Coxeyites,
the followers of Jacob S. Coxey, of Massilon, O., who, during the financial depression existing in the United States in November, 1893, announced that he intended to lead an army of 100,000 of the unemployed people to Washington, to petition Congress for the issuance of $500,000,000 in non-interest-bearing bonds, to be used for the improvement of roads. Coxey left Massilon on March 25, 1894, at the head of 122 people, and reached Washington May 1. In the attempt to make a speech from the Capitol steps, he was accused of stepping on the grass, and with Carl Browne, was imprisoned for 20 days.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.