Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-07-06
CHAMPION CELEBRATION
pULL DEsCRIPTIOS or TH&
SCENES or THE FOURTH

Tb, National bird Flies Very high
Unparalleled Crowd at the Fair Grounds
The Races, Athletics, Fire works and
other Amusements Score OF clay Pigeon
shoot-Fancy sho ooting --i.udicrous rig
Chase-Thc Fox Chase Eizlic-Athlotic
Contests OF the Champion Employees
winners OF Prizes and Their Records
How the bay Went In Town--The sunday
school Celebration at warder.' Grove.
Sprngfclds observance OF July Ath central
lied itself at the Fair Grounds, where the
"great Middleton & Emery aggregation held
forth For the last two months Springfield
and surrounding cities has been made aware,
by torrents Of printers ink, that these two
gentlemen were working u? a big demonstra-
ton for The Fourth, and ii ma,crialAcd yes
terday in "all its glory OF saturnalia.' What
ever may have been the merits of the show.
and they were OF no mean order
it was worth the price OF admission to see the
crowd, Mr.. l., b. Sprague, the veteran sec
rctary Of the Clark County Agricultural So
ciety, said that the crowd was the largest that
had ever assembled for any purpose on the Fair
Grounds. Experts in sizing up large gather
iugs vary in their 'stimates oi the attendance,
the figures ranging from 5000 to 5000, and one
enthusiast gave his opinion that there were
| 1000 on the grounds at o'clock. 1t GER
| tainly seemed as il the very air had bios
| s)med into people. From ten o'clock in the
forenoon until 4 o'clock p. m. they poured
into the grounds in street cars, hacks, private
conveyauces of every character and on foot
by thousands. The assemblage at the race
course during the afternoon was majestic in
its vastness. it was veritable sea of
people.
The programme Of exercises ut the Fair
Ground began at 10 o'clock A. m. with an ex-
hibtion Of ,ight-ropc walking by Prot. John
Leon, of this city. Although handicapped
by the fact that he used small rope instead
Of the inchand-a-half cable customsrily em-
ployed by performers Of that class, and that
the frees between which the rope was
stretched were impr perly trimmed and the
boughs interiered, Leon gave very nervy
| and creditable pert ormance. He is SPRING
field boy, and this is his first appearance on
the rope for two years. He was compelled
to cut his performance short to give way to
other attractions. Leon is an intrepid young
| fellow, and is now having hot mir balloon
| manufactured in Chicago, with which he In
tends resuming his old calling Of making as
| sin Ia will no iuE d
| breaks his neck.
The crowd now rushed pell-mell to the
race course, where the remaining features Of
the forenoon's programme occurred. The
pony hurdle race, halt mile dash, was first in
order and proved fairly interesting. The
judges were Messrs. Frank Grove, John Mon
ahan and L. B. Sprague. There were FIVE
eutries-Russells b. b. BILLY" and his b. h.
"N,g;' Roberts =. IN. Fannie b." Burnett's
b. 8. Billy s., and Clark's g. &. "Jack Rab-
bit" "Billy s." was awarded the pole On
| the first heat the horses got off well
| together in a bunch on the FIRST attempt, aud
took the first hurdle nicely. At the quarter
| pole Mig bolted and was left far behind. A,
this point Billy S" took the lead and main.
tanned it TO the end with the gray and "Billy'
| neck and neck tor second. On the home
stretch Fannie B. took the hurdle badly
and threw her rider under her feet, but the
uimSlc youngster was unhuIt. The horses
passed under the wire with "Billy s. in thc
lead hy three lengths, the black second and
Al. II u.l
heat was rather surprise TO the crowd with
whom "Fannie B" had been distinct favor.
ite. The second heat was a precise counter.
part OF the first, even to the boiling of the
inevitable Mig" aud the horses came down
The stretch in precisely the same order
BILLY S" was declared the winner of the
race. No time was taken in either heat but
it was not fast.
Miss Nellie Burke next appeared, riding
her iavorite charger, "Charlie Boil for a
race with her greyhounds, novelty never
before witnessed in Springfield. At the word,
the strange caravan got off together, the dogs
| in full cry, and the entire cavalcade raising a
| tremendous cloud o! dust. As they passed
the quarter-pole the larger portion OF the
psck, notably the younger dogs, fell behind,
but Commander" magnificent black
hound, clean-limbed and graceful was seen
to be neck and neck wit! the horse both ami
mails doing their best, urged by the voice OF
Miss Burke. As they shot down the home
stretch the horse poked his nose cut trifIe
and won the race by a few inches, bat the tail
OF the dog certainly went under the wire be-
fore the tail Of the horse.
During this race, the platform that had
been built Eext to the judges stand for Mas
ter Edgar Williams exhibition Of roller
skating gave way with crash from the
weight Of people on it, aud preciptated sev-
eral dozen people to the ground. Although
several were bruised and scratched up, no.
body was severely injured. Twice during
the remainder Of the day this platform gave
way and allowed its human burden to bump
collectively against the ground, but the
crowd apparently failed to profit by exper-
fence, and swarmed upon it just the same.
II was miracle tina, someone was OF SER
lously hurt.
At intervals between the races, there was
excellent music by the Big Six, and daylight
fireworks, which latter feature worked to
far better advantage than on last Fourth.
and were altogether commeudable. Some OF
the designs into which the bombs burst
in mid-air, were really imposing.
The last act OF the forenoon was drag
fox chase. Mr.. E. G. Middleton drove slowly
nhnnt The enclcanre uithin ,Lo .--L