San Francisco Election Riot

The San Francisco Election Riot is the sudden transformation of a political gathering into a physical brawl, and a turning point in the relations among Phileas Fogg, Aouda, and Fix. What begins as a spectacle the travelers hope to observe from a safe distance drives them into the crowd’s violence; Fix’s intervention protects Fogg, while Fogg’s encounter with Colonel Stamp Proctor gives the journey a new, unresolved conflict.

The Political Gathering

The party comes upon the crowd in Montgomery Street, where people fill the sidewalks, street, horsecar rails, shop entrances, house windows, and even rooftops. Posters are carried through the streets, flags and streamers move in the wind, and cries for Camerfield and Mandiboy rise from different parts of the gathering. The scale of the crowd makes the meeting less a contained assembly than a public tide converging on its platform.

Fix, who identifies the occasion as a political meeting, warns Phileas Fogg that mixing with the crowd may be dangerous. Fogg agrees that political motives do not make blows any less real. Rather than push into the press, the party takes position atop steps at the upper end of Montgomery Street. Across the street, between a coal wharf and a petroleum warehouse, stands a large open-air platform toward which the crowd is flowing. From this elevated position they can watch, but they are not beyond the reach of the gathering.

From Meeting to Riot

The violence begins before Fix can learn the precise cause of the uproar. Banners’ staffs become weapons, fists fly, and people exchange blows atop carriages and omnibuses trapped in the crowd. Boots and shoes whirl through the air. Phileas Fogg thinks he hears revolver shots amid the noise, but the report remains uncertain; what is unmistakable is that the disorder surges toward the stairway and spills over its lower step. One party has evidently been driven back, yet the onlookers cannot tell whether Camerfield or Mandiboy has prevailed.

Fix urges retreat, anxious that Fogg not be injured and also wary of their possible recognition before they return to London. Before they can escape, a band of voters arrives to support its allies, taking the Camerfield forces in the flank. The travelers are caught between the opposing groups, and the incoming crowd, carrying loaded canes and sticks, is too powerful to resist. Aouda is with Fogg as the human tide closes around them; the danger has shifted from an observed disturbance to an immediate struggle for their safety.

Fix, Fogg, and Proctor

In the crush, both Phileas Fogg and Fix are roughly hustled as they try to protect Aouda. Fogg remains composed and attempts to defend himself with his fists, but cannot control the press of attackers. A large, broad-shouldered man with a red beard and flushed face, apparently leading the band, raises his fist to strike him. Fix rushes in and receives the blow instead. The impact leaves a large bruise beneath the detective’s silk hat and smashes the hat; his action turns the pair’s uneasy association into a concrete act of assistance.

Fogg recognizes the assailant as an American and answers his insult by identifying himself as an Englishman. The man gives his name as Colonel Stamp Proctor and promises that they will meet again. The crowd sweeps past, overturning Fix, who gets back to his feet. He is not seriously hurt, but his clothes bear the evidence of the struggle: his traveling overcoat is torn into two unequal parts, his trousers are badly disordered, and the bruise is black and blue. Aouda escapes unharmed. Once clear of the crowd, Fogg thanks Fix; Fix declines thanks and urges them to leave.

Aftermath and Unfinished Conflict

The riot does not settle the political contest for the travelers: even the bystanders cannot determine which candidate’s side gained the upper hand. Its personal aftermath, by contrast, is explicit. Before the party leaves San Francisco, Fogg asks Fix whether he has seen Proctor again. When Fix says he has not, Fogg calmly declares his intention to return to America and hold Proctor to account for the treatment he suffered. Fix smiles without replying. The encounter has interrupted the journey’s practical business with a question of honor that Fogg does not consider closed.

That unfinished dispute resurfaces at Green River, where Aouda recognizes Proctor among passengers who have left the train and are walking along the platform. Remembering his insult to Fogg, she draws back from the window to avoid being recognized and is alarmed that Fogg may see his adversary. Her reaction makes the earlier brawl consequential beyond its immediate injuries: Proctor’s accidental presence now threatens to bring Fogg’s promised confrontation within reach. The riot thus leaves two linked effects—a debt of protection between Fix and Fogg, and a danger that Aouda tries to avert as the party continues its journey.