Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-24
C0MANCHE.
The Confederate Reunion and Barbecue
Grand Success i'll Every Detail.
Eight Thousand People overwhelmingly
Five Animals Feed the Crowd-Speeches
by Prominent Men.

Correspondence of the Gazette.
CoMANCHE, TEX. July 18.-The Con-
federate reunion and barbecue which
convened here yesterday and closed to-
day was a success in every sense of the
word. Early on the 18th people in COW
cred wagons, hacks, buggies, and every
other conceivable kind Of vehicle except
railroad cars, were to be seen arriving
on all the roads entering town, and by
nightfalI the grounds which had been
provided for the occasion we're literally
full of people Yesterday before the
dawn of day there were to be sesnsg5h
every road trains of wagons and
other vehicles, horsemen and footmen
until by a N. there was hardly stands
ing room in Comanche and its suburbs.
The like was never seen here before, the
crowd being variously estimated at from
six thousand to ten thousand. It is safe
to say there were 5000 people here.
Promptly at $3.50 a. IN. Rev. J. Z.
Harris, president of the Erath and Co
mauche counties eX-Confederate Associ-
alton, called the audience to order. and,
after praye rby Rev "A j Hallford of Ro-
anoke and ''Hail Columbia by the San
angelo band, the president stepped
forward and introduced Hon.
S. w. T. Lanham, our hon
Ored representative who in his
eloquent and felicitous style held the au-
dience spellbound for two and half
hours. His pathetic allusiOn to the sage
of BeauvOir, the glowing tribute paid to
Gems. r 2. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnson,
StOnewal Jackson and others elected
round after round Of applause, and tears
were seen to trickIe down the furrowed
cheek of many an old veteran. His ref
erence to the service rendered by the
non-slave holding element was particu
larry well timed and a happy inspiration
in behalf of a much neglected though pa
tTiotio people.
After the speech the roll was called
and over three hundred veterans re-
sponded to their names Then dinner
was announced Ample provision had
been made, ninety-ftve animals having
been slaughtered and baTbecued. Hun
dreds of we'll filed baskets were on the
ground. Everybody was filed to reple-
ton. ~
After dinner the band gave the signal
for the re-assembling of the crowd under
the capacious arbOr which had been Greet
ed when the address of welcome was5madss
by Mayor Lindsey i'll his usual happF
manner, which was responded to by Press
ident J. T. Harris of Dublin, in behalf
of the veterans.
Col. John ROch responded on the part
of the ex-Federals. He was frequently
interrupted by applause from the old
veterans.
The programme for the evening con-
sisted III the reading of poems selected
especially for the occasion by Misses
LoWery Stone and Franklin of Conan
che, Mrs. Noble E. Morse Davis of New
Orleans, Professor Clarke of Granbury
and others, interspeTsed with music by
the band.
The second day. proceeding consisted
of the routine business pertaining to the
organization, election of officers, ETC.,
after which the veterans took up the line
of march for home The old officers were
all reelected except the chaplain, Rev.
P. W. Gravls of COmanche being elected
to that office.
This is the biggest thing COmanche has
ever introduced. The best of order pre-
vailed from beginning to end. Not a
fight, quarrel or even a decent drunk
was seen or heard of to mar our credit,
be it said, end all went away feeling it
was good to be here.
The San Angelo band endeared itself to
the people by their gentlemanly deport-
ment. Some Of them are old Gen1anche
boys. -