The San Francisco political-meeting brawl

The San Francisco political-meeting brawl erupts during a walk through the city, turning a public political gathering into a physical danger for Phileas Fogg, Aouda, and Fix. Its decisive turn is personal as well as violent: Fix shields Fogg from a blow, and Fogg’s confrontation with Colonel Stamp Proctor leaves their promise to meet again hanging over the journey.

The gathering on Montgomery Street

The party reaches Montgomery Street, where the crowd has spread far beyond the sidewalks. People fill the street, horsecar rails, shop entrances, house windows, and even rooftops. Posters circulate through the throng, flags and streamers move in the wind, and cries ring out from every side. The abundance of spectators makes the gathering a citywide spectacle, but the press of bodies also means that the scene has little room for retreat.

Aouda, leaning on Phileas Fogg’s arm, watches the commotion with surprise. Fix asks a nearby man what is happening, but before he can receive an answer the gathering changes character. The two political champions identified in the crowd are the Honourable Mr. Camerfield and the Honourable Mr. Mandiboy. Their supporters are not merely making speeches or displaying banners: the staffs of the banners become weapons, and the assembly’s loud enthusiasm breaks into blows.

From spectacle to street violence

The violence spreads through the crowded street. Fists fly, and people exchange blows from the tops of blocked carriages and omnibuses. Boots and shoes are flung into the air. Phileas Fogg thinks he hears revolver shots amid the din, an uncertain sound that intensifies the apparent danger without establishing that anyone has fired. The crowd surges toward a stairway and spills over its lowest step. One side has evidently been driven back, but onlookers cannot tell whether Camerfield or Mandiboy has prevailed.

Fix urges the others to withdraw. His stated concern is that Phileas Fogg should avoid injury, at least until they return to London; he also warns that if the dispute concerns England and they are recognized, their position could become difficult. Phileas Fogg begins to answer by identifying himself as an English subject, but the crowd’s movement overtakes the attempt to make sense of the political uproar through national affiliation. A fresh body of voters arrives to support its allies and attacks the Camerfield faction from the flank. The party is now caught between the opposing groups, with escape no longer possible against the torrent of people carrying loaded canes and sticks.

Fix intervenes

As the fighting closes around them, Phileas Fogg and Fix are roughly jostled while trying to protect Aouda. Phileas Fogg remains composed and attempts to defend himself with his fists, but his effort is ineffective against the crowd. A large, broad-shouldered man with a red beard and flushed face raises his clenched fist to strike him. Fix rushes in and receives the blow in Phileas Fogg’s place. The detective’s silk hat is smashed, and a large bruise appears beneath it.

Phileas Fogg turns contemptuously on the assailant and calls him a Yankee; the man answers by calling Fogg an Englishman and declaring that they will meet again. When Phileas Fogg asks his name, the man identifies himself as Colonel Stamp Proctor. Amid the confusion, the exchange briefly makes the violence legible as a personal antagonism: Fogg and Proctor have recognized one another as opponents, and the prospect of a later encounter is stated directly.

Aftermath and significance

The crowd sweeps past and overturns Fix, who gets back to his feet. He is not seriously hurt, but the damage to his clothes records the force of the struggle: his travelling overcoat is split into two unequal parts, and his trousers are badly torn. Aouda escapes unharmed. Fix, rather than Phileas Fogg, bears the conspicuous injury of the fight, with his black-and-blue bruise and ruined hat marking the intervention that protected Fogg.

Once they are clear of the crowd, Phileas Fogg thanks Fix. Fix dismisses the need for thanks and urges them to leave; when Fogg asks where, the scene closes with their next destination still unanswered in the supplied passage. The brawl has reversed the party’s immediate priorities: the city walk has become an escape from an uncontrolled crowd, and Fix’s actions place him beside Fogg in a moment of physical danger despite his role as a detective pursuing him. The encounter also gives the journey a new named antagonist in Colonel Stamp Proctor. The political contest’s winner remains unclear, but its consequences for the travelers are plain: Fix is injured, Aouda has been exposed to the crush, and Fogg has acquired a promised personal reckoning.