The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-09-07
EMPORTA NEW S.
FRIDAY. sEPTEMBER I, 1877.
rhe cleveland HsxcursIon.

Cleveland, Ohio, last week, to attend
the grand Triennial Conciaye of
that body. There were knights from
almost every point in the State,
and q large number OF invited
guests from every city aud town.
Fourteen car loads of people left
Topeka on Saturday, and probably
nearly as many had gone at differ
emit times by the M. X. s. T. and
Wabash routes. The route Of the
Topeka excursion was over the A.
T. s. s. r. to Atchisou; the K. c.,
st, 10 g @. d. to Creston, Iowa /; the
@. B. & Quincy to Chicago !;
the p. Ft. w. g G. to Crestline, and
the G. G. c. s. 1. to Cleveland. At
Sc. Joseph, our crowd was aug
mented by the addition of st. Jo-
seph Commsndery and friends. Il
was found here that the train was
so heavily loaded that It must be
divided into two sections. There
were eight ears in one section and
ten In the other. Considerable diff.
ficuity was had in the procuring
Of sleeping cars for all who wanted
them. But this was finally over
come There seemed to have been
q lack OF system in the arrange
ments for accommodations. The
excursion was undoubtedly q big
ger thing than either the knights or
railroad authorities had anticipat.
ed. Our party OF six wero cared for
through the kindness OF Col. A. c.
Dawes, general ticket agent OF the
X. C.,St. 10. s. q. B. road. We owe
the Col. one, aud shall not miss an
opportunity to repay the favor,
He has long been connected with
this finely equipped road and is
widely known and esteemed In
Kansas. We found him the same
oblIging official as In days OF yore.
We are also under obligations to
Will Carney, ticket agent OF the
Santa Fe,at Topeka, for his influence
In behalf Of our "mess." The "jamn
that commenced at Topeka was
kept mp Sii the way to Cleveland,
and untila the. festive ceremonies
were Il An end in that city, and the
immense throDg bagan to scatter
over the country to their homes, and
hundredsof others 10 Wait friends
and relatives in the east-before re-
turning, the excursion tickets being
good for thirty days.
We found Cleveland dressed In
holiday sttire. We have never
seen half 80 .profuse 3 display of
fisgs and emblems a. greeted the
eyein the Forest City from almost
every building. The public build
ings were handsomely and expen.
sivelX. decorated, and the business
houses and residences were utterly
covered with bunting suitably ar
ranged for the occasion. These ad-
ded to the well known beauty of
the site and buildings Of Cleveland.
But tt was evident she had some
thing OF an elephant. Her hotel
accommodations were entirely in
adequate for the people who had
gathered from every state in the
Union. We heard 1t estimated that
there were 100000 strangers in the
city on Wednesday of the festiv
week. But Cleveland did her
best. She even opened her private
residences to her guests, and her
noble hearted people did all in their
power to make the vast throngs
The features OF the
Masonic exercises during the week
were the grand parade on Tuesday
and the prize drill on the Northern
Ohio fair ground on Wednesday.
The parade was undoubtedly the
finest display of the kind that ever
took place In this country. There
were 6,OOO or 1000 Knights in the
procession, all dressed in the beau
tiful uniform of the order. In the
procession were also over fifty
bands of music, all handsomely
uniformed, and some of them num-
bering, thirty to forty members.
The mannvers OF the companies
were everywhere received with APP
plause by the crowds of ladies' and
gentlemen that thronged the side
walks and blocksded the streets.
1t took the procession two hours
to pass q given point. The weather
was excessively hot, and hundreds
Of the Knights did not appear in
the procession. Many were taken
from It on the march In an exhaus-
ted condition
The crowd that visited the Fair
ground Wednesday to witness the
prize drill Was simply immense, and
NO adequate accommodations were
provided. The people crowded on
the trains. and scrambled through
the gates and up the stairways Of
the seats and over fences in q jam.
The fellows who had charge OF the
affair acted like they were handling
Q lot Of hogs or cattle. So with
the excursion TO Pat-in- Bay and
other islands on Thursday. There
was no system or order. There
were three boats, aud they did not
take one half who wanted to go. It
was . free ride for the knights, but
hundreds OF Cleveland bummers
crowded them out, and not half of
them could 90. There were general
congratulations afterwards, though,
when word reached the excursion-
lists that there had been q very
rough sea, and that hundreds were
sick and the boats returned ak or
eight hours late. Hundreds OF us
made marrow escape, and for our
part We felt thankful that we were