Daily Republican., 1880-08-30
BIG QUAR1 ERLY.
A Great Day Among tho CoIOred
PeOpIe--CrOwded Streets and
Packed Churches.

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"Dere nebber were q bigger biz
quarterly nor dis, an know it," Thil
and kindred expressions arose many
times from the dense crowd Of coloreG
humanity that surged all day lonl
yesterday from the depot at the foot O.
French street to the colored churches
near Tenth street.
Big Quarterly day Is q local occasion
and It is purely local. One thing peou.
liar about the anniversary Is the unan'
unity and zest with which the colored
people, near and far, enter into its
celebration. Rather than the annual
observance connected with one congre.
cation, It appears to be an event in
whch the whole section Of country,
among the oolored people, takes the
deepest interest. And this was shown
yesterday. On this occasion, notwith-
standing the fact that an effort was
made on the part Of the city govern.
ment to prevent the oolored people
from coming here from Philadelphia
and Camden, the number which ar
rived was largely in excess Of last year.
No special trains were run at reduced
rates OF fare, and all who came had to
pay full rates, but notwithstanding
this the dsrkies came by hundreds aad
thousands, and such an outpouring
from that particular section has seldom
been known.
At the depot on the arrival of the
trains, scenes interesting and amusing,
almost without number, were witnessed.
When the sxcursionists came pouring
out Of the cars q thronE Of colored peo-
pie Of all sexes, ages and conditions,
in gaudy apparel and homely garb,
greetings with waiting acquaintance
commenced. Some would shake hands
in quiet way, and exchange friendly
greetings, others would be more demon.
stratiye. Working their way through
the crowd toward some one whom they
recognized, they would suddenly catch
the unfortunate individual in stalwart
arms, and he would undergo such
friendly shaking as made his teeth
chatter and his black frame almost fall
apart. Once one Of these impulsivs fel-
lows made a sad mistake and came to
grief in consequence. He was a dandy
looking mulatto from down the State.
He had on red crSvat, and a striped
collar, wore straw hat and the prov.
erbial cane, while his gaunt form WAS
clad in cheap duster reaching to his
knees.
Over in the crowd he espied man,
whose back was turned, and whom he
thought was his light.hued brother.
He rushed toward him to take him by
surprise, and in moment had com.
pletely demolished the supposed
brother with playful blow from his
brawny hand, and had caught him in
his arms in a bear like hug when lie
found out his mistake. 1t was not his
brother, but white man. Before the
astonished darkey could make amends
for his blunder a wonderful transforma-
tion scene took place, and the man
was resenting his friendly greetings
with a shower Of heavy kicks and
blows. One minute afterward the
darkev was seen flying for life up the
street, minus straw hat, dainty
cane and red cravat, while his dustsr,
rent from neck to heels, stretched far
out behind him in his fight.
II is difficult TO estimate the crowd.
An estimate places the number ofvis-
itors at 5000. They were brought as
follows: D. W. R. R., 3 cars Clayton
extra, Della. R. R., IA cars Port De-
posit extra, P. W. & B. R. R., IL cars
Havre de Grace extra l3 cars Harring.
ton extra Della. R. R., "a cars Phils-
delphia regular, first section, l3 cars
second, s cars third, 8 cars Major
Reybold, $50 passengers Clio, 80 pas
sengers.
After s O'Clock, French street was
crowded. As the leading colored
churches are situated upon this
thoroughfare, 1t was made the objective
point Of all colored people, and dense
dusky throng surged up and down its
sidewalks all day long. Scattered here
and there along the street were places |
at which cakes, candy, watermellons
ice cream and all that sort Of things
were dispensed by eager sellers to eager |
purcha hasers. One of these places bore
the inscription in big black letters,
"Lonches for all come a-runnin."
Whether the originality of spelling had
anything to do with 1t is unknown, but
trade was good and the dispenser OF
'lonohes' had his hands full. A sign on
another place read "Good old fashion
dinners for thirty s centses."
The order during the day was good,
but more disturbance took place than
on last year. 1t was generally noticed
that those who created trouble were
white people, and in consequence of
this more than one unfortunate African
got himself into trouble at police
court while the instigators escaped
punishment. A practice among GER
tain crowd Of rogues around town was
noticed to be pretty extensively in
dulged in, the modus operandi being |
as follows: Two or three Of them would |
approach some specimen, likely to an
swer their purpose, and commence
quarrel. As q general thing the fel-
low imposed upon would not be willing |
to submit to any indignities and he
would turn on his tormentors. Then
the fellows would be reinforced, and at
last frightened half to death the unfor-
tunate black would accede to theif de.
mands and give them money to be let
alone. I
The churches were packed and con-
tinuous services were held in the
African Union Methodist Protestant
Church, as we'll as in the tabernacle
back of the church, during the morn
ing and afternoon. A love feast was
held in the church at 6 O'Clock, at 0.30
Rev, Mr.. Chippy, President Of the