 The "Commonweal of Christ" arrived in Washington, DC on May Day, 1894, with about 400 marchers in the ranks.Coxey and Brown made their way to the steps of the United States Capitol to address the accompanying crowd, but were blocked by mounted police.The pair jumped a stone wall in an attempt to reach their goal, along with Christopher Columbus Jones, leader of the marchers from Philadelphia, but police on foot chased the three down and detained them, first holding down Browne and beating him, tearing his clothes and ripping off the amber bead necklace from his neck.