Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-03-12

| dan and Gen. Hancock. The other
persons on the platform then pressed
forward and many of them shook his
hand. AS he re-entered Tie capitol
he was again greeted with cheers. He
walked to the basement entrance
where he first came into the building
and entered his carriage, to be driven
in the procession to the white house.
THE FIREWORKS.
The pablo celebration Of the day
ended with a display of fireworks. In
character it was like all displays o.
fireworks, but in volume and variety
it is said to have excelled any former
pyrotechnical exhibition upon this
continent. Withal it was successful
to the minutest detail. The scene of
the exhibition was the white lot, an
area of tive or three hundred acres,
sloping gently away from the south
fronts of the treasury, executive man
sion and state department. Unc0unt-
ed crowds began early to find their
way towards this spot from every
quarter of the city. For an hour or
more they waited, commenting mean
while upon the singular appearance
OF the monument, q. hundred rods be-
yond the fireworks enclosure. The
lower third of the shaft was not visi-
BILE, but all above that was dinaly out
lined, like ghost of itself, against the
black sky, rejecting to its peak the rays
Of the electric lights in the city, half a
mileaway, seeming enormously higher
than by daylight When the prepa
ratIens were com Gletec and the dis
play had once begun the people in
charge had the good taste to leave no
intermissions.
Jack olanterns danced from place
to place about the enclosure and
whenever one paused an explosion
followed. Rockets, balloons, mines,
fountains, bombs, batteries and
shells were sent heaveaward in vol
leys for half an hour, filling tie air
with showers of fire. The explosions
sometimes half mile above the
earth took place and waited by the
gentle breeze, and consultations mum
boring thousands OF beautifully tinled
stars foated away over the Potomac
Three ''set pieces" of mammoth pro-
portions were among the last and
graudest features of the entertain
ment. The first was Jefferson. "
There was ''fzz" audible a mile
away as JACKIE lantern touched his
torch TO the piece, and then a mann
moth face in points, while the fire
encircled by the oval frame in red,
with banners in colors, festooned
gracefully about it, burst out of the
darkness, it cleaned for minute in
full brilliancy, then in the twinkling
of an eye it went out with
an explosion, followed by a por-
ton of the nose, and last of all
blue stars of banners. The fall of
Titular Patron simplicity and unos-
tentation was probably not recogni-
fable to the masses of the spectators,
but when the letters of his name be-
meath were made out his memory was
honored by prolonged cheers. The
next large piece represented the ma
tional capitol with excellent portraits
of the president and vice president,
flanked by notices and emblems.
This piece was 100 feet long by rs
in height. The longest set piece ever
fred in America. The fight of !, 200
rockets at once forming a vast floral
boquet in the heavens terminated
the display. No estimate of the
numbers who witnessed the fire.
works would be Trustworthy. The
voluntary dispersion of the multitude
when gathered in the park, open on
all sides, would seem to be a simple
affair, bat the experiences of the even
ing proved the contrary. Carriages
became entangled with each other,
and pedestrians wandered about in
bewilderment, trying to find their
way around, through or out of the
brushes which occurred in a hundred
places. No one was hurt so far as
known, but many ludicrous episodes
occurred, family parties were separated,
wives and husbands lost each other
and parents found themselves leading
children not their own. Calls of one
TO another in the dark sometimes in
Dictated distress or fear but the peo-
b Is we're for the most part exceedingly
Jolly and laughed at themselves and
each other as if it were all part of the
Pre- gramm9.
THE INAUGURATION BALL.
The brilliant finale of the inaugu-
ration ceremonies was the ball to
night in the unfinished new pension
AS the door swings open
the eye is dazzled by the sudden
blaze of light and color and the mind
is at once confused by the immensely
Of The scene revealed at a glance. a
hall 316 feet long by 116 wide
is lighted by sixty gigantic
gas burners, 500 candle power each,
which are suspended from the roof,
whose l-eak is lost to sight ninety feet
above the floor in a perfect forest of
streamers and flags. On the acre of
waxed floor thousands of couples IN
were in the nazes of
the dance, while thousands more
circled around on the outskirts in a
promenade and otAer thous
ands look down on them from the
balconies surrounding.
The decorations, rich in color, cover
the whole interior of the structure.