Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-10-11
A SEA OF WAVING PLUMES.
Grand Pageant of Knights Templar
at Washington.
Nearly Twenty Thousand Uniformed
Men in Line.
The Iowa Trouble the First Business
in Secret Conclave.

grand parade. the magnificent event of the
week The day is one of pageantry and
display. and 10000 Knights, clad in the
panophy of was, amid the symbols of the
order, with flying banners and with the
step and bearing of knights militant, pres
ent such a templar ARRAY as
was never before witcessed in the
land. The day opened cloudy; but by 8
O clock clear. bright. beautiful weather
prevailed and a demonstration and dis
play unprecedented i'll magnifcence, un
rivaled in magnitude was assured. By :
o'clock martial airs could be heard III any
and every direction, while hundreds of
Templar organizations were marching to
their respective rendezvous, and streams
of people were pushing their way to the
line of march.
The main body of the procession formed
in the streets about the capitol by l 80 a.
m, and waited the arrival of the officers
of the grand enCampment with Gen.
Charles Roome, most eminent grand mas
ter, and his personal staff in carriages,
under escort of the first division. The
knightIy escort. with Eminent Sir Myron
NJ. Parker chief marshal; Sir Knight
Harrison Dingman, chief of staff, and Il
host of sir knights at aides de
camp leading, soon appeared and
halted on the spacious plaza at
the east front of the capitol. A few min
uteS later word from Chief Marshal Par
ker put the head of the column of the grand
parade and escort of the grand encamp-
ment in motion. Around the columned
porticos of the capitol, down the concreted
roadwayS of the capitol grounds, under the
swaying over-reaching boughs of the au-
n-tinted trees the grand procession
| swept with the stately glide of gigantic
| and many-colored serpent. Up the broad
| avenue moved the procession like a forest
of black helmets and snOw-white plumes,
till reaching the treasury its head
| wheeled into Fifteenth street, past the ex-
chequer whose columned porches were
packed with people, and again up the
! broad avenue to the executive mansion,
where they passed in review before the
| president Steadily. silently the pictures
que procession passed the reviewing stand;
every hat lifted in honor of the chief
magistrate, the white plumes nodding, till
| looking down the line, one involun-
| tariIv thought of white lilies bow
| ing before blast; then continuing west
ward up the avenue to Twentythird street,
Washington circle. and thence wheeling
eastward over the magnificent boulevard
| of K street This broad street, straight as
an arrow, without break for three or
four miles packed on each side and lined
with a double row of trees, gave the
knights superb welcome. 1t is the home
of wealth and fashion, and the wealth and
| fashion poured ont with the heartiest en-
| thusiasm to greet the knights.
The column passed steadily on, stretching
! in platOOns from curb to curb, and giving
a beauty to the grand old lawn it had
never worn before. superb as have been
the spectacleS it has witnessed. The luXu-
riant foliage of the street is fast disap-
pearing and much of what is left is spot
ted and specked with the thousand dies
of October but through the partly denuded
| branches looking eastward from the circle,
| the grand procession seemed to move IL
| and out with picturesque grace, marvel
of musical motion, d wave OF light, flash
of color. till the eye grew weary In watch
ing and the fancy reverted to knights OF
other climes.
When the head of the procession reached
| Mount Vernon square, at Ninth and h
streets. it halted. Soon afterwards it was
| again put in motion, and with the first di-
| vision formed in open order at the review
| ing stand in the square, the remainder O
the column passed in review before Crane
| Master ROOme and the other Off
GERS of the grand encampment. AT
ter passing this point, the vas
| procession broke into fragments, some OF
| the organizations continuing to then
quarters, while others disbanding in Who'll,
or in part. were soon lost III the grea
ocean of humanity that had gazed and ad
mired and applauded. The first division
the special escort of the grand encamp
ment, then escorted the grand master anC
members to Masonic temple, where tn
frst session of the triennial cOnclave wa
opened
The procession today comprised twelv
divisions. At the head of each division
rode the commanding officer, his chief Of
staff and dozen aides de camps Sn
VIM. 6. Moore commanded tn
first division, with Sir Andrew w. kelle,
chief of staff This was the special escor
to Grand Master ROome, and was com
posed of the Washington, Colombia
Potomac and the De Molay commanderie
of this city. and detachment of CPur d
Leon commandery of New York city
Those commanderies preceded Crane
Master ROome and his personal staff. al
officers of the grand encampment and th'
| ulEIlptIH Ol JIlt = anu lJlllCllt- dll -
whom rode in carriages.
| The second division, commanded by 81
Nicholas Vanslyck. with Sir Samuel Lau
renee. chief of staff, was composed 0
twenty.c from Massachusett
and Rhode Island.
The third division, commanded by ST
Austin c. Wood. Sir Geo. F. Loder, chic
of staff. was composed Of eighteen com
manderies from New York state.
The fourth division was commanded b.
Sir J. L. Beck and there marched Viz
ginia. Delaware, New Hampshire ant
| Connecticut Communicates, and the Ver
mont and New Hampshire battalions.
The fifth division was composed 0
Maine. Ohio and Kentucky Communicates
and in the sixth marched twenty-eigh
Pennsylvania cOmmanderies, commando
by Sir Henry Parkins.
The sixth division were Sir T. c. Hip
pie, commanding; grand commandery O
| Pennsylvania and subordinate comman
deries
In the seventh division were II Indian
and II Michigan Communicates; and IL
the eight 20 Illinois commanderies.
The ninth division. Sir Samuel Hop
kins Wagner. commanding; Sir Crank W
Sumner chief Of staff. was composed 0
four California. eight Tennessee, 81
Wisconsin and five New Jersey command
cries.
| The tenth division embraced Georgi
! and Missouri Communicates and knight
from commanderies in Mississippi ant
Louisiana.
- The eleventh division was composed 0
Minnesota, Kansas. Maryland. Nebraska
Colorado and West Virginia commander
les. and the Arkansas and North Carolin
battzlions.
In the twelfth and last division marche'
Wyoming. Dakota and Montana comman
deries and the Albert Edward preceptor
Of Toronto. and Godfrey de Bullion precep
tory. Of Hamilton, Canada.
The knights In the second division wer
all from Massachusetts and Rhode Island
and were distinguished BIZ their good az
pearance and full ranks In the fourtl
division Richmond eommandery No.
introduced variation IN the appearanc
of the parade. In place Of swords the
: carried long lances tipped with silver Of
, / dull hue and their vestments were adorne
with silver facings. Another Of the VII
! ginia cOmmanderies carried lance
tipped with gold. In the fft
division the oriental coInmandery of Cley5
land attracted much attention and aE
. plause By It's fine marching, as did ais
the HAnselInan oomuandeEy o. Cincinnati