Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-04-19
STIRRING SCENES
Of the Great Gala Day of the
Week.
Individual and Collective Human
Nature on the Train and on
the Track.

~ 10 fSIJ OlIeu IeIuhTkeu Dy persons
who wish TO witness a popular enter.
tainment and can't think Of any other
excuse, that they 60 to see the crowd.
The craver after crowds, the man who
likes to study collective human nature.
il be attended the races yesterday by
way of the railroad, must have found
all he desired. No such throng OF
people ever visited the race track in
all its former history. 1t was free
day" end nothing draws SO we'll as a
free show.
Long before the hour for the train
to leave the Memphis and Charleston
depot the platform was jammed, AMI
when the ticket Office was opened the
press was so great that the railing
was trodden to the floor. People
boiled in at the gate like human
Niagara. The waiting train of
three coaches was filled to
overhowing in an incredibly
short space Of time. Men fought like
tigers for ioothold and every availa-
BILE inch was occupied.
A long train, cor sisting of eight
coaches was pushed to side track
half way across the yard, and before it
stopped moving was crowded like the
first. One woman wss noticed, with
her two children, in the act of spring.
ing from the platform to a moving
train, and except for the promptitude
Of Chief Davis, who dragged her back
BY main force, must have been serious
ly if not fatally hurt. The distance
was fully four feet. Boys ran under
moving cars, men jumped from one
train to another, or clambered up over
couplings, resting II cir feet on iingling
link pins Then long line of fats,
provided with plank seats, laid cross
wise, were backed in and filled in a
tWinkling The rush was fearful. the
crowd seemed frenzied. Every man,
woman and child seemed to think
they must get seat at once or walk
or remain at home. Arrived at the
track there was another rush. Men and
women sprang from the moving train.
Some rolled over down the embank
ent,and all rushed as if life depended
on the effort, up the avenue toward
the gate. Those who would have re>
NAMED or walked leisurely, were
carried along by the mad human tor
rent against their will. What would
be the consequences if the one idea OF
this crowd was evil?' appropriately
asked some one. Returning, the lam
was just as great Everybody wanted
to get on the first train. They lined
the track for hundreds of yards and
it seemed as if the engine plowed its
way through them as it steamed slowly
down the track to the station. Every
inch Of space in the coaches was taken
and the fats were living tiers. There
was no room to sit down. Part stood
on the seats and the rest between
them. They cluDg to the ladders and
piled on to the pilot, from which they
we're with difficulty 6islodged. One
nan, cripple with peg-leg, actually
ased his artificial limb as an augur
@herewith he bored q hole in
the crowd big enough to admit
him. About half the crowd were
forced to wait for the second train,
and though quiet in the meantime,
we're frenzied again by the sight Of
it, and rendered uncomfortable by the
whistle of the iron horse. About
twenty-five coaches which composed
this train we're rapidly flied, and i'm.
PEELED by two engines, one at either
end, it steamed into the city.
1t was noticeable, however, that
Good humor universally prevailed.
Every one seemed to recognize the
common right TO squeeze in and there
was no bad feeling. The absence
Of drunken men was a conspicuous
feature, nobody seeming to have taken
more on board than they could good
humoredly garry.
On the grounds the crush was great,
yet nobody seemed to be particularly
tired or tagged, and spirit of geni.
atty and even temper ruled over all.
1t is day long to be remembered by
those who visited the track, whether
by rail or road.