Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-07-09
THE FOURTH.

The Fourth OF July that came off on
the 9th al the harbor, was tremendous
affair so far as the number present is
concerned. Ashiabula Harbor never saw
such sight. The numbers are estimated
all the way from five to ten thousand.
The lower figure is undoubtedly TO low,
and the higher may be rather high at
all events, every place for foothold was
occupied, while the road leading to that
locality was, when we made our way TO
the point of interest, literally alive Be-
side the people that came in by the rail-
roads, every vehicle in the country seem
ed TO have been put into use for the de-
livery of its contribution to the mass of
humanity. The gathering ouislnpped
all expectation, and as the entertainers
were taken by surprise, the supplies for
the refreshment of the multitude were al
together laadequte to meet their necessi-
ties. Everything was eaten and drunken
up except it may have been the lager and
''blue ruin" The numbers were alto
gether dispr0porhoned TO the programme
of entertainments These, as were an
nouneed, were few and simple-such as
trips upon the lake on schooners drawn
by the tugs, or upon the mammoth pro
peIler Barnum, which according 10 the
best estimates carried out 1 900 people. A
balloon was also sent up, but no one ap-
peared to enter for ihe tub race, and con
scquenlly that Interesting performance
fniled. So also did the CREASED pole con.
test. Thus the two great and absorbing
and moral features of The entertainment,
were lost TO public view. Thus the
crowd, left with nothing to do gathered
mainly about the Lakeside House, and
as the ladies say-visited. and laughed at
The Inducement that brought them TO-
gether. 1t should. be mentioned per-
haps, that the young people, notwith-
standing the range Of the mercury, en-
gagged in the dance at the ballroom on
the point of the hill, and these. of course,
were unmindful Of everything but them
selYes and their dripping surfaces.
The best feature of the affair is that the
prime object-the gathering up of the
dollars and dimes for the payment of the
CHURCH debt, was gained. The net pro-
ceeds of The enterprise was between $500
and $500, and as the debt is about the
latter sum, it will go far towards wiping
out the whole amount.
One train started from Orwell with
something over 300 passengers. In this
train there were fifteen cars, all well fill
ed, accompanied by the Colebrook Band.
Another, and later, train with a similar
number of cars, came in from Youngs- /
town, The number of people brought in
by the A., Y & F., therefore, did not fall
much below three thousand. The A., j.
& F. came in with train of nine cars
packed to their utmost. Here, then, was
towards a thousand more, making, to-
gether, about four-ifths of our first fig
ure-5,O0l-at the Harbor. This view of
the case would do much 10 lessen the i'm
probability of thelarger number, 10000,
of people assembledat that place.
We learn that the gross receipts of the
committee were Inrthe nelghborhood Of
$1,000. This was whitlled down about
one-half by the texpenses-particularly
by the expense of he vessels and tugs for
the lake trips. That of the Prop. Barnum
took $225, while others lifted some $25