The Rope! The Rope! Traitors and murders deserve the Rope!" alluding the still as yet unprosecuted Nightman leader Hekration's charge of murder. According to the University Ward Constabulary, more than forty people were injured in the altercation, sixteen requiring hospitalization.

At this hour, Lucy Connolly has been placed into the care of an unnamed friend of the Connolly family. Who that is and where has not been released to the public. And according to Patriarch Jacobsen: "Nor do we intend to."